Post-Game Talk: Nashville Predators at New York Rangers 11/23/15

[aufheben]

I caught the tail end of it and didn't watch 94, or maybe I did but remember nothing of it. There are a lot of people in their late 20s early 30s that managed to be in the middle, part of the dark ages but too young to watch or appreciate 94. Not everyone is 18 or 40.

That too would be unfortunate.

 

[Beacon]

Yep. Those of us who have been fans since the dreaded dark ages can fully appreciate what we are seeing right now.

To give some perspective... we were the biggest joke in the NHL. We toiled in mediocrity, sacrificing our future year in and year out just to make the playoffs and never did. We were like Edmonton, always missing the playoffs but never had the excitement of getting a top 3 pick in hopes of saving the franchise.

It truly sucked.

Speaking of which, Edmonton again last overall, looking at a #1 overall draft pick. Death, taxes and the Oilers getting #1 overall...

 

[Inferno]

i think the big difference between the way the rangers are winning this season and the way they were winning last season is that, last season, it felt like on 95% of the nights they won, they were clearly the better team.

This season, thus far, it seems like that percentage has dropped...dramatically.

The Rangers have had a season like this before. They made it to the ECF with Henrik dragging the team kicking and screaming before they finally bowed out. I just don't have the same "Feel" for this team as I did for last years team...at least not so far.

They seem like their record is a mirage basically brought to them by 1 guy. Henrik.

Of course the flip side is, with so many things going wrong, how good will this team be if they start actually clicking like we know they are capable of?

What happens when the 2nd and 3rd line finally start playing well?

Theres a lot to like in the potential for this team. but i dont like what im seeing on the ice thus far outside of a god-like performance by Henrik nearly every game this season.

 

[Tomas Sandstrom 28]

The Rangers have given up only 38 goals in 21 games. That would be a pace of 148 goals allowed for the season. Last year, the lowest GA total in the league was 189.

 

[SnowblindNYR]

i think the big difference between the way the rangers are winning this season and the way they were winning last season is that, last season, it felt like on 95% of the nights they won, they were clearly the better team.

This season, thus far, it seems like that percentage has dropped...dramatically.

The Rangers have had a season like this before. They made it to the ECF with Henrik dragging the team kicking and screaming before they finally bowed out. I just don't have the same "Feel" for this team as I did for last years team...at least not so far.

They seem like their record is a mirage basically brought to them by 1 guy. Henrik.

Of course the flip side is, with so many things going wrong, how good will this team be if they start actually clicking like we know they are capable of?

What happens when the 2nd and 3rd line finally start playing well?

Theres a lot to like in the potential for this team. but i dont like what im seeing on the ice thus far outside of a god-like performance by Henrik nearly every game this season.

Last season, they'd sleep through half the game on most nights. I think at least until the ****** performance yesterday, our Corsi Close and Corsi Tied were better than last year. We just happened to have the lead a lot more this year and also be on the PK a lot more than the PP. It's interesting Machinehead said that against Florida 5 on 5 shot attempts were 25-23 Florida. Honestly, it's not as bad as it looked last night. I also think you have a case of revisionist history as last year people were *****ing all season how the Rangers would not show up to play half the game most of the time.

 

[Kaapo Cabana]

This whole "ranger fans are spoiled and they're winning a lot so there's nothing to complain about" meme got old last year and it's still old this year

Nobody said there is nothing to complain about. There will always be flaws in every team. Its when complaining is the only thing we do on here and were 1st place in the NHL.

If we won the Stanley Cup, people would complain that we took too many games to do it.

If we swept the SCF, people would complain about how our margin of victory was not large enough.

a portion of HFNYR seem to always find the bad in the good. In your words "it got old last year, and it's still old this year"

That being said Its still so early in the year that the quality of our play is less important than the points in the standings. Our quality of play can/will improve while the points on the board will not go away. Besides, why would we want to peak in November? We're not the Islanders.

Each of the last two years we have been mediocre to bad in both our play and in the standings at this point in the season. Now, even though I admit we have yet to see this teams potential, we've actually had a great start. There is no reason to believe that the Rangers won't be one of the best teams in the 2nd half of the season. That has been their M.O. for the past 2 seasons under AV. The only difference this year is that they don't have a gigantic hole to crawl out of.

Its a good time to be a ranger fan.

 

[Inferno]

Last season, they'd sleep through half the game on most nights. I think at least until the ****** performance yesterday, our Corsi Close and Corsi Tied were better than last year. We just happened to have the lead a lot more this year and also be on the PK a lot more than the PP. It's interesting Machinehead said that against Florida 5 on 5 shot attempts were 25-23 Florida. Honestly, it's not as bad as it looked last night. I also think you have a case of revisionist history as last year people were *****ing all season how the Rangers would not show up to play half the game most of the time.

i just never saw last season that way.

 

[Onion Boy]

I caught the tail end of it and didn't watch 94, or maybe I did but remember nothing of it. There are a lot of people in their late 20s early 30s that managed to be in the middle, part of the dark ages but too young to watch or appreciate 94. Not everyone is 18 or 40.

QFT. As an example, I became a diehard fan starting in 1998.

Yup.

 

[ReggieDunlop68]

i just never saw last season that way.

You can't say that the Rangers weren't really screwed by all the calls against them. And even on all the power plays the Predators had, they didn't have many great shots. The Rangers were definitely the better team at even strength. I wouldn't look at the shot totals last night.

In fact I think the Rangers look better as a whole right now than they did at the same time last year. The Rangers were very dependent on the Rick Nash explosion out of the gates. This year, Lundqvist is hot, and the Rangers are successfully playing a more open game.

What is there not to like aside from not being perfect?

 

[CupWindow]

The Rangers have given up only 38 goals in 21 games. That would be a pace of 148 goals allowed for the season. Last year, the lowest GA total in the league was 189.

Yeah but the defense gives up 35 shots a game so they are terrible.

 

[Beacon]

i think the big difference between the way the rangers are winning this season and the way they were winning last season is that, last season, it felt like on 95% of the nights they won, they were clearly the better team.

This time last year, we were a .500 team outside the top-8 in the East.

iThey made it to the ECF with Henrik dragging the team kicking and screaming before they finally bowed out.

Tied for third in goals this year. How many of them did Lundqvist score?

 

[CupWindow]

You can't say that the Rangers weren't really screwed by all the calls against them. And even on all the power plays the Predators had, they didn't have many great shots. The Rangers were definitely the better team at even strength. I wouldn't look at the shot totals last night.

In fact I think the Rangers look better as a whole right now than they did at the same time last year. The Rangers were very dependent on the Rick Nash explosion out of the gates. This year, Lundqvist is hot, and the Rangers are successfully playing a more open game.

What is there not to like aside from not being perfect?

I wouldn't look at these ever. Teams with no chemistry on offense fire from all angles causing numbers to become inflated.

Teams with Brassard and Zuccarello on the same line can actually work to create quality scoring chances, causing our 20 shots to be greater than the oppositions 30 shots.

We also function as a 7 man defensive unit, with Hank being our last defenseman. Meaning they are all on the same page and Hank knows where everyone is supposed to be on the ice so he knows where the shots are coming from.

I know people like to think that it's two separate entities, the defense, and than the goalie. But believe it or not the goalie and defense actually communicate to each other and understand each other's jobs.

 

[Beacon]

In fact I think the Rangers look better as a whole right now than they did at the same time last year. The Rangers were very dependent on the Rick Nash explosion out of the gates. This year, Lundqvist is hot, and the Rangers are successfully playing a more open game.

This.

The difference is that last year they were scoring because Nash was hot, but this year they are third in goals despite the fact that Nash was useless on that front until the last pair of games. If Nash had 0 goals this year, they would still have been 8th in the NHL. Last year if Nash had 0 goals, they would've been 20th.

 

[eco's bones]

The two previous season with AV as coach our starts were really slow. The first year the Rangers only kicked it into gear in January. Last year it was the beginning of December where the team became almost unbeatable. After 25 games last year we were one game over .500.

If people can't see a difference then it's because their own memory is a little shaky.

I get that people like to complain about all kinds of ****. Hating on something can add spice to your life. For some here unless and until this team wins a cup---they are going to say it hasn't won anything. The team though won't win a cup if it doesn't set itself up to win it. The regular season is all about that. Winning is always important and this team has shown it can win in the regular season--winning early games is just another thing it can do to improve. Sustaining it throughout the year and into the playoffs are the next steps. It has shown it can win in the playoffs as well. Playoff series are not easy to win. The hardest will be the Cup finals. It's hardest because you're playing another team that has proven it can win big games too.

IMO if Zucc hadn't got hurt---if our defense hadn't been all banged up we would have been in the finals again and that's whether Nash was pulling his weight or not. This is a good team. They're not playing great right now but they're winning. The last couple years they weren't playing great early and they weren't winning nearly as much.

 

[bl02]

Obviously we are gonna start losing some games but one game I don't wanna lose is tomorrow against Montreal. Don't wanna lose to them again this year.

 

[Metranger]

Best game of the year by Staal?

His pass to Stepan was beautiful.

 

[Metranger]

Obviously we are gonna start losing some games but one game I don't wanna lose is tomorrow against Montreal. Don't wanna lose to them again this year.

Nice pornstache on Yandle last night.

 

[darko]

Yep. Those of us who have been fans since the dreaded dark ages can fully appreciate what we are seeing right now.

To give some perspective... we were the biggest joke in the NHL. We toiled in mediocrity, sacrificing our future year in and year out just to make the playoffs and never did. We were like Edmonton, always missing the playoffs but never had the excitement of getting a top 3 pick in hopes of saving the franchise.

It truly sucked.

Yup those were some horrible times which is why we try and tell people now to enjoy this. Eventually we'll start declining.

 

[darko]

Yes but you also have to consider that if you were a fan during the Dark Ages, you probably were during 1994 as well, a lot of us weren't. Although I do see that it's not just the younger fans who look as this year as sort of Cup or bust.

In 94 I was 12 years old. I remember it well but how much exactly can a 12 year old appreciate it?

 

[darko]

This whole "ranger fans are spoiled and they're winning a lot so there's nothing to complain about" meme got old last year and it's still old this year

Yet it still applies. Unlesss you are Habs/Stars fan you'd kill to have Rangers record right now. Discussing strengths and weaknesses is fine but don't go constantly complaining when your team is of to a best start in franchise history (not saying you, just in general).

 

[TheTakedown]

Yeah but the defense gives up 35 shots a game so they are terrible.

35 shots against means the defense is not doing it's job--the other team is shooting more at us than we are shooting at them... so what does that leave us?

We have an all world goaltender... but, of course, what would that have to do with anything?

http://www.sportingcharts.com/nhl/stats/team-shots-against-per-game/2015/

We are in 27th in Shots against per game... that's HORRIBLE... coincidentally, Lundqvist has the highest SV% and GAA in the league... I don't know how else to convince people that the defense is legitimately ****

 

[darko]

It's not about shot totals. It's about quality shots. You can throw pucks on goal from the blue line.

 

[TheTakedown]

It's not about shot totals. It's about quality shots. You can throw pucks on goal from the blue line.

true, but that room to make the perfect pass or perfect play just isnt there in the playoffs. Beggars cannot be choosers, and the rangers are way too choosy in general--that's not going to work in the playoffs... that's exactly why Corsi has been proven to be a good benchmark to determine winning.

You saw Hayes simply throw the puck on net and score yesterday, right? That's what we need MORE of...

 

[GoAwayPanarin]

true, but that room to make the perfect pass or perfect play just isnt there in the playoffs. Beggars cannot be choosers, and the rangers are way too choosy in general--that's not going to work in the playoffs... that's exactly why Corsi has been proven to be a good benchmark to determine winning.

You saw Hayes simply throw the puck on net and score yesterday, right? That's what we need MORE of...

Really depends on who they're playing...

I certainly do NOT want that to be their default mode. They're not built to play that way but I do agree that when they're not getting anything generated, they just need get pucks and bodies to the net.

 

[YetAnotherNorwegian]

I don't care how ugly this was. This was my først trip to MSG and it was awesome

Edit: Nevermind. I'll leave the autocorrect in.