Hockeybird.com: Report Card: NYR 3 @ NJ 1

Report Card: NYR 3 @ NJ 1

Wednesday - February 11, 2004

02/11/04	1	2	3	OT	F
	0	1	0		1
	2	1	0		3

Goalie	GA/SH	Grade	Comments
Mike Dunham #30, G	1/29	A	Nice 1st period. A few saves through screens and a great glove save about midway through. Also was having an excellent 2nd period until Stevenson takes the most harmless of shots that Dunham bounced RIGHT back out to him, Dunham sprawls and Stevenson goes up top for the goal. As it turns out, though, that was Mike's ONLY mistake of the game, which is pretty remarkable considering he's been averaging about 10 mistakes per game. Dunham was inundated in the 2nd and 3rd periods and came up big time and again. Looked very confident and focused. Easily his best game since October, if not all season.
Jussi Markkanen #40, G	0/0		(DNP)
Defenseman	Ice Time	Grade	Comments
Brian Leetch #2, LD	26:25	B	Good enough. Nothing major offensively but seemed a little more tenacious than usual on defense and played a mistake-free game.
Tom Poti #3, RD	23:36	B+	Terrific 1st period. Defense was perfect and he took the one timer on the PP, which went in with the help of a Holik screen. Great game overall, really, especially in his own zone where he won most of the battled. Poti coming back to the lineup is pretty big for this team's chances if he can keep playing like this. He's a hell of a player when he wants to be.
Greg de Vries #6, LD	20:42	B	Welcome back, big guy. The Rangers don't have time to ease you back in so here's 21 minutes for ya. Big hit early, mostly played well, looked a little out of position at times but that's to be expected after an entire month off.
Boris Mironov #29, RD	21:30	B	Lots of credit to Boris for hustling to a loose puck with only about a second left on the clock and shooting it in over a sprawled Brodeur with 0.4 seconds left. He could've easily gave up on the play but didn't. 2nd period, however, didn't do a good enough job keeping Stevenson away from the rebound he eventually put back in. Mostly played well besides that, and Bobo's goal turned out to be the game winner.
Joel Bouchard #74, LD	11:14	B-	Okay, certainly not as shaky as he's been lately. One time got beat pretty badly from the blueline in, but it was mostly a solid effort.
Dale Purinton #5, RD	11:26	D-	Two stupid, stupid penalties early in the game. Get this: roughing and elbowing! In the early 1st period against the Devils... why don't you just put on a red jersey, Dale?! Incredibly furstrating. 2nd period, another minor! This one for tripping because he was too slow to pick up his man in front of the net. The Rangers took 3 minors the entire game, all Purinton's! If you think I'm being too rough look at it this way: The Rangers are on their last ditch effort here and need everyone playing as well as possible, they're playing a team that will step on you once they get the momentum and Dale takes three awful and totally unnecessary penalties in the first 25 minutes. That is a bad performance in a big spot.
Forward	Ice Time	Grade	Comments
Bobby Holik #16, C	19:10	B+	Provided a good screen on the Poti PP goal, distracting Brodeur with a waving stick. 2nd period, Pandolfo set up for a shot in the Rangers zone, Holik blindsides him to the ice. Strong game all around.
Martin Rucinsky #26, LW	18:38	B	Don't have much to say about the stealthy Rucinsky.
Jaromir Jagr #68, RW	18:51	B	Grabbed the loose puck with a few seconds left in the 1st and put the shot on that caused the rebound to Mironov for his goal. And that was really about it offensively the entire game. Back checking and all-around play of course is nice, JJ, but don't become a Kovalev on us and forget what it is you do best. No shots!
Petr Nedved #93, C	16:33	B	Like the majority of the team, nothing huge but a good enough effort and didn't make many or any mistakes.
Jan Hlavac #37, LW	11:08	B	Noticably good 1st period. Seemed to have a lot of determination and played hard. His effort seemed to tail off significantly from there, or maybe he just didn't get as much ice time.
Alexei Kovalev #27, RW	17:20	B	How many years now have we been watching him make too many moves at the blueline and drawing his teammates offsides? Ten? You'd think one of those years he would've learned. Okay game, I guess, and he did lead the team in shots with 3.
Mark Messier #11, C	15:27	B	Eh. Not bad, but he was pretty sloppy on two separate 2-on-1's. Played pretty hard for him, though. If these are the last games of his career, hopefully he goes out on a good note.
Chris Simon #17, LW	10:51	B	A few big hits, not too much else. Missed a golden scoring opportunity about 5 minutes into the game on a centering pass in the crease.
Matthew Barnaby #36, RW	10:43	B	Very much like Simon. Hardly a huge impact, but at least did his part.
Jamie Lundmark #21, C	16:14	B-	He played hard, got himself in good position, but as usually happens with Lundmark it fizzles out after that. The passes miss, the shots go wide or he loses the puck somehow. That's nothing to be angry about, really, especially in a win, but I wonder about Lundmark. Is he just not that talented or is he still very nervous? Things just don't seem to click for him.
Dan Lacouture #39, LW	10:28	B+	What the hell? He looked like Denis Savard there. Lacouture takes an elevated pass from Kovalev, tears ass around the back of the net then makes a real tight turn at the far post and whips it between the inlaw humper's legs. A gorgeous goal.
Jed Ortmeyer #41, RW	13:28	B	I've got nothing. Typical workman-like effort.

COACHING STAFF:		B+	I wanted his head on a platter when I saw Dunham starting the game, but when you call your goalie out to the press pretty severely like Sather did, you have to give him the chance to respond and it paid off. The ice times were perfect, all four lines were rolled very consistently (Messier with the lowest time among centers) and he/they very rightly kept Purinton and Bouchard mostly glued to the bench. A HUGE test will be to see who he goes with in goal tomorrow night. Dunham got a lot of work so be smart, Glen, and play the Jussinator.

1st PERIOD:		A	Huh. Well, the Rangers didn't exactly outplay the Devils, but they did play a very hard, no-frills period and were rewarded. Got the puck out at one end and crashed the net at the other. Everyone looks determined. Let's see if it holds up. Shots 9-7 NY.
2nd PERIOD:		B-	Nah. Although the score was even at 1-1, the Devils far outplayed the Rangers and most of the period was in the New York zone. It's pretty annoying if you think about it, ONE good period and the Rangers are already slowing down. They come out like this again in the 3rd and we're probably looking at a tie game. Shots 13-6 NJ.
3rd PERIOD:		C-	Quite ridiculous. It looked like a 20 minute Devil power play. Good goaltending from Dunham and the Rangers hung on somehow. Shots were NINE TO ONE for New Jersey. The Rangers never win the easy way.
OVERALL:		B	What? They beat the Devils?! Normally I'd be ecstatic but it figures it would come now when the Rangers are about 5 miles out of the playoff race and it barely matters. Regardless, it's nice to beat the Devils even if the Rangers were 0-81 leading up to the game. Honestly, though, the Rangers did not play all that great a game. A very nice 1st period but ever since Lacouture's goal they pretty much hung on for dear life. See, if the Rangers were still around .500 and had legitmate playoff hopes you could nitpick tonight's effort, but considering their situation, they beat the hated Devils, what the hell. I'll take it. Doesn't really matter, but at least we didn't waste our evenings tonight.
Scratches:			Pavel Bure (knee - IR) Darius Kasparaitis (knee - IR) Dan Lacouture (concussion - IR) Eric Lindros (concussion - IR?) Vladimir Malakhov (wrist) Jamie Pushor (healthy)
created by:			Pete Rocha, © 2004. procha@optonline.net
			Discuss the card here

Posted by pete at February 11, 2004 10:30 PM
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Comments

Didn't Pushor get assigned to Hartford??

Posted by: Devi_L on February 12, 2004 04:11 PM

Thanks for the link to this page

Posted by: Rachel on August 17, 2004 11:40 AM