Sullivan to Join Tortorella Next Season

It was mentioned earlier this year when Torts first came to New York, that he wanted his assistant coach from Tampa Bay, Mike Sullivan, to be part of his coaching staff. Sullivan was not allowed to come to the Rangers at the time, mainly because he was still the assistant coach of the Lightning. But Next Season, it is almost definite that Sullivan will be assisting Tortorella with the coaching duties of the Rangers. Mike played at Boston University and for 11 seasons in the NHL.

As you know, Tortorella does not like more than two coaches on the bench at a time, so that means interim assistant coach, Jim Schoenfeld, will return to his main job as assistant General Manager. I felt like Schoenfeld did a solid job during his temporary position as assistant coach, and handled the defense well.

(Photo courtesy of Getty Images)

Exit Day for the Rangers, Tortorella's Thoughts

Today was the exit day for the Rangers players and coaches, as the players will not be back until training camp. The coaches and front office, however, will be quite active with each other during the offseason, as they will try to gain what this year's team lacked.

Some quotes from John Tortorella on various topics were posted on Blue Notes earlier today;

On whether the team needed better talent, or the talent it has wasn't good enough: "Both. I'm not the manager of the club, and we're going to have meetings in two weeks to determine what our team is. But I can step out and say I don't think we have it totally, as far as within our team, and I don't think we got it totally from the people on our team."

On whether his suspension was a distraction: "It's a bad mistake by me. I regret it. I think I put the organization in an embarrassing situation. I'm embarrassed by it. I'm an intense person, which is a positive, but it also turns to a negative sometimes, and it did there. I didn't want to talk about the other day because I didn't want it to be more of a distraction." "In that situation, I am the head coach of the New York Rangers. I'll be honest, my heart was in the right place, I was protecting my players, at least I felt I was. But I stepped way out of bounds."
-----
These are some very strong words spoken by the head man. I am glad he is being totally honest, though. He admits that, #1, this team lacks a lot of talent, and that is something that must be fixed, and #2, he regrets having the confrontation with the fan in Washington. It is good to see a head coach as open as Torts was in his exit interviews earlier today.

More Later.....

A Look At The Offseason Ahead

The 2009 offseason will be an extremely important one for the New York Rangers. 11 of the 21 players on the Rangers NHL Roster are either Unrestricted or Restricted Free Agents come July 1st. Some of these players should be brought back to play for the Blueshirts, and then on the other hand, others should be let go. But how we think and how Glen Sather thinks are way different, as we have seen in the past, so I cannot assume anything. I am just presenting the scenario and giving my opinion.

So, I will start with the cap situation. As we know, the NHL's salary cap is currently at $56,700,000. This amount is expected to be lowered by the 2010-2011 season, which will ultimately affect any long-term signings Glen Sather and the Rangers have in mind. Anyway, as of now, the Rangers salary cap payroll is $57,456,343, which is obviously greater than the actual league cap itself, but that is allowed after the trade deadline. Now I mentioned before that 11 players are free agents come this offseason, well after all of those players become free agents, the payroll decreases to only $42,096,310. This leaves New York with about $14,500,000 in cap room to either make resignings or bring in other free agents from around the league and offer them new contracts. This is not an extremely terrible situation, but it definitely is not one of the better ones when you look at the players that make up much of the payroll. Henrik Lundqvist, Scott Gomez, Chris Drury, Wade Redden, Michal Rozsival, Markus Naslund, Sean Avery, Marc Staal and Dan Girardi take up about 41 million of the 56.7 million allowed.

Here is the list of Free Agent's Come July 1st:
Nikolai Zherdev (RFA)
Nikolai Antropov (UFA)
Lauri Korpikoski (RFA)
Fredrik Sjostrom (RFA)
Brandon Dubinsky (RFA)
Ryan Callahan (RFA)
Blair Betts (UFA)
Colton Orr (UFA)
Derek Morris (UFA)
Paul Mara (UFA)
Stephen Valiquette (UFA)

I believe that Ryan Callahan and Brandon Dubinsky are the top two priorities off that list. Both should be brought back to New York, as Cally and Dubi are young and inexpensive, but still have a lot of talent to be developed down the road. These are the guys that Glen Sather should be considering locking up for quite a while.

I will start with Callahan. Cally obviously had his best career year in 2008-09, scoring a career high 22 goals and notching 18 assists, which totals for 40 points. Ryan was probably the "best" Ranger behind Lundqvist in the regular season, and caught the attention of head coach John Tortorella early, who predicted that Callahan will be a 30 goal scorer next year.

Another player that Torts has showed some real interest in is Brandon Dubinsky. Brandon did not have his best year this year(13-28-41), but that is a very common theme for sophomore players in this league. If resigned, I am sure Tortorella will make this kid into a great player in the future, especially because he will be able to work him hard in training camp.

So those are probably the first two moves I would make if I was Glen Sather, but again, that is just me. The rest of the cap room is left in the front office's hands to deal with. The other priorities for this team is to get not another goal scorer, but A goal scorer, one that will be consistent with their play. And I also feel that this team lacks a tough defenseman, so that is also something to be looked at by Slats and Company. Overall, I would expect the Rangers to be very active in this upcoming offseason.

Drury Played With Broken Hand

In today's New York Post, It was reported that Rangers Captain Chris Drury played games two through seven in this series with a broken right hand. The injury was suffered in the Blueshirt's last home regular season game against the Flyers. During last night's handshake, Drury shook all of the Caps players' hands with his left hand, because of the injury. ----- More Later.....

ECQF Game 7: Capitals 2 Rangers 1 Postgame (NYR Eliminated)

The Rangers gave it their best effort tonight, and that it what you ask for. Despite being eliminated by the very talented Washington Capitals, the Blueshirts played one of their best games of the series tonight. It was a close, extremely emotional game seven at the Verizon Center tonight, and it had all fans on the edge of their seats.

To begin the game, the Rangers dominated the Capitals right out of the gate. They were forechecking and backchecking constantly in that period, and held the Capitals to only two shots. The Rangers' defensemen were doing a great job of breaking up plays and preventing the Caps from gaining the zone. The offense was also stellar, producing many chances and a great goal by Nik Antropov. Sean Avery and Brandon Dubinsky were two of the best players on the ice in this game, and it showed offensively in the first two periods.

All of this continued in the second period, as the Rangers continued to dominate in both the offensive and defensive zone. Playing in this way for the first two periods definitely wore down this team in many ways. The team's fatigue showed majorly in the third period, when Washington pinned the Rangers in their own zone for long periods of time. Also, the Rangers only came up with one shot on goal in that third period, so obviously you are not going to win a period with one shot on goal.

Henrik Lundqvist is a star goalie in this league and we all saw it tonight. Both goals let up were not his fault, and he also kept the Blueshirts in this game on numerous accounts in the game. The first goal bounced off of Ryan Callahan and completely changed the flow of the puck which threw Lundqvist off. The winning goal, which came with just under 5 minutes left in the game, was shot through defenseman Wade Redden by Sergei Federov and went top shelf on Lundqvist, which he didn't have much of a chance on.

So in one blink of an eye, the Rangers season has ended. A missed shot by Dubinsky on one end turned into the Caps coming down ice and scoring the game winner, all within a 10 second span. This season feels both long and short, it is sort of a weird feeling thinking about all that has happened to this team this year. Between the coaching change and the personnel change, it has been an up and down season. But we will get into all of that at another time.

So the 2008-09 season has ended for the Rangers, but it is surely not over on The Rangers Tribune, as I will be covering the rest of the Stanley Cup Playoffs on here, and will be following the Rangers during the whole offseason, which will be a big one for the Blueshirts. It has been a pleasure covering this team all season long, and I am looking forward to continuing my coverage of the team all throughout the offseason. More Wednesday.....

(Photos courtesy of Reuters Photos)

Rangers 1 Capitals 1 After Second

Another tremendous period by the Rangers. The offensive forecheck was a constant in that period by the Blueshirts, as they once again, controlled the pace in the game. The Rangers forecheck is so good that the Caps fans were booing the Caps because they didn't clear the zone. The Rangers need to convert on their chances in the third period.

The Blueshirts also continued to break up plays in their own zone. Backcheck is awesome in this game, and it has showed. Lundqvist made a spectacular diving save to keep the Caps from gaining the lead.

This will be an eventful third period of this Game 7! Hopefully the Rangers will keep up the great work and find a way to come out of this game victorious.

More after the game.....

Rangers 1 Capitals 1 After First

The first period of this game is the best period the Rangers have had all series. They held the Caps to only two shots in the period, and have controlled the pace of this game thus far. All of the Rangers' players are collapsing to the net and are preventing the Caps from getting much through to Lundqvist. They are also pressuring the Capitals in the neutral zone, and forcing them to turn the puck over. The one shot that did go in was a lucky goal for the Caps.

The Rangers are controlling offensively and are pressuring Varlamov. Great play Avery, Dubinsky, and Antropov on the goal. The Blueshirts are carrying the puck into the zone, rather than dumping it which is allowing them to develop chances.

Overall, the Rangers dominated in what was a fantastic road period in this Game 7, they must keep this up, and continue to produce the scoring chances on Varlamov.

ECQF Game 7: Rangers At Capitals Pregame

For the first time in 15 years, the New York Rangers will be playing in a Game Seven in a playoff series. It is obviously do or die for both teams tonight, so you can expect excitement in this game. The best of playoff series come out in Game Sevens, as neither team wants to go home, and both teams want to come out victors. I cannot promise you a win, but I can promise you a very emotional game seven tonight at the Verizon Center.

Henrik Lundqvist will get the start in his first game seven of his NHL career. Hank has been off of his game in the past two contests, but guess what, if he can steal the game tonight, all of those short side goals will be forgotten. Right now, this game is all that matters, and Lundqvist is an athlete that loves the pressure of being forced to rise to the occasion. He knows, just as well as we do, that he is going to have to steal the game tonight, and hopefully he will stand up to the challenge and succeed.

The lines for tonight's game have yet to be announced, but we do know is that both Aaron Voros and Artem Anisimov will be in the lineup. Anisimov was called up yesterday to replace an injured Blair Betts(Orbital Bone), I felt like this move should have been made immediately after the Pack were eliminated from the AHL Playoffs. Artem is one of those young players that has the potential to be a difference maker, so what better scenario to test his abilities than a Game Seven?

As for the Capitals, we know that Donald Brashear will be out, as he was suspended for his cheapshot to the head of Blair Betts. Simeon Varlamov will be in net for the Caps, and the Blueshirts must pressure him. I have said it in every pregame post since he has been playing! This guy looks shaky, and gives many rebounds. This team just needs to capitalize on their opportunities.

As far as defense goes, the Rangers have been letting the Capitals make all of the plays they want, with no pressure, and have been turning the puck over way to often. Both need to stop, and this team will need to pressure the Caps' offensive players, and force them to turn the puck over, not the other way around.

This team has climbed far to get this point, and it has been one hell of a journey during that climb. This team was doubted to make the playoffs...they prevailed. This team was doubted to win more than two games in this series...they prevailed. This team is being doubted once again, this time by not only critics, but by their fans...???? So let me ask you this; Do you think they want it to end here? Do you think this team wants to hit the golf course this weekend? Do you really think that this team does not want to come out of this seven game series victorious? By saying all of this, I am not saying that the Blueshirts will definitely win this game, but what I am saying, is that there is no way this team will go down without a fight. You have seen them save their season numerous times during this season, so why couldn't they do it again? So I will leave you with this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvJ4fqaYFq0

(Photos courtesy of Getty Images)

*Just a reminder that I will be making posts analyzing the Rangers' performance after the first and second periods. Tune in to here after those periods if you are interested!

Intermission Analysis Posts For Game 7

For the second straight game, I will be making a post analyzing the Rangers' performance after both the first and second periods of Game 7. Many viewed them last game, so I decided to try it once again for this game. Tune in if you would like!

Game 7 preview to come closer to Game Time.....

Morrisonn Denies Biting Dubinsky

Well you all have heard by now that Brandon Dubinsky was supposedly bit by the Capitals' Shaone Morrisonn. Dubinsky left the ice for his 10 minute game misconduct waving his hand in the air to show the officials. The officials did nothing about it. When Morrisonn was confronted about the matter he said this:

"I have no idea," he said. "I have no idea what he's talking about, what that's all about actually. It's weird that they're talking about that."

You could not clearly see the scrum in the replay, so it was unclear what went on. But we have two different stories here, Who do you believe? Well, what would Dubinsky get out of making that up? And of course Shaone is going to deny that he did such an idiotic thing.

This is just another one of things that they call "A game within a game".

Anisimov Called Up, Brashear Suspended For Six Games

It has been reported that Artem Anisimov has been called up from the Hartford Wolfpack, in order to replace an injured Blair Betts. Betts was significantly hurt after after he received an elbow to the head from the Capitals' Donald Brashear. Rumor has it that Blair Betts has broken an orbital bone, but the team will not confirm that. As for the hit, it was a dirty cheap shot to the head. Because of this, the NHL has felt it necessary to suspend Brashear for the next six games. This was the right call by the NHL, as not only did he cheap shot Betts, but he also was starting with Colton Orr in warmups.

I was hoping that Anisimov was going to be called up even before this, but we now will surely see him in action Tuesday Night in game seven. Korpikoski came up and scored a big time goal while facing elimination to the Pens last year, so we hope that Anisimov can repeat this year against the Capitals.

ECQF Game 6: Capitals 5 Rangers 3 Postgame

The Rangers, once again, have failed to capture the series, and have now allowed the Capitals to push a game seven in Washington. The Capitals hold all of the momentum in this series in their hands, and will have a very satisfied home crowd on their side. The Rangers have allowed the Capitals to come back all the way from a 3-1 series deficit, and face a do or die scenario on Tuesday Night, when they will play their first game seven in 15 years.

In today's game the Blueshirts did not show much effort what so ever. Ryan Callahan and Brandon Dubinsky were the only players to show any ounce of heart in this game, and it was the same story in Game six as well. So for two straight games, the Blueshirts have came out and just embarrassed their fans, and the Capitals have just toyed with the Rangers in the past two games.

Goaltending, which kept the Rangers in this series, has now become a problem. Henrik Lundqvist was nothing short of perfection in games 1-4, but in games 5 and 6 he has been a bit of a disappointment. Henrik let in two goals short glove side, which has been a problem for him all season long. I said in the pregame that Hank would have to be excellent in game 6, well he wasn't, and will have to be stellar in game 7 if the Rangers have any hope of moving on to the semifinals.

Now it hasn't been all Hank's fault that the Rangers have been outscored 9-3 in the past two games, as the Blueshirts have provided minimal offense, and the defense continues to turn the puck over and not challenge players. Both Morris and Zherdev gave up the puck on the first goal, and Staal on the third. As for not challenging the Caps players defensively, how about the fifth goal when they left Alex Ovechkin, yes Alex Ovechkin wide open in the slot for an easy tip through the legs of Lundqvist. So if the Rangers continue to refuse to tighten up in Game 7, they will be eliminated for sure.

Offensively, this team has obviously been challenged all season long, and it has continued into the playoffs. Capitals goaltender, Simeon Varlamov has not been forced to be good, but when the Rangers apply pressure to him, he looks a bit shaky in net and allows many rebounds. I don't what it will take for this team to challenge Varlamov at a constant rate, but they will surely need to figure it out by Tuesday night's game 7 if they are looking to move on in these 2009 playoffs. Another thing I don't understand is why this team continues to dump and not chase. If you are going to resist trying anything but the dump and chase theory, than execute it correctly. None of the players chase the puck when it is dumped in, and it becomes an automatic turnover of the puck.

Also, Blair Betts left today's game after Donald Brashear took a cheap shot on Betts with an elbow to the face. First of all, Brashear should be penalized by the league for bumping Colton Orr in the warm-ups, and then he should definitely be suspended for taking a run at the face of Blair Betts. The status on Blair Betts has not yet been announced.

So Tortorella, who watched from a sky box, will be back on the bench with the team for game 7, and will have to change something. This Rangers team is struggling and is losing confidence quickly in games. Torts needs to motivate this team for Tuesday's game, and even though it seems as it is, this series is not over yet, and the Rangers will have yet another opportunity to close this series out or face elimination on Tuesday Night in Game Seven at 7pm.

(Photos courtesy of Reuters Pictures)

Capitals 5 Rangers 1 After Second

Terrible effort by the Rangers, actually, I can't even say that the effort was terrible because the effort was not there. Defense looks terrible, offense isn't getting anything started, and we are turning the puck over like mad. This is extremely embarrassing to the fans, and the team should be insulted because they are being toyed with right now.

Dubinsky and Callahan are the only players that are doing anything right now. There is no leadership in the game, and absolutely no motivation. Game 7 in Washington will be one wild ride.

Capitals 3 Rangers 1 After First

Sort of a broken period for the Rangers, as two of three Capital goals were scored off of Blueshirt turnovers. Lundqvist allowed two goals on the short side, should have had both, and then the Caps made a beautiful play on the 3 on 1 for their third goal. The Rangers converted on the powerplay on a deflection from a Wade Redden shot.

The Rangers have to challenge Varlamov more in the second, as the rookie goaltender did not look sharp in the first. Lundqvist has to be better if this team wants to go anywhere, and the Blueshirts must clean up their game and stop turning the puck over.

Today's Probable Lineup/ Intermission Analysis

Sources are reporting that the following will be the probable lineup for today's Game 6 matchup at 2pm, as It was not announced at the time of my Pregame Post(see previous post below).

Avery-Gomez-Callahan

Naslund-Dubinsky-Zherdev

Drury-Korpikoski-Antropov

Sjostrom-Betts-Orr

Staal-Girardi

Redden-Rozsival
Mara-Morris

**Also, for today, I will be posting an analysis of the Rangers play after both the first and second periods. If you are interested, you are more than welcome to stop by and check them out.

ECQF Game 6: Capitals At Rangers Pregame

The obvious storyline going into this game is the suspension of head coach John Tortorella, who is getting his punishment for his actions toward a Capitals fan on Friday Night. Jim Schoenfeld will take over as the head man, but the assistant coach is questionable. It is reported at Blue Notes that maybe Ken Gernander will assist Schoenfeld, as the Pack have been eliminated from the AHL Playoffs. This move by the league was over the top, but whatever. More importantly, the Rangers have the opportunity to wrap up this series once again, this time attempting to do it at home. For the Capitals, this is a do or die situation for the second straight game. The Blueshirts will need a much better effort in this game than the last if they want to capture the series today.

Henrik Lundqvist will be back in goal for the Rangers today, after being pulled during the second intermission of Friday's game. Henrik seemed fatigued in the first two periods of that game, and was obviously not himself. The best is expected from Hank today, as he got the third period of Game 5 to rest and yesterday as well, no doubt the Blueshirts will need Lundqvist to be good in today's game. On another note, Sean Avery is expected to be back in the lineup for Game 6, as he was sidelined by Tortorella last game for disciplinary reasons. I would expect a big game from Aves today, mainly because he will want to come out and give his best effort after being scratched. The lines would not be announced by Tortorella just yet, but when I get word of them, I will be sure to post it here.

It has been said many times that the offense need to pressure Capitals goaltender Semeon Varlamov, but the team has continued to fail to execute. Hopefully there will be a sense of desperation in their game today, because they obviously don't want to be going back to Washington in this series for a game 7. When the Blueshirts put offensive pressure on the Caps in the last game, they had some prime opportunities.

Defensively, the Rangers have to take the body and pressure the puck carriers. Last game it was all watching and no moving. The team needs to go to the puck carrier, not wait for him to come to them, as we saw Morris get burned by Ovechkin in that way on Friday night.

This is pretty much a must win for the Rangers today. They have their home crowd on their side, have the edge in the series, and the opportunity to close this series out. That is much better situation than being in a do or die game 7 situation in Washington. If the Blueshirts can play sound defensively, get help from Hank, and find some offense they will be in good shape, but again, that is not an easy task.

(Photos courtesy of Getty Images)

Tortorella Suspended For One Game

Well apparently the NHL feels that it is necessary to suspend head coach John Tortorella for tomorrow's playoff game, because of his actions toward an intoxicated fan during Game 5 in Washington. If you did not see/read about the incident during Friday's game, refer to my post below, that explains the exchange.

Jim Schoenfeld will take over as head coach of the Rangers for Sunday's game 5, but he will need an assistant to help him, do they go to Pelino? That has not been announced yet. This is a definite handicap for the Rangers in game 6, especially with the importance that comes along with it. Schoenfeld has experience as a head coach, but can he handle the team in the position they are in, we will just have to keep our fingers crossed.

The Torts Incident...

...was a quite a scene at the Verizon Center last night. The whole occurrence behind the Rangers bench was not shown on television, as there was a tv timeout during the exchange between Tortorella and an intoxicated fan. What was shown was this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vh9wY6qb8ac

Rumors have it that the fan attempted to spit on Tortorella and then followed up by throwing a beer at him. Tortorella retaliated by throwing a water bottle over the glass at the fan, and then stood up on the bench, and threatened the fan with a stick in his hand. Jim Schoenfeld restrained Torts from making his way over the boards, by grabbing him and giving him some words of reason.

Don't quite know what the outcome will be just yet. It will most likely result in a fine to Tortorella, and possibly a suspension. If that occurred, assistant coach Jim Schoenfeld would take his place for the time being. We will probably know more information on the matter later today.

More later.....

ECQF Game 5: Capitals 4 Rangers 0 Postgame

The Rangers failed to capture the series tonight, and did not show one sign that they had any intentions on ending this series tonight. Few players had their heads in this game, few even showed effort, it was a poor game all around. One that they have no choice but to put behind them, and will have another chance to end the series on Sunday Afternoon at the Garden. Hopefully, they will put up a much more better effort than the pathetic one that they advertised tonight in Washington.

First of all, the start to this game was horrible. Gomez's penalty was terrible, he has no reason to retaliate on that hit by Ovechkin. Gomer obviously didn't receive the message from head coach John Tortorella about discipline play, nice veteran move by Gomez. From there, the Rangers allowed a short-handed goal when Rozsival fell and Drury misplayed the puck. That goal was not Henrik Lundqvist's fault, but the next goal was, Matt Bradley scored from the side of the net, as the puck somehow went through Henrik. That was not pretty, and you know this team is doomed when Lundqvist is off his game. So there is the Blueshirts' beautiful start in a nutshell.

Offensively, there is not much to say, basically because nothing happened. The Rangers had maybe 5 scoring chances in this game, it was pathetic. The only offensive players showing heart was the line of youngsters, Korpikoski-Dubinsky-Callahan. They kept going, involved in every scrum, and created the Rangers' few scoring chances. They need to find a way to pressure Varlamav, when they did, they had prime scoring chances, but they obviously didn't finish on them. I won't even mention the powerplay right now.

Defensively, it is the same story in a different game. I have said it the whole series, they are allowing the Capitals to just dance around them and make plays, like Ovechkin's highlight reel goal in the second period. OV made both Drury and Morris look like fools, and then scored from his knees. Ovechkin should have been taken out on that play, but neither Ranger took the body on the play. Marc Staal and Dan Girardi were somewhat good in this game I though, they were pretty sound defensively, as they were the only pairing breaking up plays in their own zone. Overall, the Rangers need to be better defensivley.

Also, Henrik Lundqvist sat out the third, but not for his play. The team in front of Hank was not good, and they were not coming back, so Hank got the rest for Game Six where he will be needed. Valiquette did his job well, giving his best effort in holding off the Caps in the third.

So back to the Garden on Sunday, in a game where the Rangers must win. They do not want a game seven in Washington, they want to end it at the Garden on Sunday at 2pm.

(Photo courtesy of Reuters Pictures)

Avery Out, Voros In

So John Tortorella has taken me by surprise, as he is sitting Sean Avery in Game 5. This sends a message loud and clear through the locker room that everything on the ice is done for the team. Aaron Voros will be in for Avery.

More after game.....

ECQF Game 5: Rangers At Capitals Pregame

One win. That is all the Rangers need is one win to complete the upset in this Eastern Conference Quarterfinals series with Washington. The Blueshirts have the opportunity to take the series in five games tonight in Washington, where they are a perfect 2-0 in the playoffs this year. The Rangers realize it will not come easy, and that the Capitals will not go down without a fight, but as we have seen in the past, the Rangers have been in game 5 scenarios where they have the chance to capture the series.

Henrik Lundqvist will be in between the pipes for the Rangers tonight, as he has been the best player thus far in the playoffs. Without him, the Rangers would not be in the position they are right now, and would probably be trying to keep themselves alive tonight. But as we know, that is not the case, and a very anxious Blueshirt team want this game badly. Anyway, head coach John Tortorella has not made a clear decision on the offensive lineup just yet, or he is just not revealing it to try and throw the Caps off a bit.

A lot of talk lately has been whether Sean Avery will play tonight or not. I believe that he will, but again, Torts is just keeping things confidential for now. I am sure Sean has been advised that if he puts the team at risk with a foolish penalty again in this game, he will find himself sitting on the bench for the remainder of the game. Hopefully they officiating will not be disgusting as it has been latly though.

We clearly saw what happens when you put pressure on a rookie goalie in the playoffs, last game on Drury's goal. Varlamov coughed up the puck as he was being pursued, and gave it right to an open Chris Drury. The team must continue that trend tonight, throw everything you have at the guy, he is bound to make a mistake like the one he made in Game four of this series.

As far as defense go, the Rangers need to still tighten up in front of Lundqvist. The Caps are forcing him to stand on his head, which he does very well, but our defense cannot allow that. They must be on their toes, and apply pressure on the puck carrier, as the Rangers defense has been allowing way to much puck movement in their own zone all throughout the series.

So this is it, the Rangers either finish it off tonight, or they allow the Caps to come back into this series and force a Game Six, which we don't want happening. Play solid and finish 'em off tonight, and then worry about Boston. Also, the postgame post will be back on schedule tonight.

(Photos courtesy of AP Photos and Getty Images)

Rangers Have Been Here Before

Last year at this same time, the Rangers were battling the New Jersey Devils in the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals. Games One and Two were both played at the Prudential Center, and the Blueshirts found ways to win both games, and bring a 2-0 series lead back home to the Garden. Sound familiar yet? Then in Game three, the Rangers lost to the Devils in overtime when a shot banked off of Marc Staal's skate and past Lundqvist. Many criticized the Rangers play that night, saying that it wasn't near as good as the previous two games. So the Rangers countered with a huge win at home on a Marc Staal Game Winning Goal. The Rangers had all of the momentum in the series on their side going back to the Rock, where they would have the chance to eliminate the Devils and move on to the semifinals. And that is what they did.

Well, I am quite sure you have figured out where I am going with this by now. The Blueshirts are in the exact same situation this year as last year. Rangers won first two games in WAS, then came home and played an awful Game 3, and then came up with a meaningful game 4 win, and are now presented with the opportunity to take the series and move on to the semis. It is now up to the Rangers to make history repeat itself, and we all have our fingers crossed that it does.

Game 5 preview to come closer to gametime.....

Did Sean Go Too Far?

As I promised, I am posting a follow up post to the post game last night, being that I only got home from the Garden at 11pm. I would just like to cover a topic on last night's game that has everybody talking.

Sean Avery is the attention grabber no doubt. Avery's discipline in the third period was not good, and it was noticeable, as he spent majority of the period in the box. The officiating was awful at times in last night's game, but what Avery pulled late in the game is just inexcusable. Foolish penalties taken at the wrong times last night could have killed this team, but luckily they had one of the best penalty kills/goaltenders in the league to back Sean up. He now has to watch himself as one foolish penalty in the next game will find him riding the pine. Here is head coach John Tortorella quoted on the matter, as per Andrew Gross of Ranger Rants:

"If we keep on flirting with the discipline problems, we'll lose and not just one game," Tortorella said. "Momentum changes. We've been flirting with that all series long. A big part of our situation last night was I thought our penalty killing was just outstanding, along with some great goaltending at key times. You cannot keep going to the well like that with the lack of discipline we have shown at times and expect to continue to compete in the series. We've gone there too many times."

More to come later.....

ECQF Game 4: Rangers 2 Capitals 1 Postgame

Tonight was without a doubt the loudest and craziest Madison Square Garden has been this season, and rightly so. The Rangers weathered the Caps storm late in the third to hold their 2-1 lead, which ultimately became the final score. Henrik Lundqvist stole the show once again, as he was absolutely amazing in this game. A lot went on this game, but being that I just got home from the Garden, and it is now midnight, I will quickly share my thoughts on the main subjects in this game, and then make a follow up post sometime tomorrow(Thursday).

First of All, the Rangers started the game much better than they did in game three, taking the first four shots in the game, and controlling the tempo for the first half of the first period. This had a lot to do with the Blueshirts' offensive abilities, which improved from game three. The Rangers had the puck more in this game and put a lot of pressure on Varlamov than the last game, and it paid off as the rookie goaltender made a big time mistake coughing up the puck to Chris Drury, who banged home his first of the playoffs. The first goal in the game was changed twice; originally given to Naslund, switched to Dubinsky, and then to Paul Mara. Doesn't matter who got it, as it came off of a great forecheck effort by that line. That leads me to another thing, Tortorella's lines were a bit different than what was advertised in practice on Tuesday, but none the less, I felt they did a much better job tonight than on Monday night.

Coming into this game, I was stressing how much the Rangers needed to tighten up defensively, well they did just that, to an extent. The Blueshirt Blueline was not perfect tonight, but was definitely better than they were in game three. There was no watching or chasing tonight, the played good positional hockey, and were blocking/deflecting shots like mad. They also had the first star of the night to back them up when they were in danger. That first star was Henrik Lundqvist, who kept the boys in the game in the third period, and had the Garden faithful giving standing ovations numerous times in this game.

That is for now, as it is past midnight, but I promise I will have a follow up post to this one up tomorrow(Thursday) afternoon, probably around 3pm or so. There is so much more to talk about when it comes to this game. Anyway, the Rangers now take a 3-1 series lead into Washington, where they will look to eliminate the Capitals and move on to the semifinals. All we need is one more win!

(Photos courtesy of Getty Images)

ECQF Game 4: Capitals At Rangers Pregame

Tonight's game four at Madison Square Garden can very well define the way this series is going to end. If the Capitals win, they capture all of the momentum by eveningries at two games, and then go home to Washington where the fans will give them a warming welcome. If the Rangers can edge the Caps on home ice tonight, they will grab the momentum in the series by leading three games to one, and will only have to win one more game to move on to the semifinals. Taking all of this into consideration, you would expect the Blueshirts to come out with much more fire power in this game, than they did Monday Night in game three.

Henrik Lundqvist will be in net for the Rangers tonight, as I felt he was one of the very few Blueshirts that came out to play on Monday Night. Lundqvist stopped the Caps from embarrassing the Rangers in that game, and despite letting in four goals, he still made some amazing saves in the game. As I posted yesterday, John Tortorella switched up the lines in practice, and had Captain Chris Drury on the wing on the second line. Now it is not definite if those lines used in practice are the same lines that will be in action tonight, but if they are, they will look like this:

Avery-Gomez-Callahan

Naslund-Dubinsky-Drury

Zherdev-Antropov-Korpikoski

Sjostrom-Betts-Orr

Staal-Girardi

Rozsival-Redden

Morris-Mara

I can't say I agree much with Antropov on the third line, as I feel that is a bit of a waste. Maybe he should be on the second line wing instead of Naslund, but I am not the coach and do not make those decisions. But again, these are not confirmed and could change. What is definite is that Chris Drury will be playing, as it was confirmed by Tortorella earlier today.

Some things that need to better tonight; defense, offensive forecheck/pressure, and the dreaded powerplay. The Rangers were watching the Caps wheel and deal in game three and were caught often. The Capitals were being allowed to just walk in and let 'er fly without any pressure from the Rangers' defense, so that is definitely something that has to be better tonight. The offense NEEDS to pressure Varlamov. The guy has barely been tested by the Blueshirts in both games he played in. The Rangers must get more pressure on him tonight, it can't be stressed enough. And finally the beloved powerplay. It killed our momentum last game, as they blew many opportunities to get goals with the man advantage. We saw it in game one, if the Rangers' powerplay converts, we can win games.

Overall this game is the most important that will be played so far in this series, as it can very well determine the outcome. I will be attending the game at the Garden, so I will unable to make my post game post until around 11:30pm. So until then, enjoy the game, and cross your fingers in hopes for better officiating.

(Photos courtesy of Reuters Pictures)

Possible New Lines....

...were put into action by Tortorella in practice today as per Zipay of Blue Notes. He moved Antropov down to third line, moved Callahan to first, Drury to wing, and Dubinsky to second line center. Voros was in and Sjostrom moved up to third line. Nik Zherdev and Drury were swapping positions on that second line wing. This would all look like this on paper:

Avery-Gomez-Callahan

Naslund-Dubinsky-Drury(Zherdev)

Sjostrom-Antropov-Korpikoski

Voros-Betts-Orr

*Also, Paul Mara did not skate today, as he was a bit sore after the game Monday Night.

So this is just Torts trying to mix things up to try and get some sort of offensive response in Wednesday Night's game 4. The definite lineup will be announced tomorrow, and I will be sure to have that posted in the pregame.

Ovechkin's Antics Continue

I am sure you all have already heard, but the Wise Ass of Washington continued with his antics Monday Night at the Garden when he waited for all of the Rangers to leave to the locker room, and then went to a vacant center ice and performed a mock stick salute and then bumped chests with teammate Backstrom. This was classless, and all it did was provoke more classless moves by the fans of New York. Many of the blue bulbs from the Thunder Sticks were already thrown onto the ice, and then two beer bottles were catapulted onto the ice as well.

So the bottom line is that Ovechkin did not accomplish anything by doing this, and the Garden Faithful now look at him as public enemy number one. I can only imagine the chants that the fans will be saying towards him tomorrow night, and he has no one to thank but himself.

More to come later, as new lines were tried out in practice earlier today.....

Some Thoughts After Yesterday's Loss

Here are some of my thoughts after last night's 4-0 loss to the Capitals that I didn't mention in my post game post after the game last night. I will start with the officiating, which was very poor in this game. Twenty-six total minutes of penalties were called against the Rangers last night, and eighteen of those twenty-six were against Sean Avery. First of all, he was pushed into Varlamov and should not have been called for goaltender interference, and the ten minute game misconduct at the end of the game was totally unnecessary. Yes, Sean didn't have to go up and punch Varlamov, but to give him a misconduct for it is ridiculous. Now not all the penalties were against the Blueshirts in this game, in fact, the Capitals took fourteen minutes in penalties, and gave the Rangers several chances on the powerplay, especially in the second period. This leads me to my next thought, the powerplay.

The problem continues in the playoffs with the man advantage for the Blueshirts. The crowd was back into the game in the second period, and was chanting loudly when the Rangers were put on the powerplay. But when the Rangers were given a powerplay, the either took a penalty themselves to nullify the powerplay, or they did not convert. Majority of the time was spent not converting. There was not much movement at all, and all of the missed opportunities killed the Rangers by giving the momentum to the Capitals.

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Now I would like to focus on two players on this team that present head coach John Tortorella with problems in this series.

Starting with Nik Zherdev. Z was great in the first half of this season, specifically under Tom Renney. But after the All-Star break he started to fade a bit, and then once Torts came in, he became a noticeable problem. Nik has been turning the puck over, not skating hard, and is not getting much done out on the ice at all. Because of this he has received less ice time form Tortorella, and is now being played on the third line. His confidence level seems very low, and he is just not in playoff form.

The other player is Chris Drury. Chris is obviously still hurting from an injury, and is not playing up to his abilities. The Rangers' captain is said to be suffering from a lower body injury, and it is showing on the ice. He is not skating as hard as he usually does, he has not had he puck very much at all, and has not been taking/winning as many faceoffs as he usually does. My only suggestion would be to call up Artem Anisimov or someone else from the Pack, but I doubt that would happen being that they are in the playoffs as well.

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So tomorrow's game means a ton to this series. The Blueshirts can not allow the Capitals to tie up this series, and give them the momentum going back to Washington. If the Rangers can win tomorrow's game and put themselves up three games to one, then they only have to win one more, and they have been good in Washington where they will play Game 5 of this series, but for now, the Rangers must focus on winning Game 4 at the Garden first.

More to come later, as more information will be coming out of the Rangers practice held today at the Garden.......

ECQF Game 3: Capitals 4 Rangers 0 Postgame

This is one that must be forgotten in the minds of the Rangers and their fans, as tonight's performance was the worst of the playoffs for the Rangers so far. This is not how a team should play their first home game of the postseason, especially when you play in front of one of the biggest fan bases in the league. Grant it, the officiating in this game was disgusting, but there were still some noticeable problems in the Blueshirts' game tonight, and the scoreboard obviously points that out.

Starting with the defense. I am not quite sure what happened to the Rangers defense during the flight from Washington to New York, but this was not the same blueline that we saw just two days ago. Three out of the four goals were tap-ins, one was a rebound, and there could have been many more if Henrik Lundqvist didn't attempt to keep the team in the game. They were caught pinching on several occasions, which ultimately led to odd-man rushes and scoring chances. But what ticked me off most of all, was the space that the Rangers defense was giving Washington. The Caps offense had all the space in world to wheel and deal, and they were making the Rangers defense look foolish.

The offense was not much better. They were being pushed to the outside all game long by the Capitals defense, and were not producing quality scoring chances from the slot. Instead, the team was setting up and taking shots from along the boards and the points. This made the Capitals defensive duties quite easy, as all they did was block the path for a pass or a shot. I give the Capitals credit though, as they made a big adjustment defensively from their past two games, and also got great goaltending from Varlamov.

I will be making another post about the officiating and missed opportunities in this game sometime on Tuesday, as I just got home from the game and it is now nearing midnight, so until tomorrow, good night, and I apologize for the shortened pregame. More to come on Tuesday.....

(Photo taken by Getty Images)

ECQF Game 3: Rangers vs Capitals Pregame

Coming off of two wins in Washington to begin the series, the Rangers now come home home to Madison Square Garden, where they are presented with the opportunity to wrap this Eastern Conference Quarterfinal series up. Yes they are up two games to none, but that does not mean that the series is in the bag just yet. The Washington Capitals are going to come hard in this game and the next, and the Blueshirts know that. The Rangers will have to continue to execute the good things that have been doing throughout this series.

After blanking one of the league's most offensive potent teams on Saturday Afternoon, Henrik Lundvist will get the call once again tonight. Henrik has stood on his head so far in this series, and hopefully he won't have to in these next two games, as you would hope the Blueshirts will be opening more time in Washington's end in the coming games. The rest of the lineup will remain the same, so it will look like this:

Avery-Gomez-Antropov

Naslund-Drury-Callahan

Korpikoski-Dubinsky-Zherdev

Sjostrom-Betts-Orr

Staal-Girardi

Redden-Rozsival

Morris-Mara

What is not definite yet is the Capitals choice of goaltending, but I would imagine Bruce Boudreau will go with Semeon Varlamov once again in this game. Also, it was reported that Ovechkin attended the Rangers' morning skate at the Garden to watch, but was soon escorted out by security.

The Rangers will need to continue to play great defensively and on the penalty kill, and will need to put more pressure on Varlamov than they did in the last game. The Garden crowd will be rocking tonight, so hopefully that will help the team confidence-wise. This game can change the outlook on the series, so it is crucial that the final score of this game is in the Rangers favor.

(Photo taken by Getty Images)

Markus Naslund In The Playoffs

How about this guy? He was practically invisible n the second half of the regular season and fans were really down on him. But he has taken his play to the next level when it matters most, the playoffs. Naslund has three points in two games in this Eastern Conference Quarterfinal series, and has really been a standout so far against the Capitals.

One of those points came on a powerplay goal that was scored in game one. Nazzy bulleted a wrist shot into the top corner on Jose Theodore and then later assisted on Dubinsky's game winning goal. That was the case yesterday as well, when Naslund fed an open Ryan Callahan on a 2 on 1 to score the game winning goal midway through the first period. Not to mention his monstrous hit on Washington defensemen Mike Green in yesterday's game.

I know Henrik Lundqvist has been team MVP in the series so far, but I thought I would mention someone that has kind of went under the radar so far in the series. Hopefully Snazzy Nazzy will keep up his great play in the postseason.

ECQF Game 2: Rangers 1 Capitals 0 Postgame

The Rangers have now put themselves in a very good position with this win today, obviously taking a two game lead over the Caps coming home to the Garden for the next two games. The Blueshirts are really making their fans believe with the way they have played in these past two games in this Eastern Conference series. They now have the lead in the series going into the Garden, where you know they will have an extreme home ice advantage, as that place will be rocking.

For the second straight game, Henrik Lundqvist is the team mvp, making saves on all 35 of Washington's shots in the game. Hank really stepped up when it was needed in this game, making some key saves at crucial points, despite having a sore shoulder after being injured in practice yesterday. Only one shot beat Lundqvist, but luckily it hit the post. This shot was taken by Alex Ovechkin who was clearly not happy himself in this game. Some other areas of the Rangers' game that seemed like they improved today were both defensively and in faceoff wins. In game one, the Blueshirts were quite loose in their own zone, but in this game, they played much better, not perfect, but better. Shutting out an offensive potent Capitals team is a great accomplishment for both Lundqvist and his defensive players in front of him.As for the faceoffs, having Drury back definitely helped, as the faceoffs were not dominated by the Capitals like last game.

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Ryan Callahan continues to excel as a player, and was one of the three stars in this game, as well as Henrik, and Markus Naslund. Naslund made a great play to get the puck to an open Ryan Callahan for the goal midway through the first period. Brandon Dubinsky also made a nice play in the neutral zone.

So overall, this was a huge confidence boosting win for the Blueshirts and gave them a big advantage in the series with a rookie goalie coming to the Garden, plus he is down two games in the series. Varlamov will be very nervous in Game three at MSG, and hopefully will take advantage of that in front of a rocking MSG crowd.

(Photos courtesy of Reuters Images)

EQCF Game 2: Rangers At Capitals Pregame

After two days of rest after an emotional win for the Rangers in Game 1 Wednesday Night, the Blueshirts should be well prepared for game 2. In this game, I would expect the Rangers to tighten up defensively, as they were quite loose against the Caps in game one, and allowed Ovechkin to take way too many shots. Also, you would hope the Rangers will come out stronger to start the game than they did Wednesday Night. They were dominated by the Capitals in the first period, but luckily came out of that period tied at zero.

Despite being taken out in practice by Nik Antropov's leg, Henrik Lundqvist will get the call in game 2. Supposedly Antropov's leg took Lundqvist's shoulder with it when crossing the crease, and left Henrik laying on the ice in pain. He then got up and eventually felt better. As for Chris Drury, he said he is feeling better every day, but is still listed as day to day by head coach John Tortorella, so I guess we will not know if Dru is playing until around gametime. Assuming Drury will not play, the Rangers lineup will look like this:

Avery-Gomez-Antropov

Naslund-Dubinsky-Callahan

Sjostrom-Korpikoski-Zherdev

Voros-Betts-Orr

Staal-Girardi

Redden-Rozsival

Mara-Morris

Today presents an opportunity to the Blueshirts to come home to the Garden with a two game lead in the series. This is an opportunity that I strongly suggest the Rangers take advantage of, as they will have a ton of momentum coming home to the rocking Garden Monday, leading the series against the Capitals. This game will be televised on NBC Network.

(Photo courtesy of AP Photos)