I didn’t know what to expect when the Rangers hit the ice last night against Florida. Would their winning streak continue or would this game be a lump of coal in the Christmas stockings of the Garden Faithful.

Unlike the Islanders, Flyers and Canes, playing the Panthers wasn’t going to be a gift wrapped game for the Rangers. The Rangers were two points behind the streaking Panthers in the standings. Vokoun has been playing well. The Rangers played pretty loosey goosey in their last three games. They needed to focus and play tighter defensive hockey.

The time the Rangers are most vulnerable to being scored on is at the end of periods. Nothing has hurt the Rangers more the their penchant for allowing late goals.  They key difference in the way they played a good team last night was their determination to challenge Florida in the final minutes of the first and second period and keep them off the boards.

It’s that attention to detail that this team needs to concentrate on. It’s winning of the key faceoffs, fewer offsides and more crease clearing that has spelled success in recent games. They looked less lost out there. I couldn’t believe my eye when I saw Wade Redden go down to block a shot and break up a play. Benching Redden is the best thing Tortorella has done since he took over from Tom  Renney. Maybe if Tom had had the green light to sit/demote his underachieving, overpaid veterans, he’d still be behind the bench.

Anyone who previously denigrated the importance of having Brandon Dubinsky in the line up should certainly be eating their words. Unless and until Prospal Dubinsky and Gaborik stop clicking, I better see them out their together most of the time. Chris Drury being dropped down to third/fourth line makes his linemates better and they he. He is also a key to the penalty kill. He just needs to learn how to block shots better so he doesn’t get injured.

 Last night the penalty kill worked as did the powerplay. They scored even strength, on the powerplay and even shorthanded. That’s a winning combination right there folks. Last but certainly not least, the Rangers have Henrik Lundqvist. Whatever Henke said in that players only meeting after the loss to the Islanders last week must have left quite an impression. Henrik is the defacto Captain and King of the New York Rangers.

It was a nice feeling to see that long absent stick salute from our victorious team. It was even better to just see them just play well for their fans and themselves. This teams just needs to keep paying attention to the details and do the little things right. Let’s hope they can carry it over to the game on Saturday against the Icelanders.

If you happen to be coming to the game on Saturday, stop by Section 409 and say hello. They’ll be Christmas cookies and treats between the first and second period.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a goodnight…

Posted under New York Rangers

Update: 932pm 12/17/09

The Rangers won 5-2. The Fish tanked this game just to spite me.

Judging by the title of this rant, any Icelander fan reading this blog would think I’ve gone over to the Dark Side, the Orange Side. They would be wrong. In fact, I am routing for the Fish tonight to serve my own agenda. 

Craig Carton on WFAN has it on very good authority that Glen Sather will be fired tonight if the Rangers lose at the Mausoleum. While they wouldn’t disclose their source, Boomer rated Carton’s source as impeccable.

So Islander fans go in to that tomb you call home and cheer your loudest against the Rangers. Fill that building to the rafters with Orange jerseys and will your team to win. The Fish will be doing the Ranger fans a favor if they win tonight.

Need some help to hate the Rangers and their fans? Picture this. It’s 1979. Denis Potvin is crumpled up, defeated, against the boards as the Rangers put a premature hold on your dynasty….. I thought that might help.

And after you win save your typical smug attitudes. It’s not about you. It’s about the Rangers and their fans and our future. Please win. Do us all one last favor before you pack up for Kansas City.

Fire Sather! Blow It Up!

Posted under New York Rangers

The Fire Sather chant was clearly audible on the broadcast last evening. That’s as it should be. Instead of boo-ing the players  (who are what they are), the crowd has come to realize, once again, that it’s time to cry for the head of Glen Sather on a platter.

There were some halfhearted “Fire Sather” chants last season right before Sather canned Renney. But the blood thirsty fans were happy enough with Renney’s firing to buy Sather some more time to continue to fuck up the franchise. Not so this time. Rather then call for the head of John Tortorella, the fans are going right for the jugular of Glen Sather. Only problem is Torts will be a casualty if Jimmy Boy Dolan ever wakes up and smells his bottom line dropping into the toilet.

When Sather goes, he’ll be replaced by Messier. Messier will bring in Keenan. Schoenfeld, Tortorella and Sullivan will be out in the cold. It’s the typical corporate model. If you hitch your wagon to a CEO and they are deposed, you go down with that ship.  I don’t think firing Tortorella could possibly buy Sather more time this time. I say this under the assumption that Jim Dolan has half a brain in his head.

I am praying that Sather gets fired before he does something shortsighted and destructive, like selling off our youth to purchase a bandaid for this team and save his sorry ass. Dolan already has his season subscriber money. He doesn’t give a damn about the regular season or the product he puts on the ice and calls entertainment. It’s only if the Rangers fail to make the playoffs that Jimbo will sit up and take notice. No playoff money might finally mean Sather’s ticket out of town on a rail.

Best case scenario for the fans, Dolan dumps Sather now and makes Moose GM. Messier trades, waives and eventually buys out Redden, Rozsival, Drury, Brashear, Boyle and Voros and brings down a bunch of  “bubble” players from Hartford and re-starts the rebuild right now.

My face is starting to turn blue from saying this. But I’ll keep beating the horse even after it’s dead if it eventually gets the desired result.

Posted under New York Rangers

Yesterday we learned the Rangers have sent their Hobie Baker Award winning young defenseman and early season breakout star, Matt Gilroy, down to Hartford. On the surface, one would think that Matt is being punished for his gaffe on Byfuglien’s overtime goal in Chicago Wednesday night. Could be. 

Other Ranger reporters and bloggers would have you think it’s for the boy’s own good. Playing down a level will help him. He’ll have more of an opportunity play his game and regain confidence. After all, defense is the hardest position in hockey at which to season a young player and Gilroy has been exhibiting  signs of regression. There are no veteran role models for Gilroy to learn from on the big club (Dumb and DumberRedden and Rozsival being the veteran leaders).

I’m not buying it. What veteran leaders will Gilroy find Hartford? It has always been my experience that one is made better by a higher level of competition. Demoting Gilroy to the minors is letting both this kid and the fans down. By sending Gilroy down, the organization is insuring that the paying fans are going to see the “Slow and Slower”Rozsival and Redden get smoked several times a night. That should be real entertaining.

If the real explanation isn’t either of the above, it must be that, contractually, Sather had no choice but to send Gilroy to Hartford to get some cap wiggle room. He cannot send Del Zotto to the AHL and he cannot send him back to Juniors. And why would he want to. Del Zotto really hasn’t put a foot wrong. No, Sather sent Gilroy down because he CAN. He sent him down to facilitate whatever his next  desperate, potential season saving, move is going to be. 

Whenever things have gone south for Sather, he has busted some move to redirect attention away from the problem. Rumors are rampant that Sather is desperately looking to add scoring by acquiring Pavol Demitra.  Whether Sather gets Demitra or someone else to divert attention away from this current Ranger trainwreck, sending Gilroy down  is simply this season’s version of Sather’s Smoke and Mirrors. That’s just swell. Just what we need, another overpriced, over the hill player.

Sather needs the Rangers to crawl their way into the playoffs anyway they can so Jimmy Dolan gets his first round playoff money. If that doesn’t happen, Sather may finally lose his job. Tortorella is not the coach to get this team to the playoffs. He doesn’t have the talent he had on Tampa. His puck possession system won’t work because few players on the current roster want to possess the puck, no less shoot it.

The answer to Matt Gilroy’s problem, and ergo the Ranger’s problem on defense, is not to send him down to Hartford. If Sather really wanted to solve the problems with this franchise, he would waive Redden, Rozsival, Drury and Brashear and bring up all the kids in Hartford and re-begin the rebuild right now. So what if  they tank the season and get next years first round draft pick. They’ll be one more year off the crippling contracts of the underachieving veterans hogging up the all the cap space.  

This may yet happen. But you can bet your bottom dollar that Sather will do everything he can to to put a bandaid on this leper of a team, even if it means trading away/sacrificing youth for a quick fix, temporary solution. Sather will never learn. Quick fixes only work when you have a team that is a contender. This Ranger team is definitely NOT a contender. Frankly, I’d rather watch Matt Gilroy and the rest of the kids gain NHL experience by making mistakes, playoffs be damned.

We should all demand the rebuild we were promised after the lockout. I now curse the success the Rangers had that first post lockout season four years ago. It derailed the rebuild. If the Rangers are still in playoff contention before the Olympics, the games may help this time rather then hurt us. Last time the Olympics spoiled the rest of the season and the playoffs. This time they may be just the crowbar needed to pry Sather’s clutches off this franchise.

Posted under New York Rangers

Could anyone tell me why John Tortorella benched Ales Kotalik for most of the game last night? First Sean Avery, then Brandon Dubinsky, Enver Lisin, Brian Boyle, Michael Rozsvial and now Ales Kotalik have all had their turns in Tortorella’s’ Chateau Bow Wow during his tenure. To date, these scratches and benchings have had little or no positive effect on this team. In fact, Tort’s method of exacting accountability seems to have had nothing but a deleterious effect.

With 6 goals, 12 assists and 18 points on the season Kotalik is tied for second highest goal scorer on the team with Vinney Prospal. Okay so Ales is a -12 and Vinnie a +6. Vinnie got most of his goals playing with Gaborik. Kotalik has scored his goals while being bounced around from pillar to post with a host of different linemates. A -12 still doesn’t justify Kotalik’s benching when Chris Higgins is a -10 with 2 goals and 5 assists for 7 points on the season.

Tom Renney lost last year’s team because he wanted them to play a boring, defensive style of hockey. How soon before Torts loses this team because he vindictively benches key players while rewarding the undeserving with ice time. Renney was lambasted because of his chopping  and changing of lines. He was vilified for having no ability to make in game adjustments. Torts has been guilty of both these things. How long before the “Fire Torts” chants ring from the rafters of Madison Square Garden?

There were many disappointed and unhappy campers at the Garden last night. Once the mob mentality starts to take over, it will get pretty ugly. Don’t get me wrong. I am not espousing the idea that John Tortorella should be fired. We all know it’s Glen Sather who should be fired. But John doesn’t make it easy on himself  by benching his more productive players and not accepting any blame for the disgraceful state the Rangers find themselves in.

If he hasn’t already inexorably alienated his players, Torts need to settle things down. He needs to  keep his lines together so they can achieve some chemistry. He needs to insist that his players hit harder, finish all their checks and lay the body on the competition.  Tortorella needs to realize that his players aren’t his toys. They are a group of young players that need to be led, not babysat.

The Rangers are at .500 with one third of the season in the books. It’s Decmeber 1 , not March 1.  Now is not the time to panic. There is still enough time to right the ship and achieve chemistry. Let’s hope Torts and the team uses this four day break productively and address their problems constructively.

And for God sake stop the booing. When you boo the whole team you are breaking down the psyche of Gaborik and kids like Anisimov, Del Zotto and Gilroy. They don’t deserve that, regardless of what you think of the others. It’s not productive.

Posted under New York Rangers