Rangers-Hurricanes in Review, part deux **UPDATED**

Longtime bonehead ThisYearsModel intrepidly wrote a guest blog without first asking me if I needed him to.  I didn’t, but still wanted to give his work a spot to shine. Since the Rangers don’t play today, I figured a second review wouldn’t hurt.

**UPDATE** 

The Rangers have recalled Marek Hrivik from Hartford. The official press release from the Rangers is below the review.  It’s an interesting call up given the current situation of the team.  Did someone else get hurt? If not, I’d say AV has seen about enough of the bottom of our lineup, i.e., Lindberg and Jooris.  In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if this had immediate ramifications for Puempel or even Pirri. For what it’s worth, Hrivik seems to have regained some of the form he had in 2012, before suffering a concussion and other injuries.

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Rangers-Hurricanes In review-ThisYearsModel

I am completely unqualified to do this. If this is published, it is proof that RR2.0 is far less than a HAV.

I settled in for a likely snooze fest given the Rangers recent performances and the opponent, who play the game like they are implementing Dean Smith’s 4 corners offense.

1. Carolina has become the new version of the trap happy NJ Devils. While it was refreshing watching Buffalo play a more proactive game, we were jerked back to the reality of what the current NHL has become: Mostly passionless, defensive oriented, non-physical Ice Capades-like displays.

2. The Canes with many good chances off Rangers turnovers, but the Rangers go in front on their only real threat in the first 15 minutes of the game. Despite their best efforts, Toronto was unable to hose the Rangers out of the goal by Derek Stepan. It would not be until the 18:00 mark that the Rangers would have any sustained time in the Canes zone. Otherwise, they were about as proficient at completing passes to a teammate as Ryan Fitzpatrick is on Sundays.

3. 15 shots to 3 in the first. The Corsi gang was seen giving each other high fives as yet another opportunity to flood Twitter about the Rangers unsustainably high shooting % emerges. (Editor’s note: it is most certainly unsustainably high) Kevin Klein appears to have a pulse in this game, which is about the only thing positive to say about the Rangers defense corps in the first period. Henrik Lundqvist is playing well, with a wide open net making repeated appearances as the Rangers scrambled around their zone throughout the period.

4. Should I feel guilty that whenever I see Michael Leighton in an NHL goal crease, my mind drifts off to the heavenly moment when he and Patrick Kane were the only ones who realized that he had allowed the cup winning goal against the Flyers at the formerly, and aptly named F. U. Center?

5. When Captain Dave Maloney is in the MSG TV broadcast, I always feel that he is not used anywhere near enough as his observations are so enlightening. Nothing against Joe M. (Or Sam or John), but I hope I live long enough to see Kenny and Captain Dave as the Rangers TV duo.

5. With the way the Rangers are playing, I almost expect Torts to walk behind their bench to start the second period. No shots on goal but lots of blocks and fire drills in the D zone.

6. I would be happy to at least see a couple good commercials, which you don’t see while watching on NHL TV. Instead, you see the same highlights over and over and the “Commercial Break in Progress” message.

7. I think I just witnessed a Carolina 5 on 5 power play. Immediately after, it is a Rangers 5 on 5 power play. Amazing what a broken stick does to a team in the defensive zone. The Rangers managed one lousy shot in 5 minutes in the Canes zone. And we have 2 coaches who refuse to utilize time outs in this game.

8. The law office of Slavin and Pesce are a pretty good defense pairing that nobody has heard of. They work for long shifts too. Their shift in the first part of the 2nd period was Kovalev-esque.

9. Stalberg beats Henrik on a 3 on 1 after poking the puck off McDonagh’s stick, and he continues to wreck the Rangers on the 23rd Canes shot on goal. The Rangers have 4 up to now. Henrik not at fault, but he gets beat cheating on the pass like he did by Jack Eichel in Buffalo.

10. Stepan shoots a weak wrister from the blue line 11:00 in, and the sarcastic cheer from the few people not on their cell phones rains down. It is the Rangers 6th SOG in 31 minutes of play. Apparently, the Rangers are not aware that Michael Leighton is in the Carolina net.

11. Did Pavel Buchnevich and Mika Zibanejad really mean THAT much to THE Kreider? Or did the repeated hits to the head render him able to speak only Russian now?

12. Rangers go 2 men down but are spared by Lee Stempniak’s attempt at making a shishkebab out of Girardi’s onions. The reaction from the crowd at the replay has me wondering how the dads and moms are explaining that hockey play to all the kids in the building.

13. Rangers power play late in the period results in the Garden sounding like the NY Public Library. After the 11 Ranger shots through 2 periods, the best thing about the broadcast is that I only have to endure one more between periods interview session by Al Trautwig. Derek Stepan is his guest, as the goal net was not available.

14. Rangers get pucks to the net in the 3rd, and Leighton’s awkward looking play is immediately evident. Their 9th shot of the period is a finish by Grabner after a fine pass from Skjei. Carolina challenges unsuccessfully, proving that Peters’ decision not to use his time out in the 2nd period was the right one and further enabling Alain Vigneault to save his going forward. Grabner is proving to be an excellent move by Jeff Gorton.

15. And half a minute later, it is THE’s turn for the Henrik death stare as a 50 footer from Rask goes past Shampoo Boy. Hard to tell if the puck hit THE, but Henrik was off his angle and appeared to be willing to blame THE regardless. Maybe he is still upset at the deflection that resulted in the 100 footer in Buffalo getting past him. Shifts after goals are important. I think I might have read that once on the original Rangers Report.

16. Brandon Pirri has played for a few NHL teams now. Perhaps some Boneheads wondered why given his start here, but he appears to be letting everyone know why now. It appears that the great Carp’s opinion on Anthony Duclair (he will score a lot of goals for a lot of teams) might apply to Pirri.

17. THE Kreider makes an appearance, bagging a gimme after doing some nice work along the end boards. Queue the fire drill in the Rangers zone on the next shift, but this time the Rangers survive. Hopefully, THE is now forgiven by Henrik for the 2nd goal against.

18. Clueless as I am about X’s and O’s of hockey, I don’t get what the Canes stopped doing, or the Rangers started doing that makes this 3rd period so different than the first two. The Rangers get shots, chances and THE bangs one off the post, off Leighton and in during the Foxwoods Final 5. So the empty net fire drill is less stressful with the 2 goal lead.

19. After taking most of the afternoon off, Jeff Skinner makes an appearance woofing at Nash and at the referee in the final minute of the game. Carolina had some players that had good games today. Skinner was not one of them.

3 Stars: Derek Stepan, Chris Kreider, Kevin Klein

As I used all of my available material in this review, I cannot imagine how Carp did this for 82+. I also want to say thanks again do Doodie for putting this site up.

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RANGERS RECALL MAREK HRIVIK FROM HARTFORD

NEW YORK, December 5, 2016 – New York Rangers General Manager Jeff Gorton announced today that the team has recalled Marek Hrivik from the Hartford Wolf Pack of the American Hockey League (AHL).

Hrivik, 25, has skated in 20 games with the Wolf Pack this season, registering eight goals and nine assists for 17 points, along with a plus-three rating and eight penalty minutes. He leads Hartford in points and shorthanded goals (two), is tied for the team lead in goals and assists, and is tied for second in plus/minus rating in 2016-17. Hrivik has recorded at least one point in 13 of 20 games this season, and he has posted a six-game point streak (Oct. 14 – Oct. 28) and a five-game point streak (Nov. 11 – Nov. 19) this season. He notched two points (one goal, one assist) and posted a plus-one rating in his last game with Hartford on Dec. 3 at Toronto.

The 6-2, 197-pounder has skated in 282 career AHL games over parts of six seasons (2011-12 – 2016-17), all with the Wolf Pack/Whale, registering 53 goals and 92 assists for 145 points, along with a plus-15 rating and 70 penalty minutes. His points total has increased in every season thus far in his career, and he has recorded 58 points (20 goals, 38 assists) in 88 AHL games since the start of last season. Hrivik has also skated in 24 career AHL playoff games, registering eight goals and 10 assists for 18 points, along with 16 penalty minutes.

Hrivik skated in five games with the Rangers last season, registering one assist and a plus-three rating. He made his NHL debut on Feb. 21, 2016 vs. Detroit, and he recorded his first career NHL assist/point on Feb. 23, 2016 at New Jersey. Hrivik posted a plus-one rating in three of the five contests with the Blueshirts.

Hrivik was signed by the Rangers as an undrafted free agent on May 30, 2012.