I strongly felt that the Rangers lost their identity when they lost Prust, and Dubinsky. To lose a couple of warriors like that, among others, and have only Twigy go out there to take a beatdown after beatdown... well it's easy to see why the Rangers don't battle to score on 2nd, 3rd chance opportunities with a creme puffs in the middle of the line up.
Watching Kevin Klein beat down Twigy just gives teams with added physical dimensions in their line up the confidence and knowledge that they can run around and get after the Rangers early on and play a team that's not going to battle back and mail it in because of so many non response type of players playing ineffective minutes.
Two guys like Brassard and Pouliot being out there like that for a collective 30 minutes out there a game means a .500 team with the current squad. I mean those wrist flickers from 50' feet out really have an impact on a winning product don't they?
The Rangers were icing 5 guys like that during the horrendous start and preseason and we all saw what happened. With so much parity in the league, and guys laying it all on the line, you need guys that will go out there try and change the momentum, play hungry, and not let the other team play with any momentum.
This current Ranger team mails it in as soon as they go down by 2, and Twigy can't do much to deter against that, liking his in-shift game as of late, but the entire NorthEast is built a little heavier, just like the Pacific, and the records of those teams (playoff bound) reflect that, so it's not just a matter of LA, SJ, PHX... There's TOR, BOS, TB, MTL too that ice rosters with players that finish their checks and step up for team mates. That TB defense was huge and did not have to do much once Labrie beat down Twigy. In a game of arms you know the Rangers simply don't stack up.
