Enjoy your glazed fucking ham and stinky hard boiled eggs. Digest that crap it's time to focus on what matters. Drop the puck....let's fucking go already. No bullshit tonight. No 15 seconds away horse crap. No crying over vaginal mesh therapy and shitty fucking refs. Win the fucking game and put that shit stained dirty toilet seat franchise on notice. Time for the blueshirts to play a sixty minute hockey game and mushroom stamp Montreal right in the face.
The stats don't tell the tale. They say we're even. IMHO, we've been getting outplayed big time these past two games. Be very interesting to see what unfolds tonight.
The stats don't tell the tale. They say we're even. IMHO, we've been getting outplayed big time these past two games. Be very interesting to see what unfolds tonight.
You're a Habs fan but you think your team has been outplayed? Game 1 was a dead heat. Same shots, high quality scoring chances, etc.
Habs took NYR to the woodshed in game 2. Lundqvist the only reason you didnt win by 3 goals.
Galchenyuk up to 3rd line center with Shaw and Lehkonen. I like that line.
Martinsen out for Torrey Mitchell who will center Dwight King and Steve Ott on the 4th line.
Nesterov out for Brandon Davidson.
I approve all three changes, but Davidson is only around because of the injury to Emelin. Emelin is spotty, but kind of a big loss because Nesterov and Davidson both are ideally healthy scratches. This will be Davidson's 1st playoff game.
Should be a great game if it's anything like the last two.
(Preferably repeatedly!) about his D pairings? Seriously questioned on the likes of Holden & Staal? I've read all sorts of articles since Fri nights disaster & I don't see 1 beat reporter calling him out on his D decisions? (are his questions "selected"? Is he protected...? (at least from the hack Brooks!!)
Like Why do you refuse to play Clendening? What do you see in Holden that keeps him in the lineup? Then site a few of his most hideous fuck-ups over the last 2 months!! He calls out CK today (rightfully so!!) but nary a word about Staal, Holden & DG (though I guess DG has been "better"...)
I know not much to choose from on D I guess... I dunno I'm VERY FRUSTRATED!!! 17 F'in seconds!!!
I mean if he would just give Smith and skjei 2nd pair minutes and keep Staal and Holden's minutes to a minimum that'd be an improvement!
Shoot EVERYTHING on Net, get bodies in front (swing a 2nd F thru there with CK/Nasher/Hayes/Lindberg/JT planted) so with D men following there'd potentially be 4-5 bodies in front of Price as the shot is on it's way... (garbage goals off legs, sticks, skates) Weave in & out constantly & BE ACCURATE WITH THE DAMN SHOTS!!! (McD I'm lookin' at You!!)
We need this F'in win tonight & we better see "fur" flying out on the ice!! CK, Step, Zib, JT... (Staal/Holden on D) if these F'in guys played with even 50% of the PASSION & heart Zucc does we wouldn't be in this position!!
on the 3rd pair & leave Smith Skjei alone (as the 2nd pair) No, he's gotta tinker... same for the new lines... WTF is THIS all about??? Obv we'll see how long these combo's last!
The stats don't tell the tale. They say we're even. IMHO, we've been getting outplayed big time these past two games. Be very interesting to see what unfolds tonight.
Habs outplayed the Rangers by a country mile in Game 2. Rangers slightly outplayed the Habs at best in Game 1; it was virtually dead even aside from Price losing attention on Tanner Glass' backhand
If we don't start playing significantly better in our own end and in the neutral zone. Even mcdonaughs turnover while deep in MTLs end led to a dangerous break the other way for MTLs.
are having pucks knocked off our sticks... Like where was Grabs going with that pass when he broke in? or was it knocked off his stick, dribbling into the slot?? We NEED to be smarter with the puck.
Tape to tape passes guys!!! F'in clean it up! Maloney on the radio is saying how we're just all disorganized & running around. I agree!!
Where's the speed, completing passes... How can they not come out with their hair on fire BUZZIN!!!! G-Damn Post!!! FRACK!!!! Loose Pucks are just finding the Habs sticks...
despite the Rangers having 2 PPs. Scoreless after 1. Good saves by Hank in that 1st period
We played like shit (10 to 1 giveaways) but the Rangers did probably have more high quality chances (3 to 2 or 1) in that period. The post shot and Kreider miss of a wide open net don't tally in the shots stats column. I'm not even sure the near miss on the 2nd power play (Nash?) counted as a shot
But I don't know if he'll be ok with being the #3 LHD. Hopefully it'll be fine. Money talks.
Iirc he was a healthy scratch a number of games for Detroit this year so he's a 2 or a 3 But I don't think we will sign both him and shattenkirk (not sure I want KS - St. Louis looks better defensively and all around without him)
But I don't know if he'll be ok with being the #3 LHD. Hopefully it'll be fine. Money talks.
Iirc he was a healthy scratch a number of games for Detroit this year so he's a 2 or a 3 But I don't think we will sign both him and shattenkirk (not sure I want KS - St. Louis looks better defensively and all around without him)
I think two of Nash, Staal and Girardi will be gone. Traded or bought out, which will leave us room to sign both Smith and Shattenkirk. But that's a discussion for another day.
are gassed. When you're gassed you get a little lazy and take penalties, I'd look for that in the 3rd period.
Not sure if it was noticeable to everyone, but before the PP, the entire Canadiens lines on the two shifts prior to the PP were looking at each other to fore check and get to loose pucks.
But price could have taken a nap in that second period.
1 garden goal in 14 playoff periods and counting now. Maybe if we played to our one competitive strength - 4 scoring lines - that might help but then again our top lines have gotten their shit pushed in this series anyway. Mika is costing himself a lot of money as he approaches RFA
this series. This is just an overrated team. There are too many players who are just average. Can they win, sure but which player on the Rangers do you fear?
are gassed. When you're gassed you get a little lazy and take penalties, I'd look for that in the 3rd period.
Not sure if it was noticeable to everyone, but before the PP, the entire Canadiens lines on the two shifts prior to the PP were looking at each other to fore check and get to loose pucks.
Tough to maintain this pace for 60 minutes.
After only 9 periods of playoff hockey? Doesn't seem like it
are gassed. When you're gassed you get a little lazy and take penalties, I'd look for that in the 3rd period.
Not sure if it was noticeable to everyone, but before the PP, the entire Canadiens lines on the two shifts prior to the PP were looking at each other to fore check and get to loose pucks.
Tough to maintain this pace for 60 minutes.
After only 9 periods of playoff hockey? Doesn't seem like it
Players get tired within a single game. Add in the intensity of the playoffs and the pace of play this series so far with the volume of hits I really believe they are gassed.
but just my observation. Little things clued me in - watch Gallagher and Byron.
RE: Zucc got high-sticked and is bleeding but no call
Almost as clear as the no-call on the high stick Giradi gave Zuccarello?
No, that wasn't a penalty, but that was an absolutely blatant hook. You were fortunate. The French Canadians should give the refs oral after this game.
Almost as clear as the no-call on the high stick Giradi gave Zuccarello?
No, that wasn't a penalty, but that was an absolutely blatant hook. You were fortunate. The French Canadians should give the refs oral after this game.
LOL, I saw it real time and no replay, looked like it could have been called, but I'd wait to see it on replay before I'd get outraged. especially with your track record.
Almost as clear as the no-call on the high stick Giradi gave Zuccarello?
No, that wasn't a penalty, but that was an absolutely blatant hook. You were fortunate. The French Canadians should give the refs oral after this game.
LOL, I saw it real time and no replay, looked like it could have been called, but I'd wait to see it on replay before I'd get outraged. especially with your track record.
That's bullshit and you know it. You didn't need replay to see how blatant that was.
You mean playing 3 scoring lines a night when our competitive advantage is 4, sub par high giveaway 44-46% Corsi veteran defenseman all year in meaningless games and now playoffs over young guys with promise, and continuing to roll out the same PP unit that hasn't produced in months isn't working out?
Shocked!!
Season comes down to tuesday night. I do think Stepan, Mika, Kreider Hayes and others need to look themselves in the mirror and decide if they want to be here. Because I think we are or should be very close to an offseason house cleaning if they don't bring it on Tuesday. Two straight years now just getting fucking ass-wiped out there
I knew what happened on Friday night was going to turn into this.
What a fucking gutless performance tonight at home. This team sucks @ MSG. We might not win another game in this series.
Fucking nauseating. Could have had them 2-0 coming home tonight with all the pressure in the world.. instead we gave them life and all the confidence that they can beat us, and now they're going to.
almost scary how similar it is. A bunch of players with no fight, a coach with no answers, I'd be pleasantly surprised if we won another game in this series. They look lost.
And this home playoff streak is flat out embarassing
We finally got one with the empty net, Brady Skjei
at the end of the game Friday night all the more infuriating. Completely flipped the series. Wish I could say a performance like this at home was surprising, but it just isn't and that's sad
What an overrated piece of garbage...said it earlier in the year. I am also done talking about how the Rangers need to use their speed. The Canadiens are a faster team than they are. Also, Vigneault doesn't have this team forecheck at all. They are so passive...they basically let Montreal come out of their zone aND won't touch them until center ice. This series is over.
But I guarantee he's telling these guys to get the puck in deep and establish a forecheck. At some point it's on these guys to have the desire and effort level to go do it. Saw the fourth line do it a few times, once drawing a penalty. Maybe Nash and Zucc too. And that was it. Pathetic
I also feel like we probably overrate a bunch of our players.
The NHL is not the NBA where one LeBron James/Sidney Crosby puts you in the Finals each year.. but the teams that are winning Cups usually have at least one 70 pt player. We didn't even have a 60 pt player this year. We didn't have one 30 goal scorer. Same thing last year... not one 30 goal scorer. Zuccarello just barely hit 60 (61) last season.. and the season before, we also failed to have any player register 60 points.
We haven't had a 70 point player since Gaborik in 2011-12.
We do have a lot of good players. But we don't seem to have any guy who truly elevates in the playoffs.. a true star. Instead, guys like Kreider seem to vanish. Zibinejad.. Hayes.. we're just not getting enough from these guys.
I know Vesey had a solid game 1.. but is this really all we should expect?
Maybe I'm just picking things apart - I don't know. I just feel like you need that player or two that really know how to elevate in these spots and we just don't seem to have it. Henrik has certainly risen to the occasion many times over... but the goalie can't score and when you can barely even score one time on home ice.. there's not much else the guy can do.
while he is streaky, he's pretty consistently shown up in the playoffs and played well. I don't know what the issue is, he doesn't look like the same player.
I also feel like we probably overrate a bunch of our players.
The NHL is not the NBA where one LeBron James/Sidney Crosby puts you in the Finals each year.. but the teams that are winning Cups usually have at least one 70 pt player. We didn't even have a 60 pt player this year. We didn't have one 30 goal scorer. Same thing last year... not one 30 goal scorer. Zuccarello just barely hit 60 (61) last season.. and the season before, we also failed to have any player register 60 points.
We haven't had a 70 point player since Gaborik in 2011-12.
We do have a lot of good players. But we don't seem to have any guy who truly elevates in the playoffs.. a true star. Instead, guys like Kreider seem to vanish. Zibinejad.. Hayes.. we're just not getting enough from these guys.
I know Vesey had a solid game 1.. but is this really all we should expect?
Maybe I'm just picking things apart - I don't know. I just feel like you need that player or two that really know how to elevate in these spots and we just don't seem to have it. Henrik has certainly risen to the occasion many times over... but the goalie can't score and when you can barely even score one time on home ice.. there's not much else the guy can do.
Having a superstar goalie is much worse than having a superstar scorer. I love Hank but it's just not even close.
Jake Guentzel had a hat trick for Pittsburgh tonight and the GWG in OT. Having Crosby or Ovechkin raises the play of the entire team. Having Lundqvist steals you a game in a series, keeps you in games longer... but at some point you need to put the puck in the net.
And God forbid you can get in the fucking building for less than $250 on Easter Sunday. Maybe the place wouldn't sound like a morgue once in a while
They need to overhaul this D. They can't get the puck out of the zone - the forwards keep collapsing, making it harder for them to transition up the ice. Feels like we're consistently seeing four or five guys below the hash marks. No pairing was good tonight. The Canadiens aren't good enough that they should make the Rangers look this silly.
To arc's point above, how often has this team won in the playoffs when Lundqvist wasn't the best player on the ice? The amount of pressure on him each game is enormous.
Also, Julien didn't shell like AV did. Rangers outshot them by 2 in the third.
Sean AveryVerified account @imseanavery
If i sell 5000 copies of #IceCapades by Tue i will sit behind @CanadiensMTL bench and get the entire team off their game. #SixthManAward
It might be a confirmation bias on my behalf.. I just feel like such an enormous percentage of the Rangers' playoff wins are always such a grind. It seems so rare that we give Henrik any breathing room. It feels like he's constantly in a situation where he simply cannot allow a goal and that the entire balance of a game hangs on him having to hold serve or protect a 1 goal lead.
Obviously the playoffs are tight and a lot of games are close, a lot of games are going to be that way - I just can barely recall many games at all where we just jumped out to something like a 3 goal lead early on. That game 7 in Washington in 2013 was like that.. Game 1 in MTL in 2014 was like that (mostly because Price was injured).. but outside of those, I really can't think of many.
It seems like a lot of good teams have a few games here and there throughout a playoff run where they really just take command. Meanwhile, 9 out of every 10 Ranger wins end with a 1 goal lead and the other team putting massive 6 on 5 pressure on and just barely running out of time.
'The French Canadians should give the refs oral after this game'....
yep. Zebras were absolutely horrendous and directly influenced the result. So yeah exactly the opposite of what their job description is. Sadly it's no surprise.
That's the way it is. Maybe a few of those road games where we blew out Tamps before shitting the bed at home in 2015, in addition to the ones you mentioned. But other than that, we sweat out nearly every playoff win.
5 of his 6 Game 7 victories have been by a score of 2-1. He's shouldered an unbelievable burden. He deserves better. But as soon as he has a bad stretch next season some fans will be booing him and questioning him again.
RE: 'The French Canadians should give the refs oral after this game'....
yep. Zebras were absolutely horrendous and directly influenced the result. So yeah exactly the opposite of what their job description is. Sadly it's no surprise.
Disagree Rangers got outplayed, and have been the last 2 games. Hank has kept this a series. Rangers haven't elevated their game to a playoff level yet. They are playing regular season hockey, and they are getting out worked.
I wonder if Kreider's hurt.
BrettNYG10 : 10:43 pm
He's been atrocious.
He's played soft all year. Quitest big man I've ever seen. It's almost as if he fears being labeled an is fighting the perception he's a mean SOB. Which is exactly how he should be playing. Instead we've gotten a big marshmallow powder puff wimp.
That's crap. They've outhit the Habs the last two nights. The problem is our defense blows and the refs are almost as bad as our defense. Which is difficult to fathom. Frankly AV needs to be fired and Gorton too probably. Now I hope we go on a huge run and I have to eat crow as we raise The Cup. But don't hold your breath for it.
That's the way it is. Maybe a few of those road games where we blew out Tamps before shitting the bed at home in 2015, in addition to the ones you mentioned. But other than that, we sweat out nearly every playoff win.
5 of his 6 Game 7 victories have been by a score of 2-1. He's shouldered an unbelievable burden. He deserves better. But as soon as he has a bad stretch next season some fans will be booing him and questioning him again.
Yup. And that's what pisses me off the most. NYR fans who blame him or fans of other teams who minimize his entire career into "well, he can't win a Cup."
It's true that perhaps our cap allocation is structured in a way where paying #30 the big boy money has prevented us from icing the offensive firepower necessary to get all the way to the promised land, but it sure as hell isn't his fault and he's not the reason we keep falling short.
I really don't know what the alternative would be. I don't know how the Rangers could have just decided to move on from Hank at the point where he was due a new deal. Maybe a more unconventional GM would have chosen to take all emotion out of it and use those cap dollars elsewhere... but being realistic, it would have been an incredibly risky move that much of the fan base would have been ready to riot over. And if Hank had gone on to win a Cup elsewhere, it would have turned into bedlam.
It's a shitty double-edged sword, I guess. This team just seems to be what they are. Which isn't good enough to win a Cup.
He has actually played fairly well in this series and he basically won game 1. But the days when the Rangers can just grind it our and have Henrik win it for them are over.
Hiring AV was a great move. He actually got the guys playing a decent offensive game instead of the dump and chase of Tortarella. But extending him was a terrible move--one of the few bad moves Gorton has made.
Gorton is saddled with three bad contracts. I don't know if he can overcome that. But the Rangers have a nice young core. They lack an elite forward like McDavid but they should be competitive for the next several years with the young guys they have.
He has actually played fairly well in this series and he basically won game 1. But the days when the Rangers can just grind it our and have Henrik win it for them are over.
Hiring AV was a great move. He actually got the guys playing a decent offensive game instead of the dump and chase of Tortarella. But extending him was a terrible move--one of the few bad moves Gorton has made.
Gorton is saddled with three bad contracts. I don't know if he can overcome that. But the Rangers have a nice young core. They lack an elite forward like McDavid but they should be competitive for the next several years with the young guys they have.
No longer elite? They would have lost 7-1 if not for Henrik standing on his head.
AV has them playing decent offensive hockey? Did you even watch the last three games?
I'm not sure what's worse. The Rangers last two games. Or your posts.
That's the way it is. Maybe a few of those road games where we blew out Tamps before shitting the bed at home in 2015, in addition to the ones you mentioned. But other than that, we sweat out nearly every playoff win.
5 of his 6 Game 7 victories have been by a score of 2-1. He's shouldered an unbelievable burden. He deserves better. But as soon as he has a bad stretch next season some fans will be booing him and questioning him again.
Yup. And that's what pisses me off the most. NYR fans who blame him or fans of other teams who minimize his entire career into "well, he can't win a Cup."
It's true that perhaps our cap allocation is structured in a way where paying #30 the big boy money has prevented us from icing the offensive firepower necessary to get all the way to the promised land, but it sure as hell isn't his fault and he's not the reason we keep falling short.
I really don't know what the alternative would be. I don't know how the Rangers could have just decided to move on from Hank at the point where he was due a new deal. Maybe a more unconventional GM would have chosen to take all emotion out of it and use those cap dollars elsewhere... but being realistic, it would have been an incredibly risky move that much of the fan base would have been ready to riot over. And if Hank had gone on to win a Cup elsewhere, it would have turned into bedlam.
It's a shitty double-edged sword, I guess. This team just seems to be what they are. Which isn't good enough to win a Cup.
I think the bigger issue is that the Rangers have mismanaged the defense going back to the Stralman decision, and I think Lundqvist has led to flawed analysis back there.
Neither Girardi or Staal get those contracts playing in front of an average goaltender. They're paying $11+ million for guys who are barely NHL'ers at this stage. Outside of 13/14, I don't think the defense was ever as good as its reputation.
Rangers have won 26 playoff games since 2014 and Lundqvist had a +.930 SV% in 23 of those games.
I agree. The Stralman flub was major and the cap dollars being spent on G and Staal could have been much better spent elsewhere.
Those two felt like "loyalty" signings more than anything else which can (and did) turn into cap anchors. Poor management.
Brendan Smith is the type of defenseman that smart GM's will recognize and look to acquire. It's not a 1st pairing player but it's a guy you get quality minutes from and doesn't break the bank. There are some guys like that out there so I'm encouraged that he was the type of guy Gorton targeted. That's how you wind up with guys like Stralman.
I knew what happened on Friday night was going to turn into this.
What a fucking gutless performance tonight at home. This team sucks @ MSG. We might not win another game in this series.
Fucking nauseating. Could have had them 2-0 coming home tonight with all the pressure in the world.. instead we gave them life and all the confidence that they can beat us, and now they're going to.
Fucking infuriating.
That was my feeling exactly on Friday and now it's looking to be true.
He has actually played fairly well in this series and he basically won game 1. But the days when the Rangers can just grind it our and have Henrik win it for them are over.
Hiring AV was a great move. He actually got the guys playing a decent offensive game instead of the dump and chase of Tortarella. But extending him was a terrible move--one of the few bad moves Gorton has made.
Gorton is saddled with three bad contracts. I don't know if he can overcome that. But the Rangers have a nice young core. They lack an elite forward like McDavid but they should be competitive for the next several years with the young guys they have.
No longer elite? They would have lost 7-1 if not for Henrik standing on his head.
AV has them playing decent offensive hockey? Did you even watch the last three games?
I'm not sure what's worse. The Rangers last two games. Or your posts.
I'm leaning towards the latter.
The last 3 games the Rangers haven't been playing anything near their game all season. They are trying to match the Habs' physicality. While, the hitting has been great, they don't have the team for that and they aren't going to score like that.
He has actually played fairly well in this series and he basically won game 1. But the days when the Rangers can just grind it our and have Henrik win it for them are over.
Hiring AV was a great move. He actually got the guys playing a decent offensive game instead of the dump and chase of Tortarella. But extending him was a terrible move--one of the few bad moves Gorton has made.
Gorton is saddled with three bad contracts. I don't know if he can overcome that. But the Rangers have a nice young core. They lack an elite forward like McDavid but they should be competitive for the next several years with the young guys they have.
No longer elite? They would have lost 7-1 if not for Henrik standing on his head.
AV has them playing decent offensive hockey? Did you even watch the last three games?
I'm not sure what's worse. The Rangers last two games. Or your posts.
I'm leaning towards the latter.
Reread the post. Maybe word by word, so you can actually respond to what I wrote.
That's crap. They've outhit the Habs the last two nights. The problem is our defense blows and the refs are almost as bad as our defense. Which is difficult to fathom. Frankly AV needs to be fired and Gorton too probably. Now I hope we go on a huge run and I have to eat crow as we raise The Cup. But don't hold your breath for it.
I'm not talking about hits, I'm talking races to pucks, board battles, and positioning. MTL sends guys to the net, they forecheck, and have gotten many more quality scoring chances. Their defense is nothing special besides Weber yet we can't get quality looks. If the Rangers want to score they need to get bodies in front of Price and stop trying to make perfect passes and just fire the puck. I could care less about hits, I care about the score.
the series isn't 3 - 0 and should probably be 2 - 1 the other way. But the good news for Rangers fans is it's just 2 - 1, lots of hockey left this series.
For those who didn't know hockey players are probably the toughest athletes in the planet.
Zack werenski had a Phil Kessel shot roll up his stick and smash into his face. Stitches and back for the 3rd. His teammates busted his balls for wearing a full shield when he returned. Needs to work on his playoff beard though. LOL. He is only 19 though, pretty sure I would probably have the same amount of facial hair then too.
He has actually played fairly well in this series and he basically won game 1. But the days when the Rangers can just grind it our and have Henrik win it for them are over.
So, he basically won Game 1 for us, a game where we ground out a win. Then he stood on his head in Game 2 in a loss.
So, the days are over where we can grind it out, even though we just did it 5 days ago? LOL.
to the net. At the very least they need to get some net front presence before they keep taking these perimeter shots. Price is going to save the shots from last night 99 times out of 100.
Game 1 the Rangers kept Montreal outside and made things easy for Lundqvist. Now look at them.. They're driving the net and willing to pay the price to make a play.
That was an unbelievably poor and uninspired effort last night.
Unrelated... I hope this series illustrates to management what moves need to happen this offseason. Klein is cooked. Holden is a jag. Brendan Smith needs to be retained. A d-man to help the PP and generate some offense would go a long ways...
A bunch of us said three years ago what a mistake it was
to sign both Girardi and Staal to big contract extensions, and that's exactly what's killing them now. They're saddled with these two guys who are now pale shadows of the players they were 5 years ago. The defense is the worst of any playoff team.
And yeah, the Rangers' forwards are deep but lack a singular scoring talent......which is why it's mind-numbingly stupid to put anything but the best possible team on the ice. Fast is a fourth liner, period. Glass is not an NHL player. Holden is a 7th defenseman. Etc, etc.
I think the lack of elite talent would be fine if they had at least an average defense. It's a bit of a virtuous cycle - they get crushed in their zone and by the time they carry the puck up they have to change, so they rather dump it with no forecheck or carry it in with no support. Nash tried to go one on four multiple times because he had no choice.
Also, both Stepan and Zibanejad have played poorly.
Time & SPACE... I've noticed over the last 2 months
opposing coaches/teams are on us immediately when we get the puck. On the PP & 5 on 5... we just have ZERO Time to gather & pass or shoot & that comes from not scaring anyone with our O. I don't know how many times in the last 3 games MTL players we able to get their sticks on ours from behind knocking the puck away, or in front of incoming passes. Forget the F'in PP... not until the other team is tired by the 3rd period/OT do they "allow" us to set up and take shots on net. (or pass & pass & pass some more as is the case with this squad!!) Yet we sit back in a box and allow the shots & passes with impunity... The team gets fustrated & it only compounds as the minutes pass into periods played until it's too late.
Standouts on the positive side for the rangers, but Lindberg has been one of the more effective Rangers...and he played under 10 minutes last night.
AV's decisions with the lines simply do not compute. Even if Glass hasn't been abysmal viewed in isolation, clearly his presence is a drag on the ability to roll 4 lines.
Put Buch in the lineup in a top 9 spot to hopefully spark something esp on the PP, and make a 4th line of Vesey Lindberg Fast. That line can play minutes, take draws at either end of the ice, and be a pain in the ass to play against.
Nash Step Zucc
Buch Ziba Kreider (can we please see this line one fucking time again?)
Miller Hayes Grabner
Vesey Lindberg Fast
It seems like we've seen every set of combinations from AV except for the ones that make the most sense.
I hated the coaching even more. You want Glass out there to add some grit to the 4th line? I get it... I don't like it but I get it... But when things go south in the 3rd period and we're pushing for goals your solution is lets bump up Glass and Fast to scoring lines? Get the fuck out of here... I'm over AV and his loyalty to the grit and the TH'ers.
What they did in the first month or two of the season was working beautifully - why has Vigneault never gone back to that?
The rest of league eventually catches up with the offensive approach and I think it's safe to say the stretch passing and speed game are easily nullified especially in the playoffs where it's a much tighter game. Clog up the neutral zone and suddenly they have no answers. That, and losing faceoff after faceoff in the D zone where they'll collapse into their defensive structure and end up spending long periods of time chasing the puck.
we faced a lot of playoff teams from the prior year still hungover and out of shape. Our speed game caught teams off guard, but catch up was inevitable especially since our shooting percentages were off the charts. I liken it to the chip Kelly eagles teams which always looked great in September.
But we were overall a terrific team through 60 games and then based on one poor performance (interestingly, Montreal) in early March the coach (and by all accounts, GM) panics and takes away this team's best competitive strength - e.g., 4 scoring lines.
Interestingly we benched TG for a few games later in March and played pretty well in Minnesota, in LA, and others.
Not saying this is on #15 - he's been ok, had the goal in game 1, etc. This is only a discussion because guys like Stepan, Hayes, Kreider and Mika are no shows yet again.
We are supposed to just enjoy this "run" and discuss the coach and the players future after its over - in fairness, we are only down 2 games to 1 with game 4 at home tuesday. The nail isnt in the coffin quite yet.
But man does this feel a lot like last year's April so far.
got that entire sentence out without a grammatical error or blatant misuse of the English language. He's awful
But yes, the Rangers were terrible.
It looks like his head blew up like a balloon and he does struggle getting words out, Anson Carter looks like a mensa member next to Roenick but I really only leave the channel on for Kathryn Tappen.
did suggest that I'd consider at this point - at least it was creative, is the Rangers should consider having their team stay at a hotel the night before game 4. Just to change things up, get out of the home game routine.
They're so solid on the road, and have a home-game losing streak.
I thought it made sense to try, home ice failures get so scrutinized like this players start pressing and their games usually suffer when that happens and stuff snowballs.
I think they should try scoring more goals than the Habs.
did suggest that I'd consider at this point - at least it was creative, is the Rangers should consider having their team stay at a hotel the night before game 4. Just to change things up, get out of the home game routine.
They're so solid on the road, and have a home-game losing streak.
I thought it made sense to try, home ice failures get so scrutinized like this players start pressing and their games usually suffer when that happens and stuff snowballs.
JR couldn't have come up with that all on his own ...He must have been listening to Valiquette in the post game.
RE: I think they should try scoring more goals than the Habs.
Do the Rangers have a specials coach? Canadiens is Kirk Muller (new this year) and he had a good reputation as a specials coach.
I'm not a big fan of his approach, I'd prefer a more modern 4 forwards and a D alignment, but the results have been "good enough" he doesn't get much criticism.
I believe Arniel coaches the PP and Beuk coaches the PK, but neither
Tortarella quote on Werenski coming back in to the game.
He's now out for the season, he cracked his orbital bone on that play and it's swelled up so bad he can't see.
tough loss, but I missed that series completely. Pens look beaten up a little toward the end of the year and lost letang. the jackets play with a ton of energy I figured poor matchup for the pens, wrong.
On the first PP at practice today. Holden back in with Staal. If Clendening just isn't an option, then this is the best way to go because Klein is absolutely cooked. But it needs to be the 3rd pair
On the first PP at practice today. Holden back in with Staal. If Clendening just isn't an option, then this is the best way to go because Klein is absolutely cooked. But it needs to be the 3rd pair
Bobrovsky is sinking CBJ in this series. Great regular season goalie who is now starting to compile some ugly playoff numbers. All five goals last night were questionable. Also Crosby is unfortunately fantastic. For his latest trick he's turned Jake fucking Guentzel into a legit playoff scorer
Kyle, there was a well thought-out article (heavily fancy stats-based) that made the argument the NHL struggles evaluating dmen as a whole, which I totally agree with. I think the article used NYR as an example as well.
I think analyzing dmen is really hard. I think the Staal/Girardi obsession is just inexcusable, though. There were multiple times where Staal/G's partner had to skate to the opposite side of the ice to recover a puck/defend a player that should have been handled by 5/18. I don't know how those things don't drive a coaching staff crazy.
Get guys who can move the puck up the ice and the offensive woes will solve themselves IMO.
BTW, I saw someone comp Smith to a pre-eye injury Marc Staal. I thought that was sort of an interesting one.
But the information is out there and they seem willfully ignorant to it. From all indications we're one of the least analytically inclined organizations in the league. Even the most rudimentary of metrics could have changed their perspective in the Stralman/Girardi/Staal decisions
But the thing that gets me is it's not even an analytics thing when it comes to our defense, this season at least. The simple "eye test" is all you need to see who should and shouldn't be out there right now. I'll give Girardi credit for playing a simple, physical game so far (I certainly enjoyed that hit on Shaw). But the foot speed and puck management for half of these guys is just brutal. It doesn't take an advanced hockey eye to be able to evaluate this defense right now. I don't understand how a successful NHL coach can re-watch these games and not see it
Yes, I dont totally trust Clendening's strong possession numbers because he's lived such sheltered minutes all year, including something like 75% of face-offs in the O-zone... but he's better than the other two guys and if nothing else, you give him valuable experience recognizing we were a long shot this year regardless.
But as we've discussed many times, the growing pains for guys like Clendening was the past several months, not now. AV simply doesnt like him - Clendening going to the press and complaining about the benching (I agreed with Adam, but not the right way to go about it) probably permanently put him in AV's doghouse.
But at this point i'd take Kampfen over Klein/Holden too. Cant possibly play worse.
Regardless of who AV goes with - hopefully Clendening or Kampfen.. but the other guys too... we should only be talking about a 3rd pair that plays 8-10 minutes on tuesday regardless.
We need to lean on McD/Skjei/Smith and I guess (by default) Girardi more than we have. Combined they need to log 45-50 regulation minutes.
Forwards have zero support upon zone entry because the other two are playing so deep in their own zone because the D can't win board battles or make effective outlet passes.
I also think AV's system is causing huge issues this series (for both the forwards and D). Maybe adjustments would just be Febreeze on dog shit, but I think his system is leading to some of the ice tilting.
I don't know what they'll do (and also, the team's only down 2-1), but there's no reason they can't change their mind on AV if they get blown out these next two games. I doubt the extension plays a role in the decision.
I don't know what they'll do (and also, the team's only down 2-1), but there's no reason they can't change their mind on AV if they get blown out these next two games. I doubt the extension plays a role in the decision.
No, but it does show a level of confidence management has in him
success I think the series would have a different tone.
As bad as yesterday seemed, MTL had only the 2 PP goals before Radulov sealed it.
If the Rangers kept up their end on specials they'd be winning the series 2 - 1 or better.
That's the most correctable part of the game IMO.
Also it does seem like the Rangers are missing at least one at least JAG NHL caliber defenseman.
I think you need to look back at the deadline for that. A lot of D-men changed teams, for very low prices.
The Canadiens got Benn who has been very solid, for Pateryn (healthy scratch most of the year) and a 4th. Nesterov who wouldn't help, he's terrible, but who knows (for a 6th) and Davidson (no relation) for Desharnais - and I thought Davidson was good last night, surprisingly for Desharnais, and getting rid of Desharnais was addition by subtraction. He was a max effort guy, but you only need so many 5' 7" players.
Expecting them to suddenly figure out what's wrong now when they couldn't do it for years and years seems....unlikely.
On the season they were ranked 10th in the league and produced around 20% on the PP.
They just need to produce at that same level or close in the PO's. I don't see why that's unreasonable.
Don't get me wrong, I hope they get blanked the whole series, but I think it's fixable.
like what Julien/Muller did b/c MTL was also struggling on the PP and he put Lehkonen and Shaw with Plekanec (who hasn't been on the PP all season) on the PP1 and then Galchenyuk with Radulov and Pacioretty and it worked.
I know a lot of specials is 2nd guessing, when it works you're a genius, but I like shaking things up in certain situations - not panicking, but shaking up a PP unit is one area I support. It's low risk, potential high reward. Complacency is the worst.
I can only imagine what that locker room would have been like if Tortarella was the Rangers coach.
but that face off drop by the linesman before the penalty looked very awkward. Seemed like he let the MTL guy get a head start and he actually threw JT off balance. Thought it should have been a re-do, maybe with the MTL player tossed from the dot
Given how bad NYR looked, it's easy to forget that it was tied at zero very late in the 2nd. Such an asinine penalty by Miller.
A penalty similar to the Galchenyuk penalty in Game 1 that I believe PJ referred to as, and I'm paraphrasing, weak or never called.
I didn't see Galchenyuk use his hand on the draw. I thought they called him for a 2nd faceoff encroachment. Which is also a penalty, but rarely, if ever, called. Almost never in the playoffs in my experience.
Galchenyuk definitely deserved the faceoff violation, once I saw the replay.
Which I'm not sure where you guys are watching these games, if you have MSG broadcasting, but I get a NBC station (USA or NBC Sports) for most and they don't show replays.
I was wrong on that and got very little explanation.
Given how bad NYR looked, it's easy to forget that it was tied at zero very late in the 2nd. Such an asinine penalty by Miller.
A penalty similar to the Galchenyuk penalty in Game 1 that I believe PJ referred to as, and I'm paraphrasing, weak or never called.
I didn't see Galchenyuk use his hand on the draw. I thought they called him for a 2nd faceoff encroachment. Which is also a penalty, but rarely, if ever, called. Almost never in the playoffs in my experience.
Galchenyuk definitely deserved the faceoff violation, once I saw the replay.
Which I'm not sure where you guys are watching these games, if you have MSG broadcasting, but I get a NBC station (USA or NBC Sports) for most and they don't show replays.
I was wrong on that and got very little explanation.
Yeah, watching on MSG.
It's how we saw the double rape on Nash that wasn't called before Weber's goal.
Renney was horrible, then of coarse Tortorella was bad, and now AV is a bad coach, of coarse his record says different, and Torts has won a cup, but no matter, it's all the coaches fault, never the players. Look, I am not saying AV is the greatest coach, but come on already, the players play the game, it's on them to play well, they were flat from the start, along with the flat fans, the overrated Ranger fans were horrible last night, boo at the end, fine, but where was the noise last night, where was the effort and energy from the players, they SUCKED and were flat looking dead like they were lifeless, and I am sick of Kreider, he is a guy that just does not seem to give two fucks, and Miller is plain old stupid, which is why his ass is on the 4th line, his fault, his doing's. Sickening is what the Rangers were last night.
which i'm sure has been beaten to death in more technical fashion than laymen is that the Rangers just looked to be one step slow, one step behind and one step out of sorts. It appeared to me that Montreal just had the better game plan. But the Rangers were also just plain bad. I still can't process what the Rangers were doing with the puck last night. Bad passes or worse, ill advised passes that had no chance to get through. Forget the lines or changes or pairings. To me the Rangers just looked like I was summoned in to coach the game last night. I haven't seen them look that bad against a beatable foe in years.
What was there to cheer about last night? How can you complain about
I liked both Renney and Torts a ton. I understood why Renney had to go, and also understood when Torts was fired. I don't think the 13/14 Rangers make the SCF with Torts as coach.
Sutter's a great two-time Cup winner and he was just canned.
but I fucking warned everyone here about wacking Torts. He had his faults to be sure and pretty much sealed his fate but they didn't HAVE to fire Torts.
AV had a good early run here and I issued a mea culpa of sorts but Torts has the better body of work. He's simply a better HC than AV ever was or will be. Maybe it reached the point of no return here and Slats had no choice, but I will always wonder.
Coaches run their course in this league. Even some really good ones. It happens. Torts had to go at the time. I think AV was the right hire when we hired him - but I think he's starting to pretty quickly run his course as well.
Sutter got fired, Julien got fired, Trotz got fired, Laviolette got fired, etc. You can go around the league. Mike Babcock-esque runs with the Red Wings are extremely rare and he's not even there anymore.
We wouldn't have been any better off keeping Torts around.
And their exit in the playoffs that season was as ugly as this one is shaping up to be. Boston destroyed us and Hank kept us in the series (again).
It was the right move to let Torts go and it was the right move to bring in AV, who got us playing a more progressive style and did a good job developing a number of young forwards. But it may also be the right time to move on from AV, or at least make next season a bit of a do or die situation. No American sport has coaching turnover like the NHL so it's not without precedent
I read that both Zetterburg and Datsyuk hated Babcock
is probably the current coach with the longest track record, and this is his 3rd stop. And who knows if they lose in the first round this year with back to back playoff embarrassments his days could be numbered.
Heck even Scotty Bowman won 9 cups, with three different teams (three winning cups) while coaching 5 teams in his career.
Agree with others, NHL is definitely a league where coaching turns over, out of necessity.
Listless and just a complete shit show, made game 2 an even bigger nut punch than it was at the time.
I read an article in either NYDN or NYP today (on my phone) about the game, and it was said that since the renovation, MSG has been one of the quietest arenas. Is that really true? I never got that impression, although, granted, I'd only been to a small handful of games prior to that season (maybe like 5 across 5 years).
Coaches run their course in this league. Even some really good ones. It happens. Torts had to go at the time. I think AV was the right hire when we hired him - but I think he's starting to pretty quickly run his course as well.
Sutter got fired, Julien got fired, Trotz got fired, Laviolette got fired, etc. You can go around the league. Mike Babcock-esque runs with the Red Wings are extremely rare and he's not even there anymore.
We wouldn't have been any better off keeping Torts around.
Listless and just a complete shit show, made game 2 an even bigger nut punch than it was at the time.
I read an article in either NYDN or NYP today (on my phone) about the game, and it was said that since the renovation, MSG has been one of the quietest arenas. Is that really true? I never got that impression, although, granted, I'd only been to a small handful of games prior to that season (maybe like 5 across 5 years).
Hard to say. Ask hudson.
Personally i dont think home ice means all that much in the SC Playoffs. And Montreal, not just this series, but in general has had no problem winning at MSG over the years. Especially Carey Price.
Its a tough match up for us for whatever reason (of course, Pittsburgh, Washington and CBJ are too so... either get better this offseason or start retooling/reloading... because this does feel like a waste of everyone's time)
but gotta say - and I'm sure Greg will say 'told ya so' based on two close games so far - this Caps/Leafs series has been entertaining as hell. Still think Caps win this one in 6, but Leafs looked really good first two games. unfortunately Anderson gave up one of the softer playoff goals i've ever seen to end game 1, otherwise who knows right now.
as much as most Canadiens fans, but I hate the Bruins more than most so it evens out I guess.
That said, Toronto is such a fun team to watch. I knew how good Matthews could be, but the other guys like Marner, Nylander, Hyman, Kapanen, Rielly, etc. are so good, fast, relentless.
Matthews and Marner are 19, Kapanen and Nylander are 20.
that's the kind of youth that can give fans hope, and when you experience early success it feeds the fire.
And while I'm no Babcock fan and even if Chelios is right that no veteran free agent wants to go there and play (I believe it is true for those with options), you're basically filling in pieces for the next couple years.
They can be very good, very soon, for a long time.
If I had to bet on one team winning a Cup over the next five years, I'd put it on TOR. If they had another top pairing caliber dman, I'd think they'd be a contender already.
Listless and just a complete shit show, made game 2 an even bigger nut punch than it was at the time.
I read an article in either NYDN or NYP today (on my phone) about the game, and it was said that since the renovation, MSG has been one of the quietest arenas. Is that really true? I never got that impression, although, granted, I'd only been to a small handful of games prior to that season (maybe like 5 across 5 years).
Hard to say. Ask hudson.
Personally i dont think home ice means all that much in the SC Playoffs. And Montreal, not just this series, but in general has had no problem winning at MSG over the years. Especially Carey Price.
Its a tough match up for us for whatever reason (of course, Pittsburgh, Washington and CBJ are too so... either get better this offseason or start retooling/reloading... because this does feel like a waste of everyone's time)
Doesn't sound that way on TV.
OT, love the new organ tunes this season. Sounds like Yankee Stadium.
The atmosphere in Toronto right now is incredible. MSG was so fucking embarrassing last night. Not that the team gave the fans anything to cheer for.. but this is what playoff hockey should be like.
The atmosphere in Toronto right now is incredible. MSG was so fucking embarrassing last night. Not that the team gave the fans anything to cheer for.. but this is what playoff hockey should be like.
Would be nice to hear that level of noise in MSG but as we all know comparing the two fan bases is not an apples to apples equation. I was at the game last night and I don't think it was as bad as its being made out to be. The crowd was charged up early on, but as you can probably imagine, the longer it went the more on edge and tense everyone became. It wouldn't have hurt matters if we scored early.
nasty slash to Backes hand sending him to the lockerrom. Would be surprised if it isn't broken. This should signal a certain response from a certain poster.
The atmosphere in Toronto right now is incredible. MSG was so fucking embarrassing last night. Not that the team gave the fans anything to cheer for.. but this is what playoff hockey should be like.
Would be nice to hear that level of noise in MSG but as we all know comparing the two fan bases is not an apples to apples equation. I was at the game last night and I don't think it was as bad as its being made out to be. The crowd was charged up early on, but as you can probably imagine, the longer it went the more on edge and tense everyone became. It wouldn't have hurt matters if we scored early.
Yeah - like I said, the team literally gave the crowd nothing to cheer for last night. It was a pathetic game all-around. Just can't help but be a bit jealous of the energy in this building compared to our fucking morgue.
upper bowl have gone up precipitously the last two seasons, and it's going up something like 15% for next season. It's eroding the season ticket holders and staunch fans who have been there for years.
You rarely sit next to the same people as they're either shared group season tickets or season ticket holders who will sell a good precentage of their tickets to support a playoff run. Some won't even show up for first round playoff games as they'll sell them on the secondary market or Craigslist and make a bundle for later rounds. The problem is obvious and it's not going to get any better with the ticket prices trending up in the so-called more aftordable sections. That, my friends, is the new MSG.
I was taking a little shot at myself for falling back into the trap of thinking "this is finally the year for the Caps..." after saying all year long that they'd almost certainly do the same thing they do every year in the playoffs... disappoint.
I think I started drinking some of the MAB kool-aid.
You're right, though.. there's a lot of series left there.
There's a lot of series left for us, too. But much like Caps fans - it's hard not to have that sense of impending doom like we already know where it's headed.
is their series has been a dead heat (3 OTs that could have gone either way)... whereas we've lost both on the scoreboard and in any metric you can look at pretty decisively the last two games.
I was also a little more respectful of MTL than most on here - including PJ - when healthy that was a 115 point pace team all year. We look like shit, but i'm crediting Montreal too... they're playing well and well coached.
So we're playing a better team than the Caps.
I still think Caps win that series in 6 or 7, but wow am I impressed with how good the Leafs look in that series. Have the Caps played that bad? No, i just think the Leafs look terrific.
You just knew Chicago wasnt going to roll over and die
A Caps choke will be the storyline but Toronto has earned this lead. They've shown no fear. Three rookies with 60+ points, Matthews with 40 goals at 18-19 years old. Scary looking team. Tanking works, folks
You could potentially have both 8 seeds taking out the 1 seed in each conference. Huge OT down in Nashville putting the Hawks on the brink of elimination. You would never see such parity in any sport.
They got their asses handed to them outside of about 5 minutes, badly out shot at home. Got a nice PP goal, but the other two were fortunate bounce type goals. Even after coming back from a 3 goal deficit they were unable to carry the play and Ottawa was the better team on the ice.
Shitty call in OT, I would have let it go, but they were the second best team on the ice. Tired of listening to their fans bitch. Just stick to throwing shit at the opposing teams as they leave the ice, it's what they do best. Bunch of classless dickbags.
is their series has been a dead heat (3 OTs that could have gone either way)... whereas we've lost both on the scoreboard and in any metric you can look at pretty decisively the last two games.
I was also a little more respectful of MTL than most on here - including PJ - when healthy that was a 115 point pace team all year. We look like shit, but i'm crediting Montreal too... they're playing well and well coached.
So we're playing a better team than the Caps.
I still think Caps win that series in 6 or 7, but wow am I impressed with how good the Leafs look in that series. Have the Caps played that bad? No, i just think the Leafs look terrific.
The Leafs crushed them in the 3rd and OT. Scoring chances were like 12-3, IIRC. The games have been largely even, but Washington was getting killed at the end.
I agree with your overall point, Toronto is really impressive.
But they're down 0-3 now. I doubt they win that series. Shut out at home 2x in a row to start the series and then an OTL in a must-win on the road. Not looking good for them.
But when you have a nice handful of recent hardware, it's probably a lot easier to digest.
Poor Calgary fans.. that was a massive choke job last night. Up 4-1 and you lose 5-4 in OT. That was the series right there. They can't win in Anaheim anyway but at least they had a chance if they had been able to hold on. That series is over now. Those poor fans were in shock.
Some of those goals let in by Elliott were horrible
But they're down 0-3 now. I doubt they win that series. Shut out at home 2x in a row to start the series and then an OTL in a must-win on the road. Not looking good for them.
But when you have a nice handful of recent hardware, it's probably a lot easier to digest.
Poor Calgary fans.. that was a massive choke job last night. Up 4-1 and you lose 5-4 in OT. That was the series right there. They can't win in Anaheim anyway but at least they had a chance if they had been able to hold on. That series is over now. Those poor fans were in shock.
Yup as is typical I post that when Chicago is cruising up 2-0 in the third period and they proceed after the post to shit the bed. Thankfully I don't particularly care for Chicago.
With all these upsets it would sure be nice if nyr would show up. The overwhelming favorite after this round could be a Pittsburgh team playing without letang. Frustrating. Wouldn't surprise me if Montreal went on a finals run here.
No matter what anyone says, you can't convince me that the ghosts of playoffs past aren't waltzing through the minds of the Caps. How could it not? This is supposedly the best team in franchise history, a clear favorite to win the Cup, and just like that they're down 1-2 in the series. Air Canada Centre is going to be a madhouse in game 4 and there is virtually nothing in the Caps' history to give anyone confidence that they have the mental toughness to overcome this.
I think they can/will beat Montreal. Not sure Ottawa would though. Bad match-up. It would look like Pittsburgh is the most likely team to get through the East unfortunately.
Didn't you have a championship game last night pj? Suck it.
I don't think the Habs can win it all unless Price gets hot.
I think the Preds can make a serious run. I think they've got a much better team than their record suggested.
We lost 3- 2. We had 8 skaters. It's school vacation week in MA and my team is all 40 year olds with kids and most of the teams we play are 20-somethings, so we were out-manned.
We were in the winners bracket (it's double elim) and had no losses yet in the playoffs so if we won last night we'd be champs, because we lost we have to play next Monday.
He's been one of our best forwards this series and the last few games of the year so.. yeah not sure. Still expect him to play because I don't see an alternative, unless Glass and Buch both are in the lineup LOL
but again, Torts was fired for losing in 5 games in the 2nd not 1st round to an awesome Bruins team red-hot off their comeback win against Toronto (they proceeded to sweep Pittsburgh the following round). We played that series without Staal, without Stralman, and with torn rotator cuffs to Hagelin and Callahan while Nash played with an injured hip. We were outclassed, but also injured as fuck with Hamrlich playing games 4 and 5.
AV took the best roster this team has had since '94, beat Pitt and then Dustin Tokarsky in 6, then lost to Kings in 5... another nice run in '15 but the mind-numbing decision to dress 7 defensemen in game 7 and only 11 forwards, one of which Tanner Glass played 6 minutes, which left the other 10 forwards out of gas by the 3rd period...
a humiliating ass-kicking in 5 last year, and now down 2-1 this year badly outplayed in games 2 and 3.
But like i said, we'll see how the rest of this series plays out.
Didn't you have a championship game last night pj? Suck it.
I don't think the Habs can win it all unless Price gets hot.
I think the Preds can make a serious run. I think they've got a much better team than their record suggested.
We lost 3- 2. We had 8 skaters. It's school vacation week in MA and my team is all 40 year olds with kids and most of the teams we play are 20-somethings, so we were out-manned.
We were in the winners bracket (it's double elim) and had no losses yet in the playoffs so if we won last night we'd be champs, because we lost we have to play next Monday.
Now it's winner take all.
We won in the 5th round of a shootout last night to stay in the winners bracket. Can wrap it up next monday.
I was to be the next shooter, so thank god our goalie made that last save to spare me the embarrassment...
I don't think Lindberg is sitting. Buch and Glass were rotating on a line at practice tomorrow. So unless they're practicing with certain lines one day and then throwing out completely new ones the next, it's going to be Glass sitting out and Buch in.
Sometimes guys just want to get an extra skate in the morning of the game. It's not only the scratches. Fast did it earlier in the series.
Didn't you have a championship game last night pj? Suck it.
I don't think the Habs can win it all unless Price gets hot.
I think the Preds can make a serious run. I think they've got a much better team than their record suggested.
We lost 3- 2. We had 8 skaters. It's school vacation week in MA and my team is all 40 year olds with kids and most of the teams we play are 20-somethings, so we were out-manned.
We were in the winners bracket (it's double elim) and had no losses yet in the playoffs so if we won last night we'd be champs, because we lost we have to play next Monday.
Now it's winner take all.
We won in the 5th round of a shootout last night to stay in the winners bracket. Can wrap it up next monday.
I was to be the next shooter, so thank god our goalie made that last save to spare me the embarrassment...
That's awesome, some time, not on a Rangers/Canadiens game thread, I'll share my story of winning a playoff game in the shootout. 1 - 0.
You're a Habs fan but you think your team has been outplayed? Game 1 was a dead heat. Same shots, high quality scoring chances, etc.
Habs took NYR to the woodshed in game 2. Lundqvist the only reason you didnt win by 3 goals.
Galchenyuk up to 3rd line center with Shaw and Lehkonen. I like that line.
Martinsen out for Torrey Mitchell who will center Dwight King and Steve Ott on the 4th line.
Nesterov out for Brandon Davidson.
I approve all three changes, but Davidson is only around because of the injury to Emelin. Emelin is spotty, but kind of a big loss because Nesterov and Davidson both are ideally healthy scratches. This will be Davidson's 1st playoff game.
Should be a great game if it's anything like the last two.
Nesterov out for Brandon Davidson.
No relation...
Like Why do you refuse to play Clendening? What do you see in Holden that keeps him in the lineup? Then site a few of his most hideous fuck-ups over the last 2 months!! He calls out CK today (rightfully so!!) but nary a word about Staal, Holden & DG (though I guess DG has been "better"...)
I know not much to choose from on D I guess... I dunno I'm VERY FRUSTRATED!!! 17 F'in seconds!!!
I mean if he would just give Smith and skjei 2nd pair minutes and keep Staal and Holden's minutes to a minimum that'd be an improvement!
Shoot EVERYTHING on Net, get bodies in front (swing a 2nd F thru there with CK/Nasher/Hayes/Lindberg/JT planted) so with D men following there'd potentially be 4-5 bodies in front of Price as the shot is on it's way... (garbage goals off legs, sticks, skates) Weave in & out constantly & BE ACCURATE WITH THE DAMN SHOTS!!! (McD I'm lookin' at You!!)
We need this F'in win tonight & we better see "fur" flying out on the ice!! CK, Step, Zib, JT... (Staal/Holden on D) if these F'in guys played with even 50% of the PASSION & heart Zucc does we wouldn't be in this position!!
LFGR!!!!!
Wow. Just wow.
Habs outplayed the Rangers by a country mile in Game 2. Rangers slightly outplayed the Habs at best in Game 1; it was virtually dead even aside from Price losing attention on Tanner Glass' backhand
Quote:
#NYR also change lines, rather drastically: Vesey-Zib-Zucc, Grab-Step-Nash, Kreid-Hayes-Fast, Mill-Lind-Glass. McD-G, Stl-Smith, Skjei-Klein
Wow. Just wow.
JT Miller on the 4th line? Is Vigneault trying to out-Claude Claude?
Quote:
#NYR also change lines, rather drastically: Vesey-Zib-Zucc, Grab-Step-Nash, Kreid-Hayes-Fast, Mill-Lind-Glass. McD-G, Stl-Smith, Skjei-Klein
Wow. Just wow.
WTF? Miller on the 4th line?
I like that 3rd line though (if I were a Rangers fan).
I always thought Kreider and Hayes should be playing together. With Miller though.
Quote:
In comment 13430466 Run with 81 said:
Quote:
#NYR also change lines, rather drastically: Vesey-Zib-Zucc, Grab-Step-Nash, Kreid-Hayes-Fast, Mill-Lind-Glass. McD-G, Stl-Smith, Skjei-Klein
Wow. Just wow.
WTF? Miller on the 4th line?
I like that 3rd line though (if I were a Rangers fan).
I always thought Kreider and Hayes should be playing together. With Miller though.
You're 1000% right on a Kreider-Hayes-Miller line. I always felt that would be a dominant line both physically and scoring-wise 5 on 5
Especially since he had a wide open net
CK needs to get his head out of his butt
6-0 in giveaways so far. Wake. Up.
Max Pacioretty always dreamed about playing at Madison Square Garden in a big playoff game for the Rangers.
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is in the zone. I was afraid of this after his showing in MTL where he usually is not at his best.
Max Pacioretty always dreamed about playing at Madison Square Garden in a big playoff game for the Rangers.
He's from New Canaan, CT, it makes sense.
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In comment 13430508 pjcas18 said:
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is in the zone. I was afraid of this after his showing in MTL where he usually is not at his best.
Max Pacioretty always dreamed about playing at Madison Square Garden in a big playoff game for the Rangers.
He's from New Canaan, CT, it makes sense.
Maybe in a few years he joins Shattenkirk with the Rangers
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In comment 13430512 Anakim said:
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In comment 13430508 pjcas18 said:
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is in the zone. I was afraid of this after his showing in MTL where he usually is not at his best.
Max Pacioretty always dreamed about playing at Madison Square Garden in a big playoff game for the Rangers.
He's from New Canaan, CT, it makes sense.
Maybe in a few years he joins Shattenkirk with the Rangers
Probably, he's 28 now.
Tape to tape passes guys!!! F'in clean it up! Maloney on the radio is saying how we're just all disorganized & running around. I agree!!
At least it's NOT the incessant Ohhhhhooooo & then Boooooooo from Montreal... F'in NAUSEATING & DISGUSTING their fans!!!!
Boooooooooo........ Ohhhhhhhhhhhh , Booooooooooo
I would add Stephen to that list
We played like shit (10 to 1 giveaways) but the Rangers did probably have more high quality chances (3 to 2 or 1) in that period. The post shot and Kreider miss of a wide open net don't tally in the shots stats column. I'm not even sure the near miss on the 2nd power play (Nash?) counted as a shot
The good news for Rangers fans is as bad as the turnovers were, the Canadiens lack the elite scoring touch to capitalize, it's still scoreless.
And usually these things even out, and the 2nd period they'll come out flying.
Hopefully the penalties turn this period, Montreal really needs to be on the PP to succeed.
Things could be worse I guess
I have thought that early on. He's also not great on keeping the puck in the zone, IMO
No, I'm with you. I think Skjei should be on the first PP unit over McD. Nice placeholder until Shattenkirk comes here.
The good news for Rangers fans is as bad as the turnovers were, the Canadiens lack the elite scoring touch to capitalize, it's still scoreless.
And usually these things even out, and the 2nd period they'll come out flying.
Hopefully the penalties turn this period, Montreal really needs to be on the PP to succeed.
Claude Julien - ( New Window )
Not only should he replace Glass because, well, he's better, but at the very least, Buch can contribute on the PP which has sucked so far.
Iirc he was a healthy scratch a number of games for Detroit this year so he's a 2 or a 3 But I don't think we will sign both him and shattenkirk (not sure I want KS - St. Louis looks better defensively and all around without him)
Rangers need to adjust
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But I don't know if he'll be ok with being the #3 LHD. Hopefully it'll be fine. Money talks.
Iirc he was a healthy scratch a number of games for Detroit this year so he's a 2 or a 3 But I don't think we will sign both him and shattenkirk (not sure I want KS - St. Louis looks better defensively and all around without him)
I think two of Nash, Staal and Girardi will be gone. Traded or bought out, which will leave us room to sign both Smith and Shattenkirk. But that's a discussion for another day.
Not sure if it was noticeable to everyone, but before the PP, the entire Canadiens lines on the two shifts prior to the PP were looking at each other to fore check and get to loose pucks.
Tough to maintain this pace for 60 minutes.
Stepan still can't win a faceoff, 8 years into his career. Was hard to tell JT Miller was even playing before that penalty.
Can't score. Can't win at home.
Thank fuck I didn't spend 300 to see this disaster in person
1 garden goal in 14 playoff periods and counting now. Maybe if we played to our one competitive strength - 4 scoring lines - that might help but then again our top lines have gotten their shit pushed in this series anyway. Mika is costing himself a lot of money as he approaches RFA
Not sure if it was noticeable to everyone, but before the PP, the entire Canadiens lines on the two shifts prior to the PP were looking at each other to fore check and get to loose pucks.
Tough to maintain this pace for 60 minutes.
After only 9 periods of playoff hockey? Doesn't seem like it
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are gassed. When you're gassed you get a little lazy and take penalties, I'd look for that in the 3rd period.
Not sure if it was noticeable to everyone, but before the PP, the entire Canadiens lines on the two shifts prior to the PP were looking at each other to fore check and get to loose pucks.
Tough to maintain this pace for 60 minutes.
After only 9 periods of playoff hockey? Doesn't seem like it
Players get tired within a single game. Add in the intensity of the playoffs and the pace of play this series so far with the volume of hits I really believe they are gassed.
but just my observation. Little things clued me in - watch Gallagher and Byron.
nice, because it was friendly fire
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.
nice, because it was friendly fire
That's why there was no penalty...a blueshirt got Zucc with the stick
these are not wooden sticks. these are composite sticks.
100% true and am sick of saying and hearing it every postseason. He brings his big boy pants and it seems nobody else does
Montreal scores, 2-0
these are not wooden sticks. these are composite sticks.
Wood sticks broke less. Composite have more flex but break more easily.
Played like complete dogshit so they dont deserve to win but that can't be missed
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sticks in the NHL is amazing.
these are not wooden sticks. these are composite sticks.
Wood sticks broke less. Composite have more flex but break more easily.
yeah, you're probably right, but Weber's he uses among the stiffest sticks they make.
I use them in my men's league and I broke more wood sticks than composites.
but I don't play with anything close to the ferocity of these guys (obviously)
Almost as clear as the no-call on the high stick Giradi gave Zuccarello?
We don't deserve any breaks right now but come on
I use them in my men's league and I broke more wood sticks than composites.
but I don't play with anything close to the ferocity of these guys (obviously)
Yea, just a shit ton of weight put on them by these guys.
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And it was costly. That was a clear as day hook
Almost as clear as the no-call on the high stick Giradi gave Zuccarello?
The Zucc high stick wasn't a penalty, that hook on Nash clearly was and the refs could have had their pick because 2 Canadiens hooked him
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And it was costly. That was a clear as day hook
Almost as clear as the no-call on the high stick Giradi gave Zuccarello?
No, that wasn't a penalty, but that was an absolutely blatant hook. You were fortunate. The French Canadians should give the refs oral after this game.
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In comment 13430675 Anakim said:
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And it was costly. That was a clear as day hook
Almost as clear as the no-call on the high stick Giradi gave Zuccarello?
No, that wasn't a penalty, but that was an absolutely blatant hook. You were fortunate. The French Canadians should give the refs oral after this game.
LOL, I saw it real time and no replay, looked like it could have been called, but I'd wait to see it on replay before I'd get outraged. especially with your track record.
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In comment 13430679 pjcas18 said:
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In comment 13430675 Anakim said:
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And it was costly. That was a clear as day hook
Almost as clear as the no-call on the high stick Giradi gave Zuccarello?
No, that wasn't a penalty, but that was an absolutely blatant hook. You were fortunate. The French Canadians should give the refs oral after this game.
LOL, I saw it real time and no replay, looked like it could have been called, but I'd wait to see it on replay before I'd get outraged. especially with your track record.
That's bullshit and you know it. You didn't need replay to see how blatant that was.
An AHL team could have beaten the Rangers tonight
You mean playing 3 scoring lines a night when our competitive advantage is 4, sub par high giveaway 44-46% Corsi veteran defenseman all year in meaningless games and now playoffs over young guys with promise, and continuing to roll out the same PP unit that hasn't produced in months isn't working out?
Shocked!!
Season comes down to tuesday night. I do think Stepan, Mika, Kreider Hayes and others need to look themselves in the mirror and decide if they want to be here. Because I think we are or should be very close to an offseason house cleaning if they don't bring it on Tuesday. Two straight years now just getting fucking ass-wiped out there
Enough of Klein and Holden
Yeah, now it's 21 allowed to 3 scored, and it's 6 straight playoff losses on Garden ice
What a fucking gutless performance tonight at home. This team sucks @ MSG. We might not win another game in this series.
Fucking nauseating. Could have had them 2-0 coming home tonight with all the pressure in the world.. instead we gave them life and all the confidence that they can beat us, and now they're going to.
Fucking infuriating.
He has to shoot that. That's part of my problem with Hayes.
And this home playoff streak is flat out embarassing
What a pathetic and embarrassing effort.
It doesn't just feel like a loss. It feels like the series is already gone.
Feels like the last few series' we've played - they've started off okay and then we just start to get completely outcoached as they go.
I really just feel bad for Hank. He's truly becoming NY's hockey version of Pat Ewing. He deserves better than this and we're running out of time.
Motherfucker. This sucks.
Montreal is playing a simple game and executing it perfectly.
Nothing says composure like trotting out lines at the beginning of the 3rd period that consisted of Glass-Zib-Grabner combination.
Nice fuckin thread.
I might need to take the puck Tuesday night to get us back on track. Should be 2-1 good guys.
The NHL is not the NBA where one LeBron James/Sidney Crosby puts you in the Finals each year.. but the teams that are winning Cups usually have at least one 70 pt player. We didn't even have a 60 pt player this year. We didn't have one 30 goal scorer. Same thing last year... not one 30 goal scorer. Zuccarello just barely hit 60 (61) last season.. and the season before, we also failed to have any player register 60 points.
We haven't had a 70 point player since Gaborik in 2011-12.
We do have a lot of good players. But we don't seem to have any guy who truly elevates in the playoffs.. a true star. Instead, guys like Kreider seem to vanish. Zibinejad.. Hayes.. we're just not getting enough from these guys.
I know Vesey had a solid game 1.. but is this really all we should expect?
Maybe I'm just picking things apart - I don't know. I just feel like you need that player or two that really know how to elevate in these spots and we just don't seem to have it. Henrik has certainly risen to the occasion many times over... but the goalie can't score and when you can barely even score one time on home ice.. there's not much else the guy can do.
The NHL is not the NBA where one LeBron James/Sidney Crosby puts you in the Finals each year.. but the teams that are winning Cups usually have at least one 70 pt player. We didn't even have a 60 pt player this year. We didn't have one 30 goal scorer. Same thing last year... not one 30 goal scorer. Zuccarello just barely hit 60 (61) last season.. and the season before, we also failed to have any player register 60 points.
We haven't had a 70 point player since Gaborik in 2011-12.
We do have a lot of good players. But we don't seem to have any guy who truly elevates in the playoffs.. a true star. Instead, guys like Kreider seem to vanish. Zibinejad.. Hayes.. we're just not getting enough from these guys.
I know Vesey had a solid game 1.. but is this really all we should expect?
Maybe I'm just picking things apart - I don't know. I just feel like you need that player or two that really know how to elevate in these spots and we just don't seem to have it. Henrik has certainly risen to the occasion many times over... but the goalie can't score and when you can barely even score one time on home ice.. there's not much else the guy can do.
Having a superstar goalie is much worse than having a superstar scorer. I love Hank but it's just not even close.
Jake Guentzel had a hat trick for Pittsburgh tonight and the GWG in OT. Having Crosby or Ovechkin raises the play of the entire team. Having Lundqvist steals you a game in a series, keeps you in games longer... but at some point you need to put the puck in the net.
And God forbid you can get in the fucking building for less than $250 on Easter Sunday. Maybe the place wouldn't sound like a morgue once in a while
They need to overhaul this D. They can't get the puck out of the zone - the forwards keep collapsing, making it harder for them to transition up the ice. Feels like we're consistently seeing four or five guys below the hash marks. No pairing was good tonight. The Canadiens aren't good enough that they should make the Rangers look this silly.
To arc's point above, how often has this team won in the playoffs when Lundqvist wasn't the best player on the ice? The amount of pressure on him each game is enormous.
Also, Julien didn't shell like AV did. Rangers outshot them by 2 in the third.
If i sell 5000 copies of #IceCapades by Tue i will sit behind @CanadiensMTL bench and get the entire team off their game. #SixthManAward
Obviously the playoffs are tight and a lot of games are close, a lot of games are going to be that way - I just can barely recall many games at all where we just jumped out to something like a 3 goal lead early on. That game 7 in Washington in 2013 was like that.. Game 1 in MTL in 2014 was like that (mostly because Price was injured).. but outside of those, I really can't think of many.
It seems like a lot of good teams have a few games here and there throughout a playoff run where they really just take command. Meanwhile, 9 out of every 10 Ranger wins end with a 1 goal lead and the other team putting massive 6 on 5 pressure on and just barely running out of time.
5 of his 6 Game 7 victories have been by a score of 2-1. He's shouldered an unbelievable burden. He deserves better. But as soon as he has a bad stretch next season some fans will be booing him and questioning him again.
Disagree Rangers got outplayed, and have been the last 2 games. Hank has kept this a series. Rangers haven't elevated their game to a playoff level yet. They are playing regular season hockey, and they are getting out worked.
BrettNYG10 : 10:43 pm
He's been atrocious.
He's played soft all year. Quitest big man I've ever seen. It's almost as if he fears being labeled an is fighting the perception he's a mean SOB. Which is exactly how he should be playing. Instead we've gotten a big marshmallow powder puff wimp.
5 of his 6 Game 7 victories have been by a score of 2-1. He's shouldered an unbelievable burden. He deserves better. But as soon as he has a bad stretch next season some fans will be booing him and questioning him again.
Yup. And that's what pisses me off the most. NYR fans who blame him or fans of other teams who minimize his entire career into "well, he can't win a Cup."
It's true that perhaps our cap allocation is structured in a way where paying #30 the big boy money has prevented us from icing the offensive firepower necessary to get all the way to the promised land, but it sure as hell isn't his fault and he's not the reason we keep falling short.
I really don't know what the alternative would be. I don't know how the Rangers could have just decided to move on from Hank at the point where he was due a new deal. Maybe a more unconventional GM would have chosen to take all emotion out of it and use those cap dollars elsewhere... but being realistic, it would have been an incredibly risky move that much of the fan base would have been ready to riot over. And if Hank had gone on to win a Cup elsewhere, it would have turned into bedlam.
It's a shitty double-edged sword, I guess. This team just seems to be what they are. Which isn't good enough to win a Cup.
Hiring AV was a great move. He actually got the guys playing a decent offensive game instead of the dump and chase of Tortarella. But extending him was a terrible move--one of the few bad moves Gorton has made.
Gorton is saddled with three bad contracts. I don't know if he can overcome that. But the Rangers have a nice young core. They lack an elite forward like McDavid but they should be competitive for the next several years with the young guys they have.
Hiring AV was a great move. He actually got the guys playing a decent offensive game instead of the dump and chase of Tortarella. But extending him was a terrible move--one of the few bad moves Gorton has made.
Gorton is saddled with three bad contracts. I don't know if he can overcome that. But the Rangers have a nice young core. They lack an elite forward like McDavid but they should be competitive for the next several years with the young guys they have.
No longer elite? They would have lost 7-1 if not for Henrik standing on his head.
AV has them playing decent offensive hockey? Did you even watch the last three games?
I'm not sure what's worse. The Rangers last two games. Or your posts.
I'm leaning towards the latter.
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That's the way it is. Maybe a few of those road games where we blew out Tamps before shitting the bed at home in 2015, in addition to the ones you mentioned. But other than that, we sweat out nearly every playoff win.
5 of his 6 Game 7 victories have been by a score of 2-1. He's shouldered an unbelievable burden. He deserves better. But as soon as he has a bad stretch next season some fans will be booing him and questioning him again.
Yup. And that's what pisses me off the most. NYR fans who blame him or fans of other teams who minimize his entire career into "well, he can't win a Cup."
It's true that perhaps our cap allocation is structured in a way where paying #30 the big boy money has prevented us from icing the offensive firepower necessary to get all the way to the promised land, but it sure as hell isn't his fault and he's not the reason we keep falling short.
I really don't know what the alternative would be. I don't know how the Rangers could have just decided to move on from Hank at the point where he was due a new deal. Maybe a more unconventional GM would have chosen to take all emotion out of it and use those cap dollars elsewhere... but being realistic, it would have been an incredibly risky move that much of the fan base would have been ready to riot over. And if Hank had gone on to win a Cup elsewhere, it would have turned into bedlam.
It's a shitty double-edged sword, I guess. This team just seems to be what they are. Which isn't good enough to win a Cup.
I think the bigger issue is that the Rangers have mismanaged the defense going back to the Stralman decision, and I think Lundqvist has led to flawed analysis back there.
Neither Girardi or Staal get those contracts playing in front of an average goaltender. They're paying $11+ million for guys who are barely NHL'ers at this stage. Outside of 13/14, I don't think the defense was ever as good as its reputation.
Rangers have won 26 playoff games since 2014 and Lundqvist had a +.930 SV% in 23 of those games.
Those two felt like "loyalty" signings more than anything else which can (and did) turn into cap anchors. Poor management.
Brendan Smith is the type of defenseman that smart GM's will recognize and look to acquire. It's not a 1st pairing player but it's a guy you get quality minutes from and doesn't break the bank. There are some guys like that out there so I'm encouraged that he was the type of guy Gorton targeted. That's how you wind up with guys like Stralman.
People who blame Lundqvist for his lack of Cup are idiots.
What a fucking gutless performance tonight at home. This team sucks @ MSG. We might not win another game in this series.
Fucking nauseating. Could have had them 2-0 coming home tonight with all the pressure in the world.. instead we gave them life and all the confidence that they can beat us, and now they're going to.
Fucking infuriating.
People who blame Lundqvist for his lack of Cup are idiots.
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He has actually played fairly well in this series and he basically won game 1. But the days when the Rangers can just grind it our and have Henrik win it for them are over.
Hiring AV was a great move. He actually got the guys playing a decent offensive game instead of the dump and chase of Tortarella. But extending him was a terrible move--one of the few bad moves Gorton has made.
Gorton is saddled with three bad contracts. I don't know if he can overcome that. But the Rangers have a nice young core. They lack an elite forward like McDavid but they should be competitive for the next several years with the young guys they have.
No longer elite? They would have lost 7-1 if not for Henrik standing on his head.
AV has them playing decent offensive hockey? Did you even watch the last three games?
I'm not sure what's worse. The Rangers last two games. Or your posts.
I'm leaning towards the latter.
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He has actually played fairly well in this series and he basically won game 1. But the days when the Rangers can just grind it our and have Henrik win it for them are over.
Hiring AV was a great move. He actually got the guys playing a decent offensive game instead of the dump and chase of Tortarella. But extending him was a terrible move--one of the few bad moves Gorton has made.
Gorton is saddled with three bad contracts. I don't know if he can overcome that. But the Rangers have a nice young core. They lack an elite forward like McDavid but they should be competitive for the next several years with the young guys they have.
No longer elite? They would have lost 7-1 if not for Henrik standing on his head.
AV has them playing decent offensive hockey? Did you even watch the last three games?
I'm not sure what's worse. The Rangers last two games. Or your posts.
I'm leaning towards the latter.
Reread the post. Maybe word by word, so you can actually respond to what I wrote.
I'm not talking about hits, I'm talking races to pucks, board battles, and positioning. MTL sends guys to the net, they forecheck, and have gotten many more quality scoring chances. Their defense is nothing special besides Weber yet we can't get quality looks. If the Rangers want to score they need to get bodies in front of Price and stop trying to make perfect passes and just fire the puck. I could care less about hits, I care about the score.
For those who didn't know hockey players are probably the toughest athletes in the planet.
Zack werenski had a Phil Kessel shot roll up his stick and smash into his face. Stitches and back for the 3rd. His teammates busted his balls for wearing a full shield when he returned. Needs to work on his playoff beard though. LOL. He is only 19 though, pretty sure I would probably have the same amount of facial hair then too.
So, he basically won Game 1 for us, a game where we ground out a win. Then he stood on his head in Game 2 in a loss.
So, the days are over where we can grind it out, even though we just did it 5 days ago? LOL.
Game 1 the Rangers kept Montreal outside and made things easy for Lundqvist. Now look at them.. They're driving the net and willing to pay the price to make a play.
That was an unbelievably poor and uninspired effort last night.
Unrelated... I hope this series illustrates to management what moves need to happen this offseason. Klein is cooked. Holden is a jag. Brendan Smith needs to be retained. A d-man to help the PP and generate some offense would go a long ways...
And yeah, the Rangers' forwards are deep but lack a singular scoring talent......which is why it's mind-numbingly stupid to put anything but the best possible team on the ice. Fast is a fourth liner, period. Glass is not an NHL player. Holden is a 7th defenseman. Etc, etc.
Also, both Stepan and Zibanejad have played poorly.
AV's decisions with the lines simply do not compute. Even if Glass hasn't been abysmal viewed in isolation, clearly his presence is a drag on the ability to roll 4 lines.
Put Buch in the lineup in a top 9 spot to hopefully spark something esp on the PP, and make a 4th line of Vesey Lindberg Fast. That line can play minutes, take draws at either end of the ice, and be a pain in the ass to play against.
Nash Step Zucc
Buch Ziba Kreider (can we please see this line one fucking time again?)
Miller Hayes Grabner
Vesey Lindberg Fast
It seems like we've seen every set of combinations from AV except for the ones that make the most sense.
The rest of league eventually catches up with the offensive approach and I think it's safe to say the stretch passing and speed game are easily nullified especially in the playoffs where it's a much tighter game. Clog up the neutral zone and suddenly they have no answers. That, and losing faceoff after faceoff in the D zone where they'll collapse into their defensive structure and end up spending long periods of time chasing the puck.
But we were overall a terrific team through 60 games and then based on one poor performance (interestingly, Montreal) in early March the coach (and by all accounts, GM) panics and takes away this team's best competitive strength - e.g., 4 scoring lines.
Interestingly we benched TG for a few games later in March and played pretty well in Minnesota, in LA, and others.
Not saying this is on #15 - he's been ok, had the goal in game 1, etc. This is only a discussion because guys like Stepan, Hayes, Kreider and Mika are no shows yet again.
We are supposed to just enjoy this "run" and discuss the coach and the players future after its over - in fairness, we are only down 2 games to 1 with game 4 at home tuesday. The nail isnt in the coffin quite yet.
But man does this feel a lot like last year's April so far.
But yes, the Rangers were terrible.
But yes, the Rangers were terrible.
It looks like his head blew up like a balloon and he does struggle getting words out, Anson Carter looks like a mensa member next to Roenick but I really only leave the channel on for Kathryn Tappen.
They're so solid on the road, and have a home-game losing streak.
I thought it made sense to try, home ice failures get so scrutinized like this players start pressing and their games usually suffer when that happens and stuff snowballs.
They're so solid on the road, and have a home-game losing streak.
I thought it made sense to try, home ice failures get so scrutinized like this players start pressing and their games usually suffer when that happens and stuff snowballs.
JR couldn't have come up with that all on his own ...He must have been listening to Valiquette in the post game.
PP is the more glaring issue IMO.
and PK at home.
Do the Rangers have a specials coach? Canadiens is Kirk Muller (new this year) and he had a good reputation as a specials coach.
I'm not a big fan of his approach, I'd prefer a more modern 4 forwards and a D alignment, but the results have been "good enough" he doesn't get much criticism.
I don't think Muller is exclusive either, he's like an "associate head coach" or something, but PP and PK are his primary roles I believe.
Tortarella quote on Werenski coming back in to the game.
He's now out for the season, he cracked his orbital bone on that play and it's swelled up so bad he can't see.
tough loss, but I missed that series completely. Pens look beaten up a little toward the end of the year and lost letang. the jackets play with a ton of energy I figured poor matchup for the pens, wrong.
I wasn't a big believer in CBJ for some reason.
I wasn't a big believer in CBJ for some reason.
Well Bobrovsky turned into pumpkin at the wrong time or Crosby helped the transformation. Maybe a little of both.
He could win the Vezina, but his playoff play was beyond weak.
I don't understand his aversion to Clendening.
Bobrovsky is sinking CBJ in this series. Great regular season goalie who is now starting to compile some ugly playoff numbers. All five goals last night were questionable. Also Crosby is unfortunately fantastic. For his latest trick he's turned Jake fucking Guentzel into a legit playoff scorer
I think analyzing dmen is really hard. I think the Staal/Girardi obsession is just inexcusable, though. There were multiple times where Staal/G's partner had to skate to the opposite side of the ice to recover a puck/defend a player that should have been handled by 5/18. I don't know how those things don't drive a coaching staff crazy.
Get guys who can move the puck up the ice and the offensive woes will solve themselves IMO.
BTW, I saw someone comp Smith to a pre-eye injury Marc Staal. I thought that was sort of an interesting one.
20-93-89(15), 10-13-36, 26-21-61, 40-24-19; 27-5, 18-22, 76-42
PP1 is 20-36-89-93-27
PP2: 61-21-13-10-76
Those were the lines in practice, Glass rotating with Buch. With 89 on the first PP, Buch seems almost surely in.
But the thing that gets me is it's not even an analytics thing when it comes to our defense, this season at least. The simple "eye test" is all you need to see who should and shouldn't be out there right now. I'll give Girardi credit for playing a simple, physical game so far (I certainly enjoyed that hit on Shaw). But the foot speed and puck management for half of these guys is just brutal. It doesn't take an advanced hockey eye to be able to evaluate this defense right now. I don't understand how a successful NHL coach can re-watch these games and not see it
@amandacstein
#NYR practice seems slightly low energy. AV trying to get team going, don't seem to be responding. Feels like mid-January practice.#TSN690
Yes, I dont totally trust Clendening's strong possession numbers because he's lived such sheltered minutes all year, including something like 75% of face-offs in the O-zone... but he's better than the other two guys and if nothing else, you give him valuable experience recognizing we were a long shot this year regardless.
But as we've discussed many times, the growing pains for guys like Clendening was the past several months, not now. AV simply doesnt like him - Clendening going to the press and complaining about the benching (I agreed with Adam, but not the right way to go about it) probably permanently put him in AV's doghouse.
But at this point i'd take Kampfen over Klein/Holden too. Cant possibly play worse.
Regardless of who AV goes with - hopefully Clendening or Kampfen.. but the other guys too... we should only be talking about a 3rd pair that plays 8-10 minutes on tuesday regardless.
We need to lean on McD/Skjei/Smith and I guess (by default) Girardi more than we have. Combined they need to log 45-50 regulation minutes.
Far too many passengers up front..
@amandacstein
#NYR practice seems slightly low energy. AV trying to get team going, don't seem to be responding. Feels like mid-January practice.#TSN690
Too bad he signed an extension
I also think AV's system is causing huge issues this series (for both the forwards and D). Maybe adjustments would just be Febreeze on dog shit, but I think his system is leading to some of the ice tilting.
No, but it does show a level of confidence management has in him
As bad as yesterday seemed, MTL had only the 2 PP goals before Radulov sealed it.
If the Rangers kept up their end on specials they'd be winning the series 2 - 1 or better.
That's the most correctable part of the game IMO.
Also it does seem like the Rangers are missing at least one at least JAG NHL caliber defenseman.
I think you need to look back at the deadline for that. A lot of D-men changed teams, for very low prices.
The Canadiens got Benn who has been very solid, for Pateryn (healthy scratch most of the year) and a 4th. Nesterov who wouldn't help, he's terrible, but who knows (for a 6th) and Davidson (no relation) for Desharnais - and I thought Davidson was good last night, surprisingly for Desharnais, and getting rid of Desharnais was addition by subtraction. He was a max effort guy, but you only need so many 5' 7" players.
Given how bad NYR looked, it's easy to forget that it was tied at zero very late in the 2nd. Such an asinine penalty by Miller.
Given how bad NYR looked, it's easy to forget that it was tied at zero very late in the 2nd. Such an asinine penalty by Miller.
A penalty similar to the Galchenyuk penalty in Game 1 that I believe PJ referred to as, and I'm paraphrasing, weak or never called.
On the season they were ranked 10th in the league and produced around 20% on the PP.
They just need to produce at that same level or close in the PO's. I don't see why that's unreasonable.
Don't get me wrong, I hope they get blanked the whole series, but I think it's fixable.
like what Julien/Muller did b/c MTL was also struggling on the PP and he put Lehkonen and Shaw with Plekanec (who hasn't been on the PP all season) on the PP1 and then Galchenyuk with Radulov and Pacioretty and it worked.
I know a lot of specials is 2nd guessing, when it works you're a genius, but I like shaking things up in certain situations - not panicking, but shaking up a PP unit is one area I support. It's low risk, potential high reward. Complacency is the worst.
I can only imagine what that locker room would have been like if Tortarella was the Rangers coach.
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About the 2 PP goals.
Given how bad NYR looked, it's easy to forget that it was tied at zero very late in the 2nd. Such an asinine penalty by Miller.
A penalty similar to the Galchenyuk penalty in Game 1 that I believe PJ referred to as, and I'm paraphrasing, weak or never called.
I didn't see Galchenyuk use his hand on the draw. I thought they called him for a 2nd faceoff encroachment. Which is also a penalty, but rarely, if ever, called. Almost never in the playoffs in my experience.
Galchenyuk definitely deserved the faceoff violation, once I saw the replay.
Which I'm not sure where you guys are watching these games, if you have MSG broadcasting, but I get a NBC station (USA or NBC Sports) for most and they don't show replays.
I was wrong on that and got very little explanation.
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In comment 13431467 bigbluehoya said:
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About the 2 PP goals.
Given how bad NYR looked, it's easy to forget that it was tied at zero very late in the 2nd. Such an asinine penalty by Miller.
A penalty similar to the Galchenyuk penalty in Game 1 that I believe PJ referred to as, and I'm paraphrasing, weak or never called.
I didn't see Galchenyuk use his hand on the draw. I thought they called him for a 2nd faceoff encroachment. Which is also a penalty, but rarely, if ever, called. Almost never in the playoffs in my experience.
Galchenyuk definitely deserved the faceoff violation, once I saw the replay.
Which I'm not sure where you guys are watching these games, if you have MSG broadcasting, but I get a NBC station (USA or NBC Sports) for most and they don't show replays.
I was wrong on that and got very little explanation.
Yeah, watching on MSG.
It's how we saw the double rape on Nash that wasn't called before Weber's goal.
Not like it would have mattered
That's why everyone stopped. I didn't think it was a penalty if the play was dead.
I liked both Renney and Torts a ton. I understood why Renney had to go, and also understood when Torts was fired. I don't think the 13/14 Rangers make the SCF with Torts as coach.
Sutter's a great two-time Cup winner and he was just canned.
AV had a good early run here and I issued a mea culpa of sorts but Torts has the better body of work. He's simply a better HC than AV ever was or will be. Maybe it reached the point of no return here and Slats had no choice, but I will always wonder.
Sutter got fired, Julien got fired, Trotz got fired, Laviolette got fired, etc. You can go around the league. Mike Babcock-esque runs with the Red Wings are extremely rare and he's not even there anymore.
We wouldn't have been any better off keeping Torts around.
It was the right move to let Torts go and it was the right move to bring in AV, who got us playing a more progressive style and did a good job developing a number of young forwards. But it may also be the right time to move on from AV, or at least make next season a bit of a do or die situation. No American sport has coaching turnover like the NHL so it's not without precedent
I went searching for the article/tweet where I read that and came across an article titled "Is Mike Babcock Insane?" on the Wings version of BSB.
Every coach is flawed/criticized.
Heck even Scotty Bowman won 9 cups, with three different teams (three winning cups) while coaching 5 teams in his career.
Agree with others, NHL is definitely a league where coaching turns over, out of necessity.
I read an article in either NYDN or NYP today (on my phone) about the game, and it was said that since the renovation, MSG has been one of the quietest arenas. Is that really true? I never got that impression, although, granted, I'd only been to a small handful of games prior to that season (maybe like 5 across 5 years).
Sutter got fired, Julien got fired, Trotz got fired, Laviolette got fired, etc. You can go around the league. Mike Babcock-esque runs with the Red Wings are extremely rare and he's not even there anymore.
We wouldn't have been any better off keeping Torts around.
Fair point.
I read an article in either NYDN or NYP today (on my phone) about the game, and it was said that since the renovation, MSG has been one of the quietest arenas. Is that really true? I never got that impression, although, granted, I'd only been to a small handful of games prior to that season (maybe like 5 across 5 years).
Hard to say. Ask hudson.
Personally i dont think home ice means all that much in the SC Playoffs. And Montreal, not just this series, but in general has had no problem winning at MSG over the years. Especially Carey Price.
Its a tough match up for us for whatever reason (of course, Pittsburgh, Washington and CBJ are too so... either get better this offseason or start retooling/reloading... because this does feel like a waste of everyone's time)
I'm looking forward to the 2019 Maple Leaf/Oiler SCF.
but gotta say - and I'm sure Greg will say 'told ya so' based on two close games so far - this Caps/Leafs series has been entertaining as hell. Still think Caps win this one in 6, but Leafs looked really good first two games. unfortunately Anderson gave up one of the softer playoff goals i've ever seen to end game 1, otherwise who knows right now.
That said, Toronto is such a fun team to watch. I knew how good Matthews could be, but the other guys like Marner, Nylander, Hyman, Kapanen, Rielly, etc. are so good, fast, relentless.
Matthews and Marner are 19, Kapanen and Nylander are 20.
that's the kind of youth that can give fans hope, and when you experience early success it feeds the fire.
And while I'm no Babcock fan and even if Chelios is right that no veteran free agent wants to go there and play (I believe it is true for those with options), you're basically filling in pieces for the next couple years.
They can be very good, very soon, for a long time.
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Listless and just a complete shit show, made game 2 an even bigger nut punch than it was at the time.
I read an article in either NYDN or NYP today (on my phone) about the game, and it was said that since the renovation, MSG has been one of the quietest arenas. Is that really true? I never got that impression, although, granted, I'd only been to a small handful of games prior to that season (maybe like 5 across 5 years).
Hard to say. Ask hudson.
Personally i dont think home ice means all that much in the SC Playoffs. And Montreal, not just this series, but in general has had no problem winning at MSG over the years. Especially Carey Price.
Its a tough match up for us for whatever reason (of course, Pittsburgh, Washington and CBJ are too so... either get better this offseason or start retooling/reloading... because this does feel like a waste of everyone's time)
Doesn't sound that way on TV.
OT, love the new organ tunes this season. Sounds like Yankee Stadium.
Would be nice to hear that level of noise in MSG but as we all know comparing the two fan bases is not an apples to apples equation. I was at the game last night and I don't think it was as bad as its being made out to be. The crowd was charged up early on, but as you can probably imagine, the longer it went the more on edge and tense everyone became. It wouldn't have hurt matters if we scored early.
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The atmosphere in Toronto right now is incredible. MSG was so fucking embarrassing last night. Not that the team gave the fans anything to cheer for.. but this is what playoff hockey should be like.
Would be nice to hear that level of noise in MSG but as we all know comparing the two fan bases is not an apples to apples equation. I was at the game last night and I don't think it was as bad as its being made out to be. The crowd was charged up early on, but as you can probably imagine, the longer it went the more on edge and tense everyone became. It wouldn't have hurt matters if we scored early.
Yeah - like I said, the team literally gave the crowd nothing to cheer for last night. It was a pathetic game all-around. Just can't help but be a bit jealous of the energy in this building compared to our fucking morgue.
Enough of the Garden mystique and Bullshit about being special.
The fans had their collective thumb firmly inserted into their asses last night.
You rarely sit next to the same people as they're either shared group season tickets or season ticket holders who will sell a good precentage of their tickets to support a playoff run. Some won't even show up for first round playoff games as they'll sell them on the secondary market or Craigslist and make a bundle for later rounds. The problem is obvious and it's not going to get any better with the ticket prices trending up in the so-called more aftordable sections. That, my friends, is the new MSG.
So frustrating!!!
Because I'm an idiot?
I'm gonna try to tell myself just win on Wed and it's a "hold serve" series and just go from there.
Good luck to you Rangers guys tomorrow.
Says the guy who (like me) picked them to win the Cup on here a week ago.
Two tough losses, but that series ain't over by a ton.
I think I started drinking some of the MAB kool-aid.
You're right, though.. there's a lot of series left there.
There's a lot of series left for us, too. But much like Caps fans - it's hard not to have that sense of impending doom like we already know where it's headed.
I was also a little more respectful of MTL than most on here - including PJ - when healthy that was a 115 point pace team all year. We look like shit, but i'm crediting Montreal too... they're playing well and well coached.
So we're playing a better team than the Caps.
I still think Caps win that series in 6 or 7, but wow am I impressed with how good the Leafs look in that series. Have the Caps played that bad? No, i just think the Leafs look terrific.
Shitty call in OT, I would have let it go, but they were the second best team on the ice. Tired of listening to their fans bitch. Just stick to throwing shit at the opposing teams as they leave the ice, it's what they do best. Bunch of classless dickbags.
I was also a little more respectful of MTL than most on here - including PJ - when healthy that was a 115 point pace team all year. We look like shit, but i'm crediting Montreal too... they're playing well and well coached.
So we're playing a better team than the Caps.
I still think Caps win that series in 6 or 7, but wow am I impressed with how good the Leafs look in that series. Have the Caps played that bad? No, i just think the Leafs look terrific.
The Leafs crushed them in the 3rd and OT. Scoring chances were like 12-3, IIRC. The games have been largely even, but Washington was getting killed at the end.
I agree with your overall point, Toronto is really impressive.
But when you have a nice handful of recent hardware, it's probably a lot easier to digest.
Poor Calgary fans.. that was a massive choke job last night. Up 4-1 and you lose 5-4 in OT. That was the series right there. They can't win in Anaheim anyway but at least they had a chance if they had been able to hold on. That series is over now. Those poor fans were in shock.
Feel bad for Calgary fans.
But when you have a nice handful of recent hardware, it's probably a lot easier to digest.
Poor Calgary fans.. that was a massive choke job last night. Up 4-1 and you lose 5-4 in OT. That was the series right there. They can't win in Anaheim anyway but at least they had a chance if they had been able to hold on. That series is over now. Those poor fans were in shock.
Yup as is typical I post that when Chicago is cruising up 2-0 in the third period and they proceed after the post to shit the bed. Thankfully I don't particularly care for Chicago.
With all these upsets it would sure be nice if nyr would show up. The overwhelming favorite after this round could be a Pittsburgh team playing without letang. Frustrating. Wouldn't surprise me if Montreal went on a finals run here.
I feel like I'd be a fool to expect anything but frustration/disappointment.
I still think the Rangers win this series, but if not, I can see MTL in the conference finals against the Penguins or Capitals or Leafs.
I don't think MTL has enough talent to win the cup, it would need to be on the back of Price and right now, Price is steady but unspectacular.
I don't think the Habs can win it all unless Price gets hot.
I think the Preds can make a serious run. I think they've got a much better team than their record suggested.
I don't think the Habs can win it all unless Price gets hot.
I think the Preds can make a serious run. I think they've got a much better team than their record suggested.
We lost 3- 2. We had 8 skaters. It's school vacation week in MA and my team is all 40 year olds with kids and most of the teams we play are 20-somethings, so we were out-manned.
We were in the winners bracket (it's double elim) and had no losses yet in the playoffs so if we won last night we'd be champs, because we lost we have to play next Monday.
Now it's winner take all.
Holden back in the lineup.
I don't think AV has a clue.
AV took the best roster this team has had since '94, beat Pitt and then Dustin Tokarsky in 6, then lost to Kings in 5... another nice run in '15 but the mind-numbing decision to dress 7 defensemen in game 7 and only 11 forwards, one of which Tanner Glass played 6 minutes, which left the other 10 forwards out of gas by the 3rd period...
a humiliating ass-kicking in 5 last year, and now down 2-1 this year badly outplayed in games 2 and 3.
But like i said, we'll see how the rest of this series plays out.
Funny how the only tough questions he gets come from the Montreal media.
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Didn't you have a championship game last night pj? Suck it.
I don't think the Habs can win it all unless Price gets hot.
I think the Preds can make a serious run. I think they've got a much better team than their record suggested.
We lost 3- 2. We had 8 skaters. It's school vacation week in MA and my team is all 40 year olds with kids and most of the teams we play are 20-somethings, so we were out-manned.
We were in the winners bracket (it's double elim) and had no losses yet in the playoffs so if we won last night we'd be champs, because we lost we have to play next Monday.
Now it's winner take all.
We won in the 5th round of a shootout last night to stay in the winners bracket. Can wrap it up next monday.
I was to be the next shooter, so thank god our goalie made that last save to spare me the embarrassment...
#gotem
Sometimes guys just want to get an extra skate in the morning of the game. It's not only the scratches. Fast did it earlier in the series.
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Alain Vigneault says the mixed-up lines rushes in Game 3 warmup was a prank done by his veterans only to screw with #Habs
#gotem
Oh yeah, those vets really showed it to the Habs on sunday night. Got 'em is right!
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In comment 13432466 BrettNYG10 said:
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Didn't you have a championship game last night pj? Suck it.
I don't think the Habs can win it all unless Price gets hot.
I think the Preds can make a serious run. I think they've got a much better team than their record suggested.
We lost 3- 2. We had 8 skaters. It's school vacation week in MA and my team is all 40 year olds with kids and most of the teams we play are 20-somethings, so we were out-manned.
We were in the winners bracket (it's double elim) and had no losses yet in the playoffs so if we won last night we'd be champs, because we lost we have to play next Monday.
Now it's winner take all.
We won in the 5th round of a shootout last night to stay in the winners bracket. Can wrap it up next monday.
I was to be the next shooter, so thank god our goalie made that last save to spare me the embarrassment...
That's awesome, some time, not on a Rangers/Canadiens game thread, I'll share my story of winning a playoff game in the shootout. 1 - 0.