Post-Game Talk: Hurricanes @ Rangers - November 30

[Raspewtin]

Going off Rasp's post, does everyone remember how this team used to be able to hem teams in the zone so well that we would literally get a full line change of forwards and defensemen without the puck leaving the zone. I miss that.

They were 2nd in the NHL in shot generation that year. It was a sight to behold.

And for the complaining that they didn't score, the Rangers were 4th in gf/60 from January 1st onward.

 

[gorangers0525]

Welcome to my nightmare

Welcome to HFNYR! Where all that happens are arguments on whether Girardi and Staal are good or not!

And yeah, they have been pretty horrid. It sucks but hopefully they can turn around their play. Every Ranger fan should be so grateful with the start Hank has had. He has won a lot of games for us IMO.

Welcome to the board man! Posters here don't agree often, but when they do, it's of the opinion that Dan Girardi and Marc Staal are two of the best players of all time...... Hope you enjoy the lively discussions that go on here.

You mean to tell me that Dan Girardi isn't one of the best #2's in the league?? And that Marc Staal would be a top pairing player on any team besides the Rangers?



Seriously, I love good defensive hockey and this year and a decent chunk of last year it's been god awful.

 

[JohnC]

They were 2nd in the NHL in shot generation that year. It was a sight to behold.

And for the complaining that they didn't score, the Rangers were 4th in gf/60 from January 1st onward.

Go watch all of the goals from that year on YouTube. They cycled and put a ton of pucks on net, had a bunch of deflection goals and honestly they were better at the tic tac toe globetrotting on ice than both this year's team and last year's imo. Who even knows when the mindset changed.

 

[Raspewtin]

Go watch all of the goals from that year on YouTube. They cycled and put a ton of pucks on net, had a bunch of deflection goals and honestly they were better at the tic tac toe globetrotting on ice than both this year's team and last year's imo. Who even knows when the mindset changed.

Last year with a full year of MSL and putting someone as silky smooth as Hayes in the line-up.

The Rangers relied much more on rush scoring and high danger shots coming off of controlled entries to score. And it worked. They added more skill at every position.

This year, they're less suited to play super-rush, AND score of cycles, than ever before. It's essentially the worst of both worlds.

 

[ArPanet]

Going off Rasp's post, does everyone remember how this team used to be able to hem teams in the zone so well that we would literally get a full line change of forwards and defensemen without the puck leaving the zone. I miss that.

Ah, good times.

 

[SnowblindNYR]

They were 2nd in the NHL in shot generation that year. It was a sight to behold.

And for the complaining that they didn't score, the Rangers were 4th in gf/60 from January 1st onward.

Loved that season, I feel like if they continued it into last season they'd have won the cup.

 

[Ola]

Last year with a full year of MSL and putting someone as silky smooth as Hayes in the line-up.

The Rangers relied much more on rush scoring and high danger shots coming off of controlled entries to score. And it worked. They added more skill at every position.

This year, they're less suited to play super-rush, AND score of cycles, than ever before. It's essentially the worst of both worlds.

Don't really believe in super-rush scoring, it always more or less require some kind of major mistake from the team you face. You see that this year too when we score of the rush, the other team attack, we break up the attack and just puts the puck in the neutral zone and out of no-where we get a 3 on 1 or 2 on 1 rush. That would never happened out-side the first round of the POs... I think we try to play more of a complete game this year and I like that. Its costing us because we are a bit sloppy and its not our back-yard to play with that swagger with the puck, and we will need to buckle down later on this season and get back to our core game. But it would be good if we could push our overall game forward a bit before that.

Also on MSL, when we had him and he struggled many was of the opinion that he contributed nothing and easily could be replaced by just about anyone. That was of course not true. When a player like MSL is on the ice, even last year when struggling, the team you face relates very much to him. He moves very well on the ice to get into scoring situations, and is very calculative and consistent in that sense. When you face him as a D, you take notice of that and really have to focus on staying with him and making sure that you don't loose track of him.

We definitely lost a dimension that is impacting our possession numbers when MSL retired. In short, if the average D in this league face Jesper Fast or JT Miller they are pro-active, play their game, step up on them, etc etc etc -- if they face MSL they are reactive. They are forced to keep a safe distance. He will pull them E-W, N-S, always with a plan to exploit them. And so forth.

I always think there is a great danger with concluding that a player like MSL for example easily can be replaced just because they are not scoring etc. Its definitely the same with Nash too for example.

 

[Ail]

Man I miss '11 - '12 where the Rangers relied on luck every night to win games and every goal bounced in off someone's ass or legs.

Elite level skill.

 

[Megustaelhockey]

Please continue using this thread until the GDT is up.

 

[Larrybiv]

I have confidence that they will turn it around eventually, but watching them right now is like watching a train wreck. It's just not good enough, if your ultimate goal is winning the cup.

Agree! But.......we're really trying to win a cup in December? They're doing (for the most part)what they have to do to win games without getting hurt, nor destroying their bodies with efforts that lead to injuries, like attempting to block EVERY shot.

Yes, it's painful to watch when they're capable of so much better play, but just remember that teams "get up" to play us, whilst is difficult to "get up" playing teams "less than" the Rangers.

Bottom line is, win and go through the motions while eventually getting the team game where it needs to be, when that time arrives. They're fine, really.

 

[JohnC]

Yes, it's painful to watch when they're capable of so much better play, but just remember that teams "get up" to play us, whilst is difficult to "get up" playing teams "less than" the Rangers.

For a team that hasn't won diddly yet, I'd have a problem with this being the reason they've looked awful. A regular season championship and 3rd place finish shouldn't have them feeling like they're better than any team.

 

[Megustaelhockey]

GDT is up: http://hfboards.mandatory.com/showthread.php?t=1991355