Streak Ends With A whimper

I guess the Rangers thought all they had to do was show up and the Stars would give them their ninth straight win. Didn't happen. The Rangers didn't bring their A game. In fact it's debatable what game they brought. The Stars, even though they are in 11th place in the West were on a streak of their own, five out of six. Now we go to Florida to play a team that is also hot and only has two points less than us.

The coach brought no game at all.  It's bad enough  he keeps playing with J.T. Miller's play and ice time. Last night he played, on the fourth line, got 9:09 of ice time, scored a power play goal and watched most of the time. In 14 games Miller has 5 goals and an assist. Lee Stempniak got 11:18 of ice time on the third line. He has played in 28 games, has 5 goals and an assist.

The previous game saw Miller sitting and that brought a discussion from Sam and Joe, the homer boys. Sam insisted that Miller sitting had to do with the Rangers great depth. Joe debunked that basically saying that Miller should be in the lineup. period. Joe was spot on, Sam honored his Ranger roots.

Then there is Kevin Klein, 7 goals, 4 assists and a plus 11, third on the team. He got 18:37 of ice time and no power play time. Meanwhile, Dan Boyle racked up 21:11, 2:57 on the power play, got off all of one shot, and that at the goalie who was waiting to be beat. Klein with the best shot of the defensive group sits while Boyle struggles. And struggle he did. A few times he had trouble bringing out the puck in the defensive zone. So we are honoring contracts, not playing capabilities. Nothing changes. It starts in the little leagues with favorites and continues right up to the pros.

I have an idea, stolen from the Devils and their GM. The Stealth should come out of retirement and go behind the bench. On his right should be Mark Messier to coach the forwards and on his left should be Jeff Beukeboom to coach the D. At least then we would have expert opinions why certain guys play or don't not this touchy feeling BS we get from this coach. Two points lost in December will be sorely missed in April.

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