NFT: New York Rangers @ Philadelphia Flyers Game Thread

And let Voracek blow by him for the first goal in game two. He's had both good moments and bad moments.

I was too "worn out" to watch these losers. Told you we'd never win another game, geniuses!

-Paul

but am I missing something here? He had 2 assists last night, and still leads the team in shots on goal for the series, AND he is a huge reason why Philly's top line isnt getting many looks on net via his defense and PKing.

The goals will come....

In comment 11633935 kmed said:

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McD has been awesome, I'm confused that someone is claiming he's been "shaky". He makes so many amazing defensive plays, it's impressive. Philly is going to continue to good this series up and we are going to continue to win the games. There is no coorelation and it's more proof that you don't need to match goonness.

I'd say he's been good.. not awesome. He's made a few more mistakes than usual. Not playing terribly or anything just seems like he's been knocking off a little rust even though he only missed a couple weeks. When he's really on his game, you'd be hard pressed to find a better NHL defenseman at this point.

he's made a few mistakes, but when you play 25 minutes a game against the oppositions best players every night, I guess it'll happen. He's been pretty awesome, IMO when you look at his whole body of work, despite a few mistakes. The guy skates his ass off, he's showing offensive ability to carry the puck deep, he's a defensive workhorse and he blocks a lot of shots. To say he's been "shaky" is a gross exaggerration about a guy that's probably been our most important player so far this series.

Also, regarding Nash, he's been JAG. He hasn't hurt us because we are so deep, but he's just not skating hard and playing full out. Maybe he's playing tentative, but when I watch him, he's skating slower than almost everyone else. Richards is significantly outplaying him. We are going to need Nash at some point, hopefully he steps his game up.

Last point....good job by Hank, he was great again. The 1 goal was a goal that no goalie was going to save, but he was on his game last night for sure.

for the first time in the series, but still not back to going all Brian Leetch-style like he was down the stretch before that fuckhead banged him up

anyone else struggling to hide their 'morning after we smoked Philly' boner while at work today?

Had a meeting earlier with our office's resident Flyers fan - gave him my best Carcillo 'go fuck yourself' look when I saw him

hehe

I know he's a bottom line guy and he hasn't scored. But I think he's been good, not spectacular. Creating offense, that line as a whole has been very good. And he was much better than Richards last night if you're comparing the two.

Eye of the beholder I guess...

In comment 11633980 NVA_Blue said:

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but am I missing something here? He had 2 assists last night, and still leads the team in shots on goal for the series, AND he is a huge reason why Philly's top line isnt getting many looks on net via his defense and PKing. The goals will come....

I thought Nash played a really good game, especially early. And his play lead directly to the game winner, and the first goal for that matter.

In comment 11634117 Kyle in NY said:

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I know he's a bottom line guy and he hasn't scored. But I think he's been good, not spectacular. Creating offense, that line as a whole has been very good. And he was much better than Richards last night if you're comparing the two. Eye of the beholder I guess...

Also thought Richards was very good last night.

McDonagh has been playing ok by his standards. If you watched McDonagh all season and compared that with how he's playing now there's a noticeable difference. He's made some poor decisions with the puck in this series. He just doesn't look as comfortable with the puck as he did before the injury when he was in peak form. Those are mistakes he didn't make all season. He's shutdown top lines all year long so that's nothing new. The guy owns players like Ovechkin.

What you're observing with Nash in this series is really how he's played his entire Rangers career. The one exception being that game in Columbus earlier this year where he played out of his mind. He's solid out there but always seems like he could shift into another gear. That Columbus game showed that gear exists and it would go a long way in these playoffs if he could find it again.

Are sure he isn't saying "Give me the fucking keys, you cocksucker"!

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Andrew Gross ‏@AGrossRecord 3m So far this morning, no indication Matt Read will face any supplemental league discipline for hit on Dan Carcillo. Again, so far this a.m...

also, Richards needs to stop the no-look passes to nobody.

Don't act like you're not impressed...

has been better than JAG this series. He's had good scoring opportunities, skating pretty well, taking a lot of shots. He'll bury one soon. There have been playoff series where he's been JAG and even worse, not taking shots, not skating, not making smart passes. He's been involved so far, I'd like him to be better but he's played pretty well

Both played well.

Not sure what about 2 assists is so uninspiring. Seems that in general, people will continually feel the need to criticize one of Nash or MSL, depending on which one is getting the A's and not G's.

Bottom line is that the statistics show that when these guys are on the ice, the rangers are getting more shots (Corsi/Fenwick). The scoring certainly matters, but when the rangers have a lead, it's nearly as important that the other team is NOT scoring/generating chances. And they haven't done much of it with the Nash/Steps/MSL line on the ice.

a few years ago where every single call was against us. The Rangers penalty kill was so freaking good and won us that game, IMO. Boyle, McD, Girardi, Henrik....those guys stood out to me on the PK.

in hockey is dumb as not all assists are created equal. Again for the slow...Nash hasn't played bad, but he's certainly capable of a LOT better and that's the problem. He's just one of the guys out there, he doesn't stand out at all despite being the most talented guy on our team. That's the problem. He's certainly not hurting us, but he's not playing anywhere close to how he can and should. He's not skating all that hard either, there's another gear in there.

But I still have no idea what he was trying to do when he flipped the puck into McDonagh after he had fallen on the ice, leading directly to the Flyers goal. That was just strange.

with such a physical team like Philly and the way this series is being played, he's a little gun shy because of his injury history.

was great on the PK. He's really had a nice series, if only he could finish. That part is frustrating but he's doing everything else so far.

Nash has 18 shots in 3 games, 5 last night, 6 in game 2, 7 in game 1. He'll get one soon. 4 assists in 3 games. He had a rocket off of a set play off of a faceoff last night that I have no idea how Emery saw it and stopped it, it happened so fast off of the faceoff. Nash also blocked 3 shots last night according to the box score

In comment 11634159 RodneyHamp said:

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Quote: Andrew Gross ‏@AGrossRecord 3m So far this morning, no indication Matt Read will face any supplemental league discipline for hit on Dan Carcillo. Again, so far this a.m... also, Richards needs to stop the no-look passes to nobody.

Really disappointing. If that's not the type of hit they want to eliminate from the game I don't know what is. And you don't want the Flyers to feel even more comfortable about playing dirty and taking pot shots than they already do.

but counting assists is dumb? Secondary assist or not, they affected a play that lead to a goal. Not sure if some of the all time greats would agree that assists are not valid to look at.

Point being, if the Rangers win a 7 game series by winning 4 games, and Rick Nash has a point per game or more in that series, you can't say the guy isn't doing anything. Agree that he can put it into a higher gear. But he was very good in the first especially last night.

Not all assists are created equal. Just because someone touched the puck and then the next guy made a nice pass for a goal, doesn't mean it's some great achievement. Nash hasn't been bad, but he hasn't been nearly as good as he can be. He's not hurting the Rangers, but he's not helping as much as he should.

Besides his idiocy in dismissing assists, Nash has not been the bull in china shop, imposing his will on the game kind of player we know he can be.

Its a small sample size and its not like he's playing poorly by any stretch, but we've all seen that he can do much more.

In comment 11634187 MookGiants said:

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was great on the PK. He's really had a nice series, if only he could finish. That part is frustrating but he's doing everything else so far. Nash has 18 shots in 3 games, 5 last night, 6 in game 2, 7 in game 1. He'll get one soon. 4 assists in 3 games. He had a rocket off of a set play off of a faceoff last night that I have no idea how Emery saw it and stopped it, it happened so fast off of the faceoff. Nash also blocked 3 shots last night according to the box score

I agree that Nash as played well this series thus far but those shot numbers are highly misleading and a good % of them were essentially stat padders aka long, weak passes right to the goalie instead of just dumping it into the zone. He had 3 or 4 of them last night.

wasn't my point. My point was, just because someone had 2 assists, doesn't mean he had a great game.

Wholeheartedly that Nash can step it up more. I mean the fact is that he's a sniper with tons of shots and no goals and is getting outscored by Carcillo. He needs to bull his way to the net way more. It causes chaos every time he does.

he's been smart defensively and made the right reads leading to scoring for his line. His personal offensive game hasn't come yet. here's hoping it will soon.

Mac has been off his game. He's been good by most players standards but not near the level he established this season. He's taken bad angles, made bad coverage reads and turned the puck over leading to Flyers scoring chances in all three games thus far. I expect him to clean it up starting Friday. He'll get an extra practice in with the delay til Friday to get his head on right.

often do when evaluating Boyle; he does not play the sort of game that traditionally corresponds to his body type but it doesn't mean that he's not effective. Nash is not really a power forward, no more than Boyle is an intimidating physical presence. Nash's game is predicated on exceptional puck skills and deceptive speed. So while you may think that he's coasting, his 6'4 frame is actually moving quite fast and he reserves an extra gear for those certain moments when he needs to accelerate away from defenders. Was yesterday Nash's best game? No. Was it among his worst? No. Was he effective? Yes.

I'd love to see him carry over his performance in Columbus for 82 games and the playoffs but that sort of playing style would most likely prohibit him from even being able to play 82 games from a health perspective. What might be more alarming is that Nash's goal scoring pace this season was actually more aligned with his averages over the past four or five seasons and less with his output last year and his former 40+ goal years.

In game 4.
Link - ( New Window )

Crosby-lite is not producing and the Flyers cant identify exactly what the Rangers are doing to stymie them. Perhaps having a Captain that could recognize that starting out in a 0-2 hole doesnt qualify as a good start would be progress. The troubling aspect is that the Flyers are only one game behind when we should've had them all but buried by now.

In other news, since Game 1 the Wings have given the Bruins absolutely less than they cant handle.

without a fighter on the team or someone gooning it up with Philly. Keep letting Philly try and goon it up, that doesn't put goals in the net. I'm sure they won't benefit from every single call like last night either. The Rangers should have had a man advantage a bunch of times last night as opposed to 5 PPs for Philly and 4 for the Rangers. Just keep playing our game.

and let them steal game 2

but I expect us to come back to NY up 3-1. Because fuck them, that's why

but at the same time, maybe that game taught us a lesson and led us to win last night after Philly scored their first goal.

no discipline for Read

For doing exactly what they say they want gone from the game. All because Carcillo wasn't seriously injured. Clowns in that league office. I would do the same exact thing to them now.

Score more goals, let the Flyers do crap like that. The game is won by scoring goals, not inflicting pain on the other team. Play your game!

how there's no consistency to how the judge those sort of things. They are all over the map with these suspensions. The 3 games to Seabrook was a freaking joke. He should have been out 5 at a minimum. That hit was filthy.

let them play that game early on but after we took a 2 goal lead, I thought we should have played an even more aggressive game because it becomes their job to overcome our intensity when they are behind by a couple.

The Rangers didnt seem to bring a high enough level of intensity to Game 2 so AV inserts Carcillo and he clearly provided the team with a spark. He didn't need to fight but he more than got himself involved physically

is even better

Richards seems to really like playing on this team / in this city, even if he's been underwhelming. Is there ANY circumstance under which you could see him accepting a significant paycut to stick around instead of getting amnestied?

In comment 11634685 bigbluehoya said:

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Richards seems to really like playing on this team / in this city, even if he's been underwhelming. Is there ANY circumstance under which you could see him accepting a significant paycut to stick around instead of getting amnestied?

Doesn't work that way. He's done well this season. If we get to the FInals or farther, fuck it resign him. But if not he's not able to live up to the $ for so many years. Especially as we watch Stastny rack up points in these playoffs.

but if we make the SCF there's even less reason to keep him. That's a lot of playoff games tread on his tires and it will carry over to his production next season(and his teammates as well). Next year maybe being his last year in 'prime' years too.

You have to make a business decision on Richards regardless. There's no 'fuck it' about it when it comes to a billion dollar business.

Anyway.... I will never, ever, ever for the life of me understand the NHL's "wheel of justice" and the philosophy that 'well... this guy shouldnt get suspended because the other guy didnt get hurt' Your penalizing the fucking intent, not the outcome.

What a putz.

In comment 11634654 SethFromAstoria said:

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For doing exactly what they say they want gone from the game. All because Carcillo wasn't seriously injured. Clowns in that league office. I would do the same exact thing to them now.

Is there any way to know whether or not the league office even reviewed the play? It was typical Philly crap. The thing that I worried (maybe worry?) about is whether Carcillo was concussed - frankly I'm not sure it's possible not to be concussed by that shoulder to the jaw and seeing him basically "out" on the ice for a minute or so. I just hope he's truly ok.

In comment 11635256 baadbill said:

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In comment 11634654 SethFromAstoria said: Quote: For doing exactly what they say they want gone from the game. All because Carcillo wasn't seriously injured. Clowns in that league office. I would do the same exact thing to them now. Is there any way to know whether or not the league office even reviewed the play? It was typical Philly crap. The thing that I worried (maybe worry?) about is whether Carcillo was concussed - frankly I'm not sure it's possible not to be concussed by that shoulder to the jaw and seeing him basically "out" on the ice for a minute or so. I just hope he's truly ok.

I assume they did since the Commissioner was at the game and the Rangers watched it happen in front of their bench.

And it's actually comical if you think about punishing results and not intent. Its weird to think that a whole committee of people agreed upon that method. Scary.

Its exactly what they want out of the game.

Carcillo's previous scumbaggery and lack of further injury is the only thing going for that fuck and that's bullshit.

were reversed and Carcillo hit Read in the jaw there would be a suspension.

The Rangers defensive play as a whole has been their weakness. The Flyers have gotten a lot of consistent scoring chances, the Rangers offense has been awesome but the defensive game has been a little too open for me.