The Rangers had their second straight solid performance and win Tuesday. Their 5-2 win gave New York at the time a four-point lead over Pittsburgh with the Penguins having two games in hand. New Jersey did the Rangers a favor, beating the Penguins 3-0 on Thursday, meaning the Rangers now control their own destiny as to seeding in the playoffs.
A few thoughts:
- Keith Yandle or as he is now being called by several on the Rangers, Keith Oates, after Adam not Hall & continues to excel. Two unreal assists on the first two goals. The first was a gorgeous cross-ice feed for Mats Zucarrello's PPG off Tuukka Rask. The second was following a rush, a head fake, a deke and then an easy dish to Derek Stepan for the dunk. Give Stepan credit for driving hard to the net to create the opportunity. Yandle has 42 points - 35 of them coming on assists - so while we love him to shoot more, hard to really complain. Find a way to re-sign him.
- The PP is humming at 28% over the last 20 games. Nice when you have good puck and player movement along with having Yandle on the point more frequently.
- Physical play. The Rangers have been criticized by many of us at times for being soft. That has not been the case lately. Evidence of that can be seen on JT Miller's hit on Zdeno Chara coupled with his willingness to stand his ground knowing there might be retaliation. The effort level throughout picked up tremendously following the West Coast trip. I wish I knew why but whatever it is, bottle it and give to the team before each game.
- The score was 5-2 but that doesn't fully accurately reflect the play. While the Rangers were strong throughout, they benefitted from some breaks preventing Lee Stempniak (who loves tormenting the Rangers and boy, they really must have treated him poorly when he was in NY) from having a hat trick. His first non-goal was overturned due to a clear offsides. His second due to "inconclusive" evidence that the puck crossed the line. Inconclusive is in quotes because if you asked most of us and most fans, they would say it was a goal. A better method needs to be determined so these calls are gotten right. Because losing a key game (again) due to a bad or missed call is likely to happen as it's currently constructed. The same could be said about the puck that might have hit the netting just prior to Zucc's goal. It also may have hit the glass and not the netting but it would be great if someone would get the call correct.
- Beyond the hit, Miller was good again. His 20th of the season was a goal-scorers goal. Miller was able to stop the puck with his skates, not panic and take his time to hit the open net. His ability to move up and down the lineup is a huge asset. Keeping him with Stepan and Zucc for a while may be the way to go but I could see him fill in on first, swapping with Jesper Fast, or third line, swapping with Kevin Hayes, Eric Staal or Chris Kreider.
- The fourth line he fourth line of Viktor Stalberg-Dominic Moore-Tanner Glass needs to remain intact. The challenge again is the third line. Hayes should be at center and Staal at wing, but Staal likes playing the pivot, though he lacks the foot speed to excel in AV's system. We have to hope he picks up or refinds his game, since as of now, as I noted before, acquiring Jamie McGinn or Brandon Pirri look as if it would have made much more sense.
- The Rangers started this stretch of 10 games with major questions. Two games in, some have been answered. The key now is to maintain this level and continue to work on their deficiencies. Games Saturday against Montreal, where Antti Raanta should play, and Sunday against Pittsburgh loom.
Dan Girardi:
Much of the discussion yesterday on Travis Yost's excellent article on Dan Girardi (http://www.tsn.ca/talent/rangers-won-t-win-without-altering-blueline-1.458764). We have talked much of the season how Girardi's game has gone south but Yost graphically represents just how historic and steep that decline has been. The Rangers will have a major decision on what they will do with G, but all the talk of sitting him now will likely not - rightly or wrongly - happen during the balance of the season or in the playoffs.
This is the graphic representation noted above from Travis' article of how much Girardi has dragged down each of the Rangers when he is on the ice:
In full disclosure, I was a major proponent of signing Girardi to his long-term extension (http://www.hockeybuzz.com/blog.php?post_id=58313).With four years at $5.5 mil per, that deal looks worse and worse daily. The flip side arguments are that G has sacrificed his body to the team, as he has been a warrior on the ice and leader off it. The wear-and-tear from that style along with all the playoff games, which has added just about a full regular of games (20 in 11-12, 12 in 12-13, 27 in 13-14 and 19 in 14-15) with higher stakes and more contact, also adversely impacting Girardi. Add in his off-season surgery and cracked knee cap in December and there are valid excuses for some of the decline, not all of it.
Using excuses may be a way to partially explain the decline but regardless of the reason, it's there and getting worse. Girardi has gone fro a borderline 1/2 d-man to a 5/6 or possibly 6/7 d-man. The comparison that has been given is Andrew MacDonald. Philly moved on from MacDonald realizing that a bad situation was only getting worse. The difference there is that MacDonald was brought in first via trade and then re-signed as a free agent, so he doesn't have the organizational history that G has. In a purely impartial world, that wouldn't and shouldn't matter, but even in the business that is the NHL, history and standing with a team may hold some weight, as it does here.
What we see from this and the Marc Staal deal, which is something I have said but ignored here, is that pay for future and not past performance, In each case, NY might have weighed the past performance and each player's standing more than what they would do in the future. That works in a non-cap world, not the NHL as it is now.
New York is currently in a major cap constraint. Room has to be freed up to try and re-sign Yandle, with buying out G a possibility to free up some room. One other option would be to try and deal G and eat salary by including a top prospect. But NY is light on those and G has an NMC. This season, the cap constraints prevent Brady Skjei or Raphael Diaz from getting called up even with Dylan McIlrath out, though if he will miss one more week, McI could be put on LTIR retroactively as he will have missed 10 games and 24 days, freeing up room.
Even if either or both could be promoted, does any of us see AV sitting Girardi for one of them. Since that is unlikely, he needs to protect Girardi by matching him up as best as he can against third or fourth lines and use him on the third pair. Leave Klein with McD and would love to leave Staal with Yandle, but that means G with Dan Boyle, which would be a nightmare. You could pair G with Yandle, but that will drag down Yandle. If AV was willing to call up and use either Skjei or Diaz, that d-man could play with G or Boyle, improving the third line.
A tough decision is going to get tougher and won't just go away.
Playoff Picture :
Starting with 10 games to go, scoreboard watching became the sport inside of the sport. As of the end of games March 24, the Rangers, who have eight games left after their win over Boston on Wednesday, sit second in the division, 42-24-8 with 92 points. When I do a recap or game preview blog, I will include this at the bottom of the blog. However, on non-game/recap days, I will run this daily since this is a huge topic of conversation and a large component of our focus.
Wednesday, the Isles defeated the Senators. Thursday, New Jersey beat Pittsburgh, Florida beat Boston, Detroit defeated Montreal and Philly beat Colorado, The Isles win and Pittsburgh loss had a direct impact on the Rangers. None of the others had a direct impact on the Rangers, as neither Philly nor Detroit are on the Rangers' tails, though each could have an impact on standings placement down the road when in the post-season, depending on who wins first and second round matchups. Friday: Direct - Isles-Lightning. Indirect (overall standings) - None. Saturday: Direct - Isles-Hurricanes, Penguins-Red Wings. Indirect (overall standings) - Bruins-Leafs, Panthers-Lightning and Flyers-Coyotes
Division:
Washington locked up the division and top seed in the conference with their win over Ottawa on March 22.
Pittsburgh- lost 3-0 to the Devils, ending a six game win streak. 7-3-0 in last 10, one game in hand, third in the division, four points behind the Rangers. (played 38 games at home, 35 on road, three left at home, six on road)
NYI- defeated the Senators 3-1 on Wednesday ending a three-game losing streak. 4-4-2 last 10, two games in hand on the Rangers, five points behind NY, in fourth place in Metro. First Wild Card. (played 35 games at home, 37 on road, six left at home, four on road)
Philly- defeated Colorado 4-2 on Thursday. 7-1-2 their last 10, one game in hand on the Rangers, seven points behind NY. Tied with Detroit for eighth place in conference bur are the Second Wild Card as they have a game in hand on the Red Wings. (played 36 games at home, 37 on road, five left at home, four on road)
Conference (teams with a reasonable shot at the playoffs. Right now, three team race for division with Detroit looming. Florida has 91 points with eight games left. Tampa Bay has 89 points with nine games left. Boston has 86 with seven games left but has lost five in a row. Carolina trails Boston by eight points and has eight games left, so not eliminated, but a difficult task ahead of them)
Detroit - defeated Montreal 4-3 on Thursday, almost blowing a 4-0 lead. 5-5-0 in last 10. Two points behind Isles, who have two games in hand. Tied with Philly but Flyers have a game in hand and are therefore in playoff spot. (played 37 games at home, 37 on road, four left at home, four on road)
Summary: After a disappointing road trip, a solid win at home against the Panthers followed by one over Boston. There is still work to be done, as the team needs to stop playing a shell and laying back on their heels in the third period. The Rangers the past several seasons have been excellent down the stretch, to lock in a spot, they may need to do the same thus year. Upcoming schedule is no cake walk. Remaining games overall are six at home and three on the road. The Rangers are going to get no help from others, so they will need to keep winning in order to make the post-season and maintain a top-three seed in division.
In order:
3/21- Fla - win 4-2 3/23 - Bos - win 5-2 3/26 - @Mtl 3/27 - Pit 3/31 - @Car 4/2 - Buf 4/4 - @CBJ 4/5 - TB 4/7 - NYI 4/9 - Det