Post-Game Talk: Game #3: Home Opener vs. Leafs

[Ail]

We're more at how bad top pair looked man cmon with that

I agree,








wait wat?

 

[Zuccarello Awesome*]

I'm not worried about most of our players. It's been 3 games. But it's clear that we need a top-4 defenseman who can actually skate the puck out of trouble. McDonagh is the only one who is actually a MOBILE two-way defenseman. (Stralman was. His ability to skate the puck out of the corner and make a smart pass will be sorely missed) Dan Boyle should've retired. Staal is great against bigger teams but he is the opposite of mobile. Girardi is slow. Klein is slow. Moore is fast but he's tentative mentally and plays go to his stick to die.

We are going to need to find a way to add a guy like Edler, Yandle, Giordano, or go big for a guy like Seth Jones.

Once Stepan comes back, the lineup fleshes out into a much more balanced attack. But we absolutely need a top-4 who can skate. Dan Boyle (already hurt) is not the answer.


Lineup for Tuesday should be:

Duclair St. Louis Nash
Kreider Brassard Zuccarello
Hagelin Hayes Stempniak
Malone Moore Fast


Scratch Miller and Glass.

Although against the Isles, I'm sure AV will have Glass in, so perhaps Fast sits just for a game to get Malone in so he's not sitting for so long without playing. But Miller honestly didn't even earn a spot in preseason. He got the spot because he was already pencilled in as our 3C before training camp started. He's been terrible. Zero positives in his game so far.

 

[Doctyl]

Dan Boyle is still a really good skater.

I'm convinced you're just making **** up to hate him.



wot.

He did that about Stempniak too

 

[Raspewtin]

First the positives:

- Hayes looked good.


And now the negatives:

Miller has gotten progressively worse since his first preseason game. Time for him to sit one out.

Huh?

I thought Hayes looked worse than Miller.

Though I didn't think either of them really looked bad.

I'm not worried about most of our players. It's been 3 games. But it's clear that we need a top-4 defenseman who can actually skate the puck out of trouble. McDonagh is the only one who is actually a MOBILE two-way defenseman. (Stralman was.

You call Stralman mobile but apparently Dan Boyle can't skate?

Not to say Stralman wasn't mobile......but Dan Boyle always was, and still is a better skater. By a lot.

 

[BarbaraAlphanse]

Huh?

I thought Hayes looked worse than Miller.

Though I didn't think either of them really looked bad.



You call Stralman mobile but apparently Dan Boyle can't skate?

Not to say Stralman wasn't mobile......but Dan Boyle always was, and still is a better skater. By a lot.

They both look like rookies...

 

[Machinehead]

Centers we dont have any for top 2 lines besides DSTep

Stepan will come back soon. Brassard scored tonight. MSL has 3 assists in 3 games. We've scored 8 goals in the 3 games. It's not a problem.

The defense and goaltending have cost us these two games.

 

[Zuccarello Awesome*]

Dan Boyle is still a really good skater.

I'm convinced you're just making **** up to hate him.



wot.

Not only is he absolutely NOT a good skater, but he's small, weak, and often tries to do way too much with the puck on his stick instead of realizing that sometimes the simple decisive play is the right one. Not to mention, he's prone to making huge glaring mistakes and is unable to recover because he is old, slow, weak, and fragile. His hand broke blocking a WRIST shot.

You'll be singing a different tune later in the season when you realize how wrong you were.

 

[PlamsUnlimited]

Stepan will come back soon. Brassard scored tonight. MSL has 3 assists in 3 games. We've scored 8 goals in the 3 games. It's not a problem.

The defense and goaltending have cost us these two games.

Yes But still. we need him back. He is very defensively apt as well....

 

[Doctyl]

Aside from being wrong about Boyle being immobile, Stralman was far from a. 2 way dman

 

[Machinehead]

Yes But still. we need him back. He is very defensively apt as well....

Yes, his defense is a loss.

 

[Brooklyn Rangers Fan]

Looking at my own summary - yeah, when your starting goalie and top defensive pair are among your 3-5 worst players in a game... 6-3 loss sounds about right.

 

[BarbaraAlphanse]

Can we put Allen or McIlrath in with Staal now?

 

[Algernop Kreider]

I didn't realize how fast JVR is. McDonagh usually chases those guys down.

 

[AHB*]

Stempniak's da sheet

 

[Raspewtin]

They both look like rookies...

Well yeah. That's fine though.

It's not fine if they're looking like rookies at game 20 of this season though.

 

[PlamsUnlimited]

McD was getting caught this time


John E Stepan's Defensive ability at C is so huge its bad to lose. He's definitely reasons why we don't get scored on sometimes

 

[Machinehead]

I didn't realize how fast JVR is. McDonagh usually chases those guys down.

McDonagh is clearly not at full stride yet.

 

[OverTheCap]

Just got back from the game, probably the worst home opener I've been to.

The Rangers looked eerily reminiscent of how they played to start last season - blown defensive coverage, lots of confusion, mediocre effort until the game is out of reach. Some of the players who missed their assignments were on the team last year so "adjusting to AV's system" is no longer an acceptable excuse.

Special teams were exceptionally bad and McDonagh-Girardi were brutal. Hank was not sharp.

Duclair and Hayes had some good shifts, and Stempniak was solid other than his mistake in dropping the puck right in front of Hank. Staal-Klein was decent.

It's going to be a rough road until the Rangers recover from their injuries but the remaining players need to step up in their absence.

 

[BarbaraAlphanse]

Looking at my own summary - yeah, when your starting goalie and top defensive pair are among your 3-5 worst players in a game... 6-3 loss sounds about right.

No offensive balance makes it hard for AV to use mismatches. The mismatches came bc he was able to effective distribute the offensive depth.

This year he has put our stars together on the first two lines. Terrible decision. He's trying to mitigate the loss of Stepan, I understand - but this can't be the case when Stepan comes back.

Kreider-Stepan-MSL
Duclair-Brassard-Zucc
Hags-Miller-MSL
Malone-Moore-Stempniak

Those would be my lines. If Miller regresses and Hayes progresses, swap the two.

Stemp to the 4th line upgrades offensive and defensive responsibilities on that line. Malone is a better overall player than Glass.

Play Glass against bigger, tougher, slower teams.

Distribute the wealth.

 

[Hunter Gathers]

I have officially seen it all. A New York Rangers fan saying Rob ****ing Blake was better than Leetch. This is hilarious.

 

[Wolfy*]

McDonagh is clearly not at full stride yet.

Nor is his captaincy, I believe this was a mistake.

 

[aufheben]

Dan Boyle is still a really good skater.

I'm convinced you're just making **** up to hate him.



wot.

He also thinks Hamhuis is "hot garbage", so..

 

[GordonGecko]

I don't see big problems here. It's a typical Rangers October. Lundqvist, McDonagh, and the team as a whole always start really slow.

bingo

 

[Machinehead]

Nor is his captaincy, I believe this was a mistake.

Let's base that off of his play in May, not in October.

 

[AHB*]

I have officially seen it all. A New York Rangers fan saying Rob ****ing Blake was better than Leetch. This is hilarious.

I thought that I was the only one that caught that....