Game Thread Avalanche at Rangers

[cagedlion]

Raanta in goal vs Varlamov.

Rangers showing very little offense.

 

[chuckd3534]

Team is awful right now. Hard to even watch. No shots, no chances, no life on the team or in the building. Not good right now.

Since that TB game we have seen some bad hockey.

Not sure what you do to get out of this funk.

 

[cagedlion]

They are trending on the downside as their efforts lack intensity.
Not looking good!

 

[Rangers94]

We've gone from one of the best offensive teams to god awful in the offensive zone and look like a monkey trying to fuck a football. No one goes to the net for a rebound, no one is in front screening the goalie properly, can't get a forecheck going, can't get a cycle going. Just can't get anything going. And it has zero to do with last night. This team has played with zero heart lately.
Posted that in the wrong thread.
Just looks like we lost that game to TB and the team flipped a switch to "off" and stopped caring and trying offensively. Defensively we're still struggling in our zone to win board battles,
But in the offensive zone we can't even put together 30 seconds of attack time. It's just a bad joke at this time.

 

[Ranger71]

Too many mental lapses and slow moving slow thinking parts.

 

[chuckd3534]

Need to wake up and get their game back...

 

[Rangers94]

It's humorous listening to joe trying to say Varmalov has made "great" saves. He's seeing EVERY shot and the Rangers are rarely going to the dirty areas to get the rebounds. The entire team has become Charmin soft out there. Ugh. Someone needs to light a fire under their ass. Might be time for a players only meeting if they lose this one. They need to call each other out and get fired up.

 

[cagedlion]

Not one of their lines is showing any activity in the offensive zone.
Very strange even for the Rangers.

There is nothing that shows me they are capable of coming back.

Not a good time for back to back games, specially when the other
team had the previous night off.

 

[Ranger71]

Without Stepan and with Brassard not doing much their C group is below average. Lindberg is solid but Hayes has struggled in his sophomore season.

 

[Rangers94]

McIlrath has hands down been our best dman. Least amount of turnovers, physical in front of net, physical on the boards. Be nice if any of our other lousy dmen would look at the rookie and play more physical like him. I might have a heart attack the next time Staal wins a physical board battle, not just poking with his stick.

 

[Rangers94]

Without Stepan and with Brassard not doing much their C group is below average. Lindberg is solid but Hayes has struggled in his sophomore season.

Brassard has looked REALLY bad tonight.

 

[cagedlion]

The whole team looks bad. Girardi, Staal, Yandle, Boyle never
showed physical prowess.

 

[Rangers94]

The whole team looks bad. Girardi, Staal, Yandle, Boyle never
showed physical prowess.

This team hasn't showed physicality ever this season.

 

[Rangers94]

And that play by Kreider sums up the Rangers play lately. Weak on the puck, try to be too fancy, get knocked off the puck, get no shot on a breakaway.

 

[cagedlion]

To lose, and possibly by a shut out, to a bad
Colorado team is embarrassing.....and at home!

 

[Rangers94]

To lose, and possibly by a shut out, to a bad
Colorado team is embarrassing.....and at home!

At least they didn't get shut out I guess. This team needs to work on one timers. A lot of chances to get off one timers and instead they settled the puck, allowed the defense to shift over and the goalie to get over and then take the shot. Need to improve that immediately.

 

[Stepupstepan]

Stepan can't come back soon enough. This team blows beyond belief without him. They really need to get rid of Boyle. He is completely useless at this point. At least MSL had a good regular season at this point last season. Boyle looks like 50 year old gimp out there.

 

[chuckd3534]

To me it has always been about the O on this team...that was always my concern.

Etem has done nothing. Miller almost nothing. Hayes has struggled. Kreider is useless. Fast nothing. Stoll nothing. Moore nothing. Stalberg nothing. That is a lot of nothing upfront.

I liked our forward depth coming in, but that was under the assumption that Kreider and Hayes would take steps up. Miller and Etem would be threats. And a 4th line mix of Fast/Moore/Stoll/Stalberg would do well as 4th line guys.

Kreider, Miller, and Etem being useless has really hurt us. Hayes being whatever inconsistent has as well.

Outside of Lindberg and maybe Zucc, no one on O has showed up. As usual our O is a huge concern.

The D will be fine. Yandle has been getting better. McIlrath has played well. McD and G have gotten better. Klein was playing really well, and will be back in 2 weeks. Staal...yeah he has been awful. And Boyle has been better the past handful of games.

So I am just not worried about the D, and never was. The O...yeah that is a huge concern to me. I think we need some sort of change and new blood up there. Very stale.

 

[Stepupstepan]

We got new blood out there, his name is Tanner Glass. I am not sure why Megna was called up and has not been used at all. I understand why the gum chewing fella behind the bench used Glass against the isles. I don't know why they needed Glass tonight.

 

[cagedlion]

The D being fine gets us 2-1 defeats......the O, and I
don't care where it comes from, needs to step it up.......or
this down period may be longer than I would hope.

 

[cagedlion]

Rangers' record since last Wednesday, Nov 25 is 1-4-1;
upcoming sked:

Sun Ottawa
Wed Vancouver
Fri Edmonton
Sat Calgary
Tue Edmonton
Thu Minnesota
Fri Winnipeg
Sun Washington

The way the team is presently playing, team will be
scrounging for points the next two weeks. Two more
back to backs, both on the road.

 

[kreidertime]

Well, you could make the case that the offense has sucked since Stepan has been out despite him sucking most all season. Or you could point out that as soon as Glass got back in the lineup, the offense sucks.

This is the first time I've said this. I would at least see what return Kreider would bring and shop him. If Duchene was being shopped, then freakin Kreider who is dumb and doesn't do anything over half the time certainly can be.

 

[chuckd3534]

So what I said 10 days ago dump...I agree on Kreider....

1 goal against Ottawa, 1 goal against TB, 1 goal against Montreal. Those happened pre-Stepan injury. Since Stepan went out 3 of 4 games they have scored 0 or 1 goal, and the game they scored more was against the Canes, so I'm not sure that should count.

The Rangers need to do something upfront. If Etem, Miller, Kreider, and to a lesser extent Hayes are going to struggle/do nothing in the case of the first 3, we are going to have big issues scoring.

 

[chuckd3534]

Etem 0 goals as a Ranger.
Miller 4 points in his first 3 games. 8 points in his last 24 games.
Kreider has 4 goals and 11 points this season...wow.

With that kind of "production" from those 3 we have no shot to be good enough on O.

 

[cagedlion]

When key players are not scoring with any consistency,
burden falls on the goalies.............and there is just so
much they can do. The Nashes, Kreiders, Brassards,
Hayeses, Millers, Fasts have to start getting goals.
And how about some contributions from a tame defense.
Even Zucc has cooled during this down period.
Etem is one big bust. If this organization had capable
players from their putrid farm team to fill the void, I am
sure Etem would have been sent down long ago.
Lindberg is the one player who exhibits speed with
toughness. The others mentioned above would rather
duke and prance instead pushing toward the goal......
and shooting.

Until this team works out their Offense, burden will be
on the goalies.

 

[kreidertime]

Because of some of his playoff goals, his size and mind boggling speed, it would be very hard for the fan base to see Kreider go. I just don't know what they would want. You most likely would be getting heavy into other teams farms for NHL ready prospects and draft picks. It's pretty sad for Kreider when Lindberg has f'n embarrassed Kreider when he doesn't have near his talent.

 

[chuckd3534]

As usual for this team it will come down to O. We need a gritty proven playoff guy with some size. A Ladd type would be a perfect fit, but again not sure how we get a guy like that.

To me if you deal Kreider you do it for a proven playoff guy that will help the team over the next year or two.

BUT with all that said I just don't see him being moved. We are going to sink or swim with CK coming around. I think the guy who could get dealt is Miller. I can 100% see that. He has potential, and to a team that is looking to sell off he would be a good get. I can see him going for a proven playoff guy if he doesn't step up.

 

[mrmel29]

Everybody chill. Yeah the offense has slowed down but we're still 4th IN THE LEAGUE IN GOALS SCORED. Stepan will be back in a month or so and just have to survive till then. We're not getting blown out. Part of the problem is AV's lines, his defensive combos and how many friggin minutes he's playing boyle. Yandle has looked much better lately and a big part of that is playing with dylan who allows him to play to his strength which is skating and offense and he's actually shooting the puck now. Problem lately is boyle gets on the PP and forgets to come off the friggin ice. Kreids exasperates me as much as the rest of you guys but there is no way we are trading this kid and the potential and skillsets he has. If he's not already he should be practicing breakaways on hank every day as he probably leads the league in them but needs to come up with a way to start finishing them. Imo if the rangers decide to make a major move it will be nash and that obscene contract of his that goes. After a 6 game spurt he's back to doing nothing again and he would bring some decent assets back. AV is getting more confident with dylan as he got 18 minutes yesterday but will be interesting to see if he has the balls to stick dylan and his howitzer of a shot from the point on the power play. Dylan should also be on every PK the rangers have from now on as he is our only d-man that can separate someone from the puck and keep the crease clear of traffic in front. Glass really needs to be gone by the next game and give another young player a chance to show what he has.

 

[theProdigy223]

Chris Kreider, 24 years old, the biggest forward and fastest skater on this team who will be restricted and under team control at the end of the year, is not getting traded. 24 years old. Stop the madness.

 

[chuckd3534]

I agree...I think Miller could be the guy who goes though unless he gets it going. He has value, and I could see us moving him for an upgrade now.

And that means nothing to me mel. We were a top 5 team in goals per game last season as well...and we know how that worked out in the playoffs.

This team will goes as far as the O will take us. As usual that is the concern IMO. I always felt the talk about the D was nonsense, and I stand by that.

Mel loves him some Kreider and McIlrath.... And I mean that in a good way...I think those are your two favorite Rangers.