Post-Game Talk: Rangers at Islanders 4/13/13

[mike14]

Quit being intentionally obtuse. Seriously, not that hard to connect the dots.

The *only* reason the Islanders didn't torch the Rangers tonight was because the Rangers are lucky enough to be blessed with the greatest goaltender in the world. That's it. The Islanders dominated in every other facet of the game. Relying on your goaltender to bail you out every night will inevitably fail. See: 2007-08, 2008-09, 2009-10, 2010-11. And yes, the Rangers are in a 'playoff position'. Barely, and as the 8-seed. That's the definition of a bubble-team.

Teams like the Islanders who don't sit back and hope their goaltender makes acrobatic save after save tend to fare much better.

Stop looking at the team as a fan and try to analyze them objectively. You'll come to the same conclusion.

Not being obtuse at all. yeah, the Rangers are lucky to have Lundy, the isles are lucky to have tavares, our guy won out on the day. Hockey, like most team sports is simple, score more than the opposition, that's what the rangers did today, and in 3 of the 4 meetings between the 2 teams. Will the rangers win the cup this season? I highly doubt it, but I had us down as a 6-8 seed team who would be out by the 2nd round so it doesn't worry me.

I'd much rather look at the game as a fan and get sense of enjoyment than over-analyze things and be be a sad-sack, but to each their own. Enjoy your night

 

[Blazephr]

NYR started a run of games where they were creating a lot of offensive chances starting with the game against the Jets on April 1st. Started noticing a lot less dump n' chase. Then with the trade dead-line moves inserted into the line-up.....they explode for 6 goals against the Pens. Beat the Canes 4 - 1. They lose a heartbreaker in Toronto, and now ever since that game Torts has them playing in a defensive shell around Hank. Now we're no longer creating offensively. And the power-play, coincidently is now suffering as well from lack of creativity. Clowe & Brassard are barely creating the last few games since Torts got his hands on them. This team plays too safe, and its handcuffing them offensively. 20 SOG last night, mostly shots from the perimeter. One shot, then everyone retreats immediately to their defensive assignments, which leads to even less puck possession. Spend way too much time defending & now the dump n' chase is back in full effect.

 

[Chimpradamus]

It's too hard to answer. If we didn't have Hank, we'd (most likely) play a different style of hockey. We'd probably also have a better bottom pairing or depth forwards due to the difference in goalie salary which affect how the team plays

I'm thinking we would be around Tampa Bay land, with a worse offense and better defense. We would struggle to make the playoffs and most often miss it.

Hank is the only thing separating this team from mediocrity land and disaster land right now. As frigging usual.

 

[Boruto]

John Tortorella's thought is this: We grind them hard enough then we gain the upper hand in puck possession and neutral zone play where we can then be afforded to take the puck in as opposed to dumping it in all the time. Problem is, we don't out work or out battle our opponents most nights so while the dump and chase has been going down, it's not really due to the neutral zone play being more open, it's just the lack of puck possession.

 

[rholt168]

quarterback is hands down the most important position in sports

This is actually interesting. How many bad goalies win Cups compared to how many bad QBs win Super Bowls?

 

[bubba5]

Boy. If not for Henrik and a bunch of posts this game had islanders winning easily. Glad we Win but we very easily could have a different feeling this morning.

 

[Blueblood9]

Just goes to show you how important the position really is. Other than pitcher in baseball, it might be the position that can single handedly effect a game the most in all of sports.

Qb in football is just as important.

Someone riddle me this. When ovi scores a hat trick and the caps win 3-2 does that mean that he stole the game for the caps? But when hank the best player on the Rangers gets a shutout he steals a game.

Isn't a goalie a part of the team? If you have the best one in the world you expect him to play like this.

Hank didn't steal this game. The rangers won he was just the best player on the ice for them this night.

 

[NHRangerfan]

Deserved???

I don't think the Fishticks dominated the game as many make it sound. If anything...sure they had more scoring chances and more of a push in the 2nd and parts of the 3rd. But I don't think we were completely outplayed.

PS. Maybe we Rope-a-doped it

We didn't have a SOG after the 4:00 mark of the 3rd until 0:38 into OT...being held without a shot for most of the 3rd period is being outplayed.

We only had a few shifts with any sustained pressure.

 

[I Am Chariot]

"You guys might have had fun watching it, but from a coach's point of view, there are a lot of things we need to work on," Rangers coach John Tortorella said.

 

[NHRangerfan]

This win also pretty much buries Devils.

about 8 points from official elimination

 

[SnowblindNYR]

False equivalence. Gaborik was a Ranger for the previous three matchups and he torched them. Islanders have found their game the past month or so and are playing amazing hockey. Rangers have been flat since game one.

I'll give you the Gaborik thing but they've been playing well for a month? This is a team that has been playing like **** for 6 years, I'll need longer than a month to be convinced that they're better than a team that while not consistent and not filled with a bunch of winners or anything, is at least filled with players that have tasted some sort of regular season success.

 

[The Gloaming]

NHL.com spells Lundqvist wrong in their main picture.

 

[OverTheCap]

Is anyone else pissed at Rick Nash for quitting in the middle of a shift? Nearly costing the team the game? At least he was benched for a few shifts... should have been the rest of the game.

Nash had a good 1st period and then his game fell off. He really dogged it on the backcheck in the 3rd and was getting outhustled by the likes of Richards.

I also felt he was trying to do much by himself, and his attempts to get around defenders 1-on-1 were resulting in turnovers. He used to do the same thing in Columbus, he needs to use his linemates a bit more.

 

[Gardner McKay]

Are they really complaining about it? Haha.

Of course they are going to complain about okposos slash. You had to hear Jiggs McDonald during the game ( I was stuck with the piles feed)... He couldn't fathom why that wasn't a smart hockey play. He thought a penalty should have been called on the rangers. Fat SOB. I dislike Jiggs as much as chico and staagy

 

[Paulie Walnutz]

"You guys might have had fun watching it, but from a coach's point of view, there are a lot of things we need to work on," Rangers coach John Tortorella said.

Yeah, collapsing closer to Henrik, dumping it even more, and over passing on the power play to name a few

 

[Gardner McKay]

Islanders fans are consoling themselves because the Islanders are a better hockey team than the Rangers. The logic is that if these two teams should meet in the playoffs, the Islanders would win in a seven-game series because the sample size is larger.

The Rangers didn't have 'far from their best', they played a typical Rangers game. Pretty much what I've watched all year. Let's not pretend like they were uncharacteristically slow or dull tonight. The Rangers are, quite simply, a really boring bubble-team.

The isles were below the rangers in the standings for the majority of the season if you want to talk about samples sizes. Your argument collapses on its self.

 

[lorwood]

Okay..
What I'm saying is its a popular theme on this forum for fans of losing team to gloat about out-playing a team even if they lose. Most of the time its just angry little kids frantically searching for some salvage from the loss to cling to but sometimes people actually are under the impression that its good to lose to a team that didn't play well, I am having trouble understanding the logic behind that.
Because to me tonight was an awesome game, the Rangers played far from their best and beat a team that was playing arguably there best hockey. So I don't understand why any fan of the isles would be happy about that, when they kind of got embarrassed by losing to a Ranger team playing badly, even to there own admission.

As an Islander fan I think I can answer but first.....

The Rangers won and that is the bottom line so congrats (I am glad that the Islanders came away with a point because after all that is really what it is all about getting points)

We Islander fans have been in some pretty dark times for a looooong time. Its reported the team loses money hand over fist because of a bad lease deal signed decades ago.

Now, as if a switch was pulled, the team has clicked. They are far form the most talented team but they no longer play as if they are in hockey hell and embarrassed to wear the sweater. This last month nobody has outplayed them not even close.

We are finally getting out of the Mausoleum and most hockey experts agree the farm system looks good.

We know there will be no Stanley Cup this year, maybe not even the playoffs, but things have been so bad for so long its easy to embrace the light at the end of the tunnel.

If last night proved anything its that hockey is much better off when both the Rangers and Islanders are good teams.

Good luck the rest of the way.

You got one hell of a goaltender.

 

[Garv23]

I think I may have taken 3 full breaths during that game. Wow, what an atmosphere! Yeah Rangers were outplayed for most of the game, but you know what? We hung in there and got it done. 2 points...bottom line. You guys have a blast sitting here and over-analyzing every detail. Me, I'm smiling like a fool today and enjoying the hell out of this win.

 

[silverfish]

Maybe I'm being nitpicky here, but the fact that the head coach of this team doesn't view Rangers/Islanders games as a "rivalry" is probably the reason why we always come out so flat against them. Perhaps it's time to give them their due, even without a "seven game playoff series"

 

[Maineice11]

I truly believe that the Rangers players were playing timid/scared of taking a penalty, of losing, and went into a defensive mode...and when it came time to carry the puck into the offensive zone the islanders were standing up at the blue line and a hockey player's instinct is if you can't skate it in, dump and chase make them go the 200 feet to try and score. Torts and Sully did not like the way the Rangers played, both said it was sloppy and powerplay was brutal they wanted more shots. They can coach it and preach it, but the players play and that is how they chose to play last night scared to lose, I think this game this win will give them confidence for the rest of the season. Although sloppy this is the rope a dope game from last year, the grind them out game, the blue collar hard work that was not here for most of the season. Now it is a matter of creating a lot more offensively with more shots on the powerplay and gaining more confidence! Gotta use this win to get on a roll! Make playoffs on a great streak!

 

[GFiP*]

It's cute how much respect Icelander fans want after 3 weeks of play. Lets forget the last 20 years.

 

[cd211]

I think I may have taken 3 full breaths during that game. Wow, what an atmosphere! Yeah Rangers were outplayed for most of the game, but you know what? We hung in there and got it done. 2 points...bottom line. You guys have a blast sitting here and over-analyzing every detail. Me, I'm smiling like a fool today and enjoying the hell out of this win.

thanks man for that!! this is what a fan is all about!! everyone nit picks on here left and right and its ridiculous.. breathe of fresh air hearing those words.. bc I am too, enjoying the hell out of these games lately.. people forget every game for the past month has been like a playoff atmosphere with huge implications.. I went to the game at MSG Weds VS tor., and let me tell you there is NO other and better atmosphere in all of sports... its amazing being a fan of the rangers!!

 

[PlamsUnlimited]

I think I may have taken 3 full breaths during that game. Wow, what an atmosphere! Yeah Rangers were outplayed for most of the game, but you know what? We hung in there and got it done. 2 points...bottom line. You guys have a blast sitting here and over-analyzing every detail. Me, I'm smiling like a fool today and enjoying the hell out of this win.

It's the classics grind down the other team thing. But I wish that we displayed more offensive prowess.

 

[Kershaw]

"You guys might have had fun watching it, but from a coach's point of view, there are a lot of things we need to work on," Rangers coach John Tortorella said.

Good sign that coach sees the flaws of the team even after an emotional win, unlike the fans.

 

[Leetch2McDonagh27]

It's the classics grind down the other team thing. But I wish that we displayed more offensive prowess.

well again.....we won "Despite" our Coach. Imagine if we had someone who actually coached Offense?