Mats Zuccarello Sent Down To Connecticut, The Right Move For Him

According to the AHL transactions log the New York Rangers have sent forward Mats Zuccarello down to the Connecticut Whale.  The move is not that surprising considering Zuccarello was a healthy scratch for two straight games prior to last night and was largely ineffective during his ice time against the Islanders.  This past Sunday I wrote that sending Zuccarello down to the minors was the right move if he was either going to be scratched or play under 10 minutes a game because at this stage of his career playing time is the most important thing. 

Zuccarello has special skills and will be a very solid NHL player when the time comes, but right now he is inconsistent and still has things in his game that can use work.  Going to the Whale and playing 20 minutes a night in situations that allow him to better succeed is the best thing for him long term. On the season Zuccarello, 23, has 6 goals, and 16 assists in 40 games for the Rangers.

Rangers Go From Seen As Contenders To Hoping To Avoid Playoff Collapse In Just Days

What a difference a few days makes.  Just two days ago the New York Rangers were being talked about as a potential sleeper team to come out of the Eastern Conference and potentially with the Stanley Cup by Puck Daddy.  It was certainly difficult to argue with the timing considering the Rangers were on an 8-1-1 stretch that had seen them win with huge offensive outputs and win purely on defense along with the goaltending of Henrik Lundqvist.

“There's a lot to like with the Rangers right now. They can win by scoring goals, having popped in more than four in five of 12 games this month. They can win the close ones: Witness the 1-0 victories against Florida and Boston last week. They pay the price, blocking more shots (1,299) than any team in the NHL. And then there's Lundqvist, who has been like a force field back there at times.

Is it time to move beyond the fact that this team is going to be a pain in the rump to face in the Eastern Conference playoffs, and start treating the Rangers as serious contenders to make a run this spring?”

Fast forward after two bad performances that resulted in losses and the focus shifts back from what the Rangers can do in the playoffs to whether or not they will even get in.  Their seven point lead on Carolina that had fans counting down the magic number is suddenly down to just three points.  Now the scoreboard watching ramps up again and the fear is not about choosing which opponent they want to play in road one, but if the team will manage to hold the spot in the new season at all.  After the disappointment of last year and missing the playoffs by just one point the last thing this franchise needs would be a collapse in the last six games leave them just short once again.


Missing from these last five games is a lot more than just the ability to score goals which has now seen them only put home five goals in five games.  It is more than the inability to play anything that resembles defense in route to getting Henrik Lundqvist pulled against the Islanders.  What is really missing right now is the urgency and sense of team that this group has played with all season.

For the first 72 games of the year, while having the occasional clunker, this team has come to play hard, tough and together.  Over the last five outings that cannot be said about any of them with the exception of the game in Boston last Saturday.  The team was lucky to get away with it against Florida, salvaged a point against Ottawa and then played relatively well against Boston so the signs of them falling down were brushed aside.  After the last two games those signs are written in neon lights and cannot be ignored.

That the team has been flat and seemingly disinterested for two of the final six games of the season while having clinched nothing in terms of the playoffs is disheartening.  What makes it so tough to swallow is the fact this team has been all about heart and being bigger than the sum of the parts this season so it comes as a shock to see them go about the finish in this way.  Puck Daddy was right that the Rangers can be as dangerous as any team in the Eastern Conference once the playoffs start, but they have to finish the job and get their first.

The team will have the next two days to find whatever they have lost sight over the past 10 days and bring that back to the ice Sunday against the rival Flyers and for each of the final four regular season games or all the work of the first 70+ games will end up having been in vain and the result will be the same as last season when the playoffs start; New York watching.  I expect the young leadership like Ryan Callahan and Marc Staal to take their teammates to task for the pitiful efforts of the past few days and come out with the necessary fire and intensity on Sunday.  The question now might just be, will waiting until Sunday mean they suffer a similar fate like last season where they are left to wonder all offseason about how any one game being different changes their ultimate fate? 

For now the answer is still in the Rangers own hands as they control their destiny the rest of the way, but any more slips and they will become a passenger in someone else’s story.  The fans have to hold out hope that the team will respond to this downturn the way it has to all the others throughout the year even if this one has a completely different feel than any that have come before.

Video: Tortorella Refusing To Discuss Awful Team Perfomance

Rangers Embarass The Sweater With Performance Against Isles, Risk Playoff Spot

There are no words to accurately describe the disgrace that was the New York Rangers performance tonight in a 6-2 loss to the “rival” Islanders.  Coming off a mediocre performance in their biggest game of the year last night in Buffalo the team decided it didn’t really have to show up at all with the belief the Isles were going to roll over and hand them two points.  The power play was atrocious in going 0-7, defensive zone coverage was even worse, but the utter lifelessness and lack of effort for the team as a whole was the worst part of it all.  There is no way in the last five games of the year that you should lack effort and energy while battling for a playoff spot. The performance was an embarrassment to the sweater that they wear and should have all the men in that room ashamed at their "effort".

Hard to believe but the Rangers actually did lead in this game when Vinny Prospal made it 1-0 Rangers 14:25 into the first period.  The goal was created by excellent work from Marian Gaborik down low would get him the puck, he stepped out and fired a shot that was blocked by Jack Hillen, then Gaborik played the puck over to Prospal who fired a quick slap shot from the right faceoff circle that beat Montoya high.

Following the goal the Rangers would have a series of four power plays over the next eight minutes of action including two different 5-on-3 advantages in which the team converted nothing and ended up creating momentum for the Islanders and they would actually feel like converting something tonight.

Blake Comeau and Radek Martinek would score 33 seconds apart to take what was a 1-0 deficit and turn it into a 2-1 Islanders lead.  After killing off the Rangers sixth power play of the game the Islanders would could get two more quick goals during the latter stages of the period with the first from Jesse Joensu on a deflection and then Parenteau would score 76 seconds later to make it 4-1.

Matt Moulson added to the insult mid-way through the third and then the ultimate indignity occurred when Trevor Gillies scored at 14:00 of the third period to make it 6-1.  Prust gets an absolutely meaningless goal with 13.6 seconds left to make it 6-2.

Now they have to pick themselves up and show some of the heart they showed before the last two nights on Sunday or all the work of the first 76 games could unravel rapidly.

Rangers Recall Cam Talbot, Precaution or Lundqvist Not Available Tonight?

According to the AHL Transaction Log, the New York Rangers have recalled goaltender Cam Talbot from the Connecticut Whale of the AHL. There was no corresponding move to send Chad Johnson down to bring Talbot up so that means the Rangers will have three goalies on the roster for tonight which brings into question the availability of Henrik Lundqvist tonight against the Islanders. 

Lundqvist took a shot off his right leg above the knee last night, but was able to stay in for the third period.  It would be no surprise to see that once the adrenaline left the body and the injury had the night to set in that the issue is worse today than yesterday, but even if Lundqvist is out tonight I would expect him to be back shortly.  The move for Talbot is likely one of precaution in case Lundqvist cant go so the Rangers dont end up with only one goalie available.

Ryan McDonagh Strides Into Hockey's Future Top 50 Prospects

Ryan McDonagh has been so good since being brought up to the Rangers in early January that there are many points where you forget he is still a rookie and technically even still a prospect.  Today is one of those reminders as the Hockey’s Future countdown of the top 50 prospects in the game has started and McDonagh comes in right at number 50.  McDonagh had been ranked by HF before when he came in at number 39 back in Fall 2009. 

The heady McDonagh has impressed during his time with the Rangers this season, and seems poised to move his career to another level.

There were those who were concerned with McDonagh’s game last season with his lack of offensive production at Wisconsin and then his slow start in the AHL at the beginning of this year but he has more than erased those doubters since coming to the NHL.  From nearly day one he has played with a tremendous amount of poise, intelligence and skill on the ice that when you watch him you see a veteran on the ice not a player still eligible for prospect lists.  In 35 games for the Rangers McDonagh has eight assists with an impressive plus 17 rating in 18:39 of ice time per game while combining with Michael Sauer to be arguably the Rangers best defensive pair in the stretch drive.  The sky is the limit for this young player who might come in at number 50 on this list but will be much more valuable to the Rangers than that for the next decade.

Rangers Offense Still Boom Or Bust, Will It Cost Them Playoff Spot?

The New York Rangers are a team that prides itself on the consistency of their effort in order to gain results and that has shown itself throughout the 2010-11 season.  The one place the Rangers have failed to find that consistency is on the offensive end of the ice.  After the offense exploded for 17 goals in three games the team has gone back to struggling only accounting for three goals in the last four games.  Luckily for the team they have played tremendous defense over the same stretch only surrendering three goals and going 2-1-1. 

It is great to have a defense and goaltender that can shut teams down like that and it will give you a chance in just about every night, but you have to score some goals to win in this league.  It is not too much to ask for an offense to find two goals a night and yet over these last four games the Rangers cannot seem to find a way to do it.  A lot of the offensive struggles are confidence related as this team is one that when it starts flowing in a game can explode because everyone else loosens up.  When they struggle to score early in the game they get tighter and tighter and then the problem seems to snowball on itself.

On the season, according to NHL.com, the Rangers have scored 210 goals in their 77 games, an average of 2.73 goals per game which ranks them 16th in the league.  That does not seem all that bad, but that factors in the fact that the Rangers have scored six goals or more on nine different occasions this year.  If you take those games out the Rangers are left with 152 goals in the other 68 games the team has played which is an average of only 2.24 goals per game and would rank them 29th in the league.  To further that they have had 20 games this season in which they scored 1 goal or less.

Obviously all teams are going to have games where they have big offensive nights that inflate their numbers and others where they struggle and the numbers slide, but the Rangers have been a huge team for the differential.  Until the Rangers figure out a way to get more consistent with their offense their ability to be a true contender for the Cup will be in question and maybe even their spot in the playoffs altogether.

Video: Did Getzlaf Play Hide-and-Seek With Puck To Rob Flames of Goal?

Quick thinking and a will to do whatever it takes to win are things any team wants from its players and it appears on Wednesday night Ryan Getzlaf of the Anaheim Ducks put both of those to work by breaking the rules to prevent a Calgary goal late in the second period.  With the Ducks up 2-1, Tim Jackman deflects the puck on net and it appears to be resting on top of the prone Ray Emery over the goal line when Getzlaf comes in, closes his hand on the puck to hide it from the video review and then slides the puck out under Emery.

Following the review it was ruled that no goal was scored as there was not enough video evidence to overturn the call.  TSN does an excellent job breaking down the play:




Did Getzlaf steal a goal from Calgary?  Is that leadership from the captain of the Ducks?

Video: Tortorella Defends Gaborik, Rips Urgency/Effort After Buffalo Loss

Rangers Lack Urgency In Shutout Loss To Sabres, Drop To Eighth in East

Rick Stewart/Getty Images

Tonight was billed as the biggest game of the New York Rangers season as they were heading into Buffalo to take on the Sabres with a chance to gain ground on those in front of them and put some distance between themselves, the Sabres and the Hurricanes.  The problem is no one on the Rangers displayed that sense of urgency for the majority of the hockey game.  It was not until the third period that team actually had some urgency.  The team did scramble late in trying to tie the game and salvage something from the night, but the overall effort was not nearly to the level necessary to be successful and so the team will leave Buffalo in eighth place only three points up Carolina for the final playoff spot.

The Rangers were given a gift in catching the Sabres without Ryan Miller and acted ungrateful as they made the majority of the night on backup goaltender Jhonas Enroth.  Enroth would only have to make 23 saves to get his first career shutout. To Enroth’s credit he did make three or four beautiful saves in the third period to secure the 1-0 victory.

As for the action the Rangers were dominated for the first half of the first period, but would mount some pressure late in the period including a disallowed Artem Anisimov goal with just over two minutes left.  On the play Ryan Callahan was skating through the crease and ended up sandwiched between Enroth and Sekera.  While not a malicious play by Callahan it was the right call to disallow the goal because it did impact Enroth’s ability to get back and play the rebound from Anisimov.

During the second period the Rangers were woeful and the only goal of the game would happen.  Brian Boyle broke down on a two-on-one, while shorthanded, with Ryan Callahan and elected to make the pass which was blocked and Buffalo came back the other way.  The puck would eventually end up on the stick of Tim Connolly along the left wing board and he wound up for a blast that beat Lundqvist high at 5:28 of the second.

Adding injury to the insult of the effort of the first two periods was Henrik Lundqvist being down again, but this time not from being run into by the opposition.  With just 24.4 seconds left in the second period Lundqvist appeared to take a shot just above his right knee while he was down in the butterfly.  After shaking off the leg and being checked by Jim Ramsey he stayed in the game for the rest of the night.
The third period saw the Rangers finally show some urgency and create some scoring chances that tested Enroth, but they could not solve him tonight.  The best chances were had by Stepan and various others by

• Marian Gaborik and it had the feel they would find a way to get one though it was not meant to be.
  Prospal-Stepan-Gaborik was the most dangerous line for the Rangers tonight
  Sean Avery had an impact in his minutes
  Wolski or Christensen need to hit the bench tomorrow and let Zuccarello get back in.