No, they weren't buried by the Avalanche, but we should send out a rescue party to find the Rangers' offense. Once again, it was non-existent, as they only managed to score a single goal, this one by Ryan Hollweg.
Larry Brooks went over the numbers in today's column: Michael Nylander, restored to first-line status last night, and who now has gone without a goal in his last nine games, has been part of the problem. Martin Straka, a first-liner who also plays the point on the first PP unit, and who now has scored once in the last 12 games, has been, too. Steve Rucchin, back to his role as second-line center, and who now has scored in one of his last 13 games, has been in that context, as well. Even Jaromir Jagr, who tried his best to carry the club last night, and who said, "I can do it; I can do it [every game]," has scored just twice in the last 10 games.
It just isn't good enough. Not in this "new" NHL where scoring is up all over the league. Dom Moore is not scoring, neither is Marcel Hossa. Martin Straka has FOUR goals in 34 games. Tom Poti has not scored a goal this season. Blair Betts has one point in his last 16 games.
Prucha, and Jagr, that's it. Those are the only two guys putting the puck in the net, and Jagr has stopped doing it recently. Nylander and Rucinsky have 8 goals each, SEVEN less than Prucha, who averages about 6 minutes less ice time per game than they do.
I understand that perhaps a player like Sykora is not the answer, and he may not be available at the price Glen Sather is willing to pay. There are, however, players down in Hartford putting up some numbers. Nigel Dawes has 12 goals and 9 assist in 28 games; Jarkko Immonen has 10 goals and 12 assists in 29 games; Dwight Helminen has 15 goals and 6 assists in 28 games; Alexandre Giroux has 12 goals and 10 assists in 24 games. Maybe it is time to make some moves and bring one or two of these guys up. Maybe it is time to send Colton Orr down to Hartford and make room for Dawes.
"Build from within". Let's see what they got.
NY Daily News: In back-to-back games against established Western Conference powers, the Rangers didn't quite match up. They weren't outclassed in their 3-2 loss to Vancouver last Tuesday or in last night's game, but they too often were a tad imprecise or a tick slow against teams that skate unlike any they've encountered in the Eastern Conference.
The Journal News: "We're upset we lost both games, but this should be a good wake-up call to get back to what worked," defenseman Tom Poti said. "If you look at the games we played well, as soon as we got over the red line, we dumped it in and chased it, and we would cycle it and cycle it. We didn't win 20 games by fluke; it's because we played hard and smart."
NY Newsday: "I'm not so sure we pushed the envelope, quite honestly. When you don't make it tough for the opponent, it's not real tough to defend," coach Tom Renney said. "We didn't have a lot of net drive, we didn't have a lot of rebound opportunities."
NY Times: The Rangers' surprising start has been accompanied by rising expectations. But in their first game back after a four-day break last night, the Rangers looked lethargic at times and were beaten, 2-1, by the Colorado Avalanche at Madison Square Garden, even though they outshot the Avalanche by 30-17.
Blueshirt Bulletin: The great thing about having a superstar goal scorer on your team is that it doesn't matter if he doesn't do anything for 19 minutes and 41 seconds. If he can get three breakaways in 19 seconds and get you all the goals you need, then he's done his job. Unfortunately for the Rangers tonight, that superstar with the clutch goals was not Jaromir Jagr, it was Joe Sakic of the Colorado Avalanche.
The Rodent wonders about a few things, including whether or not Tom Renney can now motivate his team through some adversity.
Gabe continues his campaign against getting Petr Sykora in the latest Fact or Fiction, this time pointing out that Petr Prucha should be getting 1st line time with Jagr before resorting to such a move.
The Rangers won't have much time to think about this loss. They get right back to action tomorrow against the Devils. The Devils, however, will be without Larry Robinson, who stepped down today as head coach due to health problems. We wish Larry a healthy recovery and hopefully a speedy return to the NHL.
By the way, Bird put up a small tribute to Howard Stern in his newest Birdcage, and he includes some really cool pictures.
HDH
Posted by Jim at December 19, 2005 12:05 PMeMail this entry!
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