If you think Tortorella should scratch Del Zotto, there isn't much of a serious conversation to have here.
If the playoffs have taught anyone anything is that the reg season standings don't affect the playoffs. I feel there's a totally different mentality that comes into play. It's DO or DIE. The Red Wings had by far the best season in the NHL, they even broke a record this year yet they were kicked out early. Don't rule out the underdog it could come back and bite you in the ass. Ask the Boston Bruins.
If you don't think that Strahlman is a different player since Tortorella scratched him, you must have started watching the Rangers play in April, as so many other experts have.
red wings were strong only at home this year. this is still in the cradle, the Caps did their job by splitting, and now the Rangers have to do the same and get out of town with a split after the next 2. the rangers will grind this series out and win in the end.
Rangers need to work on getting their shots from the point on the net. Too many were going wide or high. Good effort over all, time to regroup and kick some ass in DC on Wednesday
I think MSG is a huge home ice advantage. Crowd was great. Gave the Rangers a big boost. I expect Verizon Center to give a similar one to the Caps. We will see though.
I totally agree with you...and have stated that throughout. I just really believe that the Rangers are playing great hockey. Losses come in the playoffs. While other teams are playing playoff hockey now, the Rangers have been playing that way since game 1..and it shows. I hear what you are saying..and agree. Can the Caps beat the Rangers? Sure...but even with a loss...I love the way this team is playing. They are being burnt by a player (Gab) who plays on a vital line and Tort hasnt figured out a way to avoid him and keep Richards and Hags going. He will.
Not for nothing...the crowd was a let down the last five minutes. Not enough noise, and one half-hearted "Let's Go Rangers" chant before the faceoff with a little more than a minute left. Dare I say, corporate crowd, because I heard many regular season games that had more of a crowd presence than this crowd. Still think the Rags will take this series, though.
MSG is a huge advantage because of the state of the ice. Whether it's intentional or just a by-product of the amount of use the arena gets, it's a big advantage to the Rangers because it makes it much harder for offensive teams to control the puck for extended periods, and snapshots become much more difficult allowing the Rangers time to close lanes.
Just stop posting all together. At first I thought you were just being sarcastic but now I realize you actually just don't know what you're talking about. The guy had a good game. Hitting a post and a crossbar isn't a byproduct of playing poorly. It's bad luck. Think about this, if he misses the net completely instead of hitting the crossbar at the end of the game you probably don't even mention him missing it during a last minute scramble.
This isn't even close. Regular season standings aside, there were three teams in the West that were overall just better teams than Detroit. They were historically good at home for the first half of the season and came back to earth in the second half...all while being abysmal on the road all season. I don't disagree that the playoffs are a big time equalizer among teams but the Red Wings had by far the best season in the NHL? I don't think there's a hockey fan outside of Michigan that would agree with that.
hahah is Hackett serious? I htink he is. Couple things. 3-3 at home in POs so far. Not gonna cut it. Right now there is no home ice advantage, obviously. Tommy is correct about our point shots---absolutely terrible. We MUST hit the net. Take something off the shot and hit the fucking net. We continue to feel the only way we can create offense is from behind the opponenets net. All we want to do is get the puck behind their net and then go to work. At some point it would be nice to actually create something in front of the net and go to the net. We have Gabs, Cally, Hagelin and Kreider with speed. Yet everything has to cycle behind the net. Not sure Im in love with this idea anymor. At least not the whole fuckin game. Can someone please tell Hagelin that his suspension is over? Hasnt done a thing since hes been back. Is there a worse goalie outside teh crease than Henry? Oooof Finally, IM not a blame the refs guy but that call on Richards that cost us the game was absolutely horrendous. Pure garbage. With our scoring, or lack there of, we're gonna see plenty of game 7s if we're gonna win the cup. Some of u guys picked the Rangers in 5. Thats just silly considering how we struggle to score at times
its been bad out there...and it definitely is not a advantage I think for the Rangers. I think they prefer to have a smooth ice, so many times i see them missing easy passes
Can't say there's much I can disagree with you about jonny. I thought the Rangers puck possession in the offensive zone was as good as I've seen. I thought they did a good job incorporating the D to generate shots aside from their normal cycle but like you said, way too many shots sailing high and wide. If you've got traffic in front being accurate is far more important than trying to pick a corner and be a sharp-shooter. Overall, I think the series will be tight. I see a deadlocked series coming back to MSG next week.
the ice condition is not an advantage to the Rangers, in fact last night, they were victimized by it moreso than the Caps....while they are a cycling down low team, they do also rely on crisp passing and playmaking and team speed.......so I don't wanna hear that johnny E ; ) (by the way the ice surface in 5 stories up and we do have a basketball team in the arena as well, so it's not intentional, it's just the way it is.) Last night was a mirror of Game 1 just the other way around, Hank lets in a soft goal and thats basically was the difference. I still liked the overall game the Rangers played but lack of traffic in front of the net drives me nuts. Del Zotto was the best player on the ice last night....I wouldn't say the crowd was corporate as much as it was complacent and overconfident..and being monday, maybe a little worn out. The Caps out Rangered the Rangers last night, but I don't think they can sustain that for the series.......having a 2-0 lead helped them last night.
That's as may be, but it slows down offense. When your team is built as defensively as the Rangers are, it's going to provide you with a huge advantage - it becomes very difficult to hit a one timer, thus making it harder for the opposition to find and create lanes past the New York shot blockers. It's probably also part of why the Rangers play an offensive game so focussed on cycling; it doesn't need long passes and dirty bounces are less of an issue. Of course, that doesn't explain why the Rangers haven't won more at home so far in the playoffs, although I'm not quite sure how they didn't win last night. In fairness, although I wasn't watching it intently I thought Hendricks and Chimera were outstanding for the Caps.
