Report Card: NYR 2 @ CAR 3
Thursday - January 08, 2004
| 01/08/04 | 1 |
2 |
3 |
OT |
F |
 |
1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | |
 |
0 | 3 | 0 | 3 |
|
Goalie
|
GA/SH
|
Grade
|
Comments
|
| Mike
Dunham #30, G |
3/23 | C- | Couldn't have asked for a much easier period than the
1st. Of those 7 shots maybe two were at least "decent", if that. Dunham
seems pretty sharp, though. 'Canes first goal, not too pretty. Dunham
was on his knees waiting for the shot, a backhander from a bad angle
that got in. Second goal, a wrist shot from between the circles than
NHL.com lists as coming from 34 ft. out. Third goal (yes, this is still
the 2nd period!) Dunham couldn't close his hand on a point shot, the
rebound comes back out, Dunham throws his body to the post but Vasicek
still slides the puck in. It's like Dunham is going to the positions
and angles he should be at but isn't watching the puck, like he's just
hoping it hits him! Good God. This guy is REALLLLLY fragile right now.
Sam Rosen absolutely GUSHED over a Dunham save in the 3rd but on the
replay it really wasn't clear if Mike got it or it was just shot wide. This game was a PERFECT microcosm of Dunham's last two and a half months. When the Rangers are playing good defense and keeping the shots to the outside, Dunham looks fine. Then again, the Rangers could call someone up from the ECHL and he'd look fine under the same circumstances. But when the Rangers need Dunham to do a little bailing out for them, IT AIN'T HAPPENING. Blame it on whatever you want, the guy just loses games constantly and once again his save percentage is under .900 on the night. I'd almost say he needs to go to the minors and work his game out for a while. The "C-" to the left is awfully close to a "D+". |
| Jussi Markkanen #40, G |
0/0 |
(DNP) | |
|
Defenseman
|
Ice Time
|
Grade
|
Comments
|
| Brian Leetch #2, LD |
27:31 | C- | Seemed a little more
fiesty than usual in the 1st. That didn't last long as Leetch was out
there for two goals against in the 2nd. Then when the Rangers needed
him in the 3rd, it just wasn't there. Remember, this is Brian Leetch
here, one of the best offensive defenseman to ever play the game.
Another subpar effort from one of the Rangers that should be leading
the way. -2. |
| Tom Poti #3, RD |
23:19 | C+ | Some bad plays, some good plays. That's about all I got. -1, 2 shots. |
| Vladimir
Malakhov #23, LD |
16:19 | C- | Bad timing for a penalty, 1-1 in the 2nd period and the 'Canes coming on for the last 10 minutes. -2. |
| Boris Mironov #29, RD |
20:35 | C | Faked out pretty badly
on the 'Canes first. And come to think of it, when was the last time
Boris really hit someone or played a mean game. Seems to have been a
while. -1. |
| Darius
Kasparaitis #6, LD |
20:52 | B- | I've got nothing here, really. Didn't notice anything
bad nor good. Yet another minus defenseman. In fact, all five were
except for... sniff... see below. |
| Greg de Vries #4, RD |
6:34 | x | Holding the stick call
late in the 1st. Left the game in the 2nd with a knee injury, MRI
tomorrow. Oh, c'mon Hockey Gods!! Not de Vries!! With a +1 tonigght the
guy is freakin' +17 and one of the few consistent players on the entire
team, practically holding the defense together by himself!! No no no no
no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no
no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no. |
|
Forward
|
Ice Time
|
Grade
|
Comments
|
| Bobby
Holik #16, C |
16:51 | D+ | The Canes third goal was all started by a terrible
turnover by Holik just inside his own blueline. Yap yap yap, right
Bobby? The emperor wears no clothes tonight. Who are you, Kovalev? 1
shot, -1, 50% on faceoffs. Nowhere near good enough. |
| Martin Rucinsky #26, LW |
19:27 | C- | Rucinsky is usually a
solid but quiet performer but I noticed his 3rd period being very
sloppy while the rest of the team picked it up, capped off with a bad
hooking penalty midway through the period. No shots. |
| Alexei
Kovalev #27, RW |
16:12 | B- | Eh. Touchy interference call on Kovalev midway
through the 1st. Technically it's a penalty but I'd guess you'd see
similar infractions uncalled 7 of every 10 times. 3rd period, took a
nice shot on the PP and followed that up by finding the rebound and
putting it in the empty side. Wide open or not, kind of shocking he
didn't miss it. Picked his game up noticably in the 3rd period. |
| Petr Nedved #93, C |
19:01 | C- | -1, one shot and lazy
play. Great game, Petr! Why even show up tonight? |
| Chad
Wiseman #15, LW |
9:41 | C | A mostly inconspicuous debut. Couldn't seem to do
much
of anything. Didn't make any mistakes that I noticed, but also seemed a
bit out of his league fumbling with the puck and unable to handle
passes. Did make a few nice plays in the 3rd, a big hit on Ward behind
his net then later breaking up a 2-on-1 after an awful Leetch giveaway
in the NZ. |
| Anson Carter #22, RW |
16:24 | B- | Moved to the PP point,
of all things. Picked up an assist on the Rangers opening goal (power
play) and also picked up an assist on the Rangers second (also power
play) with a nice jumping keep-in at the blue line. Hmm. Maybe they're
onto something here. |
| Eric
Lindros #88, C |
18:18 | B | Hung around the net on the PP, 1 second left in fact
when he just got the toe of his stick on a rebound in the crease and it
wobbled into the net. Probably the best Ranger tonight, and tonight
that ain't saying much. 3 shots and a +1 when nearly everyone else was
a minus. |
| Chris Simon #17, LW |
11:18 | C- | Yay, a Simon fight! It's
been a while. A good one, too. Simon looked like he could've wrecked
Boulerice if he wanted to but was too nonchalant and allowed the
Hurricane too many opportunities. Simon still won the fight, barely,
with both players landing some huge ones. Crucial 2-on-1 with Lindros
down 3-2 in the 3rd, missed the pass, which was also just a bit behind
him. In fact, missed two more opportunities in the 3rd. |
| Matthew
Barnaby #36, RW |
12:59 | C- | He's been in cruise control lately and tonight was no
different. Oh, he turned up his game late in the 3rd, including an
after the whistle snow shower on Weekes to try and get him off his
game, but what about the first two and a half periods? |
| Mark Messier #11, C |
14:05 | C- |
Good
reflexes to whack at a wide shot coming off the back boards, chipping
it on net where Lindros eventually put it in. 2nd period PP got a great
pass sitting wide open at the right post, too slow in making a move and
never got off a shot. Blah. Didn't do a damn thing in this game besides
that play in the 1st. |
| Pascal
Rheaume #20, LW |
10:41 | C | Quite an uneventful game but at least had a good PK
shift on that crucial kill in the 3rd. |
| Jed Ortmeyer #41, RW |
11:15 | B | Awesome PK shift in the
1st, two great shot blocks on point shot blasts. That's why he deserves
to be in the lineup. It's a shame that players with five times
Ortmeyer's skill play with five times less his effort. |
|
|
|||
| COACHING STAFF: | D | Markkanen has missed the last two practices with the
flu so I suppose there's nothing to be read into the decision to start
Dunham tonight. Moved Carter to the PP point, which seems like a silly
idea yet Carter picked up 2 PP assists. Why no timeout in the 3rd
period? It's time to shake things up in a major way, Glenny Boy. Your
team is floudering. |
|
| |
|||
| 1st PERIOD: | B+ | Very uneventful period. 2 power plays a piece,
Rangers scoring on one of theirs. Disciplined game by the Rangers so
far. A few times Carolina had the puck in the NYR zone for about a
minute and every Ranger stayed with their check perfectly. They seem
focused tonight... or so far, anyway. Shots 9-7 Rangers. |
|
| 2nd PERIOD: | F | That was nice. The
Hurricanes started skating and the Rangers stopped. If that wasn't
enough, Dunham's seemingly solid form in the 1st gave way to a very
shaky 2nd period. An embarassment all around. I'm not sure the Rangers
had a scoring chance in the final 15 MINUTES! This is getting
nauseating. HOW CAN YOU GIVE UP THREE GOALS TO THE OFFENSIVELY INEPT
HURRICANES IN ONE PERIOD?!?! I need a drink and ten drinks to wash that
down with. Shots 13-7 'Canes. |
|
| 3rd PERIOD: | B | Shots 7-3 Rangers. They more or less controlled the
period. But guess what? IT WAS TOO LATE! How many times have I said
"too little, too late" in 3rd periods already this season? Mumble
mumble... whatever. These good but not good enough 3rd periods are
getting tiring. |
|
| OVERALL: | D+ |
I
know, if you average out a B+ a B and an F it certainly doesn't equal a
D+, but tonight's game really annoyed me. This team is one big headcase
and now I'm really starting to tire of it. Dunham is a flake, the team
is schizophrenic, constantly trading awful periods with great ones...
there's just NO REASON they should be this up and down within games and
over the entire season itself! The roster is deep, injuries have been
VERY light, they're just making me sick right now, hardly worth the
effort to even turn the TV on. Saturday afternoon, huge game against
the Isles, watch them show up with a great perfomance in typical Ranger
fashion where they stop things from imploding, but continue to sputter
around .500 overall. Something has to happen. I'm really starting to
distrust this team and beginning to lose interest. |
|
| Scratches: | Joel Bouchard (back - IR) Pavel Bure (knee - IR) Jan Hlavac (healthy) Dan Lacouture (concussion) Jamie Lundmark (knee - IR) Dale Purinton (healthy) |
||
| created by: | Pete Rocha, © 2004. procha@optonline.net | ||
| Discuss the card here | |||
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