Blue Notes
Steve Zipay takes you inside the locker room, home and on the road, with the New York Rangers.
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Recent posts
- On the "soft" goal issue
- More blues in Chicago? Maybe not
- The Wrap: Coming up empty; Red Wings 3, Rangers 1
- Rangers and Red Wings, Live Game Thread
- The Wrap from Buffalo: Lundqvist, Rangers win 2-1
- Saturday Night Live: Rangers-Sabres Game Thread....
- Rangers-Sabres Preview...
- Alive and well in Buffalo...
- Dubinsky skates, Heikkinen, Lundqvist will play back-to-back games
- Next in line: D Ilkka Heikkinen will get a look (UPDATE)
- News: Valiquette, Redden, Anisimov, Christensen, Kotalik & more moves coming
- Assessing the moves
- Shuffling the deck....
- Tortorella on Steve Valiquette, Erik Christensen, etc....
- Christensen claimed, Valliquette waived: TSN
archives
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On the "soft" goal issue
There's certainly some justifiable concern about Henrik Lundqvist's surrendering of some stoppable goals in the past couple weeks. But no one's infallible.
Ryan Miller, leading the league in GAA, would like to have those two back against the Devs at the end of one period tonight. One slid tantalizingly by, the other snuck between arm and body from the right wing.
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More blues in Chicago? Maybe not
Now this runnin' round life
Might seem nice and easy
But when you're blowing with the wind
Sometime it gets real breezy...
"Running Blue"/Boz Scaggs
Beating the Hawks in the hometown of the blues is no small task. But that's the Rangers mission when they regroup Tuesday for practice before heading to the Midwest (along with yours truly, flying coach, though) for Wednesday's game.
The compete level certainly was evident the last two games, from Henrik Lundqvist on out, and I'll stroll out on a Christmas pine branch here (Note to self: Buy tree this weekend) and predict that December will end up a better month than November.
The Marian Gaborik mini-slump (no goals in four of the last five) has to end sometime, right?
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Speaking of the blues, this jaded author will be adding some elements to Blue Notes in January (or whenever Newsday honors my request for a fresh new laptop to replace this greying baby, which has been disintegrating slowly (Windows, battery, wireless issues) after being banged around in North America more than... well, we'll wisely bypass naming any celeb floozies here in quest of a snicker.
The tech issues are the reason the live game threads have been spotty in the last week. Apologies.
Anyhow, I digress.
With a speedier new machine, I'm hoping to regularly respond to your thoughts on the message board to keep the convo chugging along, serve up a weekly NHL power rankings, maybe some photos, toss out a few things about our little roti league and some fantasy stuff (and pick up some advice, huh?)That's along with the inside stuff from practice, pre and post game quotes and analysis and real time reports at twitter.com/stevezipay, where you all really should be, along with close to 2,000 (aiming for 10,000) maniacs.
(By the way, after returning from London, did I mention that the Snow Patrol gig, with reworked versions of their material and six extra musicians---violins, cello, harp, keyboards, 2nd drummer---at Royal Albert Hall (with its gold and red layers like a 1870's wedding cake)....was quite sensational. No? Well, there it is.
Whadya expect on an off-day? Steak and lobster?
On another personal note, I've always been enamored of the Hawks and their classic unis from way back to Chicago Stadium and Hall and Hull and Mikita and Wharram and Nesterenko. They're loaded for bear this year, although the goaltending tandem of Huet and Niemi could be the Achilles heel. And they will lose a bundle of talent next season, given their cap issues.
Will swing by later with some hockey observations, such as, did the Rangers err in dumping former prospect Chris Holt, drafted in 03 and now with the Binghamton Sens? They are pretty thin in the minors, which is why they may need a vet backup (Holt's not, however), as we discussed.
Carry on....
Tags: Chicago, blues, Henrik Lundqvist, Rangers, Snow Patrol, Chris Holt, Marian Gaborik
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The Wrap: Coming up empty; Red Wings 3, Rangers 1
Key post-game quotes and notes as the Rangers fail to earn a point with a 1-1 tie and under three minutes to play:
Henrik Lundqvist on the game-winner: "I was way out to the right and just tried to hug the post. I think it got stuck underneath me and then I moved and it went in. I knew I was in trouble when I really couldn't see it in front of me. I was expecting a shot earlier...It's a tough one to let in that late. We had a lot of opportunities to kill the game in the third but we didn't. It''s obviously a goal I need to stop."
John Tortorella, who conceded that Gaborik (no goals in four of the last five) and Prospal (two assists in the last six games) are struggling and changed up the PP: "We can say it's unfair, whatever. We just came away empty. You want to get something out of it, at least a point, and we didn't..."
More Torts: "It is a bad goal. No one feels worse about it than Hank. he is the backbone of the team."
Ryan Callahan on the penalty shot stopped by Jimmy Howard: "I executed exactly how I wanted and he made a great save. I tip my hat to him. I knew what i wanted to do an it was unfortunate he saved it."
The Rangers are 7-7-0 at home...Del Zotto had seven hits and a team-high 24:45 of ice time...Ilkka Heikkinen blocked three shots.. Lundqvist stopped 64 of 67 shots in the past two nights for a superb .955 save percentage....Higgins missed a couple serious chances, including one breakaway...The writing's on the wall. GM Glen Sather needs to find another solid scorer...
Tags: Henrik Lundqvist, Marian Gaborik, Vinny Prospal, HeJohn Tortorella
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Rangers and Red Wings, Live Game Thread
The puck drops here at MSG in a few. Jimmy Howard vs. Henrik Lundqvist as the Rangers bid for (whoa) two in a row.
While execution on the ice plays a huge role in crafting a winning streak---and the Rangers haven’t forged one of any meaning since early October---captain Chris Drury said: "A lot of it is a mindset; it was a good win in Buffalo, but you’ve got to follow it, be desperate to win."
The veteran center, after sitting out five games while recovering from a concussion sustained on Nov. 7 in Calgary, said that the week he sat watching games taught him something about his own play. "I think when I get too much in a hurry, I just try to do too much," he said yesterday, "especially in the defensive zone. I try to help out and miss my coverage." Instead, he is trying to remain intense, but not over-react.
Drury, who remains symptom free, had three assists in the five games coming into last night and is averaging almost 20 minutes on ice, playing five on five, the penalty kill and the power play.
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With a slight change in the neutral zone coverage, the Rangers seem to be counter-punching more, rather than strictly adhering to Tortorella’s pressure-forecheck system to develop offense.
"It’s a little less pressure," he said yesterday. "I’m not trying to take away our thought as far as trying to forecheck, but when you’re not scoring regularly, you have to do the other things better. We didn’t overextend ourselves, and I thought we protected our D little better. We’ve got a young D, and it creates some counter off it." Although Tortorella said that by his count, the Rangers had 14 scoring chances in Buffalo, he wants more crease-crashing and screening of goaltenders. "I still think we need to go to the paint and stop," he said.
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C Brandon Dubinsky, out since Nov. 7 with a broken hand, continues to improve. He skated yesterday with other injured players (Wade Redden and Donald Brashear) and Tortorella said "I’m already thinking about line combinations when Dubi comes back."…Aaron Voros, who had two goals in last season’s 5-4 loss to the Wings, was a healthy scratch for the second consecutive game.
First period comin up...
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The Wrap from Buffalo: Lundqvist, Rangers win 2-1
The last eight games hadn't been memorable for Henrik Lundqvist. The Rangers' No. 1 goaltender had allowed three or more goals in six of them.
Tonight, his reflexes were sharp. His side-to-side movement was quick and assured. His confidence seemed to have returned. The result: 36 saves in a duel with Ryan Miller and a 2-1 defeat of the red-hot Sabres, who had won four consecutive games.
"I have to play better than I have been," Lundqvist said. "The technical part was there, it was just the focus. Tonight I was on it. I didn't do a lot of analyzing of the game during the game. I just stayed focused on the puck. And it feels good to win on the road. Now we have to build on this."
With goals by Chris Higgins in the first period and Ryan Callahan in the third, coupled with a persistent effort to win puck battles in all three zones, the Rangers snapped a three-game slide and restored some of the positive feelings that this club (14-13-1) had been lacking.
"We played a solid sixty minutes for the first time in a long time," said Callahan, whose fifth goal, shrugging off a check and lifting the rebound of Sean Avery's shot past Miller at 13:44 of the third, turned out to be the game-winner. "During the four days since the last game, we had some good practices and we came in re-energized. And Hank was awesome."
Lundqvist’s bid for his second shutout of the season was spoiled with 58.1 seconds left and the Sabres fielding an extra attacker. Jason Pominville, who had a game high seven shots, scored his seventh almost immediately after Brian Boyle’s shot from the slot toward an empty net that would have extended the lead to 3-0 hit the post. "Maybe I should've held onto it," he said.
Instead it was left to Lundqvist to hold on, turning aside three shots in a last-minute flurry to send the Rangers home to face Detroit tonight at Madison Square Garden.
"Tonight we had a couple guys who hadn't been scoring goals, score goals,” said coach John Tortorella. “Hank was outstanding. He made some key saves, especially on the power play. And we found a way to win a one-goal game. I thought Buffalo came back at us a little in the third; we were ugly at times but we recovered. This is a tough building and a very good team we played against, so we'll take this."
Tortorella had particular praise for captain Chris Drury, who won 13 of 22 faceoffs and had a team-high six shots. "I think he was a little more vocal," he said. "He knows where we're at as a club, and as a veteran guy, he knows that he needs to take the lead to try to get us through this."
Using four different lines, the Rangers still didn't break out offensively, and have scored two or fewer goals in 12 of the last 16 games. But Miller came in leading the league in goals-against-average (1.84), so few expected an explosion.
Higgins' goal came at 17:31 of the first period after the Sabres had applied the pressure with 10 of the previous 12 shots. Marian Gaborik saucered a pass from the right boards inside the Buffalo zone to Higgins on the left side, and the Long Island native broke a 10-game goal drought. Artem Anisimov, who had beaten Miller with a low wrister at 9:11 but hit the post, had the secondary assist.
Nothing was decided until the final horn, however, as the Rangers walked a tightrope in the third, when the Sabres unleashed 19 shots.
Overall, the Rangers killed three power plays, with a huge kill in the third, when Lundqvist dove and smothered Pominville’s shot in the scrum with his left arm, and while down, absorbed Stafford’s rebound.
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Marc Staal, playing with Michal Rozsival for the third consecutive game, was superb in the Rangers end, had an assist and was a plus-2 in a team-high 25:21...In his NHL debut, D Ilkka Heikkinen was solid. "A couple of bad passes (tying to clear the zone," he said. "Otherwise I was OK." Said Tortorella: "He tends to stray away from the net because he was looking to hit people. But that's something we need more of, especially below the hashmarks, we'll deal with the positioning."****
C Erik Christensen won five of six faceoffs in his Rangers debut, but Tortorella said he needed work in puck battles, "the hardness along the boards".
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Avery had five shots...Ales Kotalik was pointless in his return to Buffalo where he played for almost seven years…Enver Lisin, who was scratched on Monday and dressed but didn’t play on Nov. 28, skated on the fourth line….Aaron Voros was a healthy scratch for the second time in four games….…Rookie goaltender Chad Johnson dressed as a backup.
Tags: Chris Higgins, Henrik Lundqvist, Ryan Callahan, John Tortorella, Chris Drury, Brain Boyle, Ilkka Heikkinen
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Saturday Night Live: Rangers-Sabres Game Thread....
BUFFALO---The first game of two in 24 hours about 90 minutes away here at HSBC Arena. Tomorrow's game, of course, is against the Red Wings at the Garden. The Rangers are 2-1-0 in the second game of back-to-backs this year.
But, first things first.
We'll be updating things here as we roll along, what we can say for sure is that the Rangers will employ four new lines:
Prospal-Anisimov-Gaborik; Avery-Drury-Callahan; Higgins-Christensen-Kotalik; Lisin-Boyle-Parenteau...On D, newest Ranger Heikkinen will be with Gilroy, Staal with Rozsival and Del Zotto with Girardi. The second pairing has been together for the past two games.
FYI, I see Sidney Crosby's groin issue has flared up and he will sit tonight. Rangers probably wish that happened last weekend.
Thoughts? Comments?
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Warmups concluded. Rookie G Chad Johnson was the last skater off for the Rangers, waiting by the gate to allow his teammates into the runway....Just an observation. Rochester-born Ryan Callahan looks pumped. As usual, he's expecting about 20 family and friends in the stands...Oops. Scoreboard spelled Anisimov's first name "Artern"...Ilkka Heikkinen was stickhandling and slipping the puck between his skates and behind him...Hmm. Game notes have Brian Boyle as a 12-year vet in his third season with the Rangers. Uh, that's Chris Drury. Ah well....
RANGERS 1, SABRES 0, END OF 1
Chris Higgins' sixth goal of the season at 17:31 after the Sabres had pressured, with 10 of the last 12 shots, provides the edge. Marian Gaborik, who else, saucered a pass from the right boards inside the Buffalo zone to Higgins, who broke a 10-game goal drought, on the left side. Higgins had gone 14 games without a goal to start the season. Anisimov, who had beaten Ryan Miller far side with a low wrister at 9:11 but hit the post, had the secondary assist. Rangers had killed one power play, when Ales Kotalik was whistlked for boarding. Couple Sabres shots just trickled wide.
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Rangers-Sabres Preview...
BUFFALO---Some storylines for tonight:
How Ales Kotalik (with 13 power play points) succeeds against the team for which he played for almost seven seasons.
How the Sabres defend Marian Gaborik. Sabre coach Lindy Ruff recalled how Gaborik, with the Wild, had eight scoring chances one night against Buffalo. "His speed killed us." Also, how Artem Anisimov fares centering Gaborik and Vinny Prospal for the first time.
The NHL debut of Ilkka Heikkinen (yet another partner for rookie Matt Gilroy, who has had to adjust more than any other Blueshirt defenseman) and the Rangers debut of C Erik Christensen, who will skate with Chris Higgins and Kotalik.
The reconfigured fourth line, without Donald Brashear (hand) and Aaron Voros (healthy scratch). Enver Lisin returns after a scratch and DNP and P.A. Parenteau slides down on the other side of C Brian Boyle. There's certainly more scoring potential here.
Henrik Lundqvist, who has allowed three or more goals in six of eight, against Ryan Miller, whose 1.84 GAA leads the league
Who's ahead after two: Each team is unbeaten when leading after 40 minutes. Rangers are 11-0, Sabres 10-0.
Remember to follow me at twitter.com/stevezipay
More before the puck drops at 7....
Tags: Marian Gaborik, Ales Kotalik, Artem Anisimov, Ilkka Heikkinen, Erik Christensen, Henrik Lundqvist
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Alive and well in Buffalo...
Scarf, check.
Gloves, check.
Memo to schedule trip to Caribbean on Olympic break in February, check.
Hello, winter.
Wasn't it just 65 in New York yesterday?
Anyway, the weather here, swirling light snow and icy temperatures, should be familiar to Ilkka Heikkinen. What the Finnish defenseman, who will make his Rangers debut tomorrow at HSBC Arena, hasn't yet had a taste of, is the NHL game.
"It’s a high tempo," the 25-year-old Heikkinen said of practice today before the Rangers flew here to face the red-hot Sabres, who have won four straight and are 9-3-2 at home. "There’s less dumping, you have to put it right away to the forwards. I don’t play with the puck as much."
His skill with the puck in his last two seasons in Helsinki, where he scored 19 goals and added 52 assists in 105 games, caught the eye of Rangers scouts, and Heikkinen was signed last May.
In training camp in September, Heikkinen recalled earlier today, "the first day was a little bit hard, but it was for everybody...I knew I had to start in the AHL." He said he figured that "if I play my game, everything goes well from there."
Through 24 games in Hartford, Heikkinen scored 16 points (5-11) and earned a call-up when the team learned that Wade Redden's ailing right shoulder will keep him out of the weekend's games here and at home against the Red Wings.
"We have good reports on him, I'm anxious to see him play," said Tortorella.
One teammate in Hartford, rookie goalie Chad Johnson, who also made the trip as Henrik Lundqvist's backup, appreciates Heikkinen. "He’s a really smart player," said Johnson. "He’s good with the puck. He can be physical, too."
Unlike Heikkinen, who will be baptized by fire, Johnson is here to soak up the atmosphere and work with goaltending coach Benoit Allaire. Tortorella said he could be sent back and forth to Hartford on Rangers off-days to play AHL games. Lundqvist is slated to play tomorrow, Sunday and in the two games next week. “It’ll be kind of the real deal when I’m out there for warmups,” said Johnson, 23, who starred at the University of Alaska/Fairbanks and posted a 2.10 GAA in 18 games with the Wolf Pack. “It’ll be surreal.”
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More from Torts: "We can bounce him back and forth. We’re going to monitor that, we just don’t want him practicing, he still needs to continue to play. He’s had a great start down there and we don’t want to lose his development along the way."
P.A. Parenteau has been practicing on the fourth line. "We just want him at a quicker level whenever we can," said Tortorella, "without taking away any of his offensive instincts. He likes to slow the game down and open things up offensively but we’re always on top of him as far as tempo. But he’s played well."And here's Torts going big picture: "Haven’t had a lot of positives after our start. But one of the biggest positives is that our kids are playing and we’re able to see some kids and they’re getting some NHL experience. It might not help you right away, but in the long term, this is really good stuff as far as some of our prospects and our youth in our organization."As mentioned earlier, C Brandon Dubinsky, out with a broken hand since Nov. 7, skated before practice for the first time…Donald Brashear (reaggravated hand injury) is out and day-to-day...
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Tags: Ilkka Heikkinen, Chad Johnson, John Tortorella, Brandon Dubinsky, P.A. Parenteau
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Dubinsky skates, Heikkinen, Lundqvist will play back-to-back games
Plans shifted a bit and I am en route to Buffalo, where I'm told it's snowing lightly; the above---and below---is from Andrew Gross and Jim Cerny at practice.
None of it really unexpected.
Dubinsky---who took the twirl with assistant coach Mike Sullivan--- will have been out a month tomorrow with a broken hand, and head coach John Tortorella said Thursday that his return to the ice was "around the corner." Dubinsky was in good spirits yesterday and his hand, while still swollen, was free from the brace, at least in the locker room.
Tortorella said that Henrik Lundqvist---not rookie Chad Johnson---would play in Buffalo tomorrow and at home against the Red Wings Sunday, and that Wade Redden (shoulder) would miss both games as Heikkinen steps in. The Finnish d-man will be paired with Matt Gilroy.
Johnson apparently will be shuttled back and forth to Hartford on some off days to play in Wolf Pack games.
Travel beckons, more later...
For real-time reports and sometimes pertinent (ahem) commentary, remember to follow me for free on twitter.com/stevezipay
Tags: Brandon Dubinsky, Ilkka Heikkinen, Wade Redden, John Tortorella
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Next in line: D Ilkka Heikkinen will get a look (UPDATE)
With Wade Redden's shoulder ailing, the Rangers have recalled Finnish blueliner Ilkka Heikkinen from the Wolf Pack, who presumably will make his Blueshirt debut on Saturday in Buffalo.
The 25-year-old Heikkinen, signed as a free agent last May, was 5-11-16 in 24 games in Hartford and second in shots. He played six seasons in Finland and was third in points among Finnish defensemen last season.
Because the Rangers did not choose to waive a forward to make room under the salary cap for Heikkinen, C Brandon Dubinsky, (broken hand) who was on injured reserve, was shifted to the long-term injury list (24 days or 10 games) retroactive to Nov. 7, which allows his $1.85 million salary to be replaced until his return.
So, expect three new faces in Buffalo on Saturday: Heikkinen, Erik Christensen, claimed on waiver from the Ducks, and backup G Chad Johnson.
More later...
Tags: Ilkka Heikkinen, Brandon Dubinsky, Chad Johnson, Erik Christensen
