NYSS - An Abortion of New York Sports Journalism
Rangers - Capitals Interpreview with Natalia, the RangersGal
It is pretty clear that I know nothing about hockey considering I write about it slightly more than I write about Hofstra's intramural volleyball teams. This is why I have asked one of NYsportSpace most knowledgeable and celebrated members to help me write a preview about the upcoming playoff series between the New York Rangers and Washington Capitals. Hence, the name "Interpreview". How f'in clever am I?
NYsportsGUY: Out of a scale of 1-10 what are the Rangers chances of winning this series?
RangersGal: 7. Seems kinda high for a team that has lost 3 out of 4 meetings they had this season with the Caps, right? Wrong. All four of those games were played during Tom Renney’s reign as head coach. The Rangers are a different team under John Tortorella and their play is definitely different right now as opposed to the disastrous play at the beginning of ’09. Those games were also without Sean Avery, Nik Antropov, or Derek Morris who all have had major impacts on the team’s play as of late.
I don’t think stats say it all, but let’s recap the past four meetings:
11/8 @WAS (L) 1-3 (goals: Voros)
12/23 MSG (L) 4-5 OT (goals: Naslund, Rozsival, Callahan 2).
1/3 @WAS (L) 1-2 (goals: Prucha)
2/11 MSG (W) 5-4(SO (goals: Callahan, Naslund, Korpikoski, Mara; SO/GWG: Callahan)
NYSG: What weaknesses do the Rangers need to mask in order to get off to a quick start?
RangersGal: I don’t know if “masking” anything is their biggest concern. They need to find a way to score. Period. The Caps’ defense is not anything that impressive so they have to be aggressive on offense, and they HAVE to score on the power play when they get the chance. Washington doesn’t take too many penalties (they are 7th for least penalty minutes in the league) so they need to capitalize (no pun intended) on the ones they get. That atrocious power play of theirs has been the bane of my existence (aside from Glen Sather and Wade Redden that is) all season. But the power play could improve if they shoot more, A LOT MORE, and keep Redden on the bench for those two minutes. The Rangers ended the season 29th, the second worst power play in the league, scoring only 13.9% on every power play chance they had all season. That will not be nearly enough against Washington.
Turnovers are a standard no-no, but especially with the fire power this Washington team, they can’t make stupid mistakes and turn over the puck in the neutral zone or anywhere else for that matter because those mistakes are going to end up in the back of Henrik’s net.
NYSG: What player needs to step up in order for the Rangers to win?
RangersGal: Henrik Lundqvist. He’s always the difference. He’s facing a team that averages 3.27 goals a game – third highest in the league. They know how to score from every angle and the Rangers’ defense is not always solid…in fact, the words Rangers’ defense and solid haven’t belonged even in the same sentence most of the season. Every year, in every series goaltending is one of the main factors that have to be strong with any team – that’s no different for the Rangers. Lundqvist has to be amazing if they are planning on getting out of this series with four wins….and I’m sure he knows that.
NYSG: How do the Rangers plan on containing Ovechkin?
RangersGal: Well, back to Rangers defense. They are going up against the best player in the NHL (sorry Penguins/Crosby fans, but you know it’s true). Ovechkin led the league by finishing the season with 56 goals and can put in three or four goals in one game on his own. The 6’3” 220 lb winger is an all-around player. Aside from his scoring abilities, he’s big, he’s tough, and he can hit. In their previous meetings, there has been a Staal-Ovenckin match-up, in which Staal held his own, regardless of the three losses, but he is definitely going to need help in the next few games. Every Ranger defensemen need to be on top of their game to stop him, including Redden. Sean Avery should definitely be part of that help. Avery has mastered the art of irritating the oppositions’ best players and should act no differently with Ovechkin.
But, I want to go further than just containing Ovechkin. The best and worst thing about Caps for the Rangers is that they have to almost solely concentrate on containing their offense. In addition to Ovechkin, they also need to worry about Semin, Federov, and Green. Semin and Federov can both still produce some goals even if Ovechkin doesn’t. Mike Green is also dangerous on the point. The defenseman has scored 31 goals this season, three of them against the Rangers. The Rangers have to keep up their recent gritty defensive play, and aggressive fore-check if they plan on limiting impact these players have on the series.
But even with all of that offense, the Caps are still beatable because offense is essentially what they have. The Caps defense is average with good, at best, goaltending.
NYSG: Who should Tortorella play more…play less?
RangersGal: Ryan Callahan. He’s been involved in creating the play so many important goals these past few games, if not actually scoring the goal himself. If Avery is going to be effective in throwing the Caps off their game, in addition to possibly scoring a few goals himself, he needs to be given a substantial amount of ice time also.
In terms of less play, Wade Redden. See question 7.
NYSG: Who was the most surprising player this year and why?
RangersGal: I’m assuming this question means surprising in a positive way. So in that case, I don’t know if I can say that anyone has been that surprising in a good way. Relatively speaking, some may say Ryan Callahan has been surprising, but I would disagree. He’s always been a hard working, talented player. He’s young and is getting his game together and it’s now really showing what kind of player he could be. What is surprising about Callahan is that amongst the big name, money makers on the roster that he has been the most instrumental player in making the playoffs, aside from Henrik Lundqvist of course.
What are the Rangers paying Gomez, Drury, Naslund, and Redden for again????
NYSG: Who has been their biggest bust this year and why?
RangersGal: Their biggest bust…boy could I talk about this question for days, but I’ll spare myself the aggravation and keep it brief. I’m torn between Wade Redden and Chris Drury for several reasons. I don’t even know where to begin with Redden. He’s slow, sloppy, too soft, can’t score at all - not even on the power play, which is specifically what he was brought to New York to do, stares off into Lala Land half the time, and worst of all extremely overpaid. But all of this is no surprise. The only person who believed that Wade Redden was worth 32 million over 5 years is Glen Sather and don’t get me started on him.
Personally, Chris Drury has been my biggest disappointment. He is a good leader in the locker room, no doubt about that, but he has been virtually invisible on the ice the past two seasons…and this season Jagr wasn’t around to be the scapegoat for poor play. I don’t know what happened to Drury since coming to New York but he has not been the same “clutch” player he was brought here to be.
NYSG: What seed are the Islanders this year?
RangersGal: -16
NYSG: Which Ranger has the hottest wife and why?
RangersGal: Hottest wife?? I can’t really comment on that, but I can tell you who I think who the best looking Ranger is….
NYSG: THANKS RANGERSGAL!
NYsportsGUY: Out of a scale of 1-10 what are the Rangers chances of winning this series?
RangersGal: 7. Seems kinda high for a team that has lost 3 out of 4 meetings they had this season with the Caps, right? Wrong. All four of those games were played during Tom Renney’s reign as head coach. The Rangers are a different team under John Tortorella and their play is definitely different right now as opposed to the disastrous play at the beginning of ’09. Those games were also without Sean Avery, Nik Antropov, or Derek Morris who all have had major impacts on the team’s play as of late.I don’t think stats say it all, but let’s recap the past four meetings:
11/8 @WAS (L) 1-3 (goals: Voros)
12/23 MSG (L) 4-5 OT (goals: Naslund, Rozsival, Callahan 2).
1/3 @WAS (L) 1-2 (goals: Prucha)
2/11 MSG (W) 5-4(SO (goals: Callahan, Naslund, Korpikoski, Mara; SO/GWG: Callahan)
NYSG: What weaknesses do the Rangers need to mask in order to get off to a quick start?
RangersGal: I don’t know if “masking” anything is their biggest concern. They need to find a way to score. Period. The Caps’ defense is not anything that impressive so they have to be aggressive on offense, and they HAVE to score on the power play when they get the chance. Washington doesn’t take too many penalties (they are 7th for least penalty minutes in the league) so they need to capitalize (no pun intended) on the ones they get. That atrocious power play of theirs has been the bane of my existence (aside from Glen Sather and Wade Redden that is) all season. But the power play could improve if they shoot more, A LOT MORE, and keep Redden on the bench for those two minutes. The Rangers ended the season 29th, the second worst power play in the league, scoring only 13.9% on every power play chance they had all season. That will not be nearly enough against Washington.
Turnovers are a standard no-no, but especially with the fire power this Washington team, they can’t make stupid mistakes and turn over the puck in the neutral zone or anywhere else for that matter because those mistakes are going to end up in the back of Henrik’s net.
NYSG: What player needs to step up in order for the Rangers to win?
RangersGal: Henrik Lundqvist. He’s always the difference. He’s facing a team that averages 3.27 goals a game – third highest in the league. They know how to score from every angle and the Rangers’ defense is not always solid…in fact, the words Rangers’ defense and solid haven’t belonged even in the same sentence most of the season. Every year, in every series goaltending is one of the main factors that have to be strong with any team – that’s no different for the Rangers. Lundqvist has to be amazing if they are planning on getting out of this series with four wins….and I’m sure he knows that.
NYSG: How do the Rangers plan on containing Ovechkin?
RangersGal: Well, back to Rangers defense. They are going up against the best player in the NHL (sorry Penguins/Crosby fans, but you know it’s true). Ovechkin led the league by finishing the season with 56 goals and can put in three or four goals in one game on his own. The 6’3” 220 lb winger is an all-around player. Aside from his scoring abilities, he’s big, he’s tough, and he can hit. In their previous meetings, there has been a Staal-Ovenckin match-up, in which Staal held his own, regardless of the three losses, but he is definitely going to need help in the next few games. Every Ranger defensemen need to be on top of their game to stop him, including Redden. Sean Avery should definitely be part of that help. Avery has mastered the art of irritating the oppositions’ best players and should act no differently with Ovechkin.
But, I want to go further than just containing Ovechkin. The best and worst thing about Caps for the Rangers is that they have to almost solely concentrate on containing their offense. In addition to Ovechkin, they also need to worry about Semin, Federov, and Green. Semin and Federov can both still produce some goals even if Ovechkin doesn’t. Mike Green is also dangerous on the point. The defenseman has scored 31 goals this season, three of them against the Rangers. The Rangers have to keep up their recent gritty defensive play, and aggressive fore-check if they plan on limiting impact these players have on the series.
But even with all of that offense, the Caps are still beatable because offense is essentially what they have. The Caps defense is average with good, at best, goaltending.
NYSG: Who should Tortorella play more…play less?RangersGal: Ryan Callahan. He’s been involved in creating the play so many important goals these past few games, if not actually scoring the goal himself. If Avery is going to be effective in throwing the Caps off their game, in addition to possibly scoring a few goals himself, he needs to be given a substantial amount of ice time also.
In terms of less play, Wade Redden. See question 7.
NYSG: Who was the most surprising player this year and why?
RangersGal: I’m assuming this question means surprising in a positive way. So in that case, I don’t know if I can say that anyone has been that surprising in a good way. Relatively speaking, some may say Ryan Callahan has been surprising, but I would disagree. He’s always been a hard working, talented player. He’s young and is getting his game together and it’s now really showing what kind of player he could be. What is surprising about Callahan is that amongst the big name, money makers on the roster that he has been the most instrumental player in making the playoffs, aside from Henrik Lundqvist of course.
What are the Rangers paying Gomez, Drury, Naslund, and Redden for again????
NYSG: Who has been their biggest bust this year and why?
RangersGal: Their biggest bust…boy could I talk about this question for days, but I’ll spare myself the aggravation and keep it brief. I’m torn between Wade Redden and Chris Drury for several reasons. I don’t even know where to begin with Redden. He’s slow, sloppy, too soft, can’t score at all - not even on the power play, which is specifically what he was brought to New York to do, stares off into Lala Land half the time, and worst of all extremely overpaid. But all of this is no surprise. The only person who believed that Wade Redden was worth 32 million over 5 years is Glen Sather and don’t get me started on him.
Personally, Chris Drury has been my biggest disappointment. He is a good leader in the locker room, no doubt about that, but he has been virtually invisible on the ice the past two seasons…and this season Jagr wasn’t around to be the scapegoat for poor play. I don’t know what happened to Drury since coming to New York but he has not been the same “clutch” player he was brought here to be.
NYSG: What seed are the Islanders this year?
RangersGal: -16
NYSG: Which Ranger has the hottest wife and why?
RangersGal: Hottest wife?? I can’t really comment on that, but I can tell you who I think who the best looking Ranger is….
NYSG: THANKS RANGERSGAL!
Views: 140
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by RangersGal on -
The Ranger fan in me wants to say the Rangers in 6. If the Rangers can somehow get a win tomorrow, they will be in good shape. But then again, blowing a big lead isn't exactly out of the realm of the possibilites for them either...they seem to be very good at that.
But either way, I think it will go to 6 or 7 games. I'll be surprised if it goes less than that.
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Permalink Reply by Louis on -
I think we have a good chance vs. the caps. They may be bigger and have the best player in hockey, but with Lundqvist doing what he does, and Avery "the hustler" adding a nice spark to our offensive game along with toughness I think we have a shot. Plus your right, with Tortorella as head coach this is a totally different (better) team. LETS GO RANGERS!!
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Permalink Reply by Wani on
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Well, after the first game, you can see Rangersgal knows her hockey. She was right on in saying the power play needed to step up, which it did with two goals. The aggressive style of Tort's has been evident from the moment he took over, and the forecheck has been effective, see Callahan, Sjostrom, Dubinsky, Korpikoski, Betts, etc.. practically every game. This style will lead to more odd man rushes the other way with how the defense pinches, but it is much better than Renney's passive approach. I will say that for the notion that the Caps gave us game 1 is bullshit, as some of the media in Washington have said. Aside from the Gomez goal, the other three were legit. Two top corner wristers and Dubinsky made an unbelievable play on his goal. They out hit the Caps, 35-27. And the did not turn the puck over that much, just 5 giveaways, with Washington having 11. The Rangers made them pay three times on the rush, and thats something that needs to continue.
And what about the absolute horrific play of Rozsival this year? I have never seen a player digress so much from one season to the next. He got $20 mil, and then forget how to skate. It seems like he is trying to sabotage the team on a nightly basis. I was upset that they didn't call up Bobby Sanguinetti from Hartford to see how he would fare when Rozy was hurt, but I guess management felt he wasn't ready. Redden has been terrible, but that is just because Sather over-payed for him. He should have gone hard after Brian Campbell. After Campbell signed quick with Chicago, Sather felt he needed to make a move or else he wouldn't get a top defenseman. Redden is blah, he's like unflavored pudding. Sather fucked up, one of many, many fuckups he has made. I could write a book about all of them, along with an a sequel chronicling the Dolan family. Rangers in 6 looks like a pretty good bet, but the Capital power play scares the shit out of me. Ovechkin and Green on the point, with Semin, Backstrom, and Federov. They definitely need to cut down on dumb penalties, they had 7 total in game 1. But the Rangers have the best penalty kill and the best goalie in the league, and if Hank gets hot, who knows how far this team can go.
I do disagree with one thing, and thats her gripe with Drury. I absolutely think he is worth every penny he gets. He might not light up the statsheet, but the Rangers do not have a lot of finishers on their team. Aside from Zherdev, Nasland, and maybe Antropov, there aren't many established goal scorers on this team. Gomez is a setup guy, as is Drury. The rest of the entire team are all grinders- Dubs, Callahan(breakout year this season), Avery, Betts, Sjostrom, Voros. What Drury does in terms of leadership, on the penalty kill, his ability to win faceoffs, and to score clutch goals is invaluable. Remember 2007 playoffs, against Buffalo? He single handedly killed our season with that one goal in game 5. I know we lost game 6, but if we had won 5, it would have been at least a seven game series. And his goalscoring overall has been consistent with his career. He never had over 24 goals in any of his years with the Avs or the one season with Calgary. He had 22 this year and 25 last. The two years he played in a wide open offense(ala John Tortarella) in Buffalo, he put up great numbers, with 67 goals his last two years. But that wasn't Renney, and Drury's stats have suffered. Yea yea, I know we won without him game 1, but we do not have a chance at a the Cup if he is not close to being healthy. And next year, with an up tempo style and on a line with Zherdev(need to resign him) and Callahan, he could put up great numbers.
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Permalink Reply by NYsportsGUY on
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MMMMMM Unflavored pudding
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thats what wade redden eats, 3 times a day, 6 days a week. the other day he eats plain fiber flakes with shredded cardboard and water.
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Permalink Reply by Matthew Segreto on -
I cant believe it took the last response to finally get a ranger fan to stick up for the captain...sorry natalia but your dead wrong about drury...he is the reason that guys like callahan and dubinsky are as good as they are...drury does all the "intangibles" on the ice that goes unnoticed throughout a hockey game that most people miss
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Permalink Reply by RangersGal on
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Well, let me put tonight's disgusting debacle aside for now to respond to my criticism of Mr. Drury...
First off, I want to say that when Drury was signed, I was happy. I like the guy. I do. I always thought he was a good player. He had a great season prior in Buffalo and I thought he could do the same in New York. But it's been two seasons now and he, and I'll say it again, has been pretty much invisible. I know he's a great leader off the ice...or so people claim, but that's not enough. You need your captain to not only show up in the locker room but show up on the ice too and I'm sorry, but he hasn't done that since his days in Buffalo. I'm not saying he's a complete and total waste of money like Redden is (and Wani I totally agree with you, I think that idiot Sather should have gone after Campbell instead) but I expected a lot more from Drury.
The only player on the Rangers that gives them even a prayer of a chance of winning anything is Lundqvist. He deserves every penny he gets.
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