New York Rangers

The Powe interview has to do with his being part of the 2010 Philly team that came back from 0-3 against Boston to win that playoff series. The post More post-practice interviews: Powe, Zuccarello appeared first on Rangers Report Blog.

The New York Rangers were greeted with some good news this morning, as Ryane Clowe joined some of the other players at an optional morning skate. This is the first time that Clowe has skated since he took a big hit in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals against the Washington Capitals. It was suspected that Clowe had suffered his second concussion, and with the length of time he's been out, that's the likely diagnoses. Darroll Powe and Marc Staal were also present at the skate, but both of their statuses continue to remain unknown at this point. Powe did speak with the media this morning, and when he was asked about his health, he replied "I don't know" with a big grin on his face. Again, whether that means he's ready or not still remains to be seen. Along with the good news, there was also some bad news. Anton Stralman was absent from the skate this morning, and sat out the third period of last night's Game 3. He too took a big hit from Milan Lucic along the boards, and it's suspected that he has concussion-like symptoms as well. If that latter is true, that's yet another big loss for the Rangers, as they continue to fight the injury bug throughout these playoffs. Thoughts?

Mandatory Credit: Debby Wong-USA TODAY Sports After a back and forth series with the Washington Capitals and an emphatic Game 7 win in the nation’s capital, the Rangers had plenty of reasons to enter the second round with confidence. Although Rick Nash did not score a goal in the first round, he still had plenty of scoring chances which gave fans hope. After dropping Game 1 in Boston 3-2 at the hands of Brad Marchand‘s overtime goal, the Blueshirts knew they had to tie up the series heading back to New York. Unfortunately, that is not the way things panned out. New York dropped Game 2 as well losing by a final score of 5-2. Do not let that score fool you however, Rick Nash did score his first playoff goal, and up until the third period, I felt that the Rangers were playing their best playoff hockey so far. But, a third period collapse filled with defensive miscues and blown coverages would be their eventual downfall. So, the Rangers headed back to New York trailing 2-0 in the series, the same spot that they found themselves in against Washington. After watching last night’s debacle, it is clear that this team needs a makeover. Brad Richards once again looked invisible which is starting to become a daily occurance, Nash did not score, the powerplay was awful, and it looked like Henrik Lundqvist was the only player trying to get a win for his team. Mandatory Credit: Christopher Szagola-USA TODAY Sports John Tortorella I know this team cares and they are trying to win, but they aren’t going to be successful with John Tortorella at the helm of this squad. His grind it out and mega defensive system does not work when you have star players like Rick Nash, Derek Stepan, and Ryan Callahan. Although I agree that it is the players job to put the puck in the net, it can all be traced back to the system. The way Tortorella runs things just doesn’t work anymore on Broadway. The question that is being asked now is “Has Tortorella lost his team?” It has happened before in hockey, where players no longer respond to their coaches, and now the fear is the same thing may be happening in the Big Apple. It looks like Tortorella’s tyrannical way of running things is forcing the players to tune him out. Before last night’s game, the Rangers went 99 consecutive games without a defeat carrying a lead into the third period. You would have expected his team to come out with fire and swagger, but that didn’t happen. Instead, we saw the play taken to the RANGERS. If you want to hold a lead in this league, you have to bring a consistent and structured forecheck. Many times last night the Bruins were able to just waltz right out of their zone, with absolutely no pressure being applied. That just doesn’t work in this league, and it stems back to coaching. After a fluke bounce was put in by Daniel Paille, the Blueshirts trailed 2-1 with 3 minutes to play. So Tortorella called his team over to discuss some things, which was the right decision. Once the puck dropped and the Rangers controlled play in the offensive zone, there was not one guy in front of the net. If I was coaching, I would have told all three of my forwards to crash the net and look for rebounds and tip-ins. Instead, the Rangers kept play to the outside, and barely mustered a shot on goal. This is frustrating as a fan, and maybe it’s time to close the curtain on Tortorella’s Broadway show. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Hoffman-USA TODAY Sports Brad Richards Back in February, Larry Brooks of the NY Post reported that the Rangers could use their amnesty buyout to get out of Richards’ contract. Many fans thought that was absurd, a slow start to the season means that we talk about buying out players? Well, that buyout may become a necessity. Although he had a pretty good run at the end of the season with 11 points in 6 games and a hat trick against Buffalo, many people were describing that effort as “empty points.&

Another Jet rumored to want out. Gary Lawless of the Winnipeg Free Press is reporting that Alex Burmistrov wants out of Winnipeg, and will not sign a contract extension this summer. Lawless noted that Burmistrov, an RFA this summer, “wished to be traded at the deadline” and has “no intention of re-signing with the Jets.” Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff was rumored to attempt to trade the young forward, and “the names Jakob Silfverberg, Drew Stafford and Kyle Okposo have all been attached to Burmistrov trade rumours.” Burmistrov, a former top-ten pick, has 23 goals and 58 points in his 194 game NHL career. This includes an awful 4-6-10 line from this season and a spot on the bench for the final four games as a healthy scratch. There is a noted rift between Burmistrov and head coach Claude Noel, which is likely the main cause for Burmistrov’s desire to leave Winnipeg. Despite the low point totals, Burmistrov still commands a decent amount on the trade market. He is cost controlled, and he has the potential to be a great top-six forward. His metrics (.043 Corsi Rel QoC, 6.5 RCorsi, 52% OZone start) aren’t anything special, but they aren’t bad either. At just 21 years old, the sky appears to be the limit for the young Russian. He has the hard part –competency in his own zone– at a manageable level. Offense will come eventually. The problem with Burmi is the cost. If names like Silvferberg, Stafford, and Okposo are being thrown out there, then the Rangers equivalent is Chris Kreider. Kreider himself is relatively unproven –and significantly worse in his own end– like Burmistrov, but that kind of deal is a bit of a sideways deal. Plus, it makes little sense for the Rangers to give up a kid who is still cost controlled for another season for a kid –who again is unproven offensively– who is up for a raise this offseason. A deal without Kreider would like involve JT Miller, another kid who the organization has deemed untouchable in other trades. It’s highly unlikely either gets dealt, especially when the organization is in win-now mode (thus trading a kid would be for a piece for a Cup run, not a sideways move). Winnipeg had been rumored to be looking to deal Evander Kane at one point, so let’s take this one with a grain of salt. Tweet

More to follow later, including video of John Tortorella’s presser, and an interview with Darroll Powe, who probably won’t play tomorrow, but who was part of the Philadelphia team that came back from 0-3 to beat Boston in the 2010 playoffs. The post Post-practice audio: Tortorella, Callahan appeared first on Rangers Report Blog.

Per Dan Rosen, injured winger Ryane Clowe is on the ice for practice today. Clowe has been out since Game Five of the Washington series with a likely concussion. While this is always promising news, let’s remember that Marc Staal has been practicing for a while, and he’s only played in one playoff game. This is a hopeful sign, but until we hear confirmation he is playing, it is still just a hopeful sign. Andrew Gross is reporting that Darroll Powe is on the ice at practice as well. Anton Stralman and Chris Kreider were not at the optional. Tweet

If the New York Rangers want to return to the Eastern Conference Finals, they have one more hill to climb – and it is Mount Boston. Given the way the Blueshirts have been playing it might as well be Mount Everest. After winning Game 7 on the road to eliminate the Washington Capitals, the Rangers will look to become only the fourth team to overcome a 3-0 deficit. The only potential saving grace is that one of the three teams to blow a 3-0 lead was the 2010 Boston Bruins, who were beaten by the Philadelphia Flyers. In addition to the memory of 2010, Boston only has to think back a couple of weeks to realize they were about 10 minutes away from wasting a 3-1 series lead against the Toronto Maple Leafs. It is a point the Bruins are cognizant of. “That fourth game is going to be the toughest one and out of any team in the NHL we should probably know that the best,” Johnny Boychuk said to Dan Rosen of NHL.com. Bruins coach Claude Julien is well aware of his team’s problems closing out a series, but he believes his team is stronger now because of its struggles in the past. ‘‘We can talk about it all we want, but that’s in the past. We had to live with that and we still have to live with that,’’ Julien said to Ira Podell of the AP. ‘‘The Toronto series, I didn’t think our team was in the zone the way it is right now. I anticipate — knowing my team — that we’re going to come out the same next game and certainly not be the Jekyll and Hyde team that we were in the first round.’’ The Rangers have no one to blame but themselves for the predicament they find themselves in. They have not been able to build on any momentum they have gained in the series. The biggest condemnation has been their inability to score goals on any consistent basis – and more importantly – their inability to extend the two one-goal leads they have had in the series. In Game 1, the Rangers took a 2-1 lead on Derek Stepan’s goal 14 seconds into the third period. However, that lead didn’t even last three minutes before Torey Krug’s power play goal tied the game. Last night, the Rangers seemed content with Taylor Pyatt’s goal early in the second period as they took their skates off the throttle. That goal pretty much sums what the Rangers need to be doing more of in this series: winning faceoffs, getting shots on goal with traffic at the top of the crease in front of Tuukka Rask. Sadly, for Rangers fans, their team has not been doing that enough while the Bruins have been winning games doing it – just look at Dan Paille’s game-winner in Game 3. For years it has been my contention that to win in the playoffs you have to have offense and score goals because, for the most part, the very nature of the playoffs lends itself to tighter defensive play. That is why special teams play is so important because power plays give teams a better chance to score goals – unless of course you are the New York Rangers. Rather than look to take the play to the Bruins, the Rangers sat back and turned the game over to Henrik Lundqvist. While he played like The King last night, save for the giveaway on the Bruins tying goal, it is too much to ask any goaltender to make a one-goal lead stand up for 36 minutes – especially when the team in front of him doesn’t have much of a clue defensively (more on that later). Just how one-sided did the game become? The Bruins outshot the Rangers 25-10 following Pyatt’s goal. Ryan Callahan summed up the team’s play during the second half of the game. “They grabbed the momentum in the middle of the second and we never got it back,” the Captain admitted to Larry Brooks of the NY Post. “I don’t think we handled their surge correctly.” One of the earliest notes I made in the game was that the Rangers “ice balance” was off. Again they were getting caught watching the puck in their own zone which, in turn, leaves them vulnerable to plays from the weak side – a problem throughout the series. The Rangers ice balance is taking a real bea

The Rangers powerplay in the 2013 NHL Playoffs is 2 for 38, which is just a hair above 5%. I shouldn't have to tell you that scoring once out of every twenty powerplays opportunities is really, really not good. It's awful. It's spontaneously catching fire in the middle of the desert whilst being hunted down by ravenous cyborg-coyotes bad. Where did the man-hungry roboyotes come from you ask? From the same place your nightmares come from. There are a lot of things to blame and point at to explain how the Rangers find themselves down 3-0 in their series against the Bruins but for most people the powerplay, or lack thereof, is one of the more obvious scapegoats. Sure, there is also the lack of any kind of offense when the team is at even strength to talk about, as well as a certain former Conn Smythe winner who has played himself onto the fourth line, and a coach who's antics are getting as unimpressive as the effort put forth by his team... but for now let's take a look at a brief list of things that are more effective than the powerplay of our New York Rangers. Hammerskates (patent-pending). Jubilee's mutant powers. According to the never-wrong Wikipedia: A mutant, Jubilee had the superhuman power to generate "sparkles" out of her hands, consisting of explosive plasma." ... sparkles? Really? Sparkles. There's a dude with metal skin, a guy who shoots the fury of the sun out of his eyes, and a girl who shoots sparkles at things. Still, it came in handy a lot more than I thought it would. Rick Nash's spin-around power move thing where he skates backwards into the defenseman and then quickly and wildly turns around and shoots it in the general vicinity of the net. Ryan Callahan's shootout move. Hey, he scored with it once or twice in about half a dozen attempts... what I wouldn't give for the powerplay to be half that effective. Cups with holes in the bottom. Me at quickly drawing human hands. Fun noodles being used as baseball bats. Remember fun noodles? Sure ya do. Wet matches. Shoes being used as pillows (not so bad if you're in a pinch). Tim Tebow at quarterba-... eh, nevermind. It isn't that bad. Kristen Stewart's acting. The moderation at Blueshirt Banter (Oh snap!). The "War on Drugs". Wile E. Coyote's roadrunner-capturing and assassination attempts (let's not kid ourselves- he was trying to kill him and eat him). The New York Islanders powerplay in the 2013 Playoffs (that one stings, doesn't it?). M. Night Shyamalan's storytelling in everything that isn't either The Sixth Sense or Signs. Sporks. Pierre McGuire's criticism of the Rangers powerplay. That is all I have for now. You know what? That's a dirty, horrible lie. My list could go on and on but I am a considerate person and I know you all probably have better things to do than read my silly list... but if you don't have better things to do perhaps you can add a few of your own things that are more effective than the Rangers powerplay in the comments section. Who knows, maybe we can have a few laughs and forget about how awful last night went but I don't think that's very likely. Brace yourselves my friends, the Rangers are trailing 3-0 to the Boston Bruins... Summer is coming. Let's go Rangers.

Any analysis of why the Rangers are in danger of being swept in a playoff series for the first time since the Devils ousted them in the first round in 2006 begins and ends here: they are being beaten by a deeper, more talented team that is wearing them down with their depth. Coach John Tortorella as much as admitted that after the game when he said he felt he was in a “Catch-22” because of the Bruins’ four-line attack. While Tortorella feels he must shorten his bench in the third period because of which players are and are not playing well, the Bruins keep rolling 12 quality forwards. Per the NHL, it snapped a 99-game streak for the Rangers of not losing in regulation when carrying a lead into the third period, dating to a 6-5 loss to the Capitals on Feb. 4, 2010. From The Record today: - Here is the game story. - Columnist Tara Sullivan writes as good as G Henrik Lundqvist is, he can’t do it alone. - Tom Gulitti breaks down how the Bruins’ fourth line made the difference. The Rangers practice at noon today so perhaps we’ll get a sense of how serious the injuries/bruises to Anton Stralman, Carl Hagelin, Chris Kreider, Ryan McDonagh, etc. might be. “They are a good team at an important time of the year,” captain Ryan Callahan said. “We knew they were going to push. I thought we had a pretty good third period but we gave up a goal and we don’t get one. It’s tough. Especially at home, going into the third period with the lead. That’s something you want to hold on to at this time of the year, obviously. “They have a good forecheck,” Callahan added. “They have a couple of lines that can come at you pretty hard. They’re pretty effective at getting the puck behind our defensemen. It’s tough but I think the big thing is we need to stay up with them, not turn the puck over. If we do that, we’ll be OK. At times tonight we did that and we were playing good. We have had some good looks that (Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask) has made some good saves on. He’s a good goalie, you have to give him credit. But, at the same time, we need more puck possession and that’s a big part of it.” ====================================================== Follow me on Twitter at twitter.com/AGrossRecord Follow the Record Sports Staff at twitter.com/TheRecordSports

If Henrik Lundqvist ever aspires to leave the club of "the greatest Ranger goalies to never win a Cup", he is going to have to improve his game. In the club are guys like Eddie Giacomin, Chuck Rayner and an assortment of lesser stars. Guys who made The Hall of Fame and are Cupless. Henrik has to learn how to somehow score goals. You think I jest? Taylor Pyatt scored a goal at 3:53 of the second