The Rangers, who host the Lightning and the returning Ben Bishop tonight in the third of a four-game homestand, have won three straight and are 8-2-1 since Dec. 22. The latest victory was a solid 4-1 win over the Flyers on Sunday, in which New York jumped to a 3-0 lead, driven by two goals in 28 seconds in the first period. The recent solid stretch of play, apart from propelling the Rangers in the standings, has stemmed the tide - at least mildly - from requesting everyone and their grandmother be driven out of town with fiery pitchforks. The keys to the stretch, beyond the "effect - see below" has been converting on the power play while shutting down the opponent on the man advantage, consistently rolling four lines, victories at MSG, good play by the defense and solid backstopping from Henrik Lundqvist.
Game Highlights:
A few quick items:
Lundqvist and Nash, Nash and Lundqvist - the wins are great, but just as of more important, is that the victories are getting driven by these two. We have talked that as Hank and Nashty go, so go the Rangers. Lately, that has been the case in a positive direction. Lundqvist was a stalwart Sunday, continuing his fine play. As I tweeted and commented on the blog, while New York got out to a big lead, in my opinion, if it wasn't for Lundqvist's play, they would have lost. Lundqvist appears much calmer between the pipes, seeing the puck much better and looks to be playing deeper than in the past, enabling to react quicker, even with his glove hand.
When Nash plays like this, you see why the Rangers wanted to acquire him and he is a two-time Olympian. Power and speed, a presence on the ice each shift, and when paired with Chris Kreider, pick your poison which way to focus your defense. Four goals the past four games, and not just any goals, but goal-scorer goals, which has to beg the question on his struggles were a slump or due to a physical issue.
Derick Brassard - suddenly hot again. A blast for the goal after moving to create open space for the shot. The bigger key was that it came on 5-on-5, where coach Alain Vigneault has been on Brass to be more productive. All of sudden, the trio with Brass, Pouliot and Zuccarello has been rolling, largely aided by them sticking together on even strength and also on the power play to gain additional comfort playing with one another.
Daniel Carcillo -Carbomb. The Carcillo Effect (though I prefer Del Zotto effect for the current 4-0-1 mark) You know what you get when you have Carcillo. When he is able to stay on the right side of that "line," he is an effective weapon, when on the other….Since coming to the Rangers, like Sean Avery was initially and at times like Brandon Prust, due to the physical component, he has been on the right side of the line. He provides a "presence" that the team has lacked since Prust; someone who the opponents have to worry about, knowing if they go over the line, they have to answer to him. The ancillary benefit is that the toughness has permeated the team. No one is backing down, everyone is engaged or even over-engaged, which is a great thing after we all questioned the heart and effort of this squad earlier this year.
The goal he scored was nice but unneeded bonus, which came about due to a good forecheck by Boyle and Moore along with Carcillo. If that trio can keep doing that, and please get off Boyle's case for not fighting, it's not now nor will it ever be something he does, it's an effective fourth line complementing the first three. The energy, ability to finish checks and create havoc is what that line has to and did do Sunday.
I disagree with the NBC broadcast questioning his fight when it was 3-0. The chatter with the Flyers started early, and while he was part of it, he stayed on the straight and narrow. The fight came at a time where it wouldn’t be damaging, it was a 1:1 and he didn’t draw an extra minor. In addition, it's pretty clear that his time with or reasons for him no longer being a Flyer could have been personnel related, especially as Simmonds - and Rosehill - continually went at him way beyond the normal of a course, indicating there is a history there. The fight at the end was a bit ridiculous, but expected, seeing what transpired all game, and at that point, why worry on the impact, unless you get a suspension.
Michael Del Zotto - I mentioned the Del Zotto effect for the current 4-0-1 mark. Dismiss it all you want, but since he asked and was moved back to the left side, the team is 4-0-1 and MDZ has three assists, is a plus-5, has seven hits and eight blocked shots. That of course begs the question of why didn't he ask for that change before?
Think of it this way. You know your boss is unhappy with your work. He has harped on the need to be flexible and how critical versatility is. You know you are one step away from being benched or traded. Would you make a request for something you don't think you will get and worse possibly create a bigger issue? Likely no, but in this case, MDZ decided that his struggles were largely a result of him switching sides, so he had nothing to lose, so why not. The move has paired great dividends plus the Rangers have learned that John Moore, who was also struggling, could move to and play effectively on the right side, so it's now a win-win.
I remarked after the game that while I was happy for the win, I saw lots of areas for improvement. That view did not curry favor with many on twitter or in the blog. I understand that thought but glad I was vindicated a bit by AV, who said when asked if this was this the most complete effort of the season, “I wouldn’t go that far. We got the lead and that fourth goal, that PP goal, our PP was important for us to score there and get that fourth goal. In the third it was a so-so period as far was taking care of our own end. When you are down 4-0 you are going to take a lot of chances and risk and I thought that we could have defended a little better there and helped." The score might have driven that wide open style, but to me, I have higher goals for the team down the road and playing the right way with the lead is important for the future. Maybe they do play better in close games, like they did versus Chicago, and I have to give opponents some credit, but I felt the Rangers took their foot of the gas too much and were fortunate to have Lundqvist play as well as he did.
Rangers’ lineup, (same old, same old):
Chris Kreider-Derek Stepan-Rick Nash Carl Hagelin-Brad Richards-Ryan Callahan Benoit Pouliot-Derick Brassard-Mats Zuccarello Brian Boyle-Dominic Moore-Daniel Carcillo
Ryan McDonagh-Dan Girardi Marc Staal-Anton Stralman Michael Del Zotto-John Moore
Henrik Lundqvist