Post-Game Talk: #68 - 3/7/20 | Rangers vs. Devils | 7:00 PM ET - MSG

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will1066

Fonz Drury
Oct 12, 2008
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Our healthy T6 is one of the best in the league, but our B6 has been Detroit-tier.

Due to injuries the you can't use Mika/Artemi as definition of the top 6, but using Buch and Strome is a decent substitute:
View attachment 333169

Top 6: 100-69 (59 GF%)
Bottom 6: 45-73 (38 GF%)

Wouldn't call the D top heavy since DeAngelo and Fox can each carry a pairing, it's just Trouba that has hugely underperformed (he's been a lot better lately though).

Cool. However, after Fox-Lindgren and DeAngelo, we have had combinations/iterations of Staal, mediocre Trouba, Skjei, Hajek, and Smith. That's the definition of top heavy when you have a precipitous drop with the bottom 3 after the top 3.
 

CasusBelli

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I feel for Salo, that's for sure, officially humiliated after one bad goal, are you kidding me (???) it makes me really angry. :-( F**k all weak people making fun of Salo, humiliating him. It wasn't his fault we lost to Belarus anyway, our forwards couldn't score, missed countless number of wide open chances, vs Belarus in hockey.......
He had some spectacular years in Edmonton. That’s for sure. But you’re right: it is a shame. A lot of NHL goalies have given up worse goals but haven’t received as much flak as Salo got.
 
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Ola

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Apr 10, 2004
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Our healthy T6 is one of the best in the league, but our B6 has been Detroit-tier.

Due to injuries the you can't use Mika/Artemi as definition of the top 6, but using Buch and Strome is a decent substitute:
View attachment 333169

Top 6: 100-69 (59 GF%)
Bottom 6: 45-73 (38 GF%)

Wouldn't call the D top heavy since DeAngelo and Fox can each carry a pairing, it's just Trouba that has hugely underperformed (he's been a lot better lately though).

Great stuff! I am OK with the 3rd being what it is. But not so much a 4th mostly built around a mix of Smith, McKegg, Haley and the likes, that has nothing to do what rebuilding or whatever.

We also have a few guys in HFD who are not bad, but never even remotely got a chance once they were called up because they was put on a line with Smith. You can’t play hockey that style in the NHL when you just sweep the puck deep and chase after. Not even the Islanders 4th does it without a lot of thought behind it.

I would really like to see a hockey mind like Babcock get into the situations. He sounds like he has a horrible strategy motivating his players, that crap belongs in the past and will never be effective long-term, but someone that is more in tune with what works and what don’t. Slats was big on the special advisor role. Some role like that.

I call out DQ for his negatives right now. I am definitely not sold on him being net-negative. I am sure he does a lot of good things too. I am definitely in favor of Gorton. In a smaller role, I am sure JD can be a great President. Drury is surely a loyal foot soldier with a ton of connections. But there is something missing on a regular basis. We are just not running a thight enough ship and it’s costing us. We need to be the best of 31, we need to be perfect.
 

Ola

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Apr 10, 2004
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I feel for Salo, that's for sure, officially humiliated after one bad goal, are you kidding me (???) it makes me really angry. :-( F**k all weak people making fun of Salo, humiliating him. It wasn't his fault we lost to Belarus anyway, our forwards couldn't score, missed countless number of wide open chances, vs Belarus in hockey.......

I of course agree, but I honestly think that the so called hate Salo got was described as bigger than it actually was. It was a classic team collapse, everything that went wrong went wrong. 11 am game. Belarus was much better than anyone understood. Some core skaters panicked. A lot of bad luck. Sure Salo became the poster boy — but I don’t think anyone felt that he “lost” Sweden the game.

But I know that his feeling was that everyone hated him for it and it was awful for him. I just think that people where tremendously pissed off, much much much more so than hating individual players.

I went to University back then. In part of the city where a lot of students lived the streets was litterary peppered with TVs thrown out of the windows. I am not kidding, was a big segment on the local news. Looked extremely surreal.
 
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Levitate

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I feel like this is the kind of loss that shows where the Rangers need to improve for next year and the future. They can play disciplined and structured hockey against one of the best teams in the league and cup champions, but get too loose and lackadaisical against a team like the Devils. A young team that's trying to build something has to learn that you can't let up and you can't get loose no matter who your opponent is. It's a process of learning how to bring it every night and play a game where you stay locked down on defense and opportunistic on offense game in and game out. The Rangers are still learning that.

Shesterkin unfortunately looked rusty and didn't get a lot of help (could see him hunting for the puck a lot instead of looking comfortable...also still not sure how that first goal got in as it seemed to hit his pad and go right through it...I guess his angle was off just enough that it forced its way through).

Unfortunately games like this ultimately may keep them out of the playoffs this year but again it's a learning process. Can't ever let up and take a team for granted and think you can get too wild because the team you're playing is below you in the standings
 

nyrage

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Aug 2, 2005
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I couldn't even think about the Rangers last night after this loss. Just a horrific game and effort.

Even during their hot streak, this team has rarely played a good 60-minute game. They were winning despite 1-2 bad periods usually with a one incredible period. It's a young team and I think we should be happy with the team, but it has a lot of room to go, especially defensively.

We are a tire fire in our own zone. Even Panarin is a turnover machine in our own zone lately. As long as he puts up points, we can look past it, but still. Some might think that I'm piling on Strome, but I've always felt that he was lazy. I'm just not very vocal on this board. I know he puts up points, but he's a passenger. He seems always late on plays that Panarin or someone else sets him up on. Yes, he puts up points, but his defense is annoying. There were a few times that the puck on was just a couple of feet away from him on the pp and we lost possession because he was either late to react, too slow, or just not hustling.

While on the topic of our power play, the second pp line is just awful. We're basically just killing the clock with these guys. As others have said, how is Lemieux on that power play instead of someone like Gaulthier? Lemieux has been very disappointing to me this year. No development at all. All he does is chirp. Great. Keep him on the 4th line for that, but he's not offering up much else. He had that nice run after the trade, but nothing this year. He's playing higher than he should, much like Fast.

Shesty had a bad game. It had to be rust or he just fed off the energy of the rest of the team.

Chytil had the nice goal, but good God he is lost in his own zone. He's going to need major improvement defensively if he is going to remain a center. Defense really isn't too hard. You need to understand positioning, communicate with teammates, and put in the effort. That said, I think this team has a systematic problem with defense, yet somehow Ruff still has a job. It's not just the defense, it's a team effort up including the forwards. Quinn has to do better at addressing this problem.

Good game by McKegg. Fox made some great plays despite being a minus for the night. Gaulthier flashes his talent at times, but also needs to improve defensively.

I think Lindgren has looked pretty bad lately with the increased ice time. He, too, is playing higher than he should be. It's a common theme for this team right now, but we're probably ahead of schedule. Just keep patient and hopefully we fill in the holes next season and hopefully try to address our defensive deficiencies.
 
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Levitate

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Jul 29, 2004
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I think the Rangers get a little too soft in their own zone hoping to make a quick play and turn up the ice instead of makign the hard play to regain the puck and then have to make another play to break it out. Swat at the puck, hope you dislodge it and make a quick touch pass to someone who is headed up ice...except if that fails you just turned the puck over very badly and gave the other team a golden chance.

Just...stuff to learn and improve on. Also on the PP2 it feels like they rarely get more than 30 seconds of icetime so I'm not surprised they don't get much going. Lemieux ain't terrible in front but he's not a long term PP2 solution I think. At the same time, I think the coaches/team are still feeling out Gauthier and where he can be best used.
 

NYSPORTS

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Jun 17, 2019
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I feel like this is the kind of loss that shows where the Rangers need to improve for next year and the future. They can play disciplined and structured hockey against one of the best teams in the league and cup champions, but get too loose and lackadaisical against a team like the Devils. A young team that's trying to build something has to learn that you can't let up and you can't get loose no matter who your opponent is. It's a process of learning how to bring it every night and play a game where you stay locked down on defense and opportunistic on offense game in and game out. The Rangers are still learning that.

Shesterkin unfortunately looked rusty and didn't get a lot of help (could see him hunting for the puck a lot instead of looking comfortable...also still not sure how that first goal got in as it seemed to hit his pad and go right through it...I guess his angle was off just enough that it forced its way through).

Unfortunately games like this ultimately may keep them out of the playoffs this year but again it's a learning process. Can't ever let up and take a team for granted and think you can get too wild because the team you're playing is below you in the standings

Let’s hope they stick with patience. J.D. said “they may not be ready to win” prior to the season.

Leadership or lack there of. Post game, we see Staal, Zibby and Shev at the interview table. Staal is the most vocal. Claims he said (paraphrase) we can’t look by teams. Well, when you say that yet are incapable of doing it yourself that is a problem. There is no Captain b/c none of them are captains. Even Zibby sat there practically emotionless.

We need power on the boards and we need leadership. None of them appear to be Captains while the college coach may not be enough. The Rangers will need a leader IMO.
 

Shesterkybomb

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Dec 30, 2016
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We have had a really taxing schedule, its unfortunate but you are bound to lose some games in that type of schedule and its usually the teams you should be beating it happens against because you get up so much for the big name teams that theres a bit of a let down after that. It just sucks because we need the points so bad.
 
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KirkAlbuquerque

#WeNeverGetAGoodCoach
Mar 12, 2014
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I think the Rangers get a little too soft in their own zone hoping to make a quick play and turn up the ice instead of makign the hard play to regain the puck and then have to make another play to break it out. Swat at the puck, hope you dislodge it and make a quick touch pass to someone who is headed up ice...except if that fails you just turned the puck over very badly and gave the other team a golden chance.

Just...stuff to learn and improve on. Also on the PP2 it feels like they rarely get more than 30 seconds of icetime so I'm not surprised they don't get much going. Lemieux ain't terrible in front but he's not a long term PP2 solution I think. At the same time, I think the coaches/team are still feeling out Gauthier and where he can be best used.

Rangers get soft a lot of the time, trying for the fancy play too much. After all the sweet plays against Washington they thought they could Globetrotter the Devils. All the Devils goals were the opposite. Ugly, greasy, north/south, crash the net, get the pucks on net and they got the bounces. When was the last time this team scored an ugly, gritty goal?
 
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Raspewtin

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Rangers get soft a lot of the time, trying for the fancy play too much. After all the sweet plays against Washington they thought they could Globetrotter the Devils. All the Devils goals were the opposite. Ugly, greasy, north/south, crash the net, get the pucks on net and they got the bounces. When was the last time this team scored an ugly, gritty goal?
mckegg's goal against the devils

damn that was hard.
 

NCRanger

Bettman's Enemy
Feb 4, 2007
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My daughter watched the game with me. We were both getting frustrated watching. Her observation was so dead on astute. She kept saying, "dad, the Rangers look like us today". Her spring soccer season started Saturday. Her team had to play a game with no practice, no ability to get back into playing after a winter off or in another sport. Her team, which is generally decent, was a half step behind the play the whole match. Just like the Rangers. Then when they feel pressured, they defer to their best player, just like the Rangers do with Panarin. One of the better offensive players from her team decided to play lacrosse this season, not having another offensively gifted player, just like the Rangers with no Kreider.

My daughter is a goaltender. Two of the three she gave up, she made the initial save. The defense didn't mark (check) their man, and the rebound went straight to a wide open attacker. Typical Ranger defense in front of the net.

Just thought it was very "deep" from an 11 year old.
 

Kovalev27

BEST IN THE WORLD
Jun 22, 2004
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Strome’s last five games 0 pts -4. I’d say he’s been invisible but he’s cost us pts with his lazy selfish play.

but no surprise he disappears completely if panarin isn’t scoring goals. Should be a huge red flag.
 

Shesterkybomb

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Dec 30, 2016
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Strome’s last five games 0 pts -4. I’d say he’s been invisible but he’s cost us pts with his lazy selfish play.

but no surprise he disappears completely if panarin isn’t scoring goals. Should be a huge red flag.

Cherry picking stats eh, Strome has 11pts in his last 12 games.
 
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Shesterkybomb

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Dec 30, 2016
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Expect the last 5 games were way more important than the previous 6. When the games matter most he ghosts the team.

Or they wouldnt have been close to a playoff spot without the 7 before that. Mostly depends on the agenda someone has against him. The guy has almost a point a game, to pick out his worst 5 games in a tough part of the schedule where everyone is running in fumes is silly, we arent anywhere near an playoff without his points this year and he has given a good buffer for Chytil who has been able to grow on his own time. It's time to put the Haterade down and be happy we got so much out of him for such a bargain.
 
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