Hockeybird.com: Report Card: NSH 2 @ NYR 2

Report Card: NSH 2 @ NYR 2

Saturday - October 19, 2002

10/19/02	1	2	3	OT	F
Nashville Predators	0	2	0	0	2
New York Rangers	1	1	0	0	2

Player	Ice Time	Grade	Comments
Mike Richter	65:00	A-	First goal went through a screen, a pretty large screen, so there wasn't much Richter could do. Second goal he was beat pretty badly on, a very similar goal to what Gratton scored on Blackburn the other night, except on the left side instead of right. Made his save of the year so far in the 3rd period, stopping a crashing Predator then diving back out front to stop the rebound. Made several clutch saves in OT, too. Player of the game.

Brian Leetch	28:14	B	Continues his solid play at both ends. Tried to make things happen in OT, as he usually does.
Tom Poti	26:59	B	Another strong game. Not so much in the offensive zone but made several good plays in the defensive zone, especially in the PK blocking passes and poking the puck away.
Sylvain Lefebvre	18:47	B-	Lefebvre's first big mistake of the season on the Preds' second. Too cautious going for the puck after an offensive zone face off and a Predator beat him to it, poked it past Lefebvre and flew down for the game tying tally.
Darius Kasparaitis	19:57	B+	Best game of the year easily. No big defensive mistakes and threw no less than a half dozen crushing checks, if not more.
Dale Purinton	16:02	B+	First career NHL goal was a slow seeing-eye wrister from the point, probably through 5 pairs of legs, but I'm sure he'll take it. Excellent game all around, even looked good on offense and led some rushes up ice! This was Purinton's best game of his NHL career, easy.
Vladimir Malakhov	20:14	B	Like Kaspar, Malakhov also rebounded from his bad play of late. Solid defense.

Eric Lindros	23:18	B	Took two penalties in the 1st, a slash that was unnecessary and late in the period got his elbow up on an impending hit, a penalty I (and no one else) should mind Lindros taking. Played very hard around the net and got a few good chances. Also threw quite a few good hits. The scoring will come, I like how he's playing hard and rough.
Rem Murray	10:57	B-	Hasty clear on the PK right to a Predator at the blueline, who shot it back through a large screen for a goal. Not a terrible play by Murray (he was under pressure) but could've done it better. Seemed to lose his new spot on the 1st line pretty early.
Pavel Bure	23:11	B+	Oh mama! What's better than the penalty shot?! Bure got one in the first, moved in with speed, dropped the shoulder to fake a shot then a quick right-left move and Vokoun didn't have a chance.
Bobby Holik	16:43	B-	A few good hits and worked hard down low, but there wasn't a whole lot to speak of.
Petr Nedved	23:00	B	Very hard working game and led the team with 5 shots. Promoted back to the 1st line by the 2nd period.
Radek Dvorak	8:37	C-	Benched, and rightfully so. He's skating hard but not getting off the shots, not getting to the net and a total zero on the scoresheet after 6 games.
Mark Messier	16:06	C	Robbed on a 2nd period rebound in the crease by a quick defenseman's stick. Really looked slow and lazy (and awful!) the first two periods but raised his play a bit for the 3rd and OT.
Matt Barnaby	13:18	B-	Good hustle and good hitting (as usual) but he choked on no less than two plays in the offensive zone.
M. Samuelsson	16:35	B	I thought he had a great game. Threw a bunch of hits, skated very hard, got his nose in the mud, good stuff.
Jamie Lundmark	11:46	B-	Had a decent power play shift in the 2nd. He took over for Dvorak after Devo was benched, and Lundmark had some of his best shifts since pre-season.
Sandy McCarthy	4:33	C	On one hand, not much he can do with 4:33. On the other hand, didn't do much.
Robert Petrovicky	10:40	C+	A few good penalty killing shifts. I've liked what I've seen of him so far. No major player but a decent 3rd/4th line grinder. Decent speed, very willing to throw a hit, and the Rangers can't have enough of those players.

COACHING STAFF:		C+	Lots of changes to the lines tonight, both offense and defense. While they separated the DK/VM defensive pair, the coaches seemed to go back to it a few times ALREADY in the 1st period, and for the life of me I don't know why! Both the Lefebvre/Kaspar and Purinton/Malakhov pairs were playing fine, and sure enough first time DK and VM are back together on the ice the puck is in the Rangers end for about 45 seconds. Then in the second period the coaches went away from the new forward lines, switching Nedved and Murray back to where they were. I give them credit for benching Dvorak, the guy's just got to start getting some CHANCES at least, never mind he has no points through six games. I was unhappy seeing Messier out there in the final seconds of the game AGAIN.

1st PERIOD:		B	Choppy period. Some good back and forth action but a LOT of whistles. Good period for the Rangers, they gave up a few chances but not many good ones. Solid defensive coverage. Offense was also working well. Preds actually outshot NYR 8-7, though the Rangers had the better chances.
2nd PERIOD:		C-	This is now officially a "trend", these lousy second periods. This one wasn't an outright disaster like some of them, but it sure wasn't pretty. Nashville clearly outworked the Rangers at both ends and the Rangers offensive was next to non-existent save for a fluky Purinton goal.
3rd PERIOD:		B	Rangers controlled the period about 70/30, I'd say, though the Predators did get some good chances. The hitting and pace of the Rangers game really picked up, too.
OVERALL:		C	Bad tie? I guess so, but Nashville is no slouch despite being winless in five. Rangers played two good periods and one bad one, where if they played just average in the second period they probably won this game. The crowd boo'ed 'em hard at the end of the game, but honestly this crowd has been goofy with boo'ing this season. They deserved SOME boos but not a full chorus, I don't think. If the Rangers played this game against a more talented team they probably lost, and still most of the offense is coming from only the top line, so after six games the Rangers are still not necessarily on the right track, but neither are they dropping. Eh, it's a point. Whatever.

Scratches:			Dave Karpa (IR - elbow), Richard Lintner (IR - knee sprain), K. Oliwa (healthy), Dixon Ward (healthy)
created by:			Pete Rocha, © 2002. procha@optonline.net
			Discuss the card here

Posted by pete at October 19, 2002 10:05 PM
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Comments

"Nashville is no slouch?" Hmmm. In your defense, I just spent my last hour working on my ESPN update and I didn't know what to make of it either. It's not like they played bad. But, geez, on home ice with Nashville coming off a back-to-back game with Vokoun in goal--don't you have to win. And what, like 18 shots in 65 minutes? Ugh.

I've resisted it, but it's official: Mess is killing me. He brings nothing. It's like when Playboy runs photospreads of Bo Derek. Sure she looks good for her age, but it's really not anything I need to pay to see. Almost depressing.

Posted by: Brian on October 20, 2002 02:08 AM