My
beloved New York Rangers have put themselves in ANOTHER must-win situation. This is familiar territory, though. We were barely in the race to make the playoffs a month ago. Two weeks ago it looked like we got lucky
and were quickly on our way out the post-season door. Last week we managed to get it together and push past the Caps but Sunday's decimation during Game Two in Boston proved that a lot of the issues
the Rangers have struggled with are still hampering us now – and the Bruins know
it. More importantly, it has become apparent to this blueshirt that we’re in our own way more
than the Bruins are in our way and it's time to fix that. RIGHT. NOW.
Here
are the Ranger problems that the Bruins DON’T have:
- Special Teams. Everyone knows that our power play is weak. If that doesn't get fixed in the next 48 hours, we’re in big trouble. Once it does, the Bruins will have to adapt, which will buy us some time. They're an aggressive team so they WILL get penalties and when that happens, we need to make the Bruins worry about it. They also don't fear our PK unit either, which is part of another problem...
- Screens and Front-of-the-Net Traffic. Lundqvist's close game is spot on but the team needs to support him on the distance shots that are harder to see. This means the Rangers need tighter defense and shot-blocking at the point while pushing Bruins OUT of King Henrik's way in front so he has a good view of the shooter(s) and less chances being generated by nearby Bruins that can work with deflections. Rask and the Bruins have this problem figured out, which is one reason why we've only scored two goals per game. Another thing the Bruins have down and the Rangers need....
- Puck control. We're taking more shots (a vast improvement from the regular season) but we’re also getting less goals. We need better, faster shots on goal with confident passing and control of the puck in the neutral zone. We need to get in Rask’s face. Nash and Callahan BOTH scored in Game Two by charging right up to him and forcing him to guess too quickly. Worst of all, too many times, we skate backwards into our defensive zone to set up plays when we need to march forward into Bruin territory and generate momentum - ESPECIALLY on the power plays. The Bruins seem to go to their defensive zone to set up plays during line changes or to kill the clock, but that’s basically it. The rest of the time they move forward towards Lundqvist – even when they’re on defense! And speaking of Lundqvist, for far too long, his team has been struggling with....
- Star Power Issues. The Rangers as a whole need to support Lundqvist and Callahan, NOT rely on them. Nash finally broke his scoreless slump but now he needs to step up HARD or he may face the same fate as Gaborik. At this point, I’m pretty sure Richards is fighting for his job. Rask is a great goalie on a team of excellent players that support each other (Marchand and Bergeron especially come to mind along with the obvious ex-Ranger, Jagr), but they don’t RELY on each other. The trust and the effort is there so that everyone can do their jobs. Stepan, Hagelin, McDonagh and Brassard have made valiant efforts to make this happen for the Rangers and if they continue and the rest of the team follows, the momentum of the series will shift. Changing this dynamic will get the Rangers at least to Game Six if not the Conference Finals or further.
