fletch

2 minutes ago, jamsim1967 said:

Why is it so hard for this team to go to the net?

Simple, soft players.

This game would be out of reach without Shesterkin’s heroics.  Losing so many puck battles, sloppy turnovers, blown covers,  so fucking bad.

The Rangers seem to believe that playing a solid five or six minutes every now and then and converting on special teams is enough and what happens during the rest of the game doesn’t matter very much.

Okay I could use a break from watching us kill penalties for the rest of the period.  Geez.

Liked the Rangers push to start the game, the power play, and first kill.  Solid goaltending at both ends.  Big kill to start the second.

1. Artemi Panarin

2. Adam Fox

3. Vincent Trocheck

4. Alexis Lafrenière

5. Igor Shesterkin

6. Jonathan Quick +2

7. Mika Zibanejad

8. Chris Kreider 

9. Ryan Lindgren 

10. Jacob Trouba

11. K'Andre Miller

12. Braden Schneider

13. Kaapo Kakko 

14. Jimmy Vesey 

15. Zac Jones

16. Will Cuylle

17. Matt Rempe

18. Jack Roslovic

19. Erik Gustafsson 

20. Barclay Goodrow 

21. Alexander Wennberg

22. Jonny Brodzinski 

23. Chad

Quick was solid and one of the few Rangers who showed up against the Flyers.  Not a lot of skaters that are gunning for a promotion based on what they've done against Isles and Flyers.

Enough of this rotating players to keep everyone fresh message, let’s put our best lines together and say the playoffs start Saturday and we need to start playing to win.  We can’t just flip the switch on for game 83.  These games down the stretch matter.

Fox pinches and the Rangers get burned on the two on one.  Shame we didn’t start playing until the third.

Just not enough so far.  A 5 on 3 goal and long stretches without chances.   Flyers came in struggling but have building momentum late in the second.

14 minutes ago, Pete said:

Embarrassing brain cramp. Thanks for catching that. 

 

Agree with this, so wondering why we're using regular season stats especially analytics to predict the future? 

 

I'd also argue that who's "good" in any division is very much tied to when you're playing them. For example, the Rangers just met the Islanders who many would say are trash, but they won four in a row. 

 

There's nuance behind playing a hot "bad" team vs a "good" Team on a losing streak. For example, any team that played the Rangers during December or January was not getting the best Ranger team. 

 

It's a large reason why I throw out the argument around "Mika doesn't score against playoff teams". You'd have to go back and look at every goal situationally. Was the team in playoff position when we met them? If so they're a playoff team. Were they in the middle of a five game heater? Was it just a game where they got goalied?

 

If you want to throw out a stat like that, all the stuff matters.

People use regular season stats because it's the most recent data they have available. 

I'm not sure how informative it would be to look at playoff stats because of the small sample size - you'd have to cobble together the last 2 or 3 seasons of playoff statistics and add the caveat that team composition changed over that period - and those disclaimers are large enough that people would be pretty skeptical of that kind of analysis.

It's probably more about matchup/luck/who's hot than analysts would like... but analysts don't want to write that no one really knows.

Rangers playoff fate may simply be if their first two rounds consist more like:

Scenario A

Round 1- WC2 or Metro 3 (against one of the morass of mediocre teams)

Round 2 (another one of the morass of mediocre teams that upsets Carolina)

Scenario B

Round 1-WC1 (Tampa or Toronto)

Round 2-Carolina

In either scenario, Rangers could advance to at least ECF, or get bounced in round 1.  But I'd like our chances to get to at least ECF in Scenario A rather than Scenario B.

3 hours ago, Pete said:

What you just said is that the Rangers are a paper tiger because they need their best players to play well in the playoffs to win. 

 

You can say that about 15 other playoff teams. 

 

I also don't see why anybody is saying the Rangers "feasted" on the Metro, a division with Boston and Carolina. Are they saying that the Canucks feasted on the Pacific? 

 

I'll continue to say, analytics are retrospective and not predictive. There are no analytics for this team playing any other team four to seven games in a row.

 

The same people saying regular season record against an opponent doesn't mean anything because the playoffs are different, are using regular season stats to predict what will happen in a best of 7 tournament. 

 

Here's what the ESPN article won't tell you that's really important in the playoffs... The Rangers don't have long losing streaks, they rarely lose to the same opponent back to back, and there's only handful of teams who have won the season series. That speaks to the incredible amount of preparation via coaching that this team is getting. They don't continue to try and play "their way"  which is what you saw under GG. They let the game come to them and they play the game The opponent wants to play, but they play it on their terms. If the opponent wants to open it up, they'll go east west. If the opponent wants to grind it out, they'll wait for their opportunities and they'll work on the power play. 

 

Basically, there's no game plan to play against the Rangers, unless your game plan is to shut down and MVP candidate and play mistake-free hockey. Would love to see the teams that can do that consistently over seven games, because I think this team can beat anybody in a series. It doesn't mean they will, but they certainly can. 

Most of your points are valid, just Boston isn't in the Metro.

Carolina is the only good team in the Metro other than the Rangers... so good on the Rangers for taking advantage of the weak division.  Agreed that the Canucks are fortunate in the Pacific.

The Atlantic is solid with Boston, Florida, Toronto, and Tampa, and the Central isn't far behind with Dallas, Colorado and Winnipeg.

When reading articles on the Rangers - authors tend to cover their ass.  The Rangers could win the Cup... or lose in the first round.  True, and the same for every team.

Regular season prepares teams for the playoffs, but largely all 16 playoff teams are starting a new season when staring at their first round playoff opponent. There's a big difference between a 7 game series and the regular season when you're (mostly) seeing a different opponent every couple days and just trying to play solid hockey to rack up points.

https://www.espn.com/nhl/story/_/id/39902929/nhl-new-york-rangers-playoffs-2024-stanley-cup-analytics-data

What Rangers' stats say about their potential in playoffs

'...The Rangers are a confounding team, and not just because they exited the postseason after one round in 2023. On the surface, they've been dominant in the standings and solid on both sides of the puck: Through 78 games, they were sixth in goals and seventh in goals against per game. But look under the hood and one finds a team whose 5-on-5 analytics are utterly pedestrian and in some cases below average.'

"The New York Rangers are a bit of an anomaly," said Meghan Chayka, co-founder of Stathletes.

'...As extraordinary as their special teams are, the Rangers' 5-on-5 play is a bit more concerning, analytically. "The Rangers have a very ordinary record this season of 5v5 chance generation," McCurdy said.'

'...Through 78 games, no team has had won more one-goal games than the Rangers (22), and no team has had a better winning percentage in those games than their 22-4-4 record.  Chayka noted that the Rangers have some shared DNA in that regard with last season's Presidents' Trophy winners, the Boston Bruins, who led the NHL in winning percentage in one-goal games and when trailing first."Their playoff fate might indicate something for the Rangers," she said, ominously, referencing the Bruins' shocking first-round loss last year.'

'...The Rangers also have feasted on the Metro Division this season.'

'...There's another key group that has Fraser a little more concerned: The defensive pairing of Adam Fox and Ryan Lindgren, long one of the NHL's most effective duos.

"What happened to them? The on-ice goal numbers are terrific, as usual, but that team is uncharacteristically getting out-chanced by a huge margin," he said. "Can Lindgren get back on track?"'

'...Kelly was a little concerned about the Rangers being a top-heavy team. Their top six scorers are all over 50 points on the season; no one else has had more than 30 points through 78 games.'

'...Stathletes gives the Blueshirts a 4.8% chance of winning the Cup, which is 11th-best among current playoff teams.  Kelly said the Rangers would be in his second tier as a Stanley Cup contender.  "I don't think they have fatal flaws, but it is a slippery slope when you rely so heavily on special teams and goaltending," he said. "But that doesn't mean you can't get to a Cup Final or even win the Cup."'

Let’s win in regulation.  That way we can help monster truck season start at USB arena sooner.

Rangers pp really good, isles pk really bad

Isles fans must be using all their energy getting in fights with Rangers fans because the atmosphere has got the intensity of a high school field hockey scrimmage.

Still a lot of time but brutal to see NYI still getting most of the chances.  Intermission to decide if it’s going to be a better second or just more no shows.

2 minutes ago, Scott said:

Kreider off to the room after playing half a shift.

Gunning for Rempe TOI.

Lotta game left to start playing better.

27 minutes ago, Keirik said:

@fletchI play you for the third place game? I still odnt know who is who with some of the league names lol 

@Keirik Yup, we play for third place and have over a week to contemplate what could have been.

Nice run @Phil

Up against the regular season champ @Morphinity 2.0

Congratulations to you both.

Whether @Keirik or I get the dreaded fourth place from 2 straight playoff losses.

Good pressure from the Rangers, sucks to give up a goal in the last minute of a period.

I'm looking at the standings as a four team race

New York Rangers 108 pts, 77 GP

Boston Bruins 105 pts, 77 GP

Carolina Hurricanes 103 pts, 77 GP

Florida Panthers 101 pts, 77 GP

The winner of the 4 team race gets WC2 and home ice for as long as they can survive in the playoffs. With the Rangers position in the standings and remaining schedule, it would be a huge disappointment to not get WC2.

Schedule remaining:

New York Rangers

Sun, Apr 7 vs Montreal 6:00 PM

Tue, Apr 9 @ Islanders 6:00 PM

Thu, Apr 11 vs Philadelphia 6:00 PM

Sat, Apr 13 vs Islanders 11:30 AM

Mon, Apr 15 vs Ottawa 6:30 PM

Boston Bruins

Sat, Apr 6 vs Florida 2:30 PM

Tue, Apr 9 vs Carolina 6:00 PM

Sat, Apr 13 @ Pittsburgh 7:00 PM

Mon, Apr 15 @ Washington 6:00 PM

Tue, Apr 16 vs Ottawa 6:00 PM

Carolina Hurricanes

Sun, Apr 7 vs Columbus 4:00 PM

Tue, Apr 9 @ Boston 6:00 PM 

Fri, Apr 12 @ St. Louis 7:00 PM

Sun, Apr 14 @ Chicago 5:00 PM

Tue, Apr 16 @Columbus 6:00 PM

Florida Panthers

Sat, Apr 6 @Boston 2:30 PM

Tue, Apr 9 vs Ottawa 6:00 PM

Thu, Apr 11 vs Columbus 6:00 PM

Sat, Apr 13 vs Buffalo 4:00 PM

Tue, Apr 16 vs Toronto 6:30 PM

1. Artemi Panarin

2. Adam Fox

3. Vincent Trocheck

4. Alexis Lafrenière

5. Igor Shesterkin

6. Mika Zibanejad

7. Chris Kreider 

8. Jonathan Quick

9. Ryan Lindgren 

10. Jacob Trouba

11. K'Andre Miller

12. Braden Schneider

13. Kaapo Kakko 

14. Jimmy Vesey +1

15. Zac Jones

16. Will Cuylle

17. Matt Rempe

18. Jack Roslovic

19. Erik Gustafsson 

20. Barclay Goodrow +1

21. Alexander Wennberg

22. Jonny Brodzinski 

23. Chad

No way to promote everyone on the bottom two forward lines from their game against the Red Wings, so I selected 2 of the most impactful forwards.

Down 4-1 after two periods, the Coyotes had the Knights exactly where they wanted them.  Dropped 6 goals on them in the third to win 7-4.  Yeah the Coyotes would rather be in the playoffs, but credit to them for continuing to bring it down the stretch.