Post-Game Talk: Round 2, Game 2: Rongos vs The Streak

[CDiablo]

Didnt give any challenge to Fleurey. The PP needs a shot in the arm. Team was mostly outplayed in the latter 2nd and 3rd. Wish Hank didnt waste that fantastic performance only to be let down by most of his teammates. Challenge Fleurey, we score, nothing else to it. Hope the team has the gas in the tank for this.

edit: On the Nash topic. I actually think hes been good, certainly not great. Hes plays like a 2 way playmaker. His D has been fairly good and has great passes. He makes dumb decisions at times though. Too unwilling to shoot. From what I have seen this year hes having trouble lifting the puck. Lots of butterfly level shots. He had a great chance today and decided to pass to Stepan for some reason. Hes not worth the price but I wouldnt say its certain that he wont up his game in the future. I think he deserves a off season. Concussions and pride dont mix well.

 

[ChrisKreider20]

Dorsett is such a waste, guy takes penalties at the worst time, put in Miller to give us a bit more offense.

I like to think about it this way:

Hollweg is like a VHS.
-its crappy to watch
-Compared to alternatives its unsophisticated
-At the worst possible time it does something to ruin your viewing experience
-No one really needs one

Dorsett is like a SD DVD
-Its a better to watch
-Its still unsophisticated but less so compared to alternatives
-At the worst possible time it still does something to ruin your viewing experience
-You still shouldn't need one

We need to find the Blue Ray of 3rd liners...

 

[HatTrick Swayze]

How is every post not shredding the PP?

That is THE reason for the loss. It doesn't just not score it CRUSHES momentum.

And it was supposed to be a big reason why the coaching change would provide playoff wins. It HAS to be fixed.

 

[chosen]

A goalie gets zero rest during a game? Now we're getting into comical territory.

A goalie rests the entire time while the play isn't in his own zone.

This would be true if the goalie had a chair in the net.

 

[Machinehead]

The powerplay is being way too fine. I know sometimes "shoot the damn puck" is the oversimplified caveman mentality that doesn't really work, but I think it's applicable here.

 

[JaeTM]

Hank played phenomenal. Really haven't seen him play that well all season. That's the Hank we've all been waiting so see.

As far as the rest of the team, we won game 1 so I'm willing to give them a bit of a pass. Pittsburgh played a phenomenal game, nearly flawless. They were firing on all cylinders tonight, were fast and hitting everything in sight. You could tell they were wearing us down, especially our defenseman. On a positive note, I don't see them playing like that again, at least not until maybe they're facing elimination, if that does indeed happen.

The scheduling really has screwed the team quite a bit. Those saying that fatigue isn't an excuse. It is. These players are human, not robots. When you play at this high of a level it happens if the league makes you play more often than other teams. Yeah, they should have played better last round to finish off Philly, but they shouldn't be penalized this round by having ANOTHER back to back. Absolutely ridiculous.

 

[SnowblindNYR]

How is every post not shredding the PP?

That is THE reason for the loss. It doesn't just not score it CRUSHES momentum.

And it was supposed to be a big reason why the coaching change would provide playoff wins. It HAS to be fixed.

Maybe because we were also dominated even strength?

 

[SnowblindNYR]

Hank played phenomenal. Really haven't seen him play that well all season. That's the Hank we've all been waiting so see.

As far as the rest of the team, we won game 1 so I'm willing to give them a bit of a pass. Pittsburgh played a phenomenal game, nearly flawless. They were firing on all cylinders tonight, were fast and hitting everything in sight. You could tell they were wearing us down, especially our defenseman. On a positive note, I don't see them playing like that again, at least not until maybe they're facing elimination, if that does indeed happen.

The scheduling really has screwed the team quite a bit. Those saying that fatigue isn't an excuse. It is. These players are human, not robots. When you play at this high of a level it happens if the league makes you play more often than other teams. Yeah, they should have played better last round to finish off Philly, but they shouldn't be penalized this round by having ANOTHER back to back. Absolutely ridiculous.

The Penguins played like that last game too, so yes it could happen again. It looks like we're getting outclassed this series. We're just not as good as them. Maybe if McDonagh was old McDonagh instead of this current sack of crap whatever the reason.

 

[varanger94]

Time to take Nash, Richards and Girardi off the PP. If Richards and Nash were rookies and played like this, they would be benched and everyone would be saying that you need veteran experience in the Playoffs to win. Richards iced the puck twice tonight. Nash, when is he going to play with some grit. There is no hunger in Nash’s game. Only when he was playing to make the Canadian Olympic team, did he play with Hunger. Anyone see him take the body and take the puck away from someone. All it takes for these guys is to have one good game and all is forgiven. One out of ten games just doesn’t cut it. They keep leaving these guys in because they don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings. Keenan once benched Leetch. We won the cup that year.

 

[Machinehead]

Time to take Nash, Richards and Girardi off the PP. If Richards and Nash were rookies and played like this, they would be benched and everyone would be saying that you need veteran experience in the Playoffs to win. Richards iced the puck twice tonight. Nash, when is he going to play with some grit. There is no hunger in Nash’s game. Only when he was playing to make the Canadian Olympic team, did he play with Hunger. Anyone see him take the body and take the puck away from someone. All it takes for these guys is to have one good game and all is forgiven. One out of ten games just doesn’t cut it. They keep leaving these guys in because they don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings. Keenan once benched Leetch. We won the cup that year.

The thing is though we don't have the depth the 94 team has.

If we bench Richards, who's in? JT Miller? Yeah the Pens will be overwhlemed.

Who takes Nash's spot on the powerplay? Daniel Carcillo?.....actually this one might not be a bad idea.

But we don't really have the horses to take guys out of the lineup.

 

[reefrat]

Penguins were hitting to hurt and following through up high, all of them, elbows, headshots. Rangers were not hitting period in the first 30 minutes. Game stats were misleading at one point in first period Hits were 10-2 Pit.
They were playing nasty and worked harder than the Rangers tonight.

I still have not seen Rick Nash throw a mackin body check yet as a Ranger. This guy is a disgrace to Canada and The NY Rangers..softest most over-rated player in the last decade of the NHL.

 

[JaeTM]

The Penguins played like that last game too, so yes it could happen again. It looks like we're getting outclassed this series. We're just not as good as them. Maybe if McDonagh was old McDonagh instead of this current sack of crap whatever the reason.

Pitt did not play as well as they did tonight in game 1. The only mistakes they made tonight were the penalities in the beginning. And they killed them all off and gained momentum on them.

We weren't going to sweep Pittsburgh. Let's be real. We took 1 from them. That's a good thing. Everyone take a step back from the edge.

 

[McD27]

If Hank plays like he did tonight for the rest of the series, we will be fine. Hopefully, Mack truck finds his game again. MSL look tired. Sit Dorsett. Try Miller.

 

[varanger94]

The thing is though we don't have the depth the 94 team has.

If we bench Richards, who's in? JT Miller? Yeah the Pens will be overwhlemed.

Who takes Nash's spot on the powerplay? Daniel Carcillo?.....actually this one might not be a bad idea.

But we don't really have the horses to take guys out of the lineup.

At least take them off the Power Play and send them a message. Keenan sat Leetch the rest of a game that night. Put Nash on the fourth line for a couple of periods.

 

[ThisYearsModel]

Come on now, let's look at the bright side. We come home with a split. Hank was spectacular. The last PP showed some life and generated some chances. And, we have an outstanding, $7.8 Million per 6'4" tall penalty killer. What's not to like?

 

[varanger94]

Despite the terrible PP and the schedule that I still can not believe, we will find a way to win this series. They have been good on back to back nights. If they don't come out flying tomorrow night, then i'll believe the schedule has something to do with it.

 

[SnowblindNYR]

Pitt did not play as well as they did tonight in game 1. The only mistakes they made tonight were the penalities in the beginning. And they killed them all off and gained momentum on them.

We weren't going to sweep Pittsburgh. Let's be real. We took 1 from them. That's a good thing. Everyone take a step back from the edge.

Their 2nd period last game was on par if not better than any period in this game. They just weren't ready in the first period that game and in the 3rd took their foot of the pedal. The Penguins proved in 2 games that if they play their game they're significantly better than us. We have to hope and pray that they don't play at their best. When they want to they dominate.

 

[SnowblindNYR]

Basically unless Pittsburgh gets lazy I see no way we win this series. We probably won't get shutout in every game, but they're clearly the much better team when they give a damn.

 

[ThisYearsModel]

I agree, unless our PP comes around. It looks bleak, but it is only as bad as the next game. If we come out strong tomorrow and get ahead, we could push them. If Henrik plays like this for the rest of the series, they have a chance.

 

[JaeTM]

Their 2nd period last game was on par if not better than any period in this game. They just weren't ready in the first period that game and in the 3rd took their foot of the pedal. The Penguins proved in 2 games that if they play their game they're significantly better than us. We have to hope and pray that they don't play at their best. When they want to they dominate.

Yes their 2nd period was just as good. That was one period though. They played a full game tonight.

And it's pretty obvious that they're a better team than we are. They finished 1st in our division... again, and have 2 of the top players in the world on offense. Their best can arguably be best in the league. As long as MAF plays well, not many teams can beat them. Luckily for us, consistensy is a vital part of winning in the playoffs, and ask any Pens fan, they've been anything from consistent.

I can't be surprised anymore though. A loss means this team sucks and we'll never compete, and a win means that we have all this depth finally and we may actually make a run as long as the cards fall our way.

 

[SnowblindNYR]

We literally had anything on offense for one period and 3 minutes of OT so far in 2 games. Pittsburgh's D while underrated is not elite and they're making the Rangers look like fools. We have 0 game breakers on this offense. Nash and MSL should be and while MSL had some good play against Philly it's clearly not enough. I was depressed when on the 4 on 4 the announcer was like "Crosby and Malkin are on and Stepan gets the puck". Seriously that's the best we can do at center. Our big edge was in goal (does it matter if we don't test Fleury) and on D. Well McDonagh and Girardi have stunk. We have no edge. I'll be surprised if this goes more than 6. I was expecting Pens in 6, but wasn't expecting this level of domination. It makes me sick that we'll lose to this ****ing team. But we will. 99.9% Tomorrow's game is practically guaranteed. This schedule is inhumane.

 

[Cynical TyranT]

3 stars:

Bran, Arya, Lundqvist, because I switched to my DVR after that second goal.

 

[SnowblindNYR]

Yes their 2nd period was just as good. That was one period though. They played a full game tonight.

And it's pretty obvious that they're a better team than we are. They finished 1st in our division... again, and have 2 of the top players in the world on offense. Their best can arguably be best in the league. As long as MAF plays well, not many teams can beat them. Luckily for us, consistensy is a vital part of winning in the playoffs, and ask any Pens fan, they've been anything from consistent.

I can't be surprised anymore though. A loss means this team sucks and we'll never compete, and a win means that we have all this depth finally and we may actually make a run as long as the cards fall our way.

But we had one equalizer and that was our D. But it's not there. Our D looks like an overrated piece of ****. McDonagh better be injured because his play has been unacceptable and he's my favorite Ranger. After all of the hype his play these playoffs has been embarrassing. He's probably hurt though.

 

[Samuel Culper III]

Nash can play great defensively, kill penalties, generate shots on net and do all of the other things that folks who're defending him have cited but, at this point it simply doesn't matter. People started tearing into him about four games into the playoffs when he hadn't scored and it was something like 1 goal in 17 playoff games as a Ranger. At that time he had 4 assists at least, and people said he was producing and contributing and goals didn't matter as long as his line was productive and he was helping. Now we can't even say he's generating offense and picking up assists. Simply "getting looks" is not good enough. Brian Boyle gets looks. John Moore gets looks. Nash now has 1 goal in something like 22 playoff games as a Ranger, and his last arbitrary assist was in game 3 of the first round, 6 games ago. We have guys who can PK just as well as Nash. It's nice that he does well there, but we really don't need him to. If he were out of the lineup our PK and team defense wouldn't suffer. Unfortunately, right now, neither would our goals per game. All kinds of excuses can be made to say he's playing well and I'm not arguing that he's our worst player, but for his cap hit, his reputation, the reason and role he was brought in for and the price we paid to add him, he is far and away the most disappointing and there really isn't anything adequate about what he's doing. I understand this guy had some injuries that could make him tentative, but these are his goals per game and hits to games played over the past five years:

.434 G/GA 121 hits/76 games
.427 G/GA 91 hits/75 games
.366 G/GA 104 hits/82 games
.477 G/GA 46 hits/44 games
.400 G/GA 11 hits/65 games

The drop in physicality just isn't acceptable and it's part of why he hasn't been as effective. He's clearly not engaging like he used to. His goals per game this year is also the third lowest of his career, not including his rookie season. It could have to do with the injuries, but this time of the year, in games like today where we only trailer by one all night and our goalie played phenomenal and held us in, and we had a chance to steal two on the road and come home up 2-0, there's just no excuse for a 6'4 220lb man with Nash's history, not of being a big hitter, but of being physically engaged and able to dominate puck possession to not at least show an attempt to play that game. That's what made him successful. That's what made him a star. If he's not going to get back to it, his cap hit is a bigger albatross than Richards' who at least elevates his game this time of year, and I do not hesitate to say that at all.

 

[Glen Sathers Cigar]

A goalie gets zero rest during a game? Now we're getting into comical territory.

A goalie rests the entire time while the play isn't in his own zone.

Aren't you a goalie? I am, and can say from experience, in a game where the play is largely in your zone you get tired. Even if they only get 20 shots on goal, if theyre in your zone the majority of the game and you're constantly shuffling, butterflying up down, moving around in your crease, you know you get tired.

I don't know why you of all people are making that point.

Especially against a team like the Penguins that spends so much time in your zone, you're doing a **** load of work.