After watching the Zebras and the War Room in Toronto hand tonight’s game to the Caps in the first period, I would have let the dogs out if I were Renney. Orr could have held his own with Brashear or died trying. I hope Henrik Lundqivst went into the locker room after the game and reminded his teammates that their 11-5-1 record is largely because of him. If Henrik goes down, the Rangers are well and truly screwed.

The Rangers were one for three on the powerplay tonight, which in and of itself isn’t too bad. What is too bad are the other approximately 6 holding/obstruction/interference penalties by the Caps which were not called by Marouelli and Gordon.

All that aside, the Rangers got suckered into not playing their game and being run ragged by the Caps. As Renney would say, they got caught in a foot race. The most telling statistic of the game was the abysmal percentage of face offs won by the Rangers, 38%. Dubnsky won 8% , Gomez 38% and Betts 42%. Only Chris Drury had a good night in the circle winning 60%.

They know they have to do all the little things well, like they did against Tampa, to win games. It seems the Caps and the Refs got into their heads. They did not focus on doing what has brought them success.  But, rather then seeing the Rangers lose their focus and get caught up in the foot race, I would have preferred seeing them pound the snot out of the Caps.

Next time Ovechkin and Semin play the Rangers, the boys in Blue better send them a message that they will be physically punished if they run Henrik Lundqvist. Tonight messageboards denizens were screaming for the Rangers to run the Caps goalie. That’s BS. I say put a hurting on Ovechkin and Semin every time they touch the puck.

Mara, Staal and Girardi have shown so far that can earn their keep. Redden, Rozsival and Kalinin were useless tonight. Why is Kalinin still here? This guy is a zero. We all knew Rozsival was soft. Redden has the biggest contract and seems to do the least. He doesn’t quarterback the powerplay and he doesn’t hit. He truly is the Rangers worst signing since Holik. Where’s Darius Kasparaitis?

Mike Smith slashes, cross checks and punches Voros and gets away with it on Thursday. Tonight Semin and the Caps run over Lundqvist and get away with it. Every single Ranger on the ice needs to man up. If the officials aren’t going to protect Henrik, he better watch some old Billy Smith video and learn to use his stick creatively. Every single player needs to exact a pound of their opponents flesh anytime any Ranger gets run.  

Hose the Rangers once, shame on the NHL. Hose the Rangers twice, shame on the Rangers.

Posted under New York Rangers