Tag Archives: NYR

Carolina 3 Rangers 0

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Oh the crushing feeling of disappointment. Just a glaze of malaise that seeps into ever pore. A sweep in the first round. It doesn’t really get any worse than than that. I had a weird feeling this was going to happen in the week leading up to the tournament. The NY Rangers historically beat Carolina, the win/loss ratio is far in the Ranger’s favor. Lundqvist has an amazing record against them. In the regular season the Rangers swept Carolina 4-0. Goals against was something like 17-9. Here? 11-4 for Carolina.

The first period was great. The second period started with a blast, Chris Kreider scoring, putting the Rangers in the lead for the first time in the series. Then, nothing went the Rangers way.

I had no confidence that the Rangers were going to make it to the finals this year. Getting to the first round, absolutely. If the Rangers ran into the Flyers, there’s no way they would win. Clearly the better team won in this contest and whoever plays them next has a major challenge in front of them (Carolina went really far last season).

It is what it is. There are still 2 months of Stanley Cup playoffs to go. The 2020-2021 season could start in November. That’s not too far away for the Rangers to be back on the ice and there’s only going to be like 2 months of no hockey from the end off the playoffs to the start of the season (if all goes well).

There is a ton of action for the Rangers in the off season. How is the goalie situation going to play out? Shesterkin is without a doubt the future. Does Hank hang on to end his contract leaving Georgiev to be traded? Or will Hank move on? Cap space is a major concern. With losing so much revenue this season, no team is getting more money to work with. There are a few guys the Rangers probably won’t be able to afford to keep (DeAngelo, Strome). There are a few rookies that should be able to play…the players they don’t keep could be replaced with this new talent. Plus, with losing in this play-in round, the Rangers get put into an advantageous place in the draft.

There are a lot of ice shavings that are going to settle in the next few months.

Carolina 2 Rangers 0

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Now it’s time to panic. Very little changed from the first game.

Lundqvist allows another first, early goal which forces the emotional deficet of trying to catch up. The first period was actually good/decent other wise. Fewer penalties and mistakes but Carolina largely remained in control.

Going into the second period it’s tied and then a stupid offensive zone penalty gives Carolina a power play and right off the face off, they score. Another mistake off losing control trying to clear the puck gives Carolina another chance right in front of the net and they score. Less than 2 minutes after the PP goal. This puts the Rangers into a 3-1 pit the never get out of.

The rest of the game isn’t worth talking about. The Rangers lose 4-1 in a game where it looks like Carolina has the Rangers completely scouted. Superior defense in every way, breaking up passes, better passing, double-teaming Panarin, all-star goaltending (at least 3 robberies) never letting up the entire 60 minutes of play. Sebastian Aho made a smart play every shift he was on the ice. The only Ranger player I saw stand out was Tony DeAngelo. He made moves.

The only time the Rangers scored was on a 5-3 advantage. You better score with that massive advantage. They were able to have space to set up and execute a play. The rest of the game they were smothered and struggled to get any long offensive push going. Forget trying a long across the center ice pass with Carolina, they are all over it.

Big coaching changes need to be done for the Rangers tonight. Their approach has been figured out and stuffed 2 games in a row. The veteran players need to show up and lead the charge or it’s a wrap.

Let’s Go Hockey!

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I haven’t written a word about the NHL since the season was stopped in march for COVID-19 because it was impossible to say anything concrete about what was going to happen with the conclusion of the 2019-2020 season. There’s been a lot of behind the scenes action in the last two weeks or so that’s become official. The run for the Stanley Cup is scheduled to start on August 1st. That’s only 2 weeks away.

The pandemic has borked every sport on Earth. Everyone is trying to get the ball running and the NHL is on the cusp of starting play. Training Camps opened on Monday. As for the Rangers, the entire team has been coming back to New York over the last two weeks or so. Because of their standings at the cutoff, they have enough points to enter the Cup Qualifiers with the other 5 bubble teams. August 1st will be the pop off date for the best of 5 series against Carolina. The non-bubble teams that had enough points to make it into the playoffs at the halt of the regular season will play a few round-robin games to establish seeding.

The two hub cities for all games are up North in Toronto and Edmonton. One for the East and West conferences. The Cup Finals will be played in Edmonton.

So now the goal is to keep everyone healthy into the travel date to the Hub City for everyone. Once there, the bubble is made. Players and staff won’t be able to go out much besides the rink and hotel. Family won’t be allowed in until well into the playoffs to keep outside contact to a minimum.

This also means the pressure is on. No one has played a hockey game in more than 4 months. In two months, it’s hit the ice hard or GTFO. This is for the Cup! The teams that can come together the fastest will have a huge advantage. With a best of 5 series to start, the bubble teams have no room for error. Lundqvist has to hit his apex in camp to earn his spot to play over Georgiev (Shesterkin is a shoo-in (skate-in?) to be back up goalie at the very least). The Rangers beat Carolina every game this season but with that momentum gone, it’s anyone’s game. Take a team for granted and you’re going to get beat.

This whole ordeal has spun the finances of the NHL into a black hole. A ton of money has been lost and that makes the payroll cap for every team a huge question mark for the next few years. Right now, the 2020-2021 season is scheduled to start in December. That’s if everything goes well. The NHL is going to be reorganizing things for the next few years so any kind of “normal season” is way down the line. The foreseeable future is going to be an effort in keeping the lights on (many teams make very little profit or operate in the red). Right now we can only hold tight and see what happens. I am so excited for hockey to come back.

New York Rangers: After the Trade Deadline

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We’re in the final quarter of the season and the playoff picture changes almost every day. All wildcard spots are on fire as many teams are duking it out in the entire league.

At the All-Star break, the Rangers were 11 points out of the playoffs. Today they are 4 points away. They’ve had a tremendous run since Igor Shesterkin was called up from the AHL and with 70 points, they’ve caught up to Florida. Columbus and Carolina are tied with 74 and the Islanders have 76.

The rest of the season is a game of inches. A losing two games could make these teams fall out of contention so the pressure is on.

And for the Rangers, that pressure has been on all season. Going into this week (games with Islanders, Montreal, Philly) are all against contenders. Isles have been not been playing at their best, Philly is doing really well and Montreal is duking it out with Buffalo (66 points) trying to catch up to Florida and Toronto. Toronto land must be in a panic because there is no almost no wiggle room for them. At 72 points, Buffalo and Florida could knock them out of the playoffs. The top 2 teams in the Atlantic division have 90 (Boston) and 85 (Tampa) so the rest of the division is no threat to them. Toronto is 100% on the defense.

But back to our side of the rink, the Rangers are now in some drama. There have been trade rumors for a good 2 months and that book is now closed, stopping that emotional question in the locker room. Chris Kreider has signed a new contract for 7 years at $6.5 million a year. That’s a relief. He’s an asset to the team. He’s hitting his stride right now and he’s always been important in the Playoffs. So close to making it this year, management wants to commit to him. And odds are, they didn’t get an offer for him they could say an absolute yes to. He’s a major part of the locker room, I think losing him would crush a few guys and hinder team morale. Last year when Zucc was traded, the team gave up (Kreider especially). Still, this is a gamble. Kreider is a hot or cold player. He’s an asset or he disappears. With this kind of commitment from the team, the pressure is now on him to show everyone he’s worth it. Time will tell but I’m optimistic. He’d be incredibly hard to replace.

The other trade is Brady Skjei to Carolina for a First Round draft pick in 2020. He’s been with the team for 4-5 years now and rolled with Jesper Fast like twin brothers. He’s well liked and I know he’ll be missed by many on the team. Stats wise, this makes sense and the belief is that he’ll be able to be replaced immediately by the guys that are on hand. Plus the next wave of rookies are coming next season so this isn’t too surprising.

The drama is this humdinger: Shesterkin and Buchnevich were in a car accident last night. Buch is basically okay but Shesterkin has a broken rib. The odds of him being ready to play again in a month is slim to nil. That’s basically the start of the playoffs. Now can they make the playoffs?

Lundqvist’s time to shine is now. With Igor out, he’ll get to play games he otherwise wouldn’t have. There’s a very good chance that this could be his last year with the Rangers, opting to move on by waving his no-trade clause for the final year of his contract. He’s always been a team member and he’s always going to give his all. The pressure is probably bigger now as he can make an impact on getting the team to the playoffs and prove that he’s still a viable goaltender in the league. The good news in this is that Georgiev wasn’t traded so their goaltending as a whole is still in good shape. The Rangers still have a chance to pull this off.

The team is finally playing as a team and they can’t break their stride.

2019-2020 NHL Season: The Halfway Mark

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With a record of 19-18-4, the New York Rangers have remained steadfast at being the best bad team in the league. They have tremendous talent but it’s too infrequently coming together to make winning games. This week they traveled through Canada and lost all three games, putting a serious dent in their standing.

Sloppy defense continues to be the problem with all over the place goaltending. In a test of their fortitude this week, they were down 6-0 against Edmonton in the first period and managed to rally to 6-5 only to lose 7-5. Not a total disaster and shows that the team does have goal scoring capabilities (they have not been shut out this season). Against Calgary, the horrific defense put them down 2 early on and they rallied to tie it back up quickly on the power play. They never took the lead in that game, losing 4-3 despite a solid third period effort. The lesson here is that it isn’t reasonable for any team to have to score 5 goals a game every night to win.

They were revitalized in last night’s game against Vancouver. The defense looking like a completely different squad making smart passes and never letting up on the pressure, both on offense and defense. Phenomenal goaltending for Vancouver and a screened shot with 1:29 left in the game ended the Canada trip in another loss, 2-1.

That Vancouver game was exceptional, the team played extremely well and shows how good they really are. Losing like that happens all the time in hockey, it’s part of the game. You just want to be up by 2 goals to keep those points on your side at the end of the hour of gameplay.

Clearly they aren’t Cup contenders. Washington, Pittsburgh, NY Islanders, Toronto, and Tampa are all killers. I’m leaving out Boston right now because they have an alarming amount of overtime losses that are padding their point total. Clearly they have a problem that needs to be addressed. Those top teams don’t even contain the West (look at Vegas strut their stuff again!) The Rangers still do have a mathematical chance at the playoffs but it’s to the point of needing a ridiculous final half run (something like 28 wins out of 41 games).

They just can’t get any momentum and it’s killing team morale. Face-off wins are well under 50% and that’s a huge problem (for years now). Penalties are out of control. Power play goals are too far and few between (20% I think). They haven’t had a win streak longer than 3 in a row and rarely go 2 in a row. With the trade deadline coming up in about a month it’s hard to believe some sales won’t be made…there are serious cap issues for next year looming and with their record as it stands, there’s no reason not to do more trimming to prepare for a better 2020-2021 season.

That’s the realist in me but I long for the team to come together as they are now and show everyone they have what it takes.