Hockeybird.com: Report Card: ANA 2 @ NYR 3 OT

Report Card: ANA 2 @ NYR 3 OT

Tuesday - November 19, 2002

11/19/02	1	2	3	OT	F
Anaheim Mighty Ducks	0	2	0	0	2
New York Rangers	2	0	0	1	3

Player	Ice Time	Grade	Comments
Dan Blackburn		B+	Neither goal was good, but he also made a lot of big time saves, especially in the 2nd period. First goal was a shot from outside the blueline, and while those are almost always ugly, you can give Blackburn a BIT of a break because it took a wicked drop after being deflected near the blueline. Other goal, a blast from the point right off a faceoff just simply beat Dan, down in his butterfly which left a lot of top corner room. He hung in there well, though, like I said especially in the 2nd period where he was flooded with shots. Another good game, nice to see it on home ice. Thursday and the Devils is a much tougher test.

Brian Leetch	27:12	B+	Really impressed with a 2nd period play where Brian tried to take the puck up the boards, he was being checked and his stick held but kicked a perfect pass to Rico Fata who turned on the jets for a breakaway (and of course shot it wide). He's had an off game here and there, but mostly I've been happy with Leetch's defensive game this season. And if you've been reading these cards for the last 3 seasons, you'd know I'm almost NEVER happy with Leetch's defensive game.
Tom Poti	24:43	B	Had the assignment of Kariya tonight, and did a good job with it. Poti is a much better defensive defenseman than people give him credit for. I mean, that's Paul Kariya whom Poti (and Leetch) kept off the scoreboard, not bad for a day's work. Poti took a touchy penalty call on a 2nd period PK when he was without a stick, but just before that saved a goal by sliding in the crease.
Vladimir Malakhov	20:41	B	-1 on the night, but I don't think he was worse than anyone else from what I noticed. Anyone notice anything good or bad?
Dale Purinton	15:10	B	Good game, a bit flat footed from time to time against the fast Ducks. Had a 1st period fight which wasn't terrible, but you wouldn't have bought it on pay-per-view.
Darius Kasparaitis	18:09	B	Now that his game is coming back his ice time is going up, and so far, so good. In fact, he had a plus tonight! Darius Kasparminus with a plus! Good deal.
Sylvain Lefebvre	15:50	B	Typical Lefebvre game. He was there, somewhere, and played mostly solid.

Eric Lindros	16:21	B+	Came out flying and in a bad mood, and when he's on like this, seriously, how many better all-around centers are there in the league? Of course, it's rare he's on his game to this extent, but there was little he didn't or couldn't do in the period. Two huge hits, one which flattened a Duck looking for a rebound, the other a rub-out on the boards. Scored his goal by being tenatious and strong, checking a Duck in front of the net, lifting his stick and sliding it around the goalie. Took most of the 2nd period off with the rest of his mates, picked it up again in the 3rd, though not quite to the level of the 1st. That's alright, this was a typical "good" Lindros game - goal, 3 or 4 hits, 4 PIM's and 3 shots.
Rem Murray	12:30	B-	Eh. That's what I got: eh. Not bad, not good. Bad 3rd period tunrover in his zone, something Murray seems to have a habit of.
Pavel Bure	16:46	B	Well, up and down game for Pavel. He had more grit and determination to his game than in a while, but also made some bad mistakes, like letting his check go at center ice in the 2nd, and taking a stupid penalty in the 3rd. He also went to the net, though, and what else can you say about his OT game winner? Bure skates down the right side boards ONE-ON-THREE, all of a sudden shifts from 3rd gear straight to 6th and burns around everyone in a short distance and pops it between the legs for a beauty of a goal.
Petr Nedved	22:01	B	Look at that ice time. Nedved's become the secret #1 center on the team recently. He's getting the big faceoffs, the crunch ice time, a lot of PP and PK time, and he's doing well at it.
Ronald Petrovicky	12:47	B	Oh, how I loved that one. Knocked Paul Kariya backwards and off his skates with an open ice hit in the 1st period. Ha! Eat some ice, 'Lil Kariya. A lot of good hits tonight, really, and a strong game overall with no penalties.
Radek Dvorak	17:45	D+	Ack!! While almost the entire team to a man has turned their game around, Dvorak HAS NOT. How many giveaways and turnovers did he have tonight? 4? 5? And some really stupid plays, too, like trying to skate through 3 Ducks at the blueline. He's the weak link in the chain right now.
Mark Messier	19:22	B+	Does he have a pact with the devil or what? Not to take anything away from his much needed goals this season, but the puck seems to find him in the best places imaginable. Samuelsson set it up with a shot in the slot, hits some skates and goes to Messier on the side, sets it up on the backhand and in. Mark really played great tonight, probably his best of the season. Very sharp with his anticipation and sense on the ice, intercepting passes, getting in good position, taking care of his backchecking, etc. Real strong game, also led the team with 6 shots. Here's another testament to how sharp he was tonight - 16 for 21 on faceoffs!
Matt Barnaby	12:30	B	A typically good Barnaby game. Nothing on the scoreboard but played hard, threw a few hits, intercepted some passes and put in good work for his 12 and a half.
M. Samuelsson	18:03	B	Another good game, but his penalty with 6 minutes left in a tie game, touchy call or not, could've been a disaster. Had a big hand in Messier's goal. 4 shots, too. The 3rd line (really more line 2nd in ice time) was very good tonight.
Ted Donato	7:57	B-	He's a very unspectactular player, but he is smart. Donato gets the puck deep when he has to and plays solid and safe. That's what you want from the 4th line.
Sandy McCarthy	7:40	B-	A few good shifts. Rangers usually win when the 4th line is involved, and they provided decent forechecking and rest for the top lines.
Rico Fata	8:09	C+	Jeez, Rico. I almost can't bare watching it anymore. He hustles, he's fast as almost anyone in the league, but he just can't finish, his passes miss, he has bad luck, and so on. Had a breakaway in the 2nd, shot it wide. WIDE on the breakaway. That can't happen. But, for a non-offensive 4th liner he did a good job.

COACHING STAFF:		C+	That's now 3-0 under Jim "Jimmy Smooth" Schoenfeld, 4-8-2 under Trottier. Night and day. HOWEVER, some knocks on him tonight, as that 2nd period the Ducks dominated was begging for a time out. Typically used the 4th line a lot more than Trottier does, although I'd have liked to see Bure and Lindros get more than 16. Schoeny also seems to like Nedved, as he usually plays him a lot and Nedved got 22 tonight.

1st PERIOD:		A-	Heck of a 1st period. Hits, fights, goals, end-to-end action and this is the Rangers are Mighty Ducks in November? The game is supposed to be a stinker, didn't you get the memo? Rangers played HARD in the period, led by Lindros. Everyone was hitting and battling for the puck. Ducks had a few chances but nothing major. I'm gonna wrap that 1st period up and give it to people for Christmas. Only bad thing was a full two minute 5-on-3 the Rangers didn't cash in on.
2nd PERIOD:		D	Whoof. Can't get much more outplayed in a period than that. 22-6 in shots. Yowza. This is kind of what I thought the game would be like - the young, fast Ducks zipping all over the joint and the Rangers unable to keep up - but I didn't think it would be this bad for an entire period. Not sure why, but everything the Rangers did well in the 1st they didn't in the 2nd.
3rd PERIOD:		B	MUCH better period. In fact, Rangers held them to only TWO shots, the same team that just had 22 shots a period before. It's all about skating. Rangers skated hard in the 1st, owned the period. Stopped skating in the 2nd, got hammered. Regained some of their hustle in the 3rd and it was a draw. Two big penalty kills in the period, one about a minute in and then a very crucial one with 6 minutes remaining.
OVERALL:		B	A tale of two periods... oh yeah, plus an even 3rd period and a Bure overtime. Good? Bad? Neutral? It's good, dummy. A win is always good! Sure, the 2nd period was a horror show, and the power play is like trying to watch a wino ride a unicycle, but this was a game that had danger signs all over it. The deceptively good Ducks, just the kind of team that gives the Rangers fits - young, fast and aggressive on the puck - plus the first game back from a long road trip in front of a mostly sedate crowd. All the signs were there for a bad loss, and after the 2nd period it looked like it was just a matter of time, but after settling down in the 3rd, one great play from the 10 Million Dollar Man pulls a win from the jaws of defeat. Oh yeah, THANK GOD we don't have to read "Bure and Lindros Slumping" stories in the paper every day anymore! Were you guys telling us something we didn't know? Cripes! Day after day after day. I knowwww. We all knowww. Now the beat writers have to think of some other easy angles for off-day articles.

Scratches:			Bobby Holik (hip), Dave Karpa (healthy? elbow?), K . Oliwa (suspension 4/5), Mike Richter (concussion)
created by:			Pete Rocha, © 2002. procha@optonline.net
			Discuss the card here

Posted by pete at November 19, 2002 10:47 PM
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Comments

Pete,

Is calling Bure a "little turd" really necessary?
He goes coast to coast against the Ducks and then is the goat! Sounds like the Rangers season so far in a nutshell.

New York magazine reports that Eric Lindros has been hunkered down with some chick, Cash Caria. Please, is that her real name. She is supposed to be the singer/model/actress that sang the national anthem at the LA/Ranger game at the Garden. She better not quit her day job because the closest she'll get to Broadway is if she marries Lindros! Could this be the reason Lindros was in a slump? Somebody should remind him of Mick's advise to ROCKY - Women weaken legs!

Posted by: mhurley on November 21, 2002 11:34 PM