Inconsistency continues to hold back New York Rangers from elite status
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by Cityhockeyfever
Cup Crazy's NHL blog and ArmchairGM writer
Will December be kinder to the New York Rangers than the opening two months of the season?
INCONSISTENCY has been used far too often to describe the New York Rangers. It has so much so that maybe it should be adopted its middle name.
On paper, many hockey observers and so-called experts touted the Rangers as Stanley Cup contenders after signing two of the top three free agents available on July 1st in Scott Gomez and Chris Drury. Gomez, a Rangers-killer during his career in New Jersey and Drury, who single-handedly delivered a decisive blow to the Rangers' 2007 Cup dream while with the Buffalo Sabres, both have been expected to make such a high impact, they’d make their new team an elite one.
While we're just past the one-third mark of the 2007-2008 season, there is no way the Rangers have lived up to those expectations. Better yet, they’ve been flat out inconsistent to say the least. After a terrible 3-7 start, the Rangers reeled off a 10-2 run to rise to the top of the Atlantic Division, including five straight road wins. Thanks to their arch enemy from Long Island in the New York Islanders, they twice derailed a prolonged Rangers winning streak to set them back from where the Detroit Red Wings stand now. That would be a perch high enough to be a top-flight elite team.
Since then, the Rangers split their two games in the Sunshine State with a 2-1 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning on November 21st and a 3-2 shootout loss to the Florida Panthers on November 23rd. Steve Valiquette got the nod in goal for just his second start of the entire season and had another impressive outing with 33 saves against Florida. But he was unable to stop Olli Jokinen from scoring the winning goal in the shootout, thus ending the Rangers' five-game road winning streak.
third period goal past New York Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist for
a 3-2 victory on November 25, 2007. (photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)
The following game on November 25th proved to be quite frustrating to watch. When you outplay and then outshoot your opponent 41-18 as a division-leading team on your home ice, you are expected to win. Yet the Dallas Stars defied all that logic and had their special teams come up huge in handing the Rangers a bitter 3-2 loss in front of sellout crowd at Madison Square Garden. Given it was a matinee, plenty of families with kids got to see America's all-time leading NHL point scorer Mike Modano notch an assist on the game-tying goal in the second period. The Rangers entered that game as the league's third-best penalty killing team, yet yielded two power play goals and among the three overall that the Stars scored, two were on breakaways against Henrik Lundqvist. It is something you rarely see from the two-time Vezina Trophy finalist. But the bigger factor in the outcome was Lundqvist's counterpart, as Stars backup netminder Mike Smith made 39 saves to extend Dallas' win streak to five games at that time.
To round out the month of November, payback was finally dealt to the Islanders on November 29th as for the first time in four meetings this season, the Rangers were victorious with a 4-2 win at the Garden. Five players had two points apiece led by Jaromir Jagr, Brandon Dubinsky and Drury each recording a goal and an assist. Brendan Shanahan and Martin Straka each had two assists in the game.
"It was a big game for us," Lundqvist told Jim Cerny of newyorkrangers.com after a successful 22-save effort. "We don't want to go 0-4 against these guys. They're a division team, a New York team. It was a big step for us."
To some degree, it was. It halted the Islanders' unbeaten start against their metropolitan area rivals as they had a 6-0 record against the Rangers and New Jersey Devils entering the game. The Rangers finished the month of November strong with a 10-4 record and one would think that's great, right? Compared to a brutal October it was. But November could've been even better had the team's offensive production been there on a consistent basis. Only six of those games were instances when the Rangers scored at least three goals. Five of them came during their season-high five-game winning streak from November 8th to November 17th.
Despite a 16-14 record through 30 games, the New York Rangers are a wildly inconsistent team given the highly-talented, Stanley Cup experienced personnel they have on the roster and the results put out thus far. Far from impressive. Despite the slow start to the season, they had a golden opportunity to catch the Ottawa Senators for first place in the Eastern Conference entering their December 3rd home game against the Carolina Hurricanes. The Senators were on a six-game losing streak (which was eventually broken at seven) following a blistering 13-1 start and had fallen back to earth hard. So what did the Rangers do? They laid an egg in a 4-0 shutout loss to Carolina. Last Thursday, Lundqvist may have indeed had the worst game of his NHL career by allowing 4 goals on 10 shots in a horrible 6-2 loss to the struggling Toronto Maple Leafs. Valiquette ended up doing mop-up duty by playing the third period that night. The Rangers ended up dropping both home games this season to Toronto in allowing 10 goals.
Valiquette's third start of the season last Friday in Atlanta was supposed to help motivate Lundqvist in bouncing back. Despite their third straight defeat with a 4-2 loss to the Thrashers, the Rangers backup goaltender was still solid in net with 18 saves. Like was the case at home against Toronto, the Broadway Blueshirts failed to win neither of their two games at Philips Arena this season and allowed a total of 9 goals.
If you've watched Lundqvist closely on a game-by-game basis, you notice that he doesn't need motivation. After sleeping off his back-to-back subpar outings against Carolina and Toronto last week, he duplicated his October 25th effort with a statement game on Sunday. Even though he saw just 17 shots in 60½ minutes of play, Lundqvist blanked the archrival Devils for the second time this season (both coming at Madison Square Garden) in a 1-0 overtime win. Shanahan's game-winning goal 30 seconds into the extra period was set up by Gomez into Shanahan's classic spot on the ice, near the left faceoff circle hash mark.
What have been the positives so far from the New York Rangers this season?
Despite the only two really lousy games in the 27 he's played in the 2007-2008 campaign, Lundqvist has played absolutely stellar between the pipes for New York. Many observers could accurately state he's playing his way to being a Hart Trophy finalist. Same can be said for a third straight legitimate run at the Vezina Trophy in this being just his third NHL season. Lundqvist stands 2nd in the NHL with a .925 save percentage and 1.94 goals-against-average, both statistics behind Detroit's Chris Osgood. He is also second in shutouts with five to match a career-best, one behind Columbus' Pascal Leclaire. With Sunday's win over New Jersey, Lundqvist tied San Jose's Evgeni Nabokov with 15 wins (the season record stands at 15-12). Not too shabby to say the least. It is easy to say that if Lundqvist had not been as outstanding as he has been, there's no telling how far down in the standings the Rangers would be.
(photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)
Another bright spot is the emergence of one of their top young up-and-coming players in Dubinsky. While in need of adding bulk to his 6-foot-1 and 210-pound frame, the Anchorage, Alaska native has adjusted to NHL life very well and has lately received ice time playing on the #1 line alongside Jagr and Straka. While his offensive numbers aren't impressive yet, he has shown signs of building on becoming a really productive forward. One of the biggest raves to date has been his frequent high pursuit of the puck, his increased ability to make the above-average first pass in the offensive zone and his willingness to mix it up with some of the most physical players in the NHL (something Petr Prucha can also be credited for).
The impact of Sean Avery has been big with the team since the Rangers acquired him last season from the Los Angeles Kings. As an agitator, he has gotten into the heads of some of the best opponents in hockey. But what has set Avery apart from many others in his role, he can put the puck in the net when needed, play the body with reckless abandon and yes, even set up teammates for scoring chances during especially even-strength play. The problem during October and at the present time is that he's been sidelined by injury and what he brings to the table has been missed by the team more often than not while he's been out. His value is being validated more and more as the season moves along.
Michal Rozsival has emerged as the most productive blueliner this season without a doubt. Tied for first in the NHL among defensemen with 7 goals, he has earned valuable ice time, especially as a key point man on the power play. The highlight game of the season so far was the Rangers' 4-3 overtime win in Pittsburgh in which he scored two big goals after the team trailed 2-0 in the second period that night.
After a slow start, Gomez has finally gotten accustomed to playing in New York and began using his speed and playmaking skills to his advantage in order to make a big impact. His setup of Shanahan's winning goal on Sunday was classic Gomez in which he used both attributes to execute that play perfectly. In his last 19 games, the other Anchorage native on the Rangers roster has put up 20 points. Despite only 5 goals this season, 17 of his 18 assists have come in these 19 games for Gomez.
The emergence of rookie phenom Marc Staal has been even better than many expected. Even though he has just 4 points on the season (the lone goal coming on November 14th in New Jersey), he has exhibited a commanding ability to play with the kind of smarts as a veteran defenseman. His extraordinary ability to effective play the puck in his own zone under high pressure has been exemplified by his great poise. There have been so few instances where he has made a mistake or been beaten to the puck by an opposing player, I couldn’t count them on one full hand. However, in time he'll need to shoot the puck more when the opportunity permits.
The impact of the Rangers' checking line of Blair Betts centering Ryan Hollweg and Colton Orr has drawn much praise. In recent weeks, all three players have seen ice time in key situations against their opponent's top scoring line and in most cases effectively neutralized them. Betts and Orr each have one goal to their credit, but no one can forget Hollweg's above-average skating ability for a checking forward and his unquestioned willingness to get into the trenches and do that on a nightly basis.
Despite falling off just a bit from a few weeks ago where it was above 90%, the Rangers penalty killing unit as a team has been outstanding. They've helped win a number of games in rebounding from their 3-7 start. The Rangers are currently ranked 4th overall at an 87.1% rate (16 goals against in 124 shorthanded situations entering Wednesday's game against the Capitals), only close behind Dallas, St. Louis and league-leading San Jose.
And what are the negatives (or more so the disappointments) so far this season for the Rangers?
into the 2008 playoffs. (photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)
No doubt about it, it comes down to the captain, Jaromir Jagr. It is undoubtedly his worst start to any season of his 16-year NHL career. With just 21 points in 30 games, he's as far down as 74th in the NHL in total points. Normally, he's in the top 10 from start to finish. Jagr has just 4 points in his last 12 games and has none in his last four. Only twice this season has he registered more than five shots in a game (the last being on November 25th against the Dallas Stars) and to most fans and hockey observers, he's a far cry from the kind of MVP-calibre numbers we saw two seasons ago. Is age catching up to Jagr? While we cannot say that is the case, what has been true is that the 35-year-old hasn't had the same impact as he did last season with the departed Michael Nylander as his playmaking teammate. Head coach Tom Renney continues to look for the combination of linemates he needs to reignite his scoring touch feared by opponents.
While Gomez has not lived up to his expectations from an offensive production standpoint, Drury has been quiet with just 7 goals in 30 games to date. Many might say that he's been juggled around amongst the top three lines without any prolonged time on one of them, but he needs to increase his presence on the ice more than he has. Yes, he's had a major role in a handful of victories this season, including a two-point night in the Rangers' November 29th win over the Islanders and notching his 200th NHL goal last Friday in Atlanta, but they've come too far in between. Drury hasn't disappointed in winning faceoffs at a 54% clip and has sacrificed his body more than many expected by blocking 28 shots, first among Rangers forwards.
Another player that might be on the way out when the right trade proposal arrives is Marcel Hossa. While the only positive this season would be his two game-winning shootout goals, he's done little else here in the 2007-2008 campaign. After a solid second-half to last season where he finished with 10 goals, he's only got 1 goal and 5 assists for this season. He was on the top scoring line with Jagr until Straka returned to the lineup from injury and Rangers brass have hoped he'd find the kind of production he enjoyed last season, but has been disappointing overall. One the only major uses for Hossa among the top two scoring lines has been getting picked by the coaching staff to be among the three players chosen for shootouts.
the Hartford Wolf Pack of the AHL, forward Nigel Dawes hopes to return to
the big club in the near future. Three of his four goals this season have come
against the New Jersey Devils. (photo by Ed Betz/Associated Press)
And not to place him on this list because of what he brought to the table while here, but the fact that Nigel Dawes was sent down to the minors to make roster room for the returns of Straka and Ryan Callahan without considering players like Hossa to be moved instead is a disappointment. As another of the Rangers' top promising young forwards that have been developing in the organization, Dawes deserves to be with the big club the first chance he gets.
Last but not least, from a team standpoint is their disappointing power play and offensive production. Entering Wednesday's upcoming game in Washington, the Rangers rank dead last among the 30 NHL teams averaging 2.13 goals per game. They're also just 21st in power play efficiency at only 15.5% (14 for 79) for the season. With players such as Jagr, Shanahan, Gomez and Drury available to put some points on the board while their opponent is shorthanded, they along with their teammates have to do a lot better in these situations if the Rangers expect to win the tough, mental-testing games.
In the coming days...
Having lost three of their first five games in December while dropping to fourth in the conference standings, the Rangers have another opportunity to reclaim first place in the Atlantic Division and re-close their gap from the Senators atop the East. Before a fourth and final regular season meeting with Ottawa on December 23rd, how the Rangers fare in their next five games will provide some answers as to whether or not this team can live up to those lofty expectations as a top contender in the Eastern Conference. But at this point, hovering around .500 and being streaky at best is obviously not good enough for this team, for those that follow them regularly and for the city of New York.
