Rangers Report Blog

From the Rangers:

NEW YORK RANGERS POST-GAME NOTES
January 27, 2010 – New York Rangers 1, Carolina Hurricanes 5 (Game #54, Home #29)
·         The Rangers were defeated by the Carolina Hurricanes, 5-1, tonight at Madison Square Garden.
·         The Blueshirts have now posted a record of 24-23-7 (55 pts.) overall, including a 12-13-4 (28 pts.) mark at home this season.
·         New York registered 22 shots on goal in the second period, marking a season-high for shots in a period and the most by the Rangers since they recorded 24 shots in the second period of a 4-2 loss vs. Los Angeles on Feb. 5, 2008.
·         Ryan Callahan notched one goal, registered a game-high six shots on net and tied for the game-high with six hits in 22:15 of icetime; he has now tallied six points (three goals and three assists) in the last six games.
·         Defenseman Marc Staal recorded one assist and logged 24:37 of icetime; Staal has registered four points (one goal and three assists) in the last six games.
·         Vinny Prospal collected one assist and led all skaters with 10 faceoff wins in 16 attempts (63%); he has now registered five points (one goal and four assists) and a plus-four rating in the last six games.
·         Dan Girardi registered a game-high five blocked shots; he entered tonight’s contest ranked first on the team and tied for seventh in the NHL with 114 blocked shots.
·         Forward Brian Boyle tied for the game-high with six hits, and has posted a plus or even rating in 21 of his last 27 games.
·         The Rangers return to action when they will face-off against the Phoenix Coyotes on Saturday, Jan. 30, at Jobing.com Arena (8:00 p.m. EST), to begin a three-game Western Conference road trip; the game will be televised live on MSG Plus and can be heard on 970 The Apple.
POST-GAME QUOTES
John Tortorella on the upcoming schedule… “You have to make your own luck.  It is an unforgiving week.  No one is going to feel sorry for you.  The best thing for us is to get out of town.  We have to regroup as a hockey club.  You can’t be pointing a finger at your teammates.  You can’t feel sorry for yourself.  You have to grind through this.  Having gone through all of this, in the Eastern Conference, we are still right in the middle of it.  We will get on the plane tomorrow and get out west and try to regroup here.  That is the key thing, not break apart.”
Ryan Callahan on the team… “It is tough but we are all pros in here.  That is why we play this game.  We have all gone through this with another team or coming up.  We have to put this behind us and concentrate on the next game.”
Henrik Lundqvist on the veteran leadership… “Some guys might say something but for the most part it is more important that the older guys, starting with me, show it with the way we play.  We need to play better.  It is some small details that just need to be corrected.  We can turn it around.  I know we are a good team.  I know I can stop pucks.  We just need to stay confident and turn this around.”

Need to know: Donald Brashear and Erik Christensen get prucha’d, and Ales Kotalik returns after sitting out six, in hopes of sparking a power-play that was 0-for-9 in this three-game losing streak. Lundqvist in goal—I’m sure Ocho gets a game on the three-in-four nights Western road trip upcoming.

Maybe this Brashear thing will become permanent once and for all.
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Two things about the Devils, just because …

That kid Patrice Cormier, the Devils property who was suspended for the rest of the QMJHL season for a vicious elbow, is appealing the suspension. Here’s how the meeting should go: Cormier walks in and asks that his sentence be reconsidered. The QMJHL president looks at him and tells him: Get out!

The other thing about the Devils, only because it pertains to the Rangers: Remember that great game, the 0-0 game at the Garden which turned into a skills competition? Since then the Devils are 2-5, and have scored 11 goals in seven games, four of those in a win over the Islanders; and they have been shut out twice. Of course, that game was also the first of four shutouts the Rangers have suffered in their last eight games.
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Now try to remember to not have any fun tonight. No jibberish. No Bonehead comments. Just line combinations. See youse after faceoff.

I’ve got to run off to do an interview this a.m. I’ll be back later today, and through the game. Not sure I’ll make it to MSG, though.

Ales Kotalik is back in the lineup tonight. Not sure who is being prucha’d along with Erik Christensen. There are a long list of deserving candidates, although I imagine it will be one of the usual suspects (accountability, right?).

Off three straight losses (in regulation, so zero points), this is a pretty big game since the Rangers go West for three in four nights starting Saturday.

See youse later.

All the good from that late-December/early-January run is being undone now. It’s six losses in eight games, with only five of a possible 16 points gained.

1) Don’t know about you (actually I do), but haven’t we seen enough of Drury and Rozsival on the power-play points? Isn’t it time to put Kotalik back in the lineup, even if he only plays the PP point? What’s the worst that could happen? During those nearly six minutes of consecutive PP in the third period last night, we saw Rozsival fail to keep a puck in at the point, commit an icing; we saw Drury get shot after shot blocked; we saw the Penguins get three (I believe) shots on goal to the Rangers’ seven, including a semi-breakaway. Could Kotalik do worse than that? How bad could it be?

2) I don’t know how many times the Rangers’ fourth line has been on the ice against Sidney Crosby this season (the Rangers are 0-4 vs. the Pens, by the way) but it has happened far too often. If it happens once, that’s too often.

3) Vinny Prospal had his worst game as a Ranger. Watch the replay of the winning goal. That’s all him. Originally I thought that the goal occurred because both Rozsival and Staal were on the same side of the net, and they were, but that’s because Rozsival was taking care of Crosby. Then I thought it was Dubinsky’s man—but I had my doubts when Dubinsky wouldn’t own up to it in the post-game lockerroom. So I watched it again. Prospal glided down the slot and let Conner get away from him.

4) The battle level was a lot better than it was in Montreal. That’s not saying much.

5) I guess Anisimov saw that story about how he should be sent to the minors. Seriously, he’s fine where he is, playing a third-line role and developing. And if he gets on a little roll, maybe he slides up to the first or second line.

6) I cannot believe how many Penguins fans were in the building, not to mention how many Islanders fans the last time the teams played, and how many Devils fans the last time the teams played, and how many Flyers fans the last time the teams played. Add to that the number of first-time fans who somehow got tickets at every single game, and that’s why the crowds are so average-to-dull, and why there’s so little actual fury in the building when things go bad. One game recently, the Rangers scored a goal and the cameras panned the crowd and a bunch of “Rangers fans” were sitting in their seats clapping. Sitting!

7) Saw an interesting move by a guy sitting near the pressbox, which is over the Zamboni entrance. When the game ended he took off his Rangers jersey and clapped for the Penguins and told them what a great game they had played, in an attempt to get a stick from one of them.

8) It seems the worse the losses get, or the more they pile up, the funnier you guys get. Last night might have been the most hysterical thread yet … and one of the biggest in terms of traffic.
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Matt Zaba (daba-doo) was assigned to Hartford today, and Dos Nueve (Chad Johnson) was recalled.

Here is my column from The Journal News and LoHud.com today.

Don’t know if you saw this story on Gordie Howe Hat Tricks on NHL.com.

From the Rangers:

NEW YORK RANGERS POST-GAME NOTES
January 25, 2010 – New York Rangers 2, Pittsburgh Penguins 4 (Game #53, Home #28)
·         The Rangers were defeated by the Pittsburgh Penguins, 4-2, tonight at Madison Square Garden, and are now 10-6-4 in their last 20 games.
·         The Blueshirts have now posted a record of 24-22-7 (55 pts.) overall, including a 12-12-4 (28 pts.) mark at home this season.
·         Rookie forward Artem Anisimov recorded his first career multi-goal game with two goals and established a career-high with six shots on net; he also won a team-high 11 faceoffs in 15 attempts for a success rate of 73%.
·         Christopher Higgins tallied the primary assist on Anisimov’s goal at 13:04 of the second period, and finished with a plus-two rating in 18:35 of icetime; he has now registered three points (one goal and two assists) in the last four games, and has posted a plus or even rating in eight of the last nine games for a plus-three rating over the span.
·         Enver Lisin registered one assist and a plus-two rating in 10:51 of icetime; the plus-two rating tied his season-high (Oct. 24 at Montreal); Lisin has now recorded two points (one goal and one assist) and a plus-two rating in the last four games.
·         Defenseman Dan Girardi recorded an assist on Anisimov’s goal at 3:15 of the third period, and logged 19:42 of icetime; Girardi has tallied two points (one goal and one assist) in the last four games, and has posted a plus or even rating in eight of the last 12 for a plus-three rating during the stretch.
·         Ryan Callahan registered six hits and four shots on goal in 19:20 of icetime while skating in his 200^th career NHL game.
·         Marc Staal led the team with a personal season-high seven hits, and tied for the team-high with 23:12 of icetime.
·         The Rangers return to action when they will face-off against the Carolina Hurricanes on Wednesday, Jan. 27, at Madison Square Garden (7:00 p.m.), in their fourth and final meeting this season; the game will be televised live on MSG Network and can be heard on 1050 ESPN Radio.
POST-GAME QUOTES
John Tortorella on Artem Anisimov… “He has played well.  Although he has not put up a lot of numbers, he has really.  He is one of the guys I am using quite a bit away from the puck, late in games.  His defensive awareness has really improved.  As he grows and gets stronger, he is just a kid, he is going to be a very good player.”
Henrik Lundqvist on tonight’s game… “This one was painful.  We battled back and it was a pretty good game.  In the second period we played pretty well and we came out in the third and kept it going.  I don’t know what to say.  That was bad timing , when we got that penalty, they get a lucky goal on a deflection off our player.  We have had a bunch of these games this year.  It could be a different story if we manage to win these games.  We have a tough time winning games like this but we definitely played a lot better than the last two games.  That is a good thing.”
Brandon Dubinsky on the 2nd intermission… “I thought we were good here in the room and we knew we just had to fight for another 20 minutes out there to try and get 2 points. Arty (Artem Anisimov) scores a big goal there, but we have to respond after that. It starts with my line. We have to make sure we are strong defensively, especially when it’s tough to put pucks in the net.  We have to make sure we are doing our jobs and try and keep confident here.  From now on we have to try and stay confident and believe in what we got here. We have to believe in what we can do and get over this.”

Bonus quotes (from me):

Marian Gaborik: “We’ve got to manage to keep the lead if we have it in the third period like that. It happened in the last game against these guys too. We play a good game, but we have to hold onto the lead. … when they tied it, we can’t let them score the go-ahead goal.”

Dubinsky (on the winning goal): ”I was maybe a little late trying to get there. I’m not going to sit here and say it was my guy or another guy’s. We’ve got to do a better job and make sure we’ve got to make sure we’ve got a high guy and make sure they don’t get an odd-man rush and make sure they don’t even get that opportunity.”

On the six-minute power play: “We’ve got to find a way to get that going. It’s certainly a privilege to be on the power play there, and guys gotta make sure, all of us, the 10 guys who go out there night in and night out, we’ve got to find a way to get those timely goals. It would have been big. We had three in a row, and if we get one early there, or two there, it’s a different game. We’ve just got to find a way to battle hard and at least get some momentum off it. I felt that they got momentum off it because we didn’t get anything going. Those are big plays.”

Lundqvist (on the long power play): “They’re a good team. They made it tough to get something going on our power play. Special teams were the difference and it’s funny but a lot of times against Pittsurgh, the special teams in the end will be the difference.”
On the winning goal: “It was just bad positioning. I tried to reach for it on the rebound and I went down to make a block and he just found a hole there above my pad. You know, everything happens so fast. You sit here and maybe think what I would have done differently—maybe not reach for the puck and just get back in position. But I didn’t see the guy coming, I reached for the puck, and then I saw him and I was a little too late there.”

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You should know that Tortorella answered only three questions, because by now nobody wants to be shouted down when they ask something he won’t answer.
I asked him about the six-minute PP
“Yeah, we struggled,” he said. “We would like to score a goal there and yet we end up leading 2-1 after that. Power play struggled.”
And before the quote above about Anisimov, he said, “We played much better as far as away fro the puck, in our end zone, we played better. We have to find a way to win a gane when we’re up 2-1.”

After the Anisimov quote, there was a long pause and he said, “Thank you” and left.

So much for that fantasy story about the kid picked up on waivers and suddenly becoming a first-line center.

Hey, we all knew that was as much of  a pipedream as it was an indictment of the Rangers’ lack of skill when Erik Christensen moved up to the penthouse. Tonight he’s back to the outhouse, deservedly so. He’s prucha’d along with Ales (I did not request a trade) Kotalik.

For whatever reason, Donald Brashear is back in. Well, actually, the reason is that changes have to be made after those two humiliations and the Rangers, because they don’t have anybody better and don’t have the cap space to keep an additional extra body around, had two choices: Brashear, or (IDNRAT) Kotalik . Sad.

Worse, you all get to enjoy the dreadful call of cliche-machine Joe Beninati on Versus—the On Versus part a mandatory ending to every other sentence he utters. God forbid. And look out below for Michael Rupp, who flew under the Crosby radar and dropped three bombs on the Rangers earlier this season.

Here are tonight’s pregame notes.

The thing that has remained consistent about the Rangers in the, oh, 31 years I’ve been around the team, is that no matter how poorly they do on the ice, no matter how much ammo they give us (me) to take them apart verbally or to scold them, there is always the other side.

And the other side is one that is all about giving and doing the right thing, and on this they have never wavered. In other words, there is always something nice to say about the Rangers.

So I want to remind you of a couple of upcoming events that benefit charities—and I’m sure you’ve seen the promos during games, etc.

One is the Casino Night, Feb. 8,  benefitting the Garden of Dreams Foundation. It’s a little costly, and it requires a jacket for the men, and minimum age of 21. But it’s pretty cool, doing some casino gambling with the tuxedo-clad Rangers dealing. Get info on the Rangers web site here.

The other is just a few days away, Thursday night’s Skate with the Greats at Rockefeller Center, where you can lace ‘em up with Adam Graves, Brian Leetch, Rod Gilbert and others, and which benefits the Ronald McDonald House. If you’re not familiar with what the Ronald McDonald House does—it’s not a hamburger joint—I suggest you read up on it. It’s an amazing charity for families of seriously ill children.

You can get tickets for the Skate with the Greats event at the Ronald McDonald House web site here.

I feel like I should say now: This has been a public service announcement.

I’m headed to the Garden later on. I’ll check in pregame.

I don’t know what else to say. I’ve said it so many times in the last 12 months. This is what the Rangers are.

And nothing sums it up better than the following linescore.

In their last seven games, over 21 periods (not counting an overtime), the linescore looks like this:

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 3 3 3 2 3 0 0 0 0 0 0.

Nice.

Actually, I have a lot more to say. I just don’t have time to say it today. Plus it would be a lot easier to list the players who played OK in Montreal than to list those who didn’t. You can start with all six defensemen, who were putrid.

I’ll stop back later.
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Here’s Larry Brooks’ story from Montreal, where Capt. Sean Avery had some interesting things to say.

From the NYR:

NEW YORK RANGERS POST-GAME NOTES
January 23, 2010 – New York Rangers 0, Montreal Canadiens 6 (Game #52, Road #25)
• The Blueshirts were defeated by the Montreal Canadiens, 6-0, tonight at the Bell Centre, and are now 10-5-4 in their last 19 games.
• The Rangers dropped their record to 24-21-7 (55 pts.) overall, including a 12-10-3 (27 pts.) mark on the road.
• New York now own a 37-18-10 (84 pts.) mark against Original Six opponents since the 2005-06 season, and rank second with a .646 winning percentage in head-to-head action vs. Original Six teams over the span.
• The Rangers are now 9-3-1 (19 pts.) against Northeast Division opponents this season.
• Goaltender Matt Zaba made his first career NHL appearance, entering the game at 6:18 of the second period and stopping 14 shots, including nine of 10 in the third period.
• Marian Gaborik led all skaters with seven shots on net, and has now registered seven-or-more shots in five games this season; Gaborik was tied for 10th in the NHL with 178 shots entering tonight’s contest.
• Christopher Higgins and Aaron Voros tied for the game-high with four hits apiece; in addition, Higgins has registered a plus or even rating in seven of the last eight games, and Voros in four of the last five.
• The Blueshirts’ practice schedule for tomorrow, January 24, is TBA.
• The Rangers return to action when they will face-off against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Monday, January 25, at Madison Square Garden (7:00 p.m.), in a matchup between Atlantic Division rivals; the game will be nationally televised live on Versus and can be heard on 1050 ESPN Radio.