I will never understand the phenomenon in professional sports of a team being able to play so perfectly one night, and then play so terribly just a couple of nights later. I mean, I can see how one or two guys can have such a turnaround, but a whole team?
Well, whatever the cause, the Rangers exemplified that last night. After playing such a great game against the Devils, they came out and stunk against the Sabres. To be honest, the Sabres played a very energetic and disciplined game. As the Rodent points out, Buffalo was able to utilize a trap to perfection, and Tom Renney's Rangers had no answer for it.
Don't let the score fool you. Even though it was only 2-1, the Blueshirts were drastically outplayed last night. Just about every Ranger was bad, except, of course, for one. Once again, as he has been so many times this year, Henrik Lundqvist was the best player on the ice. If not for Henrik's acrobatics, the score would have been four or five to one.
When so many players were so bad, it is hard to call any individual out by name, but I am going to do it anyway. Martin Rucinsky has been simply awful recently. Yes, he has managed a few secondary assists in the last couple of games, but he has scored only 2 goals since December 13th despite first line ice time and power play time as well. This experiment of him playing the point with the man advantage has to stop . . . he can't keep the puck in, and cannot get a shot through. Last night he blew a breakaway with one of the weakest shots I ever saw, and also blew a 2-on-1 that would have tied the game in the last minute.
He wasn't alone. Marek Malik had an awful night, giving the puck away several times in his own zone including on the game winner. Fedor Tyutin was mediocre, but left a Sabre behind him WIDE open to score the first goal on the power play. Petr Prucha was invisible. Ville Nieminen took an incredibly stupid offensive zone slashing penalty with just over a minute left in the game. Ortmeyer and Hollweg looked like they had holes in their sticks as passes and shots just slipped right off of them.
Bad, bad, bad. Luckily, they have three days off before facing the woeful Penguins on Saturday.
NY Post: The Blueshirts repeatedly skated into no man's land, repeatedly put the puck into the middle, repeatedly were beaten back down the ice on the back-check. What's more (or less), they committed numerous foolish turnovers, including the deadly Marek Malik misplay in his own end that led directly to Ales Kotalik's game-winner at 1:53 of the third.
NY Post: There have been two games, 5-1 road losses at Carolina and Washington, in which he [Lundqvist] has not given the Rangers any chance to win. That's two starts in 32 his teammates had reason to give up hope. And 30 in which they have not had to stop and think about much beyond their own appointed tasks.
NY Daily News: What in recent seasons would have been hailed as a resilient performance, last night was deplored as unacceptable. With the notable exception of Jaromir Jagr, Rangers from coach Tom Renney on down found little to like about a 2-1 Garden loss to the relentless Buffalo Sabres in what could have been a first-round playoff preview.
NY Newsday: The Rangers had two man-advantage opportunities to tie the game, but came up short. Lundqvist, who finished with 24 saves, praised the Sabres but uncharacteristically pointed a finger at the Rangers' 1-for-5 effort on the power play. "I think we should have performed better on the power play. That's the key today," Lundqvist said. "I don't think that we made it hard for him [Miller]. We should have gone harder to the net."
The Journal News: The work ethic Renney expects from his team includes paying attention to defense, solid checking, penalty killing, crisp passing and improved faceoffs. "We're not going to last long in the playoffs — if we get there — if we play this way," Renney said.
Of course, there are a few articles regarding Jagr and his former teammate Mario Lemieux, who announced his retirement yesterday. Those stories can be found in the NY Times, the Journal News, and the NY Post.
Bruce Bertlet of the Hartford Courant writes about Hugh Jessiman and how he is finding his legs finally.
The Rangers traded Jeff Taffe back to Coyotes (he was the one who came over in the Lundmark deal) in exchange for Martin Sonnenberg. No big deal.
Things will probably be quiet for the next couple of days. We'll check in as needed.
HDH
Posted by Jim at January 25, 2006 12:30 PMeMail this entry!
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