Curious how they respond tonight

[Disturbed]

The Islanders game pretty much suckkkkked. It happens. I am really interested to see how they play tonight coming off the loss.

 

[chuckd3534]

Curious to me that he is going Talbot tonight. I figured Talbot tomorrow night before the quick turnaround to early Sunday afternoon at Pitt. That and no Stepan tonight make this a real tough game against a very hot team.

Need to at least split tonight/tomorrow night before the Pitt game.

 

[panzerporter]

The Islanders game was a total team effort failure, that was a sample of playoff intensity hockey and the Rangers didn't bring it but they've still won 13 of 15. Making the playoffs is first priority, which they've pretty much done with this run. I agree a trade is necessary and if Glen made me GM for a day I'd go after Drew Stafford/Chris Stewart/Tyler Myers using Hagelin/Staal/Fast/Zucc/J. Moore (happy to throw in but don't think Buffalo would want Glass, Stemp, Hunwick) and pieces from the farm. Vermette would be a good option for faceoffs alone too. For old times sake I'd ask Lou for Jagr and pull the trigger if the deal was fair.

I think they give a better effort tonight and with 52 points in 40 games see no need to sound the klaxons every time there's an inevitable loss.

 

[chuckd3534]

I stay away from speculating on trades and who we may try and add, because quite honestly who knows which players are really available and what it will take to acquire them. All I do is say flat out we need another forward to be a legit cup contender, and Sather better get it done. We know forwards will be dealt at the trade DL that's a given. If Sather doesn't add a top 9 forward he should be fired the day after the trade DL....

 

[chuckd3534]

As for the Isles loss, we weren't winning 46 straight to end the season, so we regroup and move on from one L. Is what it is. We'll beat the Isles on LI in 12 days.

 

[cagedlion]

They played "tired" in Islander game and it was no surprise.
Teams coming from one coast to another need more than 2 days
to get on track. But that should not be an excuse. Rangers are good,
but..................hope they upset the big bad bruins.

 

[cagedlion]

Come on..........Sather is not gonna get fired. Retire.....maybe.

 

[chuckd3534]

Good start. There are two ends of the ice right? Real bad feeling about tonight as I said earlier. These faceoffs are killing us.

 

[chuckd3534]

It is good to see this lineup without a top player like Stepan. Maybe that shows Sather just how badly we need another forward. Moore and Stemp on the 3rd line. Glass and Fast on the 4th line. You simply are not getting goals from those lines. We are a two line team, and when any player from those two lines is out we are in trouble. We need a forward badly.

And Hags hits the post with a pretty open net. We cannot score on open nets.

 

[cagedlion]

Brass & Nash have been on ice for the last 4 opponent goals...........
and Rangers are becoming the the "Post"Team with no goals in
4 consec periods.........hitting 7 posts. Hagelin needs to net the
damn puck. It is amazing how this team can go from positive to
negative in days.

6 periods of NO GOALS. It is just not a tired team as much as facing
two HOT teams. Maybe down the road we'll get a chance to cool them off.

 

[chuckd3534]

When you have Moore Stemp on the 3rd line and Glass Fast on the 4th line you will struggle to score. Rough stretch. We all knew this stretch was tough, but they got through Cali so well you felt things were going to be great. Now not so much the last two games. Tomorrow night is a huge game for us. Need to right the ship.

 

[cagedlion]

It's funny how hockey goes. One month ago, Bruins looked
horrible....................Rangers look to be following suit after
a great stretch. Maybe next month they turn it around.

 

[chuckd3534]

Yeah, after two down games I would say hopefully next month the Rangers can turn it around. You are a trip cage.

 

[cagedlion]

I'm just having fun......Rangers will be OK after this down period.
But wow, when they look bad, they look horrible......in every aspect
of the game. Better now than in playoffs.

 

[Messiah717]

It's looking like back to back shutouts. They need to end this against Columbus.

 

[cagedlion]

It's looking like back to back shutouts. They need to end this against Columbus.

Who knows. Dubi will be up for the Blueshirts. Watch how ex-Rangers
play. Maybe Glass breaks through and scores tomorrow! LOL

 

[Ranger71]

I don't think 'faceoff' Stepan would've made much difference in this one.

 

[chuckd3534]

I agree he wouldn't have sc. But overall it shows even more how thin we are upfront IMO.

 

[Ranger71]

True..they need to start looking to address things..like tomorrow.

 

[chuckd3534]

As I wake up this AM I am still angry. I know deals don't happen this early usually. I know we are tight to the cap at the moment, but when I have to see Moore and Stemp on the 3rd line AND Fast and Glass on the 4th line it gets me angry.

You are simply not going to score a lot of goals from below with those two in your bottom 6. Double so when Hayes, 5 goals in 38 games, and Hags, 8 goals in 41 games, are down there as well.

This team has two lines that can score. That is all. Nash/Brass/Zucc AND Kreider/Step/MSL. Half way through the season our normal 3rd line has 16 goals combined, not good enough. In the playoffs we run the risk of being knocked out early if we don't add a legit scorer for the 3rd line. The NHL playoffs are about quality depth and grit. That's the key in the NHL playoffs.

That is why we made the run last season. We had Richards and MSL OR Brass and Zucc on the 3rd line (depending on which line you considered the 2nd line). That is huge. That is the depth you need in the playoffs. This year we have rookie never played this many games 5 goal Hayes, Hags, and Fast right now. That is nowhere near good enough.

That's why I believe the people talking about our D are off in here. Our D is fine. Our D is certainly good enough to make the run. I think our D is better than last season. Staal is better. Klein is 500% better. Boyle not as good on D as Stralman, but adds more O on D, and our PP is better as a result. Moore and Hunwick as the 6th dman duo is better than last season. So I think our D is clearly good enough. There are very few teams in the NHL better than us on D from 1-4 and from 1-6...very few.

Obviously Hank is Hank no need to discuss goalie.

It is all about the forward depth/grit/size. That will determine if we make a run again this spring. That's is it. That's the bottom line to me. That would be where my laser like focus is if I was Sather. You want to add a depth dman just in case, sure go for it, but outside of that 100% I would be all in on top 9 forwards. It is a MUST have if we want to make a playoff run. Without adding one we run the risk of being out early. And honestly we still have to lock up a playoff spot as well. If we get a WC not top 3 in the Met, that makes our road MUCH tougher. So we need to make sure we get top 3 Met to give ourselves the best shot possible. We must add a forward.

 

[strudwickisthebest]

Playoffs are a totally different game chuck. Guys with 5 regular season goals can go off like Bergenhiem or Pisani in the recent past

 

[chuckd3534]

Of course they CAN strud. I just don't think we should count on it. That's my point.

 

[Disturbed]

Well that sucked

 

[kreidertime]

They f'n sucked. That is how they responded.

 

[cagedlion]

In this game, you gotta fight thru the tough times. Keep pluggin.