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.

Byers to be suspended; Torts $10K poorer

Dane Byers instigator penalty in the final five minutes of tonight's game will see him suspended for one game under league rules and will cost head coach John Tortorella a $10,000 fine.  The players have been driving Torts crazy these past few games; now their driving him to the poor house.  I'll have more tomorrow.

Rangers try to regain winning ways at MSG

It’s certainly been a rough week for the Rangers.  After gaining 14 out of a possible 16 points in their first eight games of the season they have earned only one point in their last three.

The Rangers currently rank 6th in the league on the power play (26.1%).  In Saturday’s loss to Montreal the Rangers were held without a power play goal for the first time since their 5-2 victory over the Ottawa Senators on opening night at MSG.

The following chart compares the plus/minus of some Rangers during their seven game winning streak and their current three game slide.

Player	Winning Streak	Recent Slide
Marion Gaborik	+8	-3
Brandon Dubinsky	+8	-3
Wade Redden	+5	-3
Vinny Prospal	+7	-1
Marc Staal	+4	-3
Chris Drury	+2	-2
Chris Higgins	E	-3

 

The main problem for the Rangers is that they haven’t been as aggressive on the puck in the last few games as they were earlier in the season.  They’re not pressuring as much as they used to.  They need to get back to pestering the opposing team when they have the puck and force them to make bad decisions. 

Rangers power play key to conquering Kings

The L.A. Kings, like the Rangers, have won every game they’ve played since losing their season opener.  The Kings have some serious offensive punch with Anze Kopitar (4G 6A) and Ryan Smyth (4G 4A) leading the charge.  The Kings young defenseman Drew Doughty and Jack Johnson have been very promising.  I have a feeling we’re in for a fast game between two young up-and-coming teams.

The Kings’ one glaring area of weakness is their penalty kill.  They have been shorthanded 19 times this year and have allowed 7 power play goals for a PK percentage of 63.2, which puts them at 28th in the league.  In other words it’s the kind of special teams performance that can lose games for you.

The Rangers need to use their conditioning and revamped power play to get the Kings to take penalties and pay for their mistakes.  Since not scoring a power play goal in their first two games of the season the Rangers have scored 7 goals out of their last 22 chances.  That puts their power play percentage at 31.8 in those four games.  In other words it’s the kind of special teams performance that can win games for you.

Plain and simple the key to this game will be the Rangers’ power play.  The Kings need to stay out of the box and the Rangers need to make them pay if they don’t.

This will be the King’s second game of a six game road trip…Donald Brashear may miss the game due to general soreness…The Rangers have outscored their opponents 12-3 in third periods this year and have score 14 of their 24 goals during even strength.