Never a dull moment
-
- November
- 4
Whether they were outplayed or not, whether the line shuffling was for better or worse, of most importance to the Rangers is “they are back to .500”:http://www.thejournalnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071104/SPORTS01/711040385 and get their first crack at the first place Flyers tomorrow.
They are off today, which may be good news for Jaromir Jagr and his groin. If the Big Fella can go again tomorrow, my assumption is he will be back alongside Brandon Dubinsky, with Scott Gomez back centering the ever-interesting Sean Avery and Petr Prucha.
Here’s the next question: Tom Renney mentioned last week finding a night for Stephen Valiquette to get a start in the near future. With the front end of a back-to-back tomorrow, and the other option a start in the hostile confines of Nassau Coliseum, will that start be against the Flyers?
I suppose we’ll see. More on that and everything else tomorrow from the skate..
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on Sunday, November 4th, 2007 at 1:37 pm by Sam Weinman.
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Josh Thomson Josh, who is 26 and a native of Carmel, graduated from Boston University in 2002 and began working for The Journal News the following March. 
Flyers have more firepower than the Isles, so I’d put Hank in against them, but the Isles always bring their A-Game against the Rangers. Tough choice.
I’d put Hank in against the Flyers. He’s gonna see them 7 more times, its best to play against them now. Luckily they wont have there asshole D man in the lineup, which is Hatcher. This way Jagr doesnt have to worry about elbows, but also they have another dirty D man like Smith. I hope Orr knocks out his 3rd straight Flyer.
no need for the bad language ORR. anyway, I’d go with Hank until we lose.
Sorry to be off the subject here, but are we allowed to criticize the captain here? I have a few specific points I would like to share and read some feedback to.
First, it has been so hard to watch him take these extended shifts which necessarily impact the playing time of other players and any cohesion the following lines might have. This team needs to see what it really has with its unproven commodities while allowing Gomez and Drury to assimilate. Those long shifts limit the younger guys’ play time as well as it limits the new centers’ ability to meld with other teammates.
Also, several players are so deferential to JJ that their own development may be stunted. I am not saying that he verbally demands the puck, but a captain should be able to make others better and should encourage players like Hossa to be more assertive. To tie in with my previous point, it is imaginable that a fresh Hossa might pass to a gassed JJ and a scoring chance can become a turnover.
That’s it for now. Looking forward to some comments
Well Drew, you’ve got a valid point about the deference many teammates show their captain when it comes to passing him the puck. But, what about that hit he made last night? What about the fine back-checking we’ve seen? What about playing through a mouthful of bloody chiclets? From what Dubi told the press last night, JJ spent time talking to him before the game, reenforcing his confidence and telling him to play his game.
Sounds pretty captainly to me. Besides, isn’t TOI determined/managed by the coaches? I’m really proud of Jagr these days. He’s come a loooong way since the whining in Washington.
Oh right! I logged on with a question for Sam: Unless I missed it, you haven’t written a paean to Marc Staal yet. But if you have, did you mention if he’s rooming with Dubi at that hotel? Is his still a tenuous roster spot? Or is there a dorm-like situation where the baby-faced Rangers (Staal, Dubinsky, Callahan, Girardi, Tyutin and Prucha) all live?
Finally, I’m waiting for the night that Drury is assisted by Prucha and Tyutin. It’ll be one long drone: DruuuuuuPruuuuuuuuuTuuuuuuuuuuuuuu
FC – or Malik can get an assist and some in the crowd will boooooooooooooooo (not me but some choose to exercise their right to that folly)
Again, with the “C” BS. Leave it alone already. Like i said back then, just cause Dru, or Shanny dont have the “C” wont make them any less of a leader. and Jagr isnt doing anything wrong, in fact he has been playing good hockey, picking up his defensive game, and trying to change his game around in so many different ways to help thisteam, and thats what a leader should do and thats what he’s doing. If Renney has a problem with his long shifts then he’ll say something, but there’s no need to question Jags, he’s looking good right now. And im loving the Dubi, Hoss, Jags line. It looked pretty good last night.
If DiPietro can’t play on Thursday, that’s a perfect opportunity to play Vally.. but they’re going to have to win like 6-5.
the game is tuesday. Valiquette was an Islander, so he knows that dump.
How is it that we are at .500 even though we have lost more games than we have won. That shootout loss to the Bruins still counts as a loss. Technically, the Rangers are 6-7 so they are still 1 game under .500!
Good defensive game none the less.
No Eric, they are 6-6-1. An OTL is different from a Regulation loss, in that you get a point.
saw a hard copy of an article in todays news. under the score hears on pg 77 of my edition. under the headline will the real girardi please stand up (talking about the yankees mgr) the last 1/4 of the article has a blurb re Avery (a star is sean). he plays a bit part in a movie about rocket richard (movie out november 30th in manhattan’s cinema village). Avery plays a Ranger Bob Dill and fights the rocket. he wants other roles “maybe some sort of romantic comedy where they need a dry arrogant guy”. I can’t access the news online on my computer (very old computer and can’t load daily news). So maybe someone else can supply the link.
For what it is worth I was just at the Knick’s game and King Henry was there with his lady, Avery was there with some youngling, which I am assuming was one of the Olsen twins. Staal and Dawes were there solo. Rookies. HA
http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/2007/11/04/2007-11-04_romo_no_match_for_jeter.html?ref=rss (go to the bottom)
If it was an overtime loss, I would say they’re under .500, but a shootout loss I would say doesn’t really count either way. I think they should have two different columns for them in the standings even though they’re both worth a point. Although they should think about turning overtime losses into zero points, but then overtime would probably become just like the last five minutes of regulation, and they would probably have to move back to 5 on 5, so I don’t see it. Or they could do 4 on 4 with a non-sudden death overtime, playing the whole five minutes. I just don’t like the concept of OTL and SOL both being called OTL.
http://imdb.com/title/tt0460505/
re the cast in the above movie
They give you a point for OT losses because they want to encourage teams to go for the win. Before they gave points for making it to OT, teams would play boring defensive hockey just to keep the point and not risk losing it.
I know why, that’s why I said it would probably turn into a bad thing like the last 5 minutes of regulation. I’m not that young, hehe.
QUESTION FOR SAM
If the Rangers continue to suffer in the goal scoring department, and continue to pressure Lundqvist to keep them in games, might it have any effect on his signing a long term contract in January?
Salty,
From what I have heard thru interviews is that Henry does not mind the way things are going. He has to be more on top of his game and it presses him to be his best. He likes it from what I have gathered. I still would like to hear Sam’s answer.
Renney cannot start Valiquette tonight. He should have started Saturday night vs. the Devils but in hindsight he probably would have lost that game for us. As much as I hate the Islanders I gotta believe that the Flyers right now are the better team and Henrik should play tonight against them instead of the Ice Girls tomorrow.
Either way…
We need to get some scoring going at some point. Against the Flyers we may really need it.
I agree, because every goalie has a stinker every once and a while. I am excited to see this team on all cylinders once everyone is healthy.
Nasty1,
Do you give your kids a test or quiz everyday just to keep up on the NYR and this blog?
From what I have heard thru interviews is that Henry does not mind the way things are going.
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Meh….it’s early though, and of course henke is saying all the right things to the press. If January rolls around and this squad still cannot break 2 goals per game, I think Henke will get pretty sick of it.
HA, What kind of teacher would I be if I did that. My school is departmentalized, so each grade switches teachers for every subject starting in first grade. I have a lot more free time than someone who teaches a self contained 5th grade class.