Extreme Views by RangerExtreme
Well the Rangers opened up their season with a 3-1 loss against The Carolina Hurricanes Friday night in which saw the Rangers get beat by of all things a game winner from Darren Langdon. I’m not sure if it was nerves or just being Ill prepared that was the reason for the lackluster performance. Ron Low should have had his team ready to square off against a team that in all likelihood the Rangers will need to beat out for a playoff spot in the East.
Mike Richter had to play like it was game 7 of the finals in order to keep the Rangers in the game in the first period and in many cases throughout the game. The long awaited season opener also treated us to some of the most disorganized defensive play I have seen in many a moon. Especially in the first period.
The Powerplay continues to be utterly frustrating mainly because it is a perimeter based Concept. There is no players cutting or moving or god forbid parking their asses in front of the net.
I think opposing teams are soon realizing if you want to stop the Rangers finesse heavy PP, attack the puck carriers and pressure them every time they have the biscuit. The Rangers simply did not move to get open while up a man.
The Positives – Richter Played well. The Rangers has some excellent chances but where Thwarted by Irbe who played a very good game. The PP personnel are much improved. Malakov landed a punch. Lindros didn’t get hurt.
The Negatives – Abysmal defensive play at times. Ron Low panicked by the 3rd period shuffling lines. PP needs to have people cutting to the net without the puck. Its apparent Rangers have no bangers up front. The lack of muckers hurts them.
Player Summaries:
Smrek – Lost, struggled big time
Karpa – Had a couple good physical moments but struggled
Berard – Showed excellent conditioning, had a nice rush, had a terrible first period
Ulanov – Blocked a couple shots. A Non-descript performance, but for a Ranger defenseman that’s a good thing.
Malakov – Dropped the Gloves, Landed a punch didn’t impress but didn’t depress
Leetch – Typical Leetchy solid and always ready to play had a nice 2 shot flurry in the 3rd period.
Messier- Feisty, got the only goal
Nedved – Hit a post. Needs to convert.
Dvorak – Made a nice pass. But may be suffering from post Czech line syndrome
Malhotra – Invisible, took a lazy penalty
McCarthy – Excellent pass to Johansson who blew it. Mixed it up. Came to play. Should be banging more though.
Johansson – Pesky, made a lot of mistakes, blew a golden opportunity on a McCarthy pass. But he was getting involved.
Grosek- Only noticeable action was not converting on a great scoring attempt.
Ciger – Had some chances. Blew all of them including a shot he buried directly into Irbe’s chest protector. Invisible in the third period
Hiesten – Why is Jamie Lundmark not here?
Lindros – Face-offs he was good. He made a nice move to cut on in front of the net for a scoring chance. He also made a slick pass from behind the net. Erica however was a -2 And didn’t help out much on defense.
York – Wasn’t involved much at all and he needs to be. Did however make a nice backcheck play picking up a rebound after a Richter spectacular save.
J.D and Sam Propaganda report:
J.D several said several times during the second period that the Rangers have attitude. I didn’t see any did you? He was right on one thing though. Carolina defenseman David Tanabe is emerging and he is lightning fast.
J.D was gushing over Erica’s face off skills to compensate for what pretty much was a pretty mundane debut by Lindros. He even went as far as calling Lindros’s primary face-off foe Rod Brindamour ‘One of the best face-off men ever” in order to further accentuate Eric’s face off victories over Brindy.
Summary:
Horrific start. Had scoring chances. PP sucked. Irbe played well. Richter played well. But the reality is it that it was Carolina who basically isn’t all that great and Richter had to stand on his head. Ron Low panicked and went into a Line changing frenzy in the 3rd period. The Rangers were getting chances there was no need. Irbe was stoning them.
NYR fans don’t panic I saw some positive signs. Not many but I think I saw them. I like Nedved at LW. But he like Devo will need time to settle in not playing with each other on the same line.