Archive for October, 2008
Anatomy of a fast start • 10.28.08
Whether the Rangers are really the best team in the NHL, or even worthy of being in the conversation, is not something I’m ready to tackle. But I do know they have the league’s best record.
How do you explain it? On this off day for your favorite hockey team, let’s break out the chalk and go by point-by-point:
Throw in the two solid showings by Stephen (“If I’m a minor leaguer, what are you?”) Valiquette, and you can make a strong argument the Rangers have the best one-two tandem in the league right now.
The other part to consider is that because of their off-season work, the Rangers are one of the best conditioned teams in the league, and have been able to wear down their opponents late in games.
And it hasn’t just been the quality of their opponent that has helped the Rangers. What could easily have been a detriment to the team—a compressed October schedule—has worked to its advantage. If the Rangers are figuring out ways to win games early, it only helps to keep playing.
Which brings up my next point…
If success begets success, the opposite is true, too.
The question remains whether the Rangers’ attention to defense comes at the expense of a more potent attack, because I’m sure the team will come out on the wrong end of another 2-1 game and everyone will begin lamenting the lack of serious punch up front. But right now, the Rangers are winning games because they’re on the same page more than the teams they’re facing.
So there you have it, one man’s take on the first dozen games, which would be worth celebrating if not for the small detail that there are still 70 games still left to play.
Chances are the ride at times won’t be as smooth as it is now, so you might as well enjoy it while you can.
Dubinsky emerges from Renney’s doghouse • 10.27.08
No, that wasn’t an emergency skate problem or an ingrown toenail that had Brandon Dubinsky sitting out a couple of shifts in the first period tonight against the Islanders.
That was a second-year center drawing his coach’s ire for a couple of sloppy penalties, and forced to enjoy the view as a result. Dubinsky said Tom Renney never explicitly told him why Blair Betts was suddenly in his spot between Aaron Voros and Petr Prucha for those shifts. But it wasn’t much of a mystery either, and Renney admitted there was a definite message being sent.
“I just wanted to make sure that Dubi understands there’s a way we have to play and at the end of he day, the guy behind the bench is a boss. He knows that. He’s a good kid. He’ll learn.â€
To the player’s credit, he owned up immediately to a lackluster effort.
“He’s just doing his job,†Dubinsky said. “I was awful. I didn’t come ready to play, at least not for the first period. I just wasn’t working hard.”
On the other end of the spectrum was Chris Drury scoring his first two goals of the season, the first in less-than-resounding fashion, the second more impressive.
“It’s not easy to score goals in this league,” Drury said. “So I’ll take them off my knee, my head. I’ll take them anywhere. And every guy in this room would say the same thing.”
From the Coliseum, a rivalry renewed (Updated) • 10.27.08
Every time I return to Nassau Coliseum I can’t help but recall the chance I had to play here as a youngster. I was a squirt, no more than 60 pounds, and I thought stepping onto the ice at this venerable arena was the coolest thing in the world.
It goes without saying that I didn’t get out much as a kid.
OK, too easy. Truth is, as outdated and even ugly as the Coliseum might be, it at least has some semblance of character, which isn’t something you find in every NHL building these days. Now if I was a player and I had to compare the facilities here to other arenas, some of the arena’s “charms” might quickly wear thin. But I can certainly handle three games a year.
Meanwhile, some notes:
“They’re a good team and they work awfully hard,” said Tom Renney. “The results and point totals don’t necessarily suggest what they’re doing, but as a team we’re pretty cognizant of that.”
“Honestly, I had a good time and some great memories from being with them that will be there when I’m 80 years old,” said Pock, who has played in six of the Islanders’ first seven games after being claimed off waivers. “Everything else is water under the bridge. In some places it works out and other places it doesn’t. I have no hard feelings against them.”
It’s fair to say that Pock was not a favorite of the Rangers coaching staff despite some potential as a puck-moving defenseman. He spent most of the 2006-07 season with the team, but played in only one game last season before being demoted to Hartford.
I asked him if he always thought he could play for most NHL teams.
“Definitely, you look at their roster and the guys who are there, it’s just a tough team to crack,” he said.
More updates in a bit…
Update, 7:01 p.m.: The Scott Gomez line to start, with Michal Rozsival and Dmitri Kalinin at defense. Thomas Pock gets the start for the Islanders alongside Mark Streit.
Update, 7:08 p.m.: Nothing like a resounding goal to break a player out of his slump. Somehow Chris Drury was credited with the goal just 56 seconds in, even if it didn’t look like he touched the puck at all. Nonetheless, it’s his. And as I said earlier, sometimes that’s all it takes.
Update, 7:13 p.m.: At least they’re saying here Drury scored the goal. I see everywhere else that Markus Naslund is getting credit. So stay tuned..
Update, 7:29 p.m.: Looks like Brandon Dubinsky’s two penalties have landed him in Tom Renney’s doghouse. He was just held out in a shift in favor of Blair Betts.
Update, first intermission: I was just about to say it’s remarkable the Rangers escaped that period with a lead given how badly they were outplayed when the Islanders score late. Dan Girardi gets completely outmuscled by Richard Park, and Kyle Okposo buries his first of the year with 7.3 seconds remaining. Fitting, I suppose.
Update, 8:13 p.m.:Â Given my earlier posts, I’m not at all surprised that the Islanders are outworking the Rangers. But I am surprised at just how flat the Rangers look, particularly on their second failed extended 5-on-3 in as many games. I’m just a guy who played one game here 20 years ago, but doesn’t a power play need some movement to be even slightly deceptive? This power play is just as predictable as when Jaromir Jagr was here, with one major exception: it no longer has Jaromir Jagr.
Update, 8:26 p.m: Voros and Thompson fight, to the tune of “Panama” by Van Halen. I’m not sure how I feel about the soundtrack, although it would be even stranger if it was “Wind Beneath My Wings”. If a guy could fight to that, no one would ever mess with him.
Update, 9:02 p.m.: Nothing abut this lead would qualify as “commanding”. In fact, I’d venture to say this is one of the sloppiest efforts of the season. So why are the Rangers winning? Maybe it’s because the Islanders aren’t exactly overloaded with finishers.
Update, 9:16 p.m.: OK, so now we’ll call it commanding thanks to Scott Gomez and what looks an extended 5-on-3 for the Rangers. In other news, note that Nikolai Zherdev is back playing with Brandon Dubinsky and Aaron Voros while Petr Prucha is with Chris Drury and Markus Naslund.
Update, 9:27 p.m.: Slump? Did someone mention a slump? So maybe one goal wasn’t much of a goal at all and the other was on an inconsequential 5-on-3, Chris Drury no longer has to look at the bagel next to his name on the stat sheet. Now the question is how it serves him moving forward.
Beware the “trap game” • 10.27.08
Update, 1:30 p.m.: It sounds like the Rangers will be seeing Joey MacDonald in net and not Rick DiPietro. The Islanders will make a formal announcement later today based on the DiPietro’s visit with doctors.
Earlier: Let’s see, the Rangers are atop the NHL standings right now and the Islanders are at the very bottom.
The Rangers’ franchise goaltender is coming off two sharp weekend wins, while Rick DiPietro is a question mark tonight because of an injury.
As far as I’m concerned, we might as well reward the two points right now.
To the Islanders, of course.
You think I’m kidding, and yet anyone who has paid attention to this storied Rangers-Islanders rivalry knows that the team that has the least going for it is the team that embraces these games most. As compared to even last year, the talent gap between the two teams has only widened, and yet for that reason alone, I am convinced the Islanders will be a challenge tonight.
It sounds silly, I know. Welcome to hockey.
Some other thoughts:
Look, the guy has been a disappointment so far this season. No one is going to dispute that, least of all Drury. But some of the criticism I’ve been reading about the Rangers’ captain is still unjust. While the Rangers certainly aren’t paying Drury $7 million for three assists in 11 games, he has still found multiple ways to contribute through his own-zone play, his penalty killing, and the way in which the rest of his team has embraced him as their new captain.
Again, no one’s trying to give the guy a pass. But seeing how he’s still healthy and in the prime of his career, I have a hard time believing that Drury is going to struggle like this all season. More likely is that this goal-scoring slump has taken on a life of its own, to the extent that the player’s confidence is in tatters.
How does that change? Very often with one goal, however it comes: an end-to-end rush, a one-timer from the slot, or even a puck that bounces off his elbow before trickling into the net.
Until then, I agree that you have reason to be concerned. But given the Rangers’ record so far, I’m not sure you’re in a position to complain.
More later…
Fine-tuning before the Islanders • 10.26.08
The lines that started out last night were intact for today’s short practice, most notably with Petr Prucha at right wing alongside Brandon Dubinsky and Aaron Voros.
That line was just OK against the Penguins, but I thought Prucha and Dubinsky were most effective in the third period, when Voros was replaced for several shifts by Fred Sjostrom. The hustle of that combination led to a power play, which gave way to the Rangers’ first goal.
We’ll have plenty more tomorrow for the first visit of the season to the Islanders, but not much else today. I seem to be fighting something passed along by one of my sons. That’s OK. This will all be noted when it’s time to make out my will.
On second thought • 10.25.08
I take back everything I said about the Rangers’ struggles to score goals, because they obviously came up with two huge ones tonight.
And in theory, tonight could have a springboard effect. Because every time the Rangers face a deficit like they did against the Penguins, they can point to their third period effort as proof that they still can rally late.
“I think it’s a great momentum-builder for us. We came back (Friday night) being down 1-0 and then being down 2-0,†Markus Naslund. “It shows the character in this room, and it shows we can be rewarded if we work hard.â€
In other news, I had a friend at the game who I think may have left after the second period. Feel free to ridicule her. I certainly intend to.
Prucha will play against Penguins. Renney will coach without a helmet. (Updated) • 10.25.08
Some notes before the Rangers face Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and the Penguins for the first time this season.
Regardless, Prucha’s fourth appearance leaves Fritsche and Lauri Korpikoski as the healthy scratches, unless you count Patrick Rissmiller, who still hasn’t been assigned to Hartford.
“Starting with (goaltending coach Benoit Allaire) putting the name tag on so I wouldn’t forget him. Glen brought me a helmet this morning, plus a hundred e-mails from your friends out there, who were a little redundant on the helmet part,” Renney said.
The coach was actually examined by doctors this morning, and was deemed fit to be behind the bench. But even if he wasn’t, he said he would have BSed his way into being here.
Update, first intermission: The reason back-to-backs are tough isn’t because of how you start, but how you finish. So after a pretty encouraging start for the Rangers, you have a fairly disjointed conclusion of the first period, and a 1-0 deficit.
The guys who look like they’re feeling it the most are not surprisingly, the team’s older sect: Naslund, Rozsival, Drury, etc..
Update, second intermission: Anyone want to score a goal here? Anyone? Going once…
Renney expects to coach tonight • 10.25.08
So there’s your answer: Word from the Rangers is Tom Renney plans to be behind the bench tonight, after all.
We’ll know he’s not 100 percent if he suddenly puts Blair Betts out on the power play.
The coach will do his normal media availability at 5 tonight, so we’ll check in with him then for news on his condition and any unlikely lineup adjustments against the Pens….
Renney’s status for tonight unclear • 10.25.08
Tom Renney was at the MSG Training Center this morning before what was expected to be a lightly-attended pre-game skate, but he didn’t hang around long. Still unclear is if the coach, who is still recovering from a stick to the head last night in Columbus, will be behind the bench tonight against Pittsburgh.
And should that happen, it’ll be interesting to see how the Rangers divvy up the responsibilities. Between them, Perry Pearn and Mike Pelino have head coaching experience at the junior, international and collegiate level, but neither has been a head coach in the NHL.
I’m sure even if Renney can’t coach, he can chime in on lineup decisions, although given the team’s performance last night, my guess is nothing will change anyway. More important is the deployment of personnel over the course of the game. This is particulary important at home when the Rangers have the luxury of the last change, and it’s even more pressing against the Penguins, when Renney has occasionally used his fourth line to defend Sidney Crosby.
In other news, a quick word on officiating: For once, I think the Rangers got the benefit of a crucial call last night, when reviews allowed Brandon Dubinsky’s goal to stand even though the puck caromed off his skate. The rationale was that Dubinsky’s “distinct kicking motion” was evident only on the follow-through. But even then, I wouldn’t have been shocked if the goal was disallowed.
The point isn’t that the Rangers got away with one. But at least this time, most would fans say, they weren’t hosed, either.
Renney “hanging in there” • 10.24.08
Those were the words of a Rangers spokesman when describing Tom Renney’s condition after the coach was hit in the head with a stick in the second period.
Still no word if Renney officially suffered a concussion, although I’d be surprised if he didn’t. Also no word if the coach will be back on the bench tomorrow, but at least he’s shown improvement since first going down.
In other news, a big win for the Rangers, who played the quintessential “road game” in overtaking the Blue Jackets after Renney went down. Nice for the Rangers to see signs of life from Nikolai Zherdev, too.
More later..
