Hockeybird.com: Bizarro Rangers

Bizarro Rangers

Friday - October 31, 2003

Vladimir Malakhov plays a strong game at both ends of the ice. Anson Carter pots a goal with a deft touch in front of the net. Jamie Lundmark plays like an up and coming star and earns a goal and an assist for his efforts. Petr Nedved scores, on the power play. Bizarro New York Rangers hockey 2004-2003: Hockey Am Not Different Here.

Newsday sums last night's pre-Halloween madness best when they say, "[Bizarro]Vladimir Malakhov and [Bizarro] Boris Mironov, whipping boys for the first couple of weeks of the season, formed the best defense pair on the ice."

The Journal News, today actually finds a different angle from, "OMG! The Rangers scored a power play goal!" by discussing Lundmark's excellent play last night. Lundmark made the most of the extra ice time he was given after Simon's ejection. Holik, in discussing Lundmark's progression, had the following to say: "I told him he needs to focus on what his game is. That's skating and shooting. We all have defensive responsibilities, but when he has the puck, he needs to drive his feet and shoot.''

The Journal News also has my favorite Sather quote of the night. Discussing the misconduct handed to Simon after his hit on Erik Cole, Sather said, "This guy goes down like he's shot. I thought they were going to have to bring out the ambulance from Seventh Avenue to get him off the ice. He didn't even fake it very well, he's back out there the next shift for the power play."

Also, in that same article are the following notes of interest: "One day after promoting Chad Wiseman from Hartford (AHL), the 22-year-old forward was returned in favor of 23-year-old center Dominic Moore, the Rangers' top forward prospect. ... Barnaby needed six stitches after Kevyn Adams' stick hit him just above the left eye at 13:16 of the first period." Apparently that cut to Barnaby went straight to the bone. And yet, he game back in and continued to work hard along the boards, earning himself an assist.

Jason Diamos in The New York Times wonders which is more rare, Bigfoot sightings, the Northern Lights, Anson Carter scoring a goal or a Rangers power play goal. "Through the Rangers' first seven games, it would have been difficult to say which had been more invisible this season: their woefully inept power play or right wing Anson Carter, who had not scored since March 19."

In today's Post, Brooks thinks Holik might be in trouble for the slew foot in the third. He knows this because he has a "very well connected source" who says no, Campbell probably wouldn't review that call and Carolina coach Paul Maurice says "we've made a big point of not talking about the officiating. There's no sense blubbering about it."

John Dellapina uses his column in the Daily News to demonstrate that he is not very good at puns with an article entitled "Power Outage Over For Rangers."

Here's the thing though -- for all of the teasing of the Rangers, I think we've been seeing something different over the last 6 games. Yes, there are still the undisciplined penalties. Yes, we still see the occasional bone headed move by this whipping boy or that one. Yes, Mark Messier is still old and the offense is struggling. But the most encouraging change I've seen in the Rangers from past seasons is that they are playing with patience. They seem to have a game plan aside from, "You guys get paid a lot -- go out there and score more goals than the other team." Despite injuries and players being ejected from games, despite questionable officiating and some bad breaks, the Rangers have kept to their plan and played a strong defensive game. As Rocha pointed out in his report card last night, the Rangers have a .667 win percentage at home and, if I'm not mistaken, they've only allowed 8 goals against in the last six games.

Sather summed it up best when he said in the Daily News, "I think we've got the basic system of the team down and they're starting to pull together as a cohesive unit. They're starting to get more confidence. They're starting to feel better about themselves."

There are no losers on the Bizarro Rangers.

Happy Halloween folks. Don't do ecstacy and run around the neighborhood naked handing out apples.