Rangers vs. Hurricanes; Pregame News & Notes

Below are the pregame news and notes provided by the Rangers, via my anonymous source.  But before I get to those, I wanted to put a couple of things out there for everyone.  First, I want to remind everyone that while I am running this blog, it is a half-assed venture (HAV), meaning that I cannot generate a full blog’s worth of content on my own, nor would I want to. My intent in running this was to keep Carp’s seat warm until he finds something new.  Second, and to that point, while I ask for game review volunteers pretty frequently, especially on weekends, I am very much open to anyone submitting content for publication on this blog. It belongs to all boneheads. As editor-in-chief, I’ll have final veto power over anything crazy, but otherwise it’s free to all for submission at rangersreport2@gmail.com. Finally, would  there be any interest in me doing a podcast?

And now, the pregame news and notes:

NEW YORK RANGERS vs. CAROLINA HURRICANES
Tuesday, Nov. 29, 2016, 7:00 p.m. ET
Madison Square Garden – New York, NY

Rangers: 15-7-1 (31 pts)
Hurricanes: 9-8-4 (22 pts)

TONIGHT’S GAME
The Rangers play their 24th game of the 2016-17 season tonight, Nov. 29, against the Carolina Hurricanes at Madison Square Garden (7:00 p.m. ET – TV: MSG Network; Radio: ESPN 98.7 FM). All of the Blueshirts’ next four games (including tonight’s game) are against Eastern Conference opponents, and three of the four games are against Metropolitan Division opponents. The Rangers have won 14 of their last 21 games (14-6-1), including 13 of their last 19 games (13-5-1) and 10 of their last 15 games (10-4-1). The Blueshirts have posted a 15-7-1 record this season.

RANGERS VS. HURRICANES
All-Time*: 73-51-7-2 (44-17-4-2 at home; 29-34-3-0 on the road) *Note: All-Time record includes games against the Hartford Whalers from 1979-80 – 1996-97
2016-17: Tonight’s game is the second of four meetings between the Rangers and Hurricanes, and the first of two meetings between the two teams at MSG. The Rangers have posted a 0-1-0 record (0-0-0 at home; 0-1-0 on the road), following a 3-2 loss on Oct. 28 at Carolina. Mats Zuccarello recorded two goals in the contest. Following tonight’s contest, the Rangers and Hurricanes will play against each other on the following dates: Dec. 3 (at MSG), Mar. 9 (at Carolina).
The Rangers have won each of their last 11 home games against Carolina, dating back to Jan. 5, 2011. New York’s 11-game home winning streak against the Hurricanes is tied for the longest home winning streak against one opponent in franchise history.
The Rangers have won 19 of their last 22 games against the Hurricanes, dating back to Feb. 22, 2011 (19-3-0). New York has also won nine of its last 11 games against Carolina, dating back to Apr. 8, 2014 (9-2-0).

RANGERS-HURRICANES CONNECTIONS
Marc Staal and Jordan Staal are brothers. Marc and Jordan, along with their brother, Eric, are the only trio of brothers in the history of the NHL, NFL, MLB, or NBA who were all selected 12th overall or higher in the Draft.
Viktor Stalberg played one season with the Rangers (2015-16).
Lee Stempniak played with the Rangers for part of one season (2014-15).
The Rangers selected Jesper Fast in the sixth round (157th overall) of the 2010 NHL Entry Draft. The Blueshirts acquired the 157th overall pick in a trade with the Hurricanes.
Brett Pesce is a native of Tarrytown, NY.
90TH SEASON NOTE – Mark Pavelich tied a single-game franchise record by registering five goals on Feb. 23, 1983 vs. Hartford at MSG. The Rangers defeated the Whalers, 11-3.

INDIVIDUAL CAREER STATISTICS VS. HURRICANES
Henrik Lundqvist – 35 GP, 23-11-1, 2.11 GAA, .926 SV%, 2 SO – In his last nine appearances at home against the Hurricanes (dating back to Jan. 5, 2011), Lundqvist has posted a 9-0-0 record, along with a 1.09 GAA, a .965 SV%, and 1 SO.
Mats Zuccarello – 20 GP, 5-15-20 – Zuccarello has registered a point in 13 of his last 14 games against Carolina, dating back to Nov. 2, 2013 (four goals, 12 assists over the span).
Derek Stepan – 23 GP, 8-12-20 – Stepan has tallied 17 points (eight goals, nine assists) in his last 15 games against the Hurricanes.
Ryan McDonagh – 22 GP, 5-9-14 – McDonagh has recorded a point in seven of his last nine games against the Hurricanes (three goals, four assists).

BOUNCE BACK
Since Dec. 22, 2015, the Rangers have posted a 23-4-1 record in the game following a loss (regulation or overtime/shootout). New York has posted a 6-0-1 record in games following a loss in 2016-17. The Rangers have not gone two consecutive games without earning at least one point this season.

WINNING WAYS
This season, the Rangers have earned at least 15 wins in their first 23 games of a season for the 10th time in franchise history. The Blueshirts’ 15 wins are tied for the fifth-most they have earned through 23 games of one season in franchise history. New York ranks second in the NHL in wins this season (15). The Rangers are the only NHL team that has earned at least seven wins at home and seven wins on the road in 2016-17.

GOALS GALORE
The Rangers have registered 85 goals through the first 23 games of the 2016-17 season. New York has recorded at least 85 goals in the first 23 contests of a season for the first time since 1993-94. The Rangers lead the NHL in goals per game this season (3.70).

MAKING THE DIFFERENCE
The Rangers lead the NHL in goal differential this season (plus-28; 85 goals for, 57 goals against).

HOME COOKING
New York has posted an 8-4-1 record at home this season and has outscored its opponents, 48-34, in the 13 contests. The Rangers lead the NHL in goals for at home in 2016-17 (48). The Blueshirts have earned at least one point in 70 of their last 93 home games, dating back to Oct. 16, 2014 (60-23-10 record).

TWO GOOD
The Rangers have allowed two goals or fewer in regulation/overtime in 15 of their last 20 games, dating back to Oct. 19 vs. Detroit. New York ranks 11th in the NHL in goals against per game this season (2.43).

FINISHING THE JOB
The Blueshirts have posted a 13-0-0 record in games which they have held a lead entering the third period this season. Since the start of the 2010-11 season, the Rangers have posted a 180-3-8 record in 191 regular season games in which they have held a lead entering the third period.

ON POINT
Ryan McDonagh and Brady Skjei have tallied 11 or more assists through the first 23 games of the season. Two Rangers defensemen have recorded 11 or more assists within the first 23 games of a season for the first time since 1994-95 (Brian Leetch and Sergei Zubov). In addition, three Rangers defensemen (McDonagh, Skjei, and Nick Holden) have recorded nine or more assists within the first 23 games of a season for the first time since 1991-92 (Leetch, James Patrick, and Per Djoos).

AV SQUAD
Alain Vigneault leads NHL head coaches in wins since the start of the 2006-07 season (472). Entering tonight’s game, Vigneault has coached 269 games with the Rangers and is tied with Colin Campbell for ninth place on the franchise’s all-time games coached list.

KING HENRIK
Henrik Lundqvist made 40 saves in his last appearance on Nov. 25 at Philadelphia. In his last 13 starts, Lundqvist has posted a 9-3-1 record, along with a 2.22 GAA, a .926 SV%, and 1 SO. He is one of 10 goaltenders in NHL history who have earned at least 350 career wins and 60 career shutouts. In addition, he is one of five goaltenders in NHL history who have appeared in at least 700 games with one franchise (Brodeur – NJD; Esposito – CHI; Sawchuk – DET; Kolzig – WSH). Lundqvist enters the contest with 384 career NHL wins, and he is one win away from tying Mike Vernon for 13th place on the NHL’s all-time wins list.

UP FOR GRABS
Michael Grabner leads the NHL in even strength goals (12) and plus/minus rating (plus-20), and he is tied for third in the NHL in goals (12) in 2016-17. Grabner has registered 13 points (10 goals, three assists) and a plus-18 rating in the last 15 games. He leads Rangers forwards in shorthanded ice time this season (42:13), and the Rangers have only allowed two power play goals against when he has been on the ice during a penalty kill this season.

CAPTAIN MAC
Ryan McDonagh ranks second among NHL defensemen in primary assists (nine), is tied for second in even strength assists (10), and is tied for third in assists (13) this season. He has led the Rangers in ice time in 22 of the team’s first 23 games this season.

IT’S MILLER TIME
J.T. Miller has recorded a point in 14 of the Rangers’ 15 wins in 2016-17, and the Blueshirts have posted a 14-0-0 record in games which he has tallied a point this season. He has registered 17 points (seven goals, 10 assists) in the last 19 games, and he is tied for the team lead in points (19), even strength assists (10), and even strength points (16) in 2016-17.

HEY HEY HAYES
Kevin Hayes tallied his 100th career NHL point on Nov. 25 at Philadelphia. He is the only NHL player who has registered at least 19 points and a plus-15 rating this season. Of Hayes’ first 100 career NHL points, 85 were primary points.

SKJEI HEY KID
Brady Skjei is tied for first among NHL rookies in assists this season (11). In addition, Skjei is tied for seventh among NHL defensemen in assists in 2016-17.

STEP-AN UP
In the four games since Mika Zibanejad suffered a broken fibula, Derek Stepan has tallied two goals and has won 62.7% of faceoffs taken (47-for-75).

SPECIAL TEAMS
The Blueshirts are one of four NHL teams that have a 20.0% power play efficiency or better and a 85.0% penalty kill efficiency or better this season (along with Carolina, Nashville, and St. Louis).

Power Play:
The Rangers were 0-for-4 (7:50) on Nov. 27 vs. Ottawa.
The Blueshirts are tied for ninth in the NHL in power play efficiency this season (20.3%; 14-for-69 – tied with Carolina).
New York has recorded a power play goal in 11 of 23 games in 2016-17.

Penalty Kill:
The Rangers were 1-for-2 (3:26) on Nov. 27 vs. Ottawa.
The Blueshirts rank ninth in the NHL in penalty kill efficiency this season (85.0%; 51-for-60).
The Rangers have not allowed a power play goal against in nine of the last 12 games. The Blueshirts have killed off 28 of their opponents’ last 31 power play opportunities (over a 13-game stretch), dating back to Nov. 3 (90.3%).
New York is tied for second in the NHL – and leads the Eastern Conference – in shorthanded goals this season (three).

UPCOMING MILESTONES
J.T. Miller – 5 points away from 100 in his NHL career/as a Ranger

INJURIES (45 Man-Games Lost to Injury)
Pavel Buchnevich (back) – has missed eight games
Mika Zibanejad (broken fibula) – has missed four games

RECENT TRANSACTIONS
Nov. 21 – Claimed Matt Puempel off waivers

THIS DAY IN RANGERS HISTORY
· Nov. 28, 2014 – Martin St. Louis recorded his 1,000th career NHL point by tallying a goal as the Rangers defeated the Philadelphia Flyers, 3-0.
· Nov. 29, 1991 – Brian Leetch began a franchise record 15-game assist streak by tallying two points (one goal, one assist) in a 5-4 win against the Buffalo Sabres.
· Nov. 29, 1998 – In the Rangers’ first game against the Nashville Predators, Wayne Gretzky tallied three points (one goal, two assists) as the Rangers earned a 5-1 win at MSG.

78 thoughts on “Rangers vs. Hurricanes; Pregame News & Notes”

  1. Good morning, boneheads!
    Thanks, Doodie.
    Podcast? Sure, I’d be interested. But I think you’re already spending extra time maintaining this place. Not sure you want to spend even more.

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  4. “Talking for 20 minutes is a lot less time than writing.” Dood, the value of self-editing was best elucidated by Winston Churchill wh0, at the end of a very long letter to a friend, wrote: “I would have made this letter shorter, but I didn’t have the time.” 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

  6. I would not listen to a podcast. No offense, but with a written report I can read it anywhere except when I’m driving. I can read parts of it if I want and skip parts I’m not interested in. For example, the pregame and post game notes. I usually don’t even read half of it.

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  10. Doodie
    I think a podcast would be interesting, but I’m with ilb…yeoman effort so far, don’t want to see you have to put more into this.

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  12. The Game Notes contain very little info on the opponent but instead all on NYR. For fans of NYR most of this info is redundant. Weak-sauce.

    Carolina playing very well of recent; wining 6 of 8 only losses same 2-1 score to Sens and Habs.

    A ‘trap game’ to try to and break through the 1-3-1 Can AV adjust? Haven’t seen it. If the speed game works, he’s a hero; if it doesn’t, the players are not performing. Hmmm…
    .
    Should the AV Line Generator be put into action? Yesper, I mean, Yes sir.
    .
    No podcast for me. Crowdsourcing reviews amongst boneheads is the desired approach.

    Liked by 1 person

  15. Not a trap game. A trap game is when you’re playing a lousy team. Carolina has won 6 or 8 and are 6-3-1 in their last 10. Rangers are 5-4-1 in their last 10. At the moment the Hurricanes are playing better.

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  19. Vancouver? No matter how good or not Carolina is if you want to beat NYR, trap, clog the neutal zone, AV will just work that gum and wonder what happened!

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  24. It has been interesting reading all of the stories about Gallant’s firing. It seems like he and GM Tom Rowe were not a match at all in terms of philosophy. Rowe and the new Panthers ownership are big on analytics in terms of building the team and they wanted to get quicker and play with more pace.

    Gallant wanted bigger players and was upset with the trade of Erik Gudbranson. what I can’t figure is why Rowe traded for Dylan McIlrath. The Undertaker is the polar opposite of what Rowe wanted. It can’t be that Rowe was placating his coach because he canned Gallant at almost the first chance he got.

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  27. Doodie- Given a choice, I’d rather read my Ranger articles than listen to them. That said, you do what you have to do to keep the blog going. Make it easier on yourself. The important thing to me is the Bonehead commentary. I’ve got to say that I’m not over the moon about the pre or post-game notes either. That’s something I could do without.

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  29. I think there is some merit to analytics in a sport like baseball, but in a sport where words like courage, grit, toughness, and fear are more than just punchlines in a joke, I think it is out of place and relatively worthless.

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  30. wicky, I’m not saying it’s something that has 100% accuracy. But I’ve read a lot about it in the past year and I’m pretty convinced that it has a lot of value. I think a lot of amateurs look at numbers only and take them as gospel, which is a huge mistake, especially when evaluating individual players. But there is a lot of information there that has value.

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  31. And wicky, I think those words ARE becoming a punchline in this league. At the end of the day, it’s more important to be good at hockey, whatever that form may take. But guys who only add “grit” or “toughness” are being run out the league pretty quickly.

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  32. Blaise Pascal (1657): “Je n’ai fait celle-ci plus longue que parce que je n’ai pas eu le loisir de la faire plus courte.” Churchill (and Twain and others) ripped off a great mathematician and philosopher.

    Liked by 1 person

  42. Fast rotates through the lines as the defensive component, any line he’s on. Benching him is an option, but will do nothing to improve the Rangers’ league-leading offense. (The goals-for difference between the Rangers and the Flyers is 13, the greatest difference between two teams em>by far</em.) One shutout, and it's time to bench the low scorer? Bananas. It's time for the scorers to score.

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  53. Either Fast sucks or Fast is good. Pascal wants us to consider four cases: 1) He sucks and we bench him-we are somewhat happy but barely notice he’s gone. 2) He’s good and we bench him-we are somewhat sad but he’s not that exciting anyway. 3) He sucks and he plays-we are very sad. 4) He’s good and he plays-we are somewhat happy but he’s a defensive forward so, meh. Logically, we must bench him.

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  55. First, pure goons. Second, stay at home defensemen who defend just by blocking shots. After these two types of players are weeded out of the league, the purely defensive forward will be next.

    Outside of players with elite offensive skills, in the next 25 years, every single player will need to play well at both ends of the ice.

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  57. Fast is indeed the lowest-shooting regular forward in the NHL, with 11 shots. 2 goals, though, probably wants to hold on to 4th place in shooting percentage by not shooting more. 🙂

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  61. Fast plays on 1st line, 1st line does not score nor get much Ozone time. Those be the facts. He is a borderline 4th line guy who has trouble playing the puck and really isn’t that good on pk.
    Should we be worrying about Fast or AV for putting him in top6?
    .
    Fast plays top 6, Done G gets top pair TOI. NYR goes on a swoon.
    Ipso facto
    Wash-rinse-repeat

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  62. I do not understand why most people seem to think grit and toughness and hockey skill have to be exclusive categories.
    –
    The people that think that need to realize this is a new NHL. You’re grit and toughness definition of a player is mcgratton and that is incorrect.
    –
    When I see people posting about grit and toughness (and I am also referring to the following type players when I post about it), i think simmonds, perry, getzlaf, big buff, marchand, Roussel etc. Players that are gritty, tougher, play a “hard” game with skill.
    –
    Seriously people, get with the new NHL, sorry to break it to you but the mcgratton days are over.

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  66. And for each one of them, I could point you to players on their teams that won were that were not that type of player at all.

    The point is, I don’t think there is some magic formula outside of having the best players, whatever form they may take.

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  72. The Penguins weren’t easy to play against because they were playing damn good hockey. You couldn’t get zone time because they would just dump the puck out of their zone for their “faster than yours” forwards to skate onto, like we used to do with Kreider and Hagelin. Play the puck to an open area, allow your players to win footraces. Honestly, it’s a play done in soccer all the time, but was surprisingly effective in hockey because of the smaller rink.

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  73. It didn’t hurt that the Penguins had a couple of guys named Crosby and Malkin either – and Kessel found new life. Of course, not to forget Pierre’s buddy Kristopher Letang 🙂

    As to being a gritty and tough team, I always felt that you are only as tough (and gritty) as you least tough (and gritty) player. As much as we give Crosby a tough time, he still was the one who went after McDonough, not a tough (or gritty) player. Of course, he also received a slap on the wrist rather than 17 minutes that Konecny got a couple of days later.

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  74. Big reason Pens were gritty was because LeTang played like a Le punk for much of the tournament. Like it or not, it worked to their advantage. Other guys mucked it up a bit too. That’s part of what “stepping it up” post season for guys like Kreider Mcdonagh staal even Miller should include to an extent

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  76. Jesper Fast has two shots on goal in the last ten? Better than I thought. By the way, he is not nearly as good a D forward as he is given credit for.

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  78. Speedy Fast is outproducing speedy St. Hagelin so far, for what that’s worth among backcheckers, but I get it that he will be the whipping boy here since there is the job opening. AV clearly wants there to be at least a couple of hard-working backcheckers in the line-up, though, and Fast possesses that rare combination of hard work coupled with hockey smarts. He’s not going anywhere.

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