Report Card: MON 3 @ NYR 1
Thursday - December 19, 2002
| 12/19/02 |
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| Montreal Canadiens |
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| New York Rangers |
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| Player | Ice Time | Grade | Comments |
| Mike Dunham | C+ | First goal against was just
weird, Montreal on the PP, puck loose in the slot area, a Hab just turns
180 and fires the loose puck in. Not a bad let-in by Dunham. 2nd period
he was excellent, making three very big saves to keep the Rangers in it
at 1-0. Before the period was over another one got in, though, and it was
another weird one. Someone centers it from the corner, Dunham tips it out
in front, makes ths initial save, but 2-3 Rangers go to the player who
just SHOT (past tense!) the puck, leaving Perrault wide open to grab the
rebound. Third goal, Montreal PP, about 30 seconds after a very nice stacked
pads save, Perrault was left WIDE OPEN on the far side of Dunham for a
roof shot.
I can't blame Dunham for any of those goals against, all were defensive breakdowns. But, on the other end, can't give him any specific credit, either. Made some nice saves, none against were his fault, but a loss is a loss. |
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| Joel Bouchard | 14:01 | B- | He did fine. Was on the ice for two against (one PP), but didn't make any mistakes I noticed. |
| Tom Poti | 24:26 | B | Good and bad. Bad was a penalty late in the 3rd (but let's be serious, the Rangers were done like dinner before that) and good was a few nice offensive plays and the sharp pass to Lindros for his only goal. |
| Vladimir Malakhov | 26:09 | F | 3rd period PK, Poti has his man in front, WIDE OPEN guy on the right side (Malakhov's side) who scores and a second after you see Malakhov coming back down low on the LEFT SIDE of the ice! So, you don't have to search hard to know who was out of position. 3rd period PP with the score 3-1, Rangers swarming, Malakhov makes a very low percentage cross ice pass from the point, pass blocked, Rangers don't get the puck in again for another 30 seconds. |
| Richard Lintner | 18:48 | B- | Eh. He's kind of small and not very strong in his own end. Certainly didn't play badly, I'm just saying he doesn't seem like much of a prospect. |
| Darius Kasparaitis | 20:44 | B- | Kaspar DIDN'T HAVE TO TAKE THE PENALTY! 1st period a Hab (forgot who) is trying to cut between him and Karpa and is starting to get through, but he lost the puck already! Not sure if he didn't know this or what, but Kasparaitis sticks his leg out and trips the player anyway, even though he didn't have the puck anymore. Played okay otherwise, was actually a +1, which is a minor miracle. |
| Dave Karpa | 15:51 | C+ | Shaky, but no big errors that I noticed. |
| Bobby Holik | 19:55 | B | Eh. Okay. Certainly no force, but did have a sizable 6 shots. This line and the 4th line were really the only two going tonight. |
| Matthew Barnaby | 14:08 | B | Laid out Juneau with a corner hit on the Rangers goal, which really gave the Rangers a 5-4 for about 20 seconds as the typically soft Juneau laid face first on the ice. |
| Eric Lindros | 21:37 | A- | Best Ranger tonight. EASY. Hitting people, excellent passes, lots of shots, fighting to get open, playing chippy - Lindros' singular effort was probably better than at least 10 other Rangers combined. And I would've said all of this BEFORE his goal, too, but he scored anyway. 9 shots! If only some others were going half as well as Lindros... |
| Petr Nedved | 22:33 | C- | Not on his game tonight. Shots wide, passes missed, passes to him flubbed, etc. |
| Ronald Petrovicky | 16:37 | B | He gets credit because he hit all night. Now, it IS a problem that the Nedved line is constantly flanked with two players who can't score for their lives, but at least Petro can hit, and did. |
| Radek Dvorak | 18:58 | F | Dvorak. 3 goals. THREE GOALS! How in the name of all that's right in this world does this complete BUST keep escaping criticism? Game after game after game nothing about Radek Dvorak changes and he merrily skips through a season where he's on pace for less than 10 goals! People (media, management) have to start focussing on the waste that is Dvorak, about 17 minutes a night and a complete and total waste for a lot of time on this team. It's not like he can hit or backcheck well or fight - if he doesn't score he's nothing. He's been nothing and it's a disgrace already. |
| Mark Messier | 15:04 | F | Showed a little bit of life for one shift late in the 2nd, but otherwise contributed very very little to the game. These are the times Messier needs to be sat down for a game or two - when he's slow and stale - not just when he's injured. Took a very lazy penalty right at the beginning of the 3rd, a lazy hold in his own zone, which gave Montreal a PP and the crushing 3-0 lead. A godawful 3-for-15 on faceoffs! This was a big game, and their captain completely and totally bailed on them tonight. |
| Gordie Dwyer | 5:50 | B | Several good hits in the 1st. Fought ex-Ranger Sylvain Blouin late in the first. Not a very good fight, no one really got a good shot off. Was glued to the bench for almost the rest of the night once the Rangers fell behind 1-0. |
| Mikael Samuelsson | 12:18 | F | I don't know what it's been with him lately. For about a month he's mostly played somewhere between unnoticable and terrible! 1st period, killing a penalty in the Habs zone, skates the puck in, makes his way to the side boards but instead of shooting it behind or trying to pin it on the wall, Samuelsson decides to make a weak back pass to his defensemen which falls about 15 feet short of getting there, Montreal takes the puck, sets up in the NYR zone, it's loose near Dunham, Samuelsson tries a weak stab at it but it's shot in by a Canadien. Two terrible plays within 20 seconds of each other! Just brutal. |
| Billy Tibbetts | 10:10 | B | Drew the Rangers a good penalty by faking interest and then backing out of a fight with Blouin. Was one of the better forwards tonight, skated hard and hit well. Also messed up a few passes, but on a night when half the team came to play and half didn't, Tibbetts put in a better effort than many, and was also very disciplined. |
| Josh Green | 8:04 | B- | Had a clear 2-on-1 with Tibbetts in the 2nd, chose to hold the puck himself, made a nice delay move around a sliding defenseman but then either shot the puck way wide or the sliding defenseman's stick got it. |
| Sandy McCarthy | 8:26 | B- | Not as good as last game, but still, this line was one of the bright spots and should've had twice the ice time as Messier or Nedved's lines. |
| COACHING STAFF: | D | Here's where I think Trottier is terribly over his head in this job. NO confidence. Rangers playing well, clearly outplaying the Habs in every area into the 2nd period, but they fall behind on a fluke goal. INSTEAD of staying the course, which would've been the logical choice with the way the Rangers were dominating, Trottier starts screwing around once the score was 1-0. Takes Dwyer off the Messier line, starts giving a lot more shifts to Holik and Nedved's lines, doesn't continue with the 4 line rotation, and sure enough, the Rangers THEN started getting outplayed along with being behind. I mean, if Bryan can't even stick to his game plan when his team is playing well but down a simple 1-0 in the 2nd period, what hope do we really have? That was really disappointing to see. Every time this season I think Trottier is starting to "get it", he does something shortly after to completely disprove those ideas. | |
| 1st PERIOD: | B+ | What a terrible period. Terrible? B+? Yeah, when the Rangers pretty much dominate from minute one to minute twenty but come out behind a goal, it's terrible. Terribly sad, that is. But, hell, it happens all the time and every night in the NHL, so the Rangers better not be down from it. Rangers outshot the Habs 14-6, outhit them probably by a ratio of 3 or 4 to 1, and Montreal hardly had any time in the zone outside of that one PP. So, Kasparaitis and especially Samuelsson, thanks a lot for blowing that period for us. | |
| 2nd PERIOD: | C | Started out just fine. Just like the last period, in fact, with the Rangers hitting and owning the play, but then very quietly the game turned decisively the other way somewhere between 5 and 10 minutes in. Rangers started making numerous bad passes and turnovers, couldn't get much going offensively and seemed frustrated. The 4th line continues to impress, really having the most scoring chances of any line. | |
| 3rd PERIOD: | C- | Rangers turned it on late, down 3-0. Yipee. Mistakes, penalties and a lack of effort from half the roster. | |
| OVERALL: | D+ | Really, really pathetic.
This was a very big game for December against a team that's almost certain
to be fighting for one of the last playoff spots come March and April,
and half the team didn't show up! Maybe the Rangers were just saving us
time, telling us now not to get your hopes up because they won't be in
contention for anything but a lottery pick come March and April. They keep
playing like this and that's sure to happen.
What's really frustrating is, Rangers loaded with injuries and a patchwork roster, but WHO were those players who took the night off or made a ton of mistakes? Messier, Dvorak, Nedved, Malakhov and Samuelsson! Not Bouchard. Not Tibbetts or Dwyer. Not Josh Green or Richard Lintner. Veterans and offensive "talents" were the culprits! That's just so lame. I am SO sick of waiting for Dvorak to "pitch in" on this team! Getting real tired of Messier's cold fish performances of late. It was just a real ugly way to lose - Rangers owned the first 25-30 minutes of the game but fell behind, Trottier panics, a few veterans make big mistakes or can't get through, and the Rangers lose a big game they outshot the other team in 42-23, thanks to the efforts and lack of efforts of only a few people. |
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| 2002-2003 record: | 35GP | 13-17-4-1 | 31PTS | 87GF | 112GA | ||
| 2001-2002 record: | 35GP | 18-13-2-2 | 40PTS | 101GF | 100GA | ||
| Scratches: | Pavel Bure (knee)
Rico Fata (healthy) Brian Leetch (bruised foot) Sylvain Lefevbre (broken finger) Dale Purinton (bruised foot) |
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| created by: | Pete Rocha, © 2002. procha@optonline.net | ||
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