Blog Archives
Rangers finish back-to-back series with Coyotes at the Garden
Bobby Bevilacqua
Photo courtesy of Getty Images.
The Rangers (3-2-0) don’t have much time to revel in their comeback victory over the Capitals, as they are back at Madison Square Garden tonight to battle the Arizona Coyotes (1-3-0) on Hockey Fights Cancer night.
A goal from Brandon Pirri and two from Jimmy Vesey gave the Rangers a second period lead over the Capitals, and Henrik Lundqvist did the rest with a strong 26 save effort for his second win of the season. Zibanejad picked up one assist, as did Ryan McDonagh to give him four points in five games.
The Coyotes last played against the New York Islanders, falling 3-2 in regulation. Brad Richardson scored his second goal of the season, and Radim Vrbata scored his first of the season since coming back to the Coyotes. Louie Domingue made 28 saves. Read the rest of this entry
No need to worry, the Rangers are much better than their .500 record
Bobby Bevilacqua
Photo courtesy of MSG Photos.
Through four games this season, the Rangers are doing fine with a 2-2-0 record. Although there was a lot of hype built up around the forwards and the youth movement GM Jeff Gorton seems to be going for, given the state of the defense this is a pretty good start.
While it’s only been four games and things can change in a flash, there should be a sense of confidence throughout the locker room and among the fans. I wasn’t expecting to have this much fun watching the Rangers this year, but from what I’ve seen so far, they have me really excited for not only the future, but seeing how far this forward group can carry the team this season.
So far, the Rangers have scored 15 goals in four games this season, and that was with the team scoring just one two days ago against the Red Wings. The 12 goals allowed is a little higher than many would have hoped for, but that was somewhat expected when you have Nick Holden as your top pairing defenseman playing on his offside. Read the rest of this entry
Rangers score seven goals in win over the Sharks; Vesey scores the game winner
Bobby Bevilacqua
Photo courtesy of MSG Photos.
The Rangers continued to showcase their new offensive style and forwards, getting scoring from throughout the lineup in a 7-4 win over the San Jose Sharks.
Two of the goals came on empty netters, but the Rangers put five goals past Martin Jones, who had only allowed three goals in the last two games. I’m not quite sure what Alain Vigneault has done, but this forward group is meshing so well together. The breakouts are improved, the depth is tremendous and the power play looks fantastic.
Here are my thoughts and observations from the game; Read the rest of this entry
AV spreading ice time and opportunities will be key to Rangers success
Bobby Bevilacqua
The Rangers opened their season with a 5-3 win over the Islanders, showing signs of improvement in many aspects of their game that was expected of them following their offseason moves. The power play looked great, the defense and penalty kill looked structured, and all four forward lines were effective.
With the addition of players like Pavel Buchnevich, Jimmy Vesey, Brandon Pirri and Michael Grabner, the Rangers added a lot of speed and talent to their forward groups, which seemed to make Alain Vigneault structure his lines differently.
Rather than opting for a traditional structure, with a physical, checking fourth line and placing all of the talent on the top two lines, Vigneault had a balance of scoring, defense and skill across the four lines. Having four lines was something that many blogs, including my own, wrote about as a possibility. And last night, it worked extremely well. Read the rest of this entry
Rangers open the season with a win over the Islanders; KZB line impresses
Bobby Bevilacqua
Photo courtesy of MSG Photos.
The Rangers (1-0-0) opened the season at Madison Square Garden for the first time since 2007, and they didn’t disappoint, winning a thriller by the score of 5-3 over the rival New York Islanders.
The goals for the Rangers were scored by Michael Grabner, Mats Zuccarello, Chris Kreider, Brandon Pirri and JT Miller on the empty net. Eleven different Rangers recorded a point, while three players (Kreider, Zibanejad, Buchnevich) each scored two points.
The Rangers outshot the Islanders 39-28, won the faceoff battle 33-31, were 1-5 on the power play and they were 3-for-3 on the penalty kill. Read the rest of this entry
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