Sunday, October 23, 2011
Rangers No Show The Saturday Night Dance In Edmonton
Ouch.
What a diva.
True, though.
Soft loss for the Blueshirts late Saturday night. With an exception of Gaborik and maybe Brandon Prust, no one showed up to play the game the right way. Undisciplined offensive zone penalties continue to boggle fans and plague this team's sustain. Our no-urgency 5 on 3 man advantage was demoralizing and ill-timed, as a tally would've put us right back in the contest tied at 1 apiece. Instead, Dubinsky hesitated on the back door, Richards missed the net and sent Taylor Hall down the other way on a 2-zone breakaway, and Stepan sent the best chance of the entire PP up into the rafters on a shanked one-timer. Torts benched most of his team in the 3rd period and scrambled the lines with the leftovers-- I'm sure the ride to Manitoba wasn't a smooth one. Defenseman Brendan Bell had a decent start in his NHL debut showcasing some speed and defensive saavy, but it was overshadowed by a costly pinch that sprung Taylor Hall on a long 3 on 2 where he dished to the trailing 18 year-old phenom Ryan Nugent-Hopkins for the Oiler's first goal. Dubi got caught in no-man's land on the penalty kill as ex-Rangers Corey Potter blasted a slapper from the point for the Oilers other tally.
The only positives out of this game were that Lundqvist admitted he left the game because of his skates bothering his feet and not a more serious injury, and this seemingly unending road-trip (Sweden to Winnipeg and seven games between) comes to a close Monday night against the Jets and then it's time to get the Garden crowd factoring into this season. Hopefully that will help us in establishing ourselves and pushing better 60 minute efforts out of this road-weary bunch.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Good article. summed up my feeling watching that debacle on saturday. The only way this team is going to compete at a top level, is if all 4 lines come out to play. We are successful when we press teams in their own zone, and we have not been doing that consistently. I like the way gabby and B-rad are clicking, but the biggest thing this team needs to get going is the dubi aa cally line. I like how cally and dubi described their play as unacceptable in the post game quotes, and they are not satisfied with their game. lets see them turn it around and get back to the level they were at last season and then some!. lets go blue!
ReplyDeletethat's good to hear the Dubi line was pissed with their play Saturday night. It's probably Cally's first big challenge as captain--finding a way to get the team back to even keel after that meltdown. I want to come out in Winnipeg hitting and controlling the puck...and scoring.
ReplyDelete