Whatever you read is going to tell you that the Rangers did not show up for the first two periods of the game. The defense was bad, no one was clearing the crease, there were some bad penalties called, and Hank was left out to dry.
I just want to emphasize this DO NOT FUCKING BLAME HENRIK LUNDQVIST ... did my point come across? Yes, he let in 5 goals...on the first one, he was interfered with, I don't give a shit what the refs said or didn't say - Ryan Malone's stick was in there and his body was in there and he knocked Hank over before the puck went in. For Hedman's goal, Hank was screened - he couldn't see a thing.
Also, some of those penalties were soft calls...but there were others that should have been called.
The "diving" penalty on Lundqvist was probably the biggest load of bullshit that I saw all season. He was very obviously pushed, his padding weighs how much, and he lost his footing. That should have been a power play, not a coincidental minor.
Now, while I did just give reasons for their goals, I am in no way saying that the Rangers deserved to win the game, because they didn't. They played like crap the first 2 periods...7 shots on goal? Really?
The 3rd period on the other hand...they came back. Brian's shortie was a great effort...I saw some decent play out of most of the team. A certain rookie is proving that he shouldn't go anywhere when Drury comes back. I'm not going to say anything more about these two.
The Avery incident. At that point, the score was 5-0 or 5-1, I don't remember, but there wasn't really a chance at coming back....the team had no momentum. The hit on EC was clean, but Avery took offense to it and went after the guy who hit him. While he did take a penalty (which led to the aforementioned shortie), a fire was lit under the team. They're sticking up for each other like we all wanted them to - but of course many Ranger fans acting as they always do, found the play unnecessary. Ranger fan mentality = "do this!" :players do requested action: "why the fuck did you do that?!" Also, Avery has been in Torts' doghouse for whatever reason (it is well known that Torts doesn't like Avery), so why not do something?
Dubi was pretty feisty tonight. I expected him to drop the gloves...most likely against Malone or Downie...but he controlled himself to an extent. It's hard not to get frustrated in a game like that...he just has to channel it into his speed/play not letting his temper out in undisciplined play.
Gaborik and Frolov. Best goal scorers on the team? Really...coulda fooled me. Seriously, these two need to pick it up; they're being outshined and outscored by a rookie (Steps has 5-8-13) now and a guy who never scored more than 4 goals in a season (Boyle has 10-1-11). There's still 59 games left...hopefully we see them show up soon...before it's too late.
My line suggestions and this involves a bit of change since it's obvious something's not working (I'm open to any comments on this)
Dubi - Steps - Gaby (I REALLY want to see if this line could work)
Fro - Bri - Cally (Brian deserves to be moved up and Torts is down on Artie right now)
Aves - Artie - Prust
Feds - EC - Boogey (Fedotenko is in my doghouse because he takes too many stupid undisciplined penalties otherwise I would switch him and Aves and leave this line alone)
This post was long enough -- no tweets tonight.
No comments:
Post a Comment