Blog Archives

Part of the new upgraded NYRangerscast blog, we’ll link you to all the New York Rangers news that you need to know to start your day.  Links to blogs, beat writers and team sites will be listed below.  Let us know if there are any sites you think should be added to the list at hosts@nyrangerscast.com.

Rangers Report
So, what happens when an arena starts to crumble?  Apparently, you call up neighbors to see if you can crash at their place.  Rangers Reports looks at the possibility of relocation for teams at MSG.

NY Daily News
Jesse Spector asks the question, are the Rangers for real?  He also takes a breather before the Rangers start a stretch of 15 games in 27 days.

Blueshirt Banter
The guys at B.B. have your scoring chance summaries for the month of October.  Very interesting, analytical read.  Interesting stat, the Rangers are only producing one scoring chance for every 2 minutes on the man-up.  Not ideal.

NY Post
Brooks talks to Torts about Matt Gilroy.  Gilroy and Sauer are apparently sharing the role of “sixth defenseman,” while Eminger has secured the role as the fifth.  All three are uncomfortable playing on the left side.  Three lefts don’t make a right.

Ranger Rants
Andrew Gross is at practice today.  Ryan Callahan is not.  Gross will keep you updated all day long from the rink.

Does this mean the Rangers can win the Cup now? Okay, just kidding… Eric and I will be doing a show tomorrow afternoon. Get your questions/comments in at hosts@nyrangerscast.com before 5pm tomorrow. We’ve got a lot to talk about! Dubi-Anisimov-Cally continue to fly! Streaky Rangers. Eric trick or treats by himself? ESPN vs. Versus reaction. Parting shots! What’s on your mind?

Phew, here are the grades…

Offense: A

It’s no secret. When the forecheck is clicking this offense looks good, if not great. The top line is really looking unstoppable. Dubi’s second goal early in the 3rd period was a thing of beauty by Anisimov to Cally to Dubi. Turco didn’t even have a chance to react before the puck was in the back of the net. No surprise, the goal was a result of Anisimov getting in on the forecheck. Simply put, A+ for the top line and a solid job by the rest of the offense. More standout play by Prust and what a snapshot from Christensen (note: he spells his first name Erik, ’nuff said).

Defense: B+

There were a couple of ugly turnovers, including Girardi’s blunder that nearly allowed the Hawks to tie the game in the final seconds. That aside, the Rangers were able to keep the defending Cup champs in check. Obviously, the 30+ blocked shots standout in this effort. Great job frustrating a very potent Hawks offense all night.

Special Teams: B+

I consider going 3-4 on the kill against the Blackhawks to be a HUGE success. Just watching that Hawks PP was a thing of beauty. They have so many weapons, move the puck really well and can make a defense dizzy. The Rangers were able to block a lot of shots which also really helped them out. On the offensive side, I can’t say any one power play looked especially great. They had one BRUTAL PP during which I thought Chicago was going to get a shorty. But, Dubi’s second goal makes up for that bad PP.

Goaltending: B

Hank came up big when he needed to. He did give up a very soft goal to Kane which tied the game, but what you love to see is the offense picked him right back up 28 seconds later. No harm, no foul. Solid effort from Henrik outside of that goal.

Coaching: A-

Message clear: MUST play better at home. Finally, the Rangers showed up for a game at MSG. They played 60 minutes of hockey and beat the defending Cup champs. I said before the Leafs game that Torts and his staff needed to make sure his group came out focused and ready to play. If it didn’t, that two-game losing streak could have easily snowballed into a 3, 4, 5 game losing streak. Instead, the Rangers respond with back to back wins to set up redemption game #1 Thursday night in Philadelphia.

Another loss at the Garden. Here are the grades:

Offense: A-

Well, that Callahan-Anisimov-Dubinsky line sure looked good again. Lots of pressure from the offense with some great stretches of forechecking. 43 shots on goal. Yes, 43. Credit Cam Ward with a number of spectacular saves. Three goals should be enough on most nights with Hank in net, but…

Defense: F

…YUCK! This defensive effort was atrocious. Way too many turnovers in the neutral and defensive zones. Bottom line is the defense left Hank out to dry. Carolina could have just as easily scored 10 goals in this game. Poor, poor effort.

Special Teams: C

I think the PP gets an A and the PK gets a F. Thus, a grade of C. The power play was relatively sharp, creating a lot of chances and scoring twice. Staal got in on the act on a beautiful series of passes and a great finish…

…BUT, the kill didn’t get the job done. Yes, Dubi was interfered with off the face off on the game winning goal, but the Rangers can’t be making excuses. Cole was still left on the door step unmarked with an easy finish. Bottom line: special teams has been far too inconsistent. If the Rangers are going to win more than they lose they need to have this department be more reliable.

Goaltending: A-

I can’t give a higher grade because of the four goals against. Hank was fantastic. Like I said before, his defense left him out to dry. He made a number of crucial saves. Unfortunately, it was another wasted effort.

Coaching: C

What happened to that identity? This is starting to look like things of old. This team reeks with inconsistency. A lot of that has to fall on the players, but some of it has to fall on the coaching staff. This is also where the coaching staff needs to step in and make sure the team is focused to get right back at it tomorrow. The Rangers are struggling (again) to win at home, but tomorrow night it’s back on the road and they can’t let this snowball into a long losing streak.

We’re starting to get the Twitter machine cranking. Our hope is that we can reach out to more people via Twitter and continue to be an interactive blog/podcast. As we mentioned at the beginning of the season, we will post some fan tweets that tweet @NYRangerscast on the blog as long as they are appropriate. Thus, we have a fan tweet to post! This tweet provides an interesting perspective on the ESPN vs. Versus debate from a loyal listener in the U.K.

From Mark Dalby (@novahob):

@NYRangerscast being in uk we have acess to espn america which we get a good selection of games. i remember 1st watching years ago when espn broadcasted.i did used to like the commentry bill clement + cant rem name, & darren pang. thought it was really imformative about the game + facts about the teams. ive caught a couple of college games which espn do, and it brought back good memories. i must admit us/canadian sports commentators are lot better than in the uk, not sure why they just sound more informative.

Sounds like Mark is all for ESPN getting the television contract back next season for the NHL. I’m pretty sure the announcer he’s referring to is Gary Thorne. Gary was someone I mentioned in the podcast. Just a great hockey voice and a great hockey broadcast team in Thorne and Clement.

As for the announcer discrepancy between the U.S./Canada and the U.K….I think it just has to do with the total number of sports. In the U.K. you have so much soccer (football) and not a ton else that fans are crazy about. I think the European soccer announcers are way better than the American ones. In North America, there are just so many different sports that are popular and sports broadcasting as a whole is a much more popular profession. I can’t say I have a ton of credentials backing this opinion, but that’s just what I think.

Keep tweeting away! Also, if you haven’t voted in our Halloween poll (see post below) then do it. I’m feeling pretty good about Eric being the lone vote for the day before. We’ll have fun with this next podcast and bring out some of your thoughts on the ESPN vs. Versus topic that are in our mailbag.

Everyone can take a bit of a sigh of relief…

After the post-game press conferences we can thankfully say Rozsival hyper-extended his knee but is expected to be fine. Anisimov injured his ankle trying to block a shot. He will need an MRI tomorrow. Let’s hope neither have to miss any time.

Now for the fun part. After looking at the mailbag I noticed a few comments on the trick or treating debate in our last show. For some strange reason, Eric grew up confused as a child thinking that he was supposed to trick or treat on the day before Halloween. I had never heard of this unless Halloween was on a Sunday (school night) and people decided Saturday would be better so their kids can stay up late. Anyway, I created a poll to make sure I’m not crazy. Vote away! It is almost Election Day, after all.

A new Grade the Game version for tonight’s game. Eric and I both provide our grades and input. We were hoping this would be more of a celebration, but we have been brought back down to reality. Here they are:

OFFENSE:

Erik: C+

Four goals, yes. A goal within the first 30 seconds of the game, yes. But, in between the first 10 minutes and the late rally there was mostly a whole lot of nothing. The forecheck was so strong in the first 10 minutes and then totally disappeared and all of a sudden the effort looked rather uninspired. The Rangers offense made the Thrashers defense look like a stone wall. Ultimately, this grade comes as a result of something that plagued the Rangers all of last year: inconsistency. Perhaps the worst part of all? Anisimov left the game with an undisclosed injury. You don’t need me to tell you how scary this is.

Eric: B

Rangers scored four goals in this one, tough to complain about production. Grade gets downgraded, however, because even though the team did a great job offensively to get back into the game, they stunk it up the last 7 minutes. Plus, Artem Anisimov was shelved for most of the third with an injury. It’s just never over with these guys…

DEFENSE:

Erik: D

What was to like here? Bryan Little weaving in and out of defenders like it’s pee wee hockey, or the lack of physical play/taking the body? Too much stick checking and reaching. Roszival also limped to the locker room and did not return in the 3rd. Yeah, another obvious red flag that the Rangers can’t afford.

Eric: D+

A lot of turnovers from guys we don’t typically see turnovers from. Staal was beat badly on an early goal (hard to remember which one since there were five of them). Gilroy, Girardi and Rozi all had bad puck handling miscues in the Rangers zone. Every puck that seemed to be knocked down or blocked against New Jersey, got through tonight.

SPECIAL TEAMS:

Erik: C

Rangers only got one chance on the power play and I think forgot that they had one during those two minutes. They also gave up one on the kill. Nothing to be happy about here.

Eric: C-

Average at best.

GOALTENDING:

Erik: F

Yikes, Marty. The sun will come out tomorrow.

Eric: F

Oh Marty, we jinxed you. Not a great start by the Rangers backup. Not all the goals were his fault, but he was from the goaltender we saw in his debut.

COACHING:

Erik: C

Torts says he finally started to see a team identity during the 3-game win streak. He also said that streak is no big deal. He’s right. His team also forgot what he taught them during that win streak. Consistency. That did not exist tonight. Hank not being in net tonight is a hot topic of debate (see Eric’s grade). I agree Marty needed to get a start somewhere in that three games in four nights stretch, but the first one after a few days off? His message is clear abou the situation, but I don’t agree with it.

Eric: C-

I like the early timeout. I liked the adjustments made as the injuries kept rolling in (see: White goal). But, why wasn’t Hank in net? I understand he needs to get more rest, but it’s not like you were playing yesterday, he had three days of rest. Also, this team needs to start winning at home, part of that goes on the coaches to get the team ready to do that.

So there you have ‘em. Our first edition of full grades. What are your grades? We’ll have to keep an eye out on the Anisimov and Roszival injuries. If they have to miss any time things could really get dicey.

Eric and I talk about the nice 3-game winning streak the Blueshirts have put together, the best offensive line we’ve seen in a long time and the strong play of the Ranger defense (…including Rozsival?!). Also, Eric feels bad for the Devils??? I talk about something that could impact the NHL as a league for years to come. Check it out everyone!

***Eric and I will be doing a show tomorrow afternoon. Get your questions/comments in to us at hosts@nyrangerscast.com. Also, don’t forget to get on Twitter and/or e-mail us a blog post. We want your thoughts so we can post it on the blog!***

A lot to like from this one all around, so here are the very good marks.

Offense: B+

Three wins in a row and I really like what we’re starting to see from this offense. The top line of Dubinsky-Anisimov-Callahan put in another solid effort to lead the way. It’s still early, but we’re starting to get to a point where I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Is this finally the year we have the big time breakthroughs for Dubi and Cally? Maybe even the emergence of Anisimov? B+ to echo what Eric said last time…Ranger still weren’t able to make for a stress free 3rd period, although they were going up against Brodeur.

Defense: A

Good, physical play. I was worried about a breakout performance from Kovalchuck after the healthy scratch, but the defense was able to keep him in check relatively speaking. The Devils haven’t been able to find ways to score goals and the Rangers did a good job making sure they weren’t going to be an exception to that early season problem.

Goaltending: A

Another fantastic showing from The King. Are you surprised? Yeah, me neither. Hank always seems to save (no pun intended) his best stuff for the Devils. One of these days he will get that shutout, but for now one goal’s not too shabby!

Special Teams: B+

1 for 7 on the power play obviously isn’t outstanding, but the one power play goal by Callahan from Dubinsky was a thing of beauty. Even though the Rangers didn’t score more goals on the PP tonight it really seemed to be clicking. Lots of shots and scoring chances. I echo what Joe Micheletti said during the broadcast, Rozsival and Del Zotto are taking way more shots from the blue line which is really helping this PP unit open up the ice more and spread out the defense. The Rangers need Rozy and MDZ to keep being aggressive.

Oh yeah, New York was also 4-4 on the kill.

Coaching: A

This coaching grade is simply for the three game winning streak. As Eric started to see in the first of the three straight wins, there seems to be a plan. There is an identity being created here. Jim Cerny writes about it. The players are creating it. And I’m starting to believe it. Now, the magic question is will this continue to be built over the coming weeks and months or are we just seeing another flash of something nice before we are ultimately let down? I’m hoping for the former.

Redemption! This looks like it’s going to be another season of Rangers “Road Warrior” hockey.  Terrific effort from start to finish in a 2-1 victory at Toronto.  Mind you, this win is against a team that hadn’t lost in regulation in the first five games of the season.  Rangers start a road swing with a win, here are your grades.

Offense: B

I liked a lot of what I saw tonight.  The Dubinsky-Anisimov-Callahan line continues to go out and flurish.  Anisimov had the second Rangers goal of the game, that followed Fedotenko’s first goal as a Ranger.  Although the team only managed to score in the first period, they did pressure throughout the game, most notably on a shot off the post by Matt Gilroy.  Gustavsson played well and kept Toronto in contention.  Offense gets a B because they couldn’t score after the first period.  I want to see them put a game out of reach.

Defense: A

The best game the Rangers have played this season on the defensive end by far.  It actually looked like there was a plan.  Phil Kessel killed the Rangers in the first game against the Leafs, he was neutralized tonight.  The stat for blocked shots isn’t available yet, but the Rangers got in front of a ton of Leafs chances.  I thought the team stuck to their assignments and their game plan.  Only hiccup was by Girardi on the Leafs goal, but he had a great game aside from that.  I also liked seeing Gilroy and Sauer get playing time.

Goaltending: A+

Marty! Marty! Marty! Near shutout for the new Rangers backup.  This guy looked healthy and fresh in his debut in Blue and he played like a starter.  How about that breakaway save in the 3rd that kept the Rangers in the lead?  Loved it.  Only thing that could have been better is a shutout.  Maybe next time, Marty.

Special Teams: A-

Huge improvement from the Av’s game on the PK.  Toronto was 0-5 on the PP tonight, and I believe only managed 8 shots.  Rangers didn’t find a PP goal either but only had two chances.  I’ll give them the A- just for sheer improvement.  Again, this team seemed to have a plan tonight, that usually helps when trying to win games.

Coaching: A

Did I mention there seemed to be a plan?  That’s got to come from the coaching staff right?  You put a plan in place.  The plan works. You get an A.  Simple as that, folks.  I liked the move to take Eminger out for a game as well.  Bravo.

Those are my grades…What you got?

Part of the new upgraded NYRangerscast blog, we’ll link you to all the New York Rangers news that you need to know to start your day.  Links to blogs, beat writers and team sites will be listed below.  Let us know if there are any sites you think should be added to the list at hosts@nyrangerscast.com.

The day after links are below.  Another loss for the Rangers, hope you enjoyed Erik’s ratings of the game.  On a side note, make sure to hit us up on Twitter (@NYRangerscast) so that we can post some of your tweets this week on the blog.  Also, send us your rants and raves for Fan Post Friday’s, it’s your chance to write for NYRangerscast.

Ranger Rants
Andrew Gross tells us that there will be no call ups as of right now, just bigger roles for Christensen and White.  Also, Martin Biron will get a start somewhere in the next three games.

Rangers Report
LoHud has your Avs-Rangers wrap-up.  First line of the blog sums it up, “If this is Life without Gaborik, the Rangers are in trouble.” Amen.

Rangers Review
Inferno calls last nights game the Special Olympics. He, like me, says he doesn’t see this team succeeding when healthy, let alone when not.

NY Daily News
Daily news looks at the Rangers struggles on home ice.  Could this upcoming road trip be what the Rangers need to get back on the right track? Hope so.

Blueshirt Banter
The guys at B.B. take a look at the Rangers 2011 cap situations.  Yep, it’s already time to look ahead to next year!  At least the good news is the Rangers will have more than the 12 cents they had this year to spend on players.

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