Post-Game Talk: EC Round 1: New York Rangers (M3) vs. Pittsburgh Penguins (M2) (PIT leads 1-0)

[aufheben]

AV might need to go Staal-Boyle and Skjei-Girardi. Idk, without McD this D group is seriously not working.

You can't have those two together. It's a disaster. Everyone seems to realize it except AV.

 

[ltsthinaz]

True, that's something that has seriously declined.

With Staal and Girardi takes forever to get up the ice. Where'd the speed go - two years ago we were fastest teams in the league.

 

[Glen Sathers Cigar]

Boyle is still competent when he has the puck. Staal and Girardi will occasionally make a nice block or pokecheck but you need to be good when you have it.

Marc was terrible and a few forwards were invisible. Missed an empty net, injured Lundqvist (to the extent that he missed the last periods), and did **** all on the 1st goal. That was just the 1st period. I get that people don't like Dan Boyle but he's a much better option for Marc's partner than Girardi.

Yeah, Boyle is slow and not great in the D zone, but he can effectively move the puck up the ice. It's why Staal played so well with Stralman. Staal is a very good 1on1 player, he has a great stick for breaking up passes and has pretty good gap control. His issues come on the 50/50 pucks and being able to not only clear the zone, but to effectively transition the game. With Stralman (and though he is an inferior player, it applies to Boyle) it gives him someone to defer to in those moments who can get the puck up the ice.

AV should go with Staal-Boyle and Skjei-Girardi as the third pair.

Staal-Girardi are just an atrocious pair. They play worse together and their mistakes are magnified because their partner is equally inept in the same facets of the game.


I actually think that Marc Staal is still a legitimate middle 4 defenseman. He just needs a partner with relative foot speed and the ability to move the puck. Girardi is just worn down and the style of the NHL is phased him out, his regression compounding that.

Boyle is the right option now. He's slow, but he has decent enough footwork and is savy enough to make good escape plays in the D zone and, again, most importantly he can move the puck up the ice.


The defense is not being fixed this season. Right now it is about AV admitting the faults and trying to put together the bets pairs that he can. To make it work, they're going to need to forwards to do a good job in the D zone.

 

[aufheben]

I haven't seen anything from Staal and Girardi this year that says they're better in the defensive zone than Boyle. Staal is serviceable when paired with a partner who's not allergic to pucks.

 

[DanielBrassard]

With Staal and Girardi takes forever to get up the ice. Where'd the speed go - two years ago we were fastest teams in the league.

Pouliot, Dorsett, John Moore, St. Louis, Stralman, Hagelin, Hunwick. A ton of speed gone.

 

[aufheben]

Pouliot, Dorsett, John Moore, St. Louis, Stralman, Hagelin, Hunwick. A ton of speed gone.

Even now we have Stalberg, who is probably the strongest forward on the team when it comes to utilizing speed, and he receives the honor of riding shotgun to Glass and Moore. I'm really getting tired of AV. This game was winnable.

 

[Mikachu93]

Imagine if this team had traded Girardi in 2014 when the Ducks were willing to give us Sami Vatanen and one of Rakell/Palmieri/Maroon for him?

Man oh man and then we could have signed Stralman long term. Really missed the boat there huh

 

[Amazing Kreiderman]

Staal is debatable.

We didn't watch the same game if you thought Boyle was bad. But you always think Boyle is bad, so...

Boyle was not bad and Boyle is the least of our worries. Marc Staal is a disgrace to this team. Him getting that 3m raise killed our chances of winning the Cup. But it is no surprise this team's management rewards players for past performances rather than looking at the future

 

[May Rih]

And Staal. And Boyle. And Brassard.

Disagree on Staal, I thought he was pretty good. Brassard was not good - he hasn't been during the last few games of the season either. Let's hope this game is the exception and we see normal playoff Brassard next game, because we kind of need that guy.

Boyle wasn't really bad, but he wasn't really good either. Most of my issue with him tonight (and most nights) are the little things with the puck he consistently had problems with: the puck rolls over his stick while he's trying to hold the zone, puck rolls on edge when trying to skate it up/make an outlet pass, the puck rolls off his stick when trying to enter the zone. Normally, I would normally attribute that to just bad puck luck, but for whatever reason it happens too often with Boyle.

So, he's not really playing poorly, but these little things add up to him not playing well either.

 

[aufheben]

Then there's two serviceable rookies in Lindberg and McIlrath who aren't even playing.

Girardi didn't get a lot of ice-time so I guess that's a step in the right direction. That pairing is just so bad.

 

[Glennsoe]

Told you that Hornqvist would be the difference maker if we gave him time and space..

Hopefully we'll learn better the next game...

 

[Amazing Kreiderman]

Told you that Hornqvist would be the difference maker if we gave him time and space..

Hopefully we'll learn better the next game...

The difference makers today were Marc and Dan

 

[Inferno]

Genius coach who put them together.

 

[Placid]

I'll just quote myself from earlier in this thread *sigh*

I am not worried about the offense (although they can be masters at completely "#¤%"#¤% it up for themselves), our achilles heel is our defense.. slow.. lumbering.. non physical, and quite often having the positional awareness of a senile blind man...

Really crossing fingers for Hank to be ok... and that our defense steps up (many steps..). Then we have a chance. Its not like the game was unwinnable, we just gave them too much time and space to do their thing.

 

[Amazing Kreiderman]

 

[Broadway Brad]

@Hoopdata: @AdamZHerman btw Yandle was somewhere b/w 2:20-2:30 of straight ice time for that 2on1. Was in from the goal at 1:02 of PP to goal at ~3:30.

 

[thepoeticgoblin]

Huge game on Saturday. I don't think we are good enough to turn around a 2-0 (or 3-1 for that matter) anymore. A shame that we didn't get the most out of them having to playing Zatkoff.

 

[SixGoalieSystem]

There is no chance in hell this teams comes close to a cup, even if Hank somehow is able to steal this series. At this point I'm hoping for a blowout sweep. Maybe if they're embarassed in four straight games, we might see some changes.

 

[BBKers]

Next game

I wanna see:

Miller - Brass - Zucc
Kreider - Stepan - Hayes
Lindberg - Staal - Nash
Stalberg - Moore - Fast

Yandle - Klein
Staal - Boyle
Skjei - McIllraith

Hank (hopefully)

Girardi and Glass in The pressbox.
Can it be so Hard?


Do it !!! Dammit AV. Do it!

 

[Ori]

Jesus Christ. He has seriously lost it.


He legitimately thinks Dan and Marc are doing a good job.

Tanner on the ice down 2 with 4 minutes left.

Wtf. AV was a revelation in 2014. Now (as he's curried more favor with the organization and had more control) he's probably an even bigger detriment to the team than anyone else, including 18&5.

Another coach would deploy them as the liabilities they are and try and hide them. Not ride them like AV does.

He probably know that they are declining and he have to use them - he can`t really hide their bad contracts in the Rangers org. - and expect miracles in the playoffs when Ryan Mc. is injured. After zuci injury Miller - Brass - Zuci line has little chemistry - I don`t know why, but strange that AV don`t notice that.

Positives from last game were Stepan & Skjei in my opinion.

 

[JHS]

This was an insanely frustrating game to watch for me. Aside from the obvious, Hank's injury and Girardi's continued demise, the Rangers should have been up 3-0 in the first with even remotely average shooting and or finishing. How many grade a chances do the Rangers need before they score?!?!? I can name 2 in the first period alone that were not scored on that crushed the team. The first one was a great play that left Mark Staal wide open with a relatively clean look and a wide open net. If you watch the replay, his shot was so far off target that he actually shot it back at the goalie and hit him before the goalie even knew where the puck was. Zuccarello( or Hayes maybe)did virtually the same thing on almost the same set up a few minutes later. Victor Stahlberg had a 2 on 1 in the first and his shot is so mediocre that a slightly above average high school goalie makes that save 9 out of 10 times! It's absurdly frustrating to watch the Rangers generate chance after chance only to be thwarted by just awful finishing!

Point two- I'm sick of the Ranger forwards, most noticeably is Rick Nash,Eric Staal, Kevin Hayes, and Chris Krieder taking the puck wide off the rush constantly and never attempting anything through the middle of the ice on the rush. It happened countless times last night where the Rangers got through the neutral zone with speed entered the offensive zone with ease and then rather than driving the net, carried the puck wide and tried to drive around the outside of the defense. I'm sorry but that's simply not good enough in the playoffs. The Rangers need to be more willing to drive the net and make the Penguins actually defend. It's clear the Penguins defense is volnerable to giving up chances off the rush but the Rangers kill their own chances by just making soft plays. A perfect example of what needs to happen far more often is what Dan Boyle did on the Rangers second goal. He crossed the blue line, took the puck to the center of the ice, drew several defenders towards him, and then made the right play by getting the puck towards the net where Derek was there to score. It's simple hockey really but you have to be willing to go hard to the net and I'm just not sure the guys above are doing what it takes on a consistent enough basis.

The series is not over. I'll argue that if the finishing improves for next game this team can beat the Penguins. It's going to take way better choices with the puck and improved finishing but this series is far from lost!

 

[I Eat Crow]

For health reasons, I think I'm going to take Game 2 off.

It took me two hours to fall asleep last night, and I woke up again an hour later, getting only 3.5 hours of sleep total before my 12 hour shift today.

Frankly, I have plans on Saturday that I don't want ruined by these bozos. I think I need to take a step back from this team if only for a little while if they're literally making me lose sleep.

Thanks for listening/reading me vent, guys.

 

[Ghost of jas]

I wanna see:

Miller - Brass - Zucc
Kreider - Stepan - Hayes
Lindberg - Staal - Nash
Stalberg - Moore - Fast

Yandle - Klein
Staal - Boyle
Skjei - McIllraith

Hank (hopefully)

Girardi and Glass in The pressbox.
Can it be so Hard?


Do it !!! Dammit AV. Do it!

Hayes should neither be at wing or in the top six.

 

[Bluenote13]

I thought it was a good road game until Hank got hurt.

Let's hope he's okay.

 

[BarbaraAlphanse]

Sorry y'all. Wasn't able to finish even the first last night at stout. Some bozos kept getting in my face and it wasn't worth it to stay.

Re: the game. Several things. I think the Rangers can improve on 3 areas of their actual game. 1- dan Girardi. Bench him. Not kidding. Staal-Klein, Yandle-mcilrath, Skjei-Boyle. Done. 2- getting the puck to the net. I'm not talking about the shots from the point deliberately sent wide cause of the blockers. I'm talking about the ones where no one was in front of the shooter and they still missed the net. 3-shoot at all times when the puck is below the face off circle and do not shoot unless you have a blocker slide out of position if you're on the point.

Aside from that, we had terrible luck last night.