Rangers beat the devils 3-2, as Hank continues to beat Fatso head to head. The Devils move to 0-2-0 and look like a team that is going to have a very hard time finding consistent scoring this season. Two goals from rookie defenseman tonight, hasn't happened for the Rangers since 1990. (Only 25 goals from defenseman all last year from the Rangers, 24th in the NHL. So far they have 3 in 3 games) A good win for the Rangers, especially given what lies ahead the remainder of this week (at the Capitals on Thursday, hosting Anaheim on Sunday. Penguins, Ottawa, Devils, Capitals, Anaheim. Solid test for the Rangers the first 9 days of the season)
Nugman's 3 stars:
Honorable mention - Prospal/Kotalik: The new guys had a nice night in their first rivalry game. Kotalik's goal tied the game at 2, and Prospal had 2 assists.
# 3 - Del Zotto/Gilroy: Del Zotto got the Rangers tied, Gilroy scored the game winner. Off future Hall of Famer fatso, big night for the rookie defenseman who are only going to get more and more confident each shift. Strong game from them, as once again, the only major defensive lapses appeared to come from their more senior, far more well paid teammates Redden and Rozsival. (Who has fallen harder, faster for the Rangers since Rozsival in Game 4 of the Semis against Buffalo in the 2007 playoffs? He was shooting, he was a weapon on the powerplay, he scores the OT winner in game 4 sending the Rangers to buffalo tied....and has been TERRIBLE since)
# 2 - Hank: 15-2-4 all time vs. Brodeur (and most of those losses came in Hanks rookie year) Hank owns the devils, he really gets up for these games. Odd game. The Rangers allowed Hank to get pelted the first 5 minutes, and from there, they probably only gave up 2-3 decent scoring chances the rest of the game. Most of the Devils shots came from distance and bad angles, so the Only way Hank was getting beaten is if he gave up soft goals...and Hank doesn't do that. 25/27 saves for Hank, 2nd win of the season
# 1 - Torts: VERY few, if any, coaches would call a timeout just over a minute into the game. (For the exact reason you saw at the end. Coaches want to save there only timeout for late in the game if they need to rest their defense after an icing call, or if they want to get their top line back out on the ice for a last scoring chance) Torts saw that the Rangers didn't just come out flat, they came out completely inept. They were all chasing the puck like a bunch of 5 year olds chasing an ice cream truck. No one was picking up the body, the devils were getting great chances every time they shot, they scored quickly, and came very close to taking a 2-0 lead. The Rangers were just minutes away from being blown out of the building and Torts knew it. I am almost positive the Rangers lose this game if he doesn't take that timeout when he did, and spend the duration of it SCREAMING at his team. (Which I am sure did not help doobie's head ache, at all)
Nugman Pre-game Doobie Call: He only picked up one penalty tonight, actually escaped with a +1 (though he was in the penalty box when a goal was scored, and it's stupid that that doesn't count against his plus minus) After two excellent games he was a complete non-factor, and created ZERO offense. Let's hope it's not a reoccurrence of last season disappearance act after a hot start, but rather, him coming off a vicious hangover as I predicted, and Torts basically called him out for in an interview before the game.
3 Goals for Hank: 2-0-0 on the season when scoring 3 or more
Special Teams: Rangers go 2 for 6 on the power play, moving to 2 for 15 on the season. They allow 1 goal on 6 Devils powerplays, moving them to 10/12 killed on the season.
Next Game for the Blueshirts: Thursday in Washington, looking to make a statement against one of the big boys, and get a little revenge for last April.
Game I might check out: Washington will play in Philly tomorrow night on Versus. With no Yanks, Giants or Rangers tomorrow, might want to see which one of those two heavy weights is the early favorite in the east to challenge the penguins.
Nugman's 3 stars:
Honorable mention - Prospal/Kotalik: The new guys had a nice night in their first rivalry game. Kotalik's goal tied the game at 2, and Prospal had 2 assists.
# 3 - Del Zotto/Gilroy: Del Zotto got the Rangers tied, Gilroy scored the game winner. Off future Hall of Famer fatso, big night for the rookie defenseman who are only going to get more and more confident each shift. Strong game from them, as once again, the only major defensive lapses appeared to come from their more senior, far more well paid teammates Redden and Rozsival. (Who has fallen harder, faster for the Rangers since Rozsival in Game 4 of the Semis against Buffalo in the 2007 playoffs? He was shooting, he was a weapon on the powerplay, he scores the OT winner in game 4 sending the Rangers to buffalo tied....and has been TERRIBLE since)
# 2 - Hank: 15-2-4 all time vs. Brodeur (and most of those losses came in Hanks rookie year) Hank owns the devils, he really gets up for these games. Odd game. The Rangers allowed Hank to get pelted the first 5 minutes, and from there, they probably only gave up 2-3 decent scoring chances the rest of the game. Most of the Devils shots came from distance and bad angles, so the Only way Hank was getting beaten is if he gave up soft goals...and Hank doesn't do that. 25/27 saves for Hank, 2nd win of the season
# 1 - Torts: VERY few, if any, coaches would call a timeout just over a minute into the game. (For the exact reason you saw at the end. Coaches want to save there only timeout for late in the game if they need to rest their defense after an icing call, or if they want to get their top line back out on the ice for a last scoring chance) Torts saw that the Rangers didn't just come out flat, they came out completely inept. They were all chasing the puck like a bunch of 5 year olds chasing an ice cream truck. No one was picking up the body, the devils were getting great chances every time they shot, they scored quickly, and came very close to taking a 2-0 lead. The Rangers were just minutes away from being blown out of the building and Torts knew it. I am almost positive the Rangers lose this game if he doesn't take that timeout when he did, and spend the duration of it SCREAMING at his team. (Which I am sure did not help doobie's head ache, at all)
Nugman Pre-game Doobie Call: He only picked up one penalty tonight, actually escaped with a +1 (though he was in the penalty box when a goal was scored, and it's stupid that that doesn't count against his plus minus) After two excellent games he was a complete non-factor, and created ZERO offense. Let's hope it's not a reoccurrence of last season disappearance act after a hot start, but rather, him coming off a vicious hangover as I predicted, and Torts basically called him out for in an interview before the game.
3 Goals for Hank: 2-0-0 on the season when scoring 3 or more
Special Teams: Rangers go 2 for 6 on the power play, moving to 2 for 15 on the season. They allow 1 goal on 6 Devils powerplays, moving them to 10/12 killed on the season.
Next Game for the Blueshirts: Thursday in Washington, looking to make a statement against one of the big boys, and get a little revenge for last April.
Game I might check out: Washington will play in Philly tomorrow night on Versus. With no Yanks, Giants or Rangers tomorrow, might want to see which one of those two heavy weights is the early favorite in the east to challenge the penguins.
"Expert" Update: In ESPN's opening poll, the Rangers were somehow the 22nd ranked team in the NHL. The Rangers have been in the playoffs every year post lockout. They have been one of the final 8 teams left 2 of the last 3 seasons, they have one of the best goaltenders in the NHL, and just signed the most talented free agent on the market....and 22nd? Well after giving the penguins all they could handle, and beating a decent Ottawa team pretty handily at home, the Rangers were bumped all the way up to # 12 (10 spots for a 1-1 start, tells ya someone was a little off with their original assessment, and how impressive the rangers "loss" was to the penguins), and that was prior to the strong win in Jersey tonight. Rangers somewhere around 12 is an accurate ranking in my book right now. It also was before the puck was dropped on the season, nice some people finally got their heads out of their asses. (Hope those who voted for "Rangers miss playoffs" in our poll get their heads out of their asses soon as well, for their own sake, it's gross in there)
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment