Monthly Archives: January 2010
In his first two years in the NHL, Petr Prucha put up 52 goals. He seemed like a Ranger for a long-time before some struggling and dropping to seven goals in his third season and then his trade to Phoenix last season.
Before the Coyotes win over the Rangers last night, Prucha spoke with Andrew Gross about the differences between Phoenix and the Rangers:
“I’ve started playing hockey again. When I was in New York, it was more about dumping the puck in, chipping it in and chipping it out again. Nothing else. Now, I’m trying to make some plays. I feel like I’ve come back to be a hockey player.
…More power to you Pru. I think he would have fit in well with this year’s team, but he seems to have found his place in Phoenix. He did take a bit of a dive on the Rozsival penalty near the end of the third, but that took the Rangers off the offensive for a little bit and worked in his teams favor. Prucha probably won’t hit thirty goals again, but he is still a solid player for Phoenix and will always a be a Ranger fan favorite.
Marian Gaborik‘s goal at 9:42 of the third period last night ended a streak of just over 200 minutes of being shutout on the road.
The Rangers last goal on the road before this was January 16th against St. Louis.
…These streaks are ridiculous, almost more impressive than sad. With all the funny bounces that the puck takes, it never went in and the Rangers nearly went half the month without scoring on the road.
Update:10:20AM: Larry Brooks in the NY Post, spoke to Lundqvist about how he felt:
“I was throwing up; I felt terrible,” the flu-ridden goaltender said after watching the Rangers‘ 3-2 defeat last night to the Coyotes in which freshman Chad Johnson got his third NHL start. “I feel a little bit better now, but I really don’t know whether I’m going to be able to play [tonight].”
Original Post: Last night Chad Johnson started for the Rangers against Phoenix. The game was supposed to be Henrik Lundqvist‘s but before the game, it was reported that Lundqvist would miss the game with the flu.
Lundqvist sat on the bench for the first period, but was in the locker room for the second.
The Rangers play again tonight, in Colorado.
…No word on whether or not the Rangers play over the last few weeks was the reason for his sickness. With all the struggles that the Rangers have had, it just piles on when Lundqvist can’t play. Hopefully he is good to go tonight and if not, by Tuesday against Los Angeles.
Scoring Summary:
First Period
6:06: Shane Doan split two Rangers defenseman and fluttered the puck past Chad Johnson to make it 1-0 Phoenix.
6:47: Mikkel Boedker broke in on a 3 on 1 into the Rangers zone and made a nifty move to bear Johson to make it 2-0
14:13: Same Lepisto fired a shot from the point that beat a screened Johnson
Second Period
No Scoring
Third Period
9:42: Marian Gaborik (30) scored the first Ranger goal in over 200 road minutes off a give and go with Erik Christensen (6)
11:50: Sean Avery cut the lead to 3-2 by ripping a wrist shot on a two on one with Brandon Dubinsky (18)
Statisitics
Johnson stopped 21 of 24 shots after a bit of a shaky start
Jason Labarbera made 24 of 26 saves to pick up the win
Gaborik, Enver Lisin, Christopher Higgins and Avery all had three shots on goal
Marc Staal led the Ranger with nearly 25 minutes of ice time
Michal Rozsival took three minor penalties
Special Teams
The Rangers were 0-3 on the powerplay including one in the last ten minutes of the third
Phoenix was 0-7 on their powerplay chances
Next Game
The Rangers next game is tomorrow night in Colorado.
The Game:
The Rangers (24-23-7) try and end their four game losing streak out west against the Phoenix Coyotes (31-18-5)
For a preview, click here
The Goalies:
Chad Johnson (0-1-1) vs Ilya Bryzgalov (28-14-4) Jason Laberbera (3-4-1)
Phoenix’s Key Players:
Notes:
Henrik Lundqvist is out with the Flu
Ales Kotalik and Donald Brashear are scratches
All Time:
Overall: 35-23-6-0
At MSG: 20-10-2-0
At Winnipeg/Phoenix: 15-13-4-0
2008-09 Schedule Against Phoenix
Oct. 26 Rangers 5, Coyotes 2 at MSG
Jan. 30 Rangers vs. Coyotes at Phoenix
How To Catch It:
The game can be seen on MSG Plus starting at 8:00PM.
Andrew Gross, in a column for The Record, writes today that the Rangers could find themselves in a position to be buyers at the trade deadline.
Gross lists the Olympic trade freeze, February 12 to March 1, as a reason for it, and a reason that many people speculate that many trades will happen before the February 12 start of the freeze.
He lists the usual crew of Vincent Lecavalier, Ilya Kovalchuk and Sheldon Souray as people the Rangers could be looking at, along with Calgary defensemen Dion Phaneuf or Robyn Regher.
…Either of the Calgary players would be excellent additions, but the cost in young players and picks will probably be too much. There is also considerable belief that neither of the Flames players are on the market or will be traded.
Gross also throws out the names of Christopher Higgins, Ales Kotalik and the defense pair of Michal Rozsival and Wade Redden as players the Rangers are looking to move.
…If by some way Redden’s contract is taken, the deadline is a success. If Kotalik is gone, that too will be a pretty nice success, but only if they don’t take anything nuts back.
Tonight marks the return of Enver Lisin to Phoenix, who drafted him and where he played parts of the first three seasons of his career.
Lisin told Steve Zipay that tonight’s game will have a strange feeling to it:
“No, it’s not going to be like ‘just another game’ tomorrow,” he said. But he wouldn’t take the bait from Brian Boyle, who urged him to admit that he was going “to shove it to them” for trading him. “I’m not like that, I’m peaceful,” said Lisin, who played with a broken bone in his foot in early December and has six goals and seven assists this season. “I play every game as hard as I can. But it won’t seem like a regular game.”
This season Lisin has six goals and seven assists, and is glad to a Ranger:
“I think I’ve got more confidence now and I understand the game more,” the 23-year-old Russian said. “It’s basically my first full season. Last year was up and down. I’m very happy about this trade. I’ve got a great team, great guys.”
…At 23, Lisin is a product of expectation leaving people to believe that he can’t score. There are so many 23 years old in the league that can score, that if this guy can’t he never will. At 23, if the Rangers make the investment in him, he could begin to mature and become a 20 goal scorer. He did score 13 last season for Phoenix. It is his first season in John Tortorella’s system and he has been shuffled around so much, that if Lisin could get a regular spot in the lineup, with regular linemates, it could be beneficial to the Rangers.
Lisin is signed to a one year deal paying him just under 800,000.
With the Rangers in Phoenix tonight, they take on long-time fan favorite Petr Prucha and former first round pick Lauri Korpikoski.
Prucha, who was traded for Derek Morris last season, has eleven goals and seven assists. Last season, before being traded Prucha had four goals and five assists in 28 games for the Rangers. After, he had two goals and eight assists in 19 games.
…Prucha is probably my favorite Ranger of the post-lockout era. He worked so hard, tried so hard and with the exception of Vinny Prospal no one was ever more excited about scoring a goal. His time had run out at the end of the Renney era and he didn’t seem to fit in with John Tortorella. He plays a style that Torts likes, but his defensive issues are something that Tortorella was not going to stand for.
Korpikoski was traded straight up for Enver Lisin in July. As a rookie last season, Korpikoski showed some promise and scored six goals and eight assists. This season in Phoenix he has four goals and three assists as he averages just over twelve minutes per game.
His goals have come in two goal spurts in two different games.
…Korpikoski could have played a role on this years Rangers team, but after acquiring Brian Boyle and Donald Brashear, his fourth line spot was taken and the chance to acquire Lisin, and his potential scoring ability, looked to much to pass up. Don Maloney, Phoenix’s GM, fell in love and drafted Korpi for the Rangers at 19 in 2004.
Update: 10:05: Campbell, of the Hockey News, has an update to this story, saying that a Lecavalier trade would be likely to happen, before the ownership swap, if it is to happen. He also lists the LA Kings as a real possibility as to where Vinny could land.
…They better get moving on a deal if they want Vinny out when the new owners come. LA is probably the most realistic possibility, especially if they can’t or don’t get Kovalchuk. They have a ton of space and the room to take on his loaded contract, instead of just a rental in Kovalchuk.
Update: 9:41:Am: Damian Cristodero has more on the potential Lightning sale, that could be imminent, and how Lecavalier could be affected. Lecavalier’s agent, Kent Hughes says that the rumors don’t affect Vinny:
“After two years of speculation, we’ve grown immune to it and will stick with the facts. The facts are, not a single person connected to this financial bid or to the organization has contacted us about Vinny being traded.”
…It’s going to be very interesting to see how this all shakes out and the ripple affects of it all.
Original Post: The buzz around Vincent Lecavalier at various points this season has been that he was unhappy in Tampa Bay, then he was happy, and the latest was that he was happy but on the block.
One reason Vinny could be on the block, the sale of the team to financial guru Jeffery Vinik. Vinik is expected to buy the team from the dysfunctional team of Len Barrie and Oren Koules.
As Ken Campbell and Adam Proteau of the Hockey News point out, Vinik will probably look to shed salary when the team falls under his control.
That is where Lecavalier and his annual salary cap hit of $7.7 million come into play.
…This probably won’t get sorted out until after the trade deadline, which means that Lecavalier should hit the market for real for the draft. If Tampa is desperate to get rid of Vinny’s contract, a ton of teams will probably line up, if they have salary cap space, because Tampa will have to take fifty cents on the dollar for their franchise player just to move him.
Will the Rangers be one of those teams, almost certainly, unless they have previously made another move that rubs some fans the wrong way.
A 4-2 deficit heading into the third period against the New Jersey Devils and their future hall of fame goaltender didn’t faze the Toronto Maple Leafs. With five minutes remaining in the game, Alexei Ponikarovsky (19) scored to pull the Leafs within one. Then, with a minute and half left, Matt Stajan (16) knotted the game up at four, forcing overtime. As time ticked down in OT it looked as if the game would head to the shootout – that is until the Leafs’ Luke Schenn took a penalty and the Devils capitalized with a Travis Zajac goal (15), to win 5-4. He also contributed with three assists (29). Zach Parise added two goals (25) and two assists (30) to continue his stellar season.
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