Just call shootout Ranger strategy

November 29, 2008   ·   Derek Felix   ·   Jump to comments

Try to hold onto a one-goal lead late. Check. Allow inferior opponent to tie it late. Check. Dominate overtime but fail to score. Check. Rely on your All-Star netminder to bail the team out with big saves in the shootout. Check.

This apparently is the Ranger strategy under Tom Renney and is why this team will continue to be very unpopular to many fans because while they are winning now in taking a second straight in the skill competition (third overall) 3-2 over the woeful Panthers to bolster their shootout record to a league best 6-1, what about next Spring?

The payoff in the current standings is fine. Now the Rangers have raised their record to 17-7-2 which is good for 36 total points- a couple better than the Bruins, who dismantled the Islanders 7-2 exploding for five in the third breaking open a close game. There’s also this. Boston’s played three less games yet has scored seven more goals totaling 78 to the Blueshirts’ 71.

Now keep in mind they also play a defensive system similar to the Rangers but boast a goal differential of plus-24 (78 GF, 54 GA) under disciplinarian Claude Julien. Meanwhile, the Rangers have outscored opponents by only 11 (72 GF, 61) pointing to just how tight to the vest most of their games are. The growing question is will this sort of grinding style wear them down similarly to recent Devil teams who had similar regular season success only to fizzle out in the postseason?

That answer won’t be provided for quite a while. In a league which emphasizes team speed and more aggressive attacking styles, how exactly is this team going to stack up in say a seven-game series against the Bruins, Canadiens, Penguins, Capitals or even Flyers? If you want to give the edge to Lundqvist in net despite the first three having solid goalies who can come up with big saves like Marc-Andre Fleury did last Spring in the Eastern Conference Semis, then what about the offense where it’s becoming clear this team just doesn’t finish enough? Most Ranger fans know the answer already.

And what about the D which was supposed to be a team strength but has predictably turned shaky due to the unsteadiness of overpaid duo Wade Redden and Michal Rozsival? You can toss Dmitri Kalinin in there as well though he’s at least not pulling the paychecks of the other two and hasn’t been as maddening to the eyeballs lately.

The Rangers lack toughness on their blueline. Outside of Paul Mara and Marc Staal, they can be bullied. Dan Girardi also will take the body. So that’s half of the same six that this team is trying to get by with. At what point does someone get nicked up or wear down from all the minutes they’re playing? The fact this issue along with the preposterous glut at forward where they continue to carry three extras including MIA Petr Prucha (1.6) and Patrick Rissmiller (1 million) is plain sad and speaks to Glen Sather not doing his job. It’s bad enough he severely overpaid for Redden but to not address the lack of another defenseman while he committed way too much in salaries to our forwards is awful.

When exactly is a move going to be made? And save me the garbage about Prucha finding his game during a conditioning stint in Hartford. This is a guy who scored over 50 goals his first two seasons before Renney ruined him. They once could’ve had a real bargain D talent like Brent Seabrook from Chicago for him. Now his value is zilch.

It’s exasperating. So, they scored three against the Panthers last night but still couldn’t hang on because of one giant blunder by Redden getting caught napping with two minutes left allowing a two-on-one which the only Panther finisher David Booth put away for his 12th to force OT.

Am I being a little hard? Yes. And do I sound like Larry Brooks? Absolutely. But you have to wonder why it’s so hard for this team to win games even against crap competition. The Lightning still blow in case their dopey management didn’t realize that it wasn’t Barry Melrose’s fault. Try telling good Puck Daddy pal Greg Wyshynski. How’s Rick Tocchet working out these days?

And the Panthers are plain brutal. Sure. They miraculously tied the Devs up scoring twice in the last two-plus to gain a brownie point and they found a way to tie last night’s late earning another new NHL specialty. But that team can’t score to save its life. Neither can Tampa. So is it any wonder that they’re sitting in the last two spots of the conference? Scary as it sounds, only the Senators have scored fewer goals on average.

If the Rangers were really as good as their record might indicate, they wouldn’t be forced to win nailbiters against these garbage teams. Sure. Anything can happen on any night if you don’t come to play. And by all indications, that wasn’t the problem since the Rangers fired 46 shots on backup Craig Anderson turning him into Dominik Hasek. The real issue as MSG color analyst Joe Michelleti alluded to following the win which I caught the skill competition of was the lack of quality chances and the continued failure of the power play (0 for 5).

They outshot the Panthers 9-2 in OT getting plenty of shots following the penalty Brandon Dubinsky drew. But if the point guys don’t even attempt to shoot during a 4-on-3, it becomes a lot easier for the goalie to see the shots. Rozsival had two assists but again refused to attempt a one-timer when he got plenty of “perfect passes.”

When is enough enough? I’ve had it already. Where’s Sergei Zubov when you need him? That’s the last time this team had a power play regardless of wherever they ranked in 2005-06. Everyone knows how predictable our man-advantage is. Which leads to the coaching aspect. What exactly is the strategy here? Is it really that damn hard to score when a man up? Heck. Opponents have burned this team for a league worst seven shorthanded goals with Redden and Rozsival the main culprits. When does our coach take them off and put the other four guys on the points?

I guess you really can’t call this a recap even if Markus Naslund (five-hole) and Nikolai Zherdev (five-hole) responded to a rare player (Rotislav Olesz-backhand top shelf) scoring on the goalie to get the win.

It’s more a criticism of how this team makes life more difficult for themselves despite opportunities to put away games earlier. I’m going to end this with a quote from Renney, who by all means can identify that his team needs to work on things like protecting a lead the way good defensive clubs are supposed to. It reads like a defense mechanism to the Larry Brookses and to myself who wonder if this shootout strategy will ever really payoff when things actually count:

“You find ways to win and this team has been able to do that this year. As much as nobody wants to give us a lot of credit for that, I will.”

You decide if this team can seriously contend for the hardware by next Spring. I’m lost.

Three Stars:

3rd Star-Michal Rozsival, NYR (2 assists, 4 SOG, plus-three in 24:14)

2nd Star-David Booth, Fla (tying goal w/1:33 left reg., 8 SOG, plus-one in 23:23)

1st Star-Nikolai Zherdev, NYR (goal, six SOG, plus-one in 18:22 + shootout clincher)