Post-Game Talk: craps @ RANGERS

[SnowblindNYR]

Our D looked a lot better today without the 8 million dollar man

Looked great against the Devils too in the third period.

 

[SnowblindNYR]

Shhh. We don’t discuss Quinn’s positives here.

I still can't stand him and it's not some huge accomplishment but I'm happy he's not Quinn's Glass. You can get away with a terrible 4th line forward, not a defenseman.

 

[Kords]

Finally watched the game. Fox had about a dozen or so great plays today. Yet again. This kid is so unreal, I can't believe we have a defenseman like him on this team.

 

[Doctyl]

I think it was a good move to put the grinders out there too, but not as a reward. It's just prudent and classy not to show up the other team by putting out your top PP guys with time ticking away, up by three. Most coaches don't care about running up the score and letting their guys try to pad their stats. Especially smart because we'll be seeing the Caps again, this year move than ever. Smart coaching.

f*** that. Bury them. Goal differential is a tie breaker in this league

 

[JimmyG89]

I have to say that I've been impressed with Hájek, mostly because I did not expect him to keep up after his atrocious start to the season in Brno.

First the whole saga of signing with Olomouc, then that being either cancelled or retracted after he gave an open-hearted interview in a Czech newspaper. And then being unable to secure a spot in the line up for Kometa Brno.

To see him hold his own in the NHL 2-3 months later is more than I expected.

One thing with Hajek is that he does only have roughly 130 pro games under his belt, with 10 of those being this season in the Czech league. Sounds like a good sample, but it does take some players longer than others to adjust. So we're looking at a guy with one a half pro seasons under his belt at 23. He wasn't a top pick, a 2nd rounder, so it's not like some others that are coming in at 20 and are ready for the NHL game.

He also was not in an ideal situation to grow. The last two years have been a tire fire in the Rangers defensive end. Some players just need the extra insulation to get to another level while they are younger. There is another level to his game he can get to. He's definitely more confident in himself. You can see it this season as opposed to others. Maybe being a taxi squad guy and letting him be around at the NHL level helped. I'm hopeful he can build on this and slot into that 3LD role for the rest of this season and next.

 

[SnowblindNYR]

What do you guys think last season looks like with Martin over Ruff? I can't get over how much better our D has looked for the most part.

 

[huerter]

Our D looked a lot better today without the 8 million dollar man

People love to talk about his attributes but at the end of the day when they talk about his quality the BEST they can say is he's fine.

 

[Joe Ranger Fan 1960]

f*** that. Bury them. Goal differential is a tie breaker in this league

You're kidding, right? DIFF is the sixth tiebreaker of seven. There are more important factors to consider here, given that winning the Stanley Cup is the goal.

 

[Hi ImHFNYR]

The "otherwise" part is huge though. That's why he was good outside of this one big f*** up.

Your last post said he was great outside the one eff up. Now he's only good?

Weird.

It's almost like you're wrong, you're way of evaluating goalies has always been unreasonable and you can't admit it

 

[SnowblindNYR]

People love to talk about his attributes but at the end of the day when they talk about his quality the BEST they can say is he's fine.

He's a good #4 defenseman not worth the money. The reason people say he's fine is because you'd think this guy were Jack Johnson with the stuff you read on this board.

 

[SnowblindNYR]

You're kidding, right? DIFF is the sixth tiebreaker of seven. There are more important factors to consider here, given that winning the Stanley Cup is the goal.

What factors that the Caps will have extra motivation because a coached played his #1 PP unit on the PP?

 

[egelband]

Both Strome and Mika took big hits today. Hope they’re ok. With Mika, I was thinking maybe he needs to take - and survive - a couple wallops to get some confidence going forward. (Easy for me to say )

 

[Doctyl]

You're kidding, right? DIFF is the sixth tiebreaker of seven. There are more important factors to consider here, given that winning the Stanley Cup is the goal.

Scoring more goals = losing Stanley cup?

 

[28]

Both Strome and Mika took big hits today. Hope they’re ok. With Mika, I was thinking maybe he needs to take - and survive - a couple wallops to get some confidence going forward. (Easy for me to say )

He takes plenty of hits; he's ok. He needs some more goals for confidence.

 

[smoneil]

What do you guys think last season looks like with Martin over Ruff? I can't get over how much better our D has looked for the most part.

Part of that could just be the additions (K'AM) and players being a bit more comfortable in year two with the team (Trouba, Fox, Lindgren). But I do think that Martin has been doing exactly what he did in Pittsburgh--young D are playing extremely well. I initially wanted the team to hire Gonchar when Pitt let him go, but Martin has been exceptional. I hope he sticks around long enough to integrate a few more of the up and coming D prospects into the lineup.

 

[LetsGoRangers2021]

This was happening for 5 or 6 games before he got hurt.

He was outstanding when he arrived.

Don't wanna be a downer after a win, just a pattern I'm noticing.

You are being a downer. Sucks.

 

[Unpredictable1]

Fox is better offensively than anything we ever saw with McDonagh, both at articulating offensive zone play and in breakouts. McDonagh was similarly high IQ, but did not have the same offensive touch. However, McDonagh was a more powerful skater, McDonagh could take 3 horse-like power strides and catch up with almost any player in the game and he just looked so sturdy out there even while skating back and playing the man.

I couldn't have worded it any better than this. I'm a huge fan of both players, but this is bang on.

 

[SnowblindNYR]

Part of that could just be the additions (K'AM) and players being a bit more comfortable in year two with the team (Trouba, Fox, Lindgren). But I do think that Martin has been doing exactly what he did in Pittsburgh--young D are playing extremely well. I initially wanted the team to hire Gonchar when Pitt let him go, but Martin has been exceptional. I hope he sticks around long enough to integrate a few more of the up and coming D prospects into the lineup.

Does he get head coaching offers? Does he want to be a head coach? He hasn't been a head coach since 2011-2012.

 

[Rempe73]

Just finished watching the game.

1. Panarin
2. Lafreniere
3. Buchnevich

HM: Igor, Strome, Lindgren

LA-FRE-NIERE! What an impressive goal.
Buchnevich really loving the monkey-off-the-back celebration is funny as hell. I think this was his third time doing that.
As good as Fox is, his shot sucks. It looks like it got worse, because it is one of the worst in the league.
On the contrary, Lindgren’s shot looks great. Guy continues to impress me by making noticeable changes in his development. Shot and skating look better this year, and he also looks a bit more dynamic (not that he was ever dynamic).
Zibanejad looked a lot better.
Nick Jensen is a fantastic skater.
Igor is amazing.
Buchnevich played very well.
Gauthier is SO frustrating and I really want him to succeed, but damn. He looks like a real player sometimes, but half the time his good play leads to nothing. The other half of the time it leads to nothing AND he makes a low IQ play at the end of it. He has a pretty good shot, hands, and speed, which at his size should really make him a threat eventually.
Hajek was quietly good.

 

[smoneil]

Does he get head coaching offers? Does he want to be a head coach? He hasn't been a head coach since 2011-2012.

You know, I'm not sure. Prior to this, his longest stretch between head coaching gigs was 7 or 8 years (between his first HC job with St. Louis and his second one with Ottawa). While he doesn't really need to "prove himself" or anything (if you have more than 1,000 head coaching games under your belt, it's a pretty safe bet that you know what you are doing, haha), he has really demonstrated an incredibly valuable skill over his last couple of spots--the ability to develop young talent on the blueline.

I'm hoping that he's just decided that he likes the less stressful life of an assistant coach, and will stick around long enough to establish kids like Lundkvist, Schneider, Robertson, and Jones.

 

[chosen]

Miller's play is concerning.

What the f*** does Quinn tell young players?

Rangers lose. Quinn sucks.
Rangers win. Quinn sucks.

 

[BBKers]

In all of GOATS apparent misery, he drew 2 penalties in 9:03 in ice time. One led to the PP game winner

 

[mrmovies779]

Just rewatched the game.Hajek really had a nice game.Hes cut down on those terrible giveaways,worked well on the boards to win puck battles and took a few hits to make some plays.Even jumped into the play for a few shots.his confidence is clearly growing.

 

[wolfgaze]

 

[Black Aces]

It's interesting that Quinn catches so much grief from some circles for not using young Kakko enough yet the Rangers have their best game without the kid in the lineup. Don't get me wrong, I like KK, but he's got some growing to do before he's the next Mike Gartner. Hopefully he's okay and back soon.

Kakko has easily been our best forward for some stretch here. Them winning with him out has more to do with coincidence than anything else.

Also he was never supposed to be Mike Gartner. Very different players.