Last night's loss was definitely a painful one. The Rags played well, they really did. I thought they got the puck to the net with a lot of authority and much more urgency than we saw throughout the regular season. The painful part was it simply wasn't enough. Granted, a few more bounces could've gone our way and Staal's stick could've literally gone anywhere else in this universe but the King's eye socket, but at the end of the day the Blueshirts did not put the puck in the net and that scares me a bit considering how much pressure they were putting on at times.
Working against a goalie with no playoff experience, the Rangers had an opportunity to jump on Zatkoff in game one and exploit a young tender's nerves. Either the kid doesn't have any or the Rangers were just over matched, because it seemed like it was virtually impossible to get anything past this guy, at least early on. Hopefully he comes on down back to earth and the 'gers can squeak a few more in cause if this is a sign of things to come we're in trouble, especially if Hank continues to sit due to injury.
IF Henrik can return for game 2 I really like our chances going forward. I really enjoyed seeing certain guys show intensity and grit that we weren't quite accustomed to seeing it from throughout the season. For instance, that diving play on the back check by Rick Nash to squash an odd man rush was a thing of beauty, more so because Nash most likely doesn't lay his body on the line like that in an average regular season game.
Odd man rushes were a big problem for New York throughout the game as well, and this is mostly because of the presence this Rangers' offense had in the Pens' zone. A couple of times the Rangers got caught cycling deep in the Penguins defensive zone and got too comfortable, allowing a player or two to slip past the trailer and create a quality chance or in Mr. Crosby's case an easy breakaway bury job to put Pittsburgh up 2-0. They just need to do a better job of staying in their lanes and making sure they keep an eye on guys like #87, because when Sid gets chances like he did last night he does not miss very often.
Come Saturday hopefully Hank is geared up and ready to go and we can play a more complete game as a team. Our window is closing and this team needs to know it as much as the fans do. LGR.
IF Henrik can return for game 2 I really like our chances going forward. I really enjoyed seeing certain guys show intensity and grit that we weren't quite accustomed to seeing it from throughout the season. For instance, that diving play on the back check by Rick Nash to squash an odd man rush was a thing of beauty, more so because Nash most likely doesn't lay his body on the line like that in an average regular season game.
Odd man rushes were a big problem for New York throughout the game as well, and this is mostly because of the presence this Rangers' offense had in the Pens' zone. A couple of times the Rangers got caught cycling deep in the Penguins defensive zone and got too comfortable, allowing a player or two to slip past the trailer and create a quality chance or in Mr. Crosby's case an easy breakaway bury job to put Pittsburgh up 2-0. They just need to do a better job of staying in their lanes and making sure they keep an eye on guys like #87, because when Sid gets chances like he did last night he does not miss very often.
Come Saturday hopefully Hank is geared up and ready to go and we can play a more complete game as a team. Our window is closing and this team needs to know it as much as the fans do. LGR.
No comments:
Post a Comment