As the title states, all we can say about lasts night game is UGLY... We got outplayed from the get go and throughout. kovy ran circles around Mac and Girardi and all the other d-men, which is why I said it was one of the keys to the game to slow him down. I am not going to go into much detail about it as we have to throw this game out and start over from scratch on Thursday night against Ottawa.
- Girardi saw the pine in the last half of the 3rd period after multiple give a ways and just simply put some poor play. He looks tired, beat up and in need of a break and unfortunately there in no time for that right now. Mac didn't help him much on the 3rd goal I believe when Girardi just gave the puck away cross ice and then Mac stood on the blue line flat footed and let Josefson and Carter in behind him for the 2 on 1 and eventual goal. Here is a thought for all you guys who think Marc Stall is back in full form or at least near full form, why not put Stall with Mac and let Girardi slip down for a few games to the second line with Delz or third with bickell? Is it a righty lefty thing? Why not give Dan G about 18 minutes a night and move Stall up to 22-23 a night? Think about that, it will keep Dan G fresh for the playoff run, get Stall his wind back from the long crazy playoff games and perhaps give the whole team a bit of a boost...
- I liked the changes in the lines yesterday with Gabby, BR and Cally and Hags moving to play with Step and AA. I know that had to due with Dubi being injured and being down a man, but Torts did that for spurts in the previous game also. I have said this before, gabby wants the puck on his stick way to much, he needs to get to open areas and get ready to shoot and score, that's his game, that's what we pay him for and got BR for, to put straight forward for you. Cally obviously was a bit rusty last night and will be for a few until his foot is fully healed so not much can be said there. As for the 2nd line of AA-Step-Hags, I loved it, we can call it the "Kick you ASH" line. They could be dynamic with both Step and AA having killer shots when they take it and Hags using his speed to create long range plays with Step who we know has great ice vision. I like that line and would love to see them get a bit a run at it over the month of march. The Boyle line are what they are, not much can be said, for what they are supposed to bring, they do night in and night out. It would be great if we could get a little more goal scoring from our 3rd line, but one can't be picky. As for the 4th line before dubi got hurt, Scott-Rupp-Dubi, really.. Was John Mitchell really hurt or is torts so stuck on this overly physical game that he needs to play John " Flat Footed, Slow as a snail" Scott? At least Rupp can skate when he gets his motor running and we know what Dubi brings when healthy and mentally there, I am not a fan of Scott at all.. I hope Mitchell is back in the lineup and Scott can take a seat on the pine...
- Hank as of late has been fighting the puck a bit and his weaknesses are starting to linger back into his game. The upper 3rd of the net was a soft spot for him in previous years, but this year he has remedied that situation until these last few weeks. Hank has surrendered 10 goals in the last three games, that's not good enough for this team which has trouble scoring at a high rate. He went through a similar stretch in mid January where he gave up 10 goals in 4 games against Ottawa, Montreal, and Pittsburgh with a shutout of Nashville stuck in between. So hopefully he has just hit a little pothole in the road as we all know how bumpy the drive can be in NYC and the surrounding suburbs, and will get back on track soon... We will need him if we want to make any run through the playoffs for sure...
- Dubi hurt himself in a fight that he got rocked in. Ryan Carter who as the Announcers stated is not a fighter, took it to Dubi during that square off, and to top it all off, dubi hurts his hand in the fight and doesn't return for the remainder of the evening. I know he was trying to jack the team up a bit and get himself going, but there are guys on the team(Rupp & Scott) who are supposed to be the guys who take care of that stuff. Torts is supposed to have so much control over these guys where they listen to him, they buy into all he is teaching and talking about, yet each and every night lately we have seen stupid things like this. Just go back to Prust fighting Lucic, what a dumb idea. Why didn't torts put Rupp out there once he saw Lucic? I don't know where to lay the blame, some on the players, some on the coach, where? Bottom line is the we can't afford stupid mistakes and we need to limit them the rest of the season and int he playoffs for sure...
That's all for this entry as there really isn't much else to go into. Here is to hoping that we get a full compliment of players back for Thursday night and we see the lineup the following way..
BR-Gabby-Cally
AA-Step-Hags
Boyle-Prust-Feds
Mitchell-Dubi-Rupp
Mac-Stall
Delz-Eminger
Girardi-Bickell
Here is to Hank getting re-focused and getting back to playing the way he has all season, BR getting back on a hot streak and waking up, more production from the 3rd line, and a healthy enough Cally to make a difference(the heart and soul)... Let's Go Rangers beat Ottawa on Thursday night..
E-NO Out
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