Huge victory on the Island last night for the Blueshirts. The streak rolls on to 7 wins in a row, and hat-wearer Brad Richards put up his 8th point in as many games, ripping the game winner over the shoulder of Nabokov late in the 3rd period. Even Al Truatwig had to rescind on his lobbying for the Broadway Fedora in the presence of Richards in the postgame interview, calling it, aptly, the Broadway Hat. Small step for man, but a giant leap for Ranger fans.
Lets WORK THE POINTS on last night's Win:
HENRIK!! HENRIK!! HENRIK!! While the offense was stalling at the beginning of the season, Hank was still playing great goal for the Rangers, but it seemed there was little he could do when we were putting the opposition on the powerplay 8 and 9 times a game. During this winning streak The King is 5-0 and last night he was an absolutely clutch performer. It was a close game. The Islanders are a good team, and their top line dismantled us the last time we met, but Lundqvist was phenomenal last night.
Look at this sequence below with the Ranger lead on the line and the Islanders pressing in the 2nd frame. Hank uses his mask to control the action, then waits out an impatient Parenteau in a game of goal-line chicken.
Sorry, PA.
OFFENSE FROM THE DEFENSE
I love it when our D gets involved in the goal buffet. Early on it was McDonagh being a hero, then Girardi and Del Z added to the Powerplay attack, Woywitka earned his stripes and last night hardworking, underrated Stevie44 finished off a perfect cross ice Callahan feed after spending 2 minutes in the box for sticking up for himself when Matt Martin ran him in the corner. (True Prust got in their for the fight, but I think it was actually Emminger's retaliatory hit that caused Martin to immediately retreat to the lockerroom holding his shoulder. Bottom line: you don't mess with Stevie44!)
AVERY
Can't deny the impact 16 has had the last 3 games. It started when he got the cobwebs off his knuckles by fighting Zenon Konopka in Ottawa and has carried through with 2 goals, penalties drawn, + ice rating and more sustain on the forecheck. Last night's goal sparked the club and gave the Rangers the start they needed on the Island to be successful. Sean had Mottau off his game the whole night and even though the emotion of the rivalry seemed to un-discipline our team a bit (too many penalties, old habit) we kept patient to our game plan and prevailed.
CALLY, DUBI AND RICHARDS
Let this be the line. It's insane to me that B. Rad should play 3rd line. I know they want to get Boyle going and keep Avery's momentum at a full charge, but the line of Richards, Dubi, Cally coming off the GAS line (who were dangerous, though scoreless) is the best 1-2 punch we can put together. On top of that, Avery scored on a play set up by Boyle. And Richards scored on a play set up by Dubi. So learn from what works and keep those guys together in Montreal, eh?
As Hank said the game was Intense!He was amazing last night and although the penalties were too many, it gave hank a chance to again show what he is made of.
ReplyDeleteWhats not to like about B Rad , Dubi, and cally? GAS didn't score but they were a threat all night and came oh so close several times.
As for the D, it continues to be the biggest surprise this season. They seem to get more 'Duguay Confident" with each game that goes by.
Ok bring on Les canadiens!
Great article. Bottom line is the rangers found a way to get it done. there were momentum swings for both teams through out the game and we capitalized on ours. Henrik was a beast between the pipes and he needs to continue to be. All the guys on the team know it, the rangers might not play the most complete prettiest 60 minutes of hockey but lately they are getting contributions from different players at key times as im sure torts would put it. The GAS line has been great despite going pointless the past 2 games and its nice to know that if they dont get it done, our next line of B rad Dubi and Cally can go out for a productive shift. Teams need depth in order to be successful and we are starting to see that the rangers have that. Im sure the boys in blue will have a good couple of practices and be geared to go come saturday when they take on montreal
ReplyDeleteRangers have been awesome. i like what we having going on right now, but im worried about our production from Dubi. I think we need cally, step and dubi to be more of a threat so that we still are not jus ta gabby richards team that is easy to defend when it get to playing top teams. With that being said, we are playign great, im thinking more long term. We need to stay consistant. Same goes for Avery. i love it now, but need him to finally stay this way
ReplyDeleteI'm all about the win!!! And I think the team is playing great. Could we have more production yeah but I think it will come. What I like is the cohesiveness of the team right now. When they are down they step it up. We have been scoring the first goals of the game and the power play looks much better then in the past. We need to continue to be aware of puck control, and the penalties. All in all good stuff
ReplyDeleteGood points in the comment section. I agree we need to stay consistent, especially Avery, who has a tendency in the past to disappear, but I don't think you can lump Step into that. He and Gabbi are making magic out there. The last 3 goals Gabbi scored have basically been empty net bang-ins and one of the reasons...one of the main reasons...is Stepan. The guys passing has been awesome.
ReplyDeleteI love how this team fights and steps it up when need be. I think the Ranger teams in the last 2 years have wanted to step it up, but never had ALL the tools. This year we have the drive AND the talent to do damage. And Dubi isn't even going yet. Just wait till that happens. Bottom line is that it's a LONG season and we need to keep things in perspective. We want to be in the top 4 this year. I can't wait to play the Penguins, Flyers and Capitals!
Huge win for the blue shirts. Glad to see them push them back against the Islanders, we usually bring our C game with us over there and play down to their level. Gotta keep the momentum going.
ReplyDeleteAlso, BRichards needs to keep doing whatever he is doing with Olivia Munn. She should be at all the games...