Rocha's Report Card: 9/22/02 - PHI 4 @ NYR 6
Sunday - September 22, 2002
Sunday,
September 22, 2002
Philadelphia
Flyers 4 @ New York Rangers 6
(pre-season)
| Player | Ice Time | Grade | Comments |
| Mike Richter | C | Didn't look so hot. First goal wasn't his fault but the second one clearly was, a classic case of Richter's puck handling "skills" doing him in. Stood there with the puck behind the net and had a miscommunication (or lack of communication) with Mottau, seemingly saying to each other, "are you going to get it?". No one got it and it was then scooped up by a Flyer, passed to the point and scored on a long wrist shot. Also had rebound control troubles, and was needlessly sprawled out on a Flyer goal that was taken back by replay because Richter kicked the post off. It's still pre-season, but I hope things sharpen up by October. | |
| Jason Labarbara | B | Looked pretty solid in spite of giving up 2 in one period. No major saves, but plenty of good ones as he faced 18 shots in the 3rd. | |
| Darius Kasparaitis | A | Very impressive game. Started off with a big end-boards body check about 30 seconds in, followed that up the rest of the game with more big hits, solid defensive play (especially around the net) and he actually looked good on the PP with a very nice cross-ice pass to Nedved in the right slot for the Rangers' second goal. | |
| Vladimir Malakhov | B- | Paired with Kaspar and nothing about Malakhov's game was noticable. Nothing at all. | |
| Dale Purinton | C | Problems. Two instigating penalties, and on plays of the type that led to debate last season. Some say it's great any time Purinton sticks up for his teammates, but I think he has to pick his spots a whole lot better. Both of those plays a Ranger may have been bumped, but that happens. That's not worth taking an instigator minor. An elbow or a nasty slash? Fine. But not on decent hits. Also screened Richter on the Flyers' second. Otherwise played well, just knock off the meaningless minors. | |
| Richard Lintner | B- | I can't really say I noticed much about his game. Fell down in the corner on a Flyers' PP goal. Looks like a good skater and has decent skating and puck handling skills, though. | |
| Mike Mottau | C- | His last several games in a Ranger sweater have been ugly. Took an early tripping penalty after Primeau faked him on an in-and-out move. Later in the period got mixed up with Richter which led directly to a goal against. Also, on the PP, he was roving around the zone, leaving his defensive partner to cover the whole blueline but it also led to a decent scoring chance. He definitely has the offensive skills, it's his defense that needs an overhaul. | |
| Fedor Tjutin | B | Big kid. Wasn't particularly noticable, but didn't play badly, either. Work in progress, he seems about 2 years off yet. | |
| Eric Lindros | A- | Scored the Rangers first goal, right place at the right time with an empty side tap in but he made some nice plays on the shift to keep the action going. | |
| Pavel Bure | B+ | Scored on a 3rd period BLAST from about 40 feet out, a rocket of a slapshot few in the league possess. Had good flow to his game, but wasn't | |
| Petr Nedved | A- | Ladies and gentlemen, I think we have a line here. Of course it's WAY too early to tell, but based on this game, Nedved-Lindros-Bure looked very good. Nedved played very well with the two keeping the cycles going and finding open ice, along with a few nice passes and a rocket of a wrist shot for a PP goal. 3 points. Let's see how this line holds up in a rough, dump and chase type of regular season game, though. | |
| Bobby Holik | A | Fantastic game! THIS is why he's worth big money. His offense was a bit sloppy, it generally is, but his game away from the puck was excellent. He knows where to be seemingly at all times, and he's in a bad mood while he's there. Leveled both Primeau and McGillis off their skates with net mouth hits. Let me say that again: PRIMEAU and MCGILLIS. Primeau's 6'5", McGillis is 6'6", and Holik creamed the both of them, even seemed to injure McGillis. Took a penalty which was scored on (x-checked Williams into the post) but it wasn't a bad penalty, one that you could rationalize as a decent defensive play. What Bure is to the offense, Holik is to the "game away from the game". | |
| Mark Messier | B | Good and bad. The good: Hustled his ass off on a backcheck to neutralize a 2-on-1 in the 1st period, scored on a very pretty backhander in the 3rd and also added an empty netter. However, he STUNK on the PK. The Flyers' first goal, Primeau was Messier's man, and Mess was left behind, unable to get Primeau off balance. NO PK FOR MESSIER, BRYAN! | |
| Jamie Lundmark | B | Wasn't having much of a stand out game though he was into the flow, certainly not playing poorly, until he scored on a very decisive snap shot in the 3rd. That was a veteran's type of goal - knew exactly what he wanted to do with the puck when he got it instead of seeming slow and indecisive like a rookie. Good signs. | |
| David Inman | B- | Played with Holik and Lundmark, and while the line had a good game, Inman was rather quiet. | |
| Matt Barnaby | B | Fought Brashear early, hung in there, but took the brunt of the big shots. Relatively quiet game otherwise. | |
| Rico Fata | B- | Rico, Rico... where were ya? Great hit on Roenick but a typical "Fata game" otherwise. Spinning his wheels in 5th gear all over the ice but not much happening off of it. | |
| Kryztof Oliwa | B | Good first period fight with Fedoruk, both took and gave some heavy blows. 2nd period fight with Brashear was a good heavyweight battle, I'd score the round even with both landing big shots. | |
| Benoit Dusablon | B | Took a 1st period penalty coming up too high with the forearms on a hit, but I can see why he stuck with the Rangers after camp. Plays fairly aggressively, doesn't stand out in any area but seems like a solid all-around player. | |
| Michael Samuelsson | B- | So, this was the "new" Michael Samuelsson? Looked like the old Mikael Samuelsson to me: Non-descript game, can't recall him taking a shot on goal... maybe one. | |
| COACHING STAFF: | B | Not much to talk about except this:
NO MESSIER ON THE PK. NO MESSIER ON THE PK. NO MESSIER ON THE PK. NO MESSIER ON THE PK. NO MESSIER ON THE PK. NO MESSIER ON THE PK. NO MESSIER ON THE PK. NO MESSIER ON THE PK. NO MESSIER ON THE PK. NO MESSIER ON THE PK. NO MESSIER ON THE PK. NO MESSIER ON THE PK. NO MESSIER ON THE PK. I've liked just about everything about this coaching staff so far, but this was a bit distressing. Messier was not good on the PK, he simply doesn't have the quickness anymore and it's showed the last five years, but Messier was probably out there on every PK tonight. Not good. Mess played pretty well at even strength, count your blessings and leave it at that, coaches. |
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| OVERALL: | B | Sloppy game, but played with a decent amount of intensity for pre-season. The defensive mistakes were still there and were covered up by a high power offense, but look at the defense the Rangers played tonight: 2 veterans, 3 with very minor experience (Lintner, Mottau and Purinton) and a rookie. So, I won't make a big deal out of the defensive mistakes. Biggest standouts in a nutshell: Holik, Kaspar, Nedved-Lindros-Bure line: GOOD. Mottau, Richter: NOT SO GOOD. | |
| created by: | Pete Rocha, (c) 2002. procha@optonline.net |
Discuss the card on the message boards here !
Posted by pete at September 22, 2002 10:14 PM
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Comments
Guess you guys didnt like my post about our mascott you had to take it off
Posted by: Sal on September 24, 2002 05:55 PMSal,
I have no idea what you are talking about. We don't delete posts here....at least not without reason. You may repost it or send it directly to me at bird@hockeybird.com and I will post it for you. I believe you are mistaken about this as we have not deleted anything since Sept. 11th and that was addressed with the individual poster.
Posted by: Bird on September 25, 2002 01:31 PMPost a comment
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