Blog Archives
Rangers rally for a wild comeback win; Miller stays red-hot
Bobby Bevilacqua
Derick Brassard celebrates after scoring the eventual game winning goal. Photo courtesy of MSG Photos.
After eight minutes, things did not look good for the Rangers (28-18-5). The Minnesota Wild (23-19-9) had scored twice and looked to be taking control of the game. But after the first intermission, the Rangers played some of their most dominant hockey of the entire season, culminating in a 4-2 Rangers win.
In the Tuesday loss against the Devils, the Rangers played well at even strength, but were poor on special teams. Today, they were dominant at even strength, and improved on the penalty kill. They gave up one power play goal, but fended off the next two.
The Rangers have now won four of their last six games, and are starting to play a better overall game. If they can string together these performances consistently, and solve their penalty kill issues, the Rangers could be trending upwards. Read the rest of this entry
Rangers look for important rebound game without Klein and Nash
Bobby Bevilacqua
Photo courtesy of Getty Images.
Just about everything that could have went wrong, went wrong for the Rangers (27-18-5) on Tuesday night. They lost an important interdivision battle against the Devils, lost Kevin Klein indefinitely to a fractured thumb, and are just two points away from being out of the playoffs entirely.
After that, it was announced that Rick Nash’s bone bruise hasn’t really healed, and he’ll miss tonight’s game as well. In the wake of the injuries to Klein and the continued absence of Nash, the team decided to call up Jayson Megna again as opposed to a defenseman. That tells me two things;
- They have faith in Dylan McIlrath to play in Klein’s role, and they should
- Nash’s injury is probably more serious than initially thought, or AV wants to shake up the lineup to try and slap some sense into this team.
Special Teams the difference in 3-2 loss to the Devils
John Dundon
Photo courtesy of Getty Images.
The Rangers would’ve no doubt liked a better result in their first game after the All-Star break but wound up losing to the Devils, 3-2 in Newark.
In the end, the Rangers lack of execution on both the power play and the penalty kill were the deciding factor. The Rangers finished 0/4 on the power play and mustered no shots on their first two man advantages of the contest, and the usual suspects were to blame for all Devils goals.
Shoddy net mouth coverages during both of the Devils power play goals resulted in open men sweeping in chances right on the door step, again. Dan Girardi got embarrassed by Joe Blandisi and while Lundqvist admittedly intended to cut the shooters angle down some, no NHL defenseman should be allowing chances off the wing like that. Read the rest of this entry
Rangers look to start the second half strong in a division battle against the Devils
Bobby Bevilacqua
Photo courtesy of MSG Photos.
With the All Star Weekend in the rear view mirror, the Rangers (27-17-5) focus shifts to a battle for the playoffs. Thirty-three games spanning the next 68 days. Fifteen of those will come against Metropolitan Division opponents, including tonight’s matchup against the New Jersey Devils (25-20-5).
At this same point last season, there were six teams in the Eastern Conference ahead of the Rangers, but they had a comfortable eight point playoff cushion. This year, only six teams in the NHL have more points than the Rangers. But in a much more competitive Metropolitan Division, and a tight East, the playoff cushion is just four games.
The Rangers have reason to feel confident though. In the last 10 weeks of last regular season, Alain Vigneault’s squad went 25-7-3 and secured the President’s trophy with their play after March. These last 33 games are incredibly important, especially since many of the games come against Division foes looking to take over the Rangers playoff spot. Read the rest of this entry
Thrilling third period leads to a big Rangers win; Brassard tallies five points
Bobby Bevilacqua
Photo courtesy of MSG Photos.
Well, that was exciting.
After a lackluster performance against the Senators on Sunday afternoon, the Rangers (27-16-5) came back with a much better effort and a fantastic offensive performance, downing the Buffalo Sabres (19-26-4) by a final score of 6-3 in the last game for the Blueshirts before the All-Star Break.
After some tight checking, competitive hockey in the first two periods, everything opened up in the third period, where a combined six goals were scored, four of them coming in a span of less than five minutes. Read the rest of this entry
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