I know I said I wouldn't post news on this site, but there's something before this game I actually was bothered by. You can read more of the specifics on Andrew Gross' twitter as well as the NYR blog, but only four players showed up to the optional skate today. Two of them were goaltenders. If I'm Vigneault right now, I'm wondering how I've already lost this team so far that nobody seems interested in:
- Their defensive assignments on the ice
- Worrying that your goaltender is getting lit for 15 goals in two games with zero response
- Your star player is taking high hits with zero response
- Apparently making any additional effort to learn the system
Yes, it's a long road trip with a lot of games. No, this would not fly under Torts. But beyond that... part of what endeared me to the Rangers of just two years ago was that there was no reason to believe any team would beat them. There were working their tails off every day to improve as a team. Chemistry was built, defensive positioning was learned, and if on game day they got beat, it was because the other team was better than them. In the Sharks and Ducks games, I watched a grand total of 2.5 periods of Rangers hockey. And I hope AV and Cally are as pissed about it as I am and start throwing something in the locker room to get a point across.
Again tonight against the Blues, we saw a little bit of inspired hockey, but there were still a lot of defensive miscues. Let's take a look at what happened:
First, the good tonight. We finally got some puck luck in the form of Callahan's second goal, and we got two power play goals. The bad though... two quick let downs, by letting the Blues take a goal 1:38 after Richards put it within one, and Tarasenko on the back breaker a few seconds into a penalty kill, and Biron's play in net. He wasn't terrible tonight but he needs to have two of those goals, the five hole and the Derek Roy slapshot from far out.
Pictures to come, I'm falling behind elsewhere. Check back tomorrow for the full breakdown.
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