Monthly Archives: March 2010
Scoring Summary
First Period
2:09: Mark Streit (11) opened the scoring on the powerplay
12:09: Blake Comeau (13) made the score 2-0
Second Period
1:14: Vinny Prospal (18) cut the Isles lead in half 0ff a wrist shot from Michael Del Zotto (26) and Olli Jokine (34)
12:57: Jokinen (14) converted a Kyle Okposo turnover into a wrist shot that tied the game at two.
17:15: Marian Gaborik (40) gave the Rangers the lead off a feed from Aaron Voros (3) and Captain Chris Drury (18)
Third Period
5:05: Marc Staal (6) converted a Vinny Prospal (37) pass to give the Rangers a 4-2 lead. P.A. Parenteau (4) set the play up
13:27: Comeau scored again as the puck trickled through Henrik Lundqvist
Statistics
The Rangers now have 78 points
Henrik Lundqvist stopped 25 of 28 shots
Dwayne Roloson made 23 saves on 27 chances
Gaborik, Jokinen and Erik Christensen all had four shots on goal to lead the team
Anders Eriksson played less than eight minutes. Michal Rozsival played nearly 28 minutes
The Islanders outhit the Rangers 36-26
As a team the Rangers had 15 blocked shots. The Islanders blocked 15 Rangers shots
Jody Shelley and Michal Rozsival both had four hits to lead the Rangers
Next Game
The Rangers next game is Friday in Tampa Bay
…Well this was something. Timely goals and timely play lead to the Rangers picking up two points but no ground since Boston and Atlanta also won. Still, a win is good and something to build on with six games left
The Game:
The Rangers (33-32-10) head out to Long Island for a HUGE game against their long-time rivals the Islanders (31-34-10)
For a preview, click here
The Goalies:
Henrik Lundqvist (30-26-9) vs Dwayne Roloson (23-17-6)
The Isles’ Key Players:
Notes:
Aaron Voros is in the Rangers lineup as is P.A. Parenteau
Ryan Callahan, Sean Avery and Brian Boyle are scratched
Anders Eriksson is in for Matt Gilroy who is a healthy scratch
Corey Locke is in the Rangers lineup
All Time:
Overall: 107-96-19-5
At MSG: 62-37-11-4
At Uniondale: 45-59-8-1
2008-09 Schedule Against The Isles
Oct. 28 Rangers 1, Islanders 3 at Uniondale
Dec. 16 Rangers 1, Islanders 2 at MSG
Dec. 17 Rangers 5, Islanders 2 at Uniondale
Dec. 26 Rangers 2, Islanders 3 (OT) at MSG
March 24 Rangers 5, Islanders 0 at MSG
March 30 Rangers vs. Islanders at Uniondale
How To Catch It:
The game can be seen on MSG starting at 7:00 PM.
EJ Hradek of ESPN.com ranked the top ten goalies in the league right now, and placed Henrik Lundqvist at #9.
Ilya Bryzgalov of Phoenix and Ryan Miller of Buffalo took the top two spots.
…Makes sense, Bryz has been incredible and we all saw what Miller can do in the Olympics.
Lundqvist should rank higher, maybe a few spots. He is the reason the Rangers are where they are, but at #9. Jimmy Howard though, now that guy is pretty good. He too is ranked low at #6. Both he and Lundqvist should be ranked hiugher.
In a follow up question about his rankings here, Hradek says he would pick Lundqvist over Craig Anderson, who he is ranked behind, if he needed to win a game
Reporting from wet practice on Long Island, Andrew Gross writes that Corey Locke will skate with Vinny Prospal and Chris Drury.
…Three centers on one line, okay.
The line of P.A. Parenteau, Olli Jokinen and Aaron Voros stay together and John Tortorella had a lot of praise for them, saying they were the best line in Toronto
Also from practice was Sean Avery telling Gross and Michael Obernauer that he is day to day, but has no time-table for his return.
“It’s definitely day by day,” said Avery, adding he could not detect any improvement since he hurt his leg in the second period of Saturday’s 3-2 overtime loss in Toronto. “I haven’t skated so it’s tough to say really. It (stinks). I’m just used to it at this point, things that are out of your control. I think it can be a good thing because guys can step up to the challenge with me and Cally out. It’ll show the character of the team.”
Last week, in 3D!, the Rangers shutout the Islanders 5-0. Scott Gordon, Isles coach, called it the worst game of the season for his squad.
Tonight at the Nassau Coliseum the two teams meet again, for the final time, and the Isles are out for blood:
“That Rangers game is in the past, but we haven’t forgotten it,” Kyle Okposo said of the drubbing. “It’s a big deal. We want to beat them.”
“We know we can beat these guys. It’s just a matter of executing.” Josh Baily told Chris Botta
Dwayne Roloson is expected to start for the Isles again tonight.
…Bring it, again. The Isles have to be expected to put forth a better effort but again, the Rangers need this game so badly for the playoffs that they need to match any level the Isles raise their game too.
After the jump, quotes from about a week ago from Isles tough guy, from Chris Botta, Trevor Gillies talking about Sean Avery and Brandon Prust
Yesterday the Rangers called up 5’9 forward Corey Locke from Hartford. Locke has 80 points in Hartford this season and told Tim Bontemps of the NY Post that he has made the most of his chance in Hartford:
“I’ve had a great opportunity to play with good players down there.” Locke said. “The coaches down there have given me an opportunity to play in all situations, and we had a good group of guys down there that seemed to gel.”
Locke’s teammate with Hartford and now up with the Rangers, P.A. Parenteau told Andrew Gross that Locke’s vision and offense make him special:
“The big thing is his vision,” said Wolf Pack linemate P.A. Parenteau, who scored against the Maple Leafs after being recalled Friday. “He’s not here for his defensive game. If he gets a shot at playing, he can really make a difference, I really believe so.”
But as John Tortorella said at practice yesterday, this is no time to develop players, this is a time for impact play:
“This isn’t about development right now, this is about trying to win a hockey game,” Tortorella said. “If Corey Locke does some good things, he’s going to play. If there’s some struggles along the way, we have to make our call.”
…Locke is an interesting case. He has some type of talent, as evidenced by his stats but there are always players who put up stats in the AHL and then can’t produce in the NHL. One thing that bothers me, and probably will bother Tortorella too is what Parenteau says, he isn’t here for his defense. That matters at this level, especially in these big late season games, but if he can score, maybe they can look the other way a little.
The Rangers have signed college goalie Cameron Talbot of the University of Alabama Huntsville.
He is 6-3, 185
This past season he went 12-18-3 for the Chargers
Press release after the jump (more…)
Despite victories in two out of three games, the playoff picture only got bleaker for the Hartford Wolf Pack this week. After impressive come-from-behind wins over the Adirondack Phantoms and Bridgeport Sound Tigers — the club the Pack is currently chasing for the final playoff berth — Hartford once again found themselves playing from behind on Sunday. They were unable to rebound from a two goal deficit a third time, however, dropping a 3-2 decision to the Portland Pirates.
To make matters worse, the club now finds itself moving forward without either of its top two scorers, since both P.A. Parenteau and Corey Locke were recalled by the New York Rangers.
They got a taste of what it would be like this weekend, when they were forced to play without Parenteau, who got the call from New York on Friday morning.
Facing the already-eliminated Adirondack Phantoms on Friday night, the Pack spotted their visitors a two goal lead before buckling down and playing the kind of hockey they’ve proven they’re capable only in short bursts throughout the season. It was a pattern that would be repeated in each game this week: fall behind by a pair of goals before rallying to tie. That they did it without their most dynamic offensive player in Parenteau makes it especially impressive.
(Video from practice yesterday is in the video player at right)
“That’s great for P.A. but not so great for the hockey club,” Tortorella said. “It can’t be that way.”
John Tortorella telling Andrew Gross that Parenteau was the Rangers best forward on Saturday night.
…Agreed. P.A. is nice, but Marian Gaborik, Vinny Prospal, Brandon Dubinsky, etc. Essentially besides Brandon Prust and Jody Shelly all players should rat higher than Parenteau. That isn’t a knock on P.A. but there is a reason he was in Hartford for most of the season and was only an injury call-up. Its nice to see a call-up playing well, but the regulars should be playing better.
This season for the Rangers, 25 year old rookie Matt Gilroy had four goals and eleven assists while averaging over 16 minutes per night. Though in the last two and a half weeks though, Gilroy saw his ice-time diminished to under ten minutes in three of the six games he played.
Gilroy was scratched on Saturday against Toronto in favor of Anders Eriksson. It is something that John Tortorella told Newsday is part of Gilroy’s learning curve:
“This is part of the process for Gilly,” Tortorella said. “I thought Eriksson played well. You can just see his puck handling and his poise with the puck. No one told Gilroy or any first-year player, or really anybody, that they’re going to play all the games.”
Gilroy has played in 69 games this season.
…Gilroy played nearly 70 games and if the Rangers fall out or lose he should return to the lineup. No matter his age, he is a rookie who is not playing the offense that he is used to playing because of team concept. He has improved as the season went along but as Tortorella has said previously, he won’t play guys he isn’t comfortable with.
Would it be better to play Gilroy instead of Wade Redden? Yes, but Wade Redden has plenty of experience, not saying its good experience, but he does have that over Gilroy.
