The New York Rangers continued their brutal week on the schedule looking to sweep for very good teams, but they would come up short this afternoon as Zherdev would burn them with 2 goals in the 4-1 Flyers victory. The game recap talks about all that happened including some good things the Rangers should take away from the game even though they lost and certainly some things that need to be worked on not just against the Flyers but in general to take the next step. Even in the loss the Rangers have to be happy with a 3-1 week considering who they were playing and now they get four full days off to work on things before taking on Stamkos and the Lightning for a second time.
This morning before the game I took a look at the buzz phrase for the Rangers in terms of “the core” and whom I would include in the core for the Rangers going forward. I chose eight players from the current roster and ranked them in order of when I would pick them to be on the list. Many of the names I chose will be pretty common I think amongst Rangers fans, but there could be a surprise or two. My guess is the surprises might be higher in the people that I left off the list than those whom I put on it. Let me know who you think should and should not be on the list.
Most of the rest of the day was spent talking about rookie Dale Weise who made his NHL debut for the Rangers in the game. Late last night I put up his 2009-10 video highlight package so that people unfamiliar with him could get a feel for his game and what to expect. During the game Weise would play 6:43 in the game and have one shot nearly go in another goal that was taken off the board and a fight with Dan Carcillo (video) which he would win to close out his day. Weise played his game, which is a strong physical game where he bangs along the wall and heads for the net, and is not afraid to fight which is what the Rangers need out a fourth line guy right now. Despite the way he played and the team being happy with him Weise was sent back to the Connecticut Whale mainly because the Whale have two more games before the Rangers play again. Inside the link on his demotion is my expectation of when he will be back up with the club. Finally for Weise after the review of the goal that was said to be a kick he went back to the bench to drink his Gatorade and comedy ensued as the top popped in his mouth and the Gatorade ended up all over him. The video is great.
Finally tonight from around the NHL there were a couple of great items that I put up. The first was a hilarious move by the Green Men of Vancouver who taunted a Maple Leafs player by tossing waffles outside the penalty box. It was not the only taunting they would do on the night as the video in the story will show, and honestly I am a little jealous that Vancouver has these guys and New York doesn’t.
The other happened out on the Island at the Mausoleum where Kyle Turris during the shootout played the puck to his skate and then kicked it back to his stick before scoring the clinching goal against the Islanders. For those who saw the Omark goal last week this one was better in my opinion and the flare had more to do with the actual play this time.
