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| Scott Levy/NHLI via Getty Images |
Another day, another game and
the same scenario played out for the New York Rangers this weekend. Once again the Rangers played two lousy
periods tonight and tried to mount a furious third period rally only to come up
short by a 3-2 score. The good side is
the same as last night in that this team does quit on a game and had its
chances despite only playing 20 minutes to get points out of the game, but the
bad is the same that they seem to love sleeping for two periods and battling
their ass off for one.
Speaking of repeating patterns
twice in the first period the Rangers would give up goals seconds after they
finished killing off a penalty. The
first was scored by Jeff Carter at 6:14 when he was left all alone in the slot
to tip a Matt Carle point shot past Biron.
At 14:54 of the period a very similar play would happen as again a
player left alone in the slot, this time Ville Leino, takes a shot and it has a
deflection off Ruslan Fedotenko and goes in to make it 2-0 Flyers. The first period was so bad that the Garden
booed the team as the period ended and it was well deserved.
In the second while on another anemic
power play the Rangers would give up a shorthander to Mike Richards off a
beautiful play by Claude Giroux at 4:25 of the second to make it 3-0.
There were signs of life at 8:32
of the period when a nice scrum broke out that started with Prust and Powe
though those two would never throw a punch.
Scott Walker had skated in and then Kris Newbury came over knocked
Walker down bringing Jody Shelley over to cross-check Newbury. At that point Brandon Dubinsky literally
leapt on Shelleys back like a jockey trying to mount his horse. While that happened Newbury got beat by Walker
and then Avery and Carle squared off and like a boxer Avery ducked under and
threw a right hand that flattened Carle.
The team would generate some
chances late in the second but none that seemed all that threatening. The story of the second though was the fact
that John Tortorella finally seemed to have enough of the pitiful results for
his star winger benching Gaborik for over 10 minutes of the period and only
playing him 2:25 in total for the period.
In the third period they would
buzz again starting mainly with the first goal on a bad angle goal by Wojtek
Wolski. Wolski took the feed from
Zuccarello drove in and around the defense and fired “from the side” and had
the puck sneak through on Brian Boucher at 9:13. That goal got the place alive again and the
team really dominated form that point on.
The same line would combine for
the second goal at 11:37 of the period when Wolski and Zuccarello did the work
behind the net and Zuccarello fired a beautiful pass out to Derek Stepan for
the one-timer to cut it to 3-2. Ironically
on the play Nik Zherdev threw the first hit of his career to knock Stepan down
and that is what would eventually leave him wide open for the goal.
- When an NHL team only has six forwards play for half of a period that shows you how bad the other six were.
- When Mats Zuccarello threw the body more than any other Rangers player for two periods that tells you all you need to know about the first 40 minutes
- When fans ask why their star winger is being put ON then ice instead of taken OFF that tells you everything
- The Rangers youth are doing their job. If a veteran would like to join it would be welcomed.
- Article Zuke and Stepan sparked: From Worlds Apart Zuccarello and Stepan Bring Rangers Present And Future Together
