The contest is now closed.
Rangers ( 24-17-5 ) vs Avalanche ( 25-16-3 ), TV- MSG
Avalanche…wait for it…won 8 games in a row. The Rangers won 2 after losing three in a row. But most importantly, they are now officially plagued by injuries that keep piling up. Already without Kreider, Hayes, and Staal, they now will have to play without Kevin Shattenkirk who is sidelined indefinitely with the meniscal injury of his left knee. He is scheduled for surgery on Monday.
The Rangers recalled Tony DeAngelo and Daniel Catenacci ( prucha’d) from Hartford.
Projected lineup ( by Matt Calamia @MattCalamia / NYRangers.com )
Rick Nash – Mika Zibanejad – Pavel Buchnevich
Jimmy Vesey – J.T. Miller – Mats Zuccarello
Paul Carey – David Desharnais – Vinni Lettieri
Michael Grabner – Peter Holland – Jesper Fast
Ryan McDonagh – Nick Holden
Brady Skjei – Steve Kampfer
Brendan Smith – Tony DeAngelo
Hank in net.
LGR!!!!!
UPDATE: Grabner out with the flu. Catenacci is in. Nobody’s prucha’d
211 responses to “It’s Go Time!”
Grabner our with flu. Could be a long afternoon…
1st?
Oh and First!
Thanks, Sitoo.
Post updated.
Matt Calamia
Verified account
@MattCalamia
#NYR lines in warmups:
Nash – Zibanejad – Buchnevich
Vesey – Miller – Zuccarello
Carey – Holland – Fast
Catenacci – Desharnais – Letteri
McDonagh – Holden
Skjei – Kampfer
Smith – DeAngello
Andersson is going to make his Pack debut on Wednesday. I Hope to see him with the big club shortly thereafter.
Does AV role 4 lines today?😁
Wow – our third line is a very bad 4th line. #injuries
Grabner, Hayes, Shatty, Staal, Kreider. No point in reading anything into this game’s outcome, that’s for sure. Sure, an opportunity for the JVs to show their wares, but I’ll be surprised if they can sustain anything a mile high. (Cue the Hayes potsmoking comedy.)
BDL
Using the 18 and 19 year olds this year is poor cap management for down the road
Things get accelerated by a year . Second contract,etc
I have the Colorado feed–they are positively giddy about playing the Rangers today.
Aves 14
Hartford 0
Matching up against the MacKinnon line with the first change… coaching challenge. Need at least two lines ready for it.
Norm – haze was spotted doing bong loads galore this morning. Said it was “medicinal”
LGR!!! Who are these guys? Melt the hot ‘Lanche
Slow start for the Avs. Thank you.
Rangers minus three of their top seven forwards, two of their top six D. Good luck with that.
Not alot of #43’s in Rangers history: Kampfer, Marty Biron, Callahan (early) and Jason McDonald
Catenacci with the great shift, Avs announcers gushing over the effort of that young player who just got called up, you know, that guy [leaf, leaf, leaf] “Catchni”!
Emile the Catenacci
Kampfer wandering
4th lines were looking OK until that last shift. Last two shifts, make that, after the terrible icing, then it’s a 5 on 4 1/2 with the exhausted guys, lost stick. JVs.
Choice defensive zone coverage again. This trip sure has the potential of being ugly.
I had some nice cartenacci when I was in Rome last year
BTW, nobody even mention that stick was slashed out of his hand…
Holden! Nice.
Good God, this D sucks except for the Capt. If this is not to be corrected, Hank might ask for a permanent sabbatical.
Gerard falls down and Sam says “Good play by D’Angelo”
Hanka Hanka
Hey, one of our D actually moved someone out of the crease. Oh wait, it was Lundqvist.
Seeing the name “Vukota” on the boards made my stomach lurch.
We suck again! Sell!
Three PK regulars out now, nice job by the fill-ins–no threat of Grabner shortie to worry the PP, though. Stay out of the box.
Bernier with the shutout?
Breathtaking period?
Good period overall, but one dominated shift that turned into two, tired 4th line against MacKinnon, lost stick, boom.
coos, did you note that outstanding play by Holden that period?
DaveB on the NHL stream they keep showing the Trottier ad. Equally nauseating
Lucky to be down by only 1. Something that I have noticed lately….the Rangers no longer have the speed advantage over most of their opponents. And speed and skill of the opponents exposes the Rangers lack of skill and high end talent. Especially on the back line.
Just had the miss fortune of listening to last 10 minutes of the first period on the radio. Don LaGrecca is awful. Near boards, far boards, side boards. Near wall, side wall, far wall. High Glass. Recoil, regroup. Near point, far point. I have no idea what went on in the game.
I’m not really expecting too much from this cotton candy crew on this west coast trip. My guess is by the time they arrive home they will be looking up from 6th or 7th in the metro!
Guessing the strategy here is to try to stay close and hope for a lucky break. Hope Hank can stand on his head…
Norm, like Rosen, notes one ‘good’ play and bases that play as his lifetime evaluation on that player.
Didn’t go high enuff on Hanka’s glove
Get rid of Micheletti and stick Maloney in there.
Hank whiffs. That’s that.
So much for headstands. Hank missed that one. This is ugly. What are the rules on forfeits…
I get fed up with this McKinnon’s Third Coming after Jesus and Crosby. Shut up already – we got it. Next
Strangely enough , it was exemplary PP.
Micheletti: “That goal brings them to within a goal.”
“Norm, like Rosen, notes one ‘good’ play and bases that play as his lifetime evaluation on that player.” Wow, precisely what I never said. Sort of like me writing, “coos, like [insert name of someone the tribe does’t like], refuses to acknowledge a good play by a player whose narrative is “sucks”.
Dilly x 2!
Nice pass from Zuccsux! And Buch is on fiah.
As an example, for every notable “good” play that Staal makes, he makes five shaky ones.
Wait, what? You don’t like Staal??
Looking a tad better. Hank with a couple of nice redemption saves. PP actually looked great!
Zadorev had himself some Miller for breakfast a couple of minutes ago.
VC is infuriating to watch. Does he have to get his blades sharpened after the game? Figure 8s the whole game with bad anticipation.
It is hard to play creatively without the absence of the whole line of top 6 forwards, but Bernier is not that great, so, how about trying to shoot more and quickly in any given occasion?
And there is Norm’s anti-Miller comment – check.
Nice give it ups for papd
Good!
This kid, – Letteri is a keeper, IMO, given more playing time and experience .
I love Miller. And he got eaten up on that play.
tough love; always a snide comment about him every game.
Rangers created more chances for Colorado in their own zone than Colorado offence themselves…
Tell me, SN, in what universe is it snide to point out a good play by an opponent? Do you know what “snide” even means? (Now THERE’s a snide comment.)
Honestly, not too bad periods under circumstances, they keep fighting playing with a broken team structure – just 2 NHL lines and 1.5 NHL D pair.
zero first line even when healthy so yeah.
They are trying hard and getting some good looks they just might turn this around in the 3rd.
Guys, mood is bad enough for our team situation, so, please, stop to poison it even more, with those toxic personal barbs exchange, here.
If we traded our upcoming UFAs plus Zucc and McD for a plethora of picks and prospects, meaning no significant cap coming back our way, and made Staal disappear without having to buy him out…do you think we can make Tavares happen? Get a star first line center AND screw the isles over at the same time?
Headzo – more nauseating than when he coached the team?
I would be shocked or stunned if Traveras didn’t resign with the Fishsticks and even more so if Traveras signed with the rangers for various reasons.
Maybe it’s the sight lines in Colorado but Sam is having more trouble than usual identifying players
I hated this guy – Lake Como, since he played for Fishsticks. Still the same jerk with a scoring ability.
Not only do the rangers need to rebuild their roster, they need to rebuild there announcer and analyst. Rosen has had a good run, time to move on and I never like Micheletti even when he worked for the fishsticks.
Comeau is he prototypical Ranger killer.
they’d be able to afford Tavares, but if he wants to stay on LI he will, and they can pay him more, Dave
Forget about Tavares for Rangers. He is SO not in it… Never will happened, no way… and it is good. You don’t want have a team where 2 players will be encountered for half of all roster’s salaries, besides all.
Bottom 6 has 1 NHL player
which one, SN?
and its Fast.
Where is Grabber??
Correct DaveB. That & he is a former fishstickian
Strong effort tonight, but low on talent. Holden’s had the best chances, but not a scorer.
Too many AHL players in the lineup today. Just a matter of time until AVs get a couple more. Can’t fault the effort. The talent level is just not there. Too many holes to fill. Season May slip away during this trip.
Rangers 3
Avs 2 (OT)
GWG JT Milluh
Gonna be a lot of AHL players in the lineup after Feb. 26.
Did Grabber get lost at the dispensary?
Old Ranger Fan said holes to fill
Remember folks, these two points don’t count because the rangers have injuries and no nhl team has to play hard and get points when they have injured players.
Carp
Post 2004 deadline-ish
Rangers team looks like an expansion team. Playing hard, but, just not very good
Buch has had a lot of turnovers today in the d zone. And this is one of Mika’s most tentative games since coming back from the concussion. They have 5 minutes to make a push. I’m not holding my breath.
Headzo – on the Avs feed between the second and third – the Avs chick was asking an Avs player what they needed to do in the third – he said “we have to come out hard” she smiled
As others have opined……can’t complain about the effort today. The Wolf Pack/Swamp Rabbits are working hard.
Norm
Who is the “tribe”?
what was the name of the scrub they got for Kovalev, Wick?
Brassard (as a NYR) > Zibanejad.
Hmmm, everyone thinks z pack doesn’t look as good today when nash isn’t scoring…
Don’t get saucy with me Bern-yay
It started with a “b”I think…like bujerwassen or something
Carp
Iirc, he had like crazy blonde hair
E3 – can we give her Joe M’s seat? I kinda like her
OK, they did their best tonight, another thing – their best was not good enough …Sigh.
Can’t really fault them…Boys did good. Do not feel bitter.
Buch! Flying!!
Icing the puck with nobody on you with 43seconds to go. Sums up how dumb this team is.
Rangers must lead the league in passes into the skates. Incredible
The Captain, no?
:03 left, Miller throws puck across blue line instead of toward net. My God.
Avs 3, Wolfpack 1.
Guess that buchy goal wasn’t momentum changer….hmmm
Other than Captain McD’s crappy icing there… can’t put much of this on them. They’re icing a preaseason line up. Then again, would the results be different if they were healthy?
Miller to nobody–had no choice, only play he had.
Good effort. If they played this hard every game we would have very few complaints. Bad luck on Vesy off the cross bar. Not sure where this lineup can win on this trip.
Carp – Joseph Bali (something like that)?
Vomit
Headzo – Joe M is good for big thigh’s comments. I bet he wishes he could shower with the boys
So rangers get blown out by isles with most of “regulars” in line up and some here say oh well…ahlers is line up today working butts off and people posting this is ugly…smh
Josef Balej!
Balej hi!!!
Erik’s Johnson is not pretty
If my math is correct, this mighty, mighty Colorado team was 17-16-3 before this streak, and entered Saturday in a four-way tie for the second wild card in the West. So …
And a boy can dream on Tavares, can’t he?
Yes, it was balej
Fire AV
Gorton’s deadline decisions getting much easier. This house has no windows left open!
Haha. Balej. He was supposed to be hot stuff. Michael Busto
Better team and roster won today
Norm
Thanks for answering the question…classy
I’m pretty sure our massive fire sale netted pretty much zero. The Leetch trade tree ended at Michael Sauer. I think the only player we ended up with who actually became a regular was Blair Betts (was that the Simon trade?)
Positives: Hank, Holden, Hobbit.
Negatives: Mac with dumbest icing ever, way too many turnovers in own zone by literally everyone, zero offense 5 on 5.
Nice effort. Catenacci even had a burst in the first period, but he does not look ready for this level.
Man zadorov throws the body
No tickets winner this time?
Ticket winner?
Lundqvist was very good, but his softie was the winner unfortunately.
Dave
Yeah, betts was from Calgary in the sinon deal
Good work ethic. Good thing that I was not able to see Buchnevich in Las Vegas because he was scratched. He was the best Ranger on the ice today, but who needs him when the Rangers could have Paul Carey in the lineup instead. Peter Holland and David Desharnais as 2 of your 4 centers tells you all you need to know about how weak this roster is. Colorado has 30hits…..the Rangers about 5. They are likely to get road pizza’d by LA tomorrow. I hope Pavelec plays tomorrow so I get to see Henrik on Tuesday. There is a good chance they return home 0 for 4 on
this trip……….and with more injuries as NHL teams actually take the body out here.
Hottest team in hockey vs. depleted line-up. You could say the Avs played down a little, did not look solid in the back except for their goalie.
Kovy for Josef Balej. Did he play with them at all the next season?
Revisionist history but you have to think how different the roster might look and team might be playing if Ottawa would of wanted anything to do with step instead of brassard.
Why is Valiquette always holding on to the desk likes he’s going to fall over?
Now off to LA & let’s win there!
Orf
I think he was gone when the nhl started back up after the lost season
Henrik Lundqvist = Dan Marino of hockey.
That avs first line as to be one of the best in the league.
Not worst to first, but even fighting for a playoff spot is impressive after last season.
At least shattenkirk wasn’t a minus today
😉
Since norm is too busy passing on his high level playing experience expert analysis to answer the question I asked, could anyone else tell me who “tribe” is?
I can’t keep track of his terminology on that one.
Why is Valiquette even behind that desk? Fuggin Prince Charming.
Norm, not a “softie” imo. McKinnon, a truly elite scorer, used Zib as a screen and got off a very quick release. Zib kind of turnstiles and Hank doesn’t pick it up. Could he have had it? Sure. But not soft.
That seemed like a really short game
I’d play pav tomorrow
Well at least Hank has a fortune to show for his NHL career because he won’t be getting any hardware with this bunch! This song is over!
“Hank, can you be a real man if you tweeze your eyebrows?”
LOL, Papa.
Catenacci=career minor leaguer. Not terribly impressed by Lettieri, Holland, Desharnais, Carey … roster is going to get much worse.
I meant, the previous comment, Papa. Just to be clear.
Bernier still has the best mask in the game, thought it looked better in Anaheim due to the colours, but still cool looking imo.
C3 I was closest! Haha but nope no winner
Sittoo, I’ll give you malleable in place of soft. A malleablie?
Holland and Carey have been “satisfactory” imo for 13th forward/spot players, but should not be regulars.
If you are impressed with Lettieri’s work Ethic and think it stands out, the rest of our roster has issues
Carp is that the good news or the bad news? One or two of them on your roster might be bearable. All of them in the lineup looks like the first year Florida Panthers. Can’t compete even in today’s NHL.
Anyone have an opinion on how Tony D looked?
Orf
He looked ok imo
Norm I’ll take it. The man had a .944 with multiple big saves. Malleable is nice…
I thought DeAng. was good, was looking for the one-time pass a lot, maybe too much?
I don’t think he looked terribly out of place but considering the way the rangers D has played for the majority of the season, it’s not a high bar.
That’s where you get beer in the Himalayas, a high bar
😉
Hard for anybody to look good with this roster. Sad state of affairs in Rangertown. They actually looked like the expansion team.
Duchene addition by subtraction
Why do they continue to play without centers. Catenacchi? Really?
Wicky,
Yes, Duchene was addition by subtraction. It became McKinnon team.
Bdl
Why is AV still the coach?
Words of wisdom from AV
“At the end of the night, everybody worked hard and gave their best,” coach Alain Vigneault said. “That’s what you want from your players. A couple areas we’re going to address before tomorrow’s game and we’re going to try and get better. That’s what we can do at the end of the day.”
Wonder if Deharnais is a player a buyer would even trade for? Maybe as a depth forward he brings back a low pick or he could be a throw-in.
Desharnais is good at faceoffs and can pass a little. Weak faceoff teams might have a slight need.
You know what pisses me off? And I meant to say it few days ago…. how AV mismanages Buch. I mean, kid was stuck on the 4th line for really long stretches. Then mega-genius coach puts him on top line (where he belongs), and kid has been scoring points since. It really pisses me off. And Buch isn’t the only one being mismanaged by the mega-genius coach.
I think Montreal would take Desharnais back in a second, patches liked being on his line
Desharnais, Fast, Carey, Holden, and Kampfer must all be related to Bazooka Joe. Sons, nephews, step-kids has to be it just has to be!
Buch is 2nd in points. So how is this mismanagement again? Properly managed, the argument goes, he’d be on the top line every game and thereby leading the team in points by a considerable margin. And maybe he really is the Rangers best forward by a lot. Not from what I’ve seen, though he’s sure hot for the moment. I see the benchings and demotions as effective motivation, others see them as holding him back. Either way, I hope he sees himself as a star in the making and keeps driving himself in that direction.
Buch has the potential to be a top line, 75 points a year player. Of course, he would benefit by having a sniper on his line to compliment his high end playmaking. And he’ll need to play consistently and continue to improve over time.
Buch lost his way a little when his Russian speaking buddy Kreider went down. He seems to like playing with Nash and vice-a-versa.
Depleted lineup for sure but you would think establishing a forecheck would be more of priority based on situation…..this team just does not have that in them….need new players and coaching staff
The coaching staff game-planned well today at least. They had little business staying with the Avs and played some good hockey I thought. A lot on their coaching plates this trip.
Honestly with this roster they just may end up with a top 5 pick. Playoffs? I don’t think so!
It sometimes feels like there’s a disconnect here. We need the Rangers to come up short of the playoffs to ensure that trades happen sooner rather than later. And in the next breath, it’s time to fire the coach because he’s not good enough to… get them into the playoffs?
It’s a flawed roster (even when healthy) and that’s on Gorton. But as educated sport fans, we all understand the coach will be the first to bite the dust.
Norm trades need to happen whether they make playoffs or not..guessing a Gorton feels same
I’m not against trades ever. Good GMs need to be able to pull the trigger 24/7. Don’t make one for its own sake is all.
As I said last week, better to keep AV at the helm than to name Ruff interem head coach and risk a temporary boost in the standings. With the injuries piling up, there should be less confusion.
I’m certainly not bashing you 3C, but Buch’s minutes is all the Rangers bloggers have complained about for weeks.
My response to them is, perhaps Alain has been managing his minutes over the 1st half of the season so that he could play more in the 2nd half.
The thing with these bloggers is, they think and operate on the basis that they have all the information that Alain, Gorton and the organization have.
They were a bubble team before the injuries started to pile up. I think now the bubble has burst. The injuries probably guarantee that AV is back next year. Let’s see if Ruff gets a head coaching job after this season. There always are openings.
Sather was a moron that deadline (any many others), only dealt with Canadian teams.
Longest running, non-interrupted boneheads?
Carp, ILB, Coos, Olga- plus all the family and Izzy Mandebaum, Wicky, E3, 3CP, Headzo, Mama, St. Pete, Evrock,
Eric (unless he’s gone), TYM, James, who am I missing?
SeeDubb of course.
BobbyO been here a while too
Carey – Holland – Fast
Catenacci – Desharnais – Letteri
Guys who have left: Orr, Manny, Miami, Gravy, Grabby, Gregg, ???
SN has been here longer than everyone!
Carey – Holland – Fast
Catenacci – Desharnais – Letteri
.
James too.
If Ruff is a better coach than Vignault, how do you account for the disparity in winning percenta… Never mind, not worth the trouble.
Norm, the answer to your question is quite simple. Talent of roster
You want to be a good coach, get good players. I can’t think of an exception to that rule, though there’s probably someone out there. Ruff and Arniel had goof enough talent in Buffalo, and Dallas was not bereft of it, either, certainly relative to the starless Rangers. I like Ruff, but AV’s demonstrably a better coach.
Mr d, czechthemout, salty, kaspar, sally, Beth, tr-808, Nasty, latona, spiderpig, the bartender chick from jersey gravy had the hots for, banj
Hi, I’m new here. What’s this place all about.
Good morning Boneheads! I tend to believe we all want the same thing, (THE CUP) it just isn’t happening anytime soon! Let’s continue to cheer on this broken vessel, in spite of their flaws, and trust management makes the right moves to right the ship!
Hilarious, I’ve been posting here when Sam Weisman ran this blog through Lohud.
I will admit though back in those days my handle was tomG, I changed it because someone started posting as tomb and people were getting us confused.
About Jozef Balej – Even at the time of the trade, he wasn’t exactly the most exciting prospect…but Kovalev wasn’t haven’t a good season by any stretch. Balej was small during a period where clutch-and-grab was still a thing, and wasn’t putting up such amazing numbers for the time. He was about a point-a-game in the AHL, and when he came over he netted 1 goal in 13 games with the Scorched Earth Rangers, who missed the playoffs by a lot. Next season was the lockout, and he scored around 20 goals in a full season with the Wolfpack. It’s funny how the landscape has changed, because I’d kill a puppy right now to have a solid 20 goal man in the the minors – back then, this was considered a HUGE disappointment. No lockout…he probably would’ve gotten a good look, but after a season like that in the minors, he was traded before the ’06 season to Vancouver for Fedor Fedorov. Good asset management, Glen!
Anyway – Balej was no great shakes with the Canucks, but suffered a pretty gruesome injury when he got caught up in the boards and speared his own kidney into oblivion. He came back to hockey eventually – overseas, and still plays in the KHL.
Now that I have the whole firesale thing in my head, and I’m looking back at 2004, I’ve gone down the internet rabbit hole of trade trees. Some trade tree wither and die immediately. Some take interesting turns. Fact – the Bruins are still reaping the benefits of the Cam Neely trade over 30 years ago (via the additional R1 they received). Here’s a crazy Ranger trade tree:
The Vanbiesbrouck/Weight/Lafleur Trade Tree
(To be the seed of a Trade Tree, you need to be drafted with a pick your team originally owned, or signed as an undrafted free agent)
John Vanbiesbrouck drafted in 1981 – Traded for Doug Lidster
Doug Weight drafted in 1990 – Traded for Esa Tikkanen
Guy Lafleur signs with Quebec – Rangers receive R5 pick in 1990 as compensation – Draft Sergei Zubov
Lidster and Tikkanen traded for Petr Nedved
Nedved and Zubov traded for Luc Robitaille and Ulf Samuelsson
Robitaille traded for Kevin Stevens
(The Kevin Stevens branch of the trade tree ended in a motel room in St Louis)
Ulf Samuelsson traded to Detroit for R2 (David Inman) and R3 (Dominic Moore)
Moore traded for Adam Hall
Adam Hall traded for Pascal Dupuis
Pascal Dupuis traded for Alex Bourret (oops)
Alex Bourret traded for R3 (Tomas Kundratek)
Tomas Kundratek traded for Francois Bouchard
Trade Tree ends when Bouchard goes to Europe.
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