The Rangers Tribune

Pregame Notes: Rangers at Islanders, 3/31/11

AT

A pathetic effort last night in Buffalo puts the Rangers in a very tough position when they square off with the rival New York Islanders for the final time this season tonight on Long Island. The Blueshirts now find themselves in eighth place in the Eastern Conference with 87 points, which is only three points more than the ninth place Carolina Hurricanes. Fortunately for New York, neither Buffalo nor Carolina is in action tonight, so this game will be an enormous chance for them to make up for what they lost in the standings on Wednesday.

The Rangers are 4-1-0 against the Islanders this season, including a 6-3 demolition two weeks ago at Madison Square Garden. For the most part, the Rangers have had no problem getting up for these games against the Isles this year, which was a big problem in the past. But the effort tonight may have to be taken up yet another notch from two weeks ago because the Islanders also lost a frustrating game to the Devils just a night ago and will be hungry to rebound against their other most hated rival.

Rangers Lineup: (confirmed)

Dubinsky - Anisimov - Callahan
Prospal - Stepan - Gaborik
Fedotenko - Boyle - Prust
Avery - Christensen - Zuccarello

Staal - Girardi
McDonagh - Sauer
McCabe - Eminger

Lundqvist
Johnson

Scratches: Wojtek Wolski, Matt Gilroy, Martin Biron (fractured collarbone)

Henrik Lundqvist was fighting through some obvious pain in last night's contest after taking a shot to the leg where there was no padding to protect him. Although head coach John Tortorella later insisted that Hank "was fine", it looked a little more serious than that to me. The hope is that it is just a bruise and he will be able to play through it, otherwise we will be relying on Chad Johnson, which is something this team isn't ready for in my opinion.

I personally think that Henrik will fight through whatever it is he is suffering from right now and play tonight. This is a game that the Rangers desperately need to win and get points out of, and I think it goes without saying that Lundqvist in goal gives them the best possible chance of doing so.

Sean Avery played exceptionally well last night in Buffalo, so he presumably will remain in the lineup tonight. Beyond that, I am a bit surprised Tortorella is keeping Mats Zuccarello out of the lineup for as long as he is. The kid's only a rookie and usually with the youngsters Torts likes to get them right back in there after being scratched. Zuke has now been scratched in two straight games but hasn't seen game action in almost a week. Maybe that will change tonight.

With offense a sudden struggle, I think the top two lines are going to have no choice but to carry the team if they want to win. You always know what you are getting out of the Dubinsky-Anisimov-Callahan line, and that is consistent effort on both sides of the puck. The new emerging trio to watch now, though, is the second line of Derek Stepan between Gaborik and Prospal. Those three have quickly found chemistry together and had a lot of chances in Boston and in Buffalo. We'll see what they pull out of their hat tonight.

Scouting the Islanders:

Like I said above, the Islanders fell short of the Devils last night, 3-2, after mounting a third period comeback thanks to Frans Nielsen. That makes three straight losses for the Isles, so they will be urgent to turn things around tonight in front of a home crowd. Not to mention they would love nothing more than to help spoil the playoff hopes of their divisional foes.

Our friend Al Montoya is expected to start in goal tonight for the Islanders.

Opponent Blog: Lighthouse Hockey

And remember, you can join our live discussion during the game by joining the site's new chat room. Just click the "chat room" tab to join.

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Rangers Recall Cam Talbot, Lundqvist Questionable? (Update: Hank Will Play)

According to the AHL Transaction Log, the New York Rangers have recalled goaltender Cam Talbot from the Connecticut Whale of the AHL. What makes this mysterious is that the current back-up, Chad Johnson, was not sent down with Talbot coming up. That would mean the Blueshirts are currently carrying three goalies on their NHL roster.

This makes me wonder if Henrik Lundqvist is questionable for tonight's game against the Islanders. Lundqvist took a shot to the knee where there was no padding during Wednesday's 1-0 loss to the Sabres, which put him in clear discomfort for the remainder of the night. It's possible that he will be unable to go and that is why the Rangers have three goalies up in the NHL.

Will update this post as well as the pregame notes as soon as I have confirmation.

UPDATE (5:28 p.m.): Henrik Lundqvist will play tonight. The recall of Talbot was confirmed as an insurance move by coach Tortorella.

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Postgame: Rangers on the Verge of Choking, Embarrassed by Islanders 6-2

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I’m going to give you a fair warning before you go ahead and read this entire postgame analysis. There is going to be more ranting than recapping, so if you want to remain completely optimistic and do not want to read about the truths of this disgrace that unfolded tonight at Nassau Coliseum, then you might as well exit out of this page. But if you are livid like I am, read on.

The Rangers had every opportunity to blow this game open in the first period. Their start was embarrassing, yes, but they then were handed five consecutive powerplays in the opening stanza, none of which they were able to capitalize on. Vinny Prospal did score at even strength a little past the midway mark of the first, but that would pretty much be the last of the Ranger offense in the game.

The missed opportunities began to come back and haunt the Bluesirts in the second period when the Islanders very quickly took a 3-1 lead after trailing by one during the intermission. It was only a matter of time until they would start to get chances of their own, and with the Ranger defense playing middles hockey, the Isles were able to find open space on the ice rather easily.

I am not going to go back and recap each and every Islander goal because, let’s face it, none of us want to re-live that garbage. Instead, I am very explicitly going to point out the things that went wrong on the Rangers side of things here.

First of all, the effort was unacceptable. The Rangers were getting beat to all the loose pucks, they looked sluggish when trying to establish a forecheck and at least one of the defensemen was constantly getting caught pinching, resulting in odd-man rushes going the other way. This is the fourteenth place Islanders and there is a playoff spot at stake here – everything that I just listed absolutely should not be an issue at this crucial point of the season. It almost makes me ashamed to be a fan.

The players were lifeless on the ice, but they were also lifeless on the bench too. Every time the Ranger bench was shown everyone was sitting there in silence. Where are the leaders to get some emotions going? Where are the big mouths on the team working the bench and telling their teammates to pull their heads out of their behinds? Even the coaches were silent. Tortorella, you rip the team a new hole in the media but you can’t do it to their face during the game? Come on now.

The fact that the Rangers were that depleted and lacked that much motivation with the playoffs on the line is scary. It looked as if they did not even care, which is ridiculous.

Beyond the effort and all the psychological stuff, their actual play was extremely poor as well. They were trying to force passes to make pretty plays instead of keeping things simple offensively, and that’s why the powerplay epically failed tonight. They should know damn well that they don’t have to get fancy in order to beat a fourteenth place team.

The defense…….actually, scratch that because there was none. There were Islanders being left open all over the place for easy goals around the net. Henrik Lundqvist, and later Chad Johnson, received no offensive or defensive support tonight. When they are getting no help like that you cannot expect them to do very much themselves. It’s unfair.

Lundqvist, being the classy player that he is, withheld from calling out his team in his postgame press conference, although it was quite clear that he wanted to. Hank’s stood on his head and poured his heart and soul into every game he’s played as of late. It’s disappointing to know that his teammates are not there to back him up and work their butts off for him.

Tortorella didn’t have much to say after the game besides “I am not going to address anything.” Great, make the team and organization into even more of a joke, why don’t you? Not addressing anything? Since when does that happen in professional sports? As a coach, you should have no choice but to answer questions about the game. Not Tortorella, though, he just chooses not to.

That’s all I have to say about tonight’s 6-2 obliteration. The Rangers are hanging on to a playoff spot by only three points and with their next game being against the first place Philadelphia Flyers, that cushion may get even smaller by the time the weekend is over.

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New Rangers Tribune Chat Room

You may or may not have noticed the new tab on the page bar labeled "Chat Room" here on the blog. It was something that I've been wanting to add to the site for a while but needed to wait for the community and discussion here to pick up a bit. Over the course of this season we've seen a dramatic increase in the number of readers getting more involved with The Rangers Tribune, whether it be by leaving comments, tweeting us on Twitter or interacting on our Facebook page. Now we have taken another step in modernizing the site with social networking capabilities, and have added a live chat room to the mix.

The Rangers Tribune chat room is basically everything you would expect from a chat room, really. It will be open all of the time, anyone can write in it with or without an account created and it's live, which means everything you post appears instantly. The goal in adding this was to extend the hockey conversation beyond the comments section of each individual post and give readers the opportunity to interact with each other at any time and about any topic.

The next week will be a trial period to see how this works out. Obviously you have your infamous "trolls" roaming around the interwebs that we will have to keep an eye out for, but hopefully that does not become a big problem. Also, we want to see how often it is used. Obviously if no one is using it then we will remove it, but I have a feeling this is a feature you guys will enjoy and will take advantage of.

So again, you can discuss anything pertaining to hockey or the site in there as long as it is appropriate and doesn't offend anyone. If you have a question for me about anything, post it in there and I will eventually see it in due time and will give you a response. It's a quick way to get in touch with myself and other fans, so please do not be afraid to use it. It's there for you.

A few answers to frequent questions I'm sure will be asked:

- No, you do not need to create an account of any sort in order to chat. You can simply click on the "guest" button when it prompts you to log in and from there it will allow you to easily plug in a screen-name.

- Yes, the chat room will be open for discussion during Ranger games and I will also be in their during games if you wish to talk about the happenings out on the ice.

- Everyone can see what you post, even if they aren't logged in to the chat, so be careful of what you write in there.

Have fun with this guys. It's there for you and your enjoyment and let's keep it that way. If it becomes popular and works effectively then it will become a permanent part of this blog.

To access the room and begin chatting, either click here or click on the "Chat Room" tab on the navigation bar near the top of the site.
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Rangers-Sabres pregame notes coming your way this afternoon....

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Pregame Notes: Rangers at Sabres, 3/30/11

AT

After having three days off following their 1-0 win over the Boston Bruins on Saturday, the Rangers return to action tonight when they visit the Buffalo Sabres at HSBC Arena. This will be the first of back-to-back games for the Blueshirts, as they will head to Long Island later tonight to take on the rival Islanders on Thursday at Nassau Coliseum. That amounts to four possible points that the Rangers could collect in the standings over a two-day span, which would help them distance themselves from the teams below them and possibly set up an overtake of sixth place in the Eastern Conference.

Right now the Rangers sit in seventh place with 87 points on the season. They are two points behind Montreal and are ahead of Buffalo by only two. However, they hold a semi-comfortable five-point lead over ninth place, which could work in their favor if they happened to obtain few or no points over the next two days. If they do get the maximum four tallies, though, they will be very close to clinching a spot in the playoffs, which right now is their main goal.

Rangers Lineup:(confirmed)

Dubinsky - Anisimov - Callahan
Prospal - Stepan - Gaborik
Fedotenko - Boyle - Prust
Avery - Christensen - Wolski

Staal - Girardi
McDonagh - Sauer
McCabe - Eminger

Lundqvist
Johnson

Scratches: Mats Zuccarello, Matt Gilroy, Martin Biron (fractured collarbone)

Henrik Lundqvist is expected to make his twenty-first straight start in goal for the Rangers tonight, and when you consider how he stood on his head in Boston this weekend, how could he not? As reported here on Monday, Lundqvist was named the third star of the week in the National Hockey League for his his excellence against the Penguins, Panthers, Senators and Bruins. King Henrik fully deserves it because like I've been saying, he is the main reason why this team is excelling right now. He's carrying the entire club on his shoulders, just as a leader should.

Still awaiting confirmation on the scratches for this tilt, but if I had to guess, Mats Zuccarello will most likely return to the lineup after watching the last game from the press box. Head coach John Tortorella normally does not like to keep his youngsters out of the lineup for too long, which is why I think Zuke will be back tonight. As for who should get scratched in his place, I think I made it pretty clear yesterday who it should be: Wojtek Wolski.

I liked Sean Avery's game on Saturday. He knew he had to have a major impact in the little ice time he would receive, and I felt he did that effectively. Besides the fight, he had a couple shots on goal and that play late in the game when he desperately stretched out his stick while down on the ice to clear the zone was incredible. I'm sure he got a pat on he back from the coach after that one, and generally when you please Torts like that, you remain in the lineup. Then again, it is Sean Avery we are talking about, so I guess you never know.

And just to make note of it, I am a huge fan of Tortorella moving Derek Stepan up to play with Marian Gaborik. Actually, this is something we talked about often at the beginning of the year but nothing really came of it, partly because of injuries. But now these two have been united and they are playing well together. Stepan is one of those players that no matter who he plays with, his game will always be the same. I think that's why he works so well on that line.

Scouting the Sabres:

The Sabres missed out on an opportunity to tie the Rangers in points last night when they fell, 4-3, to the Toronto Maple Leafs in regulation. Buffalo therefore remains in eighth place in the East heading into this contest and still two points behind the Rangers. They will be just as hungry for a win this evening as the Blueshirts, so it should be an intense match-up that I expect to be very closely played.

The Sabres had won three straight games prior to last night, so they were on a bit of a hot streak. It seems like every time the Rangers win, Buffalo has responded with a victory of their own. Both teams will prefer a low-scoring affair in this one, but in the end, all that matters is the two points and they wil take them any way they can.

Opponent Blog: Sabres Edge

Remember: You can discuss tonight's game live in our new chat room. Just click on the "chat room" tab.

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Postgame: Rangers Shutout by Sabres, Drop to 8th in East

AP Photo

Although they have been winning lately, the Rangers have also been struggling offensively for about a week now. It finally caught up to them tonight when they fell to the Buffalo Sabres at HSBC Arena, 1-0. The effort, considering the importance of this game, was not near where it needed to be. They looked tired, there was no compete in them until late in the third period and they certainly did not play their game this evening. I would normally suggest leaving this one behind and forgetting it ever happened, but since not gaining two points tonight now puts the Blueshirts in eighth place in the East, it could potentially be a costly loss.

The only goal came at 5:28 of the first period when Tim Connolly’s blast from the high slot beat Henrik Lundqvist on the powerplay. The play actually began on the other end of the rink as Brian Boyle’s pass on a 2-on-1 was blocked and quickly moved out. The Rangers were then caught without two of their forwards back, leaving only two defensemen to defend three oncoming Buffalo forwards. Connolly was the open man and just wound up and fired one through a couple bodies to the back of the net.

Before that, though, there was a controversial call made that disallowed what appeared to be a good goal that would have given the Rangers a 1-0 lead. New York had possession in the offensive zone and as usual Ryan Callahan was battling in front. At the same time a shot came in from the point, Callahan was also shoved into goaltender Jonas Enroth by a Buffalo defenseman, which resulted in both players falling to the ice. The puck then bounced out to Artem Anisimov, who buried it in the empty net. The on-ice ruling was that there was goaltender interference on Callahan, therefore the goal was no good.

I watched the replay multiple times, as I am sure many of you did as well, and clearly Callahan had nowhere to go – in fact, he even stated that in his intermission interview on MSG Network after the second period. He was pushed from behind by a Sabres defenseman into Enroth and didn’t have enough time to brace himself. There’s absolutely nothing he could have done, and you can only wonder if the outcome of the game would have been different if the correct call was made there.

The Rangers pushed in the third period, but they came up just short and couldn’t find a way to solve a red hot Enroth. However, if they had played with that urgency for the entire sixty minutes, maybe the game would have ended differently. I mean, the first period alone was atrocious since they were outshot 15-8. That’s no way to come out and play a team that was in action just 24 hours ago, especially at such a crucial time of the year.

Henrik Lundqvist again gave his cub a chance to win by making a total of 34 saves, but he had no goal support to help him out. Henrik also suffered from leg pain late in the second period that put him in discomfort for the remainder of the tilt. From my perspective it looked as if he took a shot to the leg while on his knees, which means the padding was not covering his leg at the time. Hopefully it’s just a bruise, because if it is anything more then the Rangers may be in some trouble.

I thought the Gaborik line played very well tonight, or at the very least created the most scoring chances. Derek Stepan is working very well between Prospal and Gaborik on that trio, so I would expect them to stick together for a while here to see if they can continue to produce. They came extremely close to scoring multiple times in this game, but it just wouldn’t go for them.

Sean Avery was also very active offensively. He had a jump in his step and was showing head coach John Tortorella exactly what he wants to see. Avery is a difference maker when he keeps his legs moving more than his mouth, and we saw that tonight. I still think he should have been given more ice time though.

The Rangers will now return to Long Island where they will faceoff with the rival Islanders for the final time this season tomorrow night at Nassau Coliseum. The effort will need to be better, no doubt.

And to make things even worse, the Hurricanes also won tonight to pull within three points of the Rangers. It’s going to be a tight finish.

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Vanishing Wolski

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On January 10, GM Glen Sather accomplished what appeared to be the inconceivable by trading away defenseman Michal Rozsival to the Phoenix Coyotes in exchange for left wing Wojtek Wolski. Rozsival was dragging down an up-and-coming defensive corps that was clearly moving in a different direction than what he had hoped for. With this, there is no debating that Sather needed to find a way to rid the team of Rozsival and his atrocious $5 million cap hit. But now we look at the other half of the trade; the part that made Wojtek Wolski a New York Ranger, and we realize that he has been no prize either.

Since the trade went down, Wolski has played in a total of 32 games with the Rangers this season, and in that time has collected an unimpressive sixteen points. When he was brought here, Wolski was referred to as a pure goal scorer with a knack for the net. I'm not too sure I would consider five goals in 32 games a "knack for the net", especially since his last goal came fourteen games ago.

The 25-year-old whose hometown is located in Poland is currently a victim of a point-scoring drought spanning seven games and counting. This lack of achievement has only found him being scratched once so far, but there are more of those guaranteed to come in the near future if the same problems persist. Head coach John Tortorella has already done the job of burying Wolski on the fourth line and limiting his nightly minutes, which is usually the step before watching from the press box. He could just ask teammate Sean Avery, because no one knows that better than Sean does.

I mentioned above that the same "problems" persist. Those problems are not only the lack of scoring and point production on offense, as Wojtek has also become a slight liability defensively as well. We were warned about Wolski's abilities, or lack thereof, on defense, but early on Tortorella had the enigmatic winger playing both sides of the puck well. Wojtek was back checking, he was working the boards and all of that good stuff. But over time all of that slowly diminished and he returned to the player that was sent away by the Coyotes and Avalanche.

I feel as if Wolski is no longer a part of this team, or at least an influential part of this team. Because really, when you look at the stats, he hasn't contributed anything in seven games now. It's not like when he isn't scoring he makes up for it by playing hard in his own zone or being used on the penalty-kill or anything like that. No, when Wolski isn't particularly doing anything on offense he has no value to this hockey club at all.

It was very different when he first arrived in the Big Apple. He was in the middle of everything, he was being put in all scenarios and was even skating on the first line alongside Marian Gaborik. Where that has all gone, though, I have no clue. It's not being left out on the ice, that's for sure.

Wolski has been compared to former Ranger Nikolai Zherdev in the past and I can now vividly see why. He possesses the skill and has a gifted set of hands, but he doesn't balance out his game with effort. A lot of times you can find Wolski coasting through the neutral zone like he has not a care in the world for what is going on. Or even when he has the puck on his blade, there is no urgency or will. He lifelessly carries it into traffic which obviously is going to lead to turnovers.....repeated turnovers.

Wolski's $3.8 million/year contract extends through next season, but 2011-12 may not be spent with the Rangers if he continues to play nonchalant hockey. Every drawback in his game mentioned above is something that will encourage John Tortorella to dislike him pretty quickly. So it is either start caring and combining the prominent skill with effort so that production will come more easily, or keep up the half-hearted play and watch the remainder of the season unfold from up high in the skybox.

At this time of year, the darwinistic theory comes into play more than ever, and right now, Wolski is far from being one of the "fittest" for survival on this team.

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Rangers Sign Tommy Grant for AHL

The New York Rangers announced via twitter that they have signed unrestricted free agent forward out of the University of Alaska-Anchorage, Tommy Grant. Grant, 24-years-old, had his best season with Anchorage this year when he record an outstanding 32 points in 37 games. He is 6-foot-2, 195 pounds and will be immediately assigned to the Connecticut Whale of the American Hockey League.

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Video: Henrik Lundqvist on NHL Live

Yesterday goaltender Henrik Lundqvist did a lengthy over-the-air interview with the guys at NHL Live that I found grabbed my attention, so I thought I would share it with my readers as well. Give it a watch, because there is some good stuff in there. Like he's told The Rangers Tribune in the past, Henrik believes in this club and has faith that they can do some damage in the playoffs. He talks about that and a lot more in the clip below.

http://nhl.cdn.neulion.net/u/videocenter/embed.swf

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Ryan McDonagh: A Rookie with a Veteran Heart

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Over the past few weeks we have heard more and more from defenseman Ryan McDonagh in the media. This is no coincidence. The St. Paul, Minnesota native may only be 21 years of age, but he speaks as if he is fifteen years older than that. It's not only the way in which he can assess a game, but it's the way he compliments teammates, analyzes different things that went on out on the ice and even talks about his own game. I've been doing this blogging thing for over two years now so I have read a lot of quotes from a lot of different players of all ages. Let me tell you, nothing has hit home or meant as much to me as a fan than what comes out of Ryan McDonagh's mouth. This kid is an inspirational hockey player.

McDonagh's maturity started to strike me about three weeks ago when the beat writers actually began jotting down quotes from him. I noticed how intelligent he is and the glorious hockey knowledge that he possesses. But it wasn't until this past week's occurrences that I knew I had to write an article about Ryan. The deciding factor was when I read the following quote from McDonagh about teammate Derek Stepan reaching the 20-goal mark.

"He's a competitive kid at heart," said defenseman Ryan McDonagh, a teammate of Stepan's in Wisconsin prior to the Rangers. "And he wants more; it's not in a selfish aspect at all. He's one of the most team-oriented guys I ever played with. His competitive nature is what drives him, he's had big goals for us and put up points and has been a huge part of this team from the first game of the season, getting that hat trick against Buffalo. It's amazing. He's 20 years old and I can't say enough about him."

When, if ever, have you heard a rookie talk about another rookie like that before? I assume many of you answered "never" to that question. It may be a hard thing for you to grasp, but trust me, when one player hears a teammate speak about him with such high remarks like McDonagh did about Stepan, it means the world to him and really touches the heart.

What you see above is something I would expect to come from a player like Vinny Prospal or Bryan McCabe - veterans - when asked about a rookie teammate. But this is amazingly coming from another rookie, and to me that is breathtaking.

McDonagh happened to be the recipient of Matt Cooke's flying elbow in last Saturday's match-up with the Penguins, which resulted in Cooke being handed a suspension lasting through the first round of the playoffs. Most players in McDonagh's position would take the opportunity to absolutely rip Cooke to shreds in the media, express their opinion about how long he should be suspended and all of that other good stuff.

But McDongh, once again, displayed his impressive maturity discussing the situation, making the following comment when asked about Cooke's high hit....

"Like I said after the game, I don’t think he’s trying to put his team down with a five-minute penalty," McDonagh said. "You’ve got good momentum going for the playoffs and it was a close game at the time. I think he’s just trying to make his hit. (The suspension), it is what it is."

I'm going to be honest here, when I read that it brought a huge smile to my face. McDonagh basically said that Cooke didn't mean to do it, which shows his respect for other players and organizations around the league. I'm sure the Pittsburgh Penguins, and Cooke himself for that matter, appreciated what McDonagh had to say because like I said, he really could have buried them in the media.

McDonagh was praised this past Saturday on the Hockey Night in Canada broadcast for his comments on the Cooke hit. The infamous Don Cherry even admitted that he got "choked up" when he read McDonagh's statements. You're doing something right if you are able to bring a tear to the eye of Don Cherry, because that guy is tough as nails.

McDonagh is going to be a great player in the National Hockey League for many years. Not only is he solid on the ice, but his maturity off it is going to go a long way in the locker room. He's going to become a leader, an inspiration and a role model. The fact that he is showing these signs in only his first season in the NHL is stunning and the Rangers are extremely fortunate to have this kid as a part of their hockey club.

I think we owe GM Glen Sather a big thank you for obtaining McDonagh in the trade with the Montreal Canadiens two years ago that sent Scott Gomez up north.

Meanwhile, while we drool over Ryan here in New York, Gomez is being booed by Habs fans each time he touches the puck at the Bell Centre.

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