GDT: #2 - 01/20/2013 | Pittsburgh Penguins @ New York Rangers | 7:00 PM - MSG, NHL NET

[Machinehead]

And this has been an issue dating all the way back since the great lockout in '05 ended.

It's always been give the puck to the guy making the most money who has the biggest reputation and stand around while he shoots.

It was the same thing with Jagr but Jagr's so ****in good it didn't matter.

After Jagr it was give the puck to Gomez and watch. Then it was Redden. Then it was Gaborik. Now it's Richards. Thought it might be Nash this year, but Richards is the unequivocal Godson of the Ranger's coaching staff.

 

[Machinehead]

What are the chances Hank gets the start tomorrow night? I'll be disappointed if its Biron.

Has to be Hank. It's the Penguins, it's our home opener, and it's a game everyone really needs for the mentality going forward.

100% it WILL be Hank.

 

[SnowblindNYR]

It's one game, I think you'll see them play just a tad better when the new guys learn the style Tortorella expects.

This team has the perfect balance of scoring on two lines, a good amount of grit and toughness, a defense that can shut down the opposition and the best goalie in the league. Do you really expect them to win every game?

You had good contributions to this thread until this. No matter what team people always use that stupid question. I expect them to look like professional hockey team. Not an ECHL team playing the 70s Canadiens. They were outright embarrassed today everywhere but the scoreboard. If not for Hank this game would be a monumental thrashing.

 

[SnowblindNYR]

Which realistically makes no sense considering he's the best pure passer on the team

Watching him with the Rangers and I think his shot is underrated and his passing overrated. He might have the best shot on the team.

 

[Boruto]

Movement. Skate with the puck when nothing is happening. Y'all ain't gonna stare a lane open.

 

[NYRSchrute217]

You had good contributions to this thread until this. No matter what team people always use that stupid question. I expect them to look like professional hockey team. Not an ECHL team playing the 70s Canadiens. They were outright embarrassed today everywhere but the scoreboard. If not for Hank this game would be a monumental thrashing.

That's fair, but they didn't look like an ECHL. The 2nd and 3rd periods they didn't look terrible at all. Lundqvist looked great. Nash, Pyatt, McDonagh, Del Zotto played well. There were positives to take from this game.

Watching him with the Rangers and I think his shot is underrated and his passing overrated. He might have the best shot on the team.

I think Gaborik has the best shot. At least the best wrist shot. Richards has a good slapper.

 

[Machinehead]

Movement. Skate with the puck when nothing is happening. Y'all ain't gonna stare a lane open.

The PKers must seriously stare at us and think "what are they doing?"

 

[PromNite]

Has to be Hank. It's the Penguins, it's our home opener, and it's a game everyone really needs for the mentality going forward.

100% it WILL be Hank.

This guy gets it.

 

[Boruto]

The PKers must seriously stare at us and think "what are they doing?"

NYR PP, making opposition PK look like NYR PK since 2004.

 

[SnowblindNYR]

That's fair, but they didn't look like an ECHL. The 2nd and 3rd periods they didn't look terrible at all. Lundqvist looked great. Nash, Pyatt, McDonagh, Del Zotto played well. There were positives to take from this game.


I think Gaborik has the best shot. At least the best wrist shot. Richards has a good slapper.

I didn't see the shots and chances by period but honestly outside of one short period following the goal I can't remember one decent shift they had offensively. Defensively they made some plays but still left something to be desired. They looked like an awful awful team with an all world goaltender. Seriously, worst regular season game, maybe even game in general since the 4-0 loss to the Canadiens last year. 1 positive on the team.

 

[NYRSchrute217]

I didn't see the shots and chances by period but honestly outside of one short period following the goal I can't remember one decent shift they had offensively. Defensively they made some plays but still left something to be desired. They looked like an awful awful team with an all world goaltender. Seriously, worst regular season game, maybe even game in general since the 4-0 loss to the Canadiens last year. 1 positive on the team.

I think you're overreacting. At no point did I think the Bruins were dominating throughout the 2nd and 3rd. Maybe the Rangers left something to be desired, but the Bruins did too. It was just a sloppy game, it's not surprising coming out of the lockout. Don't you think it'll take some time to gel, or are you expecting them to play their best right out of the gate?

 

[SnowblindNYR]

I think you're overreacting. At no point did I think the Bruins were dominating throughout the 2nd and 3rd. Maybe the Rangers left something to be desired, but the Bruins did too. It was just a sloppy game, it's not surprising coming out of the lockout. Don't you think it'll take some time to gel, or are you expecting them to play their best right out of the gate?

Quite frankly, outside of a 2-5 minute stretch after Richie's goal I didn't see the difference between the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd period. A number of teams got blown out today, big name teams too. While that's certainly a positive in the sense that all those teams probably won't suck, it also shows that some teams did play well. Namely those teams blowing them out. It's just if I saw something to hang my hat on other than Hank I wouldn't be so nervous. They gave me nothing today. There was light at the end of the tunnel. How do you know these guys will mesh? Guys like Stepan who looked bad in the playofs looked bad again. Gabby looked like he did 2 years ago after the surgery. Hagelin may have a sophomore slump. Who's to say any of this will be fixed?

 

[NYRSchrute217]

Quite frankly, outside of a 2-5 minute stretch after Richie's goal I didn't see the difference between the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd period. A number of teams got blown out today, big name teams too. While that's certainly a positive in the sense that all those teams probably won't suck, it also shows that some teams did play well. Namely those teams blowing them out. It's just if I saw something to hang my hat on other than Hank I wouldn't be so nervous. They gave me nothing today. There was light at the end of the tunnel. How do you know these guys will mesh? Guys like Stepan who looked bad in the playofs looked bad again. Gabby looked like he did 2 years ago after the surgery. Hagelin may have a sophomore slump. Who's to say any of this will be fixed?

Of course some teams played well. I think league-wide, you'll find the trend to be the teams with similar teams last year and teams that had most of their players playing during the lockout played the best (outside of LA). That trend will likely continue the first 5 games. As for having something to hang your hat on, I provided 4 others besides Hank that played very good games.

I can understand your reason for pessimism but I'd like to think you'll give them more credit than that. 1 game does not wipe out 102 of great hockey and a lot of growth last year. I think Hagelin's problem is he does not belong on the first line at all. Gaborik will get stronger as the year goes on. I think Stepan doesn't really fit too well with Callahan either. So a lot of the problem is on Torts to find the right line combos that will work.

 

[ChipAyten]

why bother its all over! *chugs olde english

 

[SnowblindNYR]

Of course some teams played well. I think league-wide, you'll find the trend to be the teams with similar teams last year and teams that had most of their players playing during the lockout played the best (outside of LA). That trend will likely continue the first 5 games. As for having something to hang your hat on, I provided 4 others besides Hank that played very good games.

I can understand your reason for pessimism but I'd like to think you'll give them more credit than that. 1 game does not wipe out 102 of great hockey and a lot of growth last year. I think Hagelin's problem is he does not belong on the first line at all. Gaborik will get stronger as the year goes on. I think Stepan doesn't really fit too well with Callahan either. So a lot of the problem is on Torts to find the right line combos that will work.

So 5 players played well? That's terrible. It's too bad about Hagelin, I liked him on the first line last year. Did the clock strike midnight? Anyway, I'd prefer Kreider there anyway. Gaborik didn't get stronger two years ago. Stepan and Callahan, well that's not news but Torts still put them together.

As far as 102 games last year, well I worry that was them overachieving. They struggled to score even last year. They play a lot of close games. A few things change in those close games and we're the 6th seed or something. Might win a playoff series because Florida was meh but still if we were a 6th seed that bowed out in the 2nd round and added Nash would people think we were that great?

 

[NYRSchrute217]

So 5 players played well? That's terrible. It's too bad about Hagelin, I liked him on the first line last year. Did the clock strike midnight? Anyway, I'd prefer Kreider there anyway. Gaborik didn't get stronger two years ago. Stepan and Callahan, well that's not news but Torts still put them together.

As far as 102 games last year, well I worry that was them overachieving. They struggled to score even last year. They play a lot of close games. A few things change in those close games and we're the 6th seed or something. Might win a playoff series because Florida was meh but still if we were a 6th seed that bowed out in the 2nd round and added Nash would people think we were that great?

Well 5 players is better than 1 player. Hagelin fit in pretty well with Richards and Gaborik but there are much better fits now, and Hags speed would be a huge asset to the forecheck on the 3rd line.

You talk in a lot of what if's. Point is, we were the #1 seed in the conference for a reason. You could argue if we weren't tested so much by Ottawa and Washington would we beat the Devils because of the lack of fatigue? But the fact of the matter is we proved we can do it in the regular season even without Rick Nash. He was acquired to put us over the top in the postseason, not because we were trying to put up even more than 109 points in a normal regular season.

 

[Machinehead]

Brad Richards is still easily the best passer on the Rangers although I think there's about 200 guys in the league that would be the best passer on the Rangers.

 

[Dangleberry]

Alright let's see how we respond to yesterday's defeat.

I'm thinking 2 minutes in we'll hear the first Potvin whistle and a goal will be scored within the first 5 (by either team).

Can't wait to see the "new" MSG.

 

[BBKers]

Judging by last nights game - right now I would prefer the following lines

Nash - Richards - Callahan
Pyatt- Stepan - Gaborik
Kreider - Boyle - Hagelin
Rupp - Halpern - Asham

McD - Girardi
Staal - Stralman
MDZ - Bickel

1st PP
Pyatt - Callahan - Nash
Richards - MDZ

2nd PP
Kreider - Stepan - Gaborik
Stralman - McD

PK fwd pairs
Boyle - Hagelin
Cally - Nash
Halpern - Stepan

 

[Boruto]

its funny because all of our talk and line projections will end up doing nothing when Torts put an ineffective line togeother tomrororw

 

[Kokoschka]

Lgr!

 

[BBKers]

its funny because all of our talk and line projections will end up doing nothing when Torts put an ineffective line togeother tomrororw

True dat
Are you on an iPhone? lol

 

[TC82]

You could tell that the Bruins had more players playing during the lockout than we did. The Pens didn't really look that sharp, either yesterday so I'm expecting a sloppy game..

 

[Siamese Dream]

I think faceoffs will be our downfall this game, we were terrible at them yesterday but Crosby is going to kill us

 

[offdacrossbar]

its one game. doesnt tell us much.

couple things.

first, we look slow. very slow. if you cant back up the defenders, you are in for a long night of dump and chase and turning it over. attacking with speed, even in a dump and chase environment is key... we showed little speed and almost no puck possession last night. strike one.

pk/pp we had a few bad calls imo and we were on our heels. our pk was pretty solid mostly due to hank, as usual, but our pp was horrid. gaborik continues to be clueless on where to go and what to do. having him behind the net with the puck makes me cringe. hes not wayne freekin gretzky. if he isnt shooting, hes not worth much it seems. and behind the net just eliminates him from the pp. and when hes not back there, hes usually just standing along the left wall doing nothing. awful.

and im sorry but del zotto on the pp point is not going to work. yes, he did have a couple nice shots early last night but he just doesnt have the shot nor the foot speed to be anything more than a puck distributer up top and we need a shooter.

lastly, boston is a very good team at home. that could have been a 5-1 game very easily. its not that we lost, its how we lost thats the problem.

home tonite should help with our energy and speed. problem is, we are playing a fast dangerous team so we will want to try to slow them down and not run with them. should be fun.


_______________________________________________________________________
tarasenko with 2 goals in his debut last night. yeah, hell never come over. hes a bum.

dylan mcilrath (whom we took with the 10th pick over the above russian) with 1 assist in 9 games in the AHL but he can sure fight.....