Rangers Relinquish Control of Own Destiny With Embarassing Effort in 3-0 Loss to Thrashers

The storyline for the Rangers going into tonight’s game against Atlanta was simple.  Find a way to win and get the two critical points to push closer to locking up a playoff spot or lose control of your own fate and have Carolina in control of what happens.  Things are never that easy for the Rangers or their fans as by the time the final buzzer went the Garden was mainly emptied out and the result was a disgraceful 3-0 loss to the Atlanta Thrashers.  Now the Rangers are left to scoreboard watch and hope that in game 82 they have a shot to get back some semblance of control with a win against the Devils.

The night started with tremendous emotion with the Steven McDonald Extra Effort Award being awarded to Brandon Prust for his tremendous battle this year.  During the award ceremony Steven McDonald fired up the crowd telling the Thrashers, “We win, you lose.”   Regarding the playoffs McDonald added, “We may be one of the last ones in, but we will not be the first one out.”  Too bad the Rangers did not play that way on the ice tonight.

After a very good first five minutes of the game the Rangers were badly outplayed by an Atlanta team that had absolutely nothing to play for which is absolutely unacceptable consider what was on the line for New York. Both teams had chances in the first but the goaltending stood the tests. 

At 7:42 of the second period Atlanta would get on the board with a goal from Rob Schremp after Henrik Lundqvist made multiple stops during the sequence. Schremp collected the loose puck in the slot and unlike the Rangers he finished his chance.  Just 15 seconds later the Thrashers would twist the knife a little deeper when Andrew Ladd broke down the left side and beat Lundqvist with a backhand shot.

The talk heading into the third was about the comeback against Boston on Monday, but that was more wishful thinking that anything based on this game.  Eric Boulton would finish off the hopes of that miracle comeback 4:19 into the third when he beat Marian Gaborik to the front of the net and tipped the puck up and over Lundqvist to make it 3-0.

The team made that miraculous comeback basically moot by handing over control of their destiny to Carolina who now with two wins and Buffalo with just one point can lock the Rangers out of the playoffs.

The only player that seemed to give a damn tonight was Henrik Lundqvist and for a tea that has prided themselves on effort all season that is embarrassing given the circumstances surrounding this game.

Rangers Prospect Carl Hagelin In Action Tonigh In NCAA Frozen Four

Tonight is a huge game for the New York Rangers in terms of their NHL playoff chances this season, but they will also have a prospect playing a massive game this evening when Carl Hagelin, 2007 6th-round pick, will lead his Michigan Wolverines in the Frozen Four against North Dakota.  The game will be shown on ESPN 2 at 8:30 so be sure to check in on it during breaks and following the Rangers-Thrashers game tonight.

In anticipation of that trip to the Frozen Four DJ Powers at Hockey's Future interviewed Hagelin about his present and the unfinished business from his last appearance along with his future plans for this summer.

Along with that Sean Leahy over at Puck Daddy interviewed Hagelin as well.

Gaborik Must Finish Or The Rangers Are Likely Finished

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To say that the impact of Marian Gaborik for the New York Rangers during the 2010-11 season has been mixed would be an understatement.  Gaborik has fought through multiple injuries during the course of the year and whether they were the cause or not he has suffered from inconsistency both in impact and pure numbers.  On the year Gaborik has accounted for 22 goals and 25 assists in 60 games, which are respectable totals but not close to what was expected coming off last season.  Gaborik can erase all thoughts of his struggles this season by playing to his status as the offensive superstar of this team for these next two games and helping to will them with his skill into the playoffs.

His game has picked up lately and his threat level is more noticeable, but at the same time he is not paid 7.5 million dollars a season to just be a threat.  He is paid to score goals and while his game has picked up he is not finishing as he has gone seven straight games without a goal to show for his efforts.  That will not cut it in these final two games.  The stakes are too high.  The race is too tight.  The team cannot afford to come up just short two seasons in a row and the onus offensively comes back to the guy who is supposed to be the star.

With Callahan out of the lineup the offensive burden falls even more to the shoulders of Marian Gaborik than it had before.  Gaborik was brought in here to be the primary scoring the Rangers were looking for and hopefully they could surround him with secondary guys to balance the lineup.  What has resulted instead is a lot of secondary scorers are having career years and the primary scorer forgot how to consistently finish and lead his team in the only way he really can.  He is now playing with Dubinsky and Anisimov in Callahan’s spot on what has arguably been the best line for the Rangers this season.  If this team is going to hold off the charging Hurricanes the Rangers will need for Marian Gaborik to be able to shoulder the load of standing tall like superstars are supposed to when the season is on the line.  It might be unfair to put that burden on one player, especially with how the team has had the collective identity all season long, but playoff time is when stars have to step to the forefront and this team will either be lifted by the goal scoring of their best offensive player or they will likely be home watching the other stars play in the extra season.

Prust, Rangers Will Not Back Down From Challenge On McDonald Night

Nothing comes easy for the New York Rangers and while it would be fun to have it all locked up nice and tight with two games to go it just is not the way this franchise works.  It seems each year there is the late season dash for the playoffs and they either just get in or just miss and this season is no different.  With Carolina getting a huge two points off the Detroit Red Wings last night the Rangers backs are against the wall again as while they control their own destiny at this moment anything short of points tonight will change that fact.  The combination of the Steven McDonald award before the game and the first game following the loss of their leader and the desire to rally for Ryan Callahan will being a level of emotion to the building that will be palpable.  Throw in the playoff situation and Madison Square Garden will be alive tonight I expect the Rangers to come out fighting. 

With that as the backdrop for tonight’s game who better to look to for the spark the Rangers need than the likely winner of the Steven McDonald award, Brandon Prust.  For me Prust is the most qualified player to step into the roles Ryan Callahan plays on this team in terms of the energy and tenacity of play.  It is why he will be the one that unseats Callahan as the McDonald winner.  Expect Prust to come out and make sure the team is ready early on, as he did against Montreal when he fought Travis Moen one second into the game.  The response from the crowd and the team that night makes it likely that he puts in that extra effort again tonight, as he has all year, to add to the juice that should already be flowing through the building.  It is what warriors do. 

I highlight Prust and his ability to fight to spark the team, but his contributions go far beyond just that aspect of the game.  His ability to forecheck and cycle plays right into the system that the Rangers seek to play and he combines that with defensively responsible hockey, a willingness to hit, block shots and tremendous penalty killing.  Those are things the team will be looking to maintain in their identity and Prust will not let them forget it.

Early in the year the role for Prust was mainly as the protector for all of his teammates when the opposition stepped out of line, but that role has evolved into so much more on the ice.  Tonight it will take all the roles Prust can play in order to help the Rangers protect the playoff spot they have worked the last 80 games to give themselves the chance to control.  There has not been a challenge Prust has backed down from all year, so expect tonight to be no different.

Rangers 2010 First Round Pick Dylan McIlrath Signs ATO, Will Join Whale This Week

According to the AHL transactions page , the Rangers have signed 2010 first round pick Dylan McIlrath to an Amateur Tryout (ATO) agreement with the Connecticut Whale.  Per Brian Ring  McIlrath is expected to report to the team this week.  McIlrath, 18, had 5 goals, 18 assists and 153 penalty minutes in 62 games during the regular season for the Moose Jaw Warriors of the WHL.  In the playoffs McIlrath was scoreless in their six game first round defeat to the Kooteany Ice.

The ATO allows McIlrath to play with the team this season and during the playoffs without having any impact on his entry-level contract which officially starts next season.  Dylan is allowed to play in the AHL despite being under 20 because his Junior team has finished their season, but next season he will have to either be in the NHL or back in the WHL.  Being around the professional game should be a very good experience for McIlrath and give him another sense of what it will take for him to be a professional player.  Look for Wade Redden to take McIlrath under his wing as he has done with all the young defenders for the Whale this season.

Locking Up Michael Sauer Should Be A Rangers Priority This Summer

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There have been a number of pleasant surprises for the New York Rangers during this season, but few if any have been as good as the play of rookie defenseman Michael Sauer. Coming into the season Sauer was seen by many as an afterthought even to make the roster.  His play throughout the year has not only changed that thinking, but made him a critical part of the Rangers defensive core now and into the future.  The 23-year-old defender has played himself into the top four on defense and has been arguably the best defender on the club the second half of the season.

There has been a lot of discussion this year about the necessary contracts for Ryan Callahan and Brandon Dubinsky along with some for Brian Boyle and Artem Anisimov but very little attention has been paid to the fact that Michael Sauer is also on that RFA list.  He will never be the flashy player on that list, the big name or the big producer but his steadiness this season has made him as important as any of those guys to the position the Rangers are in.  Normally I look at players have their best season in a contract year with skepticism and only want to give them a one year contract to prove it again, but with Sauer I don’t have those doubts because of that level of consistency he has played with every game this year.

Every night he steps on the ice you know you are getting a player with tremendous defensive awareness, positioning and attention to the basics.  Add to that a man who loves to hit, clears the crease and fights to defend himself and his teammates and you get someone you have to keep around this summer. 

What has come along more than most would have expected is his offensive contributions.  As with everything Sauer does his offensive improvement and impact is beyond the boxscore and stems from his intelligence.  He does a tremendous job of reading the play and knowing when to pinch to keep possession alive, when to slide down for a potential scoring chance and when to back out and play defense.  Those traits were on display Monday night against Boston as Sauer read the play beautifully and slid down to a position where he was able to take advantage of the hustle by the forwards behind the net and beat Tim Thomas for his second game winning goal of the season.  The goal was his third to go with 11 assists in 74 games this season while playing to a tremendous +18 rating.

Where would the Rangers be without Michael Sauer this season?  I for one do not want to find out as this summer the team should lock up the 23-year-old defender for at least two seasons at a price of 1-1.2 million per year.

Rangers Way Forward Without Callahan Is As A Unit

There is no good time to ever lose a player like Ryan Callahan from your lineup.  With Callahan down the team loses an excellent penalty killer, one of your best forecheckers, a key power play guy, one of their leading point getters, their second leading goal scorer, an unquestioned leadership figure and a lead by example/leave it all out there every night player.  There is no one player that can fill the void that him being out creates both on and off the ice.  What there is instead is a group of players that all season have found a way to persevere in the face of injury after injury and use that adversity to bring them together as a unit to get to the brink of making the playoffs.  What there is left behind without Callahan is a unit that makes no excuses and has an identity of how they must play in order to be successful. 

While losing Callahan is a huge blow to all of those things the team has to take comfort in the fact that they succeeded without him before and that the way he went down was in the mold of the identity they have created for themselves this season.  The beauty of this team has been about their willingness to sacrifice for one another whether it be statistically or purely with their bodies to do whatever it takes to win games and it was in that spirit that they lost their leader Monday night to a broken ankle.  It will also be in that spirit that they rally through it the best they can to replace the guy who most epitomizes the mentality that the team is trying instill as the organizational philosophy for how players will play.

“There’s nothing good about this,” head coach John Tortorella told reporters when confirming the news Tuesday. “But I think you need to try and turn it into something that will help your team even more during this crunch time. That’s the way we are going to approach it. This could galvanize our team even more.”

It is up to all the other guys in the locker room to embrace the challenge of losing the most consistent forward on the team and for all to do their part to be a little more like Ryan Callahan with each shift they step on the ice.  They did that to the tune of a 10-7-2 record when he was injured in December, but this is playoff time and the games are only going to be tougher and the loss felt even more.  There is no reason to write off this team even with the loss of Ryan Callahan because the basis for the Rangers success this season has been found in their resilience, fight and determination and they will continue to exert those now.

It will take a collective effort to rise to this challenge and there is nothing the Rangers have done better this season than play collectively.  They will need more from the Boyle, Prust, Fedotenko, Stepan, Anisimov for sure, but the four guys who really need to rise to the offensive challenge are Gaborik, Dubinsky, Prospal and Wolski.  Wolski might be the most surprising player in that group, but he is also one of the most offensively talented forwards on the team and his skill level was critical to the comeback win against Boston.  Dubinsky and Prospal are crucial both for their production but also for their ability to lead the team in their own ways.  Each has a very good feel for the emotional pulse of this team and have the ability to lift this team with that energy and fire when they play at the top of their game.

Finally there is Marian Gaborik.  In reacting to the loss of Callahan Gaborik had the following to say…

“Obviously he’s one of the best players on the team, and it’s a huge loss. We just have to play for him and try to go as far as we can so that he can hopefully come back.”

There is no forward on this team that has the ability to put the team on his back offensively in the way that Marian Gaborik can because at his best he is top scorer in this league and just as importantly a threat that must be accounted for.  He will not fill all the roles of Callahan, but others will chip in where the energy and leadership aspects go and the Gaborik must elevate his offense to alleviate the burden from others in pressing to find goals.  If he can do that, then the Rangers will be fine.

This team has been tested repeatedly this season through the adversity of injury and this is yet another test.  This test does come at the worst possible point in the season, but that only makes the challenge larger and the sweetness of the accomplishment better when they succeed in the face of it.  They are now without their leader, their most consistent forward and an irreplaceable piece to this club, but they will find a way to fight through it; they always do.

Gilroy Moves To Wing In Absence of Callahan, Rangers Choose Flexibility over Callup

The initial response to the loss of Ryan Callahan indefinitely is to move Matt Gilroy from defense up to right wing and go with no spare forwards at the moment.  Gilroy has not played forward for any consistent time in years, so there is certainly some concern over the move and questions as to why there is not a callup for Kolarik, Zuccarello or even leaving Newbury here.  I agree that this seems like an awful time to start experimenting with new positions, but the reason this move might make more sense than a callup is coach John Tortorella has gone with mainly three lines for some time now.  Thinking in those terms one would have to figure Gilroy will be on the fourth line and playing very limited minutes at even strength anyway. 

What putting Gilroy in the lineup does do is give Tortorella flexibility in terms of positioning if a defenseman is struggling on a given night as he could move Gilroy in his spot or rotate defense to lessen the ice load amongst the group.  Gilroy also has the ability to play the point on power play and having him as hybrid forward/defender with limited minutes would allow him to play that role without having to worry about any defensive concerns they have about him.  He has not been great on the point, but he has an upside for that position that could make it an option for the team in the short term.  The move also allows Tortorella the option to double shift Gaborik with Avery and Christensen to help dictate matchups and get Gaborik more ice time.

If the Gilroy experiment isn’t working or the Rangers need more of a spark then the move can always be made later.  In the meantime I would expect the following lines for tomorrow’s practice:

Dubinsky-Anisimov-Gaborik

Prospal-Stepan-Wolski

Fedotenko-Boyle-Prust

Avery-Christensen-Gilroy

Ryan Callahan Breaks Ankle, Out Indefinitely (w/video)

Injuries are nothing new to the 2010-11 New York Rangers season and it they have suffered another huge one with just days left in the regular season.  According to Bob McKenzie of TSN assistant captain and team leader Ryan Callahan suffered a broken ankle when he blocked a Zdeno Chara slap shot late in the third period of the 5-3 comeback victory on Monday night.

Update: The New York Rangers official twitter confirms the broken ankle for Callahan and has coach John Tortorella saying that the injury is long term with an indefinite return date.

To see Callahan get injured blocking a shot is no surprise as he was out for 19 games earlier this season from a broken hand he suffered blocking a shot against the Penguins.  It is that kind of courage to get in the way of that shot to preserve a one goal lead that makes Ryan Callahan the player he is and while we would all love for him to stay healthy if he did so by stopping playing like that we would not want that.

The Rangers have fought through injuries all season including Callahan’s earlier in the year where they went 10-7-2 without him and now they will have another test these last two games of the regular season and likely the playoffs without a key player in their team.  It will be up to other players to step up as this team has done all year when someone goes down.  The task is not easy, but this team has made no excuses and I do not expect that to start now.  The burden on Gaborik, and Dubinsky has just gone up to some extent, but they win as a unit so everyone has to do their part to replace a heart and soul player like Callahan.

Followup: Rangers Way Forward Without Callahan Is As A Unit

Video of the play:

Rangers Resilency, Determination, Sacrifice Should Make All Fans Proud To Cheer

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The New York Rangers comeback win against the Boston Bruins is one of those that people will look at as season defining partially because of the time of year it happened and what was on the line at this point in the year.  Hopefully what will not get lost in the shuffle is how last night’s game was a product of the identity and system this team has been built on all season.  One thing you can rarely say with this Rangers team is that they lack effort, heart or fight.  They have their nights where it goes horribly wrong, but those are few and far between.  What you see with a much greater frequency is a team that no matter the situation battles and scraps their way until the final buzzer and more often than not that hard work and sacrificing mentality is rewarded with a result that leaves the players with the sense of accomplishment and satisfaction and the fans with a sense of pride for cheering for this particular group.

Last night against the Bruins was just one of those events.  Early in the game there was frustration and even despair for some at the way the team looked to be outclassed by Boston for the first period.  Having watched this team all year no fan should have given up them at that point because whether they completed the comeback or not you had to expect the effort to get there would be forthcoming and it was.  The resiliency and fight of this team is something that should never be discounted and once Vinny Prospal broke the seal on the scoring for the night you just had this sense they were going to find a way as they have many times before this season.

From Andrew Gross post-game wrap up last night:

“We’ve been this way all year long,” Tortorella said about the resiliency the team showed in coming back from a three-goal deficit. “We haven’t played a lot of bad games. This team has balls. It has had balls all year long.”

This team is certainly one that is certainly greater than the sum of its parts and uses those intangibles to get through the rough moments.  There is no denying they have a world class goaltender in Henrik Lundqvist who should be considered, but likely won’t win the Vezina and they have an All-Star defender in Marc Staal.  Outside of those two, with Gaborik having an off year, the talent level on this team is not nearly as high as just about any other team currently in playoff position.  They have to be a team that grinds you, that plays their system in order to have a chance each night, but it is their heart and determination that carries them more than anything else. 

You watch this team that is built on an identity which at its core is based on the idea of sacrificing for the rest of the guys in the room.  You see in how they forecheck and cycle the puck on offense with the willingness to take the punishment and you see it even more on defense where they constantly hurl themselves in front of shot after shot with no thought for their own health or safety.  The evidence of that is the last 90 seconds last night after the two huge goals to take the lead you have Brian Boyle and Ryan Callahan diving in front of Zdeno Chara bombs to preserve the comeback.  It is that kind of work that allows the comeback to possible at all.

“They are there every night doing that,” goaltender Henrik Lundqvist said. “I think everyone is doing a great job paying the price.  We are going to need it.  We are going to need guys to sacrifice their bodies.  That is the way we play…we play hard.  When we do that we have a much better shot to win.”

There will be ups and downs in a game or in the season as these are still the New York Rangers and they love to make it interesting, but this Rangers team is different than ones from previous seasons as they give you reason to believe and be proud nearly every night.  With the effort that they put in, the heart that they show and the resiliency they continue to reward the fans with there should never be a point where someone quits on this team.