Report Card: ATL 0 @ NYR 0
Thursday - October 16, 2003
| 10/16/03 | 1 |
2 |
3 |
OT |
F |
 |
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
0 |
 |
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
|
Goalie
|
GA/SH
|
Grade
|
Comments
|
| Mike
Dunham #30, G |
0/30 | A | A pair of enormous saves on partial breakaways in the
1st kept the Rangers stable until they took control of the period. Had
a shaky moment in the 2nd where he hung onto the puck too long outside
of his crease, but no matter, Dunham really stole the second period
with no spectacular saves but at least half a dozen good ones. Also did
some excellent work in the 3rd and OT. Definitely on the top of his
game and was VERY deservingly named the games 1st star. Dunham only has
an "average" game and the Rangers lose 2-0 or 3-0. |
| Jussi Markkanen #40, G |
0/0 |
(DNP) | |
|
Defenseman
|
Ice Time
|
Grade
|
Comments
|
| Greg de
Vries #4, LD |
27:56 | B+ | The 1st period back pass de Vries couldn't control was Messier's fault. Also took a slashing penalty on the same shift (the first shift of the game) but I never saw it. Excellent penalty killing work - just a smart player who knows where to be and how to get the puck away from opposing players. Basically played half the game and finished even. |
| Tom Poti #3, RD |
27:43 | B | Nice defensive play on a
quickly rushing Kovalchuk, 1st period - poked the puck away and took
the body out. He's got to learn to keep his head up on dumps behind the
net because I've seen him get wrecked three or four times back there
already this season. Along with de Vries, played almost half of the
game without any major errors., which is a good performance against a
fast and tenacious Thrasher team. |
| Vladimir
Malakhov #23, LD |
20:08 | C | The M&M's were fine tonight. Good, even. Moved
the puck quickly and smartly and played like they (gasp) cared.
Although, Vlad really tried to do things in for the Rangers
singlehandedly with 6 minutes in high sticking minors in the 3rd period
alone! |
| Boris Mironov #29, RD |
22:47 | B | See above, but was a few
notches better than his partner just for not taking the penalties. Also
played tough around the net. A few good offensive chances, too. |
| Darius
Kasparaitis #6, LD |
15:10 | B | He was running around a bit, though not TOO far out
of place. Someone should put one of those toddler leashes on him. A few
good hits. |
| Joel Bouchard #74, RD |
14:48 | B+ | Did a spectacular job on
a 3rd period 5-on-3 PK blocking the passing lanes and staying in
position on what seemed like an endless shift. Very strong game overall
at both ends. |
|
Forward
|
Ice Time
|
Grade
|
Comments
|
| Eric
Lindros #88, C |
19:01 | B- | A few good hits in the game and led the team with 4
shots. Played a bit better than his linemates, but that isn't saying a
whole lot. I also don't like Lindros on the PK. Takes him too long to
get moving from a dead stop. |
| Martin Rucinsky #26, LW |
16:22 | C+ | He is a quiet,
background type player in general, but it seems like the game can go
for 15-20 minute stretches without hearing his name once. |
| Anson
Carter #22, RW |
17:31 | C+ | Still seems off his game with missed passes or
fumbled shots, but he is around or with the puck a LOT, which is more
than I can say of Rucinsky. |
| Petr Nedved #93, C |
20:41 | B | Pretty good game, but
like all of his teammates doesn't seem to have much flow going
offensively yet. His shots are either going wide or hitting the goalie,
and as the center of a very talented line, they should produce a lot
more chances than they have. Good PK'ing by Petr. |
| Jan
Hlavac #37, LW |
13:31 | B | I've been surprised how Hlavac is both taking and
giving hits so far, something I don't really remember of him last time
around. Drew an important 3rd period PP with hustle. 3 shots. |
| Alexei Kovalev #27, RW |
17:57 | B- | Had a shift in the 3rd
period where he used his strength and talent to control the puck along
the offensive boards like only he can, and generally turned up his
level of play... Finally, nine periods into the season! Was rewarded
with the 3rd star of the game, why I don't know. |
| Bobby
Holik #16, C |
12:57 | C | Called for goalie interference during a 5-on-3 PP in the 1st. Quite a quiet game. Maybe a hit or two, 2 shots, 5/13 on faceoffs. This line in general was rather unnoticable. |
| Dan Lacouture #39, LW |
7:15 | C- | Had a very unremarkable game until he skated hard to catch a loose puck in the neutral zone and crashed into the boards after his scoring chance late in the 3rd. I was going to predict he'll be taken out of the lineup for the next game anyway, now it seems even more likely. |
| Jamie
Lundmark #21, RW |
12:00 | C | Nice penalty killing shifts, skated pretty hard, but still seems to have a case of stone hands "rookieitis" with the puck. Only one of three Rangers without a shot. |
| Mark Messier #11, C |
15:36 | C- |
Awful
play about 30 seconds into the game with an ill-advised and too soft
backpass to de Vries which sent the Thrashers on a good scoring chance.
Commited a plethora of bad passes and turnovers as the night went on.
Skated well enough but he's just too lazy with his passing. |
| Chris
Simon #17, LW |
9:23 | B- | A pair of large hits in the 1st. Good along the
boards, too. It's near impossible to move him. Always seemed to do
something decent when he did have the puck. |
| Matthew Barnaby #36, RW |
10:11 | D | Couldn't have been any
more invisible if he tried. Barnaby has been a major disappointment
this season. He's just not bringing much to the ice right now. |
|
|
|||
| COACHING STAFF: | C | Why in the hell would you start your slowest and worst line, Messier's, at the start of every period when the players are refreshed and rested?! Seemed to take Kovalev off the PP point earlier (yay!) but he was back up there later on in the game. | |
| |
|||
| 1st PERIOD: | B | Certainly no lack of skating by the Rangers this
period. Great hustle and constant motion instead of standing around and
waiting. Avoided a huge bullet by killing off a Thrasher PP about a
minute into the period. If anything was wrong, Rangers made a healthy
number of offensive zone turnovers and wide shots. Still, if they
continue to play like this they should win. Shots 10-6 Rangers. |
|
| 2nd PERIOD: | C- | Well, they stopped
skating. Almost completely. The only thing that saved this period from
being a total disaster is even though the Rangers weren't skating, they
didn't run around too badly and leave their checks open, either.
Terribly soft period, though. The Rangers are incredibly fortunate and
also have Dunham to thank for not giving up any goals this period.
Shots were a mammoth 14-3 in favor of Atlanta. |
|
| 3rd PERIOD: | B+ | The period of special teams. Rangers killed off a
near full two minute 5-on-3 PP and a consecutive 5-on-4 at the
beginning of the period, then killed off a big one late that occupied
the final two minutes. They did have three PP's of their own in between
those and while they got a few chances, you'd like to see them bury a
tie game on one of those. Rangers had the 10-7 edge in shots. Overtime was mostly controlled by the Rangers with several great chances and the 6-3 shot advantage. |
|
| OVERALL: | B |
Not
exactly the huge impact everyone was looking for, but it's good enough
for now, especially considering they gave up 5 goals PER GAME against
this team last season. The penalty killing was near outstanding, it's
still the offense that has almost no flow to it yet. Which is why,
overall, this was a positive game. The offense should come around at
some point - if they take care of their own end this well (and Dunham
plays at least near this level) - they'll start winning. That's the
question with this team, though. Was tonight a highly inspired effort
after those two bad losses and a Sather scream-fest, or was it more of
the level we should expect this season? I guess we'll find out. |
|
| 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 | |||
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