If you've ever wondered what happens when you throw tired swimmers in the water around a bunch of bloodthirsty Sharks, you got your answer at the SAP Pavilion on Tuesday night as a group of men dressed in Rangers uniforms took the ice for the second time in two nights. I am not sure they were even the same guys from Los Angeles, but either way, the Rangers got curb-stomped by the Sharks to a tune of 9-2.
Believe it or not, the Rangers actually led this game 1-0 as the Brad Richards Reclamation Project continues. #19 scored his 3rd of the season on a 5 on 3 power play to give the Rangers a 1-0 lead. That's it for your Rangers highlights of this game.
Rick Nash took an elbow to the head from San Jose's Marc Stuart in the first period, and that ended his night. Let's just hope there's no concussion involved, because although it was never stated last year, you, me and the lamp post all know he had one.
Henrik Lundqvist was bombarded. Entering the 2nd period down 2-1, the Rangers gave up 2 quick ones to fall behind 4-1. As coaches do to shake up their team, AV pulled Lundqvist in favor of Martin Biron, who gave up a goal on the first shot he faced, and ended up giving up 5 in all. An unconfirmed report states that the Rangers team bus nearly hit both Lundqvist and Biron after the game, but that got by them like everything else did last night.
The story of the game for the Sharks was young Tomas Hertl. The rookie, who I correctly predicted would be "one to watch" in the preview, lit the lamp four times. The 19 year old from the Czech Republic looked like a young Jaromir Jagr as he ripped the goal nets. However, and 19 or not, I can not give him a pass on this, in a 7-2 game, the kid pulled a video game move and shot the puck between his legs to beat Biron. As far as I could tell, he didn't see the ice after that, which is good because he probably would have ended up swallowing teeth. I understand young players make flashy plays, but you have to expect retribution if you embarrass a professional like Biron.
PLUS/MINUS
PLUS - Brad Richards. Goal #3 in 2 games. #19 is definitely playing his way back into good graces.
PLUS - Derek Dorsett. #15 got his first goal in a Ranger uniform to make it 7-2. Which is kind of like re-arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.
PLUS - Justin Falk and Jesper Fast. They were scratched, so they had nothing to do with this shellacking.
MINUS - Everyone wearing white. The entire team. You're professionals. I understand it was back to back games, but you got outshot 17-4 in the second period alone. The goalies couldn't stop a beach ball. Nobody flattened the little hot dog Hertl after his showboat goal.
Next game is Thursday night. The Rangers have 48 hours to lick their wounds and take on the Anaheim (Don't Call Us Mighty) Ducks.
Even after last night's thrashing, I still......BLEED BLUE.
No comments:
Post a Comment