Rangers lose the opener for the first time since 2004, falling 3-2 to the Penguins. If you want to know about how it happened, read the 800 blogs I have written below. All season long you can come here for Rangers in game blogging (accept for the games I choose not to do it).Reasons why tonight's loss isn't the end of the world:
1) The Penguins are good, very good. And for the majority of tonight's game, the Rangers not only played with them, but gave them all they could handle. Had it not been for some superb play by Fleury, the Rangers could have walked out of Pittsburgh with a very impressive win.
2) Hank looked very sharp, and we need that early. He gave up the long wrister on the screen, but otherwise, 28 saves on 31 shots against the defending champs in their building, he was pretty strong, just not quite good enough. Fleury gets the top star tonight, but Hank was right behind him.
3) We need Gaborik and Drury to stay healthy (Gaborik), and get off to a hot start (Drury), and both scored tonight.
4) If you could somehow magically remove a 68 second sequence from the middle of this game, the Rangers win 2-1....but you can't.
Things that don't look so hot:
1) Different team...same power play. 0 for 4 tonight. The main reason why? We don't have a gonchar. Elite power plays get great play from their blue line. They have guys with deadly shots that force defenders to cover them, to spread out, and create room in front of the net. The Rangers do not currently have a defenseman that any team respects offensively, so they bunch in front of the net, and the rangers aren't a very big team, so it does not bode well.
2) The Wade "God this guy is killing us tonight" Redden Award for the evening goes to: Wade Redden. His miss of a pass from Gaborik in the final minute, with Hank out of the net, and letting the puck go out of the zone all but sealed the Rangers fate. Along with another lack luster performance in limited time, the 6 million dollar man continues to cripple the team.
3) Aaron Voros....I get it, he's a warm body, and I guess we need one, but...why is he back? Nugman "non-hockey, more whose blowing who related" Call of the Night: Voros is blowing Sather.
Overall Reaction: The Rangers played a strong game, in a building they have had a lot of recent trouble in, that they could have easily won against the best team in Hockey. If you can make a prediction for the season based on the opener (which you almost always can), the Rangers look like a team that will have their defensive lapses in the first half of the season, and combined with a lack of offensive cohesiveness, they will lose a lot of tough games 4-2, 3-2. When the offense clicks, they will make a charge around the 1/3 mark thru the season, and probably get themselves to a 5 or 6 seed. And then come playoff time, it will come down to 2 things: 1) Is gaborik still in one piece, 2)...have they FINALLY figured out how to score on the power play??? (I am not going to make a prediction on that, because it will just make me sad)
The Good News: The Rangers open up the Garden tomorrow night with a chance to put one in the win column against the Senators, and build off a hard fought game
The Bad News: 1) The Rangers play tomorrow night (really, back to back nights, and 3 games in the first 4? The season is 20 months long, how are we playing 3 in 4 to open?), 2) Unless the Rangers catch a lucky break with some swine Flu, Redden will still be with the team, Rozsival will still be making 5 million dollars, Staal will still be making amazing progress in the eyes of Rosen and Michelleti and no one else, and the Rangers will continue to have arguably the worst defensive unit of any playoff team
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