New York Rangers

Zuccarello scores pretty goals. There’s a mountain of clichés attached to the not-so-mountainous Norwegian that describe his appearance, his NHL ability, the challenges he’s faced and even the fact he’s now a main act on Broadway. That all considered it’s fair to assume Mats Zuccarello has secured an NHL future as the Rangers prepare to take on the Boston Bruins. Throughout the playoffs Zuccarello has been on the puck, making plays, playing physical and has been much harder to knock off the puck. He’s been consistent and on top of all that he’s been productive – something that (at least consistently) has eluded him in the past. He returned to the Rangers from the KHL with something to prove and he’s proving it. While the Rangers have undoubtedly advanced because of a certain member of royalty in net and an upstart kid from French Canada at center ice, the Rangers wouldn’t have gotten this far without Zuccarello’s contribution. So what next for the little winger? If competition fosters performance Zuccarello was very aware that the Rangers brought in Ryane Clowe and are intent on integrating Chris Kreider and JT Miller into the future and sooner rather than later. While the Rangers have lacked consistent scoring this year they do not lack bodies for the top nine roster spots beyond this season. Mats Zuccarello may have made the off season a difficult one for the Rangers and posed some interesting questions to team management. There is no way the franchise cannot offer Zuccarello a new deal, his play has been too good recently and his contribution too integral. Where Zuccarello lines up after this year is where predicting the future gets tough. Is he a powerplay specialist? Can he mesh with Nash long term? Can the franchise afford to give him ice time and not prioritise Chris Kreider’s development? Many questions remain about Zuccarello’s position with the club even as he’s surely removed the doubt around his NHL credentials. How Zuccarello (and Brassard for that matter) ends these playoffs will go some way into establishing a spot for him. He deserves a chance to stick in a scoring role, at least in the short term, and lord does the Rangers powerplay need his vision and passing ability. Perhaps Zuccarello’s presence will allow the Rangers to finally develop Chris Kreider and JT Miller at the appropriate rates; both are still young and wouldn’t be stunted by extra seasoning out of the New York limelight. One thing is for sure when discussing Mats Zuccarello; if he can provide offense on a regular basis he’ll get a chance. The Rangers need as much offense as they can get their hands on. Tweet

Courtesy of the Rangers: NEW YORK RANGERS at BOSTON BRUINS 2013 Stanley Cup Playoffs, Eastern Conference Semifinals – Game 2 Sunday, May 19 (3:00 p.m.) – TD Garden BOS leads 1-0 TODAY’S GAME: The Rangers will face-off against the Boston Bruins at TD Garden (3:00 p.m. — TV: NBC; Radio: ESPN 98.7), in Game 2 of their Eastern Conference Semifinal series. The Blueshirts trail in the series, 1-0, following a 3-2 overtime loss in Game 1 on Thursday at TD Garden. The Rangers enter the contest with a 212-230-8 record all-time in 450 playoff contests (119-88-2 at home; 93-142-6 on the road). New York has posted a 45-50-2 record all-time in Game 2s. ALL-TIME RANGERS PLAYOFF RECORDS: Overall — 212-230-8 Home — 119-88-2 Away — 93-142-6 Goals for — 1,236 Goals against — 1,227 ALL-TIME PLAYOFF RECORDS —RANGERS vs. BRUINS The Rangers and Bruins are meeting in the playoffs for the 10th time overall, and the first time in 40 years. Their last postseason encounter was in the 1973 Quarterfinals, a series won by New York 4-1. Overall, the Blueshirts have a 3-6 playoff series record vs. the Bruins, posting an 18-23-2 mark in 43 postseason contests. RANGERS vs. BRUINS: All-Time (Regular Season): 249-283-97-2 overall (143-119-55-0 at home; 106-164-42-2 on the road) 2012-13: New York was 2-1-0 overall (1-0-0 at home; 1-1-0 on the road). Two of the three contests were decided by one goal, including one game that required overtime and another decided in the shootout. The Blueshirts’ penalty kill was 15-16 (93.8%). Rick Nash led all skaters with three assists, while Henrik Lundqvist was 2-1-0 with a 2.93 GAA and .913 Sv%. The Rangers have won 11 of their last 15 regular season games against the Bruins, including seven of their last nine meetings, and are 22-7-2 against Boston since 2005-06 The Rangers are 12-3-0 in their last 15 regular season games against the Bruins at MSG, dating back to a 3-2 win on Nov. 20, 2005 The Blueshirts are 5-1-0 in their last six regular season games at TD Garden, having out-scored the Bruins, 15-10, over the span Henrik Lundqvist has started in 27 consecutive regular season games against Boston, dating back to Jan. 13, 2007 The Blueshirts have three players with previous playoff experience against the Bruins – Arron Asham (9 GP, 1-2-3), Roman Hamrlik (25 GP, 1-8-9), and Darroll Powe (11 GP, 0-1-1) New York lists no former Bruins on their roster Boston lists three former Rangers on their roster: Jaromir Jagr (2003-04 – 2007-08); Wade Redden (2008-09 – 2009-10); Marc Savard (1997-98 – 1998-99) INDIVIDUAL CAREER LEADERS vs. BRUINS (Regular Season): Henrik Lundqvist — 30 GP, 21-7-2, 1.67 GAA, 6 SO Martin Biron — 31 GP, 12-12-2-1, 2.66 GAA, 1 SO Brad Richards — 37 GP, 8-23-31 Ryan Callahan — 22 GP, 5-6-11 Michael Del Zotto — 13 GP, 2-5-7 SPECIAL TEAMS: The Blueshirts are 2-0 in games when tallying a power play goal during the playoffs, and are 4-0 when not allowing a power play goal against Power Play: The Rangers did not tally a goal in three power play opportunities (5:35) in Game 1, and are now 2-31 (6.4%) in the playoffs. New York is 0-2 in five-on-three situations (3:17; last – 5/12 vs. WSH), and 0-2 while skating four-on-three (0:23; last – 5/8 vs. WSH). Shorthanded goals allowed (0). Penalty Killing: The Blueshirts surrendered one goal to the Bruins in four shorthanded situations (7:21) in Game 1, and are now 16-20 (80.0%) in the playoffs. Shorthanded goals for (0). Four-on-Four: The Blueshirts did not tally/yield a goal in one four-on-four situation (0:25) in Game 1, and are now even in three four-on-four situations (4:25) in the playoffs. Four-on-four goals for (0). Four-on-four goals allowed (0). QUICK HITS: Prior to Game 1, the last time the Rangers and Bruins played an overtime game in the playoffs was Mar. 27, 1958 (L, 3-4) Four of the remaining eight teams in the playoffs are Orig

Oh, to have Jaromir Jagr back with the Rangers. Admittedly for selfish reasons not entirely based upon Jagr’s on-ice performance, though, at 41, he can still contribute. But Jagr is still one of the great interviews in sports. “Ah,” Jagr said, smiling, when the Bruins room was opened this afternoon. “The New York media…You guys missed me.” Yes, Jags, yes we do. Both he and fellow former Ranger Wade Redden were at their stalls Saturday. Redden, who missed Game 1 with an undisclosed injury, said he was ready to play just yet and was day to day. Bruins coach Claude Julien said Redden would be a game-time decision. Redden spoke about his time with Hartford (AHL), his feelings about spending two seasons in the minors because A) he was not performing at the level the Rangers needed and B) the Rangers could hide his $6.5 million annual salary cap hit in the minors - a loophole in the old Collective Bargaining Agreement. The Rangers bought out the final two years of Redden’s six-year, $39 million deal prior to this season under one of their amnesty buyouts allowed in the new CBA. And Jagr, well, he just spoke. And said some funny things. Like when it was all over when I asked him if he still was planning to play one season in the Czech Republic for Kladno after he was done in the NHL, to fulfill a promise he made to his father. Jagr just laughed. “One season?” He said. “I could be scoring in that league when I’m 50.” And he said some serious things. Quotes below… ====================================================== Follow me on Twitter at twitter.com/AGrossRecord Follow the Record Sports Staff at twitter.com/TheRecordSports

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.