Desire and desperation. Two factors that Washington had and it looked like the Rangers lacked in their 2-1, Game 6 loss on Wednesday. If your view is that the Rangers did have them, then Washington exceeded New York in both aspects, which contributed greatly to their win. I will touch on a few points in today's blog, including Hank's post-game comments and my view on the first and second goal, Torts' line utilization and post-game press conference, questioning effort vs. heart and Game 7.
Hank's Post-Game Comments:
There was much discussion and debate in the comments and on twitter with myself, jimbo and a few others on the view that Lundqvist is not really an elite goalie unless he takes the team to and wins the Cup. Part of her rationale I believe comes from her contention that he does not take ownership of when he has a bad game, but instead throws others under the bus. I am not sure if that is always accurate, but something he said yesterday really ticked me off.
During the post-game, locker room questioning Hank wondered out loud how Ovechkin was left open in the slot on the first PP (tweeted by Andrew Gross yesterday). I love Hank, you all know that, but there is no place to question your teammates publicly. Bad enough if you do so in private but no place for that to the media. I am sure they could question why he is seemingly continually beat over his glove (which we know is because his style at times has him too far back in the net and not out cutting down the angle, plus that is his one area of kryptonite in his game. He has gotten better in coming more out of the net and on shots up top, but that is still an area to be worked on) but they don't. In this case calling out your teammates is really dirty pool and uncalled for. If he watches the replay (see above) he will see what happened.
The Rangers were in their box and in good shape, even after Ryan McDonagh's failed to clear the puck after the Rangers gained possession following the face-off. Callahan went over to pressure Dennis Wideman, but fell and slid into him, taking himself out of the play. Wideman got the puck to Mike Green on top, who slid it to Backstrom. Boyle was on Green but hadn't realized that Callahan was still down and went over to Backstrom even though McDonagh had stepped up with Girardi sliding over to the near post. What resulted was an opening in the middle that Ovechkin took advantage of by coming up into prime shooting position and beating Lundqvist. If Boyle had realized what happened or made the right read, he would have stayed on top, sliding down a few feet to create a triangle, since it became a 5-on-3 with Cally out of the play. Instead, by going to Backstrom, along with McDonagh, he was out of the play, creating the gap. Regardless of why it happened, never, ever question your teammates in the media, especially if you don't criticize yourself first.
On the second goal, Bickel wasn't sure whether to charge or lay back. Instead, he did neither allowing the puck t get past him and deflect off Backstrom across the goal mouth. Staal was a half tick late on getting there, giving Chimera enough space and time to bang home the rebound. Again, a case where a misread or indecision along with a fortunate bounce but also making the effort to be in the right place at the right time and pounce on a rebound were huge.
Torts' Line Utilization:
None of us were happy with this. We all get that Torts doesn't trust Kreider defensively after his miscue the other night. However, at some point, he may have to in order to generate some offense and having him play on the fourth line and limited minutes is a waste. I thought Stepan might have been the Rangers' best forward and Girardi the best d-man offensively all night as they were making things happen, and how I wish Girardi had a tinge more offensive talent.
Torts has to move Stepan up to play with Callahan and have them be joined by either Kreider, which I would love but likely won't get, or Anisimov to create some sustained pressure. In addition, Prust hasn't done squat, but maybe reuniting him with Boyle and Feds will be just what that grouping needs to get going. Part of this might be altered by where Kreider plays, but if he is on the second line, then you can shift AA to the third and leave Prust on the fourth with Mitchell and Rupp, who had mild pressure.
Torts' Post-Game Press Conference:
Adrian Dater had an interesting column on SI.com, rightfully praising Washington's performance but also questioning, and I will quote this, "Torts' unimaginative game plan and overall hockey philosophy." Although, he decided to mostly ignore the latter and praise the former. The one nugget I took was how good Hendricks-Brouwer-Ward were against Hagelin-Richards and Gaborik and how the Rangers having the final line change at home might benefit them tremendously. In addition, Washington killed NY on face-offs - 58-42 percent - and in blocked shots, 24-6, which were two big factors and prevented the Rangers from gaining any momentum. However, his characterization that Torts only expounds when they win, calling him a front-runner, but takes his ball and goes home when they lose brings me to my point on Torts' press conference.
All year Torts has refused to call out individual players or discuss strategy with the media. Those that have covered him all year know and poke fun at this, because they know that while they can and usually do ask good questions, for the most part, they are not going to get the answers they want. He is not going to tear down a player in the media, and even when he does praise one, he has the view of don't give all the praise publicly as it's better and more meaning to do privately. If you are expecting that Torts will give you a lot of information after a game where he referred to part of the effort by using the term, "it sucked" then you are deluding yourself and haven't paid attention to anything that went on this year in his press conferences.
Effort and Results:
None of us were happy with the results but I am not sure if the effort was as bad as we thought and Dater portrayed as he wrote that the Rangers basically ignored whatever message Torts gave them in the locker room. The start was horrible, but watching the game and highlights again. I do think that the team did put some, albeit sporadic pressure, on the Caps but Washington had a strong game. Plus, as seen by the face-offs and blocked shots, the Capitals did a good job blunting any sustained pressure. So in my view, while we question the lack of results, to do so on the effort may be inaccurate. Especially given some of the comments I saw on Ryan Callahan and questioning his heart, which might be the dumbest thing said or written.
Game 7:
The Garden should be hopping, which will help build up an already pissed off Rangers team. I would expect nothing less than an absolutely huge effort. The Rangers are 4-0 at home in Game 7s while Washington showed against Boston that winning on the road in this situation fazes them little. I expect Gaborik to step up Saturday and will have more on my views for this contest tomorrow.
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