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New York Rangers Blogger •
Heading into Tuesday's contest, I raised the below questions. Lets see the results, written in italics, plus some other points from the loss.
- Does Torts move Anismov or Higgins to top line center to counteract the Ovechkin line or stick with Vinny P at center? (no real changes in terms of matchups. Anisimov did little, but so did Lisin on the top line, and neither Callahan nor Higgins were particularly strong. The lines used Saturday were repeated again, though the lack of scoring should mean some sort of shuffling to get something going).
- Does Avery build on Saturday's game while facing his favorite coach in Boudreau? (Avery had a strong game, notching an assist while looking more involved. Plus, he yapped a bit at Boudreau, which is good news for those of us looking for the acerbic Avery to re-appear as he has been playing too nice and not the edge enough this year).
- Does Hank outdo Varlamov? (Don't know if I would say one outplayed the other. Hank had no chance on the Ovechkin goal, and the goal by Bradley was in a perfect spot, but the two critiques are it went top shelf again and he should have been more aggressive and tried to challenge Bradley more. That said, Hank has bailed us out more times than not, though the lack of secondary scoring is readily apparent in agame like this and going forward where one goal is a difference maker).
- Does Redden take another step forward in his return from prior year irerelevance and help the second line PP score their first point of the season? (Redden was so-so. The power play went 1-for-4, though Redden had little impact. He was burned on the game-winner, though Torts seemed to blame Gilroy for not being further back with Redden up, though Redden was unable to keep the puck in leading to the breakout. Again, Redden had 1:39 in PP time and Staal :20, a trend that will likely continue).
- Does removing Staal's PP duty allow him to better focus on the defensive end? (Staal still played over 20 minutes and was okay, nothing special. No glaring mistakes or great plays, so jury is out on that one).
- Can the Rangers get the PP fired up while also staying out of the box?
(As mentioned, 1-for-4 on PP and just 5-for-34 in last none. Teams have changed their approach against us, as pointed out By Larry Brooks and the SNYRangersBlog and now the Rangers need to adjust. We need more traffic in front, quicker movement of the puck, more shifting of players to create angels as the PP has gotten stale. Also, the SNYRangersBlog made a great point as Michael Del Zotto, who had only one shot last night and hasn’t scored a goal since October 17th, probably needs to shoot more to keep the penalty kill honest. It's the shoot the puck Barry all over again). On the PK, we also had four against, but gave up two goals. that net diferential may have been the difference between a win and loss as we continue to miss Drury and Dubi there (and yes, I know maybe only there)
- Will the team do a better job of puck control, enabling them to skate through the neutral zone and gain the blue line while also keeping the Capitals out of their own zone? (The Rangers did not carry play, and heading the third period, they had just 11 shots, a season low.. They didn’t have a shot for a 19:20 stretch until Higgins forced Varlamov to make a save at 3:27 of the second. That is unacceptable and just further evidence as to the lack of secondary scoring on the team. What happened to all that forward depth we thought we had)?
Steve Zipay made two great points in his blogs today: 1) Beyond the fact that this team lacks secondary scoring, there's a gap in dynamism. Lundqvist needs to provide it, challenging shooters, being more vocal. (we need more passion and heart on the ice, we need Avery to mix it up, we need Del Zotto to fly up ice, we need some bodies to crash the net and creat havoc, right now, we look like a team going through the motions.
2) Gaborik's 15 goals, including the pair last night, puts him in a tie for the league lead, but the rest of the Blueshirts have netted just 39 through 21 games, and after a brisk start have settled in barely above .500 at 11-9-1. (39 goals in 21 games by the rest of the team, and if remove Kotalik and Prospal, it's 28 goals by everyone else, only word that describes that is embarrassing).
- Does Torts move Anismov or Higgins to top line center to counteract the Ovechkin line or stick with Vinny P at center? (no real changes in terms of matchups. Anisimov did little, but so did Lisin on the top line, and neither Callahan nor Higgins were particularly strong. The lines used Saturday were repeated again, though the lack of scoring should mean some sort of shuffling to get something going).
- Does Avery build on Saturday's game while facing his favorite coach in Boudreau? (Avery had a strong game, notching an assist while looking more involved. Plus, he yapped a bit at Boudreau, which is good news for those of us looking for the acerbic Avery to re-appear as he has been playing too nice and not the edge enough this year).
- Does Hank outdo Varlamov? (Don't know if I would say one outplayed the other. Hank had no chance on the Ovechkin goal, and the goal by Bradley was in a perfect spot, but the two critiques are it went top shelf again and he should have been more aggressive and tried to challenge Bradley more. That said, Hank has bailed us out more times than not, though the lack of secondary scoring is readily apparent in agame like this and going forward where one goal is a difference maker).
- Does Redden take another step forward in his return from prior year irerelevance and help the second line PP score their first point of the season? (Redden was so-so. The power play went 1-for-4, though Redden had little impact. He was burned on the game-winner, though Torts seemed to blame Gilroy for not being further back with Redden up, though Redden was unable to keep the puck in leading to the breakout. Again, Redden had 1:39 in PP time and Staal :20, a trend that will likely continue).
- Does removing Staal's PP duty allow him to better focus on the defensive end? (Staal still played over 20 minutes and was okay, nothing special. No glaring mistakes or great plays, so jury is out on that one).
- Can the Rangers get the PP fired up while also staying out of the box?
(As mentioned, 1-for-4 on PP and just 5-for-34 in last none. Teams have changed their approach against us, as pointed out By Larry Brooks and the SNYRangersBlog and now the Rangers need to adjust. We need more traffic in front, quicker movement of the puck, more shifting of players to create angels as the PP has gotten stale. Also, the SNYRangersBlog made a great point as Michael Del Zotto, who had only one shot last night and hasn’t scored a goal since October 17th, probably needs to shoot more to keep the penalty kill honest. It's the shoot the puck Barry all over again). On the PK, we also had four against, but gave up two goals. that net diferential may have been the difference between a win and loss as we continue to miss Drury and Dubi there (and yes, I know maybe only there)
- Will the team do a better job of puck control, enabling them to skate through the neutral zone and gain the blue line while also keeping the Capitals out of their own zone? (The Rangers did not carry play, and heading the third period, they had just 11 shots, a season low.. They didn’t have a shot for a 19:20 stretch until Higgins forced Varlamov to make a save at 3:27 of the second. That is unacceptable and just further evidence as to the lack of secondary scoring on the team. What happened to all that forward depth we thought we had)?
Steve Zipay made two great points in his blogs today: 1) Beyond the fact that this team lacks secondary scoring, there's a gap in dynamism. Lundqvist needs to provide it, challenging shooters, being more vocal. (we need more passion and heart on the ice, we need Avery to mix it up, we need Del Zotto to fly up ice, we need some bodies to crash the net and creat havoc, right now, we look like a team going through the motions.
2) Gaborik's 15 goals, including the pair last night, puts him in a tie for the league lead, but the rest of the Blueshirts have netted just 39 through 21 games, and after a brisk start have settled in barely above .500 at 11-9-1. (39 goals in 21 games by the rest of the team, and if remove Kotalik and Prospal, it's 28 goals by everyone else, only word that describes that is embarrassing).
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