Hockeybird.com: Report Card: EDM 2 @ NYR 5

Report Card: EDM 2 @ NYR 5

Tuesday - November 05, 2002

11/05/02	1	2	3	OT	F
Edmonton Oilers	0	1	1		2
New York Rangers	2	3	0		5

Player	Ice Time	Grade	Comments
Mike Richter	60:00	A-	Made a big save on a Marchant mini-breakaway early in the 2nd. I didn't like the Edmonton goal at all - Smyth on the goal line drew Richter's legs open with a fake pass and banked it off Richter's outside leg. Nice goal, but Richter should know better. The other goal came when it was 5-1 late in the 3rd, who cares? Solid positioning, good rebound control.

Brian Leetch	26:03	A-	Leetch's time on a full 2 minute 5-on-3 PK in which Leetch was out there for the FULL two minutes (Edmonton called a time out half way through), was one of the highlights of the season. Blocking shots, blocking passes, moving people out of the crease - he looked 10 years younger. Very solid all around.
Tom Poti	23:53	B+	Took a bad tripping penalty on the PK which costed a goal. Made up for it a bit later by stopping a Edmonton rush with Petro, got the puck up to Samuelsson for the Rangers fourth. 2 assists against his former team, which ties him for first in the league in defensive points.
Sylvain Lefebvre	14:38	B	When he's doing his job, you don't really notice him. I didn't really notice him.
Darius Kasparaitis	15:11	C	3rd period, I knew I had nothing to say about Kaspar yet so I focused on him exclusively on a PK and man, did he look lost! Still doesn't have his game. Don't remember any good hits.
Dale Purinton	18:39	B+	Excellent play on the Rangers second goal! Pinched halfway down the boards and had great awareness where everyone was, got off a quick pass to Dvorak in the slot for the goal. Had a lot of confidence tonight, especially anticipating the play and breaking up plays in the neutral zone.
Vladimir Malakhov	21:36	B	Better than usual. That's all I got.

Eric Lindros	20:58	B	Played noticably sharper, getting shots away quickly and from all angles. One assist, two shots. He'll come around, I'm not worried. I think people are focussing on him too much. He's not playing bad, just not getting the goals.
Rem Murray	19:31	B+	Scored on a surprising wrister with under two seconds left in the 2nd. Seemed to deflect on the way in, but Salo was very shaky tonight. Good game on the 1st line, digging pucks out for those two.
Pavel Bure	19:55	B-	Quiet game. Took a lot of shots, most of them missed. Did draw a penalty. I'm just glad the Rangers were able to win without him scoring - the first time this season!
Petr Nedved	17:03	B	The goal was mostly made by Petrovicky, but give Nedved credit for going to the net on the 2-on-2 instead of tailing away. Later called with an illegal stick which gave the Oilers a full 2 minute 5-on-3. What do you do when Holik comes back?? The Petro-Nedved-Dvorak line shouldn't be broken up right now.
Ronald Petrovicky	16:04	A	That was one hell of a play on the Rangers first goal - coming in 2-on-2 with Nedved, frose Salo with a fake shot and passed over to Nedved for a tap in. Later beat two Oilers on an icing that had about a 15 foot lead on him. Took a penalty midway through the 1st hooking Carter who had the jump on him. End of the period drew a PP by taking a few rabbit punches to the face. And this was all in the 1st period! A heck of a period it was. Took two bad penalties in the game but otherwise, a player of Petro's talents and style, he couldn't have played much better. HARD on the puck all night, constant hustle, constant hitting. Brilliant game. Carried the 2nd line himself.
Radek Dvorak	14:11	B	About time this slug got on the board. Got a good Purinton pass right in the slot and got off a quick snap shot for the goal. Even though he got on the board in a big way with a goal and two assists, call me unfair, but I still didn't like his game. Still wants to keep out of traffic and score pretty. I don't know, maybe I should be easier on him tonight.
Mark Messier	16:53	B	Threw a nice hit in the 1st (the first one since when?!) but also have the puck stripped off his stick TWICE in the period. 2nd period scored on his patented one foot, streaking down the wing wristers. On the next PP made an awful giveaway. The giveaways were bad but the goal was better and it was a decent all around game. Goal and an assist.
Matt Barnaby	10:08	C	Where many games it's Barnaby going while the rest of the team isn't, tonight the rest of the team was going while Barnaby wasn't.
M. Samuelsson	12:14	B+	Played a fiesty little game and showed great speed mostly previously unseen from him on his goal, breaking away from two Oilers starting in the neutral zone and sliding it through a hole in Salo's legs that didn't look like it existed. JD called it Samuelsson's best of the season and I'd agree. Skated hard, got involved.
Dixon Ward	7:18	C+	This 4th line of Ward, Sandy and Donato didn't get much time at all. None of them looked bad, though.
Sandy McCarthy	7:33	C+	See that commercial for "Domino's Buffalo Crispy Chicken Kickers"? Do you eat that? It sounds like something you'd wear while going dirtbiking.
Ted Donato	7:10	C+	For people so down on Lundmark being sent down, look at it this way - Trottier can bury a 4th line with Donato and Ward on it a lot more easily than he could with Lundmark and Fata. I'd rather see Trottier roll 4 lines in the first place, but look at the bright side - Lundmark and Fata get 4 minutes per game, everyone's pissed. Ward and Donato get 4 a game, no one cares.

COACHING STAFF:		B+	Put Lindros back with Bure where they both belong and started Lindros on the first shift of the game, a nice show of confidence. Once the Rangers had a big lead I liked how the coaches changed things up and gave different people time on the PP, PK and even strength.

1st PERIOD:		A	That was a period to love, brother. They didn't dominate the Oilers but they did beat them to most loose pucks and won most of the battles on the boards. Rangers wanted it more and played harder. And that 2 full minute 5-on-3 PK was a beauty!
2nd PERIOD:		B	Well... after a lot of bad luck periods this season (like the 3rd in Boston the other night especially), Rangers finally got a good luck period. Edmonton probably owned the flow about 60/40 but with a shaky, wounded Salo, Rangers got 3 to Edmonton's 1.
3rd PERIOD:		C+	Edmonton got the only goal and probably owned the play in the period by a bit, but the Rangers had a 5-1 lead. What do you want? Don't be a nag.
OVERALL:		B+	What? Only a B+ for a great 5-2 win over an always tough Edmonton team? Not to take anything away from the Rangers who played very well and needed this game like a dying plant needs water, but Tommy Salo was pretty bad. At least 3 of those shouldn't have gone it. But, so what! I'll take it, you'll take it and the Rangers will take it. It's not like they just got lucky, the Rangers outworked and outskated the Oilers most of the night and won the game in the first 40 minutes. They have to keep it going against Calgary on Thursday.

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

Posted by pete at November 05, 2002 09:51 PM
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