Post-Game Talk: New York Rangers at Ottawa Senators - December 13

[Nickmo82]

It f***ing sucks that we lost to Ottawa, but come on... who didn't see this coming? It had Rangers loss written all over it. Isles got stomped on by Dallas, so we didn't lose any ground.

I'd put Nieves with Buch and Kreider until Zib is back. Maybe Bern has been right all along. DD is just a warm body. Like somebody said, Buch and Kreider might as well be playing by themselves most of the time. Buchnevich and /Nieves played well together in Nieves' debut this year.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

Does anyone find Hayes play to be unacceptable? 12 points in 31 games, two less than Desharnais who is constantly ragged on. He's shooting a little below his normal SH%, but not a ton. He plays the third most minutes among forwards. He's having an even worse season than his second season. He's playing like a 3C once again.

 

[YoSoyLalo]

Does anyone find Hayes play to be unacceptable? 12 points in 31 games, two less than Desharnais who is constantly ragged on. He's shooting a little below his normal SH%, but not a ton. He plays the third most minutes among forwards. He's having an even worse season than his second season. He's playing like a 3C once again.

He's gotten the toughest assignments of any of our forwards and barely gets powerplay time. Frankly, I think is the best he's ever played.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

He's gotten the toughest assignments of any of our forwards and barely gets powerplay time. Frankly, I think is the best he's ever played.

Understood, but he's on pace for 32 points over 82 games. For a top 6 forward, thats absolutely putrid, whether he gets tough assignments and little PP time. We need at least another 10 points from him over 82 games.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

We don't have depth down the middle or at least depth down the middle they are willing to use. We have 3 top 9 centers, and Miller doesn't even like playing center. They could use Chytil, but why use him for the third line when this team isn't good and AV will play him like 11 minutes per game?

Otherwise, I agree. I think we have pretty good winger depth, but an injury to our 1C is not good news to this team. Desharnais is a good 3rd line winger, but he can't play center in the top 9.

 

[Machinehead]

We don't have depth down the middle or at least depth down the middle they are willing to use. We have 3 top 9 centers, and Miller doesn't even like playing center. They could use Chytil, but why use him for the third line when this team isn't good and AV will play him like 11 minutes per game?

Otherwise, I agree. I think we have pretty good winger depth, but an injury to our 1C is not good news to this team. Desharnais is a good 3rd line winger, but he can't play center in the top 9.

But we're still near the top in expected goals for. Give this team even a below average defense and they're running away with the division.

An injury to literally any team's 1C has this effect except maybe Pittsburgh and even then some f***ing scrub is their 2C behind Malkin.

 

[Fvital92]

Calm down. It's been 2 bad games, Zib is probably back next game, things will get better. Normally we play better against the good teams anyway.

 

[mandiblesofdoom]

Also, Smith was really good tonight outside of one shift, but he keeps having shifts where he basically hands the other team a goal.

He's a funny player. He either makes good plays or bad plays. He swings for the fences - maybe that's him, maybe it's the way AV coaches with the stretch passes.

Sometimes it seems like he's about to do something good but he takes too long.

It was entertaining watching him try to stickhandle thru Ottawa's D multiple times at the end.

I'd like to see him focus on making the simple play quickly.

 

[Inferno]

Calm down. It's been 2 bad games, Zib is probably back next game, things will get better. Normally we play better against the good teams anyway.

To say we've only played 2 bad games is to blind to the truth. We've played probably 4 good games in our last 15 games. The rest have been somewhere between mediocre to awful.

How many no show first period Ames that we won? Those aren't good games. Is post more but this site is running so awful for me right now that I'm afraid it'll get lost before I can submit.

 

[NCRanger]

It seems some here think anything less than 82-0-0 is a bad team.

No, last night and Monday night were not good performances. Monday was far worse than last night though.

I watched the first goal against again and while Shattenkirk's "turnover" is bad, that nonsense was happening all game long by both teams. That's what Guy Boucher brings to hockey. Basically tennis on ice. The defensive positioning after the "turnover" was not bad. Every Ottawa player was covered. Ryan did not get a shot from a high danger area. It was a GOOD shot, but one Hank had to stop. Goal against - not completely his fault, but he has to stop that shot. I don't fault Hank at all on the other two. That said, Anderson outplayed Hank.

Right before Ottawa's second goal, I swear I was watching ping pong. Puck to the blue line, intercepted, puck to the blue line, intercepted, back and forth, back and forth. It was sleep inducing. Disgusting.

Yes, Ottawa's two other goals happened because of poor d-zone coverages, but it wasn't like Ottawa dictated inside the zone like Dallas did. Maybe two and half mistakes were made defensively, and all of those ended up in the back of the net.

The Rangers do not match up well against that kind of a disgusting abomination on ice.

 

[chosen]

If they can't beat Ottawa when they are on a back to back how are they going to beat LA, Boston, Washington, NJ, and Toronto the next 2 weeks?

Because there is little logic in sports results.

 

[chosen]

The Rangers lose two games in an 82 game season, albeit one of the games is a "performance for the ages" and the other was to a bad team, but predictably every post is how horrible this team is. I don't think being a fan is about always thinking your team is great but some of these posts are pathetic.

The winner for most ironic post, by a country mile.

 

[offdacrossbar]

saw this one coming.

trap team that cant score bouncing along the bottom at home against an AV coached team= road loss.

i said 4-2 loss. 3-2. close enough.

going down 1-0 early giving them life when we should have blown them out. following the script.

unacceptable.

 

[Chimpradamus]

The concerning things are the team has played some really bad defense for a bunch of games now (not just the two last games) and that they are really bad on the road. Or, more like this team is really bad defensively and had a hot stretch when they weren't.

 

[will1066]

I watched what I could of the game because of a work commitment, but opponents continue to skate around our Dmen like Rich Pilon. McD the other night and Shatty last night. And we still do not know how to pick up the opposing forwards in our own zone.

 

[Deleted member 23124]

2014 playoffs was the closest we've had to good defensive play but that's not because of AV's system.

Indeed...it was because AV had not undone Torts' defensive scheme and the d-men still had confidence in what they were doing.

 

[Mike in Houston]

Hayes not shooting on that early breakaway set the tone for the night. How in the hell was he not benched for that shit? Awful. Albert and Maloney said that might have been the first time they had ever seen something like that.

 

[True Blue]

It seems some here think anything less than 82-0-0 is a bad team.

Not true. What some people do see is that if you look at the team since the beginning of the year without blue tinted glasses, you see exactly what you see. A mediocre team. You are what your record says you are. Meh.

The Rangers do not match up well against that kind of a disgusting abomination on ice.

How about making adjustments?

 

[Flying Puck]

Yeah, they hooked us slot tonight. That’s why we list!

 

[Fitzy]

Now for the good news, since we're all sober and woken up this morning.

NYR are 4 points out of first place
We're in playoff position
There are no true 'powerhouses' in the NHL right now

If we can fix this, this season is open for the taking in the national hockey league.

 

[Glen Sathers Cigar]

Indeed...it was because AV had not undone Torts' defensive scheme and the d-men still had confidence in what they were doing.

Yup. It's no coincidence that they best team in AV's time here was the one with the least amount of him imprinted on them.

It was perfect hybrid, basically Torts style defensive zone tightness and forecheck, but with AV greenlight to push the pace.

Instead of the monstrosity reliant on stretch passes, little to no forechecking and too much defensive zone movement we see now.

 

[NickyFotiu]

I think Hayes out thought himself last night on the breakaway. I know he said he was worried about EK catching up t him but he had time to shoot for at least 15 feet.

 

[True Blue]

I think it's time to mix up the D pairings and try something new. See if we can find a combination that works.

Or maybe it is time to stop going with the "safe veteran" approach and see if someone in Hartford can actually play.

 

[True Blue]

The wingers are also not free of blame. They play absolutely no defense in this system.

I could be a defenseman on an NHL team and get a great scoring chance against the Rangers. I'd walk in on Hank untouched before somebody in a Rangers jersey even looks at me.

We have some very solid defensive players at wing, I just don't think it's part of what we do. You know, whatever it is that we do. Outside of the offensive zone, I'm not entirely sure AV knows exactly what we do.

AV's system is not designed for defense. It is designed for pond hockey and a goalie who is the best player on the ice each and every night.

 

[Deleted member 23124]

I watched what I could of the game because of a work commitment, but opponents continue to skate around our Dmen like Rich Pilon. McD the other night and Shatty last night. And we still do not know how to pick up the opposing forwards in our own zone.

That's because they're too busy backing in. I noticed a number of times they had 2-3 people at the blue line -- rather than standing up the puck carrier at the line (something most teams do), as soon as opposing players approach the blue line, they start moving back.....then they're caught and can't turn fast enough to keep up with or catch an opposing player.