Blog Archives
The Rangers should try and trade for Shayne Gostisbehere
Bobby Bevilacqua
Photo courtesy of USATSI.
Last season saw the emergence of many good rookies, such as Jack Eichel, Filip Forsberg, Artemi Panarin and Connor McDavid. But Shayne Gostisbehere of the Philadelphia Flyers was one of the most exciting and promising players to emerge from last year.
Gostisbehere was coming off of a 2014-15 season where he tore his ACL and played just five AHL games. The Union College grad played in a full-time role for the first time last season, featuring in 64 games and scoring 17 goals and 29 assists (46 points). The 17 goals was a Flyers record for goals by a rookie defenseman. He also had a 15-game scoring streak, which was the longest by a defenseman in the last 20 years, and also was the first rookie to score four overtime goals.
He played on the top pairing against some of the top players in the league and was certainly a strong and effective defender. He was lauded for his ability to transition quickly, easily able to recover from a turnover and get back on defense. A great skater, an excellent passer and scorer, and a power play quarter back (8-14-22 on the power play last season), Gostisbehere had the look of an elite defenseman. Read the rest of this entry
Rangers head into All-Star Break looking to continue win streak against the Flyers
Bobby Bevilacqua
Photo courtesy of Getty Images.
- New York Rangers (31-16-1, 63 PTS) vs Philadelphia Flyers (23-19-6, 52 PTS)
- The Rangers won on Monday night, a 3-2 victory over the Los Angeles Kings despite being outshot 38-17. Brandon Pirri, Matt Puempel and Mats Zuccarello all scored goals and Henrik Lundqvist won his third straight start, making 36 saves and playing extremely well.
- The Flyers won in overtime to the Islanders in their last game, snapping a three game losing streak. Claude Giroux scored the game winner and the Flyers also got goals from Ivan Provorov and Wayne Simmonds. Steve Mason made 36 saves in the win. The Flyers are one point behind the Maple Leafs for the final Wild Card spot.
Lundqvist stellar as Rangers take down the Flyers; New defense pairings work well
Bobby Bevilacqua
After an awful game against the Sabres yesterday, the Rangers (27-13-1) took down the Philadelphia Flyers (20-15-5) with one of their best all-around efforts this season, getting some stellar goalkeeping from Henrik Lundqvist, an offensive outburst and great defense and forechecking that led to the 5-2 victory.
The Rangers looked absolutely nonexistent and asleep against the Sabres, but the effort was there tonight. Everyone was playing with an edge and also making smart, decisive plays and creating chances while effectively shutting down Philadelphia for most of the game.
This marked the fifth straight game the Rangers beat the Flyers, and it was also their 21st win in the last 28 games against Philadelphia. The Rangers also secured their league-leading 14th road win of the season, and they are now 7-0-0 in the second game of back-to-backs this season. Read the rest of this entry
Rangers battle the Flyers in crucial division matchup; Vigneault fuming after yesterday’s loss
Bobby Bevilacqua
Yesterday was an embarrassing game for the Rangers (26-13-1), who lost 4-1 to the Buffalo Sabres after showing almost no effort or fire in their game. The team needs a quick turnaround, because they take on the Philadelphia Flyers (20-14-5) on the road tonight in what could wind up being an important one for the Metropolitan Division standings.
The Rangers did almost nothing right last night, and were outworked and out-executed by one of the worst teams in the league. Alain Vigneault normally keeps his cool, but he was fuming after last night’s loss.
“There’s no doubt we didn’t do a good enough job in preparing our team for tonight’s game,” Vigneault told reporters. “I mentioned it many times. There are no easy games in this league. We weren’t ready when the game started, our execution was nonexistent. We didn’t have a ‘D’ that could make a pass, and our compete level was not good enough. I haven’t said this very often about this group since I’ve been here, but this was a very bad game where we got outworked badly, and we’re going to need to respond here.” Read the rest of this entry
Lundqvist leads Rangers to a win past the Flyers; Hayes records 100th career point
Bobby Bevilacqua
Matt Puempel gets hi fives from teammates after scoring in his Ranger debut. Photo courtesy of Led Redkoles/NHLI via Getty Images.
The Rangers (15-6-1) got back in the win column in a thrilling victory over the Flyers (9-10-3), mainly due to a fantastic performance from Henrik Lundqvist, who made 40 saves in this game.
Alain Vigneault’s squad did a better job of scoring today than they did against the Penguins, but the Flyers still managed 42 shots on goal, which was 19 more than the Rangers had. Realistically, Lundqvist stole this game away because the Rangers could have easily lost this game.
It’s slowly becoming the norm where the Rangers get outshot and post pretty dismal possession numbers, but still come away with a win. They’ll win either because they score a lot of goals with an unsustainable shooting percentage, or the goalie performs extremely well. Over the course of a whole season, that is not what you want, because there will be regression. Read the rest of this entry
therangerzone.com 