Hello all fans of the Broadway Blueshirts! This is a new labor of love (and sometimes hate) that I will be undertaking this year.
I have been a Rangers fan since the late 70's. I have experienced the joys of winning the Stanley Cup in 1994 with a team that was absolutely stacked, and witnessed horrible seasons that ended with basically the AHL team on the ice. I have witnessed playoff heartbreak, and just out and out bad hockey. Am I an expert? Nope. If I was, you wouldn't be reading this through a Facebook link or Twitter link. I'm just a guy who loves the sport, and loves the Rangers. That said, here is your first review of the season:
GAME #1 - NY RANGERS @ PHOENIX COYOTES 10/3/13.
The Rangers opened their first season of the Alain Vigneault regime with a very disjointed 4-1 loss to the Desert Dogs out in the jobing.com arena, where for an opening night hockey game, there were a lot of fans disguised as empty seats. That's pitiful.
As the Rangers often do, they fell behind after taking a marginal penalty early in the game. On his first Blueshirt shift, Benoit Pouliot took a very unnecessary holding penalty as he tried to leapfrog a Coyote forward to get to the puck carrier. The Rangers killed the penalty, but Phoenix gained momentum from the PP and got on the board as the Rangers often let the other team do.....by a 4th liner, Kyle Chipchura chipchura'd one from the slot past Henrik Lundqvist and the Rangers are down 1-0.
In the second period, the Rangers would get even on their third power play of the night as Marc Staal took a smart feed from Rick Nash, cruised down the left wing and using his new visor that makes him look like he just filmed TRON in the 1980's, rifled a short-side top-shelf BB past an otherwise impenetrable Mike Smith to tie the game at 1. More on Staal and Nash later....
It was at this time that Phoenix welcomed us to the Radim Vrbata show. Vrbata is a gifted player that nobody really knows because he plays in the desert in fromt of more food vendors than fans, but the guy is flat filthy. He scored the next three Phoenix goals as the Rangers dropped a 4-1 final in the heat of Glendale, AZ.
Now for my take on the game - I call it my PLUS/MINUS.
PLUS - Marc Staal. Not only did he score the only goal of the game, but he played a solid defensive game, at one point delivering an instructional video type shoulder check to David Moss of the Coyotes that blew him up like an M-80. Plus, I like the new visor.
PLUS - Michael DelZotto. I thought MDZ had a pretty good game - joined the offense quite a bit and wasn't a liability in his own end. AV seems to be high on him so before everybody puts MDZ on their "Defenseman we love to hate" platform previously occupied by Michal Roszival and Marek Malik, let's see where he goes from here. He's still a kid.
PLUS - Brad Richards. Yes, THAT Brad Richards. #19 looked more relaxed and comfortable last night than he did all of last season. Made good decisions with the puck and would have had a goal if Mike Smith wasn't 9 feet tall and 14 feet wide last night.
PLUS - Dominic Moore. Just because he's back after losing his wife to cancer. Welcome back.
MINUS - Ryan McDonagh. Rough night for #27 - and not at all his fault. Took a puck to the face on his first shift of the season and missed most of the first period, then had to kill an entire 2:00 penalty with Girardi that led to the second Coyotes goal.
MINUS - Henrik Lundqvist. Gave up 4 goals - only one of which I can't blame him on as I thought he was interfered with on the second one. Also proved once again that he should NEVER handle the puck outside the crease. You don't get paid to stickhandle, King. Stop doing it.
MINUS - Brian Boyle. Simply for the fact that he broke 2 sticks in the defensive zone and indirectly led to two goals. Get a new stick manufacturer Boyler.
PLUS/MINUS - Rick Nash. Never really got on track during the game - and had a bad turnover that led to the fourth Coyote goal. Did make a nifty pass to Staal for the only Blueshirt tally, and oddly enough, dropped the mitts and fought Martin Hanzal after Hanzal railed Derek Stepan near the Coyote player bench.
The Rangers have a few days off to think about this and prepare for the Los Angeles Kings, who many people are predicting to win the Stanley Cup again, Monday night. Until then......BLEED BLUE.
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