It’s easy to blame Mike Kostka for the two turnovers against the New York Islanders that ended up in the back of the net. This is what you get for $650,000 these days. For every hopeful signing that works out for that amount of money there are so many that don’t. There’s a reason that his games played have dipped for year’s now. He’s an AHL defenseman and should be sent down.
Getting past that I’d bring up Mat Bodie. He played in a defensive system at Union, looked really good late in the preseason and can inject some offense. It’s not like bringing up a kid, he’s 24, he got two points in his first pro game. I’d press that virtual panic button and see what he’s got. He can also help their 0-2014-15 power play (0-11 on the season).
The Rangers forwards aren’t playing great defense. We saw Anthony Duclair lacking in that area, and he used to be worse, I’ll give the rookie a chance but what about some of the veterans? Rick Nash is scoring but he’s also standing around as a spectator on defense at times.
J.T. Miller and Carl Hagelin have been awful on defense. Lee Stempniak can play better. When your team’s rearguards and goalie are struggling the forwards can and have to help.
Dan Girardi and Ryan McDonagh have to play better. McDonagh was caught flat-footed yesterday a few times yesterday and that’s not the first time this season. Marc Staal was a -4 which can't be helping contract negotiations.
Tanner Glass is a player you have to shake your head at. He needs to ride the pine for a while but it seems like he’s a coach’s favorite going back to their Vancouver days. Glass ranks 7th in the league in hits, is it worth it?
To me the Rangers need to go .500 with Derek Stepan and Dan Boyle out. Right now they’re losing out on important points. Alain Vigneault felt like his team took 30 or so games to “get… his system last year. He thought they’d hit the ground running this year and they haven’t.
Another stat that’s plaguing the Rangers are PIMS. They are ranked 3rd in the league. That’s a losing statistic plain and simple.
Another statistic that matters is face-offs. Martin St. Louis is second on the team at 49.1%, that’s amazing considering the switch. But the team is upside down in that category. They are ranked 26th at 47.5%.
Rangers netminder Henrik Lundqvist has never had plus 5 goal games, back-to-back in his career. Well now he has. He’s partly to blame but the problem is the avalanche of players in the crease and the lack of the Rangers clearing it has hurt him, no way around it. He’s faced the 10th most shots in the league and Ben Bishop is right behind him. He’s stopping a lot more and Lundqvist needs to do the same. The Rangers are averaging 2.75 goals for a game. They’re ranked 18th. Fix that, and it will cure a lot of ills.
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