Blue Notes

For a minute there, I thought Renney might actually display some kind of emotion.

Silly me.

Status quo, boys!

I don't understand how you can say the Rangers gave 2 points away here. From my vantage point, the Islanders were the better team from about the 10-minute mark of the first period on.

They outshot the Rangers, had better quality scoring chances and easily could have won by three or four goals had it not been for Lundqvist being at his usual best for the most part.

The Rangers may have all the big free agents and bigger names, but right now, the Islanders are the better team. They are 6-0 vs. the Rangers and Devils this season --- every game decided by one goal.

Sorry Steve but the better team won here. No question about it. Remember, the Isles have four games in hand on the Rangers as well.

Posted by Red white and blue | November 19, 2007 17:20

According to a major hockey publication, the Rangers are currently ranked number 5 in the whole league. Only a matter of time before we hit number 1 boys! By the way, the Icelanders were somewhere near the bottom, I believe number 18 or 19. Ah, how sweet it is!

Yep! Just a matter of time boys.

In my opinion, Renney was outcoached by Nolan again. Why do the Rangers seem to be taken by surprise by the Islanders??? Do they not realize they will come hard at them??? This is frustrating. Rangers must muster some feel for this rivalry or this humiliation will continue.

The Isles were definitely the better team tonight. Id still bet that the Rangers wind up with more points at the end of the season, though- but I think both teams are going to be in good shape!!!
You dont win game after game based purely on luck- and both teams are doing that, so its way more than luck. The Atlantic division teams are gonna be THE teams to beat!

Well... besides Ottawa lol.

Sure, the Rangers were "napping," ever stop to think that maybe this high paid bunch of "stars" is actually not the better team?

Nolan proved something to me last night. To have you team come out and ice the puck time after time to start the game... I was wondering what was going on... then I realized that the game was way slower then the Rangers like it, and the crowed was totally taken out of the game... all before the 10 minute mark in the first.

On top of that, between DiPietro playing the puck, and the Islanders poke checking at their own blue line, what do you do? You cant skate it in, and you cant dump it in. Good plan by the Islanders and even better execution of it.

Zip's right, Hossa is 20 games into the season with not much to show for it. I'm a big Hossa advocate, and I know jagr likes him on the line, but why wait for Straka... put Prucha or even give Hollweg a shot for some shifts on Jagrs line. When Straka/Calli come back, I think it's gonna be Hossa who sits and Dawes who finds himself in Hartford.

Another goal for the Rangers defense btw... forwards havent scored in two games...

Bummer of a game. I agree the Islanders were the better team last night, but they'll get it back on track.

I do have to ask though, what exactly are they talking about in practice? And if it's said every time that they should shoot more, what's the problem?

Maybe Renney should be ordering some mandatory hearing evaluations because this team doesn't seem to be listening if he's talking.

They better put a beating on the Florida teams or my holiday week will be ruined!

Looked like a charity case to me. Because that wasn't the same Rangers team that has been playing the last 10 games. Looked more like the Sather got a call from the head office asking the Rangers to throw the game for the betterment of hockey on the island and in NY.
18 shots the entire game. Come on! Until last night we've had 18 shots in the first period. I guess it's like being the big brother, sometimes you just need to let the little ones win for the sanity. God forbidden things on the island get anymore out of hand than usual.
I could smell Nolan's breathe from the blues.

It's funny how whenever the rags lose It gets blamed on everything else except for the fact that the other team just out played them. Nolan out coach Renney again plain and simple. and the Islanders just shut down the rags offense. For the amount of money that has been shelled out for all these "star" free agents if I were a rangers fan i'd be furious that they aren't producing 20 games into the season. Also for the money I would expect these guys to play there hearts out every night. I all honesty it was a great game last night, Hard fougt on both sides but the Islanders were the better team.

KH-

Good points, the Islanders were the better team last night. The constant early icings, standing up at the blue line, DP playing the puck, etc.

However, where were you the last two Islander/Ranger games? How come you didn't come here and critique Zip's journalistic integrity? Becuase the last two games the Rangers outplayed the Islanders. Believe me, I go on the Islanded blog to read Logan and I've seen some of your posts. Don't talk to us about homerism. Logan is basically a spokeman for the Islanders. I think Botta has his direct line. Remember last year when DP didn't have a concussion becuase the Islanders front office and Logan constantly said/wrote he didn't. Then all of a sudden he's out for weeks with a concussion. Logan spews out what the Isles want when they want it. And don't even get me started on this year's name your excuse article about Simon.

So, KH, you came hear and got some digs in, which is all good. But I wouldn't question a man's integrity using the anonymity of the internet. Don't you have a meeting to get the "new" Coliseum built to go to?????

Ranger Rick: Isles #5 and your looking at TSN which has the lighting like 5 or something..so Ah how sweet it is the isles are number 5

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/writers/scott_wraight/11/13/power.rankings7/index.html

Don't look now, Isles fans, but when you play a certain style and your opponent counters it, if you don't make an adjustment then you beat yourself.

The Rangers had 30 minutes to get 1 goal and they never adjusted to what the Islanders were doing. The Islanders didn't dominate this game at all. A 2 -1 game is not dominance.

The one part of the game where the Rangers did get out-smarted/out-coached is in the 3rd period. The islanders pretty much stopped hitting back and that took the crowd out of the game completely. All of that physical nonsense in the 2nd had the crowd amped up, and then the Isles dumped and trapped their way into and out of the 3rd.

Kudos to them for winning, but I don't give a crap if they beat us all 8 times this year, because at the end of the season I'd venture to guess the Rangers are a lot higher in the standing than the Isles are.

Hossa is a wasted position. Sorry, but he doesn't have 1/8 the skill his brother brings to Atl's table. Cut him loose. Trade him off, send him down. Give Pru 20 games up front. Or Dawes. Anyone! Straka or no Straka, Hossa doesn't belong.
Say otherwise...

who cares about power rankings...the islanders have won all 3 head to head matchups this year and have consistently outplayed the rags

Keep pointing to your power rankings and we'll keep pointing to all of the division games we're taking from you

I would venture to guess if we beat the Rangers all 8 games this season we would be ahead of them; afterall that is 16 points. I would also be pretty annoyed if we put up a goose egg against our biggest rival.

I also would say that when you can only muster 19 shots you got dominated.

I would also venture to guess that Butch Goring is making a phone call to the Maven regarding the comparison of Avery to him. Way off. Maybe he meant the lift it brought to the respective teams; instead of a player comparison.

See you on the 29th; start studying film.

Coral Springs - don't make like 19 shots is the same as 9 shots. It isn't domination at all. it was a 2-1 game, guy.

The Rangers didn't screen Queen Ricky enough last night, and certainly not enough shots on goal against him..

Islander in NJ, I completely disagree. I think the Rangers just plain played very poorly compared to their previous, lets say 12 games (which is why Zip said the things he did). Yes the Isles DID shut down the Rangers offense, it was one game and like I said before they had it coming. I don't care if you're the cup champs, you can't win them all. The Rangers went 5-0 in the last 5 and 9-1 in the last 10. They were bound to drop one, maybe even drop two. I just don't think the Isles 3-0 record against the Rangers on the season should be touted around like the Rangers stink so much more in comparison to the Isles that they can't beat them this season, because there is NO TEAM in the league that much better than any other. Maybe the WON'T but nobody can say that one team is so good that they CAN'T lose. It's called parity. Even if the season series is a shutout for the Isles they aren't that much better than any other team. The scoreboard shows it. If they were that much better (like you imply) the scores in all their games would be something like 4-0, 5-1 etc. Yes, the Isles have good chemistry. It will get them into the playoffs, and maybe even to the final but let me tell you, DiPi isn't going to carry them to a cup with the likes of Simon, Hunter, Vasicek, and Campoli in front of him. Watch the blueshirts to take two or three from the isles on the season.

"Posted by Islander In NJ | November 20, 2007 12:04 ...For the amount of money that has been shelled out for all these "star" free agents if I were a rangers fan i'd be furious that they aren't producing 20 games into the season. Also for the money I would expect these guys to play there hearts out every night. I all honesty it was a great game last night..."

Memo to islander fans: There is something called a salary cap. The Ranger and Isles payrolls against the cap are very similiar. If the Isles did not buy out Alexei Yashin, the payrolls will be just about identical. This is not the old days where the Rangers have a 80 million dollar payroll and the Isles a 20 million dollar payroll. The Rangers have a younger team than the Isles. The Isles had 10 players in the lineup last night 30 or over. The Rangers had 4. The reason the Rangers can afford the Gomez and Drury's of the world is because they have so many younger players in the lineup not making any money. It's just a fact.

I don't think any hockey fan can say the Rangers suck. Winning 9 of 11 is a great run, you can't get lucky 9 times. I think the reaction you are seeing from us Islander fans is just because from our point of view our team put together a really solid effort against what is most definitely a more talented rival. The Isles had 0 giveaways during the game, held the Rangers to just 19 shots, played with a mean streak. Something for us to be proud of and to read it marginalized in the media (even though this blog space is clearly for Zipay to express his personal interest), is frustrating.

I think the word dominated is being thrown out there because of the completeness of the game played. The score alone can't tell the whole story.

The Fishsticks definitely outplayed the Rangers but if Henrik makes the saves on those 2 goals, and those were certainly shots he would usually save, then we have a 1-0 Ranger win. Give the Crylanders credit, they played a very aggressive game. Time for the Rangers to go on another winning streak.

I never understood the rationalization that "if" something happened "then" there'd be a different result. Ya know, on the same token "if" Ricky made that save, "if" the Isles didn't give up an uncharacteristic goal on the PP, "then" it would be a shutout. Cmon, critique the game, not what could have been!

If only King Ricky saved that short handed goal (a shot he'd usually stop) then the icelanders would've shutout the Rangers 2-0.

If only the Rangers would have played the way they had played in winning 9 of 10, they would have routed the Fishstick Icelanders.

Dan My statement was that they outplayed the Rangers during that game. I beleive it is safe to say that when One team beats another they outplayed them. I did not say the Isles dominated the rangers I said they shut down their offence. As you said if the score was 5-1 or something of the sort that would be dominating. So far the Isles have the Rangers number but that can very well change in the next game. My bone of contention is that considering the amount of money spent on Drury, Gomez, Jagr(even though washington picks up half) and Shanahan they should handle a team picked to come in last in the conference, if not the division, alittle better. Even though it pains me I will admit when the rangers play a good game and I think in the first two games in the series they played better and should have taken one of the two. IMHO no team just rolls over and gives points to another, especially the archrivals. If they do then they should pack their bags and leave. If you lose you got outplayed, no excuses. Let's give credit where credit is due.

Give credit where credit is due there, Ranger Fan. There are two teams trying here. While the Islanders obviously lack the talent of the Rangers (mostly). What they ARE good at is taking the other team out of their game. That's what happened here. Saying a game was a fluke, especially a game of this magnitude, is a cop-out.

Exactly "Ranger Fan". Now you see how ridiculous you sound. The Islanders won, they were the better team. Period. While we're at it, can you educate the rest of us as to why you refer to them as the fishsticks 5 years later? Or what "icelanders" really means?

Islander in NJ, I understand what you are saying, and yes the Rangers did get outplayed, but to say that the Rangers didn't show up, or didn't play up to their abilities is not an excuse. Even on a bad night the worst team in the league can beat the best team, so even then the winning team still has to play well. I don't think Zip is taking anything away from the Isles because they did a fantastic job standing up at the blueline and the icing strategy to get the crowd out was a work of art by Teddy (Although I don't think that would work again, he should have saved it for the playoffs) Maybe I inferred wrong, but what I took was that you thought basically the Blueshirts didn't have a chance. As far as the high money/low production thing goes, the team went 5-0 for the last 5 and 9-1 for the last ten. I'd say the guys are showing up. Just because they aren't scoring the points doesn't mean they aren't responsible for them. It is my feeling that we see probably 75-80% of what ACTUALLY goes on during the game, even when we are there. We hear even less, probably something like 10-15%. So to say that these guys aren't earning their money I think is a little pre-mature.

Im an Islanders fan and i thought it was a great game. Both teams need to start looking into their offenses. The Rangers havent had a goal from a forward in a few games and the Islanders continue to sort of sputter along. Its good to see both teams playing hard every night. Its good for hockey in southern NY and i think it will continue to flourish. Now a Rangers Islanders Playoff series would be amazing...... heres hoping

Dan I think at 7 and 8 mil for the season they should be producing ( points wise) more at about a quarter of the way through the season. I believe the money could have been better spent on giving henrick a long term contract if possible. My knowledge of salary restriction is limited so I'm not sure if that was even possible. IMHO the Rangers have to many generals and not enough grunts on the ice. But if they do find the chemistry ( and as an Islander fan I hope they don't ) they will be a very difficult team to beat. and to show I'm even handed the rangers played well last night and the islanders stunk up the ice. There's always tomorrow. Happy Thanksgiving

Islander in NJ, yeah, maybe they ought to be scoring more points but...you have to look at the style of game Renny makes them play. Defense first. When you see Drury, Shanny, and Jagr making good and sometimes brilliant defensive plays when they have made their careers digging in the corners or running around the offensive zone, it can't be ignored. Also, you have to look at what they are doing that facilitates the less than likely people to score (Dawes, Rosi, Strud etc). When Jagr, Drury, Shanny, and Gomez have the puck, what does the opposing team do? Double up on em. It's because of their name, their talent, and what they have done in the past that releaves the pressure on anyone else, opening them up and allowing them to shoot, pass and find the open space. Once the other teams start to realize that some of these young guys are as much a threat, they will have to stop double teaming, stop shadowing one player as opposed to another, and that's when you will see these guys start getting the points. Gomez very quietly had himself a nice scoring streak, and will probably start up another soon.