An Intense Thrashing

The Rangers ratcheted up the intensity level, as they needed to after a pair of lackluster efforts over the weekend, and rewarded themselves with a huge 4-0 win over Atlanta that was nowhere near as close as the score would indicate. The Rangers outshot the Thrashers 39-14, with only two of the 14 shots requiring anything other than a routine save by Henrik Lundqvist, who recorded his seventh shutout of the season. Overall, the Rangers attempted 62 shots to just 24 by Atlanta. In the first period, the Thrashers had no shots for the first 16:46, and had only even attempted two shots (blocked) to that point. The Rangers already had two goals and had outshot the Thrashers 27-2 to that point, 30-6 in the period. "That's our game plan every game, just put as many shots you can on net," Fedor Tyutin said. "The more shots you have at net, the more chances. A shot is never a bad play."

And it could have been worse. In addition to many other good scoring chances, Dan Girardi shot into Kari Lehtonen's pads with an open net early in the second period, Chris Drury did likewise with the top of the net open in the third period, Jaromir Jagr was just barely stopped on a late breakaway after making a good move, and Scott Gomez hit a crossbar. Things were so bad for Atlanta that it seemed the only way they could slow the Rangers down was to take a penalty and put the Rangers on the power play, which is now 2-for-33 in the last seven games. In this game, that including a three-minute major last night that resulted from 37-goal scorer Ilya Kovalchuk getting himself thrown out of the game for a vicious hit into the glass on Michal Rozsival near the end of the first period.

Coach Tom Renney, unhappy with the level of effort last weekend, reamed into his team after Sunday's loss to Boston and spent the past two days trying to refocus his team. "We had a real good day yesterday, we had an excellent skate this morning," he said. "You could just see the focus -- it was real clear. The guys wanted really badly to have a strong night tonight." But he gave the credit to his players, noting that the effort was a combination of the team's leaders rallying the players and players all knowing that they had to get themselves going. "At the end of the day, it's their dressing room," Renney said. "You can set the table for what you'd like to see and encourage that, but if you don't have outstanding leadership to make sure that that plan is followed through and everyone is committed to it, it doesn't matter how good it looks. I would suggest that tonight's game is based entirely on in the room leadership."

Brandon Dubinsky gave the entire team credit for the turnaround. "All the way from Tom to Jags and Shanny and Gomer, all the way down to me and Marc and Danny and Nigel," he said. "We all gotta hold ourselves accountable and do the things that's gonna take for this team to win each and every night." But he gave the coach extra credit. "He wants to win bad," Dubinsky said. "He cares about us a lot, and he believes in each one of us. I know he says it over and over in the paper. We weren't doing the things we needed to win. Tonight's an example of what we need to do to win every night, with that intensity and the team game plan within our system, the things we always talk about that are gonna make us successful. We just stayed within our system. The coaches have a great system. Some of those games that we were losing lately, we weren't playing within our system, we weren't listening to the coaches. Tonight we stuck to our game plan. All four lines were an example of that, top to bottom, every guy was really exerting themselves, intense, and ready to go."

But he emphasized several times over that one game was not enough. "I would love to leave here jumping for joy," he said. "But we can't be satisfied -- it's just one game. We have to bear down and play like this every single night the next 30 games of the season and have that intensity and that effort and that team play. We can't take our foot off the gas. We're happy about this win, but tomorrow's another day at work. We gotta knuckle down and be prepared for Thursday, start over and do it again." Jagr said the same thing. "We have a long way to go," he said. "We have to win a lot more games to get into the playoffs. It was a good start, but the next two days is gonna be a different game -- they're gonna be a lot better than they were today. Plus Kovalchuk -- they were missing Kovalchuk, a big part of their team."

But the Rangers have Jagr. Lost within too many losses over the past month is that Jagr has been scoring again. Since getting Gomez as his center, he has 24 points (eight goals and sixteen assists) in 18 games, a pace of 1.33 points per game -- at that pace, he will get the 38 points he needs in his last 32 games to fulfill one of the two criteria he needs, along with a playoff series win, for his contract to automatically extend into next season. But even so, Jagr has not scored enough, especially on the power play, to help the team win more games. "When you lose, sometimes you try to do too much just to help the team," he said. "Sometimes you feel like you don't do enough for the team. You try to be everywhere, but you're nowhere. But when the team wins, you have more patience. That's the way it is."

Renney agreed, and extended the thought to Jagr's ability to captain the team. "I think it helps him a lot because he's the leader of our team," he said. "And he's right -- when we're in a tough situation, he does try to do too much. From that point of view, it also diminishes his effectiveness as a leader, because he gets quiet, he doesn't say a whole lot, as much as we need him to -- most leaders won't when they're having a tough night. So a night like tonight gives him the voice that we need. Never mind the way that he played -- that just speaks volumes anyway. So it's a real good night for him from that point of view, and that has tentacles that reach far and wide for our team."

Jagr was aided by a reshuffling of the forward lines that placed Sean Avery on his left wing. That paid off early on when Avery came swooping in behind the play to finish a pass Gomez had tried to thread to Jagr at the top of the crease. Jagr was the one swooping in to score the fourth goal on a backhander from the slot. "That was the idea," Renney said of getting Avery on that line. "When those two [Avery and Gomez] can attack and back off the opponent, Jaromir can look for the good ice behind that. Those two are tenacious players -- especially if we go to the net, and he's coming in late like that." The line shuffle was designed to increase the Rangers' attack level, and to add youthful energy and grit to each line. "You start with globally what you want your team to look like -- thinking more of an attack, more abrasiveness per line," Renney said of how he came up with the new lines. "You think about your team look, then you get more specific about what you want each line to look like."

But Renney did more than just shuffle the forward lines. He also met with individual players to help get them going. One of those players was Tyutin, who had a commanding performance, physically with hip checks that had Thrashers giving the puck away rather than absorb one of his hits, offensively with three assists after twenty games without a point, and defensively with and without the puck, especially in helping shut down Marian Hossa. "I had a little talk with Tom this morning," Tyutin said. "He helped me feel more confident. Just try to play my best as hard as I can." Asked what he was told, Tyutin smiled and said, "It's a secret. He's a great motivator." Someone must have said something to Marek Malik as well -- he played his best game of the season, making no mistakes, joining the offense, even throwing a couple of big hits, at least one on Hossa.

But none of it will matter if the Rangers respond the way they did after big recent wins over Toronto (6-1), Montreal (4-1), and Buffalo (2-1). "We gotta continue this," Dubinsky said. "We're not satisfied -- we gotta play like this every night." Lundqvist for one believes they can do it. "We have the team to pull it off," he said. "We just [have to] try to stay focused and positive."

It was a strange night, thanks no doubt to the full moon that was shining outside. All but four of the Thrashers were minus -- and one of the four who wasn't minus was Slava Kozlov. That's because he went to the bench after leaving a puck for Straka to scoop up for a shorthanded goal that was of supreme importance to the Rangers, who were only up by 2-0 at that point and were missing chances to extend their lead, both on the power play and on chances like the ones Girardi and Gomez had earlier in the period. Beyond the Garden, the three lowest scoring teams in the league -- the Rangers, Devils, and Isles -- combined for 17 goals last night. The Devils, one of the worst in the league on the power play, had five power play goals, the Isles had three shorthanded goals, and the Rangers scored three of their four goals on backhand shots.

Game reports: Daily News, Journal News, Newsday, Times, Post, AJC, AP, SNY, and NYR.com. Notes and quotes from Blue Notes, including Lundqvist explaining why he will not go back to Sweden during the All-Star break to see his father. Jeff Beukeboom talks about Brian Leetch at MSG.com, and the New York Sun has a feature on Leetch as well. In Hartford, Bob Crawford looks back at the Pack's last weekend at WP.com, Bruce Berlet of the Courant writes about Dave Liffiton's return from season-long injury, and Jordan Owens was sent back to Charlotte to play in the ECHL All-Star game -- see the Charlotte Observer and Howlings. (Mitch also has Wolf Pack Q&A going at Howlings, as well as a preview of the Pack's next game). Prospect Park goes back to looking at Ranger prospects after yesterday's rant about Renney.

Comments

[saget]

Everyone who needed to stepped up last night - Renney [very impressed to hear that he talked to each player individually]...Jagr [who played with physicality and 2nd effort]...every defensemen [who as group were smarter and more physical]...Lundqvist [while he certainly didnt need to be at his best, he had to not be at his worst and let in a deflating goal].

And the younger youth legs keep moving - Dubinsky has been skating as well as anyone on this team for the last few weeks and he played hard until the end. Stahl also had an outstanding game.

If they can't build and gain confidence off a game like that...then they won't be a playoff team, and they wont deserve to be one.

[Mike]

Let's hope for a Kovalchuck [sic] suspension effective Thursday.

[ant]

Is kovalchuk getting suspended

[Andrea]

Nothing on Kovalchuk as of yet:

http://tsn.ca/nhl/news_story/?ID=227992&hubname=nhl

[Evan]

I'm not sure if it was mentioned on TV as I was at the game last night, but the two refs seemed to call a clean, fair game. It is sad that a well officiated game jumps off the ice at you (rather than the other way around) but I hope someone took notice.

[ORR Says "Trade to get Tootoo & Cheechoo" !!]

Kovalchuk better be suspended. That looked like 3 penalties in one dirty hit. Rozi is damn lucky he isnt hurt, cause it looked like he could have been done for the season.

But hopefully NYR puts up the same effort as they did last night. Gotta win.

Lol, anybody reading Hockeybuzz? That freak must be so embarrassed over his flyers loss that he wants to turn the attention to the devils by saying they might give up Parise for Phanuef. Lol what a doofus.

[ORR Says "Trade to get Tootoo & Cheechoo" !!]

BTW

Thank god for the non moderation. Its annoying as hell, but i get why it had to be done. Hopefully everyone here can keep the anger down, even after losses, so this can stay the way it should.

[cwgatti]

Shanny seemed to play with a little more body in the game last night. And I noticed that he patted Jagr on the back a few times more than usual/ necessary. I wonder if Renney got on Shanny's case. The third line is a good place for him. And I had no problem with the line changes. Avery is no first liner, but maybe with him on Jagr's line, he will distract the opponents enough to let Jagr find some room. If Avery holds up, and the Rags can do this against a legit NHL team, Renney may have found something here.

[Godot]

Avery isn't a first liner, but I think the idea was to have him open the ice more for Jagr, which is what Hossa did well last year and terribly this year. In this case it works. If we lose the notions of top line and think of them as the most effective combinations working, then I think we're more successful.

[rangerbill94]

Godot

Remember, Semenko wasn't a first liner either, but that's where he played! Avery has the speed, and scoring touch to play on any first or second line.

[Mike]

good post rangerbill-yeah, that line was pretty good with semenko....

[saget]

RangerBill94:

I think its part legend that Semenko played as much with Gretzky as people remember. When I was younger, I had a huge collection of early 80s Oilers games on videotape (unfortunately I wasnt smart enough to preserve them). He was used as a goon-with-some-skills, and he would occasionally line up with 99. But I don't remember him playing there on a regular shift for any stretch of time.

I don't think Avery has the hands to be a first liner either, but he does have the speed, and he competes - so whos to say he won't blossom into a goal-scorer like Graves did. Graves was more of a goal-scorer in junior than Avery was. But I think he is perfect for the type of kickstart he was used for last night - he can hold his own for a few games, and then we'll see if he can continue it.

Evan:

I thought the refs called a bad game last night. It might have been "even" in that both teams got away with a lot. But there were a lot of the "stick in the midsection wait did the ref see that throw up my hands like i'm innocent" "hooks" that have been called lately. And the interference by defensemen at the blueline when a puck is dumped in continues almost every shift. The Rangers had so much speed going they were able to overcome it, but that seems to be the rarity in most games I've seen. Nice to see the Rangers overcome that though with hard work and second effort.

[leetchy2]

kovalchuk suspended one game

http://www.nhl.com/nhl/app/?service=page&page=NewsPage&articleid=351015

[ORR Says "Trade to get Tootoo & Cheechoo" !!]

Great. Now NYR needs to take advantage of that suspension.

[Jess]

That Dubinsky is speaking highly of Tom Renney says a lot as I know how badly the kid was treated by previous coaches so earning his trust is very tough.

We can all enjoy the win but I am sure most of us are being very cautious given how quickly the team forgets to keep doing the things they need to do in order to win.

Orr

Nobody likes moderation and Dubi was left no other choice because a couple of people who were banned from here kept trying to sneak back on to this site.

Hopefully they have stopped so we do not have go back to moderation.

[Matty]

Is good that Kovalchuk got suspended, because he deserved it ... however I think it happened more because had he not been suspended then he would've played on Leetch Night and that might've turned things ugly ... not that they can't turn ugly anyway with some of the players that are on that team but hopefully it won't and we can bring the same grit and effort and play another complete 60 minute game and go into the All-Star break on a winning streak which can hopefully carry on into next week as well ...

[Jasper]

The best aspect of last night's win was that the Rangers NEVER ONCE went into protection mode. They went all out taking it to Atlanta the entire 60 minutes. Halleluiah. I think that is all we are looking for as fans, win or lose. It is understandable that most of us are suspicious about whether this work ethic will continue as many of us have developed battered fan syndrome. The one thing I would like to see in future games is Dawes on the power play. I don't know why somebody with his skill would not be part of a unit in desperate need of playmaking and scoring opportunities.

[NYR56]

Team needs to rip off like 8 wins in next 10...All will be forgiven.

[ORR Says "Trade to get Tootoo, and Cheechoo"]

NYR56

They do need a streak. That last win means jack if they cant win the next, and build a streak to get back into the playoffs, and hopefully the top of the division.

[angry]

Hey Dubi, Jess, all...

Don't know if you plan a dedicated area for Leetch memories or stories, but just in case you do, The New York Observer article triggered one for me.

In the early nineties, I had a VCR. I used it mostly to record sporting events and some sit coms. I would use one or two tapes over and over again. One tape in particular had been used so often that it had become damaged. No matter what I taped, the first 3-4 seconds always showed the same thing:

Two Toronto Maple Leafs converge on the 19-year-old Leetch as he carries the puck behind his own goal. He grinds to a halt, bounces in the other direction, flips the puck over an unrushing forward, stickhandles through the crease and accelerates up the ice. A very young Sam Rosen says: "Wow! Leetch can really move..." He sounds like he's calling the Preakness.

Anyway, the sequence lasts about 3-4 seconds. Or 17 years, depending on how you look at it.

Looking forward to tomorrow!!!!!

Congratulations, Brian!

And THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!

[Jess]

Angry

Mine own was watching Leetch for the first time in 88-89 when he played against the Kings. It was one of those "who is this kid everyone was talking about" and it took all of 5 minutes for people to start going "whoa this kid has game".

Leetch played at one speed while everyone including his teammates were 2 steps slower. You could tell that everything was easy for him.

I know this is totally unfair to do but I see things in Sanguinetti and Staal that remind me of Leetch.

In Staal it was watching him pick up his Sudbury Wolves team last year in the OHL playoffs and truly carry his team on his back at both ends of the ice.

In Sanguinetti is is his offensive game where he can score from anywhere using any number of methods. I have never asked him but I would bet that growing up watching Leetch taught Sanguinetti a ton.