Blue Notes

agree with much of what Steve said except.........

the rangers did put play them.. the refs did suck.. the double plekanic slash on mara.. Voros

did look bad but that was a weak hook on Voros, real real weak..

Henrik had a bad game the first 2 goals were terrible..

Put Lori back in for Voros or move Voros to the 4th line and sit Orr.

Completely agree on Voros, 2 games and I have seen nothing from him, and I believe him on the line with Dubi and Zherdev makes Zherdev disappear. Zherdev's great assist was on a line with Naslund, Zherdev needs to be playing with him or Korpikoski. Even though I think the calls were a little weak, Voros' penalty at the beginning of the 3rd started the bleeding. This better not be just an "audition" for Prucha...Prucha, Drury and Dawes are a great line, really like how they work with each other! Kalinin has improved over the last couple of games, but Lundqvist needs to get his head into the game.

I wonder if they'll all be telling us excuses all the way through April? They're a badly constructed team with a bad coach and a bad game plan who's best players are playing bad. Everyone who's been saying "yeah but they're still in first place" should take a closer look. They are closer to being out of the playoffs than first place.

All I have to say is if that officiating was against Montreal, In Montreal, there would be burning cars, burning buildings and maybe even some dead referees.

Excuses? The game was 2-2, was a terrific game and the officials decided that the game should go to Montreal.

It was pathetic.

who is saying 1st place, in the east we are approx 6th and falling if you take into acct teams games in hand. and buffalo, carolina and pitt are hunting us down

PIP - looked for you after pre game up until maybe 8 minutes before game. some other time i guess.

At the game 2night and I was thinking of who played bad and really nobody came to mind and only Voros and Hank had bad games. The refs decided the game and that is complete bullshyt. Swallow your whistles and let the game be played. They weren't calling anything all game then all of a sudden they bring them out and start calling phantom Hooking calls. I don't care if you are going call the game tight or not at least be consistent.

Hank needs to take his head out of his ass and play better those first 2 goals were horrible. Worst game I have seen Hank play in awhile and their are no excuses about his dad being in the hospital this time. He has let in 4 goals in 8 of his last 12 contests.

Prucha Dawes and Cally were the best players on the ice 2night. That is going to be a problem if this is the case on most nights. Dubinsky is in a funk and you just need to be patient with him. You can't put him and Zherdev on a line with Voros. That is where you are missing a top 6 forward. You put a guy like Hossa or Kovalchuk with Zherdev and Dubinsky and you got 3 solid lines.

Prucha and Dawes seem to be turning a corner in his career. The guy makes things happen every time he is on the ice.

What a joke, they can't even beat a team that has a ton of injuries including their top goalie and 3 of top 9 forwards.

When will there finally be a coaching change?

Dubinsky needs to be centering Naslund and Zherdev.

hgjh

Agree with the Zherdev Duby Naslund line. Korpi and Cally with Gomez, and keep Pru and Dawes (both producing real nicely) with Drury. This team can juggle forwards lines but our problem will be and has been all season the soft D. Unless we can get Henrik (who played like crap in my opinion) D-men who are stronger on the puck were not going past the first round. WE do not need another forward right now... I would love to see Kovalchuk on this team but the price is too high, would be atleast a 1st rd pk, top prospect, and either Duby or Zherdev. Voros doesnt have the speed for this team

If Dubi is any part of a package for Kovulchuk, I will f***ing drive Dubinsky to the airport myself!!!! Dubi is a 3rd liner who was basically an anvil tied around Jagr's neck last season. Now he is handcuffing Zherdev to mediocrity. We should have traded Dubi a long time ago. He is not a bad 3rd line center, but we have 10-12 of those already. PLEASE stop praising Dubinsky.

Joe and PIP, sorry about the result. I saw a better game on Monday. Didn't
see the game last night but I heard the King was not his usual self and there
seems to be a lot of complaining about the refs. It doesn't take much for this
team to meltdown. Why is Voros in for Korpi? It's not Korpi's fault that Sather
gave out these ridiculous contracts. Joe, you're right. They're currently in 5th.
We did say that we would know a lot more after this week and even more after
this coming road trip. CW is correct. I thought Dubi was going to be a star also
but it appears that Jagr did make him look good. Maybe it's the sophmore slump
but he's a restricted FA, so what does Sather do with him? I feel a big trade is
coming by the deadline. Gut feeling.

"we should have traded Dubinsky a long time ago"

we didn't even have Dubinsky a "long time ago"

He is a 22 year old kid for crying out loud.

One of my new year's resolutions was to not call people stupid, that posts almost made me break it already.

Just shows you how weak the Rangers are. They a Pittsburgh team struggling. Penalty or not you still play the game. I thought with Drury and Gomez leadership they would play on.

Defense is weak Henrik hasn't played as well in the last month like he did in the beginning. Renney I am so nice to my players needs to get balls.. Get emtiional show some fire. This team lacks fire and comes out flat.

It time for change. Big deal if they make the playoffs and get out in the 2nr round. Sather and Renney need to go. This organization is stuck in mud.

Trading Dubinsky would be dumb unless we got something great in return.

We got beat by a better team last night. Don't blame the officiating. Those were some dumb penalties.

"Penalty or not you still play the game. I thought with Drury and Gomez leadership they would play on"

They didn't play on?

The two BS calls that gave Montreal the 5 on 3 and ultimately the 4-2 lead, the Rangers then came back and made it 4-3.

If Mara was playing for Montreal and his hand was slashed knocking his glove off, it would have been a 5 minute major.

It's a little bit frustrating all you guys want to do is rip the team, everyone at the arena was pissed off I will tell you that.

By the way, I have been down on the crowds a lot this season but last night's crowd was awesome, probably the best of the year so far, very passionate, I loved it.

Lay off Dubi. The kid is currently mired in a typical sophomore slump. One that 75% of current/former NHL players have ALL endured. When Dubi snaps out of it...he's going to break-out HUGE.

blaze,

it really is hard to believe how much criticism Dubinsky actually gets around here.

The lack of patience is absolutely galling.

Dude,

The call against Rosy was something that could have gone either way. The call against Gomez was a good call. It was dumb of Gomez to hold the guys stick.

Lets not blame the officiating. The Rangers didn't play well enough to win.

what about the non call on Mara?

The Gomez holding the stick was not a BS call that was stupidity on Gomez's part especially down a man already. He wasn't saving a goal or anything by doing it. And it has to happen the day he says he has to play better. I don't want to hear about injuries either because his horrible play is more mental than physical

The point about the officiating is that all night long they let the ticky tack penalties go, then all of a sudden in the third period of a great 2-2 hockey game, the refs decide to give one team the advantage and call 4 straight penalties on stuff they had been letting go all night.

It's just BS, NHL officiating is just completely dreadful, it's not even funny.

Wish I saw the game or fiasco here in Hartford, the game was blacked out on the NHL Network and our MSG channel is shared with Fox Sports New England, which was showing a damm celtics game. I could scream when the games are blacked out so far away from NYC !!

I am convinced Hendrik is fuming...I mean he is so upset at the lack of support from the team in front of him, and he has a right to be upset. You lose so much on TV, and again last night, where was the D?????? Alex K right smack dab in front of Hendrik, and not a single Ranger around him-NOT ONE!

Renny has truly lost this team...you can see it in their play...no commitment whatsoever-yes, their are exceptions, but very, very few.

Tony, you saw a far better game me Joe and I did....Joe I was talking w/Steve right after the pre game, went to your section and all I saw were people, don't know ya ya know. A lot of Canadian fans there last night.

Oh yeah, the refs.....they better hope their boss waen't watching last night, cause they called a horrific game. Renny Finally waived his arms and gave the ref hell in the 3rd period...that was the most excitement I've ever seen from Renny. ....Road Trip, and I wanna see more of Valle and give Hendrik a break.

Dubi Dubi Do....don't give me this sophomore BS Blaze...you are either good or you are not. Smart talented players don't acknowledge that Sophomore BS Jinx.....this kid just needs to focus on going/crashing the net more...he spends way too much time along the boards and he did NOT play this way in Europe or the 1st 10 games of the season......blame it mostly on the system, but still, go the the net for crise sakes already, Dawes, Prucha, Naslund are starting to do it, why not Dubi??????? _X_

1. I missed the 1st 2 periods to the 1st night of class, but I saw the entire 3rd. That Voros call was the weakest POS I’ve seen in a LONG time. That Gomez call was right on the money though. Holding the blade of someone’s stick AT WAIST LEVEL is going to get called every time. I don’t care if he got a point tonight, he gave up a goal with that play.

2. And LOL @ Doobie pulling down Jagr’s play last year. Brandon was the only C Jagr could find some chemistry with!

3. Liked what I heard/saw of that DDP line. Prucha especially. He makes things happen almost every time on the ice. That set-up he had to Dawes for the tip was freakin beautiful.

4. The officiating SUCKED in the 3rd. They missed a trip on Kalinin as well that had me screaming at my TV.

5. Did I mention the officals were garbage?

steve

you gotta get your hard off for korpikoski, the guy has had the same opportunity as voros and has 3 points. I'm stick of all you writers saying they play a great game, guess what duby has been playing a great game but the fact is hes not putting the puck in the net and that's what wins you games. Also Sjostrom im getting sick of, this guy is a 4th line player at best. Rangers need to make a few moves at the deadline and get rid of some of this dead weight. Voros actually drove to the net and created a few chances last night. Just because he got a bad break on that call doesn't mean he had a bad game last night. I rather have Voros in then Korpikoski at this point.

PIP : Um, I may be wrong, but....didnt Henrik give away the puck TO A.K. for that goal? At least that’s what they said on espn.com...

And Dubi is going to the net, at times. Prucha doesn’t score that Islanders goal if he doesn’t. Didn’t he hit the post with a shot because of him going to the net?

And who said that he’s acknowledging the sophomore jinx? I don’t see him hanging his head or lagging in his play, he’s still working as hard as ever. Just because he’s not scoring doesn’t mean he’s not being productive. Yeah, we ALL want to see him score more, true. But there’s nothing wrong with him doing little things right and letting other people get the glory goals. His time will come. Still a lot of hockey left to be played.

Hard to win when you’re playing 8 to 5 though

what has gomez done lately? he looks lost, he's not working hard, the holding the stick is a perfect example, he's not the same gomez the devils had. too much broadway lights? he's playing lazy and making horrible passes, renney wouldn't do it, but a nite from the stands might do wonders. voros....outta here.

Renney is an anvil tied around the necks of all the Rangers keeping them down in mediocrity and ruining everybody's confidence and creativity.

Hey Bob!

I am glad you are back, and I don't mean that sarcastically.

It sounds like from Drury's quote, he's kind of putting a shot in on the Rangers coaching.

Refs sucked big time last nite. But that is typical when you play
MTL, TOR, or OTT.
Voros call was extremely weak. Cally's stick came up because
Hamrlik cross-checked him. Then Hamrlik reacts like he had his eye
poked out.
Gomez was the right call - but do they make that call on MTL when
they are a man down - I think not.
But it was more what they didn't call - slash on Mara, trip on Kalinin,
the play where the rookie hooked and then dropped his stick.
Whining over.
They lost because Henrik was terrible and got outplayed
by a backup.
They lost because they let the MTL defense hit them numerous times
after the whistle without a proper response.
They lost because their Top 9 is the weakest Top 9 I've seen since
Jean-Guy Talbot and his sweatsuit was coaching.

Even though Lunqvist was mainly at fault for the first two goals, if the Rangers covered their man away from the puck it never would have been 2-0. For a so called defensive minded team, they sure leave alot of people open. I don't think the Rangers lacked intensity last night. They battled until the ref's gave the game to Montreal. I do have to say that I think the call on Callahan was the right call. The penalty Gomez took was just plain STUPID. It was obvious and right in front of the ref. When you already know the calls are not going your way, taking a penalty like that is having your head is in your a$$. They all need to wake up away from the puck. Dawes and Prucha with Drury looks like a keeper. Let's see how long Renney lets that last.

I don't bitch about the refs much, but good lord was last night infuriating. Either put the whistles away and call the flagrant stuff (like the first two periods) or call everything (like the last period, almost, except for the slash on Mara's hands) from the start. Weren't the Rangers the home team last night?

Come on, you guys have been Ranger fans for a long time. The refs
have it in for them on a regular basis. The level of tolerance is a lot
less for the Rangers as it is for the other team. How many times have
you seen a Ranger get slashed or hit from behind with no call, but they
even "reach" for a stick and it's obstruction? Happens all the time, but
that doesn't excuse the bad play.

No, there is no excuse for the subpar play. But the calls made last night sure didn’t help. I think we’re all just frustrated that a good game heading into the final period went out of the teams’ hands and into the officals’. Being a sports referee isnt easy, but all a fan asks for is consistency. Is it THAT hard to be consistent?

Don't forget that Mara wasn't slashed just once, it was once with glove on, once glove off, and once on the leg....nothing called. The Rangers THOUGHT about putting their stick "parallel to the ice" and it was 2 minutes for the nearest player.

dude - dubi gets some hgeat now because he was forced down our throats as some future star and future capt. so far nowhere near. i mean even above someone wants dubi with z and naslund effectively making it a 1st line. the guy has 5 goals for heavens sakes. I'm not from missouri but show me.

Hey Bob, welcome back, where ya been?

Joekuh.....yeah Hendrik gave it away, we all have a bad day at the office once in awhile, BUT...B-U-T, still there was not a single Ranger within 5-10 feet from Alex, and that is uncalled for. As far as Dubi goes, sure he's doing the grunt work, BUT he was brought in here to score goals, there are no excuses for his play the last 3 months. You remember a guy named Don Maloney?...No one Ranger has ever worked the boards as good as him, A-N-D he put the puck in the net. with that being said, why isn't Dubi following suit?.....part if not most of the answer is quite obvious, Renny's system is flawed and is taking away the raw talents of this team, with the exception of the Pk of course. As soon as Renny is no longer coach and he goes back to scouting, and we get John Tortarella in here, we are gonna drown in such a flawed system. \_ _

Well I don't know what game renney and the players interviewed were watching but for them to say we did alot of good things?????? Whwat exactly were they not covering the front of the net,or giving the puck away,or there top 9 players being invisable most of the game except for Prucha. I'm sorry didn't see very much of anything good last night.
When are they going to wake up and see that sjostrom stinks. Yes he is fast and has done great in the shootout but thats it. Another one is dawes yes he scored a goal that was all Pruhcas work but then he was gone.When does sather realize the team is not built well they are to small and they have no guts.Hank had a bad night but his allowed to have a stinker once in awhile.
Gomez,zherdev,drury,voros,reddin, rosa, and kalinin should be giving money back or at least wear a mask when they get there checks because they are stealing money from the team.I know Dubi is in a slump but he still skates his ass off he bangs people and he gives it his all every shift, now if the rest of these losers would do that we would be ok.If changes aren't made behind the bench and on the ice this team will not make the playoffs and that really pisses me off!!!!!!

PIP I just watched the video of that AK goal. Staal was the one who should have cleared him out, and he was close enough to do it, so that's 2 goals on him last night..I agree with vince on Sjo. He hasn't produced. I disagree on Dawes though. Prucha cant center the puck to him on that tip in try unless Dawes goes to the net against the meanest defensemen the Habs have got ( Komisarek ). You try being 5'8 180 going up against someone 6'3 220 and basically going through him to the net. That DDP line created oppurtunities almost all night. Man when we lose you debbie downers start diggin DEEP with the hate.

I will say this though. I hate that its only when we're down that we really start using our team speed. After they scored that 2nd PP goal to make it 4-2 is the only time i saw us actually start to use our speed and really take it to the Canadiens defense, and they had NO idea what to do. We were skating around them like they were subway turnstiles. If we skated like that all game we would be a terror for anyone to face in the regular season, much less playoffs.

Hey no doubt the referees killed us but did they force the give away on the first goal. How about the bad 2nd goal, nice juicy rebound or the 50 foot wrist shot that beat Henrik on the PP? OH yeah, and nice shot by the ref on the save on Langs semi breakaway? Come on - all we do is blame the refs. They didn't help but we are in the upper part of the league in PP chances and our PP stinks. Like pitching wins in baseball, goaltending wins in hockey (see Davidson in '79 or Richter in '94). Our goaltending has not been good and it needs to be better if we are going to even make the playoffs. Renney, no scoring and sloppy d is all part of the equation, but even Clemmenson has saved the Devils on some nights. Hank hasn't stolen a game in 2 months. Vally did it LA, when they got outplayed. We need Hank to do it on a more consistent basis. Thats what he's billed as. An elite goaltender. He's not supposed to be better than average. He's supposed to be consistent. That means great more than bad or aaverage. Hasn't happened since October.