Posts tagged ‘Jagr’

    Last night’s game against the Flyers was the most disappointing game I have seen all year.  Sure the Rangers have lost heart breakers this year; i.e the 5-0 lead they blew to Montreal.  But no other game stung me like last nights.  This was a game the Rangers DESERVED to win.  The men in blue absolutely outplayed Philly for 45-55 minutes of this one, but like the Rangers of February, couldn’t close the deal.  Unfortunately, sloppy play and lack of hustle down the stretch led to the Rangers ultimate demise. There is no way you can be satisfied with just getting one point out of this game.  With how close the Eastern Conference is that one point could have kept them a point behind Ottawa, instead of a point in front of Philly, which is where they are now.

A few things from the game…

1) This Power Play is sickening.  Once again, it’s the difference between a W and an L.  1-31.  That’s right ONE for the last THIRTY ONE.  Coincidently, I think 1/31 was the date of the last P.P. goal for this team.  Something has got to change quick.

2)  Fantastic game for Jaromir Jagr.  Quite possibly his best all-around performance of the year.  Not only does he put one in the net but he draws three penalties.  If only he could produce like that on the P.P., the Rangers would be in business.

3)  This team missed Rozsival and Gomez.  Not to say that their replacements were the reason for the loss but I think it would have been a different result with those two in the line up.

4) Petr Prucha looked good.  I just don’t know what to do with him now.  It would have been easier if he had played poorly so you could justify sitting him.  His performance last night should grant him another shot.

5) Rangers finish their season series against the Flyers with a 5-1-2 record.  Very good record despite the fact last night should have been the sixth win.

Also, we have gotten some great responses to the question “Who Can the Rangers Not Afford To Lose?” that we posed on the last podcast.  Keep those e-mails and phone calls coming on that question and also on any other comments you have about the Flyers game.

A complete domination of Buffalo, followed up by the first Rangers win against a Western team, against San Jose.  Can’t ask for much more than that folks, 4 out of 4 possible points.  A jump to 6th in the conference.  Overall, great weekend to be a Rangers fan.  I don’t want to go into to much detail about the games because I’m sure we’ll go in depth in the next episode.  But here are some points that I take away from this weekend.

• Chris Drury is really coming into his own.  He has turned into Midas as of late, thats going to be huge for this team for the stretch run.
• Contrary to Stan Fischler, I believe the King is still just that, THE KING.
• It’s nice to win at home.
• Great job by the Rangers to give extensions to Girardi and Tyutin.  A solid defensive pairing that deserves what they have been given.
• Ryan Callahan is BACK and skating like a mad man.
• Jaromir Jagr not scoring has not hurt this team yet, but it sure hasn’t helped.  I feel live he is on the verge of having a big stretch of games, but I got to see it.

More on the show…

Spring Break for the Rangers comes about a month early this week as the Blueshirts have five days of inactivity. Or do they??? Could this be the week where someone is sent packing? Could this be the week that Forsberg joins the team? Could this be the week Dan Girardi joins his long lost brother Joe at Spring Training when pitchers and catchers report? All of these burning questions…..well some of them….will be answered by the end of the week. But, I figured before any of that happens and before our show tomorrow, I’d give my thoughts on the past two games and what this team needs to do in the off week…

1) Flyers game was great. Another prime example of this team playing hide and seek with success. As soon as you can’t see it anymore…BAM! hits you right in the gut with a 2-0 win in Philly.

2) Road Wins – Taking 3 of 4 possible points against two conference opponents, I think is a big step. Sure this team lost two games to the west coast teams. But its all about how you bounce back. Even though they couldn’t pull off the W against the Caps, they still got one.

3) Speaking of the Caps game. Again, its not a win but there are plenty good things you can take from that game. Drury is continuing to score. Team penalties were low. And Valiquette played well enough in two straight games to win some points for this team.

4) But there were plenty of BAD things as well. This game should have been an easy win. Power Play unit is awful. They eased up at the end of the second period and let Washington back into it. And………….

5) RYAN HOLLWEG is still playing hockey. Another dumb penalty by Hollywood costs this team the game. Absolutely INEXCUSABLE. The only good he serves this team is that the custodial crew at MSG can flip him upside down and use him for a mop after the game.

This team needs to make some moves this week. I don’t necessarily think they need to be huge moves but if there is someone on the market that can….

a) Help Jaromir Jagr (i.e. Peter Forsberg) than now is the chance to get the captain straightened out. And if the team is not willing to go after a player to help Jagr, you have to GET RID of him. He’s not getting to 84 points, he will be gone after this year, so if you can get someone for him now, DO IT.

b) If someone on the market can come in here and run the Power Play unit for a cheap price, FIND HIM.

c) If there is a barber out there who can cut Hollweg’s hair before he gets on the plane out of NYC, HIRE HIM. Nothing says we appreciate your hard work and dedication to our team more than a hair cut and a “Get the Hell Outta Here”

Much more on the show tomorrow.

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.

Phew, the Rangers certainly dodged that bullet.  Playing a team that was spiraling out of control having lost nine straight, a win tonight was ABSOLUTELY VITAL for the Rangers moving forward.

And they did win, maybe not as convincingly as you would have liked, but right now “style points” are out the window and the only points that matter are the ones in the standings.

Now don’t get me wrong, there were certainly some good signs tonight:

-  The third line continued to look good scoring both goals and creating countless chances.  It looks like this trio is finally starting to lock in.

-  The return of Sean Avery and Brendan Shanahan was great to see (it was also great to see someone finally putting pucks on net).

-  The King was solid, not spectacular, but he did what he had to do.

-  The penalty kill was fantastic (although they again were called upon WAY too much).

So those were the positives.  But don’t feel too good if your a Rangers fan right now because boy was there a lot to be bothered by in tonights game:

-  Tom Renney again gave the fourth-line third-line minutes.  Ryan Hollweg and Colton Orr both got 12:16 minutes and Blair Betts got just under 15.  No player on the third-line even got nine minutes of time, despite again being the best and hardest working line on the ice.  The third line contributed two-goals and a combined for a +6 on the night.  The HBO line contributed a bad penalty and no offense again.  How Renney can justify playing Ryan Hollweg for over 12 minutes and not even give Brandon Dubinsky 6:30 is beyond me and is flat our ridiculous.

-  Renney again didn’t have the courage to send a message to his team and bench his “captain” when he played another lackluster game and was a detriment on the ice.  Jagr took two more lazy penalties and was the culprit on the Sabres lone goal.  If you watch the replay you will see Jagr, upon losing the puck at the Buffalo blueline, glide back and allow an odd man rush for the Sabres.  He gave an absolutely embarrasing effort on that backcheck and made a half-hearted attempt at the last minute to catch up to Pominville.  But J.J. doesn’t miss a beat and is rewarded with nearly 20 minutes on the ice.  No accountability=no change.  It’s that simple.

-  The Rangers again gave the opposition man-advantages immediately following Rangers goals.  The Blueshirts went up 1-0 at the 6:15 mark of the first and went on the penalty-kill just over two minutes later.  They then went up 2-1 at the 9:42 mark of the second period, only two one up themselves from earlier in the game and go down 2 men just over a minute later.  That 5 on 3 disadvantage was their fifth in the last four games…absolutely unacceptable.

-  The Rangers power play was again more of a disadvantage then their penalty kill.  They couldn’t capitilize on any of the man-up opportunities given and gave up countless numbers of odd-man rushes against in the process.  I’d be willing to venture a guess that Buffalo got their best chances when they were down a man.

But in the end they were able to pull this one out, just don’t be fooled.  Against a half decent team we would be talking about another terrible loss.  But as I said in the title, a win is a win is a win is a win and at this point that’s all that matters.  Maybe the Rangers can gain traction from this and get going.  I guess we’ll see this weekend.

With the Rangers lineup dwindling due to the injury bug, tonight’s lines have become a Lets Make a Deal of sorts.

· Behind Door Number One: The always underachieving Marcel Hossa will be thrust into the top line with Jagr and Gomez.

· Behind Door Number Two: Chris Drury will dance in between Brendan Shanahan and Greg Moore. Shanahan will be playing left wing.

· Behind Door Number Three: Nigel Dawes, Brandon Dubinsky and Petr Prucha

Now it’s just a matter of figuring out which door contains the $8,000 fur coat and which door has the donkey pulling the wagon that nobody wants. Boy, what a few hours of the Game Show Network will do to you.

Classic game show references aside, a big game tonight against the Flyers. The Rangers slide has taken them down to the bottom of the Atlantic (oceanic pun intended). Flyers stand one point up on the Blueshirts and are returning Simon Gagne to the ice after missing the last two months.

Steve and I will be back with a new show tomorrow. This team desperately needs two points, so we can have at least a partially positive show.

Well if the western Canada swing wasn’t bad enough, the Rangers have some new injuries to report. After only getting 1 point out of a possible 6 on the road trip, Martin Straka is out with a concussion. The man that has been credited with reviving the first line is out at least two games. Hopefully, Jagr and Gomez (who skated in practice with Nigel Dawes) will be able to keep up some offensive production in Marty’s absence.

• In other injury news, Brendan Shanahan is day-to-day with a knee injury. Don’t expect him to miss any game time even though he’s been out of practice.
• As Steve called for on the show last week, Ryan Callahan has been sent down to Hartford. This brings up the always traveling Nigel Dawes and Greg Moore.

After the free-agent acquisitions of Scott Gomez and Chris Drury this summer, the expectations in the big apple were high. However, instead of the Rangers dominating the first half of the season, it’s been quite a roller-coaster ride with the Blueshirts showing signs of brilliance and ineptitude during various stretches.

The Rangers began the year going 2-5-1, before going on a stretch of 12 games in late October/early November that saw them lose only twice. But that was only the pre-cursor to a dreadful 4-8-2 stretch in late November/early December that moved the Rangers to the brink of being outside the playoff picture. And all this was of course, just before the recent three-game winning streak by the Blueshirts to finish out 2007.

So the question is: Who are the real Rangers?

The answer: They are this most recent team that’s on a winning streak to close out the year. And here are the reasons why:

First of all, the Rangers finally have a bona fide 1st Line. After all of the shifting and mutations that this top line has seen, the current Jagr/Gomez/Straka line is here to stay. Since being united in the game against Pittsburgh on December 18, the trio has combined for 32 points in 7 games. This line will be one of the most potent in all of NHL in the second half of the season.

The Rangers second line is also finally coming together. For Chris Drury, the transition to New York has taken longer than many had hoped. However, over the past couple weeks, number 23 seems to be finding his grove. He’s been a monster on face-offs and in the last few games has started showing why he’s known in hockey circles as “captain clutch.” As for Shanny, the guy’s been a rock all season long and provides the necessary leadership needed on a championship team. And of course, there’s Sean Avery who, in my opinion, is this team’s MVP. If you look at the season, the Rangers have gone through their two slumps when he’s been out of the lineup. When he’s been in, the Blueshirts have looked like gangbusters. Barring injuries, this second line will be the perfect second half of a great 1-2 punch for the Rangers going forward.

The third line is where some questions lie. Ryan Callahan and Petr Prucha have both struggled to build off of a great opening night performance. Brandon Dubinsky has been very solid, but overall the trio isn’t adding much secondary scoring. However, I really like the way the line works and think that it’s all just a matter of time until the goals start to come. Ryan Callahan has scored at every level he’s been at and adds feistiness to a lineup that is sometimes lacking in that department. Prucha looks like he may have had a breakout game in Toronto on Saturday. He did suffer a wrist injury at the end of the game that kept him out a night later, but doesn’t appear to be serious. As for Dubinsky, there is no part of me that is worried about this kid. I really think he’s exceeded expectations this season and this year will prove invaluable to him as he learns to play the game at the NHL level. My prediction is that by the end of January this line will be pumping in a couple goals a week.

As for the fourth line, they’ve really been the one constant on a team that has seemed constantly in flux. They have been phenomenal against the opposition’s top line and on a rare night can even light the lamp. The one small complaint is that I’d like to see a little more of the rough stuff from Hollweg and Orr, but outside of that I really can’t ask for more than what they’ve given. When it comes to Betts, I think you’re talking about the best fourth line center in the league. He is as shut-down a forward as there is in the league and is as good a face-off man as they come. He’s also probably the best penalty killer the Rangers have, never hesitating to block a shot to make the play. I have no doubt that this line will continue their defensive dominance moving forward.

And speaking of defense, the top four on this year’s backline have been phenomenal. Marc Staal has settled into the NHL nicely and in him and Michael Rozsival the Rangers have a nice top pair. The second pairing of Girardi and Tyutin has exceeded expectations with Girardi forcing everyone to question how he could have possibly been passed over in the draft two years in a row! All four have also provided an offensive punch from the backline that was absent a year ago. This year’s Rangers defense has scored 24 goals already; only 6 less than last year’s total. The most prolific scorer of the bunch this year has been Roszival who is in the second in defensemen goal-scoring in the NHL with nine goals. Yet my criticism of the foursome lies with Roszival, who could have double his goal total if he would just shoot more. Roszi still defers too much to Jagr, passing up open shots to get the biscuit to number 68. He’s definitely doing it less than last year, but I’d love to see Roszival shoot more in ‘08.

Where the questions on the defense lie are in Paul Mara, Marek Malik, and Jason Strudwick. While Mara’s been fine defensively, you’d like to see him be more noticeable on the offensive end. He’s got a rocket of a shot that he very rarely uses. If he’s not going to provide the offense, then he’s a very ‘vanilla’ player. As for Malik, I’m one who believes the big guy gets too much criticism from the Garden crowd. 95% of the time he makes the right play, but the problem is that in the 5% of the time that he doesn’t, the puck usually ends up in the back of the Rangers net. When it comes to Strudwick it’s pretty simple. He’s a fine seventh defenseman, but the Rangers have used him WAY too much this season. He’s not a NHL regular (last year he played in Europe for most of the year because nobody wanted him) and his leadership skills aren’t important if he’s a liability on the ice.

Looking ahead, I’d say that if the Rangers make a move, look for one of those three to be involved, but specifically Mara and/or Malik. Both still have value and in the case of Malik, I don’t think he’d be opposed to a change of scenery. Marcel Hossa may also be on the block as it seems that there simply isn’t a place for him on this team right now.

On the goaltending end the Rangers are set. Not much needs to be said about the King and Valiquette has proven to be a worthy backup (and a cheap one at that).

So you may say, “This is a pretty optimistic look at a team that had been struggling badly just a few games ago.” Well it may be, but at this point it seems that everything has finally clicked into place. So much of the year has been spent trying to find the right spots for everyone and it seems like Renney and Co. have finally found them. The key for the second half is simple…STAY HEALTHY! This especially applies to Sean Avery who, as was said earlier, is the key piece on this team. When he’s gone everything else falls apart.

Barring any injuries, look for the Rangers to make a second half surge to take the Atlantic Division. I predict a second place finish overall in the East, losing out to Ottawa for the number one seed, but giving the Sens a scare in the process. When it comes to playoff time all bets are off. This team has all the pieces of a championship puzzle; the goaltending, the offense, the defense, the leadership and, of course, “captain clutch.”

In the end we’ll have to wait and see, but they have as good a chance as any.

So Jaromir Jagr isn’t having the greatest season of his career. Okay, okay, I know! I should really say, Jaromir Jagr is having the worst season of his career and is on pace to score only 18 goals, which is a little more than half the total he scored in 1994-95. For those of you that don’t recall, the ‘94-’95 season was only 48 games long!

So, the question now is what to do? It looks like the Rangers solution may be to trade the captain.

In the past couple of days, rumors have started swirling about the Blueshirts looking to move Jagr. Yesterday, the Ottawa Sun pointed to Detroit as a possible destination and today a rumor on bleacherreport.com has #68 going to Phoenix in a blockbuster of Jagr, Rozsival, and Prucha for Shane Doan and Ed Jovanovski.

Now, I’m not one who buys into rumors all that much, but I’m also a big believer in the theory of “where there’s smoke, there’s fire” and there are at least some definite fumes here.

I, for one, am not in favor of trading the big guy and am certainly against the supposed deal with the Coyotes. Jags went through a similar stretch last year (although not this bad) and eventually pulled out of it, becoming lethal during the stretch run.
Should he be the captain of this team? Well that’s a different story. Should he be back next year? Maybe not. But the fact remains that this team will only go as far as Jagr takes them.

Just a quick blog here, but Jagr’s performance last night is what a real leader does. The guy took a puck to the mouth, lost a couple teeth, got a fat lip, and didn’t miss a shift. And not only did “The Cap” not miss a shift, but he scored a goal…the winning goal.

Don’t underestimate how big that performance is to the team. It’s an inspiring performance from the leader of a team that needed inspiration. Once that puck went in you could feel the Blueshirts heave a collective sigh of relief and they were able to play their game from that point forward.

If the Rangers snap out of their funk and have a big next couple of weeks, you can point to this performance by number 68, as a big reason why!