RangerFace

It could have been something special. It should have been something special.

In what had the feel of a playoff game on home ice against their arch-nemisis, the Rangers blew a two goal lead in what could have been a springboard game. The game that had everything, emotion, excitement and terrible officiating (both ways) was a contest the Rangers needed to have.

The NYR got off to a great start when Brad Richards opened up the scoring sniping a wrist shot over Martin Brodeur’s glove. B-Rich took a pass from Mats Zuccarello on his strong side and skated in two-on-one with Zucc. Looking pass the whole time Richards smartly shot when the passing lane was taken away and the Blueshirts had an early lead. Richrads, currently riding a six game scoring streak, would have forced the pass, or fallen down last year. This year, he made the right play and took the shot. He is still getting bought out after the season though.

The Rangers, skating very well, doubled their lead just 57 seconds into the stanza when Zuccarello pounced on a juicy rebound. Ryan Callahan threw a soft low shot at Brodeur thats banked off the pillows directly to Zucc, who deposited it into the wide open cage and it looked like the NYR would run away. But they didn’t.

At 13:58, the Devils got a BS goal. Catching the Rangers on a bad change, Brodeur sent a headman pass to Tim Sestito. The Devils fourth liner slid a pass to a streaking Cam Janssens and Janssens, trying to catch the pass, nearly twisted himself into a broken leg. As he contorted, he clearly kicked the puck into the net. A video review upheld the awful on-ice call, and the momentum swung to the visitors side at that point.

The Devils tied the game when Jaromir Jagr won the puck along the wall, and in classic Jagr fashion and fought off McDonagh before skating behind the net and throwing a pass into the slot. A very generous, Brian Boyle left Travis Zajac all alone in front and when Zajac roofed a rebound of his own shot, the game was tied.

The Devils went ahead with 4:04 in the third when Michael Ryder coned John Moore at the line and beat Hank with a wrister 5-hole to put New Jersey up 3-2.

Down a goal, smack dab in the middle of the Foxwood’s Final Five, all hope seemed lost with the Rangers pop gun offense.

But when Zajac flipped a puck over the boards, the NYR had a power play. And a chance. And unlike, most other times this season, they found the net.

With time dwindling, and Hank pulled for an extra attacker, the 6 on 4 Rangers cashed in. Chris Kreider crashed the net and seized on the loose rebound of a Ryan McDonagh shot that hit Callahan, chipping the puck over the outstretched arm of Brodeur to tie the game with :22 seconds.

As Kreider leapt in the air, the Ranger bench exploded in a euphoric swarm of hugs and high fives akin to a playoff celebration. The huge goal by the future Calder trophy winner, could have been a turning point in the Rangers season.

Hey Cap, remove your head from your ass and start playing please. Thankskaybye.

But on the second shift of overtime, Ryan Callahan made a terrible play. After getting walked by Andy Greene, the captain whirled his stick around carelessly and caught the Devils defenseman squarely in the mouth. The lazy swipe made no sense at all, and the captain of the club should know better than to put his team in such a terrible position with such a brainless play.

Callahan, who has been just awful this season, cost his team the chance at what could have been a turning point win. The Rangers, who still can’t figure out how to get more than one game over .500 need more from their captain. And Callahan, who has one goal in his last 11 games, and is -6 the season needs to give them more.

Armed with a four minute power play, the Devils wasted little time. Jagr sent the puck to Eric Gelinas, and the rookie defenseman blasted a clapper through a Dominic Moore screen by Lundqvist to give the Devils the OT victory.

The 41 year old Jagr was tremendous. How different would things have been if he had never left the Rangers six years ago. The other fossil in net was also excellent. After going down two goals, Brodeur was outstanding, flashing his glove like a 20 year old. The Rangers should have put the game away, but they couldn’t due to Brodeur’s play and the fact that they just don’t score. Only, Philadelphia, Nashville and the woeful Buffalo Sabres have scored less goals than the Rangers this season.

As has been the running theme this season, the Blueshirts need to find some offense. If they do not, this position they currently sit in, outside the playoffs looking, will be the position they sit in after 82 games.

RIght back at it at home vs Alex Ovechkin and the Caps Sunday.

Let’s go Rangers!

Mark Pavelich juggles pucks after his 5 goal game at MSG. The NYR have scored five goals in December!

The Rangers shuffled up to Buffalo to duel with the worst club in the National League, who incidentally were wearing the worst jerseys in the league. And while the Blueshirts weren’t stellar, they got the job done.

Rick Nash, got the Rangers on the board with a ridiculous goal. On a rare Rangers set play, Ryan McDonagh sent a breakout pass from his own goal line to Derek Stepan at center ice. Step one-touched a pass to a streaking Nash and the big guy crowned the Sabes with some sick hands. Nash took the puck on his strong wing and cut hard to the net. He pulled the puck to his backhand, taking Ryan Miller with him, and quickly pulled it back to his forehand, tucking the biscuit around Miller’s pad for the opening goal.

“Whoa! Did you dee that G? I am nasty.”

The second power play unit doubled the NYR lead at 11:31 of the third when Brad Richards lit the lamp. The PP goal, B-Rich’s second in twelve games was the result of some pretty power play passing. Mats Zuccarello fed Derick Brassard and D-Brass faked a shot and slid a pass to a wide open Richards, who zipped a snapshot off Ryan Miller to double the Rangers lead at 2-0.

Perhaps, wishfully thinking that the game was decided at that point, the Blueshirts were then dominated for much of the frame. Buffalo blitzed the Rangers and had several quality scoring chances, including breakaways by Cody Hodgson and Steve Ott on breakaways that the King turned away.

The Sabres dominance continued until 5:13 when Zuccarello took a pass at the blueline from Richards and burst through a seam in the Buffalo defense. Zucc, beat Miller with a shot that should have been stopped and at that point the contest was decided. Brian Leetch Ryan McDonagh picked up the secondary assist, his second apple of the night and further built on his Norris Trophy candidacy.

Tyler Ennis got a late goal for the Sabres to ruin Hank’s shutout but it didn’t matter. The Rangers didn’t squander the two points and grabbed the W against an opponent they needed to beat.

Now if they could only go two games over .500, maybe they could go on a roll…

Let’s Go Rangers!

Glen Sather and the New York Rangers have (finally) officially signed Cam Talbot’s backup goaltender Henrik Lundqvist to a multi-year contract extension. The 7 year deal should essentially make Lundqvist a Ranger for life, and barring any major injuries, Lundqvist will go down as the greatest goaltender in the franchise’s history.

The King’s 284 wins are only 17 behind Mike Richter and his 47 shutouts are only 2 behind Eddie Giacomin for NYR’s all time best. If the Rangers ever scoring some goals, Hank should average about 30 wins per year, which would put him somewhere north of 500 when his career ends.

This is a huge retention for the Rangers and Hank’s play should improve with the weight of this contract no longer hanging over his head (and his game) like the Sword of Damocles.

The signing also ensures that Broadway Brad Richards days with the NYR are numbered. B_Rich who after a nice start to his season, has started slipping back into 2012-13 form, will be bought out at the conclusion of this season when Hank’s new deal goes into effect. Unless of course, he gets hurt. If Brad goes down, the Rangers are screwed and will be saying goodbye to Ryan Callahan, Dan Girardi, or both.

Stay safe Brad, like the guy in the Win for Life commercial.

And, let’s go Rangers!

The Rangers fresh off their Chris-plosion against John Tortorella and his Canucks hosted the Atlanta Thrashers Winnipeg Jets at the World’s Most Famous.

Freshly entangled in a brewing non-controversy goaltending controversy, Alain Vigneault decided to ride the hot hand and give Cam Talbot, winner of 6 in a row, deserved the shot and the start in net for the second consecutive game.

As for the game, the Blueshirts broke out early. Tobias Enstrom threw a terrible cross ice clearing try directly to Ryan McDonagh at the point. McD fired a shot on net and Mats Zuccarello all alone in front tipped it by ondrej Pavelec to put the Blueshirts up early 1-0.

The rest of the period was rather uneventful, although the Rangers did continue their string of losing fights. Badly. This time however, it was Justin Faulk and mercifully not Brian Boyle getting pummeled by Anthony Peluso.

Softer than a beautiful fluffy cloud.

Winnipeg, wearing the worst jerseys in the National League, blitzed the Rangers in the second and tied the score at 11:44 when Devin Setoguchi completed a pretty passing play with Olli Jokinen. Setoguchi beat Talbot with a snapshot from just inside the circles that the young netminder should have stopped.

Winnipeg took the lead at the 10;00 when Derick Brassard tried a terrible pass to Dan Girardi inside the Jets zone that Dustin Byflugen picked off. The colossal defenseman sent a gorgeous breakout pass to John Albert and the rookie skated in and wristed one through Talbot for his first NHL goal.

Ryan Callahan, who has been terrible lately, finally broke the schneid by scoring a typical Callahan goal. Controlling the puck in the Jets zone, McDonagh threw a shot on net and Cally dished the rebound to Brad Richards back door. Richards feeble shot squirted around the crease and Callahan dove at the spearing it over the line to tie the game at 2-2. The hard working goal, Callahan’s first in nine games and will hopefully get the Captain going because the NYR need more production from Callahan as their sputtering offense struggles along.

The third period was an exciting back and forth affair until 7:18. With forecheck pressure bearing down on him, Dan Girardi turned the puck over to Setoguchi along the wall behind his own net. Setoguchi threw a pass along the wall to Thornburn that kicked off his skate to a wide open jokinen in front and unlike the shoot out in Philly, Jokinen buried the puck and the Jets were ahead.

Yeah, you gotta have that one Cammer. Those other two also.

Then with the Rangers pressing late Talbot let in a terrible goal by Jokinen. The snapshot from the slot went through the Rangers goalie and should have been stopped. When the puck crossed the line, it ended any chance the Rangers had to comeback and should end all the crazy calls for Hank to play second fiddle. While many in Rangerstown (God, that’s lame) were calling for the guy with seven NHL games to supplant the guy with 284 wins, 47 shutouts, a Vezina, and an Olympic Gold medal. This overzealous nonsense should end after this performance. Cam Talbot, looks like he will be a solid competent NHL back up goaltender, and that is a good thing. This is and will be Henrik Lundqvist’s team. He will be fine and this sub-Hank stretch of play will be a distant memory.The best goalie in the world will need his rest, especially in an Olympic year. If Talbot can hold his own in 20 or so games, Hank will be in good shape heading to the playoffs, if the Rangers get there.

An empty net goal by Blake Wheeler completed the 5-2 rout and added to the Rangers embarrassment on home ice.

Next up a trip to Buffalo with the King back where he belongs.

Let’s go Rangers.

Coach Tortorella meet Chris Kredier.

Too small. Too slow. No scoring.

The Bruins have Zdeno Chara, Milan Lucic, Jarome Iginla and Sean Thronton.
The Rangers have no one like that.

Ryan Callahan is not and has not been playing well.

Fresh of a colossal no-show against the Lightning, the Rangers travelled across Florida to take on the improving Panthers in Sunrise.

Just 48 hours after one of their worst efforts of the season, a 5-0 pasting in Tampa Bay, the Blueshirts looked to bounce back against the Cats.

In what was surely one of the strangest games of the season, the Rangers were beaten in every aspect of the game (skating, hitting, forechecking, shots, defensive zone coverage) except two, goaltending and goals. The NYR somehow managed to find the back of the net five times, including two power play goals.

The King!

Henrik Lundqvist was excellent, keeping the Panthers off the board during the first two periods, in which the Rangers were clearly outplayed.

The Blueshirts grabbed the first goal of the game, and on the power play no less with a pretty passing play. John Moore tossed to Derek Stepan, Step wheeled the puck to Mats Zuccarello on the half boards and Zucc zipped a puck to Derick Brassard in the high slot. D-Brass deftly re-directed the pass over Tim Thomas’ glove to give the Rangers a 1-0 lead at 12:13. Somehow, despite being badly outplayed, the Rangers escaped the period with the one goal advantage.

In the second, the Blueshirts got a lucky break and a 2-0 lead, with just 67 seconds left in the frame when Brad Richards picked off a puck in the neutral zone and threw a soft shot/pass on net. The slow-moving puck eluded the tangle of humanity in the crease and squirted by Thomas for the Rangers second goal.

As in the first, the Rangers were thoroughly outplayed for the remainder of the second, but still managed to end the period ahead, due in large part to the work of the King.

in the third, the turnover-fest continued, and the NYR went up 3-0 when on the rush, Rick Nash tried to throw a pass into the slot, that the Panthers generously gave right back to him. In full stride, Rick Nasty cut hard through the slot and fired one by Thomas. The power move, by the power forward was Nash’s second of the season and gave the Blueshirts a three goal cushion with 14:28 to play.

The Panthers got on the board at 12:28 when Zuccarello gift-wrapped a pass onto the stick of Brad Boyes. The recently former Islander hit Scottie Upshall in the slot and the Rangers lead was cut to 3-1.

Then with 3:43 left in the match, Gigantic Nick Bjugstad picked up a loose puck and skated around the Rangers roster before sneaking a backhander short side by Hank to cut the NYR lead to 3-2 and make the game very interesting.

But, once again on the man advantage, the Rangers lit the lamp. John Moore fired a point shot on wide that came to Chris Kreider. CK’s rebound came to Zuccarello in front and Zucc buried the PPG and iced the game.

Carl Hagelin added an empty netter and despite the ugly play the Rangers had an sloppy 5-2 victory.

Next up, the Big Bad B’s in Beantown on Black Friday.

Let’s go Rangers!

The Blueshirts, fresh off two solid road wins, journeyed south to Florida and took a massive dump on the Ice at the Tampa Bay Times Forum.

The goal scoring-challenged Blueshirts looked out of sorts from the start of the match and never really got going.

The Brad Richards-Rick Nash-Ryan Callahan line has been essentially a non-factor. Despite all the MSG network hype about how committed Richards was over the summer and how good he has been playing, he has been sliding. Fast. Richards who had a decent start to this season has absolutely ZERO chemistry with Nash or really anyone for that matter. For two seasons now, first, out of shape Richards and now in-shape Richards just doesn’t mesh with Nash.

Richards who has just 1 assist in his last 7 games, has no points in the 4 games he has been lineys with Nash and Callahan, despite all the power play time he has received. He also has ONE goal in his last 17 games, yet the yappers paid by MSG and the ill-informed fans won’t stop telling you how well he is playing. But he’s not playing well. He’s sliding back to last year’s form.

Think about it, how much of a non-factor has Callahan been this season? He has 9 points this year and just 2 in his last 7 games, since he’s been on a line with? Brad Richards.

As for the game, it was lousy. Hank was terrible, getting pulled after two periods. Marc Staal was terrible and the offense was its typical pop-gun self. The power play with B-Rich on the point was 0-6 including a long 5 on 3 where they gave up a breakaway.

Hey Marty. We’ll trade you Richards for that fancy poster you got there.

The Lightning jumped on the Rangers early. Nikta Kucherov, playing his first game in the NHL, scored his first goal on his first shot on his first shift. Michael Del Zotto wanting to make the youngster at home in the league, gave the rookie plenty of space in the slot to catch a pass and rifle on past Hank high.

Then 58 seconds later, the follies continued. Callahan couldn’t corral a puck along the wall and Staal fumbled a terrible Victor Hedman pass thrown directly at him, allowing Martin St. Louis to speed in alone. The future Hall of Famer broke in from his off wing and chipped a fade over Lundqvist and at 3:10 of the first, the Rangers found themselves in a two goal hole, that with their offense might as well have been a hundred. Because, with Gigantor Ben Bishop in net and the Rangers anemic offense, they weren’t coming back.

At 3:12 of the second, Derek Dorsett coughed up the puck to Valtteri Filppula and the Finn sent St. Louis on yet another breakaway that he of course buried.

At 16:52, Richards, carrying the puck, was clearly tripped allowing Teddy Purcell to grab the puck and skate half the rink before ripping one by Hank glove side high. The terrible non-call was just salt in the wound for a Ranger team that couldn’t get out of it’s own way.

In the final minute of the third, Tampa added further insult to injury when The Rangers gave the puck away, yet again. Purcell trying to hit St. Louis for the hat trick, collected the puck that had bounced off a Ranger skate and deposited the puck behind Cam Talbot for the 5th Lightning goal.

Mercifully, the game came to an end as the Rangers were drubbed 5-0.

Good feelings of the prior two games, now gone, the Rangers head across the state to take on the Panthers.

Let’s go Rangers. Seriously, let’s go score a god damned goal!

Overmatched on the ice, overmatched with the fists. Yeesh!

The Blueshirts (with their Dads tagging along) travelled to Music City for a Saturday night special against Seth Jones and the Predators.

With washed up superstar goalie Henrik Lundqvist firmly ensconced on the bench, everybody’s new favorite netminder Cam Talbot got the start between the pipes.

Talbot, who has been excellent in his first five games for the NYR, was excellent again in his sixth.

The non-rookie (because he’s 26) first year NHL player is now 5-1 with a miniscule 1.79 goals against average and two shutouts.

The first period was a snoozefest with the Rangers taking 7 and holding the Preds to a meager 5 shots on goal. The Blueshirts defense was so smothering that they only allowed Talbot to face a total of 17 shots in the game. To put it into perspective, Talbot faced 6 less shots than Henrik Lundqvist faced in the first period against Dallas. The defense was that stingy. And the shots that did get through we’re easily turned away by Talbot.

If you Cam, Cam, Cam!

The Rangers, who controlled the puck for nearly the entire match and forechecked like demons when they didn’t have it, still struggled to find offense.

But at 13:13 of the second, their best defenseman got the offense going. Chris Kreider wheeled the puck around the wall to Mats Zuccarello at the half boards. Zucc dished to Dan Girardi at the point and G fired a shot on net that a wide open Ryan McDonagh tipped through the legs of Nashville netminder Marek Mezanec.

McD, quietly becoming the team’s best player.

Then at 7:45, Derek Stepan stole the puck in neutral zone and sent a pass to Zuccarello. Zucc and Step broke in two on one and Zucc picked up his second apple of the night when he hit Stepan with the pass and the Rangers number one center rifled a wristed off the post an in to give the NYR a 2-0 lead and all the offense they would need.

The road win, the sixth in a row for the Blueshirts, was their most dominating effort of the season. They smothered the Preds and gave them nothing. Once this offense breaks out, they’ll be a dangerous club.

Next up the Steven Stamkos-less Lightning in Tampa.

Lets go Rangers!

“Comere Step, come gets some Kreids love!”

Did any of you seriously doubt the King?

The Blueshirts travelled deep into the heart of Texas last night to take on the Stars. Starting a 5 game road trip in the Big D, the Rangers hoped to get off to a fast start. And they did not. In fact, they got utterly dominated by the Stars.

Fortunately for them, they have the greatest goalie in the world between their pipes. Cam Talbot Henrik Lundqvist was incredible in the first period. The King, in net, against the hopes of some knucklehead fans who called for him to be benched, got it done on both ends of the ice. Lundqvist was outstanding in the first period making an astounding 23 saves. Many of which were completely ridiculous. Hank even contributed to the offense grabbing an apple. On a Ranger power play, Lundqvist caught Dallas on a change and sent a long pass to Ryan Callahan at the Stars blueline. Cally dished to a speeding Rick Nash and the big guy threw a fake at Kari Lehtonen, that completely crowned the Stars keeper, as Nash tucked the disc home for the 1-0 lead.

Welcome back Mr. Nasty. Let’s see a whole bunch of these cellys, ok?

The second period was more of the same as the Stars peppered Hank and the overmatched Blueshirts with 12 more shots. A fluke di get Dallas on the board on the power play when Stephane Robidas sent a shot on net that hit Dan Girardi and then Ryan McDonagh before painfully trickling over the goal line tying the game.

After killing off 4 penalties and being thoroughly outplayed, the NYR shockingly found themselves tied 1-1 heading to the third period. The brilliance of their netminder giving them a shot in a game they had no business being in.

Brilliant!

In the third, the Rangers came out and blitzed Dallas after the opening drop. Emerging superstar Chris Kreider, took a pass from Derek Stepan just inside the Stars zone and fired a laser that may have glanced off a Dallas defenseman before going bar down. Kreider who has been doing everything but scoring for the Rangers got his third of the year, scoring the big goal, just as Rangerface predicted he would earlier today.

Just 37 seconds after the Kreider goal, Derick Brassard found John Moore in the slot and the young New York D man zipped a wrist shot over Lethtonen to give the Rangers a 3-1 lead.

Unleash that rocket CK!

Sitting comfortably with their first two goal lead in what seemed like a month, Michael Del Zotto struck again. The recently-maligned, and recently scratched defenseman decided to pinch along the wall and play a Stars forward already covered by Brassard. To make matters worse, MDZ coasted on the back check as Dallas skated in 2 on 1 and Alex Chiasson wristed one off Hank and into the net to slice the lead to 3-2.

The Rangers blew a chance to double their lead when, for the second consecutive game, they were awarded a penalty shot. This time Nash was denied as he tried to deke Lehtonen with a one-handed fade that the Stars goalie kicked away.

But it didn’t matter, two goals would be all that Lundqvist would give up as the Rangers hung on for the road victory that brought them back to .500.

Next stop Nashville.

Let’s go Rangers!