Rangers/Blackhawks recap

Well, every team is due a clunker once in a while.  The Rangers basically lost this game in the first ten minutes of the first period, allowing 4 goals to the Blackhawks, who held on for the win 4-2.  The win snaps a 9-game losing streak for the ‘Hawks and a 4-game win streak for the Rangers.  I’m not going to dwell too much one this one, better to throw it in the trash and move on.  Onto the bullets…

• The Rangers were an absolute mess the first 10 minutes of the game.  It all started when Dan Girardi covered a puck in the crease about a minute into the game.  Jonathon Toews scored on the ensuing penalty shot.  Bad turnovers and generally lazy play bit the Blueshirts for 3 more goals during that time and found themselves down 4-0 after one.
• After the 1^st period, the Rangers started to play a little better.  They were still playing fairly sloppy and disorganized in the offensive and neutral zones, but had cleaned up their defensive play.  The ‘Hawks tried and tried to let the Rangers back into this one, but a combination of Corey Crawford, a brutal power play and some unfortunate bounces kept the Rangers at bay.
• Speaking of that power play, good god.  0-7 and barely bothered to mount an attack.  Chicago threw a different penalty killing look at them; aggressively pressuring the point men before they could settle into the offensive zone and immediately collapsing when the Rangers did establish possession.  This kept the power play pretty toothless all evening.  Also, why in the world is John Mitchell getting PP time?
• Toews is an absolute monster on both sides of the puck.
• Chicago, for all it’s defensive ineptitude, is one dangerous offensive team.  They combine speedy forwards with tremendous passing.  This was the first time all season I saw our defense struggling to contain a team’s perimeter game.
• Mike Rupp must have caught a bad case of stone hands before this one.
• While I feel that The Suit’s assessment of Chicago’s goaltending is spot on, I must admit Corey Crawford played extremely well tonight.  He was square to the shooter and made himself big all game.
• You have to feel for Marty Biron tonight.  Not only was he victimized by 3 breakaway goals and a 6’8” screen in the first ten minutes, The Garden decided to throw a Bronx Cheer his way.  ‘Cmon New York, you’re better than that.  Biron rebounded to actually have a very solid final 50 minutes.  He made several key saves that gave you false hope about a possible comeback.
• While the officiating was consistently erratic for both teams, it was inexcusable that play was blown dead before Cally put the puck in.  It was clearly sitting loose on the goal line.
• Like I said, just delete this one from the memory banks and get back to the Rangers hockey we all know and love.

Off until Sunday when the lowly Blue Jackets come to town.  How loud do you think the Rick Nash chatter will be this weekend?  Oh and don’t forget to stop by tomorrow at noon for the BSB Live Chat!