Friday, November 23, 2007

Are We Lost? Rangers 2, Panthers 3 (SO)

The New York Rangers lost in a shootout to The Florida Panthers this evening, 2-3, the Blueshirts gained a point and now close-out with a 13-8-2 record. Chris Drury scored both goals in regulation. Official recap here.

Some thoughts after tonight's performance:

Yes. We are in first place in the Atlantic Division and second in the Conference.

Yes. We have one of the best records in the league for goals-against, and by far, one of the strongest goaltenders around.

Yes. Backup goalkeeper Stephen Valiquette again proved his worth. Second start of the year and showed an incredible performance.

And finally, Yes. Jagr sucks. There....I said it.

Never before have I seen a team that is solely built around one player. Coach Tom Renney continues to allow our Captain to decide the type of play and perhaps our dear coach should consider naming a co-Captain to Jaromir Jagr just to shake things up a bit. Maybe even bench him.

As the first place team, how is it that in the final two minutes of overtime, with Jaromir Jagr leading Chris Drury, Scott Gomez and Brendan Shanahan (four superstars) with a power play advantage 4 on 3, cannot even manage more than a couple of shots? Because JAGR IS LOOKING FOR THE PERFECT PLAY that never came. Do I look fat in these jeans? Why is Avery getting girls like Cuthbert? Should I shoot the puck if there isn't an opening? Something has to change in his play and leadership -- we all thought going into the season, with Jags all healthy and proclaiming the victory ahead, and having lived through his last season recovery - The Dark Ranger imagined. He was going to show up. He was going to lead. He would make us all believe.

Nope.

Instead we've had to rely on 1. one-point wins and a semi-stable defensive system that does not allow any room for error, 2. our goaltending 3. Hartford AHL supplying us with an endless surplus of talent 4. most importantly, faith in our team, not the leaders.

When will this madness end? I'll take the point, I salute Valiquette for keeping us in the game, and I embrace Jagr's pretty-boy-non-leadership and look to him to change his friggin attitude, game and his need for pretty goals.

From now on, make'em dirty!

tdr

7 comments:

  1. Well I wouldn"t go as far as Dark saying he sucks though I will agree he has been lazy appearing. Hard to comment as the guy is always being double covered. Because of that you would think the Shannys, Gomez could capitalize on that. Unrelated, I am beginning to think Gomez was a huge mistake and we should have kept at least Matt Cullen! No complaints being on top. It does feel undeserved sometimes.

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  2. Dark Ranger-Be careful my friend, you are beginning to sound like The Ranger Pundit. Coach clueless has no idea how to fix this problem.

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  3. I disagree that Renney doesn't know how to fix it, I just think he is unwilling as they see Jagr as the marketable face of the organization right now. And how do you admonish the 'leader' of a first place team? I've been ranting against Jagr's captaincy from the start but I was labelled xenophobic because I don't think a Euro should be the captain, especially not this Euro. He has been a moody, spoiled child his entire career, and we elevated him to captaincy. Now the only way to get through it is to wait out his contract and hope that the rest of the team picks up the slack.

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  4. dj...no, you're wrong dj. he sucks it.
    pundit..we are one in the same. a good coach should change his lines properly too.
    scotty..well with Avery in People sexiest list, Shanahan in Vogue this upcoming month, Lundqvist appearing on Vitamin Water buses all over the city, and not a funny one-liner from Jags in eight weeks - not sure what is so marketable about a guy who doesn't speak. You may be on to something scotty...remember this is the guy who refused captainacy last season. Nice. Tomorrow. With Philly tied, tomorrow again means something.

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  5. 1) It appears that JJ is finally showing Ranger fans what the good folks in Pittsburgh and to a greater extent, D.C. have known/seen from Jagr in years past
    2) He's one great hockey player. Perhaps in the top 10 all-time, but if he's not content its not hard to see. Stripping him of the captaincy would only worsen things. However, as we have written on more than one occasion, once Shanahan came on board, he became the defacto captain of your team

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  6. faux..every Rangers fan is just hoping that Jags will want to end his NHL tenure as a Stanley Cup contender/winner - evidenced by how he lights up toward playoff time. He is the Derek Coleman of hockey -- extremely talented and, maybe, the laziest.

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  7. Jagr is stll Jagr - A point a game player plus plus
    Art Ross Trophies, Hart Trophies plus a couple of Stanley Cup's to boot.
    What's missing is a center named Nylander. This looks to be a great mistake by the Rangers organization in not resigning him. That coupled with Straka's injury filled season has cooled of Jagr.
    Be patient people as the regular season is just the begining and the playoffs is where it all begins.
    Anyways - The king is the new main man in Manhattan.
    Potvin Sucks!

    The Blue Nation Leafs

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