| 11/14/02 |
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| New York Rangers |
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| Calgary Flames |
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| Player | Ice Time | Grade | Comments |
| Dan Blackburn | 60:00 | A- | Played a solid 1st period, mostly with long, unscreened shots, but made a tremendous save on an Iginla breakaway, making a rollover, on his back save with the stick. Got robbed on the goal of the period, pass right in the crease, Blackburn had no chance. And that's it, sports fans. Nothing else. Rangers played good defense and Blackburn didn't have to move side to side much, but he was incredibly sharp tonight with both his reflexes and positioning. Seemed like he was one second ahead of the shooters all game. |
| Brian Leetch | 25:05 | B- | Calgary's goal, Leetch is following Leopold into the Rangers zone but for some reason Leetch tails off back to the blueline, which enables Leopold all the time to make a pass to the front of the net for a goal. What the hell is he thinking on that? Brian, defensemen go deep in their own zone, forwards are the ones who tail back to the blueline sometime. He must've been fooled with a fake pass, because it doesn't make sense. Played well otherwise, but that mistake brings him down a grade. |
| Tom Poti | 21:32 | B | Got very lucky in his high stick in the first, where the ref also called diving on the Flame. Drew a needed PP in the 2nd. Not a bad game, not very noticable, either. |
| Vladimir Malakhov | 21:12 | B+ | Was the workhorse on defense tonight, and did a great job of it. He's very good when on his game, too bad this is probably just a streak of good play and not something that'll last. |
| Dale Purinton | 16:37 | B | Much better game than San Jose. No mistakes that I noticed, some good play in his own end. |
| Darius Kasparaitis | 19:08 | B+ | Darius is finally back! Finally seems to be under control positionally, not making stupid plays, and the hits are coming back, like that massive check in the 3rd where he knocked the Flame horizontal and into the boards from 5 feet. |
| Sylvain Lefevbre | 17:14 | B+ | I liked his game tonight. On a defensive minded team, Lefevbre is an asset. |
| Eric Lindros | 14:09 | B- | Nope, still nothing in the net. It's very strange. Lindros isn't playing bad at all, isn't really shying away from contact, isn't being lazy... him and Bure are just not getting the puck in a good position. Ever. They need a compatible linemate soooo badly. At least the team is winning and the spotlight is off of them right now. |
| Rem Murray | 14:51 | B | Another solid game, though didn't continue his hot goal streak of late. |
| Pavel Bure | 14:11 | B- | Very nice backcheck in the 1st, pulling up a stick from a shooter right in the slot. Otherwise is just... there. Not bad, a few sloppy plays, but this six-speed has been in third gear for about two weeks now. Look how low his ice time is. When was the last time Bure played 14 minutes? |
| Petr Nedved | 21:51 | A- | Great show of patience on the PK, taking a rebound in the slot and waiting to make a move for an open net while players and the goalie were sprawling all around him. Really has been playing very smart and hard lately, almost all season, really. With Lindros in a major slump, Holik on the shelf and Messier only being able to offer so much, Nedved has become an important go-to guy in all situations for this team lately, and has come through. A lot of important faceoffs, 14 for 21! Keep kicking ass, Petr. |
| Ronald Petrovicky | 14:58 | B | 3 shots, a few hits, good play. |
| Radek Dvorak | 19:17 | C+ | Dvorak is backchecking on the Calgary goal, RIGHT ON Iginla, but doesn't touch him! Tie up his stick, knock him off balance, fart on him, DO SOMETHING! The second (along with Leetch) of nonsensical plays on that goal. Played okay otherwise, but if he just leans on Iginla a little bit it's a possible shutout. |
| Mark Messier | 17:02 | B- | Solid game for grandpa. His faceoff percentage still stinks (6 for 17), but he was backchecking and making smart, safe plays all night. "B-" only because of the lousy faceoffs. |
| Matt Barnaby | 12:50 | B | A few nice plays and was involved in both ends of the play. Surprisingly led the team in shots on goal with 5. |
| M. Samuelsson | 18:26 | A- | Intercepted a bad pass on the PK, took his shot which led to Nedved's rebound goal. A little later had the good fortune of a deflection off the ref and got off a quick shot through McLennan's 5-hole. Awesome on the PK, strong and active at both ends, he's really developing into a solid player. |
| Ted Donato | 8:23 | B | Oof. Completely blew a tire all on his own in the offensive zone which got turned into a Calgary 3-on-2. It's funny now that nothing happened on it, and the 4th line had a very solid 4th line type of game. |
| Sandy McCarthy | 9:07 | B | His best game of the year probably. A few good hits and a lot of good forechecking AND backchecking. |
| Rico Fata | 8:07 | B | I think the next time the Rangers call Fata up, he should decline. It seems like it's going to take an act of God for him to get his first NHL goal. Partial breakaway, great shot, save. Open on one side of the net, the Ranger behind the net passes to the other side. |
| COACHING STAFF: | B+ | Okay, I don't want to start a riot here... but I think they showed tonight that Jim Schoenfeld and Terry O'Reilly just have a lot more natural coaching instinct than Trottier. 4th line going well? Keep playing them in a 2-1 game in the 3rd period in thin mountain air! Late in the 2-1 game, a surprising and smart time out to talk strategy and give the players a rest. All four lines were rolled tonight, and that's a big reason why the Rangers won. Look at those ice times. They went with who was playing the best, and it worked. Smart. | |
| 1st PERIOD: | B | Jeez, what a bummer. Rangers play a very good period, outshooting 13-9 and making sure most of Calgary's 9 shots were harmless, but two brain farts (Leetch and Dvorak) on one play late in the period and all that good work goes to waste. Rangers shots were mostly of the far away harmless variety, too, but their all around game looked very strong until that slip up. | |
| 2nd PERIOD: | B | They won the goal battle 2-0 in the period, though I'm not sure they played as well as in the first. This is just splitting hairs, though. Rangers continued playing good defense and got a few bounces to go their way. | |
| 3rd PERIOD: | ? | I'm not sure what to think of that period. On one hand the Rangers SHUT IT DOWN like happens so many times against them when the other team has the lead. Just completely closed it off - constant icing, flips into the stands, dump it in and peel back - they barely gave Calgary a sniff. On the other hand, they were outshot 12-3 in the period and I'm not sure this strategy works against anyone but the offensively inept Flames. It was still pretty nice to see since it worked out, though. | |
| OVERALL: | B | Let's look at what they've overcome lately:
Two of the best offensive players in the game are in the worst slumps of their careers. Their #1 goaltender can't recover from a concussion and every time they say he's getting close, he gets further away. Their 45 million dollar checking center has been out so long he's almost forgotten, and every time they say HE'S getting close he gets further away. Their head coach gets suspeneded for 2 games after an ugly loss to a third year team. Just a week an a half ago they were a troublesome 4-8-2, all these negative things happened or got worse since then and they pull together into a respectable 8-9-2 record, with 4 wins out of their last 5. That's all I've got to say tonight. In my opinion they still need a winger for Lindros and Bure and the goaltending situation is a powder keg; but for today, right now? They've done a fantastic job of overcoming adversity and this is the first time I've felt proud about this team since opening night. |
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| Scratches: | Bobby Holik (hip), Dave Karpa (healthy? elbow?), K. Oliwa (suspension - game 2/5), Mike Richter (CONCUSSION!) | ||
| created by: | Pete Rocha, © 2002. procha@optonline.net | ||
| Discuss the card here |
eMail this entry!
Hey Roach man: On the Flames goal, do you think Leopold farted and that is why Leetch skated away from him? He must to have cut the cheese big time. Right on with the grades. I think two issues are developing with the team. One, the need for a complementary partner for Lindros and Bure (gee I amazed myself). Two, although the team has won with Blackie in the net, I am not so sure he is ready for full time work. I may change my mind if I see him win a couple a games against top tier NHL teams that are playing well.
Posted by: Jack on November 15, 2002 07:58 AMTwo points.
1) At the end of the term, are these grades cumulative? What's going to happen when Mikael Samuelsson has a higher GPA than Pavel Bure? Are you grading on a curve?
2) I had my first "Shoney looks good behind the bench" moment last night at the time-out that made me wonder if we really need Trottier. Was I alone in thinking that?
Posted by: Leeds on November 15, 2002 10:58 AM
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