Post-Game Talk: pionk

[TominNC]

Switch Lindgren and Schneider

One plays left, the other right

 

[Crease]

For better or worse, Gallant is sticking with his pairs. Kreider/Zibenejad, Panarin/Strome, Fox/Lindgren, and Miller/Trouba. The only time we will see them broken up is if the Rangers are backs to the wall, down 3-0 or 3-1 in a series.

 

[rangersfansince08]

Actually insane to think of what Laf and Kakko used to be perceived as compared to what they are now. Somehow both of them ended up as laughing stocks. Kakko was an NHL ready serious power forward with puck protecting abilities that were reminiscent of Peter Forsberg. Lafreniere was Jonathan Huberdeau that played with an edge and was an intense leader. Now Kakko is Georgiev 2.0 and Lafreniere is a silly goose

You are 100% right but there are still morons who will tell you to go root for the Devils because you pointed out an unfortunate truth their homer brains can't handle.

 

[rangersfansince08]

Fox and Shesterkin need to play better too. Vezina gone?

 

[GoAwayPanarin]

We'd be much better if we didn't play Rooney.

Im leaning towards the same for Strome too. Hes had his moments, but he also has moments where he completely shifts the tide in close games like he did yesterday in a negative fashion.

 

[SnowblindNYR]

OH MY GOD YES

But then our second pairing wouldn't be able to move the puck that well.

 

[SnowblindNYR]

Fox and Shesterkin need to play better too. Vezina gone?

His stats probably weren't hurt that much, 3 goals is 1 more than his average, not like he gave up 6. But he gave up two stinkers and lost us the game. I'm not concerned about his Vezina I'm concerned about his mental toughness. That was a playoff audition and he failed miserably.

 

[IronBloodedLion]

Good measuring stick game going into the playoffs.

Very strong start to the game, but ultimately the skill of Carolina took over. They’re a favorite for a reason.

Everyone is going to have to raise their game significantly to beat a team like them or Florida in a 7 game series.

 

[rangersfansince08]

His stats probably weren't hurt that much, 3 goals is 1 more than his average, not like he gave up 6. But he gave up two stinkers and lost us the game. I'm not concerned about his Vezina I'm concerned about his mental toughness. That was a playoff audition and he failed miserably.

Same with Fox. I want better defense and impacts in tight games.

 

[Fitzy]

I said this all through the first half of the season... goalies are inconsistent.

It is not- mind you- a coincidence that as NYR have played better, Shesty's numbers have gotten a bit worse. Goalies get in a groove sometimes with high volumes of shots against. It's a lot tougher to play .935 hockey when the team gives up only 20 shots against.

He'll still win the Vezina, but goalie form is something all teams deal with, even with Vezina contenders. This is unprecedented territory for Igor. A lot of games. It's one of the reasons NYR need to think very carefully about this 'league minimum backup' we are all plugging in next year.

 

[Beer League Sniper]

Why are people mad about Kakko? He just came back to high paced almost playoff time hockey after not playing a game in like 4 months. He deserves more than 2 games to get back up to speed before any judgement should be passed.

I think it's more just overall frustration and disappointment that our #2 and #1 overall picks can't seem to stand out in any meaningful way. It's been years, and all we get are very occasional flashes.

Doesn't make it right, but I get it.

 

[SnowblindNYR]

I said this all through the first half of the season... goalies are inconsistent.

It is not- mind you- a coincidence that as NYR have played better, Shesty's numbers have gotten a bit worse. Goalies get in a groove sometimes with high volumes of shots against. It's a lot tougher to play .935 hockey when the team gives up only 20 shots against.

He'll still win the Vezina, but goalie form is something all teams deal with, even with Vezina contenders. This is unprecedented territory for Igor. A lot of games. It's one of the reasons NYR need to think very carefully about this 'league minimum backup' we are all plugging in next year.

The problem is in order to advance in the playoffs the Rangers need to play more like last night and less like the Kraken game. So we're just not going to be getting routine saves because the team is playing too well in front of him?

 

[TominNC]

Ah good to see the negative fan base out in strength. Hi guys. Not saying you’re not fans. Just miserable negative people.

 

[Fitzy]

The problem is in order to advance in the playoffs the Rangers need to play more like last night and less like the Kraken game. So we're just not going to be getting routine saves because the team is playing too well in front of him?

Snow you've got higher standard for goaltending competency than anyone i've seen post here in my 13 years.

Every goalie gives up goals that they had a chance to save. Every single one. The question is how many and how often that happens.

But I don't have an answer to your question, because we're still in Shesty's first 100 games in the league believe it or not. His game requires so much focus, one wonders if he's gonna be a Tim Thomas type who needs to get lots and lots of time off.

 

[Unpredictable1]

Rangers controlled the play throughout the first and into the second. Carolina was a mess. Don't let the loss color the entire night.

PP didn't take full advantage. It's a game of inches...Vatrano hit the cross-bar. Strome missed an open net through miscommunication.

Personally, I wouldn't have gone with Reaves in this game. Motte or Blais would've been ideal, but obviously fewer options at the moment.

Rangers just took the foot off the gas in the latter part of the second and couldn't get it back. Very apparent in the arena. Just kinda reminds me of where Carolina was a year or two ago.

While I appreciated Reaves flattening the Canes D early on, this game was better served with the speed of Motte or Brodz.

Did I mentioned how much I love Vatrano? Hope he's alright after that Svechnikov collision early on because he was noticeably limping during intermission.

 

[JimmyG89]

Based on how things have gone with Carolina the past few years, a few things really stood out last night.

The first being they didn't just get hemmed in the entire night, in fact controlled the 1st half of the game. Carolina though turned the tide in the 2nd half of the 2nd and the first 15 minutes of the 3rd. The last 5 minutes, the Rangers did turn it up a gear, especially once the goalie was pulled. This has been an issue for YEARS, even when they were beating the Canes with Hank while rebuilding all the way up to 2020.

The 2nd thing is that K'Andre Miller has many levels that he can get to in his game. He was single-handedly the most impressive player on the ice last night. Panarin, who everyone was worried about, was the 2nd most. His skill was at another level last night. But Miller was doing things that made the Canes look like children on the ice.

While winning would have been amazing, the fact is that they went toe-to-toe with a contender, one they have struggled to just compete with, and did just that and had a chance to win. They got introduced to playoff hockey. The Penguins don't play that way, neither does Washington. I don't even think Florida or Toronto play like this. Tampa does, but that team might just be out of gas.

Don't think they are that far off the level the Canes are at. The question will be is there enough time to get there. I do expect an angry team tonight, maybe a few lineup changes or tweaks to experiment.

 

[SnowblindNYR]

Snow you've got higher standard for goaltending competency than anyone i've seen post here in my 13 years.

Every goalie gives up goals that they had a chance to save. Every single one. The question is how many and how often that happens.

But I don't have an answer to your question, because we're still in Shesty's first 100 games in the league believe it or not. His game requires so much focus, one wonders if he's gonna be a Tim Thomas type who needs to get lots and lots of time off.

I mean, I don't think my standards were all that high. Just look across the ice and see a goalie that played mistake free albeit unspectacular. Anderssen wasn't anything special last night but didn't allow any backbreakers Shesty allowed two. This wasn't a meltdown against St. Louis and New Jersey when his team played a less than stellar game in front of him and the game wasn't that important. Last night's game for all intents and purposes was a playoff game. And he shit the bed. Two back breaking goals in game where he saw 24 shots. Unacceptable.

 

[Unpredictable1]

We'd be much better if we didn't play Rooney.

Im leaning towards the same for Strome too. Hes had his moments, but he also has moments where he completely shifts the tide in close games like he did yesterday in a negative fashion.

A punch in the stomach would have been more manageable than his offensive zone penalty midway through the third. I literally yelled at the TV.

 

[Fitzy]

I mean, I don't think my standards were all that high. Just look across the ice and see a goalie that played mistake free albeit unspectacular. Anderssen wasn't anything special last night but didn't allow any backbreakers Shesty allowed two. This wasn't a meltdown against St. Louis and New Jersey when his team played a less than stellar game in front of him and the game wasn't that important. Last night's game for all intents and purposes was a playoff game. And he shit the bed. Two back breaking goals in game where he saw 24 shots. Unacceptable.

This isn't a criticism- but you're the first to hop on a goalie when they give up a relatively typical goal against.

The 3rd goal was not a bad one. It's a wrist shot right over the pad from prime real estate, between the circles, off a deflection, with Staal's body in an awkward position such that it was a challenge to telegraph.

Did Shesty have a chance to react? Yes. But that shot is a goal probably 30-40% of the time in this league under those circumstances.

 

[Lion Hound]

I feel like that Carolina team is the worst matchup for the Rangers. They just seem to have an edge where they out play them.

Super happy for #20. Amazing accomplishment for a guy that was crushed by half of this this board for the past few years. He's such a great teammate, and a huge factor in this clubs success this year.

 

[SnowblindNYR]

Based on how things have gone with Carolina the past few years, a few things really stood out last night.

The first being they didn't just get hemmed in the entire night, in fact controlled the 1st half of the game. Carolina though turned the tide in the 2nd half of the 2nd and the first 15 minutes of the 3rd. The last 5 minutes, the Rangers did turn it up a gear, especially once the goalie was pulled. This has been an issue for YEARS, even when they were beating the Canes with Hank while rebuilding all the way up to 2020.

The 2nd thing is that K'Andre Miller has many levels that he can get to in his game. He was single-handedly the most impressive player on the ice last night. Panarin, who everyone was worried about, was the 2nd most. His skill was at another level last night. But Miller was doing things that made the Canes look like children on the ice.

While winning would have been amazing, the fact is that they went toe-to-toe with a contender, one they have struggled to just compete with, and did just that and had a chance to win. They got introduced to playoff hockey. The Penguins don't play that way, neither does Washington. I don't even think Florida or Toronto play like this. Tampa does, but that team might just be out of gas.

Don't think they are that far off the level the Canes are at. The question will be is there enough time to get there. I do expect an angry team tonight, maybe a few lineup changes or tweaks to experiment.

That's the thing why this loss stings. We were the better team the first half of that game and the game was there for the taking.

 

[SnowblindNYR]

This isn't a criticism- but you're the first to hop on a goalie when they give up a relatively typical goal against.

The 3rd goal was not a bad one. It's a wrist shot right over the pad from prime real estate, between the circles, off a deflection, with Staal's body in an awkward position such that it was a challenge to telegraph.

Did Shesty have a chance to react? Yes. But that shot is a goal probably 30-40% of the time in this league under those circumstances.

Not sure if that's true but if we need our Vezina quality goalie to have perfect circumstances to save a goal why not get some league average guy in there and use his money on help with skaters? Bottom line is he faced 24 shots and only a handful were even that tough. f***, he gave up two mediocre goals against the Flyers but also made spectacular saves. But he didn't have to make all that many big saves and when he did he came up empty.

 

[JimmyG89]

That's the thing why this loss stings. We were the better team the first half of that game and the game was there for the taking.

It does, but in the grand scheme, they can learn from this game regardless of how it ended. At this rate, the expectation is that this team will be facing Carolina at some point. They needed to prove that they can play with them. That 2nd game in Carolina was an outlier, back to back, basically 20 hours between games with travel, but it bucks the trend of being dominated.

Let's see where both teams are in about a month. If this is the 2nd round matchup, it's going to be close.

 

[will1066]

We only proved that we can play with them in stretches. As I expected, they let the foot off the pedal at times and the Canes just don't ever stop, even when they're playing on their heels. So, yeah, hopefully they learned that against Carolina, you gotta keep your head on a swivel at all times. Then the inevitable tease when they started playing -- and playing desperate -- again late in the third. Second periods are always a mess. It's the long change and the psychological block of going in the reverse direction stepping onto the ice.

Last night was Road Warriors versus Powers of Pain, and we proved to be Powers of Pain. Or, we're Demolition. Not quite the Warriors.

 

[haohmaru]

I give Carolina credit but, man, that hockey last night was almost unwatchable. Yuck.