The Rangers came into Saturday's game against the Flyers, 13-4-1 in their past 18 contests and fresh off an excellent 2-0 win over the Blackhawks on Thursday. Philadelphia on the other hand were on the wrong side of a 7-3 score against the Sharks, in which Joe Pavelski continued his hot streak with a hat trick. Neither of those prior sentences mattered much Saturday, as Philly jumped to a 2-0 lead, and after the Rangers battled back to tie it, the Flyers notched the final two goals for a 4-2 win, ending the Rangers' six-game road winning streak.
We all know that bad performances will happen from time to time. Unfortunately, despite the Rangers recent fine play, it has not provided them any separation or cushion in either the Metro Division or Eastern Conference, making each contest take on additional importance. That is why any blip - even a minor one - is under such scrutiny. The loss to the Flyers narrowed the Blueshirts’ lead over the Flyers for second place to just one point, and coupled with wins by the Capitals, Blue Jackets and Devils puts those three teams within two to four points of the Rangers with Columbus having a game in hand
The big decisions coming into the game were would Henrik Lundqvist start and Derek Dorsett see his first action since breaking his right fibula on January 3? The answers for each for yes, though.the success ratio for both moves rangers closer to 0 than 100. Lundqvist, who saw his five-game win streak snapped, wasn't bad, he just wasn't great and getting beat five-hole by Wayne Simmons when he was cheating for top-shelf probably shouldn't have happened. I could have seen the argument of letting Cam Talbot, who just missed a shutout Thursday, start Saturday and have Lundqvist go Sunday against Boston, but also can see the rationale for starting your #1 netminder in a key, divisional road game.
For the latter decision, coach Alain Vigneault inserted Dorsett, choosing to start him for Dominic Moore, the first time he has sat since Dec. 8, on the fourth line. Dorsett played 8:42 with four hits, a blocked shot and a shot. He was on the ice for Vincent Lecavalier’s first-period goal and his high-sticking penalty on Lecavalier at 12:19 of the second period led to Simmonds’ power-play winner through Lundqvist's five-hole.
Sometimes simpler is better. By moving out Moore, it forced Boyle to move back to center from left wing for the first time since Dec. 18, a stretch of 26 games. In addition, the chemistry that had built up between Boyle-Moore-Daniel Carcillo was lost in the mix as well. The quote below is why AV made the move, which on the face of it makes sense, but the view of never mess with a good thing or winning streak has to be considered. What will be interesting is if Moore gets back in tonight, which I expect, but is it JT Miller, who has played fairly well replacing Mats Zuccarello, is the one who sits? In addition, if it's bad now, assuming Ryan Callahan is still here, or if he is replaced by another top-nine forward, when Zucc returns, the situation will only get worse as the top-nine will be constant, creating a shifting game between Moore, Dorsett and Carcillo as well as possibly Boyle.
“Dom’s done everything we want,… Vigneault said. “Our record has been real good, he’s been playing real well but sometimes you have to make tough decisions, and that’s not an easy one considering the way he’s been playing, but I need to see what Carcillo, Dorsett and Boyle can do together.…
Anton Stralman struggled against the physical Flyers and was “fighting it with the puck,… Vigneault said. To try and remedy that situation, AV moved Stralman down to play with John Moore and Kevin Klein up to play with Marc Staal, though that backfired when Klein lost a puck battle with Claude Giroux that led to Luke Schenn’s insurance goal 16:15 into the third period. Stralman played just 17:35, his lowest amount in 19 games, and was on ice for the Flyers' first goal by Lecavalier, putting it in the net while trying to clear the front of the net, and the power-play, game-winner by Simmonds.
Larry Brooks described the team's play yesterday very well in the quote below. The team as a whole weren't particularly good, as spelled out above for a few players, but you can extrapolate that to much of the lineup. To me, the one player upfront who played very well was Derick Brassard, who scored to extend his point streak to eight games (five goals, five assists over the span).
Instead, there seemed a fair amount of reaching for pucks and hoping for pucks. The forecheck was a rumor, speed on the rush through the neutral zone almost nonexistent. The work ethic did not appear extraordinary. A glide seemed to have crept into the mix, something that must be addressed prior to Sunday night’s match at the Garden against the Bruins.
Again, at times we fall victim to looking too far into each game. Plus, the blown basically open nets by Chris Kreider, though Brassard scored afterwards, Derek Stepan and Miller, likely could have made the difference but too many players were invisible or visible for the wrong reason, like Kredier who failed to cover for a pinching Dan Girardi's leading to Sean Courturier's goal. The one point not discussed by Brooks in that quote is that Philadelphia were more physical than the Rangers, which is concerning, especially with a contest against another physical team in Boston on Sunday. I do expect a rebound, especially with the Bruins having also played on Saturday, so each team is starting for a similar point, while the Rangers are at home, which should give them a bit of a boost, as they have played better lately at MSG.
A few other things:
- Congrats to Jaromir Jagr in joining Wayne Gretzky, Gordie Howe, Brett Hull, Marcel Dionne, Phil Esposito and Mike Gartner as the only players to score 700 goals. Interesting that five of the players on that list played in NY, most not in their prime, while Howe could have been a Ranger, if the team didn't screw it up and well-known for his fight against Lou Fontanito. In addition, there always was the rumor of Hull coming to NY, but it never came to fruition. One of Glen Sather's biggest failings was not giving Jagr a two-year deal, only offering him one, allowing him to go to the KHL, which likely prevented him for getting #700 earlier. It's amazing to still see Jagr dominate, as he is able to use his big rear and legs to create space and still has the skill to make use of that room.
- Ryan Kesler is likely to be moved before the deadline. The most prominent team mentioned is Pittsburgh though several others, including Chicago are in the mix. The asking price is an established NHL center between 2-25, a top prospect and a first rounder. The rumored deal is Brandon Sutter, who profiles as a third-line, possible second line, pivotman, either Derrick Pouliot or Simon Despres and a first rounder. Some questions: If the cost to NY would be Derek Stepan, JT Milelr and #1, do you do it? Would it matter if Ryan Callahan is back? Also, would that also mean that Brad Richards will be bought out due to cap reasons, especially if Cally is back? Are you concerned, like I am, that Kesler's style of play may make him injury-prone as he ages, especially playing in the Eastern Conference? In addition, he has scored more than 26 goals just once in his career, so to think he is a scoring pivot may be a bit of a stretch. I love Kesler, but no way I pay that price.
- Rumors are that the Rangers may be willing to go six-years, $36 million for Callahan. Brooks had a good column today - notwithstanding the Val Kamensky reference. In essence, and this is something we all have been saying, that it's understandable Callahan wants to get his especially when he sees the money flowing for others. It's also not a stretch to realize that the sins of before should not be repeated and many of that came under a different salary structure than existed. Dan Girardi decided that staying in NY, spending his whole career with the Rangers had a certain amount of intrinsic value beyond the salary. If true, the Rangers, who had already made a more than fair offer, have not showed a willingness to go and above and beyond where many of us may think that it's too generous, given the "warts," a term I use loosely , in the Captain's game. Now the burden have shifted to Callahan. If he leaves for the money, which is probably one year and up to $13 million overall - not chump change - but a relative amount given the cache and possible opportunities afforded to him in NY, then pursuing the almighty dollar was the only thing that mattered the entire time. The puck now is in front of you Ryan Callahan, what will you do with it?