The Rangers get back into action Thursday night against the Ducks. On one hand, the game couldn't come too soon following the embarrassingly poor effort, which in my opinion included a stark lack of heart, in the team's 9-2 loss to the Sharks on Tuesday. On the other, due to the absence of Rick Nash and the lineup tonight, which I will list below, you could argue that not playing for a week or two might not be a bad idea.

I will cover two points below and then post the lineups with my view. First is my take on Tuesday's loss and second is my take on the Nash injury.

First, Tuesday. Those who have read me before know that I don't use the words heartless and quit randomly. In my opinion, those two expressions apply to what I saw Tuesday. Granted, the Rangers were outclassed on the ice and beaten by a much better squad, but that doesn't excuse the lack of fight, heart and effort. It would be easy to say the coaching change did this because under Tortorella, the Rangers were known as a lunch pail, blue collar team that came to play nightly. You know what you were in for when you played the Rangers. Now, the team is in transition to one that may be more of a finesse, offensive minded team. So as such, until that transition is complete and we get a true sense as to how they will play under AV, it's unfair to put the blame on the coaching change. However, with players like Callahan and Dorsett and Asham, you would have thought that someone would have said enough is enough and showed some backbone and heart.

As pointed out, this was reminiscent of Dan Girardi and others standing around watching Marian Gaborik having to fight Daniel Carcillo. But in some ways it was much worse because this was the whole team for a lot longer period as the beat-down on the scoreboard was taking place and getting worse. I don't advocate frontier justice, but sometimes you need to stand up for yourself and prove you are not a piñata or punching bag. Tomas Hertl had a phenomenal move on his goal. One side of me says this is a good PR for the league to show the skill, so maybe it's okay. The other says use it in a skills competition in the All-Star Game and all you did was rub salt in the wound to a team already getting blown out. Now maybe if Hertl had played another shift someone would have stepped up and made him realize the errors of his ways, but given what we saw, how confident are you it would have happened? Especially since no action was taken against anyone else. In addition, the Rangers broadcasters did a lousy job taking this team to task for that poor effort and product on the ice. If this was MSG, the crowd would have left early and those remaining would have eviscerated this team.



On Nash. In his video explanation, Brendan Shanahan, the NHL's senior vice president of player safety, said Stuart did not charge Nash and did not extend his elbow or forearm. But Shanahan said Stuart "unnecessarily extends the left side of his body upward, specifically his left shoulder, in a way that makes Nash's head the main point of contact, causing an injury," a violation of Rule 48.

From watching the hit over and over a few things stood out. First, Stuart did not leave his feet. Second, he did extend up with the check but it looked more shoulder than elbow. Third, the blow appeared to be more of one that went across his head than up like an uppercut. Fourth, after seeing what Nash looked like standing on the bench, the Rangers trainer should have been over there immediately and he likely should have been sat the rest of the game right there and then.

Based on it being a blow to the head and one without intent, two-or-three games makes sense. However, that said, I have long been a proponent of tying the suspension to the absence of the player that was hit. Yes, I understand this opens a Pandora's box as what's to prevent a fourth liner from targeting a superstar, but what really prevents that from happening now? I know others believe that a players' injury history needs to be factored in, but that creates even more problems because how does one do so and be fair in all cases. In addition, if you don't have an injury history should that detract from what happens in this specific incident. But set a precedence and rule and follow it. Hit to the head by a shoulder, boom x games. By an elbow, y games. Have a history of injuring others or head shots, z games, Make it clear and remove the subjectivity and inconsistency.

Tonight's lineup:

Benoit Pouliot, Brad Richards, Ryan Callahan
Brian Boyle, Derick Brassard, Mats Zuccarello
Taylor Pyatt, Derek Stepan, Jesper Fast
Derek Dorsett, Dominic Moore, Arron Asham

Marc Staal-Dan Girardi
Ryan McDonagh-Anton Stralman
John Moore-Micheal Del Zotto

AV said this was done to balance out the lines to give them three scoring lines. Unsure I see what he sees, but okay. I would have had Stepan center the top line and leave Richards at wing on either that line or the next line. Put Boyle back on the third line between Pyatt and Fast. With Nash out at least 7-10 days, I would call up Kreider or Miller and give them a shot to play on a scoring line, or at worst, on third line. I might even call both up and pair them with Fast to create some offense. On D, Staal and Girardi are reunited while Stralman gets rewarded for his solid play by moving up a line.

Larry Brooks wrote today that he believes the Rangers are not big enough, fast enough, or tough enough to win a Cup. After what happened Tuesday and no Nash tonight, it's an easy column to write. But again, we are three games into and the team is adjusting to a new system that is wildly different from how they played before. Granted, the gaps in the defensive zone are Grand Canyon-esque but I think it's a bit early to jump off the edge and the bandwagon. Have I liked what I have seen for the most part, no of course not, but it's way too premature to write off the season. If this continues for a few weeks more, maybe, but let's get there first.

The one thing additional I will say is that I glad a closed door meeting was called. I hope the walls were blistered and the players got the message. Hopefully that message is this a Team, not one player is above another, we win and lose together. Stick up for you teammate and give max effort on each shift. That better be evident tonight.

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