Look on the bright side, the Rangers are probably having a better day than Niklas Backstrom
-
- March
- 9
Give the Washington Capitals rookie credit: He didn’t just tap a shot into his own goal in today’s NBC matinee. He ripped it!
I say if you’re going to bring your own team’s playoff chances crashing down, do it with authority!
A couple of other thoughts:
More in a bit…
This entry was posted
on Sunday, March 9th, 2008 at 2:59 pm by Sam Weinman.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. | | 
Email
Advertisement
Josh Thomson Josh, who is 26 and a native of Carmel, graduated from Boston University in 2002 and began working for The Journal News the following March. 
NOW, I WANT TO HEAR ALL PEOPLE THAT WERE SLASHING HENRIK OVER LAST COUPLE OF DAYS.
stf,
the complaining about Hank was because he wasn’t playing like a 7 mil a yr goalie, tonight he did… they were frustrated that he wasn’t playing as good as he can, the fact that he can do it won’t change their being upset when he doesn’t it reinforces it. That being said he sure as hell put on a performance today!!
What is next for Ron Dugay? take the next step and get the full sex change operation? This guy was once a man? He once played ice hockey??
It looks like the estrogen treatments are working….
turbo tan, pretty jewelry, fluffy poofy hair….
Sgt Pepper suit?
Sam, that was funny!
stf what would you like to hear? That Lundqvist finally is playing the way he should be? Between him & Jagr it’s been a race to under-achieving. He’s too hot & cold, nine shutouts & then he gives up easy ones.
I’d like to see all of you more relaxed. See what I was saying about Lundqvist – give him some time, he’ll rebound – and he did. So, relax people.
Hey, that was a great game by Lundy. Awesome to watch, definitely the guy we all know he can be. Now let’s not decide everything is cured by one game and see him do it down the stretch and into the playoffs…
As for the team, some pretty sloppy play in their own zone. And, please, oh please, find some way to put power in the power play.
Give hank a rest let valley have some fun
tomarrow in buffalo
tomarrow in Buffalo.
went to the game and sat even with Hank for 2 periods. He was very much on his game today and made 2 incredible saves in the first period. He definitely stole one today. BTO was actually good today as he made some very heady plays to come out of the zone. I think he is watching Staal play and is learning from him. I just hope he is not listening to Hank as to which way to move the puck. The Bruins are a very boring team. I don’t get it. They go into more of a shelll without Chara. They seemed to be playing for the shootout in OT. The non call on Callihan was the worst of the game.
wow an echo,how’d i do that
Uh, Seamus, I’m not sure if you ever saw Ron Duguay play. He woukd touch the puck and the entire crowd would break out in whistling at him like you would at a hot babe. It was hilarious. I don’t think much has changed. This is him, and he’s a classic Ranger from a great era. Gotta love him. Someday we’ll look at Avery the same way (assuming Glennie re-signs him).
As someone who’s been all over Hank the last few weeks, I’ll chime right in and praise the guy for an amazing game. That’s what we thought we were getting, and if he keeps it up, we’re the #1 or #2 seed going into the playoffs.
What’s with all the posts and crossbars the last 3 games? there were 3 or 4 Tuesday, a few more Thursday, and a slew today. FINISH, FINISH, FINISH, boys.
Someone explain what happened with the Drury fight? I missed 5 minutes of the game and that was it.
Of course the B’s were playing for the shootout, they’re good at ‘em and beat us twice already at it.
drury wins round 10-9,threw a few rights didn’t get hit
Sammy, just heard on the Fan you’re going to be on later talking some Rangers Hock. Looking forward to it.
Drury very impressive today…Easily take C from Jagr when he leaves.
What a game, slow start.
Hank came up big…what a save throwing his arm and glove across the crease…forget who it was but he got ROBBED!!!
Dawes…smooth as silk.
Buf tomorrow
Let Go Rangers!!!!
Sam
I just got home, but I thought the exact same thing about Duguay’s suit. Hidious, plain and simple. I think he needs to take a lesson from Renney.
Where did everyone on the blog go? Lundqvist sucks….everyhone’s been saying that. Where are those people?
I said that Hank’s been off his game, and has reacted terribly to letting in goals. And I still think that, just as I think he had a superb game today and was the goalie I believe he can be if he maintains his focus and dominates his emotions.
Also, I thought BTO looked all right today and followed through with some hits. Good to see, even if not rock solid.
Nice win today! Hank played his best game in 2008 and Dawes is money.
Now lets stick it to Buffie tomorrow night!
Who was that dipshit on here saying how scarey everyone was? What is a scarey anyway?
A few observations. Pathetic that Drury had to fight on behalf of (a foot taller than him) Malik. Malik is a wuss.
Henrik was great. Lucky Chara was out today or outcome probably would have been different. Keep it going, Rangers!
Glad to say that I thought Hank was the right choice on thurs vs isles, and that it would get him goin. Don’t care who remembers. I do.
At game, so you all know what the difference in perspective is all aboot. Felt almost like a playoff game in the sense that it changed the standings as they stood before the game and the wins really mean more now. Sux to give up a point today, I thought we should have won in reg.
Big ‘Atta-boy’ to Chris Drury today. Our guys are getting better and starting to look like the NY Rangers we want to see. It felt good on the train ride home.
So my personal timeline to evaluate Backman is up. I’m going to sleep on it and give my assessment tomorrow. It’s not looking good. When healthy, I’d rather have Mara in the lineup. Backman and Struds are 2 decent depth dmen. Not much more.
Where did everyone on the blog go? Lundqvist sucks….everyhone’s been saying that. Where are those people?
...
I, for one, am right here.
He had a great game, let’s see some consistency heading into the playoffs and I’ll think MAYBE he’s worth that $7M per year.
You know what? It’s better Drury stood up for Malik, than Malik standing up for himself. This way, it showed the team, especially the youth, what being a good teammate is all about. If Malik had stood up for himself, it would have been just that and, therefore, irrelevant to everyone else because he’s wack.
“A few observations. Pathetic that Drury had to fight on behalf of (a foot taller than him) Malik. Malik is a wuss.”
You know Cliff, shut up! Just watch the game, Malik was hit with an elbow to the head and then Drury went after that guy from Boston, I’d like see YOU take a shot in the head and immediately go after the guy, COME ON!!! IT’S F***ING EASY TO WATCH IT FROM THE COUCH! Jez, the team is WINNING SO SHUT UP!
Yeah Cliff, that’s a pretty lame thing to say about Malik. He hadn’t even gotten up by he time Drury had started the fight. So nice try on the Malik bash, but truth be told, the guy had a pretty decent game.
stf, New Newman, I was one of the guy’s bashing Lundqvist. He played great today, truly fantastic. But it still doesn’t change what I said, one bit. I said that the guy is too hot/cold. Today, he was hot. He has had two good games in a row. Two games doesn’t make up for the mediocre two months. I’m still unhappy about how much he is being paid. If he keeps it up through the rest of the season and the playoffs, I’ll recant. But the fact is, I’m going off of two months of inconsistent play, and you’re going off of two games. Two games doesn’t make a guy consistent. Even Marcel Hossa strung together 3 weeks last season. I’ll be convinced when Hank can put together 80% of a season and the playoffs. He is yet to do so. But do I hope that he can? Of course! He turned in his best game of the season today, no doubt about it.
Beer Me, I think you have to give Backman more time than 5 games because he has gotten better in every single game. The more he plays with his partner, the better he will get. I thought he had a decent game today. Sure, he took a minor, but it wasn’t a blatant foul; I thought the call was pretty weak actually. But the fact remains that he has improved every game. I still think he can be better than he has been, and should be given a little more time to show it.
Beer, actually Backman had really good game IMO.
DiPietro, the apparent pet of many of this board who put down Henke at every opportunity, has far and away been the worse goalie since the All-Star break. (Anybody see Carter’s goal last night?) Lundqvist doesn’t handle the puck as well as he ought to, but his fundamentals are tremendous, which is why his distractors shoudl relax. In three years, that deal he just signed will be a bargain.
great move by Dru going after that guy…...now that we all agree on that….the refs call was a gift….he couldve been given the instigator which carries a ten minute misconduct and he wouldve been lost for 17 minutes not 7 so instead of ripping Kerry Fraser for the roughing call you should be praising him for giving the classy veteran Drury the respect of handing him the rough and not the instigator…learn the game…...
about lundqvist, we want to see him do well, but just because he’s played 2 great games doesn’t mean we were wrong about the last 2 1/2 months. I wanna see the guy succeed and play well, but he wasn’t. I hope he keeps going like this so we can forgive him for those awful 2 months. And to clear something up, we aren’t saying he needs to get a shutout every night, I mean guys have off nights where they give up a ton of goals. We just wanna see him rebound from that immediately and show some consistency instead of following that up by more bad performances.
“Beer, actually Backman had really good game IMO.”
STF – I didn’t say any different.
My assessment of Backman is complete. I don’t think he’s a bad player. I DO think that time with the same partner could help. I also know that we have 8 dmen to fill 6 spots. Toots/Girardi…not going anywhere. Malik/Rozy…will finish the season together. Staal has played with almost every dman on the team and has progressed very well and will not sit. So, that leaves 1 spot. I’d imagine that Mara and Backman will fill that spot the rest of the way. I don’t see struds getting more than a game or 2 if he’s lucky. At this point, I don’t know who I’d rather see there. You can’t pay a guy $3mil to sit. We now have 2 dmen making close to that. And one is likely to sit a large part of the rest of the season. I’m guessing they’ll drag out the Mara injury. And I’m ok with it.
I don’t hate Backman, but like many in the NHL, he’s far overpaid. It makes evaluating a player a bit difficult if you take $ into consideration. Without dollars and cents…sure, I’d take him as a 5/6man. Why not?
Doodie – I think 5 games is enough to evaluate a player. Especially in big games, which he’s been in. He’s been aboot as consistent as the rest of the roster really. So it’s hard to bash the guy. But 1 goal isn’t enough to praise anyone either. That’s all I’m sayin. Mara or Backman…I’d flip a coin. I’d would’ve rather seen a physical guy come in.
Dawes on the other hand seems to get better and better. Real happy his play the last few weeks.
This may sound weird, but I think resting Gomez might be a good idea this weekend for one of the FLA games. He’s not skating even close to his ability. I’ve had a groin pull before, and it takes lots of rest to heal it. After the FLA trip, it’s that 10game div stretch.
Trying not to look past the game tonight though. Here’s another curve ball. I’d put hollweg in the lineup tonight. I’d let him go out there and take a run at Kaleta. Then let him go to the lockeroom and start serving his suspension. haha Ok, maybe the hollweg thing is too far. I had a rough weekend.
LET’S GO RANGERS!
Du-GAY!
Check out Brooks’ Article in the post this morning. Talks about Jagr being comfortable about not reaching the automatic contract renewal, plus…. he’s made his decision about next year as to where he’ll play (made the decision a month ago). My guess is back to the czech republic… or, washington.