Prince Alexandar starts versus Pens, Looking Ahead

Posted on March 25, 2019 by Derek

Tonight, the Rangers return home to host the Penguins at MSG. The game time is 7 PM with your usual drop of the puck around 7:08 between 33rd and Seventh.

Rookie Alexandar Georgiev will get the start in goal. Fresh off a scintillating 44 save performance in a 2-1 overtime win over the Leafs in Toronto, the 23-year old Bulgarian makes another start against a quality opponent. This time, it’s old Patrick rival Pittsburgh. The Pens are battling for playoff position in the Metro Division. They’re in third place with 93 points. They have six games remaining entering tonight’s match.

Five total points separate first place Washington from fourth place Carolina. The Caps lead the division by a point over the Islanders, who all but sealed up a playoff berth by sweeping the Flyers and Coyotes over the weekend. The Pens have 93 points, trailing the Isles by two for home ice advantage if they meet in the first round. With a 2-1 overtime win last night over Montreal, the Hurricanes have 91 points with seven games left. So, they could make up ground.

In the wildcard race, the Canes are first with the Canadiens second with 88 points. Montreal leads Columbus by two for the final spot. The Blue Jackets got a badly needed 5-0 victory over Vancouver thanks to a shutout from Sergei Bobrovsky. They have 86 points with a game at hand on the Habs. The two teams meet later this week in Columbus. Montreal has a home game against Florida tomorrow night.

There’s your up to date playoff race. The West is more complicated with technically everyone except the Kings still alive. Even the Oilers. There are a couple of bigger games later that affect that race. In case you’re wondering about the Stars, they’ve hung in pretty good without Mats Zuccarello. They’re in the first wildcard with 82 points. One up on the Avalanche, who lost to the Blackhawks in overtime last night. Dallas has the ROW tiebreaker, but still has some work to do to get in. Zuccarello is skating. Hopefully, he will be back to help them soon.

Regarding Georgiev, who goes for his 12th win in the 26th start of the season, it’s another chance to prove himself against one of the league’s best. Sidney Crosby and Jake Guentzel have been on a roll. With Matt Murray back in form and Kris Letang playing well, the Pens are 8-2-3 in March. Their only two regulation losses came to Columbus and St. Louis.

Quite a few of those games have gone to extras. Prior to a 3-2 regulation victory in Dallas on Saturday, they went to the shootout to edge Nashville and fell to those jerks in Carolina. They blew one to the Flyers losing in overtime. So, the last four games have been close for Pittsburgh. They’re 2-0-2.

The game tonight is the third of four meetings against the Pens. Pittsburgh won the previous two. On 1/2, they blew out the Rangers 7-2 to chase Henrik Lundqvist from net. Georgiev replaced him and allowed one. Last month on 2/17 in Pittsburgh, it was a crazy game the high scoring Pens took 6-5. Evgeni Malkin had two goals including a highlight reel one on Georgiev, who was in for all six on 41 shots. The old Mika Zibanejad line did damage with Zuccarello scoring twice and the next Ranger captain notching his 26th with 18 seconds left to make it interesting. Kevin Hayes had a goal and assist.

Honestly, that game seems like a long time ago. Since then, the Rangers have moved on while Zuccarello and Hayes look to make an impact on the Western Conference playoffs. Hayes recently had his best game in a Jets’ 5-0 blowout of the Predators. He had a goal and three assists to help emerging star Kyle Connor record his first career hat trick.

The Rangers will also finish at the Penguins on April 6. As much as these games don’t mean so much, they’re still rivalry games. That should be etched in the back of the players minds after allowing the Pens to do whatever they wanted in the first two meetings. Thirteen goals is way too many. We’ll see how much pride the boys have in the final home game against a rival you love to hate.

Even if Malkin doesn’t play, the Pens have plenty of firepower. They’ve gotten large contributions from Jared McCann since he and Nick Bjugstad came over from Florida for Derick Brassard (now on Colorado). Justin Schultz has been playing this month after that gruesome injury last Fall. So, that’s a bonus for their D that includes Letang, Brian Dumoulin, Jack Johnson, Erik Gudbranson and Marcus Pettersson. GM Jim Rutherford quietly remade it.

There’s always the pesky Patric Hornqvist, who loves crashing the net for deflections and rebounds. Some of it legal and some illegal that can lead to scrums. Similar to Brendan Lemieux, who’s become a fan favorite in record time. Coach David Quinn has moved the son of Claude Lemieux around, even giving him a shift with Zibanejad and Buchnevich the other day. It was an effective shift. Of course, he was involved on Buchnevich’s 18th goal from Brady Skjei and the improved Kevin Shattenkirk.

Shattenkirk has looked much better for about a month now. He’s back to skating well and picking up assists. Quinn has rewarded him with a spot on the first power play unit while Tony DeAngelo has shifted to the second unit. Shattenkirk has been able to get more shots through for rebounds. He also showed a mean streak by throwing down a Leaf behind Georgiev’s cage. That was as physically involved as I can remember seeing Shattenkirk. It’s good to see the prideful defenseman playing with confidence and edge.

Lately, he’s paired up with Skjei while DeAngelo has stuck with Marc Staal in the top four. John Gilmour is working with Neal Pionk on the third pair. Neither are great defensively, but do compete hard. It remains to be seen if either will be part of the Rangers blueline in ’19-20 and beyond. Pionk is restricted this summer along with DeAngelo, who’s a lock to be re-signed. As for Gilmour, he’s 25 already and has proven he can dominate at the AHL level. He led all AHL defensemen in scoring with 20 goals and 33 assists for 53 points.

With K’Andre Miller wrapping up his freshman year at Wisconsin, he’s about a year away. It would be wise for the 2018 first round pick to return for his sophomore year. In 26 games for the Badgers, Miller posted five goals and 17 assists totaling 22 points with a plus-seven rating and 18 penalty minutes. The big lefty skating defenseman could become that top pair D that the Rangers lack. He’s 6-4, 207 and skates like a forward which he was before converting to D.

Blueshirt fans should also be excited for promising Libor Hajek, who looked good in his short stint before an injury ended his season. Don’t forget about Ryan Lindgren, who is more of a defensive defenseman that likes to mix it up. With other European prospects Nils Lundkvist and Nico Gross, plus recently signed North American Joey Keane, the back end could look vastly different down the road.

Updating tonight, Staal will not play and as expected, Jesper Fast is done for the season. So, I guess that means Fredrik Claesson comes back in for Staal.

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Game #74: Strome’s overtime winner gives Georgiev another victory over the Leafs

Posted on March 24, 2019 by Derek

Maybe these games don’t have the same meaning to some. Don’t tell the Rangers. They went into Toronto and earned a hard fought 2-1 overtime win over the Maple Leafs. Ryan Strome scored the OT winner at 1:48 on a nice Boo Nieves set up to give improving rookie Alexandar Georgiev another victory over the Leafs.

For a team on the verge of elimination, they sure play tenacious hockey. Even if they needed 44 more saves from a lights out Georgiev to stifle one of the league’s highest scoring offenses. Don’t forget what he did on his 23rd birthday against these Leafs, making 55 saves in a home win on Feb. 10. In three starts against Toronto in the season series, he stopped 130 of a possible 136 shots. Very impressive considering his last two that saw him go 99 for 101 in two straight wins versus those Leafs.

Toronto couldn’t solve him conventionally. They fired shots from every conceivable angle, attempting a ridiculous 104. That means 59 never made the net. The Rangers played solid team defense by blocking 33 shots led by recent Hartford recall John Gilmour’s seven. Usually, if you give up the high volume of shots they did, it’s due to being dominated and poor defensively. That wasn’t the case. They competed for every loose puck and battled the Leafs in front.

It wasn’t one sided either with the Blueshirts getting 28 shots on goal and finishing with 58 attempts. Sure. They were outshot 45-28 including 20-7 in the third period. But they made Toronto earn it. It actually took a broken play for Zach Hyman to score his 19th off a good pass from John Tavares at 8:33 of the third to tie the score. The original play saw Georgiev stop Mitch Marner with the rebound going up in mid-air. Mika Zibanejad missed batting the puck out of harm’s way. That allowed Tavares to find Hyman for an open side.

Everything else they tried didn’t work against Georgiev. In my estimation, he played the game of the season by again stifling the Leafs at every turn. He had the number of Tavares, Marner and Auston Matthews. Oh, they got quality chances, but the focus of the Bulgarian Brick Wall was on point. If not for a flukey play, he shuts them out over a month later after the remarkable 55 save birthday present.

It went to three-on-three overtime. A sore spot for the Rangers most of the season. They hadn’t won in extras since beating the Avalanche for their first win of the season. It had been nothing but heartache for Quinn’s crew. Interestingly, he sent out Boo Nieves early in the three-on-three. The same Nieves, who played on the fourth line. He had a great chance late in regulation on a good pass by Brendan Smith. Instead, he passed it up for a covered Brett Howden. Quinn told Nieves to shoot the next time.

In OT, he got a two-on-one with Strome. Strome got the puck over to Nieves for a good one-timer that Frederik Andersen made a diving stop on to rob him. Nieves stuck with it behind the net and passed for Strome, who stuffed the puck into an open net for the game-winner. Look at the reaction of the team after the goal.

It sure was a nice reward for both Strome and Georgiev, who MSG analyst Steve Valiquette correctly noted that it’s been the first-year netminder who’s gotten all the tough starts over Henrik Lundqvist in the second half. So many pundits are too quick to brush aside Georgiev due to the anticipation of the team signing Russian goalie prospect Igor Shestyorkin.

Let’s be honest. If he signs, it would be a unreasonable expectation to think Shestyorkin could come over to North America and take the backup job away from Georgiev by playing as well as Georgie has. His improvement the past couple of months is impressive. Once again, goalie coach Benoit Allaire gas done a great job developing a young goalie who wasn’t even on the radar before last season.

Georgiev deserves to be here this Fall and share the work load with Lundqvist. Even if that means Shestyorkin starts in Hartford with recently signed college goalie Adam Huska, so be it. You don’t have to rush him right away. Let’s not go overboard. The KHL is not even close to the NHL. Shestyorkin has played on a loaded team for St. Petersburg SKA. He split starts with former AHL goalie Magnus Hellberg.

With Lundqvist signed another two years and Georgiev proving he deserves to stay, there is no need to rush Shestyorkin. He’s 23 and can develop at the right pace given the team’s depth. Georgiev is a bargain who’ll earn $792,500 through next year as his entry level contract expires. He’s a Group II free agent in 2020.

As for the one goal they scored in regulation, it came off the red hot stick of Pavel Buchnevich 19 seconds into the third period. He notched his 18th when he was able to get to a rebound of a Kevin Shattenkirk shot that Brady Skjei got a piece of. Brendan Lemieux drew attention in front to allow Buchnevich to score for the sixth time in 10 games. Lemieux does all the grunt work. He drove the Leafs nuts throughout with battles in front of Andersen.

It was a encouraging game. Especially when you win. Something that’s been a rare occurrence since last month. Their last victory came over the Devils at home. It’s been a while.

There are now eight games left. The world beater rival Penguins pay a visit to MSG on Monday. It’s a game we go to. Who gets the start? Georgiev or Lundqvist. It’s a good question.

I know it doesn’t mean a whole lot. But a win over the annoying Pens would be nice. They’ve kicked our ass this year.

BONY 3 STARS:

3rd 🌟 John Gilmour, Rangers (7 blocked shots in 22 shifts-17:00)

2nd 🌟 Ryan Strome, Rangers (overtime winner for his 14th goal as a Blueshirt, a gamer)

1st 🌟 Alexandar The Great Georgiev, Rangers (44 saves including 19 of 20 in a busy 3rd for Prince Alexandar)

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Rangers can gain ground in Lottery race with loss at Toronto

Posted on March 23, 2019 by Derek

I don’t advocate tanking. I’m glad the Rangers aren’t under coach David Quinn. They continue to play hard, but haven’t been winning games. Since the trade deadline, they have one victory. I’ve lost track of what the exact total is. I think it’s four losses in extras as well. Plus the five or six defeats in regulation. I could easily look it up, but what’s the point?

The bottom line is entering tonight’s match at Toronto, there are nine games remaining in the season. Game 74 features the Hartford Wolfpack versus the Toronto Maple Leafs. A low scoring team that struggles on the power play and on defense versus a high scoring juggernaut whose defense is in shambles.

If you want to look at the gaudy Toronto stats, be my guest. All I do know is John Tavares has 41 goals and over 80 points while Mitch Marner is closing in on 90 points. Morgan Rielly is a beast who could wind up with 20 goals and 80 points from the back end. Auston Matthews is only a few goals away from 40 despite missing time due to another injury. Nazem Kadri is an after thought. Frederik Andersen basically must stand on his head.

The Rangers have Mika Zibanejad with 68 points and 28 markers. Both team bests. After that, Chris Kreider, who isn’t playing, remains on 26 goals and has yet to crack the 50-point mark due to the hamstring injury he’s played through. After that, it’s Jimmy Vesey, who I think has gone eight or nine straight without a point. Pavel Buchnevich has been their best scoring forward with five goals over the past nine. He needs three for 20. A nice accomplishment if he can get it. Especially given the month he missed and struggles before adjusting under Quinn.

Tony DeAngelo leads the blueline with 26 points on mostly assists. A guy who was healthy scratched a lot due to a variety of reasons due mostly to off ice issues that will not be tolerated. It’s up to him. He’s got the talent. It’s all about maturity for the former first round pick of the Lightning, who didn’t last long in Arizona before coming over in the blockbuster that saw the Blueshirts say goodbye to playoff hero Derek Stepan and popular backup Antti Raanta. A trade that also netted Lias Andersson with the number seven overall pick in 2017. A young player who needs more ice time in these final nine to get a feel for what he can do.

It’ll be Alexandar Georgiev getting the start in net. The same rookie who had 55 saves on his birthday versus these Leafs at MSG. Four off Mike Richter’s mark of 59 for regulation.

So, what’s the focus? Continuing to see what Filip Chytil, Andersson and Brett Howden can do at center ice behind Zibanejad. Taking a look at deserving Hartford standouts Vinni Lettieri and John Gilmour. Evaluating what’s left with Kreider out and Jesper Fast likely done for the remainder of the schedule.

As for where the team is in the standings, they remain at 69 points with only 22 ROW. The lowest in the league. With the Devils prevailing over Arizona in a shootout, they are up to 65 points with a few more regulation and overtime wins. So, while it looks like the woeful Senators, Kings and Red Wings will all finish behind the Rangers, it’s possible for the Devils to pass them. However, they have played 76 games. So, it’ll still take a lot for the Rangers to wind up 27th with the fourth worst record.

They will continue to play honestly under the no nonsense Quinn. It’s just a question of how many of these games can they actually win? I jokingly said they might not win the rest of the year due to the lineup. Given how futile the offense is and the power play, who knows.

We’ll see how they fare in enemy territory tonight against a putrid defensive playoff contender.

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Game #76: Devils 2, Coyotes 1 (SO)

Posted on March 23, 2019 by hasan4978

I’ve been so used to writing emo recaps lately, I actually started to type in Coyotes 2 in the title space as if they’d won this afternoon’s game before catching myself. For once the Devils did win a hockey game, and were really the better team against an Arizona squad fighting for their playoff lives in front of a near packed house at the Rock. Honestly they should have won long before the shootout but for some terrific goaltending by Darcy Kuemper, a pair of maddening misses by Mike McLeod (still looking for his first NHL goal) and a PP that actually looked NHL caliber for once but still fired blanks time and again.

Obviously there was no recap for Thursday’s game…what’s to say about an AHL team losing 5-1 to the hottest team in the league outside of the Tampa juggernaut? Especially considering I didn’t watch a second of the highlights.  Amazingly, our lineup was a lot different for this afternoon’s game though. No fewer than five of the walking wounded (Nico Hischier, Kyle Palmieri, Miles Wood, Mirco Mueller and Sami Vatanen) were suddenly all healthy enough to play. I don’t want to accuse an organization of flat out chicanery – least of all my own – but the timing just smells fishy.  I even joked to my friend Rudy, ‘are we just bringing these guys back now to sell tickets for the last few home games?!’

If we were holding these guys out in some sort of soft tank, maybe they should have waited another game or two since a little streak could still possibly change our lotto odds.  Early on, it did look like more of the same in spite of the returning cavalry with Oliver Ekman-Larsson floating a partially screened wrister past Mackenzie Blackwood in the first period but after some more typical uninspired play of 2019, the team did wake up later in the first, getting rewarded when Drew Stafford’s wrister slithered through a screen and under Kuemper to tie the game. After that, the goalies took over but even so, the last two periods were as good as I’ve seen the Devils play in months. Even old, slow Stafford looked like he was using the turbo button on a power move towards the net in the second period.

I was only moderately surprised at the crowd at the Rock today, there were I’m sure a lot of presold tickets for a Saturday matinee and a lot of kids there to boot. Contrast that with our upcoming game with the Sabres on Monday where they’re literally giving away comp tickets to that game for season ticket holders as if it was a preseason game. Which to be fair, it pretty much is – an extended 2019-20 preseason if you will. I’m still debating using my comp for Monday, I hadn’t planned to go and probably won’t if my one couple friend winds up in the clubs as opposed to their normal seats since nobody else I know is going either. Not that I blame any of them.

At least I did get to see a few of my arena friends today. Otherwise these games just don’t have enough meaning to stay wrapped up in them. Oh sure, I celebrated out of habit when Blake Coleman and Pavel Zacha’s shootout goals gave the Devils a win – and my long awaited first live win of 2019 (now 1-6 in games this calendar year). But it felt empty afterward, like eating comfort food when depressed. Or as one time New Jersey Net Derrick Coleman once famously quipped…whoopdie damn doo.

Oh sure we played spoiler to the Coyotes to an extent, but it’s not like they’re any real rival. And we do get too wrapped up in the minuscule difference one or two places in the lotto odds can mean. Just look at 2016, when John Moore’s meaningless OT goal against the Flyers bumped our odds from third best to fifth best…but when the drawing was actually held it was one of our combos that came up. Perhaps the best thing about today’s game – besides the performances of Blackwood and Zacha – is it knocks one more game off the schedule and this time without any suspected catastrophic injuries.

 

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Game #73: Rangers lose again to Howard and Athanasiou led Red Wings

Posted on March 20, 2019 by Derek

Once again, it was Groundhog Day for the Rangers. They saw their collective shadow against Jimmy Howard, Andreas Athanasiou and the Red Wings to lose 3-2 in the final meeting of the season. In fact, all three losses to Detroit came by identical 3-2 scores.

When it comes to our team facing Howard, they cannot beat him. Simply put, the long time Red Wings netminder who idolized Mike Richter, always saves his best for the team he grew up rooting for. So, it’s never surprising when he routinely makes 40 or more saves against them. In fact, I predicted 43 early on and the usual one goal win over unlucky counterpart Henrik Lundqvist. I was close. He finished with 41 to improve to 10-3-3 in 16 career appearances versus the Rangers. See NHL.com’s Dan Rosen’s tweet below.

Howard is a goalie I’ve always had a soft spot for. He came after all the Red Wings’ success. It looks like the affable veteran will stay put for another year with the only franchise he’s known. Good.

He isn’t a Hall of Fame netminder. However, the former University of Maine star has carved out a solid career in Hockey Town. He’s up to 241 career victories with 24 shutouts and respectable numbers across the board. The soon to be 35-year old on March 26 should be a lock for the US Hockey Hall of Fame. No small accomplishment.

I can’t count how many times the Rangers and Red Wings wound up in a one goal game with Howard and Lundqvist in net. But I’d imagine it’s been almost for the duration of their match-ups. That’s just the way it is. Some things will never change. If you’re an old school 80’s music fan, you know where I borrowed that from. ;).

Facing a team with fewer points than them, the Rangers came out fast and dominated the Red Wings with a 17 shot first period. That included the game’s first seven. They controlled much of the action except for the scoreboard. Howard wouldn’t cooperate turning aside all 17 Ranger shots with maybe his best stop coming on Chris Kreider, who acknowledged to playing through a hamstring injury since the Tampa game last month.

With a young lineup that included Hartford call ups John Gilmour and Vinni Lettieri, the Rangers made their share of mistakes. However, I liked the effort they gave. With coach David Quinn finally moving Filip Chytil to his natural position of center, and having Lias Andersson center the fourth line, it was a different look. Brett Howden also centered a line. Only leading scorer Mika Zibanejad had experience down the middle. That’s how it should be for the remainder of the season.

Former Islander center Frans Nielsen took advantage of a mistake to score his 10th from Detroit call up Taro Hirose in his NHL debut. Gilmour got turned outside in by Nielsen who broke in and went upstairs on Lundqvist for a 1-0 lead.

In between stoppages, I was also flipping to the big play in game for pseudo Alma mater Fairleigh Dickinson. Like Devils blogger Hasan, I too attended the FDU Madison campus. It was only for three semesters before I finished up at St. John’s. My school has a pretty big game tomorrow night against Arizona State. It’s a second chance.

I too was thrilled to see the kids from FDU Teaneck get the school’s first win in the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament. They’ll now meet West No. 1 seed Gonzaga. They earned it by coming from behind to beat Prairie View. It was exciting.

I know I’ve been neglecting our team lately. But I made sure to lock in and catch as much of tonight’s game as possible. I watched more than I have the past two weeks. It’s been a rough time for the team. They remain at only one win since the trade deadline that saw Kevin Hayes and Adam McQuaid follow Mats Zuccarello on the way out to playoff contenders. It still is like an out of body experience seeing Hayes in that weird No. 12 Winnipeg Jets jersey. He scored a goal in a win the other night. Zuccarello is now traveling with the Stars, who remain in the first wildcard. Hopefully, he’ll be back soon.

Detroit played a better second period. They took it to the Blueshirts in the first half. Ranger killer Athanasiou struck again for his 27th past a helpless Lundqvist at 4:30. After Kevin Shattenkirk got caught up ice, Chytil was too late on Nielsen’s tally with 2:44 left. That’s gonna happen. The 19-year old rookie is still learning. Ditto for Andersson, who’s also been caught on for some goals against. It is the development stage for the former 2017 first round picks.

Athanasiou was lethal during the season series going for four goals and two assists in the three Red Wing wins. One of the game’s fastest skaters, it’s all coming together for the center with the dangerous shot. Detroit might not be so bad if he continues to improve along with future captain Dylan Larkin, Tyler Bertuzzi, Anthony Mantha and rookie Filip Zadina. Their defense remains shaky.

It wasn’t a lack of scoring chances for the Rangers against Howard because it never is. They got their looks throughout. At least for two periods, they couldn’t beat him. He stopped all 31 shots. I wondered if they would break through.

It took a power play drawn by Zibanejad on Bertuzzi (slashing) for them to snap the shutout. The power play has been a sore spot since the deadline. They were 1 for 32 entering this one. But this time instead of passing the puck around and firing blanks, a Shattenkirk rebound came right to Ryan Strome, who buried his 13th as a Blueshirt at 14:46 for an actual power play goal that drew them within one.

Pavel Buchnevich picked up a secondary helper. He continues to play well. Reunited with Kreider and Zibanejad, he was the most dangerous shooter. Unfortunately with Lundqvist on the bench, his one-timer from the slot deflected just wide. He was visibly upset on the bench after the speedy Athanasiou broke free and scored into an open net.

As it turned out, it proved to be the winner. That’s because some hard work on the forecheck from Lettieri resulted in a puck recovery from Howden, who got it to Neal Pionk for a quick one-timer that rebounded out to that sniper Brendan Smith for a well deserved goal with under 10 seconds remaining.

That was it for the game. On to the next one. Nine left.

Howell Honored: Prior to the game, the Rangers honored Harry Howell, who passed away on 3/10 at age 86. A 17-year Blueshirt who played the first 17 seasons on Broadway as a excellent Hall of Fame defenseman who won a Norris Trophy in ’66-67 before Bobby Orr’s dominance, he played for the Rangers from ’52-53 until the ’66-67 season when he posted a career best 13 goals and 40 points as a 34-year old to be recognized as the league’s best defenseman.

In 1160 games, Howell finished with 82 goals and 263 assists for a total of 345 points as a Blueshirt. The 1160 games remain a franchise record.

In 2009, the club finally retired his No. 3 alongside Andy Bathgate’s No. 9 in a memorable ceremony.

MSG showed some highlights of Howell’s brilliant Rangers career along with a wonderful clip of him thanking the fans for all the support. He was a classy player that’ll be missed.

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Game #74: Troubled Tuesday – Caps 4, Devils 1

Posted on March 19, 2019 by hasan4978

Welp another day, another Devils defeat. And also another day, another major Devils injury. If this season wasn’t so catastrophic, the predictability would be laughable. Of course the game is of (at best) secondary importance with Binghamton losing to a Caps team only half-trying by three goals. Honestly I didn’t really want us to help the Isles or Pens win the division anyway, for whatever that’s going to be worth in the playoffs. So losing had a double benefit – both in the lotto and screwing slightly bigger rivals. Whatever…eight more useless games left, we might as well just throw up the white flag before anyone else winds up in a body cast.

Tonight’s unfortunate walking wounded was Kyle Palmieri who left early, looking frighteningly limp trying to struggle off the ice early in the first period with an upper body injury, not to return. I picked a great game to go to for my first in a few weeks, eh? Actually I spent half my time there watching the FDU college basketball play-in game, at first on my phone during the first period, then when the feed stopped working I went down to the new mini-sports lounge during the intermission and had to stay there for the first few minutes of the second period as the game finished. My quasi-alma mater (I went to Madison, but Teaneck’s the sister school) earned their first ‘NCAA tournament win’ and entry into the main part of the draw in a thrilling finish.

Fortunately I missed the Caps’ second goal going back up the stairs during a stoppage early in the second period, heard it was a real beaut of a play by Connor Carrick though (sarcasm evident). Unfortunately goalie Mackenzie Blackwood also had an off night, allowing multiple ehhh goals around some good saves, guess the team’s suckiness is finally starting to rub off. Thank goodness he’s only got a few games left to play in this sad sack of a season. Just End The Season goes well with one of my other teams…what would be the equivalent for the Devils? Losing Season for the last two letters is as far as I’ve gotten so far, something else to ponder with gallows humor I suppose.

I did set a dubious new personal record tonight, earliest I’ve ever left a game. I was gonna hang in there till the second intermission at least but with the ‘national telecast’ 7:30 start I was less willing to stick it out once the Caps stuck the fork in us late in the period with a quick pair of goals to go up 4-1. Sadly I was far from the only one leaving at that point and it was actually a fairly well-attended game for a meaningless Tuesday night. Too bad none of the attendees were anyone I knew, so that was also less of a reason to stick around. At least it wasn’t a shutout I suppose, and the only goal came from Morristown native Kenny Agostino so that was nice anyway, amusing as well since it came with a mere second to go in the first period. Guess it was a good day for Jersey athletes, other than most of the ones in Devil sweaters pretending to be NHL players I suppose.

Sure enough, my decision to leave was justified given nothing else happened of worth the rest of the night. Thankfully at least no more goals went past Blackwood, unlike the Calgary fiasco a couple weeks ago. At this point we have to settle for small victories until the next time we get to hope for a big one…during the lotto for the second time in three years. Can we just rewind the clock to October when we destroyed this same Caps team 6-love?!

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Game #73: Sliding Sunday – Avalanche 3, Devils 0

Posted on March 17, 2019 by hasan4978

In seasons past, Devils related countdowns would be the number of points left to clinch a playoff spot or a division title. Now the only countdown is the number of games left in the season (nine left) before we can finally put this corpse team out of its misery. It wasn’t even worth noting the other day when the Devils were officially eliminated from playoff contention, we’ve known that for months. I’ve never looked more forward to an end of the season than this one, especially since it seems as if with each game that passes by there’s more and more injuries to add to the ledger.

Thankfully the draft lottery will be held in short order after the season this year, a welcome change from prior years where it got extended weeks into the playoffs. This time, it’ll be before the playoffs even start, on my birthday ironically enough. At least a lottery win would be a far better birthday present than the Devils have given me some years – a 2008 playoff loss at home to the Rangers in the playoffs comes to mind.

Was there really any doubt how this game would turn out against a desperate Avs team against an undermanned Devils team playing a third game in four nights? As has been the case so often throughout this last month, the score flattered the team’s level of play with Cory Schneider making 31 saves, only letting two Tyson Barrie goals beat him. However, that was more than enough for another defeat in a 3-0 Avs shutout win. At least there were no new injuries as far as I know today, that in itself is a moral victory at this point. As it is, our injured list was practically enough to fill a suite at the Red Bulls soccer game the other day.

I bet broadcaster Steve Cangialosi is counting down till the days he can go back to doing the Red Bulls full-time as opposed to having to manufacture excitement for meaningless hockey. I’ve never gotten into MLS much but would rather watch one of their games at this point than the Binghamton Devils. Of course once this season mercifully ends it’ll be another 5-6 months before any kind of hockey, and the entire dynamic of the team could change this offseason for well-documented reasons it’s not even worth getting into now.

Right now my immediate concern is the Devils’ next thrashing game against the Caps on Tuesday, which I’ll probably be compelled to go to both because I haven’t managed to sell this pair of tickets, and just because I haven’t gone to the arena in a while or seen my arena friends. I haven’t seen my former seatmate Rudy or his sister in months, they’ve probably been to almost as few games as I have lately. It’d be nice to see another arena friend and her brother too, I haven’t seen Kristi since I sat with her for the first two periods of the Kings game last month before she went downstairs to sit with her family and the roof fell in on the game.

With the Caps still jockeying for position in the playoffs I don’t think they’ll turn the off switch just yet, again Alex Ovechkin and company can probably name their score. Which at least means an early exit from a weeknight game for me. My other two games left are both on a Saturday which is good at least, though I don’t expect either the Coyotes next weekend or the Blues the following weekend to be a win. That would finish my 2019 at 0-8, and emotionally that Blues game will end my season. Forget the stupid home finale the following Monday against the Rangers which I wouldn’t be caught dead at or the even more yawn-worthy season enders on the road at Carolina and Florida following that.

Maybe they’ll manage to at least give me one good performance out of the three. Then again with the games I’m going to myself this week it’ll be easier to be agnostic and rationalize a bad result. It’s harder for me to root against the team when I’m sitting with other people, that’s why I demurred going to one of the final Jets home games of the year which turned out to be an entertaining game, for a predictably dull Devils game. Because I was going to be sitting with mostly Jet fans and didn’t want to go when I wasn’t 100% invested in the result. I’ve managed to avoid the meaningless Devil games lately but with the season coming to a close might as well suck it up and do a couple more trips there before another forced break.

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Game #72: Nothing Wild about latest Rangers loss to Minnesota

Posted on March 17, 2019 by Derek

A beaten Henrik Lundqvist can only look on as the Wild celebrate a goal in the latest Rangers loss. AP Photo via Getty Images courtesy Minnesota Wild.

Like I stated before in the previous game recap, there’s nothing fun about these games now. Sure. The Rangers have yet to be mathematically eliminated from the postseason. But with 10 games remaining, that’ll soon come. They can only get to 89 points with the lowest ROW in the Eastern Conference. So, the tragic number is basically down to five. Once Carolina and Columbus reach 90, it’s officially over.

Last night, the latest defeat came to a desperate Wild by a count of 5-2 in St. Paul. Unlike Friday’s loss to Calgary, coach David Quinn felt the team didn’t ‘cheat the game.’ He was understandably upset with the players after losing to the Flames because he felt like they’ve fallen into some bad habits. That might be true. However, it’s not easy right now. No matter how you slice it, this is a younger roster that lost three key veteran players including two of its best forwards.

Understandably, there’s been a drop off in their play. You don’t like to see it. But when the power play continues to fire blanks with the latest 0-for taking them to 1 for their last 30, it’s no coincidence that it’s coincided with the trade deadline moves of Kevin Hayes and Mats Zuccarello. With only a handful of players able to perform on the man-advantage, the timing has been off. It doesn’t help that they’re not shooting the puck. There’s been way too much passing and turnovers that lead to easy clears.

In allowing 46 shots to an average Minnesota team fighting for their playoff lives, it sums it up. The current crop of Blueshirts are very bad. Give them credit for being competitive in one goal losses to the likes of Tampa and Washington. Lately, the roof has caved in. They went 0-3-1 on the four game road trip with their only point via an overtime loss to mediocre Edmonton. To quote Brendan Lemieux, “It sucks.”

That’s what Lemieux says often following losses while at his locker. He’s certainly been a good addition to the group. A gritty, physical and hard working player who can get underneath the skin of opponents, the former Jet has been a lightning rod for a rebuilding team that will need that type of good character guy moving forward.

You tend to notice him during shifts because he’s very active. Even when he’s not scoring, Lemieux is mixing it up with opposing players such as Minnesota heavyweight Marcus Foligno during a scrum. Too bad the refs wouldn’t let them go. They weren’t beating them on the scoreboard.

It was another night where the Rangers were outgunned. The Wild aren’t a high scoring club by any stretch. But they have enough good players to make a difference in a big game they needed. They’re chasing both the Coyotes and Stars. They’re two behind Arizona and trail Dallas by three with 10 games left. That should be a good race to follow with the Blues only two points up on the Stars for third place in the Central Division. Plus the Blackhawks, Avalanche and even the Oilers are still in it.

Minnesota got two more goals from deadline steal Ryan Donato. The son of former NHLer Ted Donato is making the Bruins look foolish for trading him. Meanwhile, ex-Wild center Charlie Coyle has yet to register a single point. That’s hard to believe. It’s not like he’s a bad player. He has struggled this year. You would’ve thought a scenery change would help on a playoff contender. Boston is winning games without him.

Donato is up to 11 points (4-7-11) in 12 games since coming over. At the time the deal was made, I was shocked Boston gave him up for Coyle. I guess they didn’t want to overpay for a better center such as Hayes by parting with another first round pick. They lost the Rick Nash trade, which was rather unfortunate. I forgot to mention that he and his family were recently back at MSG to drop the puck before the Devils game. That was nice.

A good young player who looks like he’ll be a capable scorer, Donato continued his roll by converting on a two-on-one from Pontus Aberg for a 1-0 Wild lead. He used Aberg as a decoy before beating Lundqvist short side. Prior to him getting his second of the period, a miscalculation by Minny starter Devan Dubnyk led directly to Mika Zibanejad scoring from a strange angle into an open net 80 seconds later for his team-leading 28th. Dubnyk misplayed a puck turning it over right to Kevin Shattenkirk, who got it to Zibanejad for his odd bank shot off Dubnyk that hit the far corner of the vacated net.

In a period where Henrik Lundqvist was under siege facing 18 Minnesota shots, he had no chance on a Luke Kunin shot that Donato redirected for a 2-1 Wild lead at 16:05. On the play, rookie Filip Chytil got caught napping by letting Donato sneak behind him for the deflection. Chytil has really struggled defensively during his scoring slump. He had a tough game finishing minus-three.

Of course, there was an own goal in this game. Why wouldn’t there be? Eric Staal had a pass attempt go off a sliding Neal Pionk right between Lundqvist, who was anticipating the pass across. That was the only goal in the second. Lundqvist made some good stops to keep his team within two.

In the third, a sloppy Chris Kreider turnover forced Brett Howden into a slashing minor penalty while Lundqvist denied a Brad Hunt scoring chance. Blame Kreider for not knowing better. It was a lazy play from a veteran who’s hit the skids. Since the deadline, he’s now 0-for-10 in goals with only two assists. He remains stuck on 26 goals. Will he snap out of it and find his way to 30 in the final 10 games? It would be a bitter disappointment if he didn’t.

Of course, the Wild took full advantage with a wonderful power play goal scored from Jared Spurgeon. He was the beneficiary of a great passing play started by Zach Parise to Kevin Fiala. Down low, Fiala found enough room to thread the needle to a wide open Spurgeon for a nice one-timer that beat Lundqvist upstairs. It was the defenseman’s 13th. Without Matt Dumba, he quietly leads Minnesota D with 13 goals. The point gave him his first 40 point season. A former Islanders sixth round pick in 2008, Spurgeon has always been a good player. He’s only listed at 5-9, 167. Maybe he’ll finally get recognition.

Encouraging is the continued improved play from third-year right wing Pavel Buchnevich. He’s been one of the only bright spots during a brutal stretch that’s seen the Blueshirts go 1-5-4 since the trades. On a very patient play by Tony DeAngelo in the neutral zone, he waited before making a soft backhand lead pass for a cutting Buchnevich, who gained the Wild zone and split the D before sending a good backhand through the five-hole of Dubnyk to make it 4-2 with 11:04 left in regulation.

It was Buchnevich’s fifth goal in the last eight games. He’s up to 17. Despite missing a month, the 23-year old Russian has a shot at 20 goals. Considering how his season had gone with the Quinn Bin part of the process along with a broken thumb, it would be a good accomplishment for a player who doesn’t always think shot. His 17.7 shooting percentage ranks second behind Ryan Strome (19.0). It’s safe to say that he’s learned more in one year under Quinn than he ever did under former coach Alain Vigneault. The improvement is a result of him listening to Quinn and being more aggressive. There’s hope that he can turn out to be the player first thought of. That’s a good thing for the future of the team.

That was as close as they got despite 41 saves from Lundqvist, who could only shake his head following J.T. Brown’s empty netter that was way too easy. I laughed at it.

I guess that’s all you can do sometimes. All the losing becomes numb. If you can’t have a sense of humor when you watch, what’s the point? When your team becomes like Benny Hill, you may as well find something to smile about. There’s only 10 more games to go. Thank God.

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Game #71: Playing out the string isn’t fun as Rangers Flame out in Calgary

Posted on March 16, 2019 by Derek

I’ll be honest. As the season winds down, it gets harder and harder to watch these games. The Rangers are a very bad team since trading Mats Zuccarello and Kevin Hayes. They compete hard, but it isn’t always smart. So, you get what you see. A team that’s won only once since the trade deadline.

In what amounted to a total Flameout, they were no match for the Flames last night. In falling to 1-4-4 since two of their best players were traded plus Adam McQuaid, they were taken apart by Matthew Tkachuk in a 5-1 loss at Calgary.

Tkachuk is the kind of gritty, skilled and tough young power forward the Rangers lack. He’s impossible to move in front of the net, has great hands, and makes teammates better. It’s no surprise that the third-year forward had a field day against a weak defense. The older son of USA Hockey Hall of Famer Keith Tkachuk put up five points in the Calgary victory. He posted two goals and three assists with a plus-five rating in a dominant performance by the budding 21-year old star.

There wasn’t a huge discrepancy in shots. For the game, the Flames finished with 32 shots while the Rangers had 25. It was what Calgary was able to do against our team on the goals that showed the large disparity in talent. They have some of the game’s brightest stars that include 92-point man Johnny Gaudreau, Sean Monahan, Tkachuk, Elias Lindholm and my Norris pick Mark Giordano. Top tier talent can cover up question marks like the two goalies, David Rittich and veteran Mike Smith. I’m curious to see if they can win in the Spring despite inconsistent netminding.

What’s ironic is that for a game I hardly was able to tune into due to visiting my Mom for a nice dinner, as soon as I got in the car for the drive home, I correctly guessed that the score was 3-1 Flames in the second period. I don’t know how. Maybe it was just intuition. Calgary is a good home team and are fighting with the Sharks for the West’s top seed. The Rangers are playing out the string. There a huge contrast.

I know they’re not mailing in these games. But when you have a even younger team that has issues scoring and defending, it makes life very difficult on both Henrik Lundqvist and Alexandar Georgiev. They can only do so much. To their credit, they both entered yesterday with around .909 save percentages despite the unfair high goals-against-average. Their jobs aren’t easy right now. Given how well the mature 22-year old Georgiev handles things, it would be a mistake to toss him aside and throw Russian goalie prospect Igor Shestyorkin to the wolves next season. He could suffer from culture shock after playing for such a good KHL team.

https://twitter.com/NHLFlames/status/1106775920017170432?s=19

There wasn’t much Georgiev could do on most of the Calgary goals. Judging from the highlights, there were some key mistakes and blown coverages by the Blueshirts. On the game’s first goal scored by Gaudreau when he got behind the defense to convert a breakaway for his 34th goal, it was as simple as Neal Pionk getting caught on a pinch and being unable to recover. A great Tkachuk flip pass from in front of his own net found Gaudreau to spring him. With Pionk scrambling to catch up, the supremely skilled Gaudreau went to the nifty inside out backhand, forehand deke to undress Georgiev for a 1-0 Calgary lead at the 10-minute mark.

Interestingly, Pionk had a good response 70 seconds later when he scored his first goal since Dec. 22 before Christmas. He went 30 games since his last goal. During a four-on-four with both Gaudreau and Brendan Smith off for matching slashing minors, Pionk jumped up into the rush taking a perfect cross ice feed from Ryan Strome to blow a laser past Rittich for his sixth. It was a nice play by Strome, who got into the Calgary zone and waited before finding an open Pionk for the goal.

The second period didn’t see many total shots. In fact, after getting outshot 13-6, the Rangers held a 9-5 edge. The difference being that the Flames scored on two of their first three shots. The first goal was a Tkachuk special. Like his Dad, he parked himself in front of Georgiev with nobody near him. That resulted in a Giordano shot being redirected by Tkachuk for an easy goal. Tony DeAngelo was the closest player. You can’t let a player with Tkachuk’s grit and skill skate to a wide open spot and not expect a bad result.

Less than two minutes later, Tkachuk’s fingerprints were all over the third goal scored by Garnet Hathaway. On it, he received the puck from Derek Ryan behind the net, then came out and centered for a Hathaway deflection for a 3-1 lead. This one saw Filip Chytil lose his man with both Brady Skjei and Kevin Shattenkirk occupied. A simple breakdown by a rookie forward. He wasn’t alone.

In the third, Michael Frolik had all day to pick up his own rebound and beat a sprawled Georgiev for a 4-1 lead. Lias Andersson didn’t pick him up. It was a rough night for Andersson, who went a minus-three in the game with countryman Jesper Fast. Andersson had no shots on goal in 10:31 of action.

With already four points, Tkachuk closed the night by getting his career high 32nd from Mikael Backlund. It was another play down low that saw the crafty Backlund pass for a wide open Tkachuk for a easy put away past Georgiev. The five points give him 10 over the last three games. He went for a hat trick and assist in a win over Vegas, while scoring a goal against the Devils in between. That gives him six goals and four helpers during Calgary’s three-game winning streak.

For the Rangers, they don’t have much time to think about it. To conclude the four-game road trip, they visit desperate Minnesota later. The Wild sit three points out of the second wildcard held by the amazing Coyotes. They’ll be desperate to get a win tonight.

I don’t know how many games this roster will win down the stretch. They struggle offensively. Only once have they topped two goals in the nine games since the deadline. The 4-2 come from behind home win over the Binghamton Devils. The power play has been dreadful. Since the departure of Hayes and Zuccarello, they’re 1-for-27 in the nine games. The one coming from Pavel Buchnevich on Wednesday at Vancouver to break a shutout.

Most alarming, the offense from top stars Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider have leveled off. Zibanejad has three points (1-2-3) since Zuccarello was dealt. Kreider has two assists over that span. One lousy goal from your two top scorers in nine games isn’t going to get it done.

What’s more? Ryan Strome (3-3-6) and Vladislav Namestnikov (2-3-5) have been more productive. So have the Odd Couple of Buchnevich (4 goals) and Brendan Lemieux (2-3-5 with 31 PIM). Jimmy Vesey has no points in the last eight following three consecutive two-point games while filling in for Zuccarello prior to the trade on the top line. Chytil has just one helper and remains without a goal since 2/6.

Basically, the Rangers are a very boring team right now. They can’t score enough goals and have too many defensive breakdowns. If they fail to sign a star free agent like Artemi Panarin or Jeff Skinner this summer, they have a chance to be even worse next year. They could be in the mix for Alexis Lafreniere. That would be helpful for the long-term more than wasting a lot of money on a very good offensive player that’ll enter his 30’s by the time the team gets good again.

With a unpredictable situation in net due to the Lundqvist dark shadow lurking as 2021 draws nearer, the organization will be faced with a very hard decision in two years. Do they re-sign an aging Lundqvist or move on with possible replacement Shestyorkin or Georgiev if he’s still around? Lundqvist will be 39 by then.

You don’t want an Eli Manning situation. As great as he’s been, the truth is the franchise leader in wins and shutouts isn’t the same goalie. He can’t carry an inferior team that’s probably at least two years away from competing for the playoffs. Until the offense and defense improve via some of the prospects they have, it’s a long climb back.

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Game #72: Funky Friday – Devils 3, Canucks 2 (SO)

Posted on March 16, 2019 by hasan4978

After sleeping 3-4 hours in each of the previous three nights, the last thing on my mind was the Devils’ game in Vancouver last night. Finally getting up this morning after a much better night of sleep, it occured to me I knew nothing of what went on in the game. For some reason I thought this would be one of the random games we did win though, especially not checking out the result during it this time. Didn’t really run to check this morning but once I did finally get out of bed I did, and was bemused to find out it was a Devils comeback win in Vancouver. Not only coming from two goals down in the third period but having Damon Severson of all people end a fourteen-round shootout with a horrible deke goal that somehow went in.

Between that shootout goal and Tanner Pearson’s ‘goal’ off of Mackenzie Blackwood early in the third period there was some bad goaltending for a game that wound up 2-2 going to the shootout. Yet in the same game also some really good goaltending with Jacob Markstrom making 31 stops in the actual game and another five in the skills competition, earning the third star. And though Blackwood pulled a quasi Marty Brodeur-Sandis Ozolinsh move giving up a goal off his own stick in the third period, he showed both the mental toughness to bounce back from that shutting the door the rest of the way, as well as just not letting the Calgary fiasco affect him beyond that game. Both are a tremendous checkmark in the plus column for mental toughness.

Among the other guys who’ve stepped up recently is Severson himself, in eight March games he’s averaged 23 minutes of icetime a night with increased responsibility on the PK. He’s also put up three goals and seven points with an even plus-minus on a bad team, finally showing some of the consistent flashes of stardom he really hadn’t since his first ten-twelve games as a callup five years ago. You figure at least a couple of the AHL guys will step up showing they want jobs and Kevin Rooney’s been one of them, filling the tweener fourth-third line center role nicely and has been even doing well with extra icetime recently, putting up four goals in his last eight games. Even fellow Morristown native Kenny Agostino’s joined in the fun recently with two goals and five points in his last four games, taking advantage of a second chance in NJ.

With just one game left on this monster six-game road trip, you have to say the Devils achieved their realistic goal of two wins. Even if the Calgary and Ranger games were also winnable though frittered away – in Calgary’s case in frighteningly inept fashion. It’s not likely the Devils walk into Colorado and get two points out of that game with Colorado fighting for their lives to stay alive in the playoff hunt. Then again the Avs did just lose to a struggling Ducks team at home. I still don’t really want to get into the reverse standings at this point, especially since the Devils’ most recent wins have put them a full five points clear of the bottom three, while they’re still four points in front of the Ducks (albeit with a game in hand) for fourth best lotto odds. Wake me if the Devils somehow get three or more points out of this week, if that. Our homestand is a gauntlet with the Caps, Bruins and suddenly hot Coyotes this week before a game against the lowly Sabres next Monday that would be in the winnable column.

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