Hockeybird.com: Report Card: NYR 3 @ MIN 5

Report Card: NYR 3 @ MIN 5

Friday - October 10, 2003

10/10/03	1	2	3	OT	F
	1	2	0		3
	1	3	1		5

Goalie	GA/SH	Grade	Comments
Mike Dunham #30, G	5/19	C-	Without fault on the first goal. Stopped the initial shot but there was a Wild player wide open to bang the rebound in. Wild's second was a rip to the upper corner from in close, no goalie was stopping that. Wild's third, Dunham was cheating when the puck was being carried around the net by looking at the far side, but the puck came back to the near side and in. On the Wild's fourth, Dunham was frozen on a mini-breakaway and made Brad freakin' Bombadir look like Guy Lafleur. Fifth goal deflected in off Poti. Dunham wasn't at fault at all, but didn't look great, either. 5 goals on 19 shots stinks however you want to couch it.
Jussi Markkanen #40, G	0/0		(DNP)
Defenseman	Ice Time	Grade	Comments
Greg de Vries #4, LD	16:16	B	Can we import some more Avalanche, please? He was about the only one tonight who played well, ESPECIALLY amongst the defensemen, but on the Wild's fifth de Vries was caught up ice leading to a 2-on-1. At that point, though, Rangers down by one with 2 minutes left, I don't care if de Vries was up ice or not.
Tom Poti #3, RD	24:47	C-	Drew two PP's in the 1st. Scored on a blast to the top corner from the point in the 2nd. Shortly after undid all the good work he did in the game with a lazy giveaway in his own zone then leaving his man alone in front for a goal. The Wild's fifth deflected in off his stick, but that was just bad luck more than anything. Tom Poti giveth, Tom Poti taketh away.
Vladimir Malakhov #23, LD	19:54	D	Rangers PP, let the puck and a Wild player go by him, which forced Mironov to take a penalty. Didn't Vlad do the SAME thing in a pre-season game just last week? 2nd period, Wild on a delayed penalty, Malakhov is up in the Ranger zone forechecking like a forward! WHY?!?! ARGH!! So, of course, the Wild move the puck up ice and there's little support in the Ranger zone for a mini-breakaway goal.
Boris Mironov #29, RD	20:46	C-	Malakhov may have been the more prominent boob, but Boris was no rock of steadiness himself. On the Wild's fourth, Malakhov blew it by being WAYYY up ice, but where was Bobo in the first place? Not by the eventual goal scorer, I know that much. Made some nice moves from the point in the 3rd, got himself wide open and shot it RIGHT into the goalie. +1.
Darius Kasparaitis #6, LD	13:09	D	He was probably out of position more tonight than he was in position. Him and Bouchard were a massive train wreck. -2.
Joel Bouchard #74, RD	14:22	D	Caught running around on the Wild's first goal. Followed his man up high when there were two Rangers there already. He was out of position most of the rest of the night, too. PAINFULLY obvious that him and Kasparaitis never played together before. -2.
Forward	Ice Time	Grade	Comments
Eric Lindros #88, C	15:36	C-	Drew a 4min. minor in the 1st (extending into the 2nd) by taking a wicked stick in the mush. Didn't have a great game, though. Not bad, but looked MUCH better in pre-season. A huge -3.
Martin Rucinsky #26, LW	16:07	C-	The whole line was quiet, Rucinsky probably the quietest, even though he was "only" a -2 to his linemates -3's.
Anson Carter #22, RW	14:12	C-	About 30 seconds left in the 1st, Ranger PP, BIG credit to Carter for hustling back to cover a man and eliminating a 2-on-1 before it happened. Skated pretty well, and hard, but his passes were off and he still doesn't seem in synch here.
Petr Nedved #93, C	23:10	C+	A bit quiet, but one of the better Rangers. Wisely threw the puck at the net in the 1st and Hlavac tipped it in. Surprisingly a +2 when most Rangers were even or minus.
Jan Hlavac #37, LW	22:17	B-	Surprising goal shortly after the Wild's goal in the 1st. Nedved threw a puck on net and Hlavac got a stick on it just enough to deflect it past Hernandez. A few good scoring chances went wide or didn't get enough on them. Played pretty hard, though.
Alexei Kovalev #27, RW	23:00	C-	His ability to carry the puck through a trap stands out large against a team like the Wild. He was one of the few able to carry the puck in. Kovalev also made a number of careless passes, though, and absolutely DID NOT PLAY HARD. He is just no where near as dynamic or noticable in a Ranger uniform than he was in a Pens uni. Why??
Bobby Holik #16, C	18:36	C	Wasn't much of a presence on the power play, but then, how is he supposed to be when Nedved, Hlavac and Kovalev keep playing catch with each other around the perimeter? .
Dan Lacouture #39, LW	10:15	C	A little more quiet than his linemates, but not really from lack of effort. He's just not as talented.
Jamie Lundmark #21, RW	10:56	C+	Pretty good game, I thought. Nothing major, but good puck control and passing and didn't seem to make any major mistakes.
Mark Messier #11, C	12:46	B-	His whole line seemed to be running around on the Wild's first. None more particularly guilty than the other, but it certainly left me with an impression - Messier/Simon/Barnaby could be a defensive nightmare all season. Made a nice play on the Poti goal by winning the faceoff cleanly and going to the front of the net, which certainly helped in distracting the goalie for Poti's blast. Got to give them credit, this was one of the better lines offensively tonight. Yes, THIS line was.
Chris Simon #17, LW	9:27	B-	That's the way to do it. If you have a shot, TAKE IT. Simon did, puck goes off Fernandez's arm, off Brad Brown's butt and in. The goal was later credited to Barnaby, but Barnaby had nothing to do with it.
Matthew Barnaby #36, RW	9:38	B-	Played decently, though Messier and Simon both seemed to be making more plays and around the puck more often. Credited with a goal, but really didn't have anything to do with it. Looked like it deflected off of a Wild player. Came out of the game with a shiny +2.

COACHING STAFF:		C	Uh... well. What to say here? Nothing tonight was really a coaching problem, just a lot of mistakes by individuals. Jussi should get the start tomorrow night.

1st PERIOD:		B-	Started off looking good with tight defense in the neutral zone and were constantly (and surprisingly) dumping the puck in instead of trying to force it. Problem was, they weren't getting any shots and the Wild started to outwork them after a while. Rangers had four power plays - the first two were miserable but the last two provided some chances. Were being outshot 8-1 at one point, but thanks to the power plays the Rangers ended up with the edge, 10-9. JD commented that they looked a bit nervous, a fair assessment.
2nd PERIOD:		C-	1:37 of a remaining PP and a new one a few minutes later - again, brutal. Out of nowhere the Rangers come up with two unexpected goals by clogging the front of the net. And then...? A collapse of SPECTACULAR proportions. The Rangers looked like they were killing a 10 minute penalty for the last half of the period. Horrendous defensive mistakes, sloppy passing, stopped skating, constantly pinned in their zone, etc. Awful. The Minnesota Wild generally score 3 goals in a week, not a period.
3rd PERIOD:		C	Rangers dominated the period but the Wild shut the doors and just chipped everything out for 20 minutes. This offense is just not at all on the same page yet. Good forechecking, but couldn't generate many chances from it.
OVERALL:		D	Even if it was opening night, this was a bad, bad, bad loss. For one, when you have the Minnesota Wild down 3-1 in the 2nd, especially without Gaborik and Dupuis, absolute worst that happens should be a tie. Second, the Rangers had seven power plays and didn't score on a single one. SEVEN. The Rangers had moments in this game, especially using their size to forecheck and control the puck along the boards, but there were SO many individual mistakes I've run out of adjectives to describe "sloppy". Now they have to face a Columbus team the next night that's always a pain in the ass, possibly looking at an 0-2 record for the home opener. Oh, joy! Fun, fun, fun.
Scratches:			Pavel Bure (knee- IR) Sheldon Keefe (healthy) Brian Leetch (ankle - IR) Dale Purinton (healthy) Mike Siklenka (healthy)
created by:			Pete Rocha, © 2003. procha@optonline.net
			Discuss the card here

Posted by pete at October 10, 2003 11:16 PM
eMail this entry!

Comments

Poti deserves an F. He's a disaster, and completely over-rated. He was responsible for two of the Wild goals, after all.

I still don't get why folks think he's the next Scott Niedermayer. He's too much of a liability.

Posted by: Scott on October 11, 2003 10:28 AM

Once again Messier carries the laundry and still gets killed by people who say hes to old. When will they learn?

Posted by: Tommy on October 11, 2003 04:41 PM