Rangers Wire

Hello World!!! This is the beginning of a relationship I hope will last for a while. I have been a devoted Rangers fan since the age of 5 and have experienced the ups and downs that come with being a fan of the broadway blueshirts. I’ve witnessed the magical 1993-94 season and playoff run that turned Stephan Matteau into an iconic hero and led the franchise to their first Stanley Cup in 54 years.  I’ve also witnessed the Great One reunite with Mark Messier on broadway to lead the Rangers to the Eastern Conference finals in 97′ only to fall to the Philadelphia Flyers in five games led by the concusssion prone Eric Lindros. I’ve witnessed the end of the Neil Smith regime and the beginning of Glen Sather’s. I’ve even witnessed the many years to follow with outrageous free agent spending, trades that did not improve the team, the return of Messier, and a promise of a return to glory. These years were so depressing that the none of these Ranger teams could even muscle up a playoff appearance. I’ve witnessed seven years of misery (not including the lockout) and a franchise in need of a savior. I’ve gladly witnessed the resurgence of the post-lockout Rangers led by the world class talent Jaromir Jagr and a group of aging veterans. Finally it produced a playoff team entertaining to watch.

Now this season we have a team with a fresh new look and I’m eager to see how far they will go this year. Aside from Henrik Lundqvist being the cornerstone of our success so far this season, fans has been impressed by the progressive growth of young players like Brandon Dubinsky and Ryan Callahan and the emergence of the explosive winger Nikolai Zherdev. So far so good with a record of 17-8-2 (36 points), good enough for first place in the Atlantic Division and tied for first in the Eastern Conference with the Boston Bruins. The uncertainty on how good this team really is this season brings me to my next topic.

Alright it’s understandable if some Ranger fans are in a panic after watching their team get shutout by a team sitting at the bottom end of the eastern conference standings. But under further examination of this loss I’m not necessarily concerned with the nature of the loss or even the opponent. I more concerned with what the Rangers did not do to win and have consistently not done, ironically it hasn’t cost them until now. First, the Rangers have shown an inability to score first and early. I’ve watched countless games this season where the Rangers don’t score first and it disrupts any momentum that they carried with them to the opening face off. This is exactly what happened at on Sunday at MSG against Florida. Rangers opened up the first five minutes with many scoring chances (Brandon Dubinsky’s intercept and near breakway in the slot) but when Florida scored the first goal it was as if the life in MSG had been sucked out of the building.  For the rest of the game the only time the crowd cheered was when the PA announced a minute remaining until the end of each period. A sarcastic cheer showing the fans’ displeasure with the Rangers lack of effort for nearly all 60 minutes of the game on Kids Day at the Garden. The second problem I saw was with the Rangers’ obvious powerplay struggles. With no clear PP quaterback the Rangers are stagnant in a PP formation that looks to pass first before shooting. I understand the explanation given by players like Rozsival that you can’t always just shoot and that you have to wait for the perfect time otherwise its pointless but I think there has to be some other alternative besides generating barely any shots on a PP. They have to throw more pucks at the net and hope for a lucky bounce or deflection instead of waiting for the perfect pass. Sounds like the exact problem of last year’s PP only this time Rozsival has no excuse with the exit of Jagr.

I believe the true test will come later this week when the Rangers meet the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Montreal Canadiens. Two teams worthy of their praise and a challenge that is necessary to assess how good the Rangers really are. Can they actually win one of these games without a shootout? I hope so cause then that will help to support my claim that the Rangers will be a significant player in this year’s playoffs.  If they lose both then I wouldn’t be suprised if a roster move might be in the works. Perhaps Petr Prucha? Stay tuned for an additional update on the Prucha situation…

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