Report Card: NYI 3 @ NYR 4
Thursday - December 18, 2003
| 12/18/03 | 1 |
2 |
3 |
OT |
F |
 |
1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | |
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2 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
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Goalie
|
GA/SH
|
Grade
|
Comments
|
| Mike
Dunham #30, G |
3/26 | A- | He keeps talking about the bad bounces and that was
as bad as they get. Dunham was playing Blake's angle and he quickly
centered it while falling to the ice, off Poti's skates from 8 feet out
and into a wide open net. Looked pretty good in the 1st, but didn't
have much work. Only faced 6 shots in the 2nd but one of them was a
great sliding save. 3rd period... NOW he's getting work, and made a few
fantastic saves to keep the Islanders down when they could've grabbed
some early momentum. A few got in late in the 3rd but both were point
blank shots from wide open Islanders. Overall, not asked for too much
in the first two periods but Dunham was extremely important in the 3rd.
I'm wavering between a B+ and A-, but since one goal was a fluke and
the other two nearly unstoppable, I'll go with the A-. |
| Jussi Markkanen #40, G |
0/0 |
(DNP) | |
|
Defenseman
|
Ice Time
|
Grade
|
Comments
|
| Brian Leetch #2, LD |
24:11 | B- | 1st period on the PP
point, Leetch's SPECAILTY, he seemed to have a whole lot of trouble
keeping the puck in and controlling it. Very nice play in the 2nd, wide
open wing, comes down the outside, spins around and centers a
backhanded pass that Barnaby converted. It was odd, the whole night
Leetch would make a good play then the very next minute look like he
just came back after 30 games off with bobbling pucks and slow
decisions. Several times Islanders isolated on Leetch got him to drop
easily and skated right around Brian. Strange. If it weren't for his
great play in the 2nd, Leetch would be in the 'C-' range. |
| Tom Poti #3, RD |
21:19 | A- | Must've been a great
keep-in on the PP point in the 1st period as Poti jumped in the air to
grab it and it seemed like the entire crowed gasped, then applauded.
The Islanders first goal came off Poti's stick and skates as Blake
centered it quickly while falling down. Tough break, but Tom, baby,
instead just get your legs and stick OUT OF THE WAY instead of trying
to play it. 3rd period on the PP, Poti and Lindros with a give-and-go
that saw Poti dart to the net and tip it in. He also played very tough
defensively with a few hits and constant hard checking. Besides that
fluke goal, Poti had a teriffic game. |
| Vladimir
Malakhov #23, LD |
19:15 | B | Took a tripping penalty in the 2nd, but the replays
ESPN had didn't really show clearly whether Vlad made the infraction or
the Islander just skated into his stick. Ended up with 5 shots on goal.
Where they hell did those come from? I remember one, maybe two. |
| Greg de Vries #4, RD |
18:03 | B+ | Awesome hit on Jason
Blake just outside the blueline knocking him to the ice and drawing a
retailiation penalty. de Vries was a tough pain in the ass all night
and played a good one. |
| Darius
Kasparaitis #6, LD |
16:18 | B+ | He was a force in the 1st. About four big hits
knocking Islanders to the ice, two within 5 seconds of each other.
Darius was very good all night. Games like this with a lot of emotion,
big hits are very important and Kaspar provided 'em. |
| Joel Bouchard #74, RD |
18:17 | B | Wasn't incredibly
noticable but he did play his checks tough the several times I did see
him. He's a great 7th defenseman to have, someone who can jump right in
and play a strong game without realizing he isn't a regular. |
|
Forward
|
Ice Time
|
Grade
|
Comments
|
| Bobby
Holik #16, C |
19:23 | B | Here's proof the Rangers can play well without being
led by Holik. Not that Bobby was bad, he was decent at least and the
line was good, but he wasn't quite the force certain other players
were. As well, the Islanders third goal, Holik was over in no-man's
land in the corner while the Isle was wide open in front. Very good
faceoff game, though, 14 of 20. |
| Martin Rucinsky #26, LW |
21:10 | B+ | Turned on the jets
during an Islander PP in the 2nd, up the boards and broke right around
Hamrlik who had to hook the hell out of Rucinsky to stop the shot.
Should have been a penalty shot. Ruckinsky was the best Ranger in the
3rd period with several near-goals and 4 shots in the period. 6 shots
overall. |
| Alexei
Kovalev #27, RW |
22:13 | B | Alex was busy tonight even if he only had one shot.
Very involved in the play, but then, with that much ice time of course
you're going to notice him a lot. A few touchy moments, too, but Alex
played hard. |
| Petr Nedved #93, C |
16:03 | B | Even just 12 minutes
into the game Snow hotdogged several saves with dramatic poses and I
swear he was going for another show off move when he didn't close his
glove enough on the puck, it dropped and Nedved fought through a good
stick check to put it in. 2nd period Nedved was open 5 feet up in the
slot and just MISSED IT. ARGH. In fact, his earlier goal was his only
credited shot of the night, but Petr played well enough in all three
zones where he wasn't a detriment. |
| Jan
Hlavac #37, LW |
11:15 | B | Made a nice pass to Carter for the 2-on-1 setup. And,
ehhh, what else? I don't know what else. I got nuthin'. Played pretty
hard, though. |
| Anson Carter #22, RW |
14:42 | B | 2-on-1 chance with
Hlavac midway through the 2nd, Carter took just a second too long in
setting up the shot which ended up hitting the side of the net. Okay
game, although he ended up with no shots. This whole line was about the
same. Not bad, not great. |
| Eric
Lindros #88, C |
16:38 | A- | Started off the Rangers third goal with a great flip
pass to the open wing where Leetch was. Several times tonight looked
like the old Lindros who sets up in the slot and one times monster slap
shots. Excellent pass on the give and go with Poti for the game winner.
The guy was making plays almost every time he touched the puck. |
| Chris Simon #17, LW |
14:01 | B | Eh. This line was quite
good, especially forechecking and against the boards, but I can't say
Simon had a huge impact otherwise. No shots. |
| Matthew
Barnaby #36, RW |
13:15 | B | The fortunate recipient of Leetch's spin-o-rama
centering pass. Snow was out of position, Barnaby redirected it in.
Barnaby's goal was important to set the 2nd period tone, but he didn't
exactly have a huge game, although the line worked very hard. |
| Mark Messier #11, C |
11:00 | B+ |
Gorgeous
move around Peca right at the edge of the blueline on the Rangers PP.
Peca was sliding, Messier pushed the puck ahead of him, waited until
Peca slid by and picked it back up. His effort here must've paid off
with good karma as later in the period Snow, MacDonald and an Islander
locked up about 5 feet to the side of the net and Messier had a
completely wide open net and no goalie in sight for the easiest goal of
his career. Did my eyes decieve me or did Messier throw a HIT in the
2nd period? Probably his first of the season. Messier with one of his
strongest and most active games of the season, easy. |
| Dan
Lacouture #39, LW |
8:43 | C | Isles second goal Dan was too slow in getting to his
check who was wide open to put it in. With Rheaume about to come back
and the decent Ortmeyer hanging around, I expect to see Lacouture in
the crowd next game. |
| Jason MacDonald #43, RW |
7:45 | B | Great play to set up the
second Ranger goal. Deflected a cross pass between Islander defensemen
with a quick stick, drove in on Snow and got locked up with him leaving
a wiiiiiiide open net for Messier to push it in. |
|
|
|||
| COACHING STAFF: | B | Everyone was going completely freakin' berserk about the ice times after the Toronto game. Yeah, the ice times were certainly a problem, but people were focusing on them a bit TOO much, in my opinion. Anyway, they weren't a problem tonight. | |
| |
|||
| 1st PERIOD: | A- | Very well played period by the Rangers that lost some
of it's luster with a very unlucky Islander goal with about 30 seconds
left. Hopefully that doesn't get into the Rangers heads as they played
a monster period. Every line skated hard and worked hard, lots of hits,
out-chanced the Isles probably 10-2 and outshot them 14-8. |
|
| 2nd PERIOD: | A | Absolutely phenomenal
period by the Rangers despite the goals "only" being 1-0 in their
favor. Not only didn't they let the late fluke goal bother them, they
completely dominated about 18 minutes of the period. It was almost
comical at times watching the Rangers forecheck and keep the puck in
the Isles zone for minute long stretches several times. Islander
scoring chances? One. Mmmaybe two. Lookin' great. Shots 10-6 Rangers. |
|
| 3rd PERIOD: | B- | It looked a little shakey at first as the Isles
controlled the first two minutes and had a few good chances, but the
Rangers settled down, got a few PP's by being disciplined and played at
least as well as the Isles, if not better, the rest of the way. The
Isles got two late on a slow check from Lacouture and a total bungling
of assingments on the third, but 4-2 with 4 minutes left, I'll take
that every time. |
|
| OVERALL: | A- |
Probably
the best game the Rangers have played all season. Yeah, the Isles came
on hard with 4 minutes left and the Rangers were VERY sloppy in the
final 240 seconds, but up until then they played a game where there
wasn't a single slacker on the roster. Everyone played hard and
disciplined. Eh, who am I kidding? People will still complain about the
last 4 minutes, I'm sure. Look, 4-1 late in a game, even the best teams
of all-time are going to ease up. DO NOT let that take away from what
was an incredibly important game for the Rangers, who played about 45
dominating minutes, 10 good ones and 5 poorly. In the first two
periods, the Rangers showed how good a team they can be when motivated.
No, not as good as the upper 5-8 teams in the league, but quite a bit
better than any of the playoff bubble squads. Saturday night in Ottawa
is next. |
|
| Scratches: | Pavel Bure (knee - IR) Jamie Lundmark (knee - IR) Boris Mironov (suspended - game 2 of 2) Dale Purinton (healthy) Pascal Rheaume (knee - IR) |
||
| created by: | Pete Rocha, © 2003. procha@optonline.net | ||
| Discuss the card here | |||
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