Three Game Homestand Starts Tonight

Here' some quick stats as the Rangers attempt to win their fourth straight game (never thought I'd be saying that anytime soon) against the Panthers at MSG.

The Panthers sit in the eighth spot in the Eastern Conference with 39 points while the Rangers are in ninth with 37 points but have two games in hand on the Panthers.

Rangers powerplay ranks 8th in the league at 22%. Florida's penalty kill is 20th at 79.3%.

Rangers penalty kill is 5th in the league at 85%. Florida's powerplay is 20th at 17.5%.

The Panthers win only 50% of their games when they score first.

The Panthers are fourth in the league in blocked shots. The Rangers are going to have to take the puck to the net hard in order to win this one.

Rangers need a spark

There’s no question that the Rangers are in desperate need of some kind of catalyst to help save their season.  Brandon Dubinsky may return tonight from a broken right hand but he might not be the spark that the Rangers need.  Dubinsky’s return may bring some harmony to the lineup which has been juggled around constantly since his injury against Calgary on November 7th.

The reason the team is in the mess it’s in is because of some obvious bad contracts handed out by Glen Sather.  But let’s not beat a dead horse here.  Let’s try and figure out what the Rangers need to do to turn it around.  A significant trade of any kind is seemingly out of the question because so many of the Rangers’ high priced so-called ‘star’ players have contracts that make them unmovable…sorry I just had to hit that horse one more time.

The Rangers’ real problem is their lack of physical play.  Their speed that helped them dominate teams earlier in the season has been neutralized by aggressive forechecking.  The Rangers a small team with not many imposing bodies.  Time after time opponents are allowed to battle for the puck in the goal crease with the only threat being a mildly aggressive stick check from a Ranger defender.  The Rangers need to knock those guys straight on their asses.  Henrik Lundqvist is probably the best down-low goalie in the game.  The defense needs to let him concentrate on the puck while they take care of the guys in front.  Opponents have no problem getting the puck to the net either.  Shots from the point or the corner are frequently put on net where a goal mouth scramble ensues resulting in multiple scoring chances for the opposing team.  The Ranger wingers rarely ever challenge the point-men, making it easier for them to get the puck to the net.  If those wingers aren’t going to be taking the body below the hashmarks then they need to play the point up high, limiting the opposing teams options and trying to create turnovers at the blueline.

The Rangers also watch the puck like their fans do during the ‘Rangers Puck Shuffle’ that’s shown on the jumbotron at MSG.  More times than not all five Rangers are concentrating on where the puck is as opposed to where it’s going to go.  They need to be aware of the opposing teams position on the ice.

The Rangers’ opponent tonight, the Thrashers won their last game over Montreal in a shootout but lost three in a row before that.  Their power play is eighth in the league, right ahead of the Rangers who sit at ninth.  Their penalty kill is sixth in the league, also right above the Rangers who are seventh.  The Thrashers are 10-1 when they score first.

Rangers try for redemption

The Rangers' last two games have been a sorry affair. The Rangers have been outscored by the ridiculous margin of 13-4. Not only has their secondary scoring disappeared after a blowout of their own against Columbus but the Rangers one sure thing, their goaltending, has collapsed as well. It is now clear that the Rangers are not the 7-1 team that started the season strong and got all of our hopes up. They are the 6-11-1 team that will be struggling to make the playoffs despite one of the best starts in team history.

The frustrating part for us Ranger fans is ineptitude in management. Without the heavy contracts that were essentially handed out to Wade Redden, Michal Rozsival, and Chris Drury, (Marion Gaborik has been worth every penny) the Rangers would have some wiggle room to stir things up. Then again I don't know if Glen Sather should be trusted with such a heavy responsibility. Besides the Jaromir Jagr trade and signing Gaborik (which still needs to pan out for a few years before it can be called a great signing) can you name another significant and positive move that Sather has made since he took control of the league's most valuable American franchise? I'm not talking about a deadline day trade that helped the Rangers get into the playoffs like acquiring Petr Sykora or Sean Avery. I'm talking about the kind of trade/signing that has helped the team in the long run. The best player that was selected from the draft picks that were acquired in the great player purge of 2004 turned out to be Lauri Korpikoski. I'm also not going to give Sather any credit for the current draft picks we have who are starting to make a name for themselves, i.e. Henrik Lundqvist, Brandon Dubinsky, Marc Staal, and to a lesser extent Michael Del Zotto. The Rangers have a decent scouting staff and they're the ones responsible for the Rangers recent strength in the draft.

So what can we expect from the Rangers tonight? I wish I knew. One thing I can tell you for certain is that if the Rangers get caught watching the puck instead of the play then we'll be in for another embarrassing game.

Torts giving Avery the old ‘atta boy!’

John Tortorella has been giving Sean Avery some well deserved ice time as of late.  On the Rangers recent swing through Western Canada the forwards ice time was 9:30 against the Canucks and an embarrassingly low 5:56 against the Oilers.  In the last three games Avery’s ice times has been 14:28, 14:17, and 16:26.  Some of that can be chalked up to the absence of Chris Drury and Brandon Dubinsky.  However, your ice time does differentiate by nine minutes over two games just because of a few injuries. Avery has been working hard and Torts has been rewarding him.

I'm back!!!

Sorry for my absence as of late. Personal issues have kept my
attention elsewhere. Now that's all over with it's time for me to
concentrate on the Rangers again.

The Rangers go into tonight's game down two centers. For the
Thrashers there have been conflicting reports regarding the
availability of star forward/captain Iyla Kovalchuk. However, the
latest news appears to be that he'll make his return to the lineup
tonight at MSG. So while the Rangers will be missing two key players
the Thrashers will be getting back one of theirs.

The latest indications from all of the Rangers beat writers is that
Ranger coach John Tortorella will play with three centers, rotating
them in at the fourth line center spot. Besides Vinny Prospal, Artem
Anisimov, and Brian Boyle I suspect that Ryan Callahan and Sean Avery
might get some time at center as well. Tortorella is going to need to
spread out the centering duties among his experienced wingers if the
Rangers are to survive the Dubinsky and Drury injuries without making
significant roster moves.