Well Would Ya Look At That
Was that smiles I saw on the faces of the Rangers tonight? By George, they actually looked like they were having some fun out there. Even Jagr was flashing the pearly whites after his goal. A 4-0 victory against the Thrashers at home is a very nice win. But, as Steve would tell you, nice doesnt mean to much. As we’ve talked about all week Atlanta is a beatable team. And for a quick definition of beatable; a team the Rangers SHOULD beat!
Now, dont get me wrong, I’m as happy as Michal Rozsival at a Jaromir Jagr poster sale…(C’mon you know Rozi’s got a life size Jagr above his bed)…BUT thats neither here nor there. I am happy. But my joy is restrained because if we’ve learned anything about this team, one win doesn’t mean a whole lot.
What this team needs to do is to keep this play up and to do that here are some positives from tonights game that need to continue.
- Jaromir Jagr needs to CONTINUE to play at this level game in and game out. No questions about it, as much as I get on Jagr for not being a leader, I’m not dumb. I realize that a player of Jagr’s talent leads a team whether he intends to or not. Maybe with the shake up of the lines and getting him on the ice with Avery made him happy. Who knows. Jagr is a mystery to me. A mystery I dont want to solve, I just want to see results. Results I know he is capable of and if he plays like he did tonight for the rest of the season than I wont complain.
- Speaking of the lines, keep them the same for the next few games. Simple as that, if they ain’t broke dont fix ‘em.
- Rangers only allowed 14 shots on goal. Atlanta didn’t have a single period with double-digit shot totals. They also didn’t get their first shot on goal until half way through the first. If the defense can allow Henrik to get comfortable and not force him to make 25-35 saves a game, the Blueshirts are in business.
- Brandon Dubinsky got 14 minutes tonight. Makes me and Steve look smart.
- Keep the pace up. The Rangers continued to pressure even when they were up by 3 and 4 goals. This team cant afford to let games slip away. Sixty minutes of all out hockey is a must.
AND last but certainly not least….HAVE FUN!!! Sounds a bit pee-wee but it works. When the Rangers are having fun the fans are having fun. And I’m a fan and its no fun watching a team that isn’t enjoying themselves.
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Tags: Dubinsky, Eric Rothman, Jagr, Rozsival
9 Responses
UB BULL January 22nd at 10:50 pm
Well who shows up on Thursday night? Will it be these Rangers or the Rangers who played the Bruins. For Brian Leetch’s sake lets hope it is tonight’s version of the Broadway Blues.
Richard S. January 23rd at 12:47 am
The biggest thing that im happy about? that he Rangers showed heart and actually hit somebody! Not just with their bodies but with thier fists. I’m sick and tired of this team being physicaly dominated! And Kovalchuk better get a suspension with the NHL’s new zero tolerance policy.
Inferno January 23rd at 2:22 am
We played great, but more importantly, they played bad. i mean, really bad. they might have played as bad as we did against the flyers.
there were a lot of positives throughout this game though, all 4 lines looked great, and did the things you need to score goals and win games. im talking 5 men in the picture in all 3 zones, traffic in front of the net, and high quality scoring chances. if drury could bury one of his billion or so point blank chances, he has a goal or three….and if Lehtonen doesnt stand on his head, we probably net 7 or 8 goals in this one.
on the flip side, if its possible, the powerplay looks like its degraded even further. its disheartening as hell to see a team out and out dominate the opposition at even strength, then look completely lost during their power play.
you guys said it (or was that JD?), this team should be winning a ton of games strictly on the back of its power play. this needs to be fixed, big time.
Brendan January 23rd at 2:33 am
i think part of the power play woes stemmed from mara’s removal. that was the one change tonight i did not like. he was a hot hand, registering a number of points in game leading up to this one. benching a player for a mistake after a stretch of solid play seems a tad overzealous in the pursuit of constructing a lineup and strategy that fits
Eric January 23rd at 12:57 pm
Lets hope Kovalchuk does play so that he can pay for that horrendous hit on Rozsival. The Blueshirts better show up with the same intensity on Thursday night.
A quick question: Do you guys know if there is a site that is going to stream the pregame ceremonies for Thursday? I go to school in Rhode Island and don’t get MSG.
Inferno January 23rd at 2:29 pm
Eric, i dont know what your direct email address is, so ill email it to steve and ask him to forward it to you…
Eric Rothman January 23rd at 2:44 pm
Inferno I appreciate you looking out for me but that was a different Eric that posted about Leech night. But if you do have the site thats going to be streaming Leech night than your more than welcome to post it on here.
Inferno January 23rd at 3:47 pm
ahh, lol, sorry about the OTHER eric
sure, the site is
http://myp2p.eu/competition.php?competitionid=&part=sports&discipline=icehockey
You need sopcast to watch it, the links for the allstar game are there as well.
Enjoy.
Eric January 23rd at 3:59 pm
Thanks for the help inferno. Big fan of your site as well. Lets go Rangers!