Report Card: PHI 2 @ NYR 1 OT
Saturday - November 08, 2003
| 11/08/03 | 1 |
2 |
3 |
OT |
F |
 |
0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
2 |
 |
1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
1 |
|
Goalie
|
GA/SH
|
Grade
|
Comments
|
| Mike
Dunham #30, G |
2/32 | B+ | Very sharp 1st period. Seemed to anticipate and be in
position for every shot a second before it arrived. Even though he faced
the same amount of shots in the 2nd, the quality of the shots was much
higher. ENORMOUS save with about 3 minutes left with a wide open Flyer
receiving a pass right in front of Mike, deked to the left and Dunham
slid out at the last second with a brilliant save. Both goals, 3rd
period and OT respectively, weren't bad let ins. The PP goal by Amonte
was brilliantly placed, and the OT goal Dunham did all he could on.
Very strong game, easily would've been a regulation loss if not for
Mike. |
| Jussi Markkanen #40, G |
0/0 |
(DNP) | |
|
Defenseman
|
Ice Time
|
Grade
|
Comments
|
| Brian Leetch #2, LD |
24:53 | B- | He's not looking bad,
but very unspectacular. Sure, he still needs time to get back in game
form from his long injury, but besides decent enough defense, about all
he's doing is noteworthy is keeping the puck in on the PP point. Way too
hesitant on the PP. On the ice for the OT winner. |
| Tom Poti #3, RD |
23:51 | B- | Took a slashing call
early in the 3rd which allowed the Flyers to tie the game. I didn't see
the slash, though I'm not denying it happened. However, see Messier's
column for the true culprit on this play. Regardless, I know the Rangers
are Team Defense this season, but I still want to see Poti make
something happen now and then, and he hasn't been doing it at all. Made
a few nice defensive plays in the 3rd, one to hustle back hard to
neutralize a 2-on-1, one to disrupt Brashear on a breakaway. |
| Vladimir
Malakhov #23, LD |
18:15 | B | Jeez, only half a windup and he ripped a slap shot
past Hackett from about 20 feet. Perfect aim, couldn't have picked a
better spot. Played a tough, strong game overall, in fact. Him and
Kaspar were the best defensemen today. +1. |
| Boris Mironov #29, RD |
20:05 | C | Playing well enough until OT when he was caught in a moment of indecision on the Flyers' game winner. Made a break towards the far side of the net, stopped, leaving Ragnarsson open on the post where Boris should've been for the goal. |
| Darius
Kasparaitis #6, LD |
17:03 | B | Made a weak reversal behind the net which was
instantly grabbed by a Flyer and turned into a dangerous moment or two.
Give him credit, though, threw big (and fun) hits and played mean all
afternoon. This is what Kasparaitis is here for. In tough, mean division
games where the physical play is important, he needs to step up and he
did. |
| Greg de Vries #4, RD |
17:20 | B- | In a huge game like this
I wanted to see a bit more from Greg. Didnt' play poorly at all, but
could've been a lot tougher and meaner. |
|
Forward
|
Ice Time
|
Grade
|
Comments
|
| Bobby
Holik #16, C |
21:17 | B- | Considering the relatively strong season he's had, I was expecting to see a bit more from Holik today. He wasn't bogged down with a checking assignment, so that's no excuse. Finally seemed to pick up his game in the 3rd period... on one or two shifts, anyway. Holik is the type of player I hold up to higher standards in games like today's, and his effort was a little less than it should've been. Still outplayed the other three centers on the team, but that's not saying much. |
| Martin Rucinsky #26, LW |
19:05 | B | He took a bad penalty in
the 1st, but that was still one of the best periods I've seen him have
all season. Constantly involved in the play, hitting, swarming around
the net and had 3 shots in the first frame alone. Led the team with 5
shots total. Good game. |
| Eric
Lindros #88, RW |
19:56 | B | Strong game on the wing. Extremely fiesty and
probably led the team in hits, or was right up there with Kaspar,
anyway. His offense was WAY off, but that had to be expected after 7
games on the shelf. Had the game on his stick with under a minute left
but spiked the rolling puck well wide. No shots. Put him back at center,
Glen! |
| Petr Nedved #93, C |
19:47 | C | Rarely seems to excel in tight, physical games, and didn't look so hot today, either. Case in point: 9 shots vs. Carolina on Thursday, 1 shot today. Ineffective. |
| Matthew
Barnaby #36, LW |
17:12 | B- | Pretty strong game. Seemed into it with the hitting
and after the whistle stuff. |
| Alexei Kovalev #27, RW |
19:31 | C | Weak 1st period, "weak"
being the keyword. Lost a few board battles, seemed to want to keep away
from anything physical. Picked up his play in the final minutes, but I
thought he had a very rough afternoon. Constantly seemed to be on his
ass, and as strong as he is, didn't once seem to use his strength like
we know he can. He must be injured to some degree, but that still
doesn't excuse today. |
| Mark
Messier #11, C |
18:30 | D | 2-on-1 with Carter at the end of a PK, Messier was
undecided and the puck just rolled off his stick at the end. Ug-ly.
Beginning of the 3rd period Leetch about 5 feet behind his blueline
passes up to Messier, Messier - and I don't know HOW the hell this
happened - pushed the puck right back into the Rangers zone right onto
Kapanen's stick, who split Leetch and Poti for a mini-break and forced
Poti to take a penalty. Big faceoff in the Flyer zone with 11 seconds
left in a 1-1 game, lost in cleanly. Is this how it's going to be now? |
| Chris Simon #17, LW |
17:25 | C | Something seemed wrong
with him today. Did a lot of standing around and NOT a lot of hitting.
Injured? Got a good chance on a point blank shot in the 2nd, but that
was his only shot of the day. |
| Anson
Carter #22, RW |
19:14 | B | Got off two FULL windup slap shots on net by the 5
minute mark of the 1st. I always like that - take the shot when you have
it. Early in the 2nd made a pair of bad turnovers at his blueline, but
then late in the period had the hit of the game, completely leveling an
unaware Flyer behind his own net, which was a very important hit with
the Flyers totally dominating the period to that point. 3 shots. One of
the few Rangers without blame this afternoon. |
| Jamie Lundmark #21, C |
2:55 | x |
The
4th line wasn't played this afternoon - at ALL, basically - so I can't
criticize Lundmark or any of his linemates for being invisible. |
| Dale
Purinton #5, LW |
2:26 | x | Well, about 7 minutes into the game he did what he
was put in the line up to do - fight The Donald. And it was kind of a
lame fight, too. Both players bear hugged and threw rabbit punches at
the backs of each other's heads. If this were wrestling, Dale would get
1 extra point for the end-of-fight takedown. Only had 2 other shifts the
entire game. |
| Dan Lacouture #39, RW |
2:58 | x | See Lundmark's column. |
|
|
|||
| COACHING STAFF: | D- | No no no no no no no... no! NO LINDROS ON WING
ANYMORE! C'mon, Glen! The guy was playing fine at center. Another thing,
why re-arrange EVERY line on the roster? If you want Purinton in there
to combat the Flyers' Brashear and Federouk, very simple: Moore out,
Purinton in. But, instead, every line today was together for the first
time this season. Another thing, the Flyers have one big 'n tough line,
their fourth. There was no need to change all four of the Rangers lines
because of one Flyers line. Played a 3-line game all afternoon, and I realize the 4th line was rather weak in personnel, but that just goes back to the points above. Why MAKE a weak 4th line when he didn't have to? Also, with the Flyers owning the game from the 2nd period on, never called a time out. No excuses, a rotten job by Sather today. |
|
| |
|||
| 1st PERIOD: | A- | Very nice. At first I was a little concerned as
nearly every time a Ranger got the puck in the NZ, a Flyer was already
there to break it up, but the Rangers kept hitting, dumped it in when
they had to and Flyers weakened in center ice, making the last 5-8
minutes heavily in favor of the Rangers. No lack of hitting or desire so
far. Defense was very sharp, too. Shots 13-9 Rangers. |
|
| 2nd PERIOD: | C- | Oh brother. The Rangers
had angels on their shoulders this period. The first 13-15 minutes was
all Flyers, and I mean ALLLL Flyers. Of those 15 minutes, about 1 of
them were probably spend in the Flyers end. Carter made a huge hit,
though, then the Rangers got a pair of PP's and at least left the period
with a bit of momentum. Shots were 9-4 Philly. |
|
| 3rd PERIOD: | D | Oog. Was this ugly. Even worse than the 2nd. The
Rangers hitting has stayed mostly even with the Flyers, but EVERYTHING
else has not. Watching this period, you'd think the Rangers had to
trudge through quicksand to get to the ice for the opening faceoff.
Shots were 11-4 Flyers. The less said, the better. |
|
| OVERALL: | D+ |
Are
the Flyers that much better a team than the Rangers? They sure looked
like it through the last two periods. Or did the Rangers just get worn
out? They hit pretty consistently through all three periods, but the
Flyers got to almost every single loose puck from the 20 minute mark
onward. Were it not for Carter and the Holik line, the Rangers shots on
goal would've been in the mid-teens. A "D+" might seem pretty severe for
an OT loss, but the Rangers were thoroughly, and I mean THOROUGHLY
outplayed in the final 40. They only have Dunham and luck to thank for
not getting blown out 5-1. Also, while I'm usually hesitant to credit or
blame the coach too much for the outcome, the staff did not do a good
job today. The 3 lines thing backfired on them badly and going with 4
new line combos only served to make a struggling offense struggle even
more. |
|
| Scratches: | Joel Bouchard (healthy) Pavel Bure (knee - IR) Paul Healey (knee - IR) Jan Hlavac (healthy) Dominic Moore (healthy) Pascal Rheaume (knee - IR) |
||
| created by: | Pete Rocha, © 2003. procha@optonline.net | ||
| Discuss the card here | |||
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