Devils’ holiday isn’t that merry

Posted on December 20, 2014 by hasan4978

The Devils’ christmas present to its fans (hint: it’s a lump of coal)

Maybe I’m dating myself with this reference but tonight sitting at the arena watching another disgraceful Devil ‘effort’, I felt like Billy Crystal in the movie Forget Paris, where he plays a basketball referee and at one point short-circuits and starts tossing everyone from Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to the waterboy out of the arena.  Cause right now personally I’ve had it with everyone and everything associated with this team…with the possible exception of Keith Kinkaid.  And even though I love the kid and you couldn’t have asked more from him in his first three starts, the godding up of him and fans wanting to trade Cory Schneider to give him the starting job after two weeks is a little bit much.  I even heard my former seatmates at the arena tonight say we should trade Cory to play Kinkaid.

Granted I still have no use for Cory right now myself, and if he sat a few games in a row I wouldn’t cry about it, but I’m still not ready to pull a Paul Holmgren.  We (as Devil fans) can’t complain about guys like Zach Parise, Scott Niedermayer, Bobby Holik, etc leaving us and then want to trade someone that did sign with us long-term.  Although after nights like tonight you wonder who’ll be asking for a trade first, Cory or Carmelo Anthony?  I might be kidding…might be.  All three goals Cory allowed tonight were a comedy of errors worthy of the Major League bad Indians montage.  Goal number one was a bomb by Mike Green, who was so wide open he looked like he was standing out in the middle of the ocean all by himself after Tim Sestito went over to cover Jack Hillen – hint, he’s not the guy with the 105 MPH slapshot – leaving Green with all the time and space in the world.  Goal number two saw Andy Greene go to cover Alex Ovechkin, who happened to be falling to the ice and Peter Harrold go behind the net chasing a skater, leaving Nicklas Backstrom wide open for a bang-bang wrister from the faceoff dot people couldn’t wait to blame Cory on.  That wasn’t even in the top ten of bad goals Cory’s allowed this year but let’s ignore all the other nonsense going on during that play or the fact no forward was in sight of the play and blame the goalie.

And for the coup de grace, after everyone couldn’t wait to make a big deal about Patrik Elias’s spinorama last night which was in fact a lucky shot with horrendous goaltending by Evgeni Nabokov, the Devils saw an ‘actual’ highlight reel goal tonight with Alex Ovechkin making Jon Merrill’s jock dissapear on the ice and also deking around our supposed best defensive forward in Travis Zajac, then making Cory look silly with the finish.  After that goal I did something I never do…I left early.  Usually a team’s either inept or noncompetitive, tonight the Devils managed to be both at the same time.  Even before Ovechkin’s goal the Devils showed little fight and indeed wound up the third period with a mere four shots on goal, with their season on the line now eight points out of the top three in the Metro and six points out of the last playoff spot (with Florida having four games in hand).  If the Devils were going to give off the mere illusion of a playoff run they had to win tonight and Tuesday before the break to get some momentum and make up some ground.  Instead they lost more ground to a Caps team that’s beaten us like a drum three times and the one game we did manage to win was one of Cory’s better efforts of the season and Braden Holtby giving us a third-period goal.

With the Devils now 12-17-6 and more than half the season to play, realistically the hunt for a playoff spot is over.  Before Christmas.  One might ask what the point is in firing Pete DeBoer now if the season’s truly over anyway, but now it’s not about getting results for this year as much as it is playing players that should be playing in a lost cause of a season instead of the Peter Harrolds and Tim Sestitos of the world and ridding the locker room of the culture of ‘we tried hard’ where even Elias was getting snippy about the crowd booing a 2-0 loss to Ottawa on Wednesday cause the effort was there.  Well whoopdie freaking doo, you want a gold star?  This organization’s still won 65 of its last 200 games, it was a cumulative boo for some bad efforts this season and a lot of bad play.  Would the optics have been better if the booing was say, tonight?  (and there was plenty of booing that I heard and partook in).  I was going to opine about the fans booing the final three minutes Wednesday but I’ll just leave it at this…if nobody this side of Michael Ryder and Damien Brunner’s going to be held accountable for three bad years by anyone in the organization then it’s up to the fans to voice their displeasure with losing since clearly it’s not forthcoming from upstairs or the bench.  GM Lou Lamoriello’s ‘I have thoughts but will not share them right now’ (paraphrase) was less than convincing.  Nobody cares about thoughts anyway, can we see some action?  From the same organization that fired Claude Julien and Robbie Ftorek in 100-point seasons the silence vis-a-vis Pete DeBoer is deafening.

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Game Preview: Rangers face Hurricanes this weekend

Posted on December 20, 2014 by Derek

This weekend, the Rangers have a home-and-home series with the Hurricanes. Considering where they are in the standings, they need to take care of business. Especially with the Capitals paying a visit to MSG on Tuesday. Entering tonight’s match at Raleigh, they trail the Caps by two points for third in the Metropolitan Division. Washington has 36 points and have played two more games. Both teams are in action later. The Caps visit the Devils.

For the Blueshirts, it’s simple. Keep it rolling against a beatable opponent. The Canes rank 29th in the league with a 9-19-3 record. Only the Oilers are worse. However, they are coming off a 4-1 win over the Leafs which snapped a six-game losing streak. Cam Ward stopped 25 shots. Carolina had four different scorers- Chris Terry, Justin Faulk, Andrej Sekera and Elias Lindholm. Thus far, six of the Canes’ nine wins have come at home. Actually, they’re a respectable 6-7-1. Their fans are loud. So, it isn’t an easy place to play.

Interestingly, Faulk leads the Canes in scoring with 19 points. He’s developed offensively. In his fourth year, Faulk is on track for new career highs across the board. In ’13-14, he tallied five goals and 27 assists for 32 points. This season, he has seven power play points (2-5-7) and leads Carolina with two shorthanded goals and three game-winners. The Rangers must keep close track of the dangerous rover.

It’s been a struggle for captain Eric Staal. In 26 games, he has 18 points (7-11-18). The oldest Staal is coming off a two assist game. It’s always intriguing when he goes up against younger brother Marc. Of course, there also is the bad memory of Eric accidentally injuring Marc with a hit that concussed him. That had to be very hard for the family.

If there is a player to watch, it’s Jeff Skinner. He hasn’t had a good start with only seven goals and 15 points in 27 contests. Skinner is dangerous and has great end to end speed. Ryan McDonagh and Dan Girardi should have the task of slowing him down.

Other Canes to watch are Lindholm, Terry, streaky scorer Jiri Tlusty and Riley Nash. Nathan Gerbe is also pesky. The defense is capable of contributing led by Faulk and Sekera. It can be exploited. Carolina lacks a shutdown tandem. They depend on vets Tim Gleason and Ron Hainsey. The Rangers should be able to sustain a forecheck. With red hot sniper Rick Nash bringing a career high 11-game point streak in, there’s a lot of potential for a big weekend. Mats Zuccarello could continue to surge and Chris Kreider should make his presence felt.

On the health front, they’ll get back Derick Brassard. He missed two games with the mumps. He says he’ll go tonight which should be a boost. That will allow Alain Vigneault to shift J.T. Miller back to wing. However, Lee Stempniak is the latest mumps victim. So, he’s away from the team. It’ll be interesting to see if Vigneault sticks with Kreider on the second line with Derek Stepan and Marty St. Louis. If so, does Miller slide down to play with Kevin Hayes and Carl Hagelin? Probably. That leaves Dominic Moore centering Tanner Glass and Jesper Fast.

On the back end, the only question is will John Moore continue to play over Matt Hunwick. Moore hasn’t been good since returning. But Vigneault’s giving him a chance to prove himself. Is Moore another Del Zotto? That remains to be seen. He is restricted next summer. Unless he improves, I don’t see the Rangers qualifying him.

Henrik Lundqvist brings a four-game win streak in. He’s posted a 1.47 GAA, .946 save percentage and a shutout. Win or lose, figure Vigneault to rest him for tomorrow’s MSG rematch. Cam Talbot should get the call.

I’ll have recaps of both on the blog. Follow me at @newyorkpuck.

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Video Of Day II: Elias scores highlight reel backhand goal

Posted on December 20, 2014 by Derek

Last night, all-time Devils franchise scoring leader Patrik Elias gave us two for the price of one. Not only did he score the shootout winner in Round 3 of their exciting 3-2 win over the Lightning. But he also scored this beauty above. A rare spin-a-rama backhand highlight reel goal that deflected off Tampa defenseman Matt Carle past Evgeni Nabokov.

Just a tremendous play by a uniquely skilled player. The 38-year old Czech is the Christmas gift that Devil fans have been lucky to have. A proven performer who’s been part of two of the franchise’s three Stanley Cups, Elias has 397 goals and 599 assists for 996 points. Indeed, the popular team leader who’s struggled this season might get a jump start from such a wonderful concoction of a goal. And his shootout winner was equally as special delivering Keith Kinkaid’s first win. Milestones are in his future. He’s three away from 400 goals, one away from 600 assists and four away from 1,000 points. When he gets there, it couldn’t happen to a nicer guy.

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Video Of Day: Devils Win Shootout For Kinkaid’s First Win

Posted on December 20, 2014 by Derek

Our Video Of Day comes courtesy of last night’s Devils shootout win over the Lightning. That’s right. They finally won another shootout. This one was special with Patrik Elias’ nifty backhand tuck setting the stage for rookie Keith Kinkaid, who stoned Jonathan Drouin for his first NHL win. Congrats kid.

“It was one of the best moments of my life,” an excited Kinkaid said after making 26 saves and stopping Steven Stamkos, Nikita Kucherov and Drouin in succession. ”I celebrated with my teammates, but it’s a great accomplishment to get the first one. Hopefully, it’s just the beginning and I can talk about a regulation win.”

Oddly enough, all three of his starts have gone to a shootout. Even though the Devils blew another lead with Kucherov sneaking a backhand past Kinkaid with 40.1 seconds left, the backup remained poised enough to get it done. He helped the Devs end a five-game skid.

Elias played the hero. On a night he scored a spectacular backhand goal, he got the lone goal in the shootout with a beautiful move deking Evgeni Nabokov and finishing with the backhand. The 38-year old franchise leader in scoring turned back the clock. He has 397 career goals.

”I was just trying to make a move, coming in from the other side,” said Elias, who said he had not scored in a shootout in a while. ”I usually don’t come in from the left side. I faked a shot to see what he is going to do and I had half the net open.”

”It was a huge win,” coach Pete DeBoer said. ”We really needed it. It was a gutsy win. I don’t think there were too many people picking us tonight. We found a way.”

The Devils are back in action tonight when they host the Capitals at 7 PM.

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Rangers Sign Talbot To 1-Year Extension

Posted on December 19, 2014 by Derek
Cam Talbot denies Braydon Schenn. He finished with 31 saves in the Rangers' 2-0 shutout over the Flyers. AP Photo by Frank Franklin II/Getty Images

Cam Talbot denies Braydon Schenn. He finished with 31 saves in the Rangers’ 2-0 shutout over the Flyers.
AP Photo by Frank Franklin II/Getty Images

Earlier today, the Rangers reached agreement on a one-year contract extension for Cam Talbot worth a reported $1.45 million. New York Post’s Larry Brooks broke the story on Twitter seven hours ago while I was at work.

Full credit to Brooks for getting the scoop. Occasionally, the veteran Rangers beat writer delivers. The Rangers later confirmed it. Keeping the 27-year Talbot for another year is great. An undrafted free agent from the University Of Alabama-Huntsville, Talbot’s developed into a reliable backup goalie. When Henrik Lundqvist struggled a year ago, coach Alain Vigneault leaned on Talbot. He came through posting a 12-6-1 record with a 1.64 goals-against-average, .941 save percentage and three shutouts.

Talbot has become very popular with many Twitter Blueshirts referring to him as #CamBot. After a tough start in his second year, he’s won two of his last three starts posting two shutouts in wins over the Flyers. In 28 career games, Talbot is 14-9-2 with a 1.81 GAA, .936 save percentage and five shutouts. With the club having back-to-back games against Carolina this weekend, figure him to get at least one start. Especially with the Caps visiting MSG Tuesday.

It’s a no brainer for the Rangers retaining Talbot, who passed up unrestricted free agency to stay. There’s little doubt he would’ve drawn interest. Instead, he stays put. It’s interesting because there’s always a risk. Hopefully, he’ll stay healthy and continue to perform well.

It also buys the Blueshirts more time to develop other goalies in the system. MacKenzie Skapski is in his first pro year with Hartford. Splitting duty with Jason Missiaen, he’s 6-4-0 with a 2.51 GAA, .914 save percentage and one shutout. Skapski is 20-years old and a 2013 sixth round pick. The organization boasts 18-year old prospects Brandon Halverson and Igor Shesterkin. Both of who were selected last June. Halverson is representing Team USA at the U20 WJC. Round robin play begins after Christmas.

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Video of the Day: Marathon Capitals-Panthers shootout

Posted on December 17, 2014 by hasan4978

If you’re not a fan of the shootout then you might not want to spend the whole eighteen minutes watching the ridiculous 20-round shootout that took place in Sunrise last night between the Panthers and the Capitals. That’s right…twenty rounds.  Florida won 6-5 in the 20-round extravaganza that surpassed the fifteen-round skills competition between the Rangers and the Capitals in 2005, best remembered for Marek Malik’s unlikely between-the-legs winner in the fifteenth round.  If you want to skip the video and just look at the scorecard, here it is below.  You’ll notice that Jussi Jokinen scored twice in the first several rounds, other unlikely scorers like Brooks Orpik helped extend the shootout and that every roster player on both teams got to shoot at least once, which is unprecedented.  At least this shootout was actually decided by both full teams, unlike every other skills competition.

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Red Hot Nash Scores Twice Highlighting Latest Rangers Win

Posted on December 17, 2014 by Derek
Nashty Boy: Rick Nash (center) is congratulated by J.T. Miller (left) and Mats Zuccarello (right) after scoring another goal. AP Photo by Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press

Nashty Boy: Rick Nash (center) is congratulated by J.T. Miller (left) and Mats Zuccarello (right) after scoring another goal.
AP Photo by Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press

Rick Nash is on fire. He continued his tear scoring twice highlighting the Rangers latest win. Nash scored on a breakaway and shorthanded to extend his career high point streak to 11 (8-6-14) in the Rangers’ 5-2 victory over the Flames. They continue to come together sweeping the three-game portion of a Northwestern Canadian swing by beating Vancouver, Edmonton and Calgary in succession.

It was their season high fourth consecutive win. It’s huge due to Washington gaining a point in an NHL record shootout loss to Florida that required 20 rounds. With the Blue Jackets staying hot winning in a shootout at Detroit, every point is crucial. The Rangers moved back into third place by virtue of one more ROW (14) and one less game played than the Capitals. They lead Columbus by six points. The Jackets passed the Devils due to two less games played and are a point ahead of the Flyers. Considering the state of the Turnpike rivals, figure Columbus to give us and Washington stiff competition.

When this road trip started, we didn’t know much about the Blueshirts. Similar to last year, they’ve been up and down. Also identical is they’re playing their best hockey now. In the three wins, they’ve outscored opponents 12-3. The common denominator has been Henrik Lundqvist, who again was at his best making some key stops as they pulled away. He finished with 29 saves. He improved to 4-0-0 during the win streak with a 1.47 GAA, .946 save percentage and a shutout. That’s more like it.

With Lundqvist back to form and the team clicking on all cylinders despite no Derick Brassard (mumps) for a second game in a row, they should feel pretty good about themselves. After winning all three in a four day span, they get the next three days off before a pivotal home-and-home against Carolina. That’s followed by a big home game next Tuesday against the Caps.

In an oddity, their first two goals were unassisted. The first coming from Nash. Off a Calgary misplay, he flew in on and easily beat Karri Ramo with a beautiful forehand deke. The Flames had a couple of chances on Lundqvist but he made a big save and got help from the post and Kevin Klein. After doing nothing on their first power play, the Rangers benefited from an odd bounce which allowed Chris Kreider to erase a 13-game goal drought. With nothing happening, his hustle paid off when Ramo and his defenseman fumbled the puck allowing Kreider to stuff in his fifth for a power play goal with eight seconds remaining in the period. Most amusing was his reaction of “Thank God,” after he scored. He needed it.

With the Flames on an early power play in the second, Nash made them pay when he finished off a brilliant passing play from Derek Stepan and Dan Girardi for a shorthanded goal. Girardi made a big defensive play leading to Stepan coming in with Nash two-on-one. He passed across for a sweet Nash finish. The goal was his 20th. It marked the 11th straight season Nash has scored at least 20 stretching back to his second year with Columbus in ’03-04. An impressive feat considering the shortened season in his Broadway debut and injuries. As a Blueshirt, Nash has 67 goals and 47 assists for 114 points in 128 games. He’s having a special season and should be in the Hart discussion.

How in sync are the Rangers? Even Lundqvist felt confident enough to come out and play the puck leading directly to their fourth goal. He aggressively made a nice outlet for Martin St. Louis, who fed for a streaking Stepan who did the rest converting a wrap around for his third which increased to 4-0 midway through the contest.

Calgary coach Bob Hartley had finally seen enough pulling Ramo (4 GA on 13 shots) in favor of Jonas Hiller. The move worked right away with his team responding just 41 seconds later when Jiri Hudler deflected home a Mark Giordano point shot from Matt Stajan. That cut it to 4-1 with 8:04 left. It was danger time. The Flames made a push but were unable to draw any closer due to Lundqvist, who was busy making 15 saves in the second. His rebound control has been much better since returning.

The only other notable highlight was Tanner Glass sticking up for J.T. Miller after he took a tough hit from Lance Bouma. Bouma caught Miller along the boards. Good thing he ducked or it could’ve been worse. Glass didn’t take kindly immediately dropping the gloves with Bouma. That is the first instance I can remember in which he stood up for a fallen teammate all season. As has been well documented, he isn’t the most physically gifted. But he is a good team guy. It was nice to see him take care of business.

Carl Hagelin added an empty netter for a second straight game. Maybe we can refer to him as the closer. The Flames got a Curtis Glencross power play goal with 1:15 left in regulation as window dressing. All in all, a great job by the Blueshirts.

BONY 3 Stars:

3rd Star-Chris Kreider, NYR (goal-5th, 3 SOG, 3 hits, +1 in 17:41-looking better)

2nd Star-Derek Stepan, NYR (goal-3rd, assist, +2 in 15:26)

1st Star-Rick Nash, NYR (2 goals-breakaway, SHG-19, 20 in 15:26-Nashty)

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Bailey Shoots Islanders Past Devils 3-2

Posted on December 16, 2014 by Derek

The Islanders dug out of a two-goal hole to defeat the Devils 3-2 in a shootout at Nassau Coliseum. Josh Bailey was the hero scoring in the fifth round to lead his team to a second straight win. It was also Bailey who started the comeback with his fifth after a power play expired early in the second.

”We have a lot of confidence, whether it’s in OT or shootout,” Bailey said after helping the Isles improve to 6-0 in the skill competition. ”We have a lot of guys who can put the puck in the net.”

That included energizer Matt Martin, who scored the equalizer with 9:15 left in regulation. The fourth line continues to produce. On a night they got back Casey Cizikas, he helped set up Martin’s fourth. Off a clean breakout started by Calvin de Haan, Cizikas passed for Martin who cut in on Devils rookie backup Keith Kincaid and beat him.

”We don’t change our mindset no matter who we’re playing,” Bailey said. ”With this corps, we’re trying to worry about what we have to do in here.”

After falling behind early, the Islanders showed resolve rallying for a hard fought win over a struggling rival. The Devils got off to a good start thanks to a familiar face. Scott Gomez energized them with a goal and assist in a strong first period. The two-time Stanley Cup winner with the franchise first threaded the needle for a Marek Zidlicky power play goal. He took a pass from Jaromir Jagr and perfectly set up Zidlicky for a one-time blast past Jaroslav Halak.

Then at even strength, Gomez centered a pass for Jagr that went off Islander defenseman Lubomir Visnovsky and in. Since returning to the Devils, he’s been impressive posting two goals and four assists in nine games. Amazingly, Gomez is getting big minutes while playing on the top line. The Devils got top center Travis Zajac back allowing Gomez to play on the wing with Mike Cammalleri (lower body) out. Zajac was good in his return taking four shots and winning 11 of 20 faceoffs in 28 shifts (21:05).

As usual, the problem for the Devils is they stopped scoring at 2-0 up. The Islanders responded by peppering Long Island native Kincaid with 24 shots over the next two periods. Making his second start, he was again pretty good finishing with 31 saves. But similar to his first outing which coincidentally was a 3-2 shootout loss on 12/9, his team couldn’t protect a lead. As Hasan has noted during a frustrating season, this has been a frequent occurrence under coach Pete DeBoer. With the first two coaches dismissed, is he next?

The Isles got on the board thanks to Bailey. As a power play expired, he was left all alone in front and took a Ryan Strome feed and beat Kincaid at 1:51 of the second slicing the deficit in half. Mikhail Grabovski had the other helper. Despite constant pressure, Kincaid kept the Long Island hosts at bay allowing his team to take a one-goal lead to the locker room.

Martin tied it midway through the third from Cizikas and de Haan. He’s been a solid contributor for the Isles speaking to the kind of depth they have. Coach Jack Capuano has four lines he can depend on. Even without Travis Hamonic and Johnny Boychuk, his team is never out of a game.

The Islanders were forced to kill off a selfish penalty by captain John Tavares. Responding to what he thought was an unpenalized take down by Zidlicky, he gave the Devil veteran a two-handed chop handing New Jersey a power play with 1:49 remaining. His teammates bailed him out forcing extras.

After he returned, Gomez was nabbed for tripping Bailey, who kinda sold it. To their credit, the Devils did a solid job killing it off. The Islanders were too predictable allowing Zajac to intercept a pass and get a big clear. The game went to a shootout.

The skill comp was entertaining. Following a Kincaid stop on Islander shootout ace Frans Nielsen, Halak turned aside Tuomu Ruutu. Round 2 saw Kyle Okposo and Gomez each score beauts off dekes to the backhand. After an aggressive Kincaid thwarted Tavares, Damon Severson had a chance to win it. But a sliding Halak got just enough of a perfect deke to force Round 4. Both Strome and Zidlicky were denied setting up Round 5. In it, Bailey coolly swept a forehand five-hole putting the Isles in front. DeBoer sent out Jacob Josefson. The lone Devil who had success in their one shootout win made a great move getting Halak down but somehow missed an open side.

Notes: Isles held the physical edge outhitting the Devils 31-18 paced by Matt Donovan (5) and Martin (4). Zidlicky and Jordin Tootoo each had 4 for the Devs. … With two assists, Jagr passed Steve Yzerman for seventh all-time with 1,065. He needs 15 to pass Adam Oates for sixth. … After reassigning Mike Sislo, the Devils recalled Tim Sestito from Albany. He got 16 shifts (11:04) registering a shot and two hits. … Islanders (21-10-0, 42 Pts) improved to 12-3-0 at home. Their 12 home wins lead the NHL. They’re off till Friday when they visit the Red Wings. … Devils (11-15-6, 28 Pts) fell to 8-11-2 on the road. They’re next four are at home starting with the Senators tomorrow night.

BONY 3 Stars:

3rd Star-Keith Kincaid, NJD (31 saves incl. 22/24 in 2nd, 3rd)

2nd Star-Scott Gomez, NJD (2nd of season, assist, 4 SOG in 19:38)

1st Star-Josh Bailey, NYI (5th of season, shootout winner in 15:28)

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Oiler Dysfunction: Edmonton fires Eakins

Posted on December 15, 2014 by Derek

Following last night’s 2-0 loss to the Rangers, the Oilers fired coach Dallas Eakins. His team only registered 16 shots in a shutout defeat at home. In his second year behind the bench, Eakins’ team ranks dead last in the NHL with a miserable 7-19-5 record in 31 games. They are tied with Carolina in points (19) but have played two more games.

Edmonton has lost four in a row and 15 of 16. Their only win came on Dec. 7 when they defeated San Jose 2-1 to stop an 11-game losing streak. Prior to that, their last victory came at MSG when they beat the Rangers 3-1 highlighted by Benoit Pouliot’s goal and assist. He missed his 11th consecutive game yesterday due to a broken foot sustained while blocking a shot.

Eakins was hired by the Oilers in the summer of 2013. He came over from coaching the Maple Leafs AHL affiliate the Toronto Marlies and was expected to restore order. Instead, he finishes 36-63-14 in parts of two seasons. In his first season, the Oilers went 29-44-9 to finish with the third worst record. That earned them the third overall pick where they selected center Leon Draisaitl. He’s played in all 31 games and has two goals and five assists.

Since making a run to the Stanley Cup Final in 2006, Edmonton has missed the playoffs eight straight years. En route to a ninth consecutive miss, general manager Craig MacTavish felt it was time to make a change. He’ll temporarily take over before Todd Nelson is promoted to interim coach from AHL affiliate Oklahoma City.

”I’m not here to absolve myself of accountability for the situation that we’re in,” MacTavish told reporters.

”I had no real good reason to do this outside of performance,” he said. ”That’s the bottom line that we’re all judged by, is the performance level of the hockey club and certainly the record. I would point to those things solely as the reasons for this change.”

The change comes over a week after MacTavish held a press conference in which he didn’t take responsibility for this mess. He referenced former GM Steve Tambellini. I still can’t get over this gem.

 “I’ve been on the job for 18 months. So you want to lop me in … I coached the team for a long time, but I have nothing to do with management. So don’t lop me into a situation of power and influence in the management level of this organization.”

It’s amazing that MacTavish actually said that when he’s been part of the organization for a long time including as a coach. When you have him and Kevin Lowe still running the operation, it’s no wonder they’re such a laughingstock. What is Mark Messier’s role? We still don’t know. I can only imagine how embarrassed he must feel being part of this mess.

It doesn’t help that former 2012 first overall pick Nail Yakupov has struggled. After a good rookie year posting 17 goals and 14 assists for 31 points in 48 games, he’s 15-17-32 with a minus-46 rating in 94 games since. However, his 63 total points rank second best among the 2012 class trailing Canadiens’ Alex Galchenyuk (3rd overall), who has 76 in 144 games. With other players such as Calder front runner Filip Forsberg, Frederik Andersen, Jacob Trouba, Olli Maatta, Hampus Lindholm, Morgan Reilly, Damon Severson, Tomas Hertl, Zemgus Girgensons and Tanner Pearson showing improvement, it reflects poorly on Yakupov, who has gotten worse under the Oilers.

At least Edmonton boasts studs Taylor Hall and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. Along with Jordan Eberle, they comprise the top line. The problem is they need more consistency from Yakupov and lots of help defensively and in goal. Justin Schultz has been a disaster defensively. If his offense made up for it, it wouldn’t be that bad. Not unlike Matt Gilroy, Schultz hasn’t distinguished himself. In his third year, he’s totaled 21 goals and 50 assists with a dreadful minus-49 rating.

The Oilers brought in ex-Devil Mark Fayne. On a poor team, he’s only minus-three. Captain Andrew Ference is minus-eight. Jeff Petry is a team worst minus-17. Edmonton also traded for Nikita Nikitin from Columbus and gave him $9 million over two years. He has two goals and three assists with a minus-six in 22 games. Former first round pick Oscar Klefbom has an assist in 10 games. The future centers around 2013 first rounder Darnell Nurse, who was sent back to Sault Ste. Marie where he has 19 points (6-13-19) and 34 penalty minutes in 19 games.

As for goaltending, neither Ben Scrivens or Viktor Fasth have established themselves. Each has a sub-3.00 GAA and are below .900 save percentage. That is a joke. No roster can compete without a legit number one. That falls on management. The operation needs a giant overhaul. It won’t happen. How much will they improve under a new coach? They’ve been rebuilding forever. The only positive is that they’re virtually guaranteed a chance at either Connor McDavid or Jack Eichel.

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Lundqvist, Rangers shutout lowly Oilers 2-0

Posted on December 15, 2014 by Derek
Happy Swedes: Carl Hagelin congratulates Henrik Lundqvist after his 56th career shutout. A 2-0 Ranger win over the Oilers. The Canadian Press/Jason Franson/Getty Images

Happy Swedes: Carl Hagelin congratulates Henrik Lundqvist after his 56th career shutout. A 2-0 Ranger win over the Oilers.
The Canadian Press/Jason Franson/Getty Images

How bad are the Oilers? Maybe the better question is how low can they go after losing for the 15th time in their last 16. Playing for a second straight night, the Rangers did what they had to shutting out the Oilers 2-0 for their third consecutive win. Henrik Lundqvist made 16 saves to tie Marc-Andre Fleury for the league lead in shutouts (5). It was his 56th career allowing him to pass Ed Giacomin and Bernie Parent for 20th all-time.

”It was not a very tough game for me, but they had a few chances here and there,” Lundqvist said after making a big stop on David Perron late to preserve the win. ”We were patient. We felt like they were playing not to make any mistakes and were staying back. They were waiting for us to make mistakes so that they could counter. But we did a good job of playing a smart hockey game.

”We just stuck with the game plan and let our chances come to us. I thought we were the better team the whole game, but at the same time it was still a one-goal game for most of it.”

They had no choice. In what can best be described as dull hockey that could’ve put fans at Rexall Place to sleep, the Rangers stuck with it to match their longest winning streak of the season. It was suffocating. How bad was it? The teams combined for 25 total shots through two periods and 38 overall. It was brutal. At least the Rangers won to gain a split in the season series. They needed it. The win improved them to 14-10-4 with 32 points. They trail third place Washington by a point with a game at hand.

Dan Girardi’s goal with 3:56 left in the first period was enough to defeat the NHL’s worst team. Edmonton is awful. In a game they only got 16 shots on Lundqvist, they actually played well. I don’t know how to even define that. The Rangers definitely struggled at times failing to sustain a consistent forecheck. They weren’t engaged early. But defensively, they gave the Oilers nothing. Marc Staal had a second straight strong game. He was very active. Girardi and McDonagh were equally stingy making good defensive plays. As a team, the Rangers blocked 21 shots led by McDonagh’s 4.

After a sluggish start, they began to dictate following a penalty kill of a Jesper Fast hooking minor. He basically had to take the penalty due to Nail Yakupov beating John Moore. Fast negated a scoring chance. More than you can say for Moore, who continued to not distinguish himself since replacing Matt Hunwick two games ago. Moore only got 19 shifts (12:06) with 11:07 at even strength. The Rangers only had one power play. The lack of trust Alain Vigneault has in him speaks volumes. Moore hasn’t improved and might become another Michael Del Zotto. When they visit Calgary tomorrow, I’d reinsert Hunwick, who’s steadier.

With Derick Brassard out with the mumps, Vigneault elevated J.T. Miller to the top line. He centered Rick Nash and Mats Zuccarello while Chris Kreider moved back up with Derek Stepan and Martin St. Louis. Tanner Glass slid into the fourth line with Dominic Moore and Fast. There really wasn’t much happening. Outside of a couple of strong shifts from Kevin Hayes, Carl Hagelin and Lee Stempniak, the Rangers didn’t generate a whole lot. As the first went on, they got better. Eventually, another good shift from Nash resulted in a pinching Girardi centering for Zuccarello. At first glance, it looked like Zuccarello tapped it in but the replay showed that Girardi banked it in off an Edmonton defenseman for his second. In the last two games, three Ranger defensemen have scored. A positive trend moving forward.

The second was a mirror image. Edmonton started out okay. Then the Blueshirts took over forcing Ben Scrivens to make eight saves. The Oilers only had five shots (10 total) through two periods. It was sad. Some of their attempts never made it due to our D. Other times, our defensemen recovered to deny them. Even Ryan Nugent-Hopkins was limited despite his speed. Taylor Hall had three shots and Jordan Eberle two. Scrivens made his best save on Nash robbing him.

For the first half of the third, the Rangers didn’t get a shot. Kreider got their first one over 11 minutes in. He played well for a second game in a row. He was more noticeable and finished checks. Maybe the time off helped. Kreider only has four goals. I have a feeling that’s about to change. I like his last two games and believe he’s close to breaking out.

I didn’t like how our team sat back. But that’s what Vigneault opts for. For an offensive coach, he’s awfully conservative in third periods with the lead. I would’ve preferred them to press the attack. It worked because the Oilers are miserable. A good defensive play by Dom Moore allowed Hagelin to score into an empty net with 22 seconds left.

”It was a tough night it seemed to get anything going,” former Edmonton coach Dallas Eakins said. He was fired today. ”It was one of those, it looked like a game where you’re watching paint dry. Both teams were being fairly responsible. The Rangers a few years ago took on that mentality of shot blocking where nothing was ever going to get through. It seemed like they were able to block a ton of shots and we weren’t able to get them through.”

”When you put only 16 shots on net, it’s tough to win and it showed tonight,” Nugent-Hopkins said.

The Rangers will take the two points and try to complete a sweep of the three games in Northwestern Canada tomorrow at Calgary. The Flames have lost five straight but are much better competition. They boast Norris front runner Mark Giordano, Calder hopeful Johnny Gaudreau and emerging second-year center Sean Monahan. Dennis Wideman leads all defensemen with 10 goals. The trio of Wideman, Giordano and T.J. Brodie have combined for 24 goals. Jiri Hudler and Curtis Glencross are having good years. Keep an eye on rookie Josh Jooris. Both Jonas Hiller and Karri Ramo have done a solid job splitting number one duty in net. It should be a tough game.

Notes: With an assist, Nash extended his career best point streak to 10 (6-6-12). He’s recorded a point in 23 of the Rangers’ 28. … Zuccarello has four points (2-2-4) and is plus-five over the last three. He’s 6-8-14 in 26 games. … In his return, Glass saw 13 shifts totaling 10:10 at even strength and 1:05 shorthanded with a key block on an Edmonton power play. … For a second consecutive game, every Blueshirt got double digits in ice-time. Staal led all skaters with 24:14 while Fast had the least (11:08). … For his career, Lundqvist improved to 43-20-7 in back-to-backs with a 2.01 GAA, .929 save percentage and 8 shutouts in the second game.

BONY 3 Stars:

3rd Star-Dominic Moore, NYR (assist, 6-and-2 on draws, +1 in 13:05)

2nd Star-Henrik Lundqvist, NYR (16 save shutout-56th career)

1st Star-Marc Staal, NYR (2 blocks, takeaway, superb defensively in 29 shifts-24:14)

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