Sather
Certainly keeps one guessing about the quality of the job he is doing. Just when you think he has totally lost it, he pulls Antropov, Morris, and most of all Tortorella out of his bag of tricks. Prior to the pull, this team was on life support. But from all present indications, it appears the […]
Rangers In 6th – Isles No Longer A Threat
Even before Chris Drury‘s game winner tonight, the Rangers reached their first playoff milestone of sorts. With the one point for getting to OT, the Blueshirts made it mathematically impossible for the Rangers to reach 7th spot and thus the Rangers have officially “eliminated” their first team on the way to reaching a playoff spot. The […]
One For The Road
The Rangers are in Montreal tonight to face the Canadiens (7:30pm – MSG). Both teams are tied for sixth in the East with 80 points, though the Canadiens have a game in hand. Another thing the two teams share is a recent coaching change, Montreal firing Guy Carbonneau exactly two weeks after the Rangers let […]
Grass Isn’t Always Greener
As of March 3rd, 2009, the Rangers sat in eighth spot in the Eastern Conference, six points out of home ice advantage for at least one round, and just one point ahead of the ninth placed Hurricanes. With just eighteen games remaining, the Rangers are not focused on building momentum for the playoffs, but are […]
Tortorella Loses First Game In Shootout
Welcome back to the NHL “Torts”. The Rangers looked better at times last night, and Wade Redden even scored his first goal since October…on the power play no less, but the result was the same. A 2-1 Shootout loss to the Maple Leafs makes John Tortorella the fourth replacement coach this year to lose his debut in a shootout. He was the sixth one replaced so far this […]
Pluses and Minuses
With the Rangers just a couple of weeks away from the NHL trade deadline (March 4th), the players in the organization no longer just have to worry whether they’ll be dressing in Broadway Blue, but whether the new man behind the bench will make them be successful, or perhaps send their careers the wrong way. […]
Change As Good As A Holiday?
Reading the comments from many fans after yesterday’s firing of Tom Renney, and one might come away with the feeling that the season is suddenly saved, and the Rangers are once again a playoff contender. After spirally towards the bottom of the playoff picture with ten losses in the last twelve games, it’s clear that […]
Leaving Henrik Out to Dry
by Mark Owens The Rangers are making an annual event out of blowing four-goal leads. Last season’s meltdown in Montreal was brutal, but it was a road game in one of the most intimidating buildings in the NHL. Wednesday night’s 5-4 overtime loss to the Capitals was more troubling. The Rangers hadn’t blown a four-goal […]
Hank and Team Defense Carrying the Team
by Mark Owens Only three NHL defensemen have a worse plus/minus than Dmitri Kalinin. At -10, Kalinin leads the team in this category. He also seems to bring the worst out of whichever defenseman he is paired with. Aside from Sunday’s team-wide malfunction, is it any surprise that Michal Rozsival‘s play improved immensely once he was reunited […]
A Game-Changing Power Play and Other Surprises
by Mark Owens Last season’s power play unit ranked 22nd in the NHL and continually failed to help the team win close games. This failure came to a head in the playoff loss to the Penguins, when the Rangers squandered one power play after another during the five games. In this season’s first 10 games, Brandon […]