
Tonight, the New York Rangers dropped our second meeting this week to the Ottawa Senators 3-1, mostly due to the merits of Marek Malik - our floundering, overpaid, most boo'ed New York Ranger defenseman. The Senators mauled their way through our defensive lines three times in a row during the 2nd period, all within a 52 second window. The first and third goal against the Rangers happened because Malik forgot to play basic zone defense and cover the open man. An over-sized schmuck on ice.
"Our team this year is about scoring a lot of goals, rather than building veteran defensive lines. We are a team unit."
- Anonymous current NY Rangers coach
Rangers fans and beat writers were always worried about the lack of defensive veterans in the roster during the off-season, something never addressed by management (giving them the benefit of the doubt that they knew something we didn't) - and now we might be witnessing a weakness greater than anyone anticipated. The defense was not alone in their performance tonight. Even the experience of our superstar front lines couldn't overcome Ottawa's defense; Senator replacement goalkeeper Martin Gerber was remarkable tonight as the Rangers could not take advantage of any power plays, including a 5 on 3 with 11 minutes left in the third period, our first line pounding their defense - and nothing connecting and no dirty goals to claim.
Though the Blueshirts are 2-3-0, it is early and it's obvious they haven't found their game. I believe in the New York Rangers, I believe in Tom Renney. I believe in Jagr motivating his teammates to play better hockey. The night was not a complete disaster and honorable mention goes to "The King" Henrik Lundquist for preventing more goals, having saved 20+ real scoring opportunities for Ottawa (and unable to make up for the complete breakdown of our defense).
I do not believe in Marek Malik. He must have secret pictures of Tom Renney with farm animals or something similar that keeps him in the game.
I also want to acknowledge the efforts of Brandon Dubinsky who played hard, threw some punches and, hopefully, proved to Coach Renney that former Islander David Scatchard is not a good replacement for our rookie known as 'Dubie'. Taking a cue from Colton Orr, our resident Blueshirt enforcer, rookie Dubinsky attempted to challenge veteran Luke Richardson to a fight. Poor kid absorbed a devastating right hook: he earned a "10" on effort, "2" for ugly-ness.
..and so I digress, canned goods and previous New York Rangers' paraphernalia from the 1995-2003 seasons will be perfect for the flogging of Marek Malik. Known to take a lot of abuse from the fans and press, after tonight's game the coaching staff and management upstairs are finally acknowledging that he is unreliable, not worth the $3 million per season and are prepared to trade and dump him from the roster in order to rebuild our defense. That's a nice wish.
tdr
tdr
ReplyDeleteAny spots left for Shanahan in your blogging flogging?
Perhaps if enough shots to his back take their toll, he will finally come back to score a goal.
HH
I'm always up for a public flogging of Shanahan... If it means Malik has to do it too, well I'm all for it
ReplyDeleteJibble & HH, I may be in your court..it is surprising how invisible he has been the last three weeks, but there with the refs complaining about the off-calls being made. I will reserve some negative energy for the potential of Shanny appearing on the blog...not happy about it.
ReplyDeleteSo happy I didn't take Shanny in my fantasy pool. Whew!!!
tdr,
ReplyDeleteYou can still blog flog the man, Shanahan, but I just wrote the obituary to Shanahan's goal scoring ability.
Those from the dark side might enjoy it. It is entitled:
R.I.P.—Shanahan’s Scoring Succumbs to Old Age After 19+ Seasons
HH