NHL: “The Calm Before The Storm” Rangers Still In Trouble

The New York Rangers, SURVIVED last night. That’s the word I think of in this series. Survival. Washington is bigger, stronger and more skilled in this series. The Rangers are getting beat up, out hustled, and we look depleted and hurt half the time. Last year, we played the 8th seed Senators and the 7th seed Capitals and SURVIVED 14 games between them. We were too tired to do anything against the Devils in the Eastern Conference Finals, and we exited after 6 games. I’m getting that same feeling this year.

The Rangers have the talent and skill to manage the puck and tempo better. But the way we’ve approached these last three games is something that may haunt us in the next few.

These are the reasons why the Rangers are in major trouble against this Washington team.

Power Play:

Yes, we scored on the power play. We took more shots, which I liked, and we had the right guys in front in Boyle and Callahan. Took us a while, but we did it. But we were still 1-6. And we still look like we’re playing on sand. There’s no movement. We don’t bait the defenders to follow us around and open up the ice for more chances. We take shots that get blocked because they’re stand on their heels and give the defender plenty of time to stand in our way. I saw glimmers of movement last night, but if we had a continuous force of movement, we would’ve scored 3 goals instead of 1. This needs to change.

Brad Richards:

I just don’t know what he’s doing, and more importantly, I just don’t know if HE knows what he’s doing. He looks lost, he looks tired and his confidence is completely gone. Not many teams can say they have a Conn Smythe winner on their team this year, and quite frankly, the Rangers aren’t one of them. He needs to lead the way for us. He needs to shoot when he needs to shoot and pass when he needs to pass. That is one of the qualities Brad Richards can bring to a team. His decision-making. We need to see the Richards he’s capable of being or else we have no chance in this series.

Penalty Kill:

People will want to disagree but for me, this is something I feel needs to change. The Rangers always want to hang back on the power play. Yea, we block shots well and yea, we’re great with our sticks, but if we are on the players more frequently, we prevent the lethal Washington power play to set up and do some damage. We need to get physical, play up against them and suffocate them into making bad shots and passes. Even when it’s 5 on 5 and their pressuring us I see the Rangers playing back and looking for the block shots instead of preventing shots. We’re making it too easy for them to get shots in, and the result is a fluke goal my Hillen right off the face-off. We need to man up as a team, and pressure them when we’re in our end zone.

Line-Ups:

I think Tortorella is a great coach, but he is terrible with line changes. I don’t understand why he can split up Hagelin-Stepan-Callahan when they were one of the hottest lines in April. Again, wanting Nash to get better opportunities is something I can understand, but it hasn’t happened and we need to get back to what works.

Hagelin-Stepan-Callahan: Quick, forechecking and skilled.

Brassard-Richards-Nash: Skilled, play-making, and dangerous.

Clowe-Boyle-Pyatt: Skilled, big, forechecking.

Zuccarello-Dorsett-Asham: Up-tempo, size, forechecking.

This is, of course, if Clowe comes back and he has been missed. I feel these lines can boost confidence in Nash and Richards, and open more opportunities for Brassard and Boyle. We need forechecking, it’s been a characteristic of this team for years now.

Forechecking:

This is what we were built on. We got rid of depth for Nash, but made some great moves in the trade deadline and picked up players to get some depth back (Brassard, Clowe, Zuccarrello). We were the hard-working team in the East. We had the dump-and-chase mentality and worked behind the net as opposed to trying to make the big play. We have some size now, we just need to use it. We need to start working hard in the offensive end rather in the defensive end. We’re getting tired and beaten up around Lundqvist. We need to start creating offense off the forecheck now. This is our identity and we need to get back to that.

Shots:

I don’t see the hype in Holtby. He made Boyle look like Malkin with that goal last night. We need to get quality shots on net and be around for some rebounds. Make this goalie earn the hype he’s been getting. He’s been a thorn in our side but a majority of his saves are easy ones in my opinion. We need to just keep shooting.

If the Rangers can do all that, we can make a difference in this series.