Well, it’s a
win. Talbot’s 2nd victory in
the (hopefully temporary) post-Lundqvist era was maybe his worst game of the
year. With his family in attendance in
Toronto – Cam let up 4 goals, including two shots from 40 feet or more.
The Maple
Leafs are not a good team – but they do have a winning record at home. They’re the kind of club that attacks all the
time – and for good reason – they don’t play defense very well. They let up more than 3 goals a game and are
25th in the NHL in defense.
So the Rangers
attacked and – as we’ve said before – goals can cover up a whole lot of other
problems. The Rangers got five last
night and needed the all – and a goal post – to hold off a Toronto team that
kept digging their way back into the game.
Things
started off well enough. In the game’s
third minute Dan Boyle saw an opening and charged the net. Brassard saw him from behind the Toronto net
and game him a perfect pass right in front of the net that Boyle netted for the
early lead.
And then at
10:37 Brassard intercepted the puck in the offensive zone – got it to Nash –
who fed Zuccarello in front for the first of three 2 goal leads.
But the
Leafs scored before the first period ended and the Rangers carried the 2-1 lead
into the 2nd.
Staal
carried the puck right to the Toronto net – slid it across to Hayes – who put
the Rangers up 3-1. But just 20 seconds
later it was 3-2.
And there’s
more. Mid way through the 2nd
– with the Leafs on the powerplay – the Rangers scored again. They really dominated the action – it actually
looked like the Rangers had the extra skater for much of the penalty time. And to cap it off – Dominic Moore (whose
family was also in attendance) did the hockey equivalent of the turn around
three point jump shot. His spin-a-rama
from 40+ feet away beat James Reimer cleanly and and the Rangers had a 4-2 lead
going into the third.
The 2 goal
lead held up all of 20 seconds of the third.
And then at 6:46 an unassisted goal by Dan Winnick and the Leafs had
fought from deficits of 2-0, 3-1, and 4-2 for the 4-4 tie.
And so it was the Nash-Brassard-Zuccarello
line that bailed them out again. Dominic
Moore scooted on the puck down the right side – and promptly tripped over his
own skates. But Nash dashed over – gained
possession - and fed Zuccarello all along between the circles. The little Norwegian shot the puck just
inside the right post – and the Rangers were back on top 5-4.
In the final
five minutes Toronto put on several rushes – and did hit a post on Talbot as
mentioned earlier. To Talbot’s credit –
he made all the saves he needed to at the end and showed some ingenuity in clearing
the puck twice on his own when the opportunity arose. The 5-4 win was worse than Leaf goaltender Reimer
deserved. He was actually brilliant for
much of the game.
Missing in action
once again was Marty St. Louis who teamed with Stepan and Kreider had no goals –
no assists – and a minus 1. It’s been a
month since Marty scored and there is real cause for concern now for the
unrestricted free agent less than a month from the trade deadline.
By the
numbers Talbot’s save percentage was 0.882 – another sub .900 game.
Uh, A Little Help? You want assists? We
got plenty. Three for the unselfish
Nash, who despite his 30+ goal season is happy to pass the puck. If he ends up igniting Zuccarello – it’s
great news for the Rangers. 2 assists
each for Brassard and Staal. Single
assists for Klein, Moore, and Hagelin.
Did Special Teams
Determine The Outcome Of This Game? No – Toronto was 1-2 on their powerplay – but we
scored a shorty so a wash there. Our
powerplay was 0-2
Where Do We Stand?
31-16-5. Looking down – the perennial 9th
place Florida Panthers also won so we remain 8 points up on the line-of-death. Looking up – we leapfrog the Caps into 3rd
place in the east. And we’re one point behind
Pittsburgh for 2nd and 4 behind the Islanders for 1st
(with 2 games at hand).
Oh My - What Will Happen
Next? The road trip
continues Thursday night in Denver.
Non Sequitur of the day: Goalies with double letters in their
names:
Pekka Rinne
Tuukka Rask
Antti Nieme
Dave Pucks out – thanks for listening.
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