Brandon Dubinsky Telling the Canucks Bench How He Feels

McDonagh's Rising Offensive Confidence Raises Ceiling For Defenders Potential

The evolution of Ryan McDonagh continues and with each passing game the 22-year-old defender takes his game to another level for the New York Rangers.  Last week I took a look at how far McDonagh has come since last year at this time and that he has developed into a top caliber defender that has made the loss of Marc Staal significantly less noticeable than many would have expected.  Last night was another example of how McDonagh not only is taking on the challenge of filling the huge void Marc Staal’s absence leaves on the blue line defensively, but his offense is evolving.  When discussing his offense last week I wrote:

Offensively McDonagh is still a work in progress, but he is gaining in confidence.  The confidence shows itself in him having less hesitation to shoot the puck or even join the rush.  Joining the rush got the Rangers in trouble in the first game when he was called for a phantom penalty in the offensive zone, but the aggressiveness is something the Rangers want to see more of from him. 

The confidence was on full display in the third period against the Canucks as McDonagh pinched deep finding himself open in the slot to take the Brandon Dubinsky feed and beat Roberto Luongo for the Rangers second goal.  Scoring the goal on emboldened McDonagh to be more aggressive on the offensive end and he showed that he can combine his tremendous skating ability with skill and instincts as he danced around would be defenders and then made a perfect pass to Marian Gaborik for a tap-in goal late in the final period.

When healthy, the New York Rangers possess arguably the best top four on defense in the NHL as each of Staal, Girardi, McDonagh and Sauer can play against top lines and be a shutdown defender.  The problem with that grouping is that none of them have truly been able to be a consistent threat on the other end of the ice, but McDonagh has those type of skills if he remains confident in his game.  The Rangers are certainly hoping that Michael Del Zotto and Tim Erixon can use their noted offensive skills to provide that threat from the blue line and combine with the shutdown defenders to make a formidable defensive corps.  

There has always been hope that Staal would take another step offensively and he has shown those flashes, but of the top four from last season it might be McDonagh who is best equipped to become the complete package as a two-way defender.  McDonagh was originally seen as an offensively skilled defender when he was drafted by the Montreal Canadiens 12th overall in 2007, but his focus shifted to defense first during his time at Wisconsin.  Now that he has established he is more than capable of being an excellent defensive defender at the NHL level, and the confidence that comes with that, McDonagh can allow his natural talents to display themselves offensively.

There are few who doubt that McDonagh is going to be a stalwart in the NHL for a long time regardless of whether the offense ever fully develops, but with each step forward his offense takes, the ceiling for him grows exponentially.  Aside from the stellar start of Henrik Lundqvist and possibly the play of Dan Girardi, the elevation and maturation of Ryan McDonagh to start his second season has been the biggest positive of this young season for the New York Rangers.

Lundqvist Brilliance Steals Rangers First Win of Season

The New York Rangers tallied their first win of the 2011-12 season by defeating the Vancouver Canucks 4-0.  That score is in no way indicative of the game that happened in Vancouver this evening.  New York scored all their goals in the final 20 minutes and if not for the stellar work of Henrik Lundqvist the Rangers would have been blown out before the final period even began. 

Lundqvist was unbelievable on the night making 40 saves to record his 36th career shutout.  Lundqvist kept the Rangers alive for two periods as they were outshout 28-9 before the rest of the team decided they wanted to join in on the action.

Mike Rupp kicked off the scoring 2:22 into the final period when he converted a Michael Del Zotto rebound in behind Roberto Luongo.  This was the kind of goal the Rangers have not been getting thus far and gave them the surprising 1-0 lead.  Lundqvist would be tested and make a couple of huge saves to keep at 1-0 before the Rangers opened the floodgates.

Ryan McDoangh made it 2-0 at 9:57 when he took a beautiful feed from Brandon Dubinsky in the slot and fired it over Luongo’s shoulder.  Brian Boyle made it 3-0 when he took a great saucer pass from Ruslan Fedotenko on the type of shift that the line was known for last season.  Brandon Prust won a great battle in the defensive zone, played the puck ahead to Fedotenko who found Boyle for the finish.

McDonagh would get in the act again with just 2:21 left when he did his best Brian Leetch impression dancing through the Vancouver defense and finding Marian Gaborik wide open at the side of the net for the tap-in.

• Lundqvist showed tonight that the only thing standing between him and a Vezina, if not a Hart trophy this year is the play of the rest of his team.
• McDonagh was a beast tonight on both ends of the ice and his growth continues to astound.
• Del Zotto was excellent on the goal and then proceeded to screw up much of the good will immediately after when Edler schooled him and then took a penalty.
• Brandon Dubinsky has been awful so far this year and his penalties are hurting the team severely.
• Callahan has done little to nothing since the first game
• Prust went from benched and in the doghouse during the second period to have two assists
• The penalties still need to end

Video: Vancouver Canucks Pay Tribute To Rick Rypien

The Vancouver Canucks paid tribute to Rick Rypien before tonight's game against the New York Rangers.  The tribute to the Canuck who lost his battle with depression during the off-season was a beautiful one and all involved should be honored.

Penguins' Kris Letang Suspended Two Games For Boarding Alex Burmistrov

Brendan Shanahan, the NHL's ruler on player discipline, has handed out his latest suspension, this time it was for two games to Kris Letang of the Pittsburgh Penguins. Letang was called for a two-minute minor penalty during the third period of Monday night's game against the Winnipeg Jets when he rode Alexander Burmistrov into the boards in the offensive zone.

Shanahan stressed in his explanation that Letang clearly acted as if he knew Burmistrov would get the puck first, making this not a race for the puck but a defensive play by Letang.  Also factoring into the decision were the "predictable" path that Burmistrov took to the puck making it Letang's responsibility to let up on the check and the fact that Letang was fined for a similar hit in April 2011.

The two game suspension is somewhat surprising given that there was no injury on the play and that Letang has never been previously suspended.  A fine or a one-game suspension likely would have been sufficient, but it appears the fact that Letang was recently fined had a large impact on both the decision to suspend and the length of punishment given.

Rangers Stressing Need For Quick Start Against Emotional Canucks

The New York Rangers head into Vancouver tonight in search of their first win on the season and facing a Canucks team that is getting reinforcements on the ice and emotion from the pre-game ceremonies.  The return of Kesler to the lineup adds a completely different dimension to the Canucks lineup as it is no longer a one line team, but adds to the team defensively and their edge as well.  The pre-game ceremonies to honor the late Rick Rypien will only add to the energy in the building.  According to Marian Gaborik and Jeff Woywitka via Blueshirts United the Rangers are well aware of how critical the start of the game will be tonight.

Gaborik:

The start is going to be huge, they always come out strong in this building. So we need to bang some bodies, be physical, and play a quick game. We need to try and play five-on-five and play in their end, shoot as much as we can, and hopefully play with a lead. We need to get our first win.

Before the Islanders game it was Christensen talking about the sense of urgency and how the rivalry must fire up every player on the team and now we have Gaborik talking about banging bodies.  Like Christensen the other day, Gaborik is exactly right that the Rangers need to do those things, but it is still weird having it come from his mouth.  The Rangers do need to get back to playing their style and establishing the game in Vancouver’s end early and often.

Woywitka:

We're going to make sure we are respectful and pay our respects to a guy who was a good teammate here in Vancouver and whose loss was a tough one in the hockey world, but once the whistle blows and it's time to get going, we know that crowd will be energized and we're going to have to make sure we match their intensity. The first ten minutes or so we know they will be charged up, so we will have to match that, weather the storm, and then get rolling.

Vancouver will certainly have energy, but I expect that the Rangers will have a tinge of desperation to get off to a fast start as they search for their first win.  The best way to “weather the storm” of emotion that will be in the building is to take the play to the Canucks, get an early lead and take the crowd out of it.

Torts Looks To Punishment To End Rangers Penalty Problems

The New York Rangers have been in the penalty box far too often in their first three games this season.  The team has been shorthanded 19 different times thus far and it has cost the Rangers two games as the Los Angeles Kings scored the game-winner in OT while on the power play and the Islanders had two goals with the man advantage on Saturday.

According to Pat Leaonard of the Daily News, coach John Tortorella has turned to punishment to attempt to curb the parade to the penalty box.

When Rangers defenseman Jeff Woywitka tripped up a forward in practice Monday, John Tortorella made all of his players drop and do 10 push-ups on the ice at Rogers Arena.

"No penalties here," Tortorella barked.

There is no way to tell if this will work at all, but Tortorella is certainly backing up his disgust over the penalty situation from Saturday night's post-game talk.  This does feel a little gimmicky as it is a sort of punishment that would be better served with guys losing ice time instead.  The only part that appeals is the team aspect of the punishment so you get peer accountability as well.

The Rangers will certainly need to show more discipline tonight as the Canucks offense thrives on the power play having converted five power play goals in their 21 chances this year.  That power play only gets more lethal with the return of Ryan Kesler tonight.  The Rangers should certainly hope the message got through and there are no need for pushups following tonight's game.

Sauer Not Playing Tomorrow, Wolski Unlikely

The good news on Michael Sauer is that he was back on the ice for practice for the first time since returning from Europe.  The bad news is that Sauer will not be able to play tomorrow against the Canucks. Sauer explained the approach that they are taking per Blueshirts United:

"We're taking it in steps, both on ice and off ice," Sauer explained. "They want me out there making passes and stuff, but not ripping it hard yet. Just being out there handling the puck and being with the boys is great in of itself. I just need to get (the shoulder) strong, get it healthy."

Forward Wojtek Wolski (groin) was also on the ice, but it doesn't appear that he will play tomorrow either as he is talking about how he has not had enough practice time.

Have Rangers Lost Their Toughness?

A large part of the New York Rangers identity last season was being a hard/tough team to play against.  The reason for that emphasis was because the Rangers knew that on many nights they would be the inferior team in terms of pure talent, but effort and hard work would carry them through in many situations.  Chris Botta at Slap Shot wonders what has happened to that identity of toughness early this year.

Down: Rangers’ Toughness – So maybe Sean Avery has lost enough of his edge for the pesky wing to no longer merit a job as one of the Rangers’ top 13 forwards. But something is amiss with the Blueshirts. It’s one thing to be winless in three games to start the season; it’s unacceptable to be an easy team to play against. The Rangers need to upgrade their toughness quotient or opponents will continue to skate into their end without a care in the world. Calling up Kris Newbury and demoting Mats Zuccarello to the minors, as Glen Sather did after the loss on Long Island, is not enough.

If Botta is referring directly to the need for more enforcer/goon types, then I am going to disagree with that as the issue here.  The Rangers do have been an easy team to play against to start the season and it is not because of a lack of enforcer type presence as Prust and Rupp can be that in terms of fighting.  The problem has been their inability to use their strength on the forecheck to punish teams and wear them down.  The only game they did this with any real consistency was against the Kings and you could see the impact as the game wore on.  Part of the problem in establishing the forecheck has been the constant penalties which disrupt any rhythm and momentum that could be built at even strength. 

The other part is that the Rangers seem trapped between wanted to exploit the abilities of skilled players like Gaborik and Richards while trying to remain as they were last season and they have failed to find that balance.  That part of the problem should be alleviated to some extent with Stepan showing early returns on the top line and allowing Dubinsky to go back to playing with Anisimov and Callahan while Fedotenko returns to Boyle and Prust.  Those two lines were the ones that were responsible for forming the Rangers toughness identity last season as they hit all that moved and used the forechecking style to create their offense.  Getting back to a dirty work type game is exactly what the Rangers need to do for their own offense and to be tougher to play against.

Taking A Step Back From The Ledge After Rangers Slow Start

At 0-1-2 with three subpar performances under their belt it is ok to be upset with the New York Rangers and how they have started the 2010-11 season.  However, the level at which some are sounding off and looking for a lifeboat is a little out there.  The bad news is that they have had three bad outings with way too many penalties, not enough offensive chances, have failed to establish a consistent forecheck in any game, the power play still doesn’t generate enough of a threat.  

All of those things are perfectly legitimate criticisms, but even with all of those things against two very good Western Conference teams they managed to get a point out of it and against an improving Islanders team they were in the game with a shot to win in the third period.   That for me is actually a positive because it is tough to imagine that they will continue to play this poorly for the next 79 games, thus the results should improve.  That brings me to the positive things out of the first three games that seem to get ignored because the final score is all that matters for some.

Henrik Lundqvist looks locked in as he has surrendered seven goals in three games while stopping 84 shots against.  His goals against is at 2.23 and save percentage is .923 which is almost exactly where his numbers ended last season (2.28 GAA, .923 SV%).  

Derek Stepan showed he can be the answer to the questions surrounding the top line left winger as he looked like he had been playing with Gaborik and Richards since training camp opened.  Gaborik and Richards have shown excellent early chemistry with one another as Gaborik is skating like he did during the 2009-10 season and Richards passes allow him to take advantage of that burst.  Obviously the line will have to be more impactful throughout games than they have been in the first three, but the seeds are there for a special line that can carry an offense.

The play of Dan Girardi and Ryan McDonagh has been phenomenal and while there have been breakdowns from other defenders, the way the defense has played without Staal at all and no Sauer against the Islanders should be somewhat encouraging.  Losing two of the top four defenders is something that would cripple most teams, but the Rangers have battled through reasonably well in the early going.

It is easy to go nuts over the 0-1-2 record and the overall uninspiring performances of the team thus far, but just like 3-0-0 doesn’t mean you are going to be having a parade in June, 0-1-2 does not mean you will miss the playoffs and the world is over.  There are 79 games to go in the season, so let us all take a step back, look at what is and what is not working and realize there are 2 points to be had in the next game.