New York Rangers

Both the Rangers and Bruins conducted full practices today here at TD Garden as they prepare for Game 2 of their Eastern Conference semifinal series, Sunday afternoon at 3. The Bruins won Game 1, 3-2, in overtime on Thursday, giving both teams a rare two-day break. “We didn’t get this much during the season, this is more down time than we’ve had a in a while,” Rangers captain Ryan Callahan said. “I think it’s good after Game 1. It gives us a chance to look at some video, some things we need to improve on. It’s definitely a good break in between.” “I think it’s good and bad,” D Dan Girardi added. “We got rest but we’re thinking about the game we had. When you have a game like that, it’s good to get right back at it.” Both teams are likely to have the same lineups for Game 2, based on today’s practice. D Matt Gilroy was the only extra skater for the Rangers, who had the same lines and defensive pairs they played with in Game 1. Marc Staal, who was on the ice at TD Garden Friday during the Rangers’ optional practice, was not seen today. For the Bruins, D Wade Redden, who missed Game 1 with an undisclosed injury, believed to be an upper-body injury, did practice but said afterwards he was not ready to rejoin the lineup as of today and Bruins coach Claude Julien said Redden would likely be a game-time decision. Julien also said D Dennis Seidenberg (lower body) was “doing better but I don’t anticipate him being ready for tomorrow.” The highlight of John Tortorella’s press conference came when he was asked why top-line left wing Carl Hagelin was not used on the power play. Remember, Tortorella is completely enamored with Hagelin’s game and speed. “Because he stinks on the power play,” Tortorella said. “I don’t know why. I wish I could play him on the power play. Every time I put him on, he stinks. I think he’s too quick. I think he’s a jitterbug and he screws it up. But, again, I may use him. I don’t know. I love him. I’m not trying to be a smart (aleck) but he stinks on the power play every time I put him on.” The natural follow-up, given that the Rangers’ power play is awful is what does Tortorella have to lose by using Hagelin. The power play is 2 for 31 in the postseason. “But the power play stinks, it’s true and that’s why he may get an opportunity,” Tortorella said. ====================================================== Follow me on Twitter at twitter.com/AGrossRecord Follow the Record Sports Staff at twitter.com/TheRecordSports

Mmmm….hockey stats. Yesterday, I used four stats to discuss how the Rangers are not a team that sits on a lead. Those four stats I introduced to the blog (note: These are not new stats, just new to being used on this blog) were Fenwick, Situational Corsi, CF%, and FF%. Since the Rangers are off today, now would be a good time to go into detail about each stat. Fenwick Fenwick is the easiest to describe, since it is a lot like Corsi. Corsi is the plus/minus of the number of shot attempts taken by a team that are missed, blocked, or on net. It is something we have used very often on the blog. Fenwick is almost the exact same thing as Corsi, but it removes blocked shots from the equation. The logic here is that it eliminates coaching strategy from the equation. Some coaches preach blocking shots, and others preach preventing shot attempts. Fenwick eliminates that variable. Personally, I prefer to use Corsi when analyzing players. That said, Fenwick is a bit more reliable when comparing players on different teams, since it does eliminate the coaching variable. Situational Corsi Situational Corsi is exactly what it sounds like, it is the Corsi of a team in specific game situations. The types of situations measured are tied, close (+/- 1 goal), up 1, down 1, up 2+, down 2+. These are used to illustrate how a team plays or adjusts their style based on the score. Generally you will see teams with lower situational Corsi when up more than two goals, which is expected. This correlates directly to higher situational Corsi when down two or more. CF% CF% (Corsi-For Percent) is the percentage of Corsi for a team. The formula is CF (Corsi-For, or the raw number of shot attempts for a team) / (CF + Corsi Against). The purpose of this stat is to determine the percentage of shot attempts taken by a team in the game. So if Team A takes 50 shot attempts, and Team B has 100 shot attempts, then Team A’s CF% is 50/(50+100) = 33.3%. They took 33% of all of the shots in the game. FF% FF% (Fenwick-For Percent) is exactly what you would think it is. It takes CF%, and just replaces Corsi with Fenwick. The same purpose applies as well. FF% is used to determine the percentage of shot attempts (not including blocked shots) for a team in a game. As always, be sure to read up on the Metrics We Use page, as this is an archive for all of our metrics definitions and purposes. Tweet

With the New York Rangers falling 3-2 to the Boston Bruins on Thursday evening, the one thing that still lingers around are the three power play opportunities that went unanswered by the Rangers, prior to the winning goal. There were times during the regular season, and even against the Washington Capitals where the power play wasn't scoring, but it was still getting some good chances and decent looks. After watching the power play on Thursday night, it left me with headaches until at least the next morning. The Rangers literally couldn't set anything up in the offensive zone, let alone getting into the zone cleanly. That's one of the biggest issues that the Rangers are dealing with at the moment. Gaining the zone. On the odd chance that they do actually gain the zone, there is a whole lot of passing, and not a whole lot of shooting. There have been a bazillion different combinations, and nothing has seemed to stick. No matter what happens, John Tortorella will always fall back on his regulars. The Brad Richards', the Dan Girardi's, and the Ryan Callahan's. That's all fine and dandy up until those players aren't getting the job done anymore, and it's costing the Rangers some key chances during the playoffs. I've always been the type of person that feels the best players on the rink that night should be getting those type of opportunities. Not the ones that continually fail chance after chance, and nothing really changes. Only so much can be put on the coaching staff, and don't get me wrong, part of that blame still falls on them. But the other half of the equation has to do with the players, and whether or not they are actually executing. And up until this point, none of the guys on the power play are really getting that job done. Up until this point, the guys that have been impressing me the most have yet to see an ounce of power play time (with the exception of Derick Brassard, and Derek Stepan). Isn't it about time that John Tortorella and the coaching staff completely clean the slate, and go with the players that are giving the effort out there, and getting things done? Where are guys like Taylor Pyatt, Carl Hagelin, Derek Dorsett, John Moore, Ryan McDonagh, and even Anton Stralman? I know a lot of you guys will call me crazy for bringing up some of these names, but what is there to lose at this point? Nothing else has seemed to get anything going. At times during these last eight games, the Rangers third and fourth lines have been their best line on the ice, and generating the most chances. If that's clicking, why in the world wouldn't you roll with the hot hand(s)? Sure, it may not be the biggest names on the roster, but hey, it's working, right? It's time to fix the power play, and it's not always about the biggest names, but rather the names that are getting the job done. Thoughts?

The Rangers found out that it is difficult to win playoff games when their offense appears for less than 20 seconds on Thursday night as they fell to the Bruins 3-2.Despite the dearth of scoring chances, the disorganization of the defense, the goaltender's gaffes and the utter incompetence of the special teams, the Blueshirts made it to overtime against Boston. So that's something to build on.Not really going to expound too much on this atrocity, as Game 2 is just a day away.Late Hits:*Rene Rancourt can't sing. Oh, and clowns wear gold bowties.*You have to be utterly brainless to take a penalty in overtime of a playoff game ... and just when we were starting to like Dorsett. That being said, that was the third penalty drawn by Rich Peverley in the game. The former Thrasher is one of those hard hat guys you can count on come tough times, like Feds was for us last year.*Zdeno Chara was huge (har har). The Boston captain literally played half the game, wasn't on for either Ranger goal, opened the night's scoring and set up the game winner. Ranger captain Ryan Callahan? Had a secondary assist and wasn't much of a factor.*Del Zaster and Nash led the team in power play time with over three minutes each out of the 5:35 of man advantage time. The Rangers had just three shots make it on goal over that span, one each from Nash, John Moore and Brad Richard$. Yep.*Odd fact, there was just one Ranger who did not even attempt a shot: my tw-enemy Asham.*Bonus with this series being against Boston? A motivated Brian Boyle. Some of his best hockey of the season, but that isn't saying much.*Difference between Brad Marchand and former Ranger Sean Avery? Both are/were incredibly annoying, both have/had terrific speed and a decent touch around the net but Marchand has terrific chemistry with Patrice Bergeron, one of the most underrated players in the NHL. Avery didn't spend enough time on any single line to get any chemistry with anyone.*The Rangers had just two days off between series but they looked a bit rusty; that first period was brutal. They'd better have more jump early on Sunday...*PHW Three Stars:3-Derick Brassard - one assist.2-Zdeno Chara - one goal and one assist.1-Brad Marchand - one goal and one assist.Scotty Hockey Three Stars:3-Hank - Does he want all three goals against back? Surely. Was he under siege all night keeping the Rangers in a game they had no right to be? Absolutely.2-Chara - The man-mountain played 38 minutes and contributed on both sides of the ice. I'm sure he also managed to complete a triathlon, help an old lady across the street, save children from a burning orphanage and force Superman to kneel before Zod.1-The Posts - Half dozen or so saves by the iron.

The results are unofficial, because I always wait 24 hours to see if anybody has any protests about my tabulations. But, according to my calculations, Mike S is our first-round contest winner, the only entry with all eight first-round series winners correct. Nine others had seven of the eight series winners correct, including our friend Doodie Machetto, whose only miss was on his beloved Rangers (don’t feel bad, I picked the Capitals, too). The others with seven first-round winners were Evan, Jared R, Michael Raffo, Moses JD, Daddy, Colin, Admiral Akbar and Lyova—who always seems to be in or near the winner’s circle in our events. So we went to the first tiebreaker, which was total series exactly correct. Michael Raffo thus is our second-place winner with four exact predictions. Four others had two series exactly right, and nobody won the third tiebreaker, which was the score of the Rangers-Capitals clincher. So third place goes to Lyova, who on the fourth tiebreaker, Rangers shots in the clinching first-round game, nailed it with 27. I’m giving you guys 24 hours … until 5 a.m. Sunday … to let me know if you have any disagreements or gripes with the results, via email: rcarpini@lohud.com. If I don’t hear any convincing arguments by email by 5 a.m. Sunday, I will declare Mike S, Michael Raffo and Lyova our three winners. Thanks to everybody who played. *********************************************** Don’t know if  you guys saw any of John Tortorella’s presser in Boston yesterday. Here’s a classic clip, though … click here. Photo from politico.com. The post And the winner is … (unofficially) Mike S picked all eight first-round series winners correctly appeared first on Rangers Report Blog.

Josh Nicholls scores (CHL/WHL/Derek Mortensen) Appearances can be very deceiving as witnessed in the opening game of the 2013 Memorial Cup between the hosts the Saskatoon Blades and the OHL Champions the London Knights. Really the only reasons why London only won 3-2 have to do with a terrible power play of the London Knights and Saskatoon goalie Andrey Markov. London dominated the game when at full strength but turned into the New York Rangers when on the power play going 1 for 6 including a 52 second 5 on 3 where they missed a golden opportunity to blow the game wide open. Markov along with New York Ranger prospect Josh Nicholls (2013 UFA) made the game look respectable as Markov rightfully earned the game's first star keeping his team in the game despite London outplaying them. Nicholls made the Rangers look very good for signing him as he scored both Saskatoon goals off some nice efforts. The first goal scored by Nicholls came on a rebound where Nicholls was "right place, right time" as he was sitting at the London doorstep with a wide open net to cash in the rebound of a Michael Ferland shot. Nicholls scored the opening goal of the series at 7:55 of the 1st period. The goal gave Saskatoon a 1-0 lead that they held until London first tied the score at 12:55 mark and then took the lead at the 18:21 mark. The Knights took the lead into the first intermission and held it until Nicholls tied the score off a breakaway when he got in beyond the London blueline, took the shot and then banged in his own rebound tying the game at 15:21. Tommy Hughes (2013 UFA) was one of the London defensemen who were beaten on this play. Hughes was the 2nd London defender back on the play but to be fair he wasn't the one who let Nicholls beat him back. Hughes was 2nd pair for London but other than Nicholls goal wasn't bad but wasn't special and London will need a much better effort from their entire blueline when they face Portland and Halifax in back to back nights. London's Dale Hunter hardly uses his 3rd pair of defenders so London is going to face problems trying to match the speed that Portland and Halifax bring. London scored the game winning goal in the 3rd period on their 5th power play of the game. Saskatoon just didn't have enough in the tank to score the tying goal. The 3rd Ranger prospect playing was Shane McColgan (2011 5th) of Saskatoon but the only play where McColgan was noticed was not a play he will like seeing on TV. McColgan got just flat out wiped out by London's Max Domi (yes son of Tie) with a very clean hit. Here is the replay courtesy of Prospect Park friend Neate Sager. It was a play in the 3rd period and Domi caught him clean so one can't complain about it. McColgan was helped off the ice by a trainer and did return to play, Sager's Buzzing the Net blog awarded their 2nd star of the game to Josh Nicholls. Saturday night night's game between Portland and Halifax is in danger of being over-hyped but I for one am very much looking forward to seeing 4 of the best prospects in junior hockey in action. London next plays Portland on Monday while Saskatoon faces Halifax on Sunday.

The Rangers, off their 3-2 overtime loss in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference semifinal series with the Bruins on Thursday night, held an optional practice this afternoon at TD Garden. Among players who actually played in Game 1, only Mats Zuccarello and Chris Kreider were on the ice. But so was D Marc Staal, joining the optional skate late, when most observers had tired of watching Micheal Haley, Roman Hamrlik and Kris Newbury practice. Staal, out with blurred vision since being hit near the right eye by a puck on March 5, returned to the Rangers’ lineup for just Game 3 against the Capitals in the first round before taking himself back out of the lineup as he was not comfortable playing with his altered depth perception and sight in general. The Rangers had no update on Staal’s status. He did not travel with the Rangers to Boston on Wednesday, instead joining the team on his own. Also, RW Darroll Powe, who has been out since suffering a possible concussion in Game 3 against the Capitals, worked out off ice, riding a stationary bike. The Rangers will have a full practice Saturday at TD Garden at 1:30 as they prepare for Game 2, Sunday at 3 p.m. Meanwhile, read below to see what the two coaches had to say today… ====================================================== Follow me on Twitter at twitter.com/AGrossRecord Follow the Record Sports Staff at twitter.com/TheRecordSports

NY1 parenting correspondent Shelley Goldberg sat down with New York Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist to talk about being a father. Yes, he's the king. And now, Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist has a new role to play: as dad to 10-month old daughter Charlise. "I was a little nervous going into it. You're not sure how much it's going to change your life, and it's a big responsibility, obviously, to take care of a little baby," Lundqvist says. "The first couple months, it was hard to kind of connect a little bit, but then, there was this day when she started looking at you, and then a couple weeks later, she starts turning around. And when she hears your voice, she knows you're there. And that was a big thing." Another big change? "Obviously, not getting the sleep that I'm used to getting. That's a new thing," he says. Even though he reigns supreme as a Ranger, Lundqvist knows there's always room for improvement at home. "I have to work on a lot of things. That's true. My patience, and I think I'm, especially during the season, I'm more stressed than offseason. To have, it's easy for me to be relaxed and understand that things, things won't go perfectly all the time with a little kid, and that's easier for me to handle when I'm not under pressure," he says. "A little more patience would not hurt for me, that's for sure." Ultimately, for Lundqvist, the goal is to find balance on and off the ice. "Maybe I grew up a little bit having this baby, but you have, I think it changes your priorities a little bit," he says. "I don't want it to be too much hockey. I don't want it to be too much off-ice stuff, either. Life is about finding that balance where you just feel comfortable and happy, and that's when you're going to perform the best as well on the ice." Click here to view the interview on NY1.com (It doesn't allow embedding)

May 16, 2013; Boston, MA, USA; New York Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist (30) makes a glove save during the second period in game one of the second round of the 2013 Stanley Cup Playoffs at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: Greg M. Cooper-USA TODAY Sports The Rangers will win this series against Boston.  I know a lot of you are thinking I am nuts for saying this after that performance on Thursday night.  That is exactly why I am saying the Rangers will come out on top. The Rangers played one of their worst games this post season. Lundqvist did not look like the best goalie in the league giving up 2 soft goals.  The fore check was still in Washington after its flight was cancelled.  With all of the problems the Rangers had, the game still was 2 – 2 and into OT in Boston.  Yes the Rangers still lost, I get that.  But lets look at the positives.  If the Rangers can hold on to a game like that and take it into OT, what will happen when the Rangers are playing to their ability.  What happens when Lundqvist brings his “A” game?  Does the Chara shot go in? Does the Bruins hit 3 posts and put our hearts in our throats? I see a bounce back game in Game 2 and the Rangers take a 1 – 1 series back to MSG.  The Rangers are very capable of making this series 3 – 1 going back to Boston. I hope I am right. Remember to follow me on Twitter @JohnBLStation You can send me  an Email JohnBLStation@gmail.com

Kathy Willens/AP “The Rangers play boring hockey. They sit on leads, they block shots, and the don’t even attempt to score once they have the lead.” I’m sure you’ve heard this before. Almost every media outlet says this about the Rangers during the postseason. The logic here is that the Rangers block a lot of shots, thus are a passive team and are content sitting on one-goal leads. The logic is flawed, as blocking shots has nothing to do with the aggressiveness of a team once they obtain a lead. Blocking shots is how a team plays in their own zone. There are two other zones in hockey with completely different systems, as we’ve noted on this site many times. Aside from the Caps series, where the Rangers were completely manhandled in terms of Corsi (not a single player had a positive Corsi), the Rangers as a whole are not a team that sits back on leads. Even in the Caps series the Rangers were still generating offense, but the Caps had an overwhelming puck possession advantage that it marred their attempts. This is something we’ve detailed with chalk talks and systems before, but now we have some data to match the eye test. This brings us to situational team Corsi. I will touch more in-depth tomorrow, but situational team Corsi is exactly that: The Corsi of a team based on the current situation (note: Score) of the game. Since Corsi is a puck possession metric that measures the +/- of shot attempts (on net, missed, blocked), situational Corsi just breaks this down into the Corsi of a team at any particular score (up 1, down 1, tied, etc). Looking at the table below, you can really see how the Rangers are not a team that sits on leads. I am using CF% (Corsi For Percent, which measures the percentage of shot attempts on the ice, more on this tomorrow) and FF% (same thing, but for Fenwick, which does not include blocked shots in the equation, also more on that tomorrow). Situation CF% League Rank FF% League Rank Tied 51.0% 12th 51.2% 12th Up 1 54.0% 4th 51.6% 5th Up 2+ 44.4% 14th 46.3% 11th The table itself is pretty interesting (using the regular season numbers from this year), as the Rangers actually begin to generate more offense when already up a goal. Their CF% and FF% go up, and their league rankings jump to the top-five in the league. When tied, the Rangers are about league average in puck possession. When up two or more, they tend to lose some steam, which probably has more to do with energy than tactics.  That said, they are still in the upper half of the league when it comes to puck possession and shot generation in those situations. We’ve said this about a billion times on this blog, but the Rangers are not a passive team, even with a lead. This is a team that is among the best in the league at maintaining puck possession with a lead, especially when holding a fragile one-goal lead. This is something we should look for the Rangers to continue with as they get deeper in their series with the Bruins. I would like to thank Corey Sznajder (Shut Down Line) for pointing me to the resource for this post. Tweet