Kitchener Rangers 2019-20 Season Thread (Part 4)

[EvenSteven]

i just dont understand how a tough as nails Hunter type player run team is so soft.

Hunter runs his team with the times. When there wasn’t a fight cap rule, he always had top end tough guys. When the first cap came in (10 games), he adapted. He ran a tough team where there were enough guys around who could both play and “go” often enough where the fight cap didn’t mean as much as it did for most other teams. Instead of two or three guys with 15-20 and beyond fighting majors, he employed about 10 guys who could play and amass 5-10 fights. The dude is pretty smart. While he did that, other teams with way less fighters who hit their 10 games a lot sooner were vulnerable to intimidation or have to resort to the 11th fight meaning a suspension. Again, the dude is pretty smart.

With the new fight cap, fighting is virtually non existent compared to pre-new cap times. So there isn’t much need or at least really important to have that type of player around.

As far as being a “soft team” goes, Hunter discovered a long time ago that this league is riddled with inept officials. Some more inept than others. No doubt he has a book on every ref. Why wouldn’t he in this age of analytics?

So he coaches his team to exploit the incompetence of the officials. Nothing wrong with that. Why? Because it works!!!

Instead of the rest of the league or their fan bases or the media that covers the other 19 teams crying and moaning about it all the time, how about learning from one of the best coaches in junior hockey how it’s done and copy it? Geez! This isn’t rocket science.

Special teams, most often is the difference between winning and losing. We saw that tonight. The team with the best special teams usually wins. With that in mind, the Rangers have a ton of work to do to fix ours.

As a fan, it’s pretty bad when, in a game like tonight, when the opposition goes on the PP, you find yourself expecting the other team to score while when we go on the PP, you see the same thing over and over. Mediocrity along with scoring chances for the other team. London fans likely get excited when they go on the PP while us Ranger fans get worried when we do. Nothing like a bad PP to amp up the other team once they kill it.

Sure we do ok on special teams vs the lesser teams, but we won’t compete in the post season against the better teams if we don’t get ours straightened out.

 

[EvenSteven]

Merkley turned there, didn't miss a shift, assists the PP goal and Valade gets 4?

Merkley turned, but Valade hit him which allowed Merkley to sell it to get 4 min. Just be thankful that this incompetent officiating crew didn’t give Valade 5 and the game.

The difference makers tonight were Merkley and McMicheal.

McMicheal, 1G 2A, drew the penalty that put us down two men which led to a quick 2-0 London lead.

Merkley, 4 assists, drew the penalty that allowed London to blow the game wide open late in the third.

Think our coaching staff took anything away from this?

 

[SYWTom]

Hoping that in a long series we could wear their skill down. I’d like to think that in the playoffs the rule book gets thrown away a little more to play to our strength.

 

[Buttsy]

Think our coaching staff took anything away from this?

To bad in a way, regardless of whether the penalties were justified or if the refs sucked when so much time is spent on the PP or the PK its really hard to asses where the teams are vs one another? I was looking forward to seeing how close the two teams are but really the only thing gathered from tonite was for Kitchener and the fact you can’t give London all those PP chances and expect a positive result? However that is a pretty basic “learn” against most opponents? Hopefully the next and last regular season game in Kitchener will show us a better comparison?

 

[GeoBlue]

More after game comments than usual and I think most of the points have been covered. It was all about the PP tonight and we cannot blame the refs. They did a bad job but in the end each team got their share. London just did that much better on the PP....period. We had nothing.

You can blame the linesmen as well but you still need to win your share of faceoffs. This was not happening.

Yes, there was some embellishment on the Valade hit but bottom line is that whenever you put a guy into the boards from 3 feet out, you will get a penalty, whether the other player turns into it or not. Every player should know this. As another poster mentioned, he could easily have been assessed a game and suspension. There were other stupid penalties as well and we need to pick our poison wisely.

Noel seems better but I wince every time he hits someone. Hoping he is truly fully healed and that they did not rush him back just for this weekend. If truly healthy, then he is only going to get better. And I agree with the poster that stated Ingham needs to find the next gear. As good as he has been, he really hasn't "stolen" any games for us. That is what the great goalies do and perhaps he is saving it for the playoffs.

PK was not great. You can't leave guys Grudin sit 3 feet in front of Ingham for the one timer. Those are hard to stop even for the best goaltenders. Clear the front of the net and let Ingham take care of the shots from further out. Someone mentioned Hunter and how he plays the refs? Here's a tip......you are less likely to get a penalty wiping out a guy in front of the net on the PK than you are knocking a guys stick out of his hands on a 5 on 5. Just don't make it look blatant.

Assessing this game, I am worried as I feel London is at another level than we are. This easily could have been a blowout as I feel a couple of our goals were garbage. Damiani had an easy rebound that resulted in an open cage. Meireles had the unexpected backhander that caught their goalie off guard. I know they all count but we didn't see any of that crisp play making that you see when the Rangers are on their game and they have been inconsistent in that area.

"The Test - Part 2" comes tonight against Saginaw. Not only in the way we play but in the push back we show after last night's loss.

 

[OhSheila]

It's all been said and said well.

Discipline goes out the door when most teams play the Knights. When they start yapping, smile and skate away. Use that anger for more determination to score against them, that's what can burn them. Thye know exactly how to get under their opponent's head.

London's special teams are always, year after year incredibly good. They are as a team dedicated to great defence and their skill and ability to capitalize on any small mistake or opening is amazing.

Kudos to them. They're in the Rangers heads and our heads too. All focus is lost when that happens.

 

[Rangers True Blue]

Up to 3-3.....give Rangers credit they pushed to tie it all up...it was a game and then the 4 min in the latter half of the game was all the Knights needed to PP into a win. Just the same, Rangers PP is just not happening and could have changed the game too. A big takeaway is to focus on the game and ignore the antics.

Sag lost last night so they'll be hungry at home...but Rangers should be just as a hungry after that mess in London. They're still a point up but won't be if they don't win this one.

 

[LolaT200]

Special teams are the Rangers' weakness. Wrong players and wrong systems. PP1 features the three players on the team that give the puck away most often. That's one reason PP1 is almost as likely to get scored on as they are to score.
Both PK and PP have a system problem inherited from McKee. They are static. There is very little player movement. This works OK for PK against lesser teams. The better teams move the puck too well for a static box, as we saw against London. The static box is also vulnerable to the puck coming out from behind the net, as we saw with London.
PP needs a whole rethink. As with the PK, it's very static. Have a look at the better power play teams. Lots of movement. This creates opportunity and opens up cross-seam passes. Maybe time to let PP2 become PP1. I'd love to see a comparison of net goals/time on ice between PP1 and PP2.

 

[Coaches Coroner]

Kudos to them. They're in the Rangers heads and our heads too. All focus is lost when that happens.

I think they are in the heads of people here far more than in the heads of the players...at least I hope so. If they are in the Rangers heads as much as some here, they are doomed. Some here seem afflicted with "little brother syndrome"

 

[bobber]

When the game is close and on the line fans can expect the Knights to embellish a few times throwing their heads back like they were being pole axed. At least this is the mind set of a lot of people when the game is tied late. Why not. When your PP and PK are at the top of the league. It's worth a shot.

 

[sbpointer]

The refs were terrible for both teams last night. The big difference maker is how awful the Rangers PP was. I felt like the Knights PK had as good or better chance to score on the Rangers PP with the speed and aggressive play on the PK. I don't get it Kitchener has plenty of great offence but that PP is not working.

 

[rangersblues]

The refs were terrible for both teams last night. The big difference maker is how awful the Rangers PP was. I felt like the Knights PK had as good or better chance to score on the Rangers PP with the speed and aggressive play on the PK. I don't get it Kitchener has plenty of great offence but that PP is not working.

The trouble with our power play is we don't have a bonafide point man. We also go through stretches where everyone stands still.

 

[Matttheleaf]

How do teams that have bad power plays and high skilled players watch teams with good power plays and just decide not to try anything that those good power plays are doing? when you have a power play like the rangers do with high skilled guys why are you not moving the puck around faster and trying more through the seem passes like so many other top teams do? Also why in the world when you have a 5 on 3 for the end of the period do you take a point shot when there was still enough time to work it around to try and find a better opportunity?

 

[bobber]

One thing I noticed about the Knight's PP is that many times they have two players parked on both sides of the opposing net. They just feed pucks in there from all angles and it's in the net quick.

 

[rangersblues]

How do teams that have bad power plays and high skilled players watch teams with good power plays and just decide not to try anything that those good power plays are doing? when you have a power play like the rangers do with high skilled guys why are you not moving the puck around faster and trying more through the seem passes like so many other top teams do? Also why in the world when you have a 5 on 3 for the end of the period do you take a point shot when there was still enough time to work it around to try and find a better opportunity?

We don't have anyone who can control the puck at the level of McMichael or Merkley when he's on like last night.

 

[Otto]

Rangers were better 5 on 5 and awful in all other situations. And way too stupid/undisciplined to win.

The only officials I felt were total garbage were the linesmen. How many times did they kick our C out for no reason? Losing all those draws was killer and the random tossing was a big part of it.

When the player on your team with the most faceoff attempts is averaging 48.7% and goes 4/12 the issue isn't the linesmen.

Here are your top faceoff players by percentage and in brackets how they did last night

Hawel 58.8% (1/2)
Petizian 55% (1/5)
Meireles 54.4% (7/18)
Langdon 53.8% (3/3)
Fishman 50% (DNP)
Rupoli 50% (DNP)
Pinelli 48.8% (0/0)
Damiani 48.7% (4/12)
McDonell 46.1% (0/2)
Serpa 44.4% (2/3)
Yantsis 41.2% (0/1)
Noel 38.5% (33.3% w/KIT) (0/1)
Dickerson 36.4% (DNP)
Valade 33.3% (0/1)

So your top faceoff players in terms of attempts saw the vast majority of faceoffs (Damiani, Meireles, Petizian)Then your #1 and #4 in terms of % wins saw the next most Serpa was well above average winning 66.7% last night.. after that you're left with 5 faceoffs … hardly a game changer

 

[BogeyJ]

Time to turn the clock and put in a solid effort that the Rangers are known to put forward. Especially after their worst performance penalty wise . . Go Rangers Go!

 

[MatthewsMoustache]

MM switched the lines up a bit, Valade with Meireles-Yantsis and Pinelli with Damiani-Hawel. Dickerson in for Serpa

 

[EvenSteven]

I’d send Yantsis to the showers. Have to send a message.

 

[MatthewsMoustache]

Dickerson!

 

[Tim Wallach]

MM needs to fix the special teams and quickly. PK is porous right now.

 

[EvenSteven]

Dickerson!

Nice to see!! Maybe he should be getting more opportunity.

 

[SYWTom]

Not sure what to say.
Just no push back tonight, lazy play, Ingham made some really good saves earlier but at this point put Pfeil in.

 

[EvenSteven]

The special teams and discipline are worse tonight than last night. Turnovers galore.

Poor Ingham. He’s the only guy who showed up tonight.

 

[rangersblues]

MM needs to fix the special teams and quickly. PK is porous right now.

Only 14 shots after 2 periods, after only 22 last night. We need to fix more than special teams. Top teams are really out playing us. We're going out early in the playoffs playing like this.