A two game winning streak! Our first since Thanksgiving. Our Rangers seemed to have put together two straight victories – by beating the troubled and despised Philadelphia Flyers 2-1 in a matinee game.
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Now before we all get delusions of adequacy – remember that the Flyers have lost 13 of 16 games and that the Rangers were outshot 37 to 24 (one game after getting outshot 37 to 22). But still, a win is a win and we've had so few of them that we might as well be happy about it.
The Flyers were held without an even strength goal. It's nice to see that happen to someone else for a change.
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Here's the recap:
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The Goalies: And for the second straight game – Hank won it for us. Of all the guys that I thought would react positively to Tortorella's tirade - I never thought it would be Hank. But maybe it was the removal of Redden that did the trick.
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Henrik's save percentage was .973% and he's not going to lose many when he plays that well. The Water Boy (Mr. Boucher) didn't play badly, letting in 2 goals on 24 shots for a .917% save percentage, but he was no match for The King.
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Special Teams: We won despite being outplayed here – which is hard to do. The Rangers were 0-2 on the powerplay while Philadelphia was 1 for 5.
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The New Veteran Rangers: For the first time – ever – the new Ranger vets were completely shut out in a victory. In a way it's good to see us generate enough offense to win – if barely – without Gaborik and friends. The Gifted on only too one shot in over 20 minutes of ice time.
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The Kid Rangers: “Anis” (Anisimov) found an opening (no pun intended) and scored a ricochet style goal. Not pretty – but if you throw the puck at the net (more or less) good things can happen – and they did. And we should mention that our 3 rookie defensemen managed out there – helping to hold to Flyers to one powerplay goal.
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The Returning Rangers: The Captain! Chris Drury scores again, making up for the fact that he lost 9 of 14 faceoffs – something that rarely happens to him. And assist for Callahan and Girardi.
Defense on Offense: One assist for this unit.
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In Conclusion: All season long we've been living and dying with our goaltending – it's nice to enjoy the upside of that for a change. You know, when Hank plays great and we score a little bit – we can beat anybody. It's enough to give us a little hope – for the holidays.
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Rumors: Word on the street is that the Rangers have sent Sanguinetti and Heikkinen back to the AHL – but the move has more to do with the technical aspects of the the NHL than Tortorella getting mad again. There's a holiday roster freeze rule in the NHL – so if the Rangers didn't sent the two rookie defensemen down they would have been lockout out of any roster moves for the next week or so. They can recall either or both defensemen – or Gilroy – before their next game. Of course this also makes us wonder if Sather is about to pull off another trade.
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We do know that Ilya Kovalchuk's contract talks with the Thrashers have not been going well. Time will tell.
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Next Up: One day off and then our three game road trip concludes in Carolina on Monday night.
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Where We Stand: The second straight win – and yes I like writing that – puts the Rangers alone in 9th place – just 2 points below 8th place Florida – who hold the last playoff spot. The Rangers, on the other hand – have 2 games at hand over Florida.
Where We Stand: The second straight win – and yes I like writing that – puts the Rangers alone in 9th place – just 2 points below 8th place Florida – who hold the last playoff spot. The Rangers, on the other hand – have 2 games at hand over Florida.
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Kovy supposedly wants a max deal (roughly 11 mil), in that case there would be roughly 44 million committed to him, Gabby, Rosi, Redden, Drury and Hank. Even if Sather or his possible replacement is willing to bury Redden and Rosi in Hartford it would still put us right up against the cap with Staal and Girardi due for raises. The only reason that Sather makes that trade is that it saves his job. Speaking of Staal, +1 in nearly 31 minutes against Philly.
ReplyDeleteThanks Mike. For Glen Sather, who could be fired at any time, the next two months IS the long term - so he'd be happy to rent Kovalchuk and see what happens from there. The question is - what will we have to give up for the two month rental?
ReplyDeleteFor the rental I'd expect something along the lines of Anis or Grachev and one or two other prospects plus a pick. Basically it leaves the team just continually treading water. I'd rather suffer through a couple very bad years as long as we let the kids we have develop and get some other high picks. Can anyone say they wouldn't trade 2 horrid years for the chance at a Crosby/Malkin, Semin/Ovechkin, Toews/Kane type of combo to build around? Plus 3 years from now, you'd have Staal (25), DZ (22), Gilroy and Girardi (both 28) on d; Cally (27), Dubi (26) Anis (24) and Grachev (22) on offense. That's a very solid core to build around especially when both Gaborik and Hank will still (hopefully) have at least 3 or 4 very good years in them.
ReplyDeleteYou have a point, Mike. especially since we're on the verge of having a bad year without rebuilding....
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