A lot went on around the New York Rangers today starting
most notably with the Rangers finding a way to get
the two points behind Lundqvist, Boyle and Dubinsky most notably. The game was by no means pretty, but it was
another one of those examples of why this year’s club is different from prior
ones in that they come out with these wins in some form or fashion. Coach John Tortorella echoed those thoughts
to some extent in his postgame
press conference in which among other things he talked about the Rangers
having a certain mentality they play with.
Lundqvist was brilliant as he normally is against the Devils
and the two best Rangers offensive players over the course of the season had a
hand in all three of the teams goals and so while they were likely outplayed
over the course of the game they got the most important thing; the result. The full recap of the game has more complete
thoughts on the game, who played stood out most and as always details on all
the goals and big plays.
During the game the Rangers lost center Erik Christensen to
what is currently being called a knee sprain, but no timetable was given this evening
as to how long he would be out. In
response to the injury the Rangers announced tonight that they have recalled
Dale Weise from the Connecticut Whale.
Personally with the Rangers finally
sending Todd White to Connecticut this afternoon I thought Weise would be
here soon either way, but this certainly sped up the process. The question now is with losing Christensen
how the lines will shake out as the team has a lot of wingers and this might
mean Drury goes back to center on the fourth line. More detailed thoughts on all of that another
time.
This morning’s story was about the hot topic of yesterday whether
Michael
Del Zotto might go down to the minors and I looked at the pros and cons of
the move along with a potential option as a power play quarterback who is still
out there on the free agent market to fill that void along with a left handed
defender if they do send MDZ down. I am
very mixed at the moment on sending Del Zotto down, though moving more towards
liking the idea than I was previously because I think a large part of the
problem right now for DZ is what is going on with him and Torts. I do not think Torts is putting him in the
best scenarios to succeed in terms of whom he is paired with and matched up
against along with the way he is allowing him to play as he seems to be taking
away some of his biggest strengths and as a result DZ is playing scared
hockey. The biggest worry is obviously
that it will put Michael in the tank confidence wise like it did with Gilly
last year. More thoughts in the article.
This afternoon I looked at the rumors surrounding the
Atlanta Thrashers looking to move Niclas
Bergfors and whether the Rangers should get involved and overall depending on
the price I am intrigued enough by the talent to think it might be worth a
shot. Like I said it is very dependent
on the price though and so it is really about how badly Atlanta wants to move
him as with Torts it could flame out and I would not want to risk dealing
anything of real value.
In the video department there were a couple of entries: During the game there was a decent scrap
between Brian Boyle and Dainius Zubrus.
From the WJC there was video of Rangers 2010 6th round pick Jesper
Fasth scoring against Russia on a pretty play that showed a goal scorers aptitude
for me.
Finally in a story that will surprisingly make Rangers fans
very happy the Islanders and Rick
DiPietro managed to finally end the scoring streak of Sidney Crosby. Now let us hope that it means the end of that
hideous disease on the top of his lip.
