Pre-Gaming: Minnesota Wild

On Friday, the Blueshirts play the Wild in Minnesota, former home of the NHL sellout record. I think their sellout streak lapsed early this season, but I know that their offense did.

The Wild have a hard time scoring goals.  Martin Havlat (1-4-5), who the Wild signed to replace the offensive vacuum created by Gaborik's departure to the Rangers, has appeared in ten games, but put up just one goal and four assists. Their leading scorer, Andrew Brunette (7-3-10), also leads the team points. Looking at his numbers, that doesn't say much about the team. The Wild also brought in vet right winger Petr Sykora (1-0-1), who has been a healthy scratch several times thus far, and most recently received the underperforming Chuck Kobasew from Boston via trade. The excellently named sophomore Cal Clutterbuck, who led the league in hits last year, has yet to contribute much on offense. Minnesota is at the bottom of a relatively soft Central Division, and can't seem to find the back of the net consistently.

This is an entirely winnable game for the Rangers. The Wild gave up six goals to the Kings, five to Edmonton, and let Nashville score four, losing all three games. I would guess that they're not going to score 5 goals on Hank this time around, and not only because the Rangers signed the guy who did it for them last time.

However, much like the Wild, the Rangers also struggle to score without Marion Gaborik, who in all likelihood will miss Friday's game. Without Gaborik to carry them on the scoresheet, the Rangers don't pose much of a threat offensively. At even strength and on the powerplay they suffer badly without him. So what can Torts and the Rangers do?

• Give Artem Anisimov his shot. Fourth line players don't throw spin moves 5 feet off the post and backhand the puck high glove side, like Anisimov did against the Islanders. He's getting eight minutes a night when he could be getting Enver Lisin minutes and producing (that's not to say Lisin doesn't deserve his ice time). Remember his highlight reel goal in the preseason game against Boston? The guy is a goal scorer, and the Rangers need goals.  Put him on a line with Callahan and Avery.  Callahan's hits and Avery's antics will create space for the rookie center to make some plays.
  
• Bench Chris Higgins.  Put your money where your mouth is, Torts: it's time to bench guys, even if it's just for one game.  Higgins is a very hard worker but he doesn't have the scoring touch at the moment, and his sluggishness makes me think he's nursing an injury.  Evgeni Grachev was shaky in preseason but in terms of production, the Rangers wouldn't be losing anything by giving him Higgins' spot for a game or two.   Thus far, the youth movement has mostly paid dividends - why not keep it going?
  
• Split up Staal and Girardi.  I'm not sure what's been bringing their game down lately, but these two guys do not have chemistry on the blue line.

...And then the Rangers will be saved!  Well, maybe not, but they need to win in Minnesota to show that they can pull out a W even with Gabby watching from the press box.  May they can ask the Wild for some tips on that one, because those guys did it for years.

Wanted: Grit

Last night's game was a tough one to watch. It was an uninspired loss to a division rival. The Rangers lacked grit and scoring. Sound familiar? It should, because last night the same team that flew out of the gate in early October like it was being chased by wild, starving dogs looked much more like last year's team - the one that had no game-breaking superstar, struggled to put the puck in the net and seemed totally incapable of sending a message to opponents. They were dominated on both ends of the ice and didn't do anything to stop it.

Brashear was scratched. This has become pretty frequent, as he's been in and out of the line up constantly since his fight with Colton Orr two weeks ago. There was no one on the ice to protect the top level talent, and the Islanders capitalized. Sean Bergenheim sent Callahan flying backwards over the blue line as he tried to skate the puck in, then, on the same shift, knocked Vinny Prospal into next week along the boards. Later on, Bergenheim sent Ales Kotalik hurdling into the Ranger goal, where he narrowly missed demolishing Hank. John Sim boarded both Avery and Dubinksy (without getting whistled for it), and Nate Thompson was allowed to harass Hank for most of the night. Good teams extend accountability to opposing teams by making them answer the bell. Last night, that just didn't happen.

So where's the grit on this team? Brashear, the 1.4 million dollar bruiser, hardly plays. When he does play, he rarely fights, and when he fights, he doesn't win. Voros, though resilient and always willing to take his lumps, is not much of a deterrent to opposing players. Dubinsky used to drop the gloves on occassion, but rarely does anymore (can we still look forward to his yearly bout with Philadelphia captain/noted headhunter Mike Richards?). Callahan now channels his aggression into his hits. None of the six defenseman are particularly inclined to scrap. Brian Boyle, despite his size, is apparently not a fighter. The only notable bout in the last few games has been Avery's fight with Mike Mottau against New Jersey.

That's not to say that the Rangers should fight in every single game, or that our marquee players should be wasting their ice time dropping the gloves. As Brian Burke and his truculent Leafs have demonstrated this year, fighting majors do not always tranlate into wins. But the Rangers need to take care of their own. Vinny Prospal should not have to go after Bergenheim himself, as he did last night. And more importantly, Hank cannot keep getting run. Other teams, including the Islanders, don't hesitate to take liberties in front of the Ranger goal or even to run Hank into the backboards.

Part of the problem, it seems, is that with the exception of Gaborik and Prospal, the Ranger players are being kept on too short a leash. Many of the more gritty forwards, especially Avery, are much more inhibited on the ice than they ever have been before, probably because they're certain that stepping over the line Torts had drawn will result in decreased ice time. Torts is a tough coach who will bench (non-veteran) players. But it's beginning to look like his iron will is sucking the grit right out of the team. There's running a tight ship, and there's being a hardass for the sake of it. It's the difference between demanding hard, responsible play and intimidating your own team to the point where their play is hesitant and robotic.

If Brashear is going to sit, Tortorella needs to let Avery wreak his unique brand of havoc on the ice. Avery is a game breaker in his own spiteful way, a world-class pest. Let him play like one. And least once in a while, Torts needs to let guys like Callahan and even Dubinksy play like the second line players that both of them are - guys who skate hard and play solid offense, but have the go-ahead from behind the bench to take opposing players to task when they step out of line. Players who fight sometimes can also be players who score often (see Shanahan, Brendan).

Pre-Gaming: Rangers vs. Islanders

Tonight the Rangers take on the struggling Islanders at the Coliseum. Struggling, I think, is a pretty polite way to put it.

Coming off of a year when their leading scorer was defenseman Mark Streit, logging a whopping 56 points, the Islanders have put all of their eggs in the John Tavares basket. Fair enough, I would too if I were them. Aside from Tavares, there's Kyle Okposo (overhyped), and Josh Bailey (rushed from Juniors). Maybe these two will flourish this year under the kind of steady hand of Dough Weight (currently out after a bout with H1N1). But it's more than likely they won't and they'll turn out like bite-sized Islanders stalwart Richard Park, who skates very fast but cannot score goals. Think Nigel Dawes with speed. Lately, Park has been throwing himself all over the ice because he is just so tired of losing that he just can't take it anymore. Can't say I blame him - every man has his breaking point.

In net, the Isles have the powerhoue tandem of Dwayne Roloson & Marty Biron, two goalies no other NHL team would sign. Until Rick DiPietro's robotic legs are good and ready to be re-injured, Scott Gordon is going to have to pick which one of these guys is going to start every game, which I'm sure is the worst part of his day aside from the part where he has to coach the New York Islanders for sixty minutes of hockey. Actually, make that forty minutes. In case you haven't been watching, the third period is pretty ugly for these guys.

That being said, the Islanders always come out like a different team against the Rangers. In the years since the lockout (including one where the Islanders actually made the playoffs under the stern, cold gaze of Ted Nolan), the rivalry has been heated, as the Isles play Blueshirts like they have absolutely nothing to lose. Usually they don't actually have anything to lose, but that's besides point. They're inspired against the Rangers and they've certainly managed to pull out a few wins both at home and at the Garden in the last few seasons. Regardless of their record, they're a team the Rangers need to take seriously.

With Gaborik injured, this seems like it would be a good game for the Rangers to really establish some secondary scoring. Callahan and Drury, both still struggling to score, are two players that almost always come up big in games against divisional rivals. Even with their underwhelming stats thus far this season, both players have a fifth gear for big games and have been with the team long enough to understand the importance of pulling out a W against the Islanders. And Chris Higgins, playing on his native Long Island for the first time since being traded to the Rangers, might finally break his scoring slump. He came close a few times against Phoenix on Monday night, including one quick release, bad angle shot off of a rebound that almost found the back of the net.

Go Rangers. Go Yankees. Everybody just win tonight.

Bad Habitants

After dropping their third game in row (albeit on the road and in OT), it's clear that there could be some serious issues with this year's team. Whereas the Blueshirts seemed poised and collected during their seven game winning streak, at ease with the puck and generally letting the game come to them, the team now looks like they're collectively gripping the stick a little too tight, either scrambling desperately to gain the lead or playing carelessly enough to give it up entirely. After watching the wins that followed the season-opener loss Pittsburgh, that first game seemed to be an exception to what we could expect to see this year. Now, it seems like putting together a string of wins was probably the aberration.

For me, the question early on was whether or not this year's squad actually has any depth. So far, that's still a question mark. The potential for solid secondary scoring is there, but outside of Gaborik and Prospal, there isn't a single offensive player who's contributed consistently. Despite his fiery play, Callahan has struggled to score lately. Similarly, Drury's been hustling but can't finish. Dubinksy isn't a first line center (now, last season, or ever) who probably won't hit 20 goals this season. Aside from his scrap with Mottau the other night, Avery's been toeing the line too carefully, probably because he's being kept on too short a leash by Torts. Poor Chris Higgins literally can't buy a goal. The fact that he really can't keep up with the transition game makes me think that his problems could be injury related. At the beginning of the season, he was solid on D and the neutral zone.

Obviously there are bright spots. Marion Gaborik is awesome. Without him, this team is below .500, no question. Del Zotto is on fire, Kotalik's minutes have been increasing and his play has improved remarkably since preseason, Enver Lisin seems like he's a goal away from going a real tear, and Anisimov seems to finding that highlight-reel creativity that shone through against Boston. Gilroy's offensive numbers aren't great, but he's solid on D and skates the puck in deep and often. Rozy has been decent enough to avoid getting jeered at home, and Redden's play has picked up enormously since last season.

Unless they turn it around soon though, things are going to get ugly, fast. Staal and Girardi need to get their heads screwed on straight again. And Hank, though he's made some key saves, has also been letting in some softies.

They're ten games in, but for some reason it seems like the entire season is hanging in the balance already. The next few weeks will probably make it clear if this year's Rangers are a legitimate threat to make a deep playoff run, or if they're another bubble team that's going to be fighting tooth and nail for eighth place in April.

The next two games are against Phoenix and the Islanders. Not exactly the cream of the crop right there, but games against the league's weaker squads can be pretty telling. Elite teams wipe the floor with cellar dwellers, every time. Bubble teams (and apparently, the Capitals) let the Islanders give them a run for their money.

So let's hope for the best, and end on a positive note: Scott Gomez still can't finish. Thanks, Bob Gainey.

Shark Attack

Well, they had to lose sometime right? Like everyone else, I was holding out for an 81-1 record this year, but it looks like we'll have to settle for a few losses along the way. And in true Rangers fashion, they capped off a seven game winning streak by surrendering a two goal lead and totally collapsing at MSG. Ah, the soaring highs and crushing lows of Blueshirt fandom.

An ugly loss? Definitely. It's hard to say though, if this is really one to worry about. Every team gets blown out somewhere along the line during the course of the regular season (the Pens got shut out 3-0 by Phoenix. The Phoenix Coyotes. Really.). Nabokov brought his "A" game and so did Heatley. When those guys are tuned in, it takes a focused effort to pull out a win. The Rangers were discombobulated from the start, and didn't improve as the game went on.

The biggest blunder in this game came from behind the bench, with Tortorella giving Valiquette the start. Despite a few bad games last year, I think Valley is more solid than most back-ups. Still, I don't really see the logic in starting him at home against one of the league's best teams. With the Islanders and the Coyotes coming up on the schedule, there are plenty of games to give Hank the night off. San Jose is a deep, talented team that, barring another playoff meltdown, could be a legitimate cup contender. They're going to handle your back-up. That's what good teams do.

Aside from a lackluster game from Valley, there were other issues. The fourth line choked. I try to see the bright side of having Brashear on this team, but in the last two games, he's been nothing but a liability, lumbering up and down the wing like he has cement in his skates. With Hank getting run (again) by Toronto, he failed to make an example out of anyone. There's no point having a bruiser like him on the roster (or the payroll) if he's not going to bust some heads when a bush-league squad starts taking liberties with the franchise goalie. And tonight he got smoked, absolutely smoked, by Marleau coming across the blue line. They would have been better off giving Brash the night off and letting Voros loose out there to bang around in front of the net and solicit a beatdown from Jody Shelley, as I imagine he would have.

On the other hand, the Rangers had to lose again sooner or later, and with the Devils in town on Thursday night, I'd much rather they got it out of their system against the Sharks. Hopefully this bummer of a game makes them hungry to bring it to Brodeur and his cronies later this week. I'm sure there will be the usual Avery vs. Marty hype, but hopefully the team will stay focused on bouncing back from a gnarly loss, and send the Devils back across the river with something to think about.