NFT: NY Rangers at Montreal Canadiens - Game 2 - tonight 7p

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Hate to say it but they dominated the 3rd period and OT

Pacioretti or however you spell his name is a fucking ranger killer. Always in on these plays.

TIE UP YOUR FUCKING MAN

Giveth and he takes away.

Lucky to be 1-1

Zibanejad was absolutely atrocious last night.

with the puck. Oh well.

Hopefully we can play well at home.

lines played too much in OT, but it's a long series I guess. Or it's just AV/Julien.

!

Can't win when the ice is tilted like that

He is just awful

"Lineup stays the same" - AV

Girardi looks like Nick Lidstrom compared to Holden. Absolute trash.

Good lord Holden sucks.
WTF is with losing all those draws?

a kick to the balls. 17 fucking seconds away and 2 broken sticks cost us the game.

This is my fault. I was way too tame in the OP. The loss is all on me.

In comment 13429336 MetsAreBack said:

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Giveth and he takes away. Lucky to be 1-1

We are 13 seconds away from being up 2-0, maybe the most idiotic comment I have heard all night. There is no such thing as style points in the playoffs. We had the series and we pissed it away

Credit where it's due - he's playing a simple game and it's been effective.

Colorado is the worst D in the league. Holden couldn't stick there. Draw your own conclusions

are very similar.

Not surprised the games are so close.

In comment 13429341 dpinzow said:

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Can't win when the ice is tilted like that

Yup. Missed our chance to put it away when Grabner whiffed on his second breakaway. Tried to hang on, fell 19 seconds short.

Playoff hockey is awesome, but losses like that are a gut punch

5v5 shots +/-:

Girardi-McDonagh = -21
Holden-Staal = -5
Smith-Skjei = +1



Take out Holden, put in Klein and have Staal-Klein be the third pair

In comment 13429347 Essex said:

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In comment 13429336 MetsAreBack said: Quote: Giveth and he takes away. Lucky to be 1-1 We are 13 seconds away from being up 2-0, maybe the most idiotic comment I have heard all night. There is no such thing as style points in the playoffs. We had the series and we pissed it away

Who are you?

Anyway yeah I guess when your goalie saves 88 out of 90 shots with 18 seconds left (where did you get your 13 number from or did you just make it up like cnn?) -- a coach gets let off the hook for a generally poor gameplan in this series

We were badly outplayed through two games and I'm ecstatic to be 1-1. This is a painful way to lose but I'm hoping it was a wake up call to play ... You know ... Our best players and let the chips fall where they may. You sure as shit aren't beating the caps or penguins with 3 lines with no lottery picks and a below average D against them anyway so why bother

In comment 13429349 Greg from LI said:

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Credit where it's due - he's playing a simple game and it's been effective. Colorado is the worst D in the league. Holden couldn't stick there. Draw your own conclusions

I thought he was atrocious tonight. Multiple times he didn't over his guy in front, that awful turnover in the first that led to a breakaway.

He's no longer the biggest issue on D, though.

In comment 13429350 pjcas18 said:

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are very similar. Not surprised the games are so close.

I think the Habs are abusing the Rangers and Lundqvist is outplaying Price so far.

Congrats on the win. Something something refs.

In comment 13429356 MetsAreBack said:

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In comment 13429347 Essex said: Quote: In comment 13429336 MetsAreBack said: Quote: Giveth and he takes away. Lucky to be 1-1 We are 13 seconds away from being up 2-0, maybe the most idiotic comment I have heard all night. There is no such thing as style points in the playoffs. We had the series and we pissed it away Who are you? Anyway yeah I guess when your goalie saves 88 out of 90 shots with 18 seconds left (where did you get your 13 number from or did you just make it up like cnn?) -- a coach gets let off the hook for a generally poor gameplan in this series We were badly outplayed through two games and I'm ecstatic to be 1-1. This is a painful way to lose but I'm hoping it was a wake up call to play ... You know ... Our best players and let the chips fall where they may. You sure as shit aren't beating the caps or penguins with 3 lines with no lottery picks and a below average D against them anyway so why bother

Goalie doesn't count? Goals count and we were 17 seconds from being 2-0 so don't give me this we got outplayed. Who cares?

one from us. I expect to get one back later. I'm not terribly pissed because we did what we had to and took 1 in MTL. But, we need to take care of business in our building.

Scoring chances, shots, all of it, don't exaggerate. And this one was right there for us. I don't give a shit about Corsi in the playoffs, just win. And we win this game if we put the correct defense out there at the end of the game.

Whether it's Beukeboom or AV, whoever is making the decisions on this defensive deployment has got to fucking go. Holden shouldnt play another second this season

In comment 13429361 BrettNYG10 said:

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In comment 13429350 pjcas18 said: Quote: are very similar. Not surprised the games are so close. I think the Habs are abusing the Rangers and Lundqvist is outplaying Price so far. Congrats on the win. Something something refs.

Canadiens are definitely outplaying them and Hank is the reason it's 1 - 1, but I mean that's kind of what you expected from Montreal (them to be the ones whose goalie is keeping them in it).

I just think both goalies are capable of stealing games, both D get very fringy in terms of NHL quality as you get to the bottom pairs (want to trade Nesterov for Holden?) and their third lines are playing the best. The teams just play a similar style even if the ice is tilted one way or the other.

I wouldn't be shocked to see a reversal in NY.

And we've got a really good one.

But they do too and when you put three on their guy in the playoffs you better fucking win.

I'm pissed as shit we can't control possession between the pipes against this team. It's completely incompetent and self inflicted

In comment 13429366 Kyle in NY said:

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Scoring chances, shots, all of it, don't exaggerate. And this one was right there for us. I don't give a shit about Corsi in the playoffs, just win. And we win this game if we put the correct defense out there at the end of the game. Whether it's Beukeboom or AV, whoever is making the decisions on this defensive deployment has got to fucking go. Holden shouldnt play another second this season

AV gets the blame at this point - it's been multiple years the defense has been mismanaged.

I take back the abused line re: game one, you're right - especially when accounting for the early lead.

1. i think we had about 20% possession over the final 10 of the 3rd and OT.

2. fuck you Holden. the next good play he makes this series will be his first, since i'd be shocked if he rides the pine

3. tying goal: 1 white sweater to 3 red sweater ratio standing right in front of Hank. how does that happen...

And I really haven't been one of the AV bashers traditionally. But tonight is just inexcusable. Literally cost the team the game

And concerned by the defensive unit on the ice at the end of regulation. My gut told me that the game was lost right there.

Holden was the worst player on both teams by far. It was absolutely inexcusable at this point in the season.

I don't really know what the hell Holden's done to be worthy of the long leash. That's significantly more confusing to me than the G/Staal burn (which I still think is absurd).

He insists on playing the worst pair we've had all year and playing a lot in the playoffs, when you have a shitty but better option of either breaking them up or playing Klein. Then he plays them in the final seconds. To say I've had it with him would be an understatement.

Would rather have lost 4-2 in a game where we just got beat and that was that. To lose this game when we were 17 seconds away from leaving Montreal up 2-0 was absolutely crushing.

We got totally worked in OT. Absolutely zero possession. Just chasing, chasing, and chasing. Worst possible way to lose.

Henrik deserved so much better.

AV needs to replace Holden with Klein. We've all seen enough. It's time to make that change.

Brendan Smith was terrific again in this game. He's a really nice 2nd pair d-man.

Just a killer fucking loss when we had them beat.

Gotta put it behind us and take care of business at home. Impossible to know where the series will go from here - but I really hope we don't have to look back at this game as the one responsible for losing the series. Such a kick in the fucking balls.

Clendening should be playing. But, I do agree Holden shouldn't play another second this post season. He was the worst player on the ice, by far, for us.

That's all

Most of us agree clendening is the most effective player of the 3 as he at least moves and possesses the puck well. But AV doesn't trust him so it's a non starter. Klein is safer in AVs eyes

Klein isn't much - but he's better than Holden. Hell I'd take stampfer over Holden. NH hasn't played at a professional level since January when his shot pct was north of 20%

one of our home games is Easter Sunday. Hope the place can still be lit.

I'll be at game 4.

We need to play so much better.

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The contract extension given to Rangers’ depth defenseman Steven Kampfer was less about the player he is and more about how much coach Alain Vigneault believes the most important attribute of a modern NHL defenseman is his skating ability.

NY Post - ( New Window )

In comment 13429502 BrettNYG10 said:

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Quote: The contract extension given to Rangers’ depth defenseman Steven Kampfer was less about the player he is and more about how much coach Alain Vigneault believes the most important attribute of a modern NHL defenseman is his skating ability. NY Post - ( New Window )

That's hardly a modern philosophy. Many old school coaches all the way back to youth hockey would make their best skaters defenseman. They'd be able to still generate offense and help on the back end too. Much of my career the best skaters on my team were on D. I was always a forward until senior year in high school and then college when I switched to D.

Players like Leetch, Orr, Bourque, Karlsson, Coffey, Housley, etc. are/were probably the best skater on their teams all through their careers.

In this era though if you do that in a vacuum, you wind up with guys like Shattenkirk or Yandle which are needed but you can't win with those guys as your best D, and while I agree with AV in general you need stout defenseman too.

Yes, Habs outplayed Rangers, but they still were seconds away from being down 2-0. The bottom line is always the score, right? So, in a sense, when you score with seconds left to tie, you have to consider that very fortunate and very unlikely.

Habs big advantage is in their coach. Can't wait for game 3, but more importantly, tonight's game. GLG

to talk about the wicked cross check Weber gave Grabner as he's about to get the puck out right before the goal, or will pj yell at us? Cause that's about as blatant as it gets. Weber is such a sneaky dirty player.

I guess I give him credit for knowing they're never gonna call anything in that spot. Wish Holden would do the same once he loses his stick and just wrap up Plekanac but instead he decides to go to his knees in the crease.

In comment 13429586 Kyle in NY said:

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to talk about the wicked cross check Weber gave Grabner as he's about to get the puck out right before the goal, or will pj yell at us? Cause that's about as blatant as it gets. Weber is such a sneaky dirty player. I guess I give him credit for knowing they're never gonna call anything in that spot. Wish Holden would do the same once he loses his stick and just wrap up Plekanac but instead he decides to go to his knees in the crease.

You can talk about whatever you want. Will you talk about the cross check Andrew Shaw took in the head in front of the net or Galchenyuk being tackled in front of the net, I don't dwell on those calls, I don't mean to seem defensive, you can talk about anything you want, this is America.

I will also talk about it though, sorry if you disagree with me and if my opinion offends you, but i'm not sorry.

I've never really heard Weber called dirty, though he is very physical and sometimes people confuse the two. But again, you can have whatever opinion you want.

probably pissed me off more than any other non-call.

for letting me know I can have any opinion I want, I wasn't sure.

You are right though, there's never been any talk about Weber being dirty. It was super tough of him though to pick a fight with the smaller JT Miller and then continue throwing punches on the ice when his jersey is pulled over his head.
Clean player - ( New Window )

In comment 13429591 shockeyisthebest8056 said:

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probably pissed me off more than any other non-call.

Zuc is so short, that is why it went to the head.

In comment 13429613 Kyle in NY said:

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for letting me know I can have any opinion I want, I wasn't sure. You are right though, there's never been any talk about Weber being dirty. It was super tough of him though to pick a fight with the smaller JT Miller and then continue throwing punches on the ice when his jersey is pulled over his head. Clean player - ( New Window )

I think Weber went off on Miller to,fire up,the fans even more. Trying to be a leader, you know. Hey, losing him for 5 minutes helped Rangers.

Pj, I found it funny because there's a massive disconnect between what AV says and his usage. Guys like Staal/Girardi/Holden have been given priority over others. I know I value Yandle more than you, but I think we both agreed (or would have, if you cared enough to have an opinion) that Yandle was a better option last year for NYR than G/Staal, yet AV kept giving the others premium ice time.

He's a hard-nosed guy who can play as gritty as the game/series dictates. Right now I hate him, of course, but he's everything the rangers lack on defense and I think he's a respectable guy.

The only player in the series who I'd actually label as a dirty player is Shaw. Guys like him, Marchand, Gudas are the jerkoffs who are liable to get someone severely injured with their antics and I don't think the league comes down nearly hard enough on them in general.

If guys are going to continue to come in hot to the crease on whistles, I'm fine with no calls on the hits they take -- both ways -- within reason. The check to Shaw's head was right on the margin for me -- probably should have been called, but the hit wasn't really high...he was kind of down low and a hit at normal height caught him in the head.

Disclaimer -- I haven't re-watched the Shaw hit today so I'm working on recall.