Rangers 5 Isles 4 Prucha Scores Again

New Year Hockey Wishes;

1. The NHL institutes a 2 minute penalty to any player dropping the gloves and NOT TAKING OFF HIS FACE SHEILD .

2. Abolish the instigator penalty.

3. Reinstitute the one league point system so the top 16 teams are seeded for the playoffs and anyone can meet anyone regardless of division or conference in the Stanley Cup Finals.

4. Take down the nets behind the goals.

5. Abolish the shootout and award 3 points for wins and 1 point for a tie after one 5 minute overtime of 5 on 5 hockey in the regular season.

Happy New Year!

“When you move the puck with speed, with good short passes, you make more space for yourself,” Elias said. ( N Y Times )

That quote is the answer to the Rangers trials and tribulations on the ice this year. If the Rangers can find a way to play together and string together 2 passes in a row, they will be a different team.
Contrary to many, dumping the puck in and chasing it is only 1/3 of north south hockey style. The Rangers inability to break out with passing the puck is the reason for the majority of turnovers. To dump the puck in from the red line is absurd.
The Renney Rangers are not capable of passing the puck to each other consistently. The RR's are a collection of robots who cannot see past their own two skates. That is noticeable every night on the ice by any hockey fan. The lineup that Renney supports is not capable of moving the puck down the ice without using the boards it seems.
Chico Resch stated last night while discussing the Rangers inability to move the puck that it was tougher to play the puck along the boards and that the Rangers needed to get dirty and start using the boards. That is nonsense. The gutsy and rewarding play is to move the puck in the middle of the ice. The middle of the ice is where you gain the most high percentage scoring chances . That is why a team who use's the middle of the ice is tougher and is playing in areas where you must execute.

Merry Capitals! ( O V stands for OVERDRIVE)

Ovechkin...Ovechkin...Ovechkin....
The Caps had a minor league lineup against the truly minor league Rangers. Including a minor league coaching effort by Tom Renney.
The game was exciting. It was a goal scoring frenzy. Thats the way us fans like our hockey. Fun. Exciting, Not a soccer match. The Rangers and Caps delivered in that regard.
Rangers were able to score early, and often. A fast start that needs to be tempered by the low skill level replacements in the Caps lineup.
Here is the difference. The Caps sell power offense. They do it for 60 minutes. The Caps will give up many goals. But the Capitals will score a few goals too. The coaches in Washington send lines out there to TRY TO SCORE ON EVERY SHIFT.
Listen, no matter how you dissect the hockey game. You score more, you win more. The inept Ranger game plan does not allow for full throttle. Or trying to score at all costs, with all hands on deck. 4 goal leads are not safe in Renney Hockey !!!! Renney Ranger wants defensive responsibility. RR wants to get 2 goals per 30 games from Betts in exchange for PK dominance. RR wants 3 goals in 20 games from Dubinsky in return for defensive positioning as the high man after a dump in for defensive awareness. Prucha cannot get any time based on his defensive liability according to Renney Ranger.
To clarify. 4 goal leads are not safe in Renney Hockey means that The Rangers fail to continue on the same offensive path at some point during most games when they have a lead and in all games when the score is tied. Where it seems the Rangers lost this game because of defense. I disagree. They lost because the Rangers stopped playing offense.

Sharks Bite Rangers

It was more of the usual from the Rangers,as far as  first periods go,  last night in San Jose.  Again, the Rangers started a contest unprepared for their opponent. It led to numerous mistakes in front of the Ranger goal as well as an almost surprised look from most Rangers that they were being hit at all times. The Sharks zeroed in on the Rangers by putting 3 players in front of Henrik. With superior passing by moving the puck side to side from in front of the slot and utilizing their point men , The Sharks outmanned the Rangers in the Rangers zone at will. The speed of the Sharks passing game was the difference. Not skating speed . But passing speed. This can only be created when players have a trust for each other to be where they are supposed to be. It created penalties which led to Shark goals. 

   The Rangers have few players that can match the Sharks puck movement skills.  Zherdev is one of them . He played a great game. And was able to compete during the early parts of the game when the Sharks were playing at full throttle. The Sharks won every face off it seemed. Naslund looked lost tonight. I thought Redden stepped up a bit. for this one. 

   The face offs killed the Rangers. They had only 15 shots on goal through 2 periods. The Rangers were able to turn on the possession game in part of the third because the Sharks pulled back and dared the Rangers to score. I don't know why the Sharks pulled back. I dont agree with it. 

     The Rangers need to figure out why they have bad first periods.

Rangers Crown the Kings! (I Always Wanted To Say That )

Every newspaper and Ranger broadcaster will be screaming Roszival today. To the point that he will seem like he was Joe Namath.
The real story is Chris Drury . He is getting hot. He can carry the Rangers when he gets going. Jason Labarbara is a mediocre NHL goalie at best. The Rangers executed the way they are supposed to.
I am ready for the real test in the Shark Tank. Otherwise enjoy the Roszival love in today in the media. I will pass thank you.

Rangers Catch The Ducks Napping And Win!

The Rangers scored in the clutch . Both teams were pretty pedestrian throughout the game in Anaheim. It was played like a non divisional affair. The defense was not tested. Henrik was able to make the first save and not have to face many rebounds. Sort of like a night off!
I guess this is considered a break in the season in a way. Going out west provides the team a breather from the east coast intensity on a nightly basis. Good for the team if they win! Nigel Dawes does have a tendency of hanging around and contributing once in a while. But still, The Rangers as a whole, play way too much defense. I am aware that the coach of the team believes he does not have the goal scorers and plays the game from that standpoint. But I disagree. I think the Rangers have the fire power needed. They must find a way to allow the offense to break through the trap created by the Rangers self inflicted game plan.

Rangers Beat Hurricanes In A Shootout... So Original!

The Rangers finally ran into a team that was playing worse than them Saturday night. It was a better night in some ways when it came to defense. Some Rangers actually showed a level of emotional involvement when it came to making sure a Cane's player would not get a scoring chance.
The power play is still working on the premise that you shoot the puck in and chase it. If you catch up to the dumped in puck, then you send it further around the dashers. This is not how to set up a power play. Gomez seems to have one move and one play making scheme on every power play shift. He looks a lot like Jagr sorry to say. The bad Jagr is who I am referring to. On Dubinsky. Can someone tell the kid that after he gains the zone, which he does the best of any Ranger center, and dishes the puck that he should plant himself in the slot? Duby would get many more rebounds that way. As a matter of fact, The Rangers as a whole would score a lot more if they could get a few rebounds. Which they do not.
West Coast swings historically bring changes to Rangers rosters and or coaches. We shall see!

Rangers Find Their Way Back....Then What Happened?

I watch the score become 5-1. And during that time, I realize that every Ranger who hasn't had a fight in 2 years, are trying to impress their general manger by dropping the gloves. That's because, the same players have failed miserably at putting the attack on their opponents in the offensive zone. So , each guilty player takes a turn at being a tough , hard nosed, hockey player to show the GM that they do care. BULL!!

   Toughness is displayed by getting hacked in front of the goalies. Wether it is your net or the opponents. That is where the game is won. The slot is where you defend. The place to shoot with high probability is from directly in front of the goaltender. Not from goal line. Or the side boards outside the faceoff circle. Not from behind the net. And most certainly not from a slap shot on the rush just when you get over the blueline when you shoot slappers at 70 mph !! 

   The Rangers defend the slot with 2 hands on their sticks and with their heads down looking for the puck. Opposing players sneak in behind the defenders constantly. Because the Rangers defenders are looking down, they are slow to react to player movements.  When they do notice player movement, they continue to defend with 2 hands on the stick. That is ridiculous. You have to take away the scoring chance at all costs. Penalty or not. It must be done. That is the problem. Slow defensive reaction based on no heads on a swivel coupled with the lack of  reckless abandon to stop the scoring chance. I really could care less if they take 5 penalties in a row. They must make it harder to score that goal. And it is  harder to score if you stop the scoring chances cold. At whatever cost.

Stevie V Saves The Rangers Bacon

A win is a win, is a win, is a win.
Thanks to our goalie. Prucha back to the sidelines. For what intelligent reason? I don't know. Orr scores his first,and a big goal at that, to help the Rangers for the first time in 83 games. But it came down to clutch goaltending. Because the Rangers refuse to attack for 60 minutes. It is a dangerous way to play. On a tightrope. It reminds me of a fighter using the infamous rope a dope tecnique of allowing an opponent boxer to punch himself out by laying on the ropes and getting beat up only to hope you can take advantage of your opponent at the end . The risk is that your oppnent takes so many offensive shots at you during the fight and knocks you out before you can get to the end! OOOOPS!
That's the Ranger game plan in a nutshell. Thank you Stevie V. You were our only hope last night in Atlanta.

What to do about the offense?

I am a 30 plus year Rangers fan. I want to vent some of the views I have about the state of the team today as well as have a place for the NY Rangers fans to vent along with me .
I will begin with my frustrations about the Rangers lack of offense. I am not in the camp that feels the Rangers do not have finishers. I believe the team is constructed to take advantage of speed, and scoring from the rush at even strength, and from point shots on the power play.
I do not see these attributes being exploited enough by the coaches . It seems the Rangers get away from these types of strategies nightly. I will say, the line changing and the lack of use of Peter Prucha in an offensive role has hurt this team over the last 2 years. The coaches have used various other rookies which have been inserted in Pruchas place. I have not seen any rookie except for Dubinsky who have come close to scoring as many goals as Prucha did his first time around,
It is a strange occurrence in Rangerland , game after game, having to endure the use of non offensive minded players for the bulk of games. It seems to me , that the NY Rangers operational manual for the last 4 years must state that an offensive minded player who does not play defense well, will never play on the Rangers. Even Zherdev is starting to look lost out there when it comes to scoring goals.
The Rangers will try again tonight in Atlanta to see if they can FORCE themselves to score.