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Rangers take two much needed points against Carolina
Posted by: | CommentsThe Rangers beat the Carolina Hurricanes 5-1 last night, capitalizing on the Canes premature pull of goaltender Scott Darling with two minutes left in the third period. Michael Grabner got a hat trick off of two empty net goals and Paul Carey added a last minute trash goal to inflate the score much larger than the actual play would indicate.
The game was pretty evenly matched through the first period and a half, despite Carolina’s goal occurring within one minute of the game opening. You’d never be able to tell from the final scores of each of their matchups, but these two teams are similar: both are fringe playoff teams, both have talent, yet both have glaring issues that need to be fixed in order to go far.
Let’s break down some key points of the game:
Weekly Preview: win another two at home
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Photo Credit: Chris Seward
The Rangers are doing whatever is necessary to rake out two points each game lately, at times more theatrically than others. At the same time, they’re seemingly investing heavily in high blood pressure medication for their fans, which has become a requirement. The past two games have taught us that this team is magical at the Garden… magical in that they pull wins out of nowhere.
This week is relatively quiet, with games only tonight and Friday, and can help launch the Rangers higher in the rankings of a tight Metropolitan Division. As of Tuesday morning, the Metropolitan looks like this:
Listen: both of the games this week are easily winnable. Easily. In fact, the Rangers have already beaten both of these teams, and scored 11 goals between those two games. We aren’t in “must win” territory anymore, but it’d be silly not to win these.
On to the games:
Rangers drop second in a row, get blanked by Columbus
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Image c/o Labatt Blue
The Rangers looked to right the ship last night in Columbus, just two days after suffering their first loss in two weeks. Sadly for the Blueshirts, they faced the same hot goalie that they did last week in Sergei Bobrovsky, except this time, they were unable to score.
This game featured Brendan Smith’s return to the lineup, marking his first start since the October 31 win against Vegas. The game also featured the return of the ever-infuriating Pavel Buchnevich Project, where inexplicably, some players get long leashes whilst others do not.
On to the bullet points… Read More→
Weekly Preview: Extend the Win Streak to 9 Games?
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The Rangers have pulled themselves together for a lengthy win streak, currently at six games as they enjoy a few days off for needed rest. From an abysmal start, the past two weeks have proven to be just what the doctor ordered in getting the Rangers back in the thick of things.
The Rangers’ play has become much more cohesive, and fans in general should be excited about this progress. The standings have progressed nicely, as shown below (far right column indicates points on the first column, indicating standings as of November 1):
This week the Rangers will be on the road for two games, something unusual for the team who has only seen five away games in 18 this season. Let’s take a look at what they’ll be facing.
Rangers beat Florida 5-4, win third in a row
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Courtesy @nyrangers
The Rangers beat Florida last night in overtime, racking up their third win in a row and second straight in overtime. This week has been a breakout from the October doldrums, and a reason for hope in Rangerstown. These are the Rangers we have been waiting to see.
There were lots of spots of optimism in the game last night, including the power play and getting goals from different sources. The defense accounted for three of the five goals (Shattenkirk 2, Holden) and Rick Nash is finally shaking the monkey off his back, netting one goal and one heck of a performance.
Some key takeaways from last night’s game: Read More→
Weekly preview: Rangers take on some hard hitters
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See you soon, old pal
On the eve of Game 13 of the season, the Rangers find themselves firmly in panic mode, needing to right the sinking ship. If the Titanic has taught us anything, it’s that a) Jack could have fit on that door, and b) you need to make sure you have enough life boats to save the ship. It seems the life boats, as the “gimme” games against Montreal and Arizona, have sailed far away.
The Rangers are looking out on Games 13, 14 and 15 this week against two very hot teams and one team playing average hockey. The time to have turned the ship around would have been last week, and it looked like that almost happened against Montreal. Unfortunately, the regulation loss against the Canadiens on Saturday night could prove to be more harmful than it seems.
Let’s take a look at what lies in the week ahead.
The past and present: comparing coaches
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I miss you, Torts
There’s a reason that there has been so much chatter around Alain Vigneault, questioning his ability to coach the team for success. Forgetting the obvious issues on the ice, an important theme to remember with sports, especially in a large market, is recency bias. What have you done for me lately?
If your response is “take the team to the Stanley Cup Final,” well, I have some potentially upsetting news for you: it’s 2017. The team lost it all in June, 2014. In the past three years, the Rangers have made it to the Eastern Conference Finals (2015), the first round (2016), and the second round (last May), in exactly that order. It’s been a while since the team has made it very far, and the talent continues to wither under some confusing management.
When Vigneault joined the team mid-2013, it was a refreshing change of pace from the gritty, physical John Tortorella-era Rangers. Unfortunately, at this rate, is Vigneault really much different from what Tortorella became with the Rangers?
GIF Recap: Rangers drop a stinker to the Devils
Posted by: | CommentsThe Rangers played very poorly last night. To put it bluntly, they stunk up the joint so bad, I’m smelling it across the Hudson. Let’s check in on how the team is doing right now:
The game was, as usual, a total cluster and yet in some ways, totally predictable. The Rangers played roughly 1/3 of this game, perhaps thinking this is still practice? But maybe this is just how they’re coached at this point, since they had a habit of doing this last year as well, except they managed to win these games that they’re losing in 2017. Read More→
Who me, worry? Never…
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We miss you Marty
The season is one week old, yet it already feels like we’re back in the full swing of things. This mindset can be very comforting, like an old blanket on a chilly day. It’s familiar, it’s fun, and it’s always home at the Garden. However, some pieces of hockey season need to be analyzed with the part of the season we’re in — in this case, the early season.
Although it’s a hard truth that every game matters, it’s important to allow your team to ease in to the swing of things. Here at Blue Seat Blogs, a lot of people have issue with the coaching tactics of Alain Vigneault; that will be discussed below, but even he deserves the benefit of the early season doubt.
That being said, of course we’re still allowed to have our concerns. There are a few reasons to legitimately be worried with the state of our Rangers. Let’s dive deeper into why we should relax vs why we should panic.
Rangers drop a doozy to the Leafs
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Different players, same idea.
Folks, I’m gonna be honest here: last night’s game was not an easy one to watch. In fact, I would even bet that the 13 combined points between the two teams will outscore quite a few NFL teams today (looking at you, my beloved Jets).
Since the game was, frankly, a tire fire, let’s go over some points and then jump to the most relevant and entertaining points that Twitter had for us in our time of need.