Post-Game Talk: 18 March 2014: Rangers @ Spartacus

[Ex Officer Friendly]

Well, I figured it out. The games we scored 7+ this year I missed. In fact going back to that 8-4 game against Buffalo last year, I only saw half of that game. I think me watching is the problem.

uh oh well I hope you got your share of Rangers hockey...

 

[Brooklyn Rangers Fan]

The win aside, some linguistic nerd trivia for you... "tittle" is the official name of the dot above the lowercase i and j. This game was deserving of such a distinction.

Thank you for that. I WILL find a way to drop that into conversation.

 

[Riverdale]

Congrats to Hank!

Weird win. I thought the defense was shoddy, but the Sens weren't any better and the Rangers took advantage.

POTG:

Brassard
McD
Hank

 

[Wolfy*]

ehh it's human nature really...people are pacified after a win and content especially with the devils and blue jackets losing....people get frustrated after a bad loss when important points are on the line especially in such a tight playoff race and then feel the need to vent...people don't need to vent when content or at least complacent

Yeah, things went Rangers way tonight, so fans are happy and relaxed.

I'm watching the Brassard program on MSG, fancy house he got all by himself, I guess that's a result of a $4M salary

 

[SnowblindNYR]

So MSG is showing Rangers in 60 right now, presumably for the people that missed the game. Yet they show a "MSG congratulates Henrik Lundqvist on becoming the winningest goalie in Rangers history". Why?

 

[vladmyir111]

So MSG is showing Rangers in 60 right now, presumably for the people that missed the game. Yet they show a "MSG congratulates Henrik Lundqvist on becoming the winningest goalie in Rangers history". Why?

It's just a replay for summary...its not 1999, if someone wanted to watch the game later theyd have DVRed it

edit: and if they watch sports and cant afford a DVR then they deserve it.

 

[Petey Pucks]

I'm watching the Brassard program on MSG, fancy house he got all by himself, I guess that's a result of a $4M salary

hey man mega millions jackpot is now at 400 million...there is still some hope for us regular folk....yeah right

 

[Holocene]

This reminded me of the Sabres game from last season, also 8-4. Minus the worst hattrick of all time for Brad of course.

 

[Megustaelhockey]

Undefeated in Canada this year!

 

[SnowblindNYR]

It's just a replay for summary...its not 1999, if someone wanted to watch the game later theyd have DVRed it

edit: and if they watch sports and cant afford a DVR then they deserve it.

That's a good point. Though does everyone that has cable have DVR? I actually don't know. Whatever, it doesn't really matter.

 

[SnowblindNYR]

Holy ****, watching Rangers in 60 that was some of the worst goaltending I've ever seen in my life.

 

[Ex Officer Friendly]

edit: and if they watch sports and cant afford a DVR then they deserve it.

Not quite certain how not having enough money for DVR makes someone deserve having the outcome of a game ruined for them...

 

[sark76]

7 goals in one night?...a review that didn't go against us? Nash and Stepan Score goals? A goal against a backup goalie? Whats next? Somewhere in the Hockey world Stu Bickel must be winning a fight!

wait what?!?! I must have ESPN or something! What are the odds of predicting a Stu Bickel fight, Let alone a Stu Bickel win! I didn't even realize he was playing tonight! Oh if you don't know he beat W Simmonds pretty good after I posted this...wait wrong Bickel..still pretty impressive.

 

[SnowblindNYR]

BTW, the defense was awful, what the hell? The D was damn good against SJ. Was really lazy this game.

 

[Callagraves]

The only thing worse than the Rangers D was the Ottawa Goaltending. Thankfully, it was really, REALLY bad.

Hank's the best.

 

[Callagraves]

Mmm, not sure I feel that way.

Brassard is 6'1 (?) but hardly plays big and the other two are bottom 10 in the league in size. Don't think that's a long term line for success.

Brassard may be over 6 feet, but he plays the smallest game of the 3. It's infuriating at times.

 

[Zucc36]

Great game by Zucc and Brass. I didnt like that line with Brass, Zucca and MSL, but now it seems like they have found chemistry. Hopefully it will be a productive line the last games.

Zucc on pace to MVP. Tied lead in team with Stepan, but with 5 games less played (Not counting MSL of course).

 

[Samuel Culper III]

If the defensive personnel remains largely intact this offseason, the organization may have to reassess whether man-to-man is the appropriate system for this team. The defense has been inconsistent all season and has been deteriorating since the Olympic break. As you mentioned, they should have had already adjusted to the system 70 games into the season.

I agree. On the other hand, I see no justification for this team playing man to man, other than "it's just what AV's teams do," especially considering the proven success our personnel and winningest ever goaltender have had in a zone system. The man to man really doesn't feed into our offense in a significant way. We don't have a dynamite break out or transition game because of it. We could easily still play AV's offensive scheme without the pointless man to man D coverage. This is one of the reasons I'm still not at all enamored to AV. The guy simply cannot make adjustments. He doesn't make adjustments in game and he doesn't make many adjustments in season. He comes and brings his system and it either fits wholesale or the team ends up suffering for it. It clearly doesn't fit wholesale, and he's had ample time to assess and address the areas where it doesn't fit, but he hasn't made a single change. This team should be playing largely the same defensive system it has played for years prior. That was not something that needed fixing and I don't believe that Torts was even fired so much for a change of system and approach as much as because the players seemed to have begun tuning him out and turning on him. The offense and PP surely left a lot to be desired and plenty of room to be tinkered with, but aside from the PP improving (which has nothing to do with us running a man to man scheme at ES) I don't think the offense has really seen a significant improvement, and certainly not enough of one to justify sticking with man to man all season long. I'm convinced the only reason we play man to man is because it's part of AV's system and he has too much pride to alter it. That's bad coaching. Sticking to an ineffective scheme because you want to make your mark on the team and not just inherit the last guy's strategy (despite it being very successful - the defense, that is, so we're clear) is nothing but foolish pride at the expense of success. We'd have won 5 more games already this season if we were playing last years zone, defensively.

 

[thepoeticgoblin]

It was one of those games where everything tactical goes out the window and we won the duel. Hank was good, stats isn't everything. Some key saves. Brassgod, FINALLY. Love him. Don't know why but I really like him in NYR, so gifted on his days. Zucc, what's not to love? Pouliot, strong game.

 

[Rangers ftw]

Agreed, under no circumstances should people get enjoyment from watching their favourite sporting team.

Exactly. Who are those bums that appreciate their low scoring team for once ripping it up?

If we can only get Kreider-Stepan-Nash going (yes they scored 3 goals, but not as a line, SH and EN...) this could get interesting!

 

[Ola]

Great game by Zucc and Brass. I didnt like that line with Brass, Zucca and MSL, but now it seems like they have found chemistry. Hopefully it will be a productive line the last games.

Zucc on pace to MVP. Tied lead in team with Stepan, but with 5 games less played (Not counting MSL of course).

Agreed, I didn't have time to watch the entire game and dropped out before it became a laugher, but I certainly agree with the above.

And what a goal by Nash, leaves the entire Ottawa team in the dust and then ridicules Lehner. That goal got us back in this, without it things could have been ugly.

 

[Ola]

Another thing, Pouliot is playing great for us right now. Literary great. He is one of our better players hands down and has been for a while. Just like Zucc was some time ago when Torts jerked him around.

I would hate to see Slats screw him just because he doesn't carry the hype that some others do.

 

[LORENZO]

Is St. Louis just hustling before the playoffs or something?

 

[darko]

8 goals. The ****?

 

[Bardof425*]

Great game by Zucc and Brass. I didnt like that line with Brass, Zucca and MSL, but now it seems like they have found chemistry. Hopefully it will be a productive line the last games.

Zucc on pace to MVP. Tied lead in team with Stepan, but with 5 games less played (Not counting MSL of course).

MVP of what? The Rangers? That's Ryan McDonagh AINEC