Rangers need to get points on this road trip

[cagedlion]

For those who have not noticed, there are teams
pulling ahead and not far behind the Rangers.

Look what Florida is quietly doing?
All of a sudden lowly Buffalo is surprising....and they
are not so lowly!

Washington, Philadelphia, New jersey, Ottawa....
all making a push.

So, as the Rangers have played 3 games in 12 days,
teams in the East have jumped the Rangers....though
they have 3 to 4 games in hand.

There is always hope.

 

[Stepupstepan]

neither of those teams you listed will be relevant by February except maybe for the caps.

 

[cagedlion]

Not knowing what will happen down the road,
all I'm saying is that there are no "Gimme Games" in this
league. I saw Buffalo sweep the Canadiens home & home....
they are no pushovers.
If the Ranger season comes down to the last game of the
season at Washington......don't want to think about that.

 

[Stepupstepan]

so far they are doing a good job.

 

[Ranger71]

There ya go Marc, play with some fire and i'll raise my rating!

 

[Stepupstepan]

raises his value more.

 

[Ranger71]

Maybe this jumpstarts Zuccarello.

 

[kreidertime]

Hopefully, Miller and Fast are here to stay now. Fast has really started to turn our 4th line into something. Kreider is looking more like he will be a 3rd/4th line wing at best that only shows up big during the playoffs. Much like a Bickel on the BlackHawks. Miller has a ton more hockey sense than Kreider. Not enough to play center at the NHL but Miller is smart enough to be a good wing in the NHL. I'm starting to get to the point now where I expect very little from Kreider during the regular season and would like his ice time to be reduced. At one point I wanted Kreider to get more ice time and was complaining about it. Now, I'd rather see him on the 4th line where he can loaf for 10 minutes and it won't hurt the team.

 

[Stepupstepan]

LOL at dump. CK has not had one full NHL season yet under his belt and dump is already proclaiming Kreider as a third/fourth liner. I agree that Miller can be a good winger in the NHL but get back to me when he scores over 35 points in a season which Kreider has already done.

 

[kreidertime]

LOL at Stepan. Continuing to be a skirt wearing, excuse making pansy for Kreider. He has had one full season. Right now, he freakin sucks. Stop making excuses for him. Get your facts straight. He's played 114 NHL games and has 53 points. I never said he's a 4th liner. What I said was right now, I'd rather see him on the 4th line because he's a lazy dog. Fact. He doesn't play hard. Any fan who didn't have their head up their butt would see the difference in his game in the regular season compared to the playoffs.

 

[kreidertime]

Typical of certain fans in our fan base. They pick on a guy like Staal for every mistake. A guy like Kreider has his head up his ass for 20 game stretches and fans like Stepan say nothing.

 

[Messiah717]

I said it about Kreider many games ago. Anyone else would produce better or the same results right now. He's playing like trash.

 

[Ranger71]

With Kreider i don't think it's laziness as much as he only knows one speed which helps sometimes but also dosen't allow him to tune it down when he needs to. His offensive instincts aren't alk that great as others have pointed out.

 

[Stepupstepan]

Typical of certain fans in our fan base. They pick on a guy like Staal for every mistake. A guy like Kreider has his head up his ass for 20 game stretches and fans like Stepan say nothing.

I said it in other threads that he has played poorly. But I am not gonna go all nuts on the kid who has played a whooping 114 nhl games plus got jerked around by Torts in his first year. He is still young and learning how to be a pro. Have some patience.

 

[chuckd3534]

Step, I love you bro but I have to admit it is pretty darn funny to see you saying have patience...LOL.

 

[Stepupstepan]

I am willing to be more patient with kids like Kreider than with the vets like Staal or Boyle who have been in the league forever.

 

[chuckd3534]

Oh, I agree with that for sure. My point was more about the team and coach than individual players. You are very quick to say AV is awful and the team stinks. You say these things 25 games into the season. Yet on the flip side you say have patience with Kreider. I happen to find that interesting even if I do agree with you on Kreider.

 

[kreidertime]

Just added Stepan to the ignore list. Sounds a lot like Pasta. Need I say more.

The fact was this team did stink. Whether they don't depends on 2 things. One, will Sather make a deal. Two, will Miller, Fast and Hayes grow up fast enough in this league that they can fill three roster spots with some offense and defense. Right now Fast seems to be doing that on the 4th line. Hayes at the least has to win 45% of his draws by the end of the season. I mean, he can't be a 30% faceoff guy.

J. Moore has really been disappointing. If Staal or McDonagh was out for any extended period of time, Moore can't fill the left handed defenseman role. That is why I think Sather has to look to upgrade that spot.

 

[Ranger71]

I've had my doubts about Miller and while it's still early I've been impressed with his play lately, as he may be seem to getting it together offensively. I wouldn't mind packaging a few players for Harrison and Tlusty. Moore, Fast and Kristo maybe. Harrison isn't great but he's not awful and Tlusty is having a solid year.

 

[chuckd3534]

The team never did stink, that is a complete and total overreaction by the board, but that's the way it goes...is what it is.

We need to string some wins together. We have talent, now we need to produce. Hopefully last night is a sign of things to come for McD and Zucc. We'll see.

 

[chuckd3534]

And while I know you don't like Hayes dump, he has been very solid and is getting better. CLEARLY he needs to improve on FO's, but I am sure he will keep working to get better and better. And outside of that he is very solid at all other aspects of the game.

I am also not that focused on D unless it is a physical presense. Moore or Hunwick as your 6th dman is solid. I am still focused on adding another top 9 forward to lengthen the lineup. We'll see what Sather does.

 

[kreidertime]

I never said I don't like Hayes. I said I don't like him at center. I don't. He sucks at faceoffs.

 

[Ranger71]

Not getting a second goal here is just asking for trouble.

 

[Stepupstepan]

The d was excellent but the offense took a night off. I guess they wanted to win by playing defensive hockey against the mighty oilers.

 

[chuckd3534]

How about you just be happy they won Step and have now taken 3 straight. If they could find a way to win tomorrow night in Calgary, won't be an easy game, that would be a great trip to Western Canada (I am already happy they got at least 4 of 6 on the trip West...but all 6 would be awesome). Calgary has lost 5 straight, and has to come home after a game in Chicago last night. Good time for us to play them I think.

 

[chuckd3534]

I'll tell you one thing about Calgary, we better be aware on D. Their dmen activate on O a ton.

Giordano has 8 goals, 30 points (leads team), and is a + 14.
Brodie has 6 goals, 23 points, and is a + 16.
And Wideman has 10 goals (3rd on the team).

Active D. We better be awake and ready for the D to come in behind the forwards AND be ready to move quickly to get out of our zone because their D gets down deep.

 

[Messiah717]

Hopefully we don't spell the remedy for a slumping Calgary team. Taking all six points in Western Canada would be fantastic.

 

[Stepupstepan]

I am happy, chuck. Just thought they would score more goals against the worst team in the league. Now, go out and get 2 points in Calgary and I will be ecstatic

 

[cagedlion]

First time in their history to sweep the 3 Northwest Canadian
teams in 20 attempts. Great job guys. No time to let up.
Let's keep it going.

Of their next 14 games, nine are on the road.
With other East teams winning, no time for
the Rangers to let up.