Kreider showed again that he might end up being a gigantic under achiever. He didn't skate a lick last night. Nash wasn't good MR but Stepan was the worst Ranger forward on the ice. Besides his unforgiveable give-away thatt urned the entire game around, he refused to shoot the puck OR go to the net even though he had COUNTLESS opportunities to do so. As far as Kreider " wearing down" Doughty.....that aint happening. Doughty is a world class player and Kreider has yet to prove a damn thing in this league.
Hmmm....JWWS...you know Im a big fan but that isn't fair. I have been on Hank on and off all year but when you boil down this roster and past rosters? You cant attack Hank totally for not winning the cup. You just cant. A lot of us sound like Yo Yo's going up and down each game...me being most guilty but I think its fair to say that if this Ranger team wins the cup or goes 7 it has squeezed every last thing out of this roster. So the Yo Yo part is the following. At times the speed is so impressive that this team is where it is at now. The down side is that at some point, when a GM cant pull out one 35 goal scorer out of the draft in 14 years..when he cant pull out one all star in 14 years other then a lucky 7th round pick in his goalie (which was actually a Don Maloney rolling of the dice) this guy has yet to have a true contender in front of him. Where I agree with you at times is it would be nice with a game like last night if he could pitch a shutout. Sam Rosen last night said Hank will give you 2 wins in games perhaps shouldn't win. That's the main problem I have with Hank at times. That is false. He has bailed out this team perhaps 2 games? when they have not played well. MR made a great point above about the quality of shots he faced in the 3rd period. Quick made much better saves in the 1st period. Still have 3 to lose so cant even think about whether or not Hank is having a bad series. He was good enough last night. A.V. was really confused about that 3rd period. Quite honestly have watched it now twice and so am I. Here is a wild thought and probably way off. We had some huge hits last night. Huge. Because all the talk about the Kings physical play, is it possible we changed up and played to their style instead of skate skate skate? We had some of our biggest hits for the entire playoffs all in one game. We looked gassed in the 3rd. We didn't skate in the 3rd. Just a thought..probably way off.
Last night was not an overly physical game. I don't buy that we were gassed because of the style of lay last night. I just think we were lazy cunts on the ice. We picked it up a bit in OT so I don't think it was a matter of us wearing down.
LA had no answer for the speed game of the Rangers early on. Rangers got away from it 2nd and 3rd, it cost them the game, that and the bad pass in OT. Rangers HAVE to play a full 60 minutes of Rangers style hockey to have a chance to win, LA is never out of game so you can't ease up. No excuses you want the cup you have to play hard for 60 minutes. If the Rangers can't do it, well they deserve to lose then.
He is top 4 goalie in the NHL, yea I say hes THAT good. And please stop with the "How many cups has he won" it's a BS question, Marty won cups because of the people in front of him, not because he was stealing games. The Fact is The King is the best goalie the Rangers have ever had, and the best goalie to ever come out of Sweden. You could be an amazing player and still not have a cup. I am sit here and rattle off at least 10 mediocre goalies who have won cups.
no reason to over analyze this game. The difference was the two gigantic, GIGANTIC give-aways that led to two goals. theres your difference.
Yup, you can play great for 58 minutes, but the 2 minutes you play like shit can cost you, that's hockey.
Dan Girardi is quickly becoming one of those players who gives the impression that since collecting his big contract (6 years 33M !!!), he simply does not care to perform anymore. I actually called Joe & Evan this past Monday and said the keys to this series were Marc Staal and Dan Girardi. While Staal did nothing stellar, it is just disgusting to me that Girardi has continued his month long stretch of Del Zotto quality play. He has not had a good game since the Conference Semi-Finals. If I had a dime for every time Doc Emerick said the phrase "Girardi can't keep the puck in the zone" during the conference finals, I would have as much money as Girardi does. YES the Rangers blew a two goal lead. YES the Rangers did not skate in the third period. YES they failed to take advantage of huge rebounds. But for all those very valid criticisms, you can point to some play or action taken by the Los Angeles Kings that lead to that result. The failure of Girardi to clear the puck in overtime, and then turning it over was a purely unforced error. NO ONE on the Kings were anywhere near him. That is a play that I have seen the "Little Rangers" make in between periods at MSG hundreds of times. That play, essentially, is Buckner-esque. And like the Buckner play, a lot of other things outside Girardi's control have to take place for the gaffe to have the magnitude it does. But also like the Buckner Play, it is the kind of play that will be re-played hundreds of times and personify the poor effort this team put into the game. I only hope it is one game, and not the whole series.
King is top 2 in the NHL and possibly the best. I still liked Eddie G better. And don't be dissing Marty, he was an all time GREAT goalie. You don't amass his numbers because of the guys playing in front of you. Best stick handling goalie ever too. _
I hear you jon..just a thought. I do think the Rangers had some huge hits last night..bigger hits then they had all playoffs. Hits were 48-33 Kings so the Kings were hitting. I just cant buy the lazy cunt theory. How can that be? As far as the 3rd period and wondering what happened..it could be as easy as the Kings adjusted to cover the breakout plays..period. If that's the case, then we are in big big trouble. I can see us 100 percent pulling out a game at home..and have a real tough time seeing us sweep at home. We must have Saturdays game or..well this year in the playoffs you never know. Against the Kings, down 3 to 1 would be tough. Then again, the Hawks were 9 minutes away from pulling it off.
I totally agree JS..but you have to admit, he played in a style..in an era of the interference that was superior to anything you see now. The point many make of Devil hockey being boring hockey was pretty accurate. It was tough to watch at times. Im not knocking them..they were the best of all time in the neutral zone. Marty was a tremendous goalie..in a tremendous system for goalies.
Staal is playing like his vision has not healed properly, really hope that's not the case - he's been bad for many games now. But lots of what you saw last night, aside from the mental mistakes, was the Rangers M.O. all season long. 1) can't finish / hit the open net, and 2) too many passes / unselfish playmaking and not taking the shot. It's been over 100 games this year like that so I don't expect it to change all of a sudden. They can work on it in training camp but right now they just have to convert enough of those chances to win. The mental mistakes could have been forced on them by the Kings because of the aggressive forecheck. Gotta look at the tape and figure out what went wrong in the 3rd period. The Kings are clearly the bigger & stronger team but that means nothing - the Rangers can absolutely beat them but they will need to stay disciplined & focused for all 60 minutes. Just the slightest let up and the Kings can rattle off three goals on you in a blink. This should be a good helping of humble pie and force the Rangers not to take this team for granted again after that first period. Rangers win on Saturday and all of a sudden it's a best of five and Rangers have home ice advantage. Get it done!!
Tough Game 1. I'm not convinced that the Rangers can't hang with this Kings team though. They'll rebound. On another note however, I am so sick of Rick Nash. How many times last night did he hold the puck, hold the puck, hold the puck and never get a shot off. Players and coaches can say all they want that he's contributing far more than putting pucks in the net. Bullshit. He's a goal scorer and gets paid to score goals. He's easily the most frustrating player this team has. Not for nothing, I haven't been "Wow'd" by Rick Nash since some point last season. I'm ranting here, but I rarely do. The thought of this guy for 7 more years makes me nauseous.
Another dead on analysis. If I were A.V. I would pull him aside and just say NORTH SOUTH..NORTH SOUTH..NORTH SOUTH..if you cut and weave going to the net, take a seat next to our backup goaltender. NORTH SOUTH
