Spoiled fans embarrass themselves booing Quinn in return, good hockey man deserved better

Posted on October 22, 2022 by Derek
Bruce Bennett via Getty Images

Thursday night marked the return of former Rangers coach David Quinn. A likable person who was tasked with a tough job during the rebuild, he did the best he could.

It wasn’t easy to take over a team that lost their identity after Alain Vigneault left following an ugly ’17-18 season. That marked the end of an era. When the organization decided to make public The Letter to fans about the direction they decided, many core pieces were sent packing by GM Jeff Gorton with the help of Team President John Davidson.

It definitely wasn’t easy for fans to see former captain Ryan McDonagh go. The anchor of a strong blue line that included ultimate warrior Dan Girardi, Marc Staal and Anton Stralman, he was the leader of a strong team that was very successful. The Blueshirts were a playoff contender that reached three Conference Finals and played for the Stanley Cup over a four-year period.

When Quinn took over in ’18-19, the roster was dramatically different. Also gone were key forwards J.T. Miller, Rick Nash, Derek Stepan and Michael Grabner. They continued to transition away from key contributors including fan favorite Mats Zuccarello and Kevin Hayes. It wasn’t an ideal situation for a first time NHL coach who had coached collegiate hockey to walk into.

Despite that, Quinn’s teams worked hard. By the second year when they landed big fish Artemi Panarin and acquired Jacob Trouba, things were looking up. In fact, it was during his second season that he had them in position to make a run at the playoffs.

With Panarin cooking and Mika Zibanejad on fire, the Rangers were just sitting on the outside of the wildcard when Covid interrupted ’19-20. After a long hiatus due to the pandemic, the playoffs format was expanded. That allowed the Rangers to become one of 24 teams who got to compete that summer.

However, with future rookie star Igor Shestyorkin injured, Quinn made the curious decision to start Henrik Lundqvist twice over Alex Georgiev in a best three out of five Stanley Cup qualifier against the Hurricanes. They were no match for the Canes, who won in three straight including when Shestyorkin was cleared to play Game Three.

All the good will felt during that promising year which also featured newcomers Adam Fox and Ryan Lindgren in key roles on a revamped defense ended on a sour note. As it turned out, it was the beginning of the end for Quinn.

Following a delayed start to ’20-21, the Rangers played an abbreviated 56-game schedule that began in January 2021. With higher expectations surrounding the team due to the development of Shestyorkin, Fox, Lindgren along with key stars Panarin, Zibanejad, Chris Kreider, Ryan Strome and Trouba, they didn’t reach the postseason.

The disappointment of former 2020 second pick Kaapo Kakko and slow process for ’21 top pick Alexis Lafreniere didn’t go over well with fans. Despite the promise of future top four defenseman K’Andre Miller, who was handled well under Quinn, the season had turmoil due to a locker room fracas between Tony DeAngelo and Georgiev in Pittsburgh. That resulted in the dismissal of DeAngelo and had a negative effect on Georgiev, who wasn’t as consistent.

Along with an injury to Shestyorkin, it definitely didn’t help the situation. While there wad frustration over both Kakko and Lafreniere, one player who improved under Quinn was Pavel Buchnevich. At one point, he found himself buried on the fourth line in Year One. But once he adjusted to what the coach wanted, Buchnevich became a better player who was a fixture on the top line with Zibanejad and Kreider.

Until a critical two games against the Islanders, they still had a chance to make the playoffs. Instead, the team laid proverbial eggs including a dismal performance on home ice after Fox was presented as the Steven McDonald Award winner. The final straw was Tom Wilson pummeling Buchnevich while he was down and then injuring Panarin after he jumped the Caps pest in another uncompetitive loss.

By that point, Quinn was done. So too were Gorton and Davidson after the letter the team sent to the NHL when there was no supplemental discipline for Wilson. Even though Brendan Smith avenged Panarin, it was obvious that the Rangers were ready to move on. Especially with Garden CEO James Dolan unhappy with how that season ended.

With both Mark Messier and former Team President and GM Glen Sather in his ear, the trio of Davidson, Gorton and Quinn were dismissed. Chris Drury took over as Team President and GM. Gerard Gallant was hired as the new coach.

Although Quinn never got the team to the postseason, he was a transitional coach who oversaw the rebuild. It wasn’t the easiest situation. Although there were times where I didn’t agree with some of his personnel decisions or answers during press conferences, he was a good hockey man. Even if there were hints from players that they didn’t agree with his style (Panarin, Kakko), Quinn did the best he could.

When he finally got the job in San Jose after a year away from the league, it was another opportunity for the former Boston University coach to take a rebuilding team in a different direction. Something that’s never easy. They Sharks lost both games to the Predators in the Czech Republic to start the season. Then lost the next three to drop to 0-5-0.

You had to figure they’d be ready to go against the Rangers in Quinn’s emotional return at MSG. What wasn’t expected was the cold reception he received from ungrateful fans. Let’s just call it what is. There’s a portion of this fan base who are snobs. That they booed Quinn when they showed him on the video board was sad.

Seeing the reaction from beat reporters on what happened was enough to feel bad for Quinn. A good guy who didn’t deserve what he got. It’s true the crowd has changed since the pandemic. There are a lot of transient sections that don’t have as many loyal fans who’ve been through the Dark Ages. A reference to one of the darkest eras in franchise history.

From ’97-98 through ’03-04, there were no playoffs on Garden ice. Only humiliation. My family sat through a lot of those games. It was tough on the eyes. Somehow, we managed to have fun due to the friends we made in our section. Witness protection was bantered about a lot in reference to some of the underwhelming players who played. In those hard times, we were able to shine a light with dark humor.

Times have changed. Unfortunately, not for the better. When you have nerdy chart-sessed fans who think everything revolves around CORSI and analytics, they don’t get hockey. The proof was in how the rosters under Quinn were constructed. While there was considerable talent along with youth, they lacked grit and intangibles.

Thankfully, Drury saw fit to correct those mistakes. One of his first moves was signing former Lightning Stanley Cup winner Barclay Goodrow after trading for him during the exclusive negotiating window. Goodrow is a glue guy who can play anywhere. He gets his nose dirty and plays penalty kill. He remains one of the veterans Gallant can rely on to play any role.

Adding Ryan Reaves was a move made to address the lack of toughness. A legit heavyweight with a physical presence, Reaves protects teammates by making opponents accountable. Ask Wilson what happened to him in a lopsided Rangers win over the Caps last season.

Reaves also brings character. His great personality keeps things loose before games. “Shesty, release us!”, became the rallying call before games. The 35-year old vet remains popular in the room and with the crowd that appreciates what he brings.

If anyone doesn’t, it’s probably the same losers that booed Quinn as if he was Scrooge. They don’t have any sense of humor or common decency. Off the record, a few players told the Rangers beat that he didn’t deserve what he got.

Maybe it was fitting that it was Quinn’s new team that out-worked and out-played the Rangers to earn a 3-2 overtime victory on a Erik Karlsson winner. It had to feel extra special for Quinn to get his first win as Sharks coach at MSG. He will never admit that. Nor did he acknowledge the ridiculous jeers he received. He has too much class.

It’s unfortunate that some so-called ‘fans’ don’t know what class is. They think just because Gallant came into a better situation and guided last year’s team to the Eastern Conference Final, that it’s a given the Rangers will play for the Cup.

It doesn’t work that way. This season, they have a target on their back. Expect everyone’s best game. Or maybe you haven’t noticed that the Avalanche just lost at home to the Kraken. Nothing is given in this league. Teams won’t just lie down. If they did, Montreal wouldn’t have three wins in its first five games.

It would be nice if more fans realized that. Not everyone has common sense. Shame on the sour apples who booed a good man. I’m glad Quinn got the last laugh.

The Rangers will now move on. With the Blue Jackets on the schedule tomorrow, they’ll have to slow down Johnny Gaudreau. As Trouba noted following Thursday’s disappointment, they must focus more on playing better defensively. Or as Gallant simply put it, get back to the way they played in the season opener. A complete effort in a 3-1 win over the Lightning.

We’ll see how they respond.

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Karlsson’s overtime winner gives Sharks victory in Quinn’s return, Inconsistent Rangers get what they deserve in bad loss

Posted on October 21, 2022 by Derek

For those who weren’t aware, David Quinn was back in town with his San Jose Sharks. A team that entered winless in their first five games, having been outscored 19-8. No problem. Right? Wrong.

Instead of taking care of business against a woefully bad team that still features some NHL talent, the Rangers played down to the competition and earned a well deserved 3-2 overtime loss to the Sharks. Erik Karlsson’s goal at 49 seconds of overtime made a winner of Quinn in a successful return to MSG.

The goal was emblematic of how poorly the Rangers played the third period that carried over to the first two shifts of OT. Following a hiccup from turnover prone Adam Fox leading to Timo Meier feeding Tomas Hertl for a scoring chance that Igor Shestyorkin bailed Fox out on, it was Karlsson who undressed Artemi Panarin and then received a Meier pass around the net for an easy finish with Shestyorkin out of position.

The game-winner was the direct result of both Panarin and a passive Vincent Trocheck allowing Karlsson to put a great move on and get the puck over for Hertl. With Jacob Trouba giving chase behind the net, that left Meier enough time to find Karlsson wide open for the win.

It was a complete breakdown during an ugly three-on-three sequence. The first OT they played didn’t go well. It ended quickly. The right team won. That would be the now 1-5-0 Sharks who outshot the Rangers 16-2 in a lopsided third and then added the first two shots in extras including the Karlsson winner.

It was an embarrassment. They let a struggling team that isn’t expected to compete to come into The Garden and take the game. It wasn’t that way during the first two periods. For the most part, they played up to par. However, they only came out even at two on the scoreboard due to a lack of discipline and a total breakdown.

Winning hockey is simple. Outplay the opponent at even strength. Take advantage of your chances on special teams. Limit mistakes. The Rangers didn’t do it. Even when they were handed an 11-second five-on-three due to consecutive minor penalties from San Jose, they did virtually nothing with the first two power plays.

Instead, it was Quinn’s aggressive penalty killers who applied pressure at the points and stood up at the blue line to make life difficult. The vaunted first unit kept turning pucks over and having the hungrier Sharks send the puck down. They didn’t get much done. In fact, they went 0-for-5 on the power play with only three shots. It was pathetic.

As if that was bad enough, you had the much maligned Sammy Blais take a needless tripping minor on Meier to send the Sharks to the man-advantage. It didn’t take long for them to cash in. On a good play started by Karlsson, Luke Kunin set up Logan Couture for a power play goal at 6:02 to give the Sharks an early lead.

It wasn’t as if San Jose played well in the period. They didn’t. They kept shooting themselves in the foot by taking minor penalties. Over two minutes following Couture’s goal, Radek Simek took down an attacking Alexis Lafreniere to go off for tripping.

On the power play for a third time, they got trigger man Mika Zibanejad two set ups. He was stopped on one by James Reimer. The other, he misfired wide. Chris Kreider just missed on a tip-in try. He’s been a bit unlucky so far. He would later hit a crossbar. Kreider just has to keep plugging away. They’ll start going in.

After they killed the penalty, the Sharks went to work. Following a Filip Chytil block, Trouba took a slashing minor on Meier to hand them a second power play. That’s how the first was. Basically special teams with not much flow at five-on-five.

The penalty kill held the teal to one shot. Shestyorkin handled a Hertl try. Afterwards, they finally had some play at even strength. You had some physicality with both sides finishing checks.

When it was all even, it was mostly Rangers controlling the puck deep in the San Jose zone. However, Reimer was sharp denying Lafreniere with two and a half minutes left. He played well making 21 saves on 23 shots. Most of his work came in the second when he stopped 12 of 13 to give Quinn’s Sharks a chance.

One of the best players was Chytil. He was flying throughout. Using his size and speed to get in on the forecheck and create scoring chances, his persistence drew a slash from Kunin to put the Rangers back on the power play with under 49 seconds left in the period.

The Sharks got some key blocks to get out of the first up by one. They might not be the most talented. But they do play hard for Quinn. Eerily similar to how things went when he was in charge of the rebuild here. They hung around long enough tonight.

At the start of the second, it was following a Sharks’ kill that the Rangers drew even. On some good hustle from a back checking Kreider, that forced a turnover inside the San Jose zone. Chytil stole the puck and broke in on Reimer before going five-hole on the mini-break to tie the score at 1:50.

Just a great effort from a young player gaining confidence. If he wasn’t stuck playing with Blais and Barclay Goodrow, he probably could have more points. That’s how impressive he’s been. Chytil definitely continues to open eyes. He did with his pass on a Lafreniere goal and again was up to the task by getting his second goal and drawing two penalties. That’s your third line center. He needs some help. Hopefully soon, Vitaly Kravtsov can supply it.

Unlike the opening period, the entire second was played at five-on-five. There were no penalties called. It was largely dictated by the Rangers. They would out-shoot the Sharks 13-4.

Twice, Kreider narrowly missed. He hit the crossbar on one shot and had another go wide. Other than the win at Minnesota where he buried two, that’s how it’s gone so far. The good news is he is continuing to work hard. Even more startling, he has just as many assists (2) as goals (2) after the team’s first five games.

With the game still tied, Shestyorkin denied a Hertl backhand on a good look. Even though they only had nine total shots through the first two periods, the Sharks found some openings in the Rangers coverage. They aren’t playing as tightly. It’s showing.

Near the halfway point, some superb passing up ice between Fox and Panarin led to a beautiful go-ahead goal from the Bread Man at 9:05. After Trocheck moved the puck up for Fox, he rushed up ice and moved the puck back for Panarin who made a great one-timer far side on Reimer for his third to give the Rangers a 2-1 lead. It was poetry in motion. Two artists putting on display what makes them special talents.

Even though they carried most of the play, the Sharks found a hole in the defense to get even 4:05 later. On a shift where they out-worked the fourth line and the defense, Oskar Lindblom and Matt Nieto combined to find Simek open. He moved easily around Fox and Jimmy Vesey to beat Shestyorkin low and inside the net. The puck went underneath him. A goal he usually doesn’t allow. The lousy coverage didn’t help.

Following a repair, the cohesive second lime came close. But Reimer made consecutive saves on Trocheck and Lafreniere. Both continue to click well with Panarin. Lafreniere nearly had Panarin later for a potential goal. But his pass was deflected away by a San Jose player.

Despite creating other opportunities, the Rangers remained deadlocked at two with the Sharks after the period expired. One school of thought is they controlled most of the action. The other was that a defensive lapse let an inferior opponent off the hook. These are the games you have to put away. They never did.

As the Yankees were driving me crazy with their anemic offense and lousy at bats in a recurring nightmare against the Astros which may as well have been Groundhog Day, I watched most of the third in shock. It was the Sharks who were hungrier to the puck. They played loose and went after it. The Rangers resembled the Yankees.

When you only are credited with two measly shots in the third period of a tie game, that’s not getting it done. They were lifeless. The Sharks looked to take a bite out of Shestyorkin. Fortunately, he was awake long enough to make 16 saves and get the Rangers a point.

There were big stops on several Sharks including a few who aren’t household names. Their checking line caused problems. It was a struggle to even survive the long third period. One that saw San Jose pounce on every mistake and get the puck towards the net.

Shestyorkin saved the Rangers’ bacon. Even when Kunin took a penalty on who else but Chytil with 4:58 left, an awful pass from Fox forced Panarin to take down Nico Sturm. He intercepted the puck and Panarin tripped him up to negate a shorthanded rush.

During the four-on-four, it was the more aggressive Sharks who went for it. But Shestyorkin turned aside Meier twice and then Hertl. With time running short, he also denied Alexander Barabanov.

In what was an otherwise quiet game for him, K’Andre Miller had a one-timer from distance easily picked by the glove of Reimer 93 seconds left in regulation. There wasn’t enough traffic. It was only the second shot of the period. The other coming from Vesey much earlier.

In overtime, Gallant went with Trocheck, Panarin and Fox. His best offensive guys. However, they got dominated by the Quinn trio of Hertl, Meier and Karlsson. After Fox fell down and coughed up the puck, Meier had Hertl for what felt like the winner. But his shot was easily smothered by Shestyorkin.

On the next face-off, Hertl beat Trocheck to get the puck back to Karlsson. Once the game’s best defenseman, he turned back the clock by completely housing Panarin with a great move. Trocheck watched. Then, with the Rangers scrambling, Meier took a Hertl feed and easily set up Karlsson for the overtime winner at 49 seconds.

It was over quick. For all the flak I playfully give Quinn, his team earned the the two points. They outplayed the Rangers by a wide margin over the final 20:49. They deserved the win. Congrats to Quinn on coming back to MSG and getting a victory. You could see what it meant as he shook hands with his assistants. He’s a good man.

It probably won’t get any easier for San Jose. But for one night, they were better than the Rangers. A team with higher expectations. You have to wonder why they’ve been so inconsistent defensively. The next game is against the high scoring Johnny Gaudreau Blue Jackets. They’ll have to put in a better effort.

This was disappointing. But they’ve played five games and gotten seven points out of ten. It was a worse game than the Winnipeg loss. Gallant wasn’t pleased. He shouldn’t be. There’s plenty to work on.

Dryden Hunt was claimed on waivers by the Avalanche. I guess they appreciate the hard work he puts in. I know I was critical at times over the lack of finish. But Hunt always brought an honest approach to each game. He finished checks and played with grit which Gallant prefers. He lost out due to Vesey and coach favorite Ryan Carpenter. Good luck to him in Colorado.

THREE STARS 🌟 🤩 ✨️

3rd 🌟 Tomas Hertl Sharks assist, 5 SOG, 9-8 draws in 19:20

2nd 🌟 Filip Chytil Rangers goal (2nd), 3 SOG, 2 penalties drawn, +1 in 15:50

1st 🌟 🤩 ⭐️ Erik Karlsson Sharks overtime winner at 49 seconds plus 🍎 in 23:54

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Two impressive wins quiet the critics in Newark for the moment

Posted on October 20, 2022 by hasan4978

First let’s start with the disclaimers…yes the schedule hasn’t exactly been the toughest so far with every game in the tri-state area against teams who didn’t make the playoffs last year. Obviously nobody’s going to throw a parade now that the Devils are 2-2, especially after they did get off to good starts in the first ten games of each of the last two years. And their advanced stats and shot totals still don’t generally measure up to actual goals scored.

Okay enough of that…the last two games were certainly a welcome improvement all-around. Some will say the first two games where we outshot the Flyers and Red Wings are proof that this kind of breakout was coming, but even if you want to make that case they certainly haven’t portended the most important development of all the last two games – a long-awaited step up by Mackenzie Blackwood. True, a combined thirty-four saves in two games isn’t exactly topping the shot charts but sometimes it’s not about quantity of saves as much as it is just not giving up the killer goal. He certainly didn’t give up a killer goal against the Ducks after the first period when they fell behind 2-0 and were getting booed off the ice again before turning on the turbo switch and dominating the final two periods, and though he really didn’t have much action tonight as the Devils got the first fourteen shots on net at least we avoided the inevitable killer goal against that usually results during one of those stretches where we pound the net but can’t score.

At least the offense managed to pick it up in the final two periods of both games after frustrating first periods. Just as encouraging is who got the goals – pretty much everyone you would want to score over the last two games has led by Ondrej Palat with three goals. His first goal off a rebound the other night helped finally turned the momentum against the Ducks, and continued a nice first impression with goals #2 and #3 tonight against the Isles. Also standing out in the two games was captain Nico Hischier, who had a goal and an assist against the Ducks and a three-point night at the UBS Arena. Guess he’s over the hammy now, eh? After a dry finish to last season, it was nice to see Dawson Mercer also get on the board against the Ducks…you could say the same for Dougie Hamilton except that it seems obvious through four games his poor second half last year was injury-related. Jack Hughes got his long-awaited first goal of the season tonight, to open the scoring finally at the UBS arena after Ilya Sorokin kept the Devils off the board through a dominant first period.

You might have noticed a name missing from that paragraph in Jesper Bratt…and true he doesn’t have a goal in the first four games, but you’ll take seven primary assists in four games anyday. Bratt, Palat and Hischier were cooking as a line tonight. Also cooking is our entire d-core, which killed off all three power plays in the last two games, as well as holding both the Ducks and Isles to twenty shots or fewer. There isn’t really anything to find fault with on D…even Kevin Bahl finally got in the lineup and played just over ten minutes as the #7 defenseman, but it will be hard for him to get consistent icetime with the top six playing as well as it has.

Offensively as good as the last two games have been you’d still like to see Alexander Holtz get a bit more run, after he got shafted in the second game of the season and benched against the Ducks as Lindy Ruff shortened the bench in a dire situation, he was scratched tonight in favor of the 11-7 lineup deployment. I’d also like to see Fabian Zetterlund get more run, maybe over Nathan Bastian who doesn’t do much besides hit. Zetterlund can do that and score as well but at least the icetimes of the forwards who were in the lineup got more balanced out tonight with Bastian getting nearly eleven minutes and still having the least icetime among the forwards. Ironically after the kerfuffle about Bratt’s icetime following the opener, he led all forwards with just over twenty minutes tonight.

I wish I had more to write about the last two games but honestly it was hard to pay attention Tuesday since I was compelled to stay home after feeling ill with a cold that turned out to be the only mild COVID symptom I’ve had so far. Hopefully I’ll be off the IL in time for Saturday afternoon’s game or soon after, but we’ll see. Vaccines and boosters definitely help if this is as bad as COVID gets for me. In any case, tonight I just wasn’t in front of the TV until the middle of the second period, but with the game on ESPN plus I was able to watch it from the start and skip the commercials while viewing. I wasn’t as into actually watching it since I already had spoilers though, plus after all it was the ESPN broadcast though I don’t exactly hate Bucci or Kevin Weekes. It’s ironic that after our first four games I don’t think one has been on MSG plus yet, which I’m normally accustomed to seeing the Devils on…we’ve had two on ESPN plus and iirc the other two were on the original MSG.

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Despite good start, Rangers need to tighten up defensively

Posted on October 18, 2022 by Derek

By show of hands. How many of you would’ve signed up for winning three out of four to start the season? That would probably be the majority.

Who had the Rangers scoring at will to take six out of a possible eight points? Maybe half. I guess it depends what your view of the roster was coming in. Unlike the overemphasized Patrick Kane crowd, I was glass half full on the kids improving to boost an offense that subtracted some key parts.

Perhaps I was onto something. Even minus the injured Vitaly Kravtsov, who is getting closer to returning, we’ve already seen what the third line trio of Alexis Lafreniere, Filip Chytil and Kaapo Kakko can do. They’re living up to expectations by providing the scoring balance that was a question entering ’22-23. That they’ve all been separated and are showing signs of improvement is proof that patience is required with young players.

Thus far, Gerard Gallant has discovered that he can successfully move Kakko up to the top line and shift Lafreniere to the right side on the second line with positive results. He can also trust Chytil more to continue his growth in a supporting role centering the third line.

With Vincent Trocheck finding early chemistry with Artemi Panarin and a more confident Lafreniere, the second line is providing offense. A second four-point (1-3-4) game for Panarin with Trocheck and Lafreniere also scoring to highlight a wild 6-4 win over the defense optional Ducks on home ice is proof that the new trio should remain intact. They’re clicking.

On a night where former Blueshirt Ryan Strome received a warm hand from appreciative fans during a video tribute in his return as a Duck, it was that new second line that showed off their firepower. Although he didn’t record a point for the struggling Ducks, who got lit up 7-1 by the Islanders on Saturday, Strome will play a similar leadership role while teaming with top finisher Troy Terry and promising rookie Mason McTavish.

Strome will be fine. The same can be echoed for former rental piece Frank Vatrano, who showed off his wicked wrist shot by whistling one past Igor Shestyorkin glove side to get the Ducks on the scoreboard. Frankie V certainly contributed to the Rangers’ run last Spring. Now, he will try to help a rebuilding team that so far has hung starter John Gibson out to dry.

He was again sent to the showers after two periods by a New York team. Gibson still made some great saves highlighted by a point blank glove highway robbery on Trocheck that could’ve been Henrik Lundqvist in his heyday or Shestyorkin now. It’s hard to win in this league without good team defense. Ask Gallant what he thinks about his team so far defensively.

Putting up high totals of seven goals anfd six in sloppy wins over the overrated Wild (has anyone seen their defense) and defenseless Ducks is nice. It looks good on the right side of the win column. However, giving up totals of three, four and four over the past three games isn’t impressive. That included a 4-1 loss at Winnipeg where the effort was okay. But the execution wasn’t with the Jets getting the game-winner late from journeyman Sam Gagner and power play extra from Mark Scheifele. Kyle Connor added an empty netter.

It was less than ideal. K’Andre Miller lost a battle behind the net and then both Trocheck and Panarin puck watched as Gagner was allowed to stuff in the game decider past a helpless Jaro Halak, who performed well in his Rangers debut.  He made 30 saves on 33 shots to give them a chance. The problem was Connor Hellebuyck was better stopping 40 of 41 including 21 in a splendid second period where it was all Rangers.

They weren’t too good in a 7-3 win over the Wild either. It was a game they led 5-1 in the third period after Trocheck netted his first as a Ranger. But Matt Boldy struck twice sandwiched around a great goal from Kakko, who undressed the Wild or a solo effort for a 6-2 lead 30 seconds after Boldy’s first. He’d return the favor by completely blowing by Braden Schneider, who hasn’t been sharp in his end. Is it the new number? He switched to number 4 from 45.

Of the two so far, Zac Jones has looked better on the young third pair comprising two players who are 21 and 22. Not the biggest in stature, the smooth skating Jones makes up for it by utilizing his speed and smarts to escape trouble. Schneider is the much bigger physical presence. He’s been thinking more offense so far. So has Miller, who at times looks like a forward instead of a defenseman. The offense should improve. He still needs to use his size and strength more defensively. Especially considering the key role he plays with new captain Jacob Trouba.

Speaking of Trouba, he’s been strong so far. Playing his usual physical style, the on ice leader has done it by finishing checks, blocking shots and coming back to break up plays with his hustle. The most indispensable player they have on the blue line with apologies to Adam Fox and gritty warrior Ryan Lindgren, he plays in every situation under Gallant. Whether it’s matching up at five-on-five, playing second power play, or killing penalties, he can be counted on to get the job done. So far, so good for the new captain.

In another wide open contest, Trouba stood out for the way he plays the game. It was early in the second period that he left his feet to block a dangerous Terry shot that went off his helmet out of play. After a concerned Terry apologized to him, Trouba was summoned to the locker room by spotters for concussion protocol. He missed a few shifts.

Almost immediately, Trevor Zegras got behind an out of position Braden Schneider and took a Terry feed to beat Shestyorkin at 1:34. That tied the score. On that shift, Schneider was on with Miller. Initially, it was a Mika Zibanejad in the offensive zone that allowed the Ducks to transition up ice with token resistance by the five players in Blueshirt jerseys.

Forced to go with a five man rotation, Rangers assistant coach Gord Murphy worked in Schneider and Jones. It was the latter who received more ice time logging 18:01 while Schneider received 14:31 all at even strength. Jones got 31 second on the little used second power play unit. In the third game he’s played with Libor Hajek subbing for him on Friday, Jones is showing why he can become a regular. He knows when to go.

The only bad game Jones had so far was the second at Minnesota. Neither him or Schneider were particularly strong that night. It’s gonna happen. Gallant wanted to get Hajek in so he stayed fresh on the first back-to-back. He was solid making a few subtle defensive plays. That’s a plus for the extra defenseman who is essentially the last link to the Ryan McDonagh/J.T. Miller trade with the Lightning. Ironically, Vladislav Namestnikov is back in Tampa rediscovering the form he had under Jon Cooper in a secondary role.

There’s nothing left to say about the trade. It’s all been echoed before by yours truly in this space. Some deals work out while others fail. That one is in the bad category. What if Nils Lundkvist had panned out last year. Instead, he’s getting playing time with the unbeaten Stars. The numbers didn’t work in his favor. Brett Howden needed a scenery change and has been effective in Vegas. That’s all.

Back to the defense. After Zibanejad took a good feed from Fox and had his shot deflected in front off the skate of John Klingberg for the go-ahead tally halfway through the contest, Trouba returned. It was noted by both Sam Rosen and Joe Micheletti just as that goal was scored. Let’s call it a good omen.

Once their workhorse was back, the Rangers picked it up. They began vigorously forechecking a smaller Anaheim defense. After a rare power play where they didn’t connect largely because Gibson prevented a sure Trocheck power play goal by reaching back to steal his high shot with the glove, the former third line stayed out for a shift at five-on-five.

Following a good keep from Trouba, Chytil took the puck down low and centered for a sweet Lafreniere finish in front that increased the lead to two with 2:21 left. It was a great scoring play created by the forecheck of the three kids. Eerily similar to what they did last Spring.

Panarin provided what should’ve been the knockout blow when he took a Fox lead pass and sniped a laser past Gibson top shelf at 19:25. On the play, Lindgren started it and Fox did what he does by finding an open Panarin, who had easy access to the Ducks zone. Both Klingberg and Dmitry Kulikov backed in allowing Panarin too much space. He had enough time to fake and then fire his second by Gibson.

In a game that was too much run and gun, the Rangers got sloppy in the third period. It was played similarly to the Wild game where they put up a touchdown and extra point, but took the foot off the gas pedal. You can get away with that against inferior competition. But not against better opponents.

The Ducks made it interesting. On a good shift by Terry, he and Kevin Shattenkirk combined to set up a wide open Max Comtois to cut the deficit to two with under 15 minutes left in regulation. He was left isolated by Panarin, who fell asleep on the coverage. Lindgren was in the vicinity, but Comtois was Panarin’s man. He isn’t exactly a stalwart defensively. The offense makes up for it.

You’d still like to see better plus/minuses next to both Panarin and Trocheck on the score sheet. Part of that was due to the production on the power play. Five of their six combined points came via the man-advantage. An area Panarin excels at due to his remarkable vision and playmaking. However, the second line will need to tighten up defensively at even strength. An area Gallant wants to see improvement.

Even on what was a wonderfully constructed passing play between Fox and Panarin for a Zibanejad one-timer that easily beat Ducks’ backup Anthony Stolarz for the team’s third power play goal of the night, they still couldn’t put away the Ducks. Ranger killer Derek Grant tallied at even strength to make it 6-4 with 3:46 remaining.

In a game where they nearly doubled up the Ducks in shots (43-22) while out-attempting them by a wide margin due to strong puck possession, it’s inexcusable to allow four goals on 22 shots. Even if Anaheim has good offensive players, that’s not a good enough effort from a team with Stanley Cup aspirations.

Finding better consistency at even strength will be the key to the season. With the next game not until Thursday against the winless David Quinn Sharks, who even gave up five unanswered to the lottery bound Blackhawks, the extra days off allow Gallant to work on the defensive issues. They’re correctable mistakes that can be fixed during practice. Back to basics.

It took a while in Year One under Turk for the team to adjust to the system. Most of the core is the same. For the new players like Trocheck, who is a good three zone player, it’s still going to take some time. While Zibanejad and Chris Kreider, who could easily have five or six goals instead of two, are familiar with what Gallant wants, you still have a few players who are learning as they go.

On a night where Sammy Blais finally returned to the lineup on a regular season game for the first time in almost a year, you don’t have to worry about the bottom six. Barclay Goodrow and Chytil play straight ahead hockey. Without Ryan Carpenter, Goodrow centered the checking line flanked by Dryden Hunt and Ryan Reaves. Both who will get pucks deep and bang in the corners.

After a good preseason that earned him a contract, Jimmy Vesey has been very quiet. He wasn’t noticeable on Monday night. That’s why a good camp doesn’t mean anything. If it did, Julien Gauthier would have become a 15 to 20 goalscorer. Instead, he’s in Hartford scoring in the AHL. Vesey could become the odd man out when Kravtsov returns.

It’ll be an interesting decision for the organization. Especially with Carpenter fitting in well on the fourth line. Plus Hunt has brought the energy and even got the only goal at Winnipeg. A nice finish off a Trocheck pass where he stopped the puck and patiently shot upstairs to beat Hellebuyck.

For now, they’ll take the 3-1-0 record and look to improve. Especially with both the Hurricanes and Penguins off to good starts. So are those John Tortorella Flyers. It’s very early. Let’s see where things are by Game 20.

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Rock bottom…fans revolt as team puts up yet another stinker

Posted on October 16, 2022 by hasan4978

I have so much to say after last night’s latest fiasco but really no idea where to start this blog. Was last night’s 5-2 defeat at the hands of Detroit the worst game this franchise has played in the last ten years? Certainly not…but in many ways it might have become the flashpoint where a fanbase has finally collectively had it with years of ‘rebuilding’ and zero progress to show for it. Heck, they might actually be going backwards which I didn’t think was possible. Maybe Miles Wood was onto something calling this a must-win, because the pressure is already cooking hot underneath everyone’s feet as evidenced by an ugly atmosphere at the Rock last night.

Last night certainly didn’t start off being an adversarial atmosphere, with a couple of notable exceptions during the pregame. Although he wasn’t starting last night, Mackenzie Blackwood got what I’d call at least scattered boos – after his stinker Thursday and being bad for two years, I can understand the fans having enough of him – god knows I have, especially with some of his diva-like behavior towards the organization. Mike McLeod got booed…for off-ice reasons that I’m not even gonna get into (cough Hockey Canada investigation cough), but the boos for him are the only ones I actually joined in on during the pregame. Once they started introducing the coaching staff and they got to Andrew Brunette who received a loud ovation, I knew what was coming next when Lindy Ruff got announced. I didn’t partake in the boos, but as much as I like Lindy maybe I would have if I knew what was coming vis-a-vis some of his airhead lineup decisions on the night, namely the banishments of young forwards Yegor Sharangovich (10:56), Fabian Zetterlund (9:40, though at least he was in the lineup tonight the icetime’s still stupid low for a guy who had an impact down the stretch last year) and Alexander Holtz (9:20). Lindy might have been the only one in the building surprised at the reaction toward a coach who’d presided over two of the worst seasons in franchise history.

Sorry coach, still respect you as a human being and a hockey lifer…wish you a lot of luck in retirement and I know doggone well the problems with this organization (which I’ll get to over this post) extend way beyond you, but now I hope that retirement starts as soon as possible. Everyone who reads this blog knows how much I’ve held back on ripping the coach because of my regard for the man personally, when you lose me Lindy, then it’s time to say adios amigo. If the last two seasons weren’t enough to push me over the edge, the start of this one pretty well has – not to mention the inane response to a question on Jesper Bratt’s icetime the other night. If you’re gonna try to play an up-tempo firewagon attacking system, then you can’t be benching younger, dynamic players like Holtz and Sharangovich who in theory should fit said system. You also can’t be doing cornball things like playing RHD John Marino and Damon Severson on the same pairing when you have a balance of LHD and RHD in the lineup.

But again, the problems go way beyond Lindy – starting with the fact every doggone goalie that Tom Fitzgerald brings in immediately turns into Goldberg from the Mighty Ducks the minute they put on a Devils uniform with the latest stiff being Vitek Vanecek, who quite simply had a nightmare debut with five goals allowed on twenty-two shots including junk like losing his stick for no reason before the Dylan Larkin goal with one second left in the second period to make a 3-2 game a 4-2 game, the shortside goal by Dominik Kubalik in the third to make the game officially noncompetitive or this beaut from Jakub Vrana that broke a tie midway through the second period:

Nice shot…hah, we make everyone into a doggone sniper, except apparently our own shooters. Our overrated finesse offense has somehow managed to only score four goals on seventy-six shots in the first two games, once again giving lie to the advanced stats. But our CORSI, but our ‘deserve to win’ meter…nonsense. All the metrics don’t mean a thing if you don’t have actual finishers or a system that actually maxes their talent. Other than Jack Hughes – who’s done bupkus so far in two games – there’s nobody on this roster that’s even close to a proven thirty-goal scorer. Jesper Bratt hit 26 goals last year but he’s still more of a playmaker, and funny at least he’s enhancing his contract value with three assists in the first two games. He’s about the only one right now.

Instead of being worried over who can stop the puck or who can actually put one in, we’re apparently too worried about what Miles Wood says after a game, since he had to offer a clarification over his comments saying he didn’t mean the team was soft as any kind of a dig at anyone on the team – screw that and whoever leaned on him to walk back an actual truthful statement. If you’re so worried about how you’re being perceived inside and outside the room, forget about policing what everyone says…go and win some darn games here. Having everyone be all fake nice and polite isn’t going to rock the boat in the right direction. When the Devils were a winning organization, they had guys like Claude Lemieux and Bobby Holik who grated people inside and outside of the room, but they held everyone accountable as a result. And at least to Wood’s credit, he did his part to back up his urgency by scoring one of the two goals last night.

Fans know what they’re seeing without trying to have it be sugarcoated by social media or a broadcast. And last night fans clearly had enough by the end of the second period as boos rained down from the sky in a period where they outshot the Wings 22-11, yet got outscored 4-1. Enough with the excuses, when you get housed two games in a row by mediocre opposition after years of losing and see other teams who started a rebuild after you already make more progress in theirs, you no longer deserve the benefit of the doubt. I don’t want to hear excuses, these are the kind of games losing franchises find ways to lose and just make excuses about afterwards.

Starting in the third period the ‘Fire Lindy!’ chants were loud and frequent as were the bronx cheers for Vanecek (especially after his last goal given up in the middle of the period). On a normal night I’d have probably cleared out in the middle of the third period, especially since I knew we were going to be noncompetitive after the way the second period went…but this time I stayed for every last second to boo them off the ice. What a home opener.

Even before the game, the ‘tribute’ to Andy Greene really wasn’t much of one at all. Felt like they were saving the actual tribute for a separate night later on, though I guess it’s tough to both have the extended intros AND a ceremony in the pregame. Who cares though, it’s a Saturday night – not like staying a few minutes later was gonna kill anyone. Greene must have had flashbacks to his own dark days here watching that mess last night. He would have been better on the ice than Ryan Graves last night, who didn’t do much to enhance his upcoming FA contract with a -3 in just under fourteen minutes. I could say the same about Damon Severson and his -3 but Severson is what he is at this point, a mercurial defenseman who’ll add something offensively but give away a lot defensively. It would have been nice for him to follow up a career best season last year with a better start to this year, but alas he’s far from the only disappointment so far.

As to where this thing goes in the immediate future…at this point it seems like a matter of when, not if Lindy gets canned. If this team ever lost to a subpar Ducks team that just got wasted 7-1 at UBS Arena (and probably will get obliterated at MSG), that might be enough to push things over the edge already. You want to give lip service over the team being ready to win Fitzy, you can’t let another season get away without doing jack-all about it. And for the record, when you retain a coach on a lameduck deal AND hire a sureshot replacement for his staff then you’re putting a neon, flashing sign up. You might as well have canned him and saved everyone the 5-10-however many games of a charade we have to go through before the change is now going to be made. If you were that unsure about keeping the guy then that’s usually a pretty good indicator you should have moved on already.

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Are the Devils in crisis mode after one game?

Posted on October 14, 2022 by hasan4978

I decided against recapping last night’s dud of a season opener, in part because I didn’t feel like a rant after the first game of the season when there’s still an element of anticipation for the home opener tomorrow, and partly because as horrible as last night’s ‘effort’ in Philly was…it still is only one game. Or at least that’s what I thought before the last eighteen hours starting with the postgame when coach Lindy Ruff got a bit testy towards a valid question over Jesper Bratt’s icetime:

Sorry coach, sixteen minutes for your leading point-getter last year is still not enough icetime in a game you were trailing by multiple goals from midway through the second period on. Especially when we are talking about the first game of the season and not some travel back-to-back in December. For context, last year Bratt averaged about 17:30 ATOI per game. Maybe this organization feels that Bratt with his stature can’t handle too many 20+ minute nights. Or maybe they’re trying to keep his point totals down before the next contract negotiation lol. It’s also odd that Bratt was on the second power play unit though I can actually understand trying to split up Bratt and Jack Hughes since both are play drivers.

Maybe the coach is feeling some heat after two poor seasons on a lame-duck deal with a likely in-season replacement (Andrew Brunette) on the bench next to him. Some might say he’s lucky to still have a job after the last two years. He certainly didn’t do much to help his own cause last night, shuffling the lines and again looking like he wants to ride the Mackenzie Blackwood roller-coaster straight into the unemployment line. While I wouldn’t say the team’s effort was good enough to win regardless last night, it certainly doesn’t help when you give up a soft goal twenty-three seconds after the Devils actually took the lead on a PP, with Alexander Holtz’s first NHL goal.

Last night you basically saw everything in a nutshell that was wrong with the Devils for the last five years – questionable effort and intelligence, horrible goaltending and mind-boggling coaching decisions, with an overrated finesse offense as usual dominating the analytic stats with nothing to show for it other than a lot of harmless perimeter shots. If it wasn’t for Carter Hart coughing up two soft goals of his own, last night could have been even worse than it was with a 5-2 loss to Team Torts.

A coach on the hot seat getting testy is one thing…but when you hear Miles Wood making the comments he did today (YouTube clip above), alarm bells start to go off. I can’t say I disagree with him calling the team soft up front, this has been a problem for years. It would have been nice to have Fabian Zetterlund in the lineup last night instead of Jesper Boqvist, for example. I didn’t even realize Boqvist played to be honest, which isn’t a good thing when you’re a forward. It’s a little unusual to hear a player call his own team soft, but even more unusual for Wood to say tomorrow’s home opener was a ‘must-win’.

I won’t lie, I do think it’s imperative this team gets off to a good start with eight of its first ten games against non-playoff teams – though even I wouldn’t go as far as to call tomorrow a must-win. It’s certainly a must-compete better than last night though, especially considering the crowd’ll probably be antsy after a poor effort last night. Having a slow start overall with a tough schedule looming after October isn’t exactly conducive to proving things are different after two of the worst seasons in franchise history. As a fan, I heart Wood putting his emotions on his sleeve but the pragmatist in me knows that usually only fans (like me) put exaggerated emphasis on the second game of the season, hence why I avoided blogging after last night, I didn’t want to do that myself. When a player does it then you start to wonder what the heck is going on here…pressure from management? Lack of confidence? I mean it would be nice to start holding people more accountable for years of losing, but when you’re feeling the heat after one game then that’s a problem in itself.

On a certain level I’m glad they are feeling heat now though, if GM Tom Fitzgerald wants to give lip service over the team being ready to contend then let’s go…I don’t want to hear any more excuses about the goaltending, COVID, the team’s age, the coaching, etc. Start showing me and the other home fans tomorrow that we are actually building toward something here.

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Led by Panarin, Rangers run Wild in Minnesota, Lafreniere gets first career two assist game, Kreider sends message and gets a pair, Reaves takes on Foligno

Posted on October 14, 2022 by Derek
AP Photo by NYR via MSG Network.

Quite literally, it was a wild night in St. Paul. Playing for the first time on the road in the new season, the Rangers ran the Wild out of their building by a score of 7-3 at Xcel Energy Center in Minnesota.

Following a day off, the Rangers beat Marc-Andre Fleury seven times on 35 shots to handle a good opponent who had an off night in front of a disappointed sellout crowd of 18,612. It was a nice contrast from last season when they lost to Minnesota twice.

Taking advantage of undisciplined penalties and sloppy defensive play, the Rangers made the Wild pay for their incompetence. By the time Chris Kreider had tipped home his second of the night with under six minutes left in regulation, they had put up a touchdown and kicked the extra point.

Not only did they improve to 2-0 for ’22-23. But in a game where the Wild took liberties with two key players, the Blueshirts showed the true character that will make them a tough team to deal with. Twice, Minnesota players pushed the envelope. The Rangers addressed each without any hesitation.

Unlike the home opener they won 3-1 over the Lightning, this one had a bit of everything. It made for a topsy turvy contest. There was scoring, battles, timely saves from Igor Shestyorkin and chaos.

Following player introductions, it was time to play some hockey in Minnesota. They really do love their puck. It’s definitely the kind of environment I wouldn’t mind experiencing. I follow a beautiful Instagram model who is from the area. She loves her Wild hockey and even attended the outdoor game last winter. That’s how you know the fans appreciate their team.

For the first period, I actually tuned into the Wild broadcast on my tablet, which still works pretty well for a device I’ve had for over five years. The telecast was pretty good. The action came in well on the screen and I was able to easily follow it. Sometimes, it’s not a bad idea to check out the road broadcast. Theirs is good. I’d recommend it to any curious fans who want to check out Minnesota on NHL 66.

In the early going, the Wild had good jump. The vaunted top scoring line that features superstar Kirill Kaprizov, Mats Zuccarello and Ryan Hartman created a couple of great scoring chances. Coach Dean Evason got the match-up he wanted by having that lethal trio out against the Rangers’ third pair of Zac Jones and Braden Schneider.

The first opportunity was a great passing sequence between Kaprizov and Zuccarello that saw Hartman left wide open in the slot. But his shot missed wide.

The second bid was again another perfect set-up for Hartman in front. But Shestyorkin denied him point blank for his best save. That set the tone. He would make 33 saves on 36 shots.

While the Wild looked to attack with both that first line and the heavy second line that features Joel Eriksson Ek, Marcus Foligno and Tyson Jost until Jordan Greenway returns, they were their own worst enemy.

A loss of discipline proved costly. Jacob Middleton took the game’s first penalty when he took an unnecessary tripping minor on Ryan Carpenter. The Rangers went to work on the power play.

After an initial clear, the top unit quickly gained the Wild zone and got it set up. On just a great passing play, Artemi Panarin moved the puck across for Mika Zibanejad in the left dot. Instead of taking the shot, he caught an overly aggressive Fleury cheating. Zibanejad passed across for an easy Kreider tap in at 4:06 on the power play.

After the goal, it was mostly Wild at five-on-five. Able to use their team speed to get in on the cycle and generate chances, they controlled the action. Shestyorkin made four straight saves including a couple of sharp ones on Hartman and Jared Spurgeon.

Following a Hartman miss in the slot, Kaprizov forced Ryan Lindgren to take him down behind the net. That put the Wild on the man-advantage. During the five-on-four, they got a few shots. But Shestyorkin was strong making a good save on an Eriksson Ek backhand.

A bad Hartman trip on Vincent Trocheck ended the power play with 10 seconds remaining. After the first unit was ineffective, out came the second unit. Featuring Alexis Lafreniere, Filip Chytil, Kaapo Kakko, Jones and Jacob Trouba, they applied some pressure. Lafreniere twice tested Fleury before it expired. He was terrific throughout and left his fingerprints on the game.

Back at full strength, K’Andre Miller forced Hartman into a turnover to keep the puck inside the Minnesota zone. Panarin then moved the puck down for Lafreniere who made a great pass for a cutting Adam Fox who buried it for his first of the season at 16:03. It was a big time feed from a more confident young player.

With time winding down in the period, the new second line went to work. On a strong cycle from Vincent Trocheck, the puck came to Lafreniere in the corner. He made a terrific backhand feed in front for a sweet Panarin finish that made it 3-0 with 13 seconds left. It was the first career two assist game for Lafreniere. It sure won’t be the last.

After getting outshot 15-8, the Rangers were put on another power play when Hartman hooked into Panarin over a minute into the second period. This time, it was the Wild who picked it up with a good penalty kill. They even had three shorthanded shots from distance including one from Frederick Gaudreau. None threatened Shestyorkin.

A couple of minutes later, Jones went off for a hook on Brandon Duhaime. Put on their second power play, the Wild made the most of it. Following some strong early work by Jacob Trouba on the penalty kill, the Wild finally got on the scoreboard when Kaprizov took a Foligno pass and made a nice backhand saucer pass for a quick Zuccarello one-timer that went blocker side on Shestyorkin to make it 3-1 at 7:45.

Following a dubious tripping call on an incensed Fox, who inadvertently knocked down Gaudreau after a shot, the Wild would get a golden opportunity when 38 seconds into the man-advantage, Kreider high-sticked Eriksson Ek due to him poking at Shestyorkin when he had the puck covered. It was the kind of message you wanted to see from Kreider at that moment. I didn’t care that it gave Minnesota a five-on-three. I loved what he did, defending his goalie.

This was the defining moment of the game. With a two-man advantage for 1:22, the Wild couldn’t cash in. I thought the Rangers three-man penalty kill did an outstanding job. Zibanejad read a Zuccarello pass and cleared the puck down for a change. Lindgren blocked a Kaprizov shot. Shestyorkin made three saves down two men without a problem.

Following one more stop on Kaprizov, Eriksson Ek got into it with Lindgren. Both went off for matching roughing minors. Frustration boiled over for the Wild. They really didn’t execute well during this critical stage of the game.

With less than four minutes to go in the second, Fox just missed a wraparound. Somehow, Fleury stretched out to deny the bid. During the same shift, Barclay Goodrow passed to Fox for a low point shot that took a carom right to Chytil, who was able to steer in a backhand for his first at even strength. That made it 4-1. On the play, Jimmy Vesey was battling in front.

The Rangers took the three-goal lead to the locker room. They had to feel pretty good at that point. They were up three after 40 minutes and made the most of their chances, having scored four goals on 21 shots. However, the third period was a different story.

https://twitter.com/NYRangers/status/1580743717715316736?t=76v40FCVTbf5CIjivLBO3Q&s=19

It looked over when Panarin fed across for a Trocheck finish at 4:18 to make it 5-1. It was the first goal for Trocheck as a Ranger. But before you could get comfortable, a bad shift by the fourth line and Fox allowed Matt Boldy to convert a backhand in front 58 seconds later to cut it to 5-2.

Then, things went haywire. Following a heavy hit by Foligno on Miller, who went off the ice, Kakko had a dominant shift. Controlling the puck around the Wild net, he finally found open space and made a strong power move and finish for his first unassisted at 5:46. The goal 30 seconds later answered Boldy and made it 6-2 with 14:14 left.

But on another lousy defensive shift where nobody took a body, Boldy took a Matt Dumba pass and skated around both Jones and Schneider before tucking home a backhand past Shestyorkin for his second in 1:04. That again made it a three-goal deficit.

Things finally settled down afterwards. Following a successful Minnesota penalty kill, eventually Gallant sent his checking line out for a neutral zone face-off. After exchanging words, Ryan Reaves and Marcus Foligno dropped the gloves with 6:43 remaining.

It was obvious that Reaves didn’t like the hit Foligno put on Miller. He was okay and returned even having a couple of terrific shifts. Foligno is a tough guy who’s accountable for his actions. He obliged. Reaves got the decision by landing more blows. It was settled.

There was one more heated exchange between Dryden Hunt and Jacob Middleton. Middleton reminds me of a throwback player due to his look. Think 70’s or 80’s. He’s a big boy. Hunt slashed him after Middleton gave Hunt a cross-check. Your usual stuff. Both went off for minors.

Right after, Zibanejad won an offensive draw back to Miller for a point shot that Kreider redirected in for his second of the game with 5:53 to go. That put it out of reach.

On another shift, Miller used his speed to get behind the Minnesota defense optional. But he was denied by Fleury. He would be lifted early. Something the Wild did with good results last year. The Rangers didn’t score an empty netter.

The game eventually wound down. When it was over, the Rangers had their second win of the young season. It wasn’t the prettiest considering how much it opened up in the third. But they handled one of the West’s best on their home rink.

That’s a good win. Now, it’s the first back-to-back with Trouba’s former team. The Blueshirts visit Winnipeg Friday night. It’ll be another 8 PM start. Expect Jaro Halak to make his Rangers debut.

With another game coming up, that’ll do it. I did host a Twitter Space. Thanks to TheGMan713 for joining me. It was fun. We didn’t only discuss the win. But some old stuff from the 90’s. I definitely will try to host more Spaces.

See you later.

https://twitter.com/BattleOfHudson/status/1580751354456260608?t=X7bgNla10xw3_OOENe4mXQ&s=19

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Strome and Vatrano contribute in Ducks’ win, Kravtsov not traveling with Rangers for road trip, Hischier rules himself out for Devils opener at Flyers

Posted on October 13, 2022 by Derek

There’s already plenty to cover in the first week of the new season. Thus far, only a handful of teams have played their first game. That’ll change over the next two nights.

Ten games are on Thursday’s schedule. That includes both the Devils and Islanders playing their season openers. The Devils visit classic I-95 rival Philadelphia. The Islanders host the Panthers. Upstate, the Sabres open at home against the Senators.

The Rangers play their second game when they visit the Wild in Minnesota later tonight. It’ll be the first game for the Wild, who boast Hart candidate Kirill Kaprizov. Expectations are high for them. So, that should be interesting.

As far as teams that played last night, the new look Ducks rallied to defeat the Kraken in overtime 5-4 at Honda Center. A pair of former Rangers were involved in the comeback win. Ryan Strome had a great debut finishing with a goal and two assists while playing mostly with Troy Terry and promising rookie Mason McTavish.

Frank Vatrano also scored his first as a Duck to help them come back from a 4-2 deficit. Trevor Zegras tied it up with a power play goal to force extras. In the three-on-three, John Gibson made a perfect outlet to spring Terry for a breakaway goal with their top finisher going backhand top shelf on Seattle goalie Philipp Grubauer to give Anaheim the come from behind victory.

Considering the young talent and key vets they’ve added including former Dallas defenseman John Klingberg, the Ducks should be an exciting team to watch. They’ll have to give up fewer shots. Gibson was forced to make 44 saves on 48 shots. Too many.

It’s nice to see Strome get off to a good start. He even buried a nice set up to notch his first goal. As we know, he didn’t always hit the back of the net on such opportunities. Good for him. Rangers West will be worth following.

The Avalanche got off to a quick start by easily handling the Blackhawks 5-2 in a successful home opener. They were presented with their Stanley Cup rings in a pregame ceremony. In a nice touch, former Avalanche defenseman Jack Johnson received his ring during the ceremony.

One former Ranger got his first win. Alex Georgiev made 15 saves on just 17 shots to win his Avalanche debut. He only faced 10 shots the first two periods. It must’ve felt like he was on a beach. Georgiev is the number one goalie on Colorado with Pavel Francouz backing up. We’ll see how that goes.

In case you’re wondering, Patrick Kane did pick up a helper in defeat for the tanking Blackhawks. Showtime has a full no-movement clause in the final year of his contract that pays him $10.5 million. Teammate Jonathan Toews, who earns the identical salary, scored a goal. Both have expiring deals.

In probably the funniest ending, the Canadiens defeated the Maple Leafs 4-3 at Bell Centre. The traditional rivalry always seems to start with the two bitter foes facing off. What’s better than Montreal and Toronto in the NHL?

One thing about the historic rivalry is that it doesn’t seem to matter how much better one side is than the other. Even with questions in net, expectations are high for the Leafs. As for the Canadiens, it’s the total opposite.

But when they take the ice, anything can happen. So, it was the home crowd urging on their Habs following a great pregame ceremony that included the passing of the torch to new captain Nick Suzuki at center ice. However, it was Carey Price who got the loudest ovation when he was introduced. Wearing a cool country style hat, he definitely was taken back by the reception. It was well deserved.

https://twitter.com/animalsofhockey/status/1580338303236087808?t=lX4izW14gpITK8EVyYfRgQ&s=19

The Canadiens came into their season opener with a very inexperienced blue line. However, their vaunted top line sure came to play. Cole Caufield scored twice. The future 30-goal scorer sniped off a Suzuki feed going top shelf on Toronto goalie Matt Murray. A well executed two-on-one.

The game saw a wacky conclusion. After Sean Monahan got his first as a Canadien for a 3-2 Habs lead, the Leafs came back to tie it on a goal from William Nylander 40 seconds later. But with less than 19 seconds to play, Suzuki set up Josh Anderson for the game-winner giving the Habs a great win.

In the game, Montreal had the first ever player whose name starts with an ‘X’ debut. Arber Xhekaj made league history by playing his first game. He missed on a penalty shot late in the second period.

When the Rangers play Minnesota tonight and Winnipeg tomorrow, rookie Vitaly Kravtsov will be unavailable. Following the upper-body injury he sustained on a tough Victor Hedman hit that contacted the head, he didn’t make the trip. That could signal a possible concussion. Hopefully, he will be alright. The team’s cap is very tight. They can’t afford many injuries.

Sammy Blais did travel with the team. It looks like he’s day-to-day. Per Vince Mercogliano, Dryden Hunt is expected to slide into the lineup on the fourth line. Alexis Lafreniere looks like he’ll play with Artemi Panarin and Vincent Trocheck. That would leave Jimmy Vesey with Filip Chytil and Barclay Goodrow. The top line would remain the same.

Already, the team depth is being tested. We’ll see if they’re up to the challenge against a Western power. We’ll see what’s in store for Winnipeg.

In one other bit of news among the locals, the Devils will skate without Nico Hischier. The captain ruled himself out due to a recent hamstring injury. He wants to play it safe. Here’s the latest update:

Originally, Hischier was expected to center Jesper Bratt and Yegor Sharangovich. Jack Hughes will stay in between Ondrej Palat and Dawson Mercer. Rookie Alex Holtz will work on the third line with Erik Haula and Tomas Tatar. Mackenzie Blackwood gets the start according to Amanda Stein.

It’ll be Carter Hart for the Flyers under new coach John Tortorella. It definitely will be odd seeing him behind their bench. It’s going to be an uphill battle.

That’ll do it for now. I’ll have more on the second Blueshirts game later. No Yankees thanks to the rain. So, I’ll be able to focus more on the players. I’ll probably have some observations.

Igor Shestyorkin in for his second start per Mollie Walker. If you haven’t seen her in depth Rangers preview, I highly recommend it. She definitely has a good pulse on the team. Similar to my thoughts.

See ya later.

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Greene retires as a Devil on the eve of the 2022-23 season

Posted on October 12, 2022 by hasan4978

With the Devils’ season set to open in less than twenty-four hours against the Flyers I have to admit it’s hard to feel excitement at the moment, not really knowing what to expect from a still young and unproven group. Anxiousness might be a better word, although to be honest it’ll be nice to have something else to watch sports-wise (besides some more Sundays with the NFL) in the wake of my baseball team’s shameful final week and a half of the season. Not to mention actually being at the arena for a real game Saturday is definitely something to look forward to. Maybe in that sense the fact the beginning of this season was so staggered out helped me, it would have been more difficult to get amped up for a Devils game on Monday or Tuesday after the Mets’ Wild Card embarrassment.

I’m not really going to offer much of a preview, I already did that during the preseason. Nothing earth-shifting really happened between then and now…goaltender still looks like a committee with the split of games TBD although at least both our main guys looked solid during the preseason slate. On defense, Kevin Bahl won the sixth (or seventh) slot on D while up front the only real consternation is Nico Hischier missing most of camp with his hamstring injury, though he returned to practice this week and could play tomorrow night, or Saturday for the home opener.

For the moment the more important story in Devil-land is saying goodbye to an important part of our recent past, as former captain Andy Greene returned to Newark to sign a one-day contract and retire as a Devil after spending most of the first fourteen years of a sixteen-year NHL career with the Devils. It’s almost hard to believe Greene started his career so long ago his first NHL games were at the Continental Airlines Arena. Ironically Greene’s first full season as a Devil is when the team moved to the Prudential Center while after joining the Islanders following the trade deadline in 2020, he saw them move to a new arena in Elmont this year after a long sojourn at the Barclays Center.

It’s unfortunate in a sense you can’t really measure Greene’s impact with stats or championships. Stats-wise his best season was probably 2013-14 when he had thirty-two points while being asked to play a shutdown role, though his highest point total was actually in 2008-09 with thirty-seven. As far as championships, unfortunately Greene joined the club just after their salad days and though the franchise still had its share of first place finishes, our only truly deep playoff run was in 2012, as Greene was by then a first-pairing D for an unheralded team that got all the way to Game #6 of the Stanley Cup Final. After years of losing toward the end of his tenure here, Greene had a couple more chances at lifting the chalice for the Islanders and old GM Lou Lamoriello, but ultimately came up short two years in a row against the powerful Lightning in the Conference Finals. While I can’t say I was rooting for the Islanders either of those years, on some level I wouldn’t have exactly minded classy ex-Devils like him or Travis Zajac winning, Kyle Palmieri too for that matter.

Whatever Greene’s career may have lacked from a tangible standpoint – intangibles, class and dependability are just some of the adjectives I could use to sum up what by any measure was a distinguished NHL career. You wouldn’t think an undrafted free agent who spent all four years at Miami of Ohio would wind up having a career good enough to merit playing 1057 games but Greene did. He wasn’t always an important piece early on but after a couple seasons in and out of the lineup, he had his breakout season in 2008-09 and eventually earned his way up to first-pairing duty – with workmanlike Mark Fayne during the team’s 2012 playoff run, and soon after with 2011 #4 overall pick Adam Larsson.

It wasn’t long after 2012 that the team began its slow descent into irrelevance, but Greene remained a dependable figure on the ice and a well-respected one off it, so much so that he became the captain in 2015. Whatever I might have thought about the team during almost all of the seasons Greene was the C, he himself never embarrassed the franchise one time and always endured the team’s travails with grace and dignity. Yes the team did make the playoffs again in 2018, but by the time of the trade deadline in 2020 it was best for all parties to move on, though Greene being traded to the Islanders meant he didn’t have to completely uproot his family – which proved even more important once the pandemic hit shortly after.

After a down year for the Islanders as a team last year and a transitional offseason, Greene was at a crossroads – try to chase a ring for a year or two as a bit player and uproot his family to go elsewhere, hang around for a year or two either here or there to play some more games without any real hope of a championship, or just make the clean break now and move on to the next phase. Obviously he chose the latter, and the team will deservedly honor him before the home opener on Saturday.

His career probably doesn’t have enough tangible in it to merit a number retirement, but being honored before the home opener and what should be a full house or close to it is the next best thing. It certainly adds to the excitement for me attending the home opener on what should be a pretty nice day outside for mid-October.

Before that comes the season opener at Philly tomorrow, and their new coach John Tortorella. Even with a Flyers team in transition itself, that game probably won’t be easy. With eight of its first ten games against teams that didn’t make the playoffs last year, a good start is imperative though as we found out the last two years not necessarily a harbinger of good times ahead either. For right now, we can only worry about baby steps…making sure our solid goaltending in the preseason carries over and getting the current captain back in the lineup, hopefully in time to celebrate the former captain.

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Zibanejad’s pair lead the way in Opening Night win over Lightning, Goodrow pots one, Kravtsov leaves due to head injury on Hedman hit

Posted on October 12, 2022 by Derek
AP Photo by New York Rangers via Getty Images

There’s nothing like Opening Night. Especially when it features two of the league’s best teams on national TV. For the Rangers, it was a successful season opener. Led by Mika Zibanejad’s two goals, they defeated the Lightning 3-1 at MSG.

With a sellout crowd of 18,006 including future Hall Of Famer Henrik Lundqvist in attendance cheering his former team, they handled business against a good opponent. In a rematch of the Eastern Conference Final, it was the Rangers who prevailed to get a feel good victory to begin the ’22-23 campaign.

The game coincided with Game One of the ALDS involving the Yankees and Indians. Or if you prefer, the team from Cleveland. I don’t recognize any new names due to overkill. But it’s been a good night in the Bronx. That’s my only observation.

With October postseason baseball around, it can be difficult to focus on Game 1 of 82 in the hockey season. Especially when there’s a rooting interest. I’d be remiss if I didn’t send my best to Hasan on the Mets. They had a great year. The way the playoffs are set up, it’s a crap shoot.

On what was an exciting night for New York sports fans, you had to divide your attention if you’re like me. It must be easier if you’re not emotionally invested. I’m glad both the Yankees and Rangers won tonight.

Lately, that’s how it’s been going. Even both local football teams have winning records. There’s a lot to be happy about these days. Plenty of fun distractions from other stuff. That’s a huge plus. Especially for me personally.

I’ll be honest. It was hard to follow the first period of the Bolts/Blueshirts. The Yankees started at the same time. So, I was distracted. I also was on a phone call that wasn’t exactly great. That lasted through nearly the entire first period.

When I did tune into the ESPN broadcast, I saw Andrei Vasilevskiy make a bunch of great saves. He had Chris Kreider’s number in this game. The 52-goal man probably should’ve had a pair like his line mate eventually did.

I also noticed that in the early going, there weren’t a whole lot of shots. At one point, it was all even at two. Eventually, the parade to the penalty box changed things. At least there was only one power play in the opening 20 minutes.

Kaapo Kakko had a strong first game. Although he didn’t hit the score sheet, he was very noticeable throughout by drawing two penalties. That included the first one of the game on Erik Cernak with under four minutes left in the first.

On their first power play of the season, the Rangers peppered Vasilevskiy getting six shots through. The former Vezina and Conn Smythe winner was like a brick wall. His best two stops came on Kreider directly in front. One was ridiculous. That’s the elite level of goaltending we got in this game.

Although the shots favored the Rangers 14-8, Igor Shestyorkin also was sharp repelling all eight shots sent his way. The reigning Vezina winner heard it from the crowd throughout. The familiar, “Iggg-or, Iggg-or, Iggg-or!!!”, was the chant by the Garden Faithful.

There was no scoring in the first period. However, you had some physicality. Ryan Lindgren took a tough hit from Brayden Point late in the stanza. Of course, he was okay. However, Vitaly Kravtsov suffered an apparent head injury on an awkward hit delivered by Lightning ace defenseman Victor Hedman along the boards. Here’s how it looked:

Anytime the head is involved, you have to be concerned. Unless you’re a hater because it’s a player you aren’t a fan of… That was a tough play. Kravtsov was in a vulnerable position and Hedman’s knee contacts him up high while leaning on the 22-year old Russian forward. His arm also extends moving Kravtsov down. That probably didn’t help.

Of course, there’s already been plenty of debate on the hit by a clean player with a good reputation. It’s hard to conclude anything. You’d have to ask Hedman. But at least one beat reporter described the context of the play well.

It doesn’t have to be the hardest hit to do damage. Hedman’s a big, strong guy. He is listed at 6-6, 241. Kravtsov goes 6-3, 186. He’s giving up a lot in weight class. Considering the subtle impact, it’s not surprising he probably went through concussion protocol. With the next games Thursday at Minnesota and Friday at Winnipeg, I wouldn’t expect to see him. Maybe you see Dryden Hunt get in unless Sammy Blais can return.

Coach Gerard Gallant provided the usual update. Upper-body. Day-to-day. He’ll be re-evaluated. That’s all you’ll get from Turk, who tries his best to keep things calm. It’s similar throughout a league that emphasizes gambling. I’ve been pretty outspoken about it. So, I’ll leave it at that.

Between intermission, at least you had Chris Chelios doing his best to entertain Mark Messier. They showed a flashback to Gallant battling Chelios in a game. Let’s just politely say he was on the receiving end. I like stuff like that. It’s nice to look back at what the game used to be. A lot tougher and dirtier. Just ask Mr. Elbow sitting next to him.

In the second period, the action picked up. With Gallant forced to mix and match without Kravtsov, he bumped up birthday boy Alexis Lafreniere. He celebrated his 21st birthday by getting additional minutes on the new second line with Artemi Panarin and Vincent Trocheck. He was involved on the forecheck and had four shots on goal in 17:28. He looks poised for a good third year.

Following Shestyorkin stops on Point and Hedman, Trocheck took an ill advised holding minor in the offensive zone. He grabbed Nick Paul for no reason. Ironically, he wears the same number as Ryan Strome. The familiar number 16. That penalty was a classic Strome. Trocheck does take bad penalties. Don’t forget the second round series when he played for the Hurricanes. At least he wins face-offs. He did well going 10-and-6.

After an early save from Shestyorkin on Kucherov from the outside, the aggressive Rangers penalty kill went to work. Kreider had two more looks on Vasilevskiy shorthanded. It was Zibanejad who took advantage of a Mikhail Sergachev bad pinch to get the first goal of the season.

K’Andre Miller and Jacob Trouba combined to send Zibanejad on a two-on-one with Lafreniere who wisely drove the net, Zibanejad patiently moved in and faked forehand before whipping a perfect backhand upstairs past Vasilevskiy for his first of the game at 3:25.

Leading by one over eight minutes into the second period, the Rangers got into penalty trouble. On a delayed tripping call on Miller which Brandon Hagel helped, Goodrow took an unnecessary extra minor on Hagel by elbowing him along the boards. That gave the Lightning a full two-man advantage.

As fans booed the call due to it being a five-on-three, both Trouba and Lindgren were their usual feisty selves. They combined for three blocks. One clear nearly allowed a speeding Zibanejad to get a three-on-five breakaway. Can you imagine?

After another Shestyorkin glove save on Kucherov, this time the Lightning drew even thanks to a well executed face-off play. Point easily beat Jimmy Vesey to move the puck back to Kucherov on one side. He laid a perfect pass across for one of those lethal Steven Stamkos one-timers that went top shelf on a helpless Shestyorkin to tie it with 10:51 left in the period.

Despite the score remaining tied for the remainder of the period, the Rangers controlled most of the action. They were busier on the attack against a Tampa team who was forced to subtract key defenseman Ryan McDonagh. Also skating without Anthony Cirelli (out two months due to surgery), it was noticeable how much they missed both. They’ll only get Cirelli back. McDonagh now skates for the Predators, who I think will be a serious contender. They’re already 2-0 by handling the inept Sharks in the Czech Republic. Poor David Quinn.

With the refs continuing to call it tight, the Lightning handed the Rangers consecutive power plays. Filip Chytil drew an interference minor on Ross Colton. But it was again the Vasilevskiy show. He made five more shorthanded saves by denying Trocheck twice and robbing Kreider twice. After Sergachev saved a sure goal, Vasilevskiy got across to stone Kreider, who must’ve felt like he was having nightmares of the Lightning ace.

The second straight man-advantage came on a Stamkos slash that Kakko drew. He really moved his feet. He didn’t register a shot. But I like what I saw.

Both Panarin and Kreider had shots miss wide. Then, Vasilevskiy denied Zibanejad twice on his shot. He’s so dangerous from that left circle. The Bolts netminder was splendid finishing with 36 saves on 39 shots. That included 13 of 14 down a man.

As the power play wound down, Panarin tried one of those dying quails to nowhere that was easily picked off. The sloppy turnover allowed Nick Paul to skate in transition and get a chance with a backhand that Shestyorkin stopped. Those are exactly the kind of predictable passes Panarin must avoid. Take the shot.

With the second winding down, Chytil absorbed a tough hit from Patrick Maroon. He is definitely bigger and stronger than last year. When he wasn’t centering the third line, he got a shift between Vesey and Ryan Reaves. He makes things happen.

In the third period, it was a Vladislav Namestnikov high-sticking minor on Goodrow following a successful Rangers’ penalty kill of a Goodrow minor that turned the tide. With Namestnikov in the box and Lightning coach Jon Cooper incensed, all he could do is watch as Panarin sent a nice centering feed across for a Zibanejad one-timer past Vasilevskiy at 5:11. That power play goal proved to be the game-winner.

The clutch play came due to a Zibanejad face-off win against Paul in the offensive zone. That allowed both Kreider and Panarin time to work the puck around for the sweet Zibanejad finish. His second of the game. The way he played, he could’ve had more. I thought he’d get the hat trick. He came oh so close.

A Carpenter hold on Paul a minute and a half later gave the Bolts an opportunity to tie it. But this time, it was the Rangers on the penalty kill who won the battle. Zibanejad just missed a second shorthanded goal. Shestyorkin would handle the two Lightning shots from Stamkos and Corey Perry to keep it a one-goal lead.

A few minutes later, the Rangers put it away. Thanks to a hard-working shift from the checking line, their hustle resulted in a Goodrow goal versus his ex-teammates. Reaves started it with a good play on the boards to get the puck up for a pinching Lindgren, who moved it down low for Carpenter. He then passed for a Lindgren one-timer that Goodrow redirected in for his first to make it 3-1 with exactly nine minutes remaining.

It was some strong work by all four players to allow Goodrow to execute the neat deflection past Vasilevskiy at the 11-minute mark. That’s the kind of player he is. He can fit anywhere and standout due to his grit.

Even though Chytil took another penalty (holding), the Lightning never could draw any closer. They eventually lifted Vasilevskiy for a six-on-four with under 1:50 left.

Zibanejad stayed out there with Goodrow. Obviously, Gallant was hoping for a third goal for the Rangers’ best forward. That’s how complete a player the 29-year old center now is. He’s elite. I’m glad I was in the don’t trade Zibanejad camp for Jack Eichel. Mika is a better three zone player who has become the most irreplaceable forward the Blueshirts have.

He did get one crack at the hat trick. But the long clear he sent softly down the ice towards the open net squeaked off the post for an icing. He was by far the best player tonight. Kudos to Mika.

Following one more stop from Shestyorkin, a Trocheck block of a Kucherov offering cleared the zone. Time wound down. As the buzzer sounded, the Rangers had their first victory. A very good way to start this new season.

A couple of more thoughts. Based on what I saw late, Gallant trusted Zac Jones by having him out for a shift with partner Braden Schneider. His skating helped him get out of trouble. The broadcast noted it. Interestingly, he received 13:31 of ice time including 23 seconds on the second power play unit and 9 seconds shorthanded. Schneider got 11:47 including 10 seconds on the penalty kill.

This season, Schneider has a new number. Gone is #45. In is number 4.

Adam Fox didn’t register a shot or point. A rarity for the very dangerous offensive defenseman. He logged 21:42 including 5:18 PP and 4:22 PK. Partner Lindgren got 18:18 with 5:56 while shorthanded.

New captain Jacob Trouba led all skaters with 25:49. Six seconds more than Hedman (25:43). Both K’Andre Miller and Zibanejad each had 23:13. Trocheck also went over 20 minutes with 22:07. He can play in any situation.

Seven Lightning had over 21 minutes with Cooper double shifting his top players. That could be a trend on Tampa due to their roster minus Cirelli.

Face-offs: Rangers 30 Lightning 17

SOG: Rangers 39 Lightning 26

Total Attempts: Rangers 71 Lightning 46

Blocked Shots: Lightning 22 (Sergachev 7) Rangers 12 (4 with 2 each)

Hits: Rangers 24 (Lafreniere 4) Lightning 19 (Myers 3)

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