Posts tagged ‘Penguins’

Well, maybe that’s going a little over the top, but according to Sam Weinman’s Rangers Report Mess and his dad were at the morning skate today and did a little locker room mingling after.  Perhaps another guarantee is in the works?  Probably not, but you’d like to think that a few words by Mess to the right people could put things in perspective and shake this team out of its funk.  We’ll see.

Also, as per the Rangers Report and Steve Zipay’s Blue Notes tonight’s lines will have a much different look to the one’s we’ve seen the past few weeks.  They are as follows:

Avery-Gomez-Jagr

Dawes-Dubinsky-Shanahan

Straka-Drury-Prucha

Hollweg-Betts-Orr

What I like about these lines is that you spread around the energy.  On each line you have at least two players that always seem to be buzzing and giving it their all.  On the top line you’ve got Avery & Gomez, the second line’s got Dawes & Dubinsky (I’m not saying Shanny isn’t always giving 100%, but the injury seems to have slowed him considerably), on the third line you’ve got Straka & Prucha and the fourth line’s the same as its been.

The one thing I would like to see is Straka and Drury flip places.  Dru seems to be more of a finisher then a playmaker and may be better suited for the wing.  Because he’s a good face-off man, I’d still like to see him taking the draws, but then switch up positions with Straka during the action.

Also reported, Marek Malik will make his return to the lineup.  Coming out in his place…Paul Mara.  That’s right, dum-de-dum-dum, that means Jason Strudwick will once again take the spot in the lineup of an NHL caliber defenseman. 

Outside of that though, these new lines should inject some much needed energy into this lineup and the Rangers better hope that it does.  If not, the Rangers may find themselves in as low as 14th place at the all-star break.

——————————————————————————————————————————–

Some notes from around the NHL:

The Penguins announced today that star Sidney Crosby will be out for a total of 6-8 weeks with a high ankle sprain.

And after months and months of speculation John Ferguson Jr. was finally handed his walking papers by Toronto.

Hey guys.  So tonight we’re going to try something new.  We will be live blogging throughout the course of the game.  Everything will be on this post so keep checking back for updates and use our comments section at the end of the blog to respond.  Let’s get a good conversation going!

 Another big one tonight.  Shanahan out again tonight, but hopefully him and Avery will be back on Wednesday against Buffalo.

Here we go!

7:07 p.m.: They just put up Ty Conklin’s numbers on Versus.  9-0-1 in his first ten starts for the Pens…whew.  Set up for a fall?  We’ll see…

7:12 p.m.: Well that was fast.  Love that to start the game.  Two heavyweights going at it and setting the right tone to the game…

7:17 p.m.: Mara holding penalty.  The Rangers need to avoid the penalty parade tonight if they want to be successful…

7:18 p.m.: …and that’s exactly why!  This team has too many weapons to give opportunities to…

7:25 p.m.: Wow.  Not much more you can really say about that one.  Sid the Kid just taking it to another gear and Malkin finishing.  The Rangers need to pick it up…

7:32 p.m.: Another penalty.  This is getting bad early.  An absolute must to kill this one off!

7:43 p.m.: This has got to stop.  If this game keeps up like this, the win against Montreal is completely moot…

7:45 p.m.: Horrible, undisciplined penalty and for the fourth time in three games the Rangers are down two men…

7:46 p.m.: It’s time now for Tom Renney to make a point! I want to see those who aren’t skating and are taking undisciplined penalties punished.  Take away ice time and give it to the people who are playing hard…

7:50 p.m.: Horrible, absolutely horrible period.  If the Rangers have any shot at all they MUST score on this power play to start the second.

8:18 p.m.: And that right there is the reason Conklin is 9-0-1 so far…

8:24 p.m.: I’m sorry, but the fourth line cannot get more than 4 more minutes total in this game.  It has nothing to do with them, but trailing 3-0 Renney needs his offensive players on the ice…

8:29 p.m.: MUST SCORE NOW!

8:42 p.m.: Frustrating, frustrating period.  An absolutely dominating session by the Rangers, but nothing on the scoreboard.  But this is what happens when you stumble out of the gate.  It will take an absolute miracle for the Rangers to claw back into this one…

9:02 p.m.: Woah! Close one there for Crosby and Malkin…

9:07 p.m.: Honestly how much do you think it would cost to buy a goal? I’d start the bidding at $10,000…

9:14 p.m.: GOAL!!! Looks like Sather wired the ten-grand to the Penguins.  Finally, they capitalized on the man advantage and now have a punchers chance.  Need to put another one in before the five minute mark…

9:16 p.m.: Unbelievable, but then again believable.  Did you really expect anything else?  The Rangers don’t know how to do anything else the last few weeks, but kill their own momentum with unnecessary penalties.  Game over…

9:31 p.m.: Malkin hat trick and that’s all she wrote.  The Rangers were the better team for the 2nd and 3rd periods, but the story of this game is the same as its been for the last few weeks.  It takes 60 minutes to win a hockey game in the NHL and at this point the Rangers just don’t seem committed to do that night in night out.

9:36 p.m.: Some rough stuff now to end the game.  It would be great to see Staal use his size a little more like that night in and night out.  Not necessarily fighting-wise, but he’s got the stature and the history to become that physical shut down defenseman that the Rangers sorely lack right now.

Thanks everyone for checking in tonight on the first live blog for NYRangerscast.  We’re going to try and do as many of these as we can.  Don’t forget to check out the newest podcast episode tomorrow as we recap the games against Montreal and Pittsburgh.

Also, remember that there a few days left to enter the “How to Fix the Rangers” contest.  Send in your ideas to us at hosts@nyrangerscast.com.  Again, the winner will recieve a $25 Gift Certificate to Shop.NHL.com.  The winning entry will be announced on Friday’s episode.

Now I know Steve and I promised a big show for Monday…we may have lied. Dont worry, no need to panic, it will all be alright. Steve and I will be back in full throttle (Charlie’s Angels 2 Style) tomorrow. We have decided to push the show a day in order to talk not only about the win against Montreal, but the forthcoming game against Pittsburgh.

Also, just a quick point about tonights game. After the win against a very good Montreal team, if the Rangers can go on the road and beat an ultra-hot Pens team, they will be saying a lot. Two wins against quality teams will be a great starting point for a significant play off push.

AND SPEAKING OF A PLAY-OFF PUSH….Id like to hear some thoughts about the rumors surrounding Curtis Joseph. CuJo has been looking around at various teams and the Rangers name has been thrown out there. Do you think a veteran back-up is significant enough of a move? Is it even a move you want to make, when backup goaltending has not been a huge concern. I’d like to hear some thoughts on the topic, get the discussion going in the comments section of the blog.

UPDATE 4:15 p.m.: Never mind the CuJo talk.  According to ESPN.com Joseph has signed on with the Flames.   

We have gotten a great response to our contest on how to fix the Rangers. Remember you have until Friday to get your solutions into hosts@nyrangerscast.com

Steve and I will be blogging during and after tonights game. Remember folks one win is nice, but when you get two in a row…thats called a STREAK!

GO RANGERS!