Post-Game Talk: Penguins @ Rangers: Pittsburgh, please.

[SnowblindNYR]

Pittsburgh is without Neal. That line-up is light without him. Teams in the west are better than Pittsburgh. They are a good team. Not much depth. Not a great team. If Malkin and Crosby aren't on their A games,they are an average team. Bennett has been out a while too. They were counting on him to provide secondary offense. The Rangers had a good win. It was against a team in the east.

Only Rangers fans would find negatives in a 5-1 win over the best team in their division and a Cup favorite.

Never change Rangers fans.

 

[Mikos87]

Pittsburgh is without Neal. That line-up is light without him. Teams in the west are better than Pittsburgh. They are a good team. Not much depth. Not a great team. If Malkin and Crosby aren't on their A games,they are an average team. Bennett has been out a while too. They were counting on him to provide secondary offense. The Rangers had a good win. It was against a team in the east.

It is pretty clear to me that this roster still needs tweaking as the Rangers do not fare against bigger tougher teams. I think the trend will continue versus teams in the Northeast with games versus MTL, Tor, Bos, and the remaining games against the heavier teams out west that are just dominating the Eastern teams vis a vis that hard forechecking up and down brand of hockey with guys with size and speed.

Rangers showed very little in terms of sustained forecheck and physical play against NJ, MTL, and PHI when those teams played what some refer to as Neanderthal hockey. Can't say a full 12 up front showed up to work in those games as guys needed to step up and raise their battle level.

Team is getting better however, and I think as long as the lineups play towards the Rangers strengths while making sure to match-up against the opposition then the wins should start coming in.

 

[OverTheCap]

The Rangers showed some resiliency by weathering the storm at the beginning of the game and then turned it on and didn't really look back. Boyle had has best game of the season. Lundqvist is playing a lot better now that he is recovered from his injury.

Pittsburgh showed up for about the 15 minutes and then they decided to float around after that. I agree with RB, some of the teams in the west are superior to Pens, their defense and goaltending are suspect as usual. Of the teams we've played against, the Sharks and the Ducks are more impressive.

 

[Fataldogg]

His stats now would be an average year for some of the better goalies in the NHL and its considered a down year for him by far.

I don't think a .920 is necessarily an average year for any top goaltender. There is a reason why Lundqvist is the only starter in the league to have four consecutive seasons with a .920+ (Rask was just a starter last season AND he still played less than 40 games).

By the end of the season a .920 will have a goaltender floating between 10-15 in the NHL, of those 10-15, half of them will be goaltenders who start 30 games throughout the season as a back up, leaving about 7 legitimate starters with a .920+ by the end of the year. Sure, those back up goaltenders count when evaluating all goaltender statistics, BUT you would only be comparing Lundqvist to his peers (other starting goaltenders). So, he'd likely finish amongst the top 7-8 starters in the league with a .920. You don't compare goalies who start 65 games to goalies who start 25-30.

And most "top" goaltenders are inconsistent. Again, there is a reason Lundqvist is the only one with four consecutive seasons of a .920+. Quick is on the verge of having his 3rd season below a .910 in the last 5 years (it's great that he is an excellent goaltender in the post season, but if we had him on our team the last couple of seasons, outside of his Vezina nominated season, we'd miss the playoffs most years entirely, he is lucky he is on a team as good as the Kings that can win with below average to average goaltending during the season). Price has had several seasons below .920. Miller has posted several seasons in a row now in the .910-.915 range.

Of the goaltenders above a .940 right now, the only one I can picture keeping it up throughout the season is Rask, and a big part of that is because he plays on the Bruins (all of their goaltenders are "top" goaltenders in the world in front of their defense).

 

[Bleed Ranger Blue]

Rangers played a really good final 50 minutes after skating in quicksand for the first 10. Lundqvist really saved their bacon to start the game.

Outside of Miller and Pouliot, I thought the forwards had a strong game - especially Boyle, Kreider, and Zuccarello.

Pittsburgh has some serious issues on their blueline - I always felt like Letang was overrated and Orpik is getting a bit long in the tooth. And, of course, Fleury sucks.

 

[Ola]

And we're without our best forward, no? Seems like a fair trade off.

Yeah. I think the worry you have with Pittsburgh is that they would be able to put together one of those insane PPs again. They haven't really had that since Gonchar left.

They are a decent team, its possible that some teams can blow them away, but if they just can keep up with a team, and could ice a PP like that, you are in big problem.

 

[Ola]

I made a point about our starts a few nights ago. We're 18-1-2 last season when scoring the 1st goal, 14 for 19 to make it 2-0. We play a great game when we're leading. We're not overly skilled so it helps us tremendously to have the other team play a more open style so we can capitalize on their mistakes. We have great D and goaltending that's capable of nullifying spurts of pressure from the opposition, unless of course, we're being dominated.

Our poor starts are going to start catching up to us in the form of never being able to get into the mid-.500s. If it's not turnovers, it's slow skating. If not that, then it's penalties or bad goal tending. The first thing we need to do is to get rid of those penalties and make sure we start the game playing percentage 5 on 5 smart hockey and skate skate skate.

We are really strong there, but what are the league avg? Seeems like most teams are up there in this stat...

 

[Vickers8]

Outside of Pouliot, .

Delzotto was horrible again, 3 giveaways in one sequence on the same shift

 

[Tawnos]

Rangers played a really good final 50 minutes after skating in quicksand for the first 10. Lundqvist really saved their bacon to start the game.

As Eddie O said (and I can't believe I'm quoting him), "that's why you have that player in that position." Awkward statement as usual from him, but true. My brother-in-law (as a Pens fan) decided that after the first 10 minutes, Hank was in their head. They lost the type of effort they put in, weren't skating hard and were swatting at pucks. I told him it could be worse, they could be the Caps and not score on him in 3 straight games.

I thought the Rangers played a fantastic defensive game once they settled down. The man-on-man seems like it's working pretty well and takes advantage of the skating mobility of the defense group. Offensively, I thought they were just okay. This felt to me like what's happened to the Rangers a few times that Joe loves to comment on. "Every mistake ends up in the back of the net." Rangers worked hard for those goals, but there's still an element of truth to that.

 

[Tawnos]

Delzotto was horrible again, 3 giveaways in one sequence on the same shift

1 shift =/= 1 game.

 

[Vickers8]

1 shift =/= 1 game.

He should be shifting in Hartford (or Edmonton), he has no confidence and is a giveaway machine

 

[JimmyG89]

Don't cry for Pittsburgh missing Neal and Bennett. We were missing Cally and Nash until a few games ago. Those two would not help their bad defense and **** stain for a goalie. Cup cake schedule got them to their record.

 

[Kwayry]

Delzotto was horrible again, 3 giveaways in one sequence on the same shift

This DZ hate for the sake of hating is getting old.
DZ had another good game. I thought Moore struggled mightily all night, not just 1 shift.

 

[Tawnos]

He should be shifting in Hartford (or Edmonton), he has no confidence and is a giveaway machine

Not that this stat is particularly useful overall, but don't you think if that were true, he would actually be credited with more giveaways than any other Ranger?

 

[Bleed Ranger Blue]

He should be shifting in Hartford (or Edmonton), he has no confidence and is a giveaway machine

Replaced by whom? Justin Falk? No thanks.

 

[Idlerlee]

This was nice.. but what happens when we face a team that's a good NHL team . ! ? ! #Yolo

 

[Bleed Ranger Blue]

As Eddie O said (and I can't believe I'm quoting him), "that's why you have that player in that position." Awkward statement as usual from him, but true. My brother-in-law (as a Pens fan) decided that after the first 10 minutes, Hank was in their head. They lost the type of effort they put in, weren't skating hard and were swatting at pucks. I told him it could be worse, they could be the Caps and not score on him in 3 straight games.

I thought the Rangers played a fantastic defensive game once they settled down. The man-on-man seems like it's working pretty well and takes advantage of the skating mobility of the defense group. Offensively, I thought they were just okay. This felt to me like what's happened to the Rangers a few times that Joe loves to comment on. "Every mistake ends up in the back of the net." Rangers worked hard for those goals, but there's still an element of truth to that.

The man to man is working a lot better. I think its actually surprising the eastern conference/divisional rival teams that are so used to the Rangers going into a shell in the defensive zone.

 

[Kovalev27]

Pittsburgh is without Neal. That line-up is light without him. Teams in the west are better than Pittsburgh. They are a good team. Not much depth. Not a great team. If Malkin and Crosby aren't on their A games,they are an average team. Bennett has been out a while too. They were counting on him to provide secondary offense. The Rangers had a good win. It was against a team in the east.

Aww they're missing Neal?

We're missing one of the top forwards in the entire league

We've been missing half our top 6 all season

And guys remember this when it comes down to it we only have to beat ONE team from the west 4 out of 7 times. Not the entire conference

Rangers are one of the top 3 or 4 teams in the east we'll be in this thing once healthy

 

[mulli25]

This DZ hate for the sake of hating is getting old.
DZ had another good game. I thought Moore struggled mightily all night, not just 1 shift.

given nearly identical ice time this season Moore is worse in every statistical category where rangers fans complain about Del Zotto

Give aways, take aways, missed shots, shooting percentage, and points.

of our 6 defensemen, del zotto and strallman have the fewest giveaways (6)

thats the thing with turnovers, EVERYONE does them...Del Zotto's just stand out because people are looking for them

McD has made some brutal BRUTAL turnovers this year, but its not cool to talk about that

 

[Vidic15*]

A black man blocked me on twitter because I'm a racist for thinking Emery should be suspended.

Which reminds me. A black lady asked my brother if I'm a racist since I stopped going to her for beers. Meanwhile, every damn person that serves beer and food at MSG is black

 

[TheTakedown]

Boyle has one manly jaw. Happy that he got a 2nd star tonight, he's a really nice guy.

Surprising that Zucc got the third, but I'll take it

he has the assist to the game winning goal, that's probably why

 

[Ex Officer Friendly]

Awesome win on the team I hate the most. Loved reading their "Fanbase thread"

Great win and Boyle << Just awesome.

1. Boyle
2. Henke
3. Zucc/Hagelin and the defense.

And this was the best:

Lol Pittsburgh fans say hags should be suspended for the dangerous and dirty slew foot here hahaha

 

[Tawnos]

The man to man is working a lot better. I think its actually surprising the eastern conference/divisional rival teams that are so used to the Rangers going into a shell in the defensive zone.

Yeah, it'll be interesting to see how East teams play the Rangers the 2nd time out.

 

[Loff]

Loved it when Jussi J lost his **** when Zucc took a hold of his stick. Step and Zucc started laughing at him.

 

[Hunter Gathers]

given nearly identical ice time this season Moore is worse in every statistical category where rangers fans complain about Del Zotto

Give aways, take aways, missed shots, shooting percentage, and points.

of our 6 defensemen, del zotto and strallman have the fewest giveaways (6)

thats the thing with turnovers, EVERYONE does them...Del Zotto's just stand out because people are looking for them

McD has made some brutal BRUTAL turnovers this year, but its not cool to talk about that

Great post. Some sanity.