Game Thread Opening Night

[BigDaddyAl1973]

Down 2 goals...

1st goal off a bullshit penalty
2nd goal cherry picker 2 on 1...

Need to step it up

 

[BigDaddyAl1973]

2 faceoffs on the PP and the rangers lose both of them..that can't keep on happening...horrible PP..and now another ranger penalty

 

[Ranger71]

Rusty start but Johnson really does suck pretty bad.

 

[Rangers94]

New year...same soft defense lol

 

[Rangers94]

Igor looking every bit if a rookie. Gotta give him the hook there.

 

[Rangers94]

Only period one of game one but this team is definitely too young to have not had exhibition games. Showing big time tonight. Hopefully they can put together some effort tonight and not get embarrassed but if this is a sign of things to come, thank god it’s only 56 games haha.
And before anyone starts freaking out, yes I’m aware of no exhibition, lots of young guys, etc, which is why I very much doubted this team would be a playoff team this year. I am disappointed in Igor though. On that 2 on 1 he never even bothered trying to be aggressive nor did he get set. On the third goal he just looked totally lost.

 

[kreidertime]

Maybe Gorton will get off his ass and get a center that can win a fucking faceoff. Chytil 1 for 4. He sucks in the dot. He's not a center.

 

[NYR Fan]

Rough period. I guess to be expected from a young team with no exhibition games. Igor looked bad. Johnson struggled. Sure they will get better as the games move on, but in a short season you need to get off to a decent start, so hopefully they improve next game. I'd guess Georgiev starts game 2.

 

[NYR Fan]

We know their needs, # 2 C who can win a FO, and another quality LD. We saw it crystal clear in the first period of the season. No surprise I guess.

 

[mrmel29]

Johnson sucks moose dick. Miller has a lot of nerves understandably bit at least laf looks like a seasoned vet. Igor with a shaky first period. That d combo of d’Angelo and Johnson is deadly for us. The difference in the 2 coaches is painfully obvious. We can’t play any worse than we did in the first....at least I hope not!!

 

[mrmel29]

Not a big Smith fan but he’s a 100 times better than Johnson.

 

[NYR Fan]

Not sure what the coaches have to do with it. One has maybe the youngest team in the league that was clearly nervous, has a bunch of young kids in the lineup, and had a shaky goalie. The other has a vet team that made the ECF last season. Not shocking I guess the Isles got off to a much better calm start.

 

[BigDaddyAl1973]

They blew the whistle...umm if that was the case why replay? We got fucked

 

[kreidertime]

Shutting this shit off. I'm seriously starting to question whether Quinn knows what the fuck he's doing. His team defense has sucked dick since he took over.

 

[NYR Fan]

As much as we are getting on Johnson, I actually think the bigger issue will be # 2 C/someone who can win a FO. I think it is going to be a huge issue this season. We do not win FO's. Kills our possession time and control of play.

 

[Ranger71]

It's probably going to take 2 weeks before they show any real continuity. The defensive lapses tonight are a bit much.

 

[NYR Fan]

Not a good performance. I actually don't think anyone on the team played well or stood out in a positive way (maybe Lafreniere the first 2 periods). Let's hope they got the nerves out of their system, and they play much better on Saturday night.

Few notes:

I'd start Igor in goal again. We need him, and I think I'd let him play into his game. My guess is Quinn goes with Georgiev though.
Miller struggled, which is expected from a rookie in game 1 against a tough team. I wonder how Quinn handles that for game 2. Same as Igor, I put him back out with Trouba for another game.
I think Lafreniere looked solid. He should play a big role for this team.
To no ones surprise - # 2 C/winning FO's is going to be a big concern for this team. LD is also going to be a big concern.

Looking forward to hopefully a much better performance in game 2. Tonight's game was pretty much over 5 minutes in.

 

[panzerporter]

With almost 2% of the season under their belt it's obvious that a young Rangers team with a few rookies making their professional debut doesn't match up well against a physical conference finalist full of seasoned vets. Think I'll wait it out a few games before hitting the panic button.

 

[kreidertime]

Where is the defensive system is my question. Quinn doesn't know how to put one in. Gauthier looked really good. I think he's going to breakout. Honestly, I don't think it will take long before they try big time to get Dubois over here. He's not a good faceoff guy yet but he's better than Chytil who sucks and he's a legit number 1 one center talent. Even I would have a hard time not offering up Kakko in that deal. I'd rather try DeAngelo, Chytil, Kravtsov and Jones. All depends what other teams are offering. I don't L.A. is going to be willing to give up that because they have so much rebuilding to do. We might be the only real serious offer out there for him.

 

[Ranger71]

I still have concerns about Kakko and whether he can be a big time scorer and finisher. I know it's early and he's 20 but i just don't know. He has gotten stronger and seems more comfortable with being in the US but i could see him topping out as a 55 pt player, which isn't good for a #2 overall.

 

[NYR Fan]

We know the needs, we know this team is filled with very young kids, we know this team a year away from being ready to really be a threat to win and make a run, we know we had to go through one more off-season with buyouts/dead cap space and bad contracts (Smith) hurting us. On top of all that it got even worse for this season when the new divisions and format came in - which means 32 of 56 games are against the big/physical Bruins, Isles, Flyers, and Caps. That 's reality. We'll be in the 4-6 range in our division I'd guess. We will have bad nights like last night. Let's hope we learn and improve, and come out the better for it on the other side.

At some point, during the season or after it, we will add the pieces we need to complete the team, but until then we should be mentally ready to have rough nights like last night and not overreact. Let's hope they aren't as bad as last night, but given where we are, and our schedule as I called out above, they will happen unfortunately.

 

[kreidertime]

You don't have a chance to land a Dubois often at 23. It's something IMO the Rangers have to do. They can't pass up this opportunity. If it cost you Kakko, Chytil, Jones a a prospect like Wall, so be it. Has to be done.

 

[mrmel29]

You don't a chance to land a Dubois often at 23. It's something IMO the Rangers have to do. They can't pass up with opportunity. If it cost you Kakko, Chytil, Jones a a prospect like Wall, so be it. Has to be done.

I hate to give up on a 19 year old kid in Kakko but I think your right Dubois fits our team too good not to do it and we have kratsnov in the wings for rw.

 

[NYR Fan]

Yes, not only has Dubois proven more of course being further along in his career, it is about position to me. We badly need a # 2 C. That is a huge must. Strome is a 3rd line player. We have many wings. So to me it would be something we'd have to explore if it can be done.

 

[kreidertime]

If Columbus trades Dubois in a deal where they have some high level, NHL ready prospects coming back, they must immediately fire Torts. He's not a coach you want at all for young players and a rebuild.

 

[Ranger71]

I would ask them to take Smith back in any trade. Looks like Georgiev is in tomorrow. Maybe they give Barron a shot with Rooney out but more likely it's DiGiseuppe. Along with the poor D coverage they didn't shoot the puck enough.

 

[NYR Fan]

Sounds like G in goal, Kakko with Chytil and Gauthier, Lafreniere with Strome and Panarin, and DeAngelo skating with taxi squad, meaning maybe Smith in for him tomorrow night.

 

[Ranger71]

DeAngelo with the taxi squad, yike. lol

 

[NYR Fan]

Not going to make a big thing out of it in game 2, but I don't love the moves Quinn made at practice.

Every defense tandem changed at practice, with Ryan Lindgren skating with Jacob Trouba, Jack Johnson on Adam Fox’s left and Brendan Smith on the right with K’Andre Miller.

Other than the Chris Kreider-Mika Zibanejad-Pavel Buchnevich unit, the remaining three lines were flexed as well. Most noteworthy, Quinn moved Alexis Lafreniere up and across to right wing on the 1A line with Artemi Panarin and Ryan Strome, while Kaapo Kakko was dropped to a remodeled third unit with Filip Chytil and Phillip Di Giuseppe.

If he goes with this lineup tonight, we need to play well otherwise he will get ripped by a lot of people. Johnson moved up, Lindgren/Fox broken up, Kakko demoted, Di G on the 3rd line (I thought Gauthier played well). We'll see.

 

[kreidertime]

Thing to remember is bigger players like Kakko often take longer to develop. Dubois didn't even play in the NHL the year he was drafted. He was sent back to juniors. Next season he played with Panarin. So, I'm not putting a ceiling on Kakko as far as point production. Who knows what he can become. On a side note, was it just me or did the camera view during the game suck ass? It looked like they were shooting the game from a mile away.