It Shows!

I am proud of the Rangers. They split the weekend in points. But they played to win. Tortarella has transformed this team from wimps to hard nosed, determined hockey monsters. And it shows! Sjostrom, Dubinsky, Callahan, Morris, Antripov. Gomez, Stall, are all stepping it up. It Shows! Torts allows Avery to play his brand of hockey in his style. And it shows! King Henrik is making tremendous saves at critical times of the game . This is all attributed to Coach Tortarella. He has the team playing to win and win big. It shows!

Flyers Rangers = Hockey

Coach Tortarella put his players on notice Thursday in Nashville. The boys were turned into men. It was just in time for a trip to Philly during the playoff push. I remember way too many of these Flyer-Rangers scenario's in my Ranger fan life span. Not many turn out right by the way. Tortarella gives the Rangers the best chance to beat the Flyers at crunch time . I am not going to get into the coach's well overdue benchings and ice time reductions because to me, that is standard operating procedure in a good, successful hockey organization.

The Rangers are scoring 1 full goal more a game now. That is why they are winning more. Torts will continue to reinforce the attack idea and the Rangers will be much more successful and much much more entertaining.

LETS GO RANGERS!! FLYERS SUCK!!

POWER OUTAGE DUE TO HURRICANE

You don't stand a chance if you do not score. The Rangers went to Carolina for the opportunity to win 2 points. They did not. The team had problems finding the net. The Canes blocked many many shots from the points and face off circles. 28 shots on goal these days by the Tortarella Rangers suggests the opponents played superior defense. The Canes did just that. What the Rangers were forced to do by Carolina was to try to generate chances from behind the goal and along the walls. The Rangers were ok with that part. But they failed in getting the rest of the players to the front of the goal. This game needed a lot of slot pinching by the defense. They did not do it enough. Stall was the only defensemen who drove the slot. Michael Roszival needs to go. He is the worst passer in the history of the Ny Rangers in my opinion. Roszival's inability to process information on the fly is down right criminal. The amount of time it takes him to make a move is amateur in caliber. It must be fixed. He plays too much.........UPDATE
IN GAMES LIKE LAST NIGHTS AGAINST THE HURRICANES IS WHEN IT IS OBVIOUS THAT THE RANGERS NEED TO RE TOOL THE FOURTH LINE. THEY CANNOT AFFORD TO GIVE UP 3 ROSTER SPOTS TO NON OFFENSIVE PLAYERS. THEY HAVE A 25% LESS CHANCE OF SCORING A GOAL IN THIS LINEUP. OVER A FULL SEASON, THAT IS AN IMMENSE DEFICIENCY.

The After Trade Deadline Party

Here we are. Feeling just a bit empty after a boring trading day in the NHL. The economy as well as the inability to move players to teams without contractual obligations past this season has quieted the general managers .

The Rangers let one of their most loyal employees get away . Peter Prucha. Prucha has been the epitome of a Ranger. He would have fit in with the Messier Rangers like a glove. Peter bleeds Ranger blue. I will miss him. If the Rangers could figure how to draft more Prucha character players, they would be way ahead of the game.

The reality is, there are not many Ranger players who have Pruch's big heart and guts. The kid was black balled by Renney. He was not allowed to play power play minutes at all under Renney for 2 years. The only explanation I can think of for that decision by Renney is that the coach would not be able to move Prucha out of the lineup if he was scoring goals on the power play. Renney would not be able to re insert his bulky , no talent , forwards which Renney coveted far more than smaller skilled players who can score. If Prucha was given a legitimate shot at the power play, it would have painted Tom Renney in a corner and the coach would have had to give Prucha a regular spot. Thats how I see it.

With Avery, Antropov, in place of Dawes and Voros the Rangers have basically re shuffled the deck to a more attack style lineup. Morris replacing Kalinin is an upgrade on defense. Please remember that Wade Redden will be getting a starring role on the Ranger power play and to join the rush under Torts. We will see what makes Redden a better offensive defensemen now. You have to trust that to evolve under Tortarella.

Antropov reminds me of Ryan Smyth. It will nice to see if he can pop in a few garbage goals on the PP.