169 thoughts on “Carp’s Second Round Preview”

  4. InSum:
    No fancy pants or you could be exposed.
    The money players need to ‘step’ up.
    Sens are boring but boring beats pretty.
    Paneuf (Sauer Update?) is no WWWeber but annoying.
    Sens have some mojo with Andersen and MacArthur.
    .
    Corp picked NYR? Kiss of death!!

    Like

  17. Rooting for the Rangers because it’s been my job for 50+years, but also rooting for the Senators to lose, for any trapping team to lose. It’s a cynical, win-at-all-costs tactic that is terrible for the game, that makes it more about the coach than the players. When trapping teams win, it’s nice for their fans and just about nobody else.

    Liked by 3 people

  19. Important to remember that the trap wins when all you do is dump and chase. The whole point of it is to make the faster, more skilled team play a style you want it to play. So, yeah, when the occasion calls for it, the three cloggers too high, say, by all means shoot it in, look for a bounce, force the goaltender to make decisions, etc. But not every time, or it’s an easy adjustment for the D. Sometimes you have to re-group and re-group again, to test the patience of the trappers, draw one or two slightly out of position and then hit a stretcher. Trapping teams eventually get tired of never having the puck. In any event, the Rangers have been good all year at scoring goals in different ways, and especially so in the playoffs–gotta vary the program out there.

    Liked by 1 person

  21. Norm – I have always believed that if you want to beat the trap the best way to do it is not let your opponent set up in the first place. That will require the Rangers to be aggressive on the forecheck – especially when Karlsson is not on the ice. This is the one time that I wish Hank could handle the puck because getting the puck out before the trap is set.

    The Rangers are going to need the patience of Job in this series. Just like the Rangers showed the Habs that they could match their physicality when they needed to and then turn on the speed when they needed to, they will need to use different styles of play to beat the trap. The ultimate weapon in beating the trap is to get, and stay, ahead. The longer the Rangers can play with the lead, the less the Sens can stay passive in the trap.

    Liked by 4 people

  22. Reminds me of something Brian Burke said once when he was GM in Anaheim: “We play a deliberately entertaining style of hockey. We fight. We don’t trap.”

    Like

  23. Just because a team traps doesn’t mean it plays a slow game. NJD (on another level) trapped & countered with speed. Hence those Cups.

    When Sens clog, Rangers better un-fancy-boy or there will be tons of odd-man breaks (& snow angels) going the other way. pretty simple to me. if they chip it and force OTT D to turn when necessary, it backs them off.

    anybody else having trouble with those ads pulling you to the top of this page?

    Liked by 1 person

  29. Best part of that Caber goal, Carp, is that it reminded me that the Flyers used to have Bobrosky. Decided he was expendeble when they signed Bryzgalov to a million year deal. Gotta love them.

    Like

  31. Best way to beat the trap is short, crisp passing…which we kind of suck at.

    Booby – the Flyers have excelled at making poor goaltending decisions since Ron Hextall…and even he was kinda meh.

    Like

  33. I do think the Flyers have a good, young goaltender in Stolarz, so they’ll probably end up trading him for Filppula and a 6th or something else equally dumb.

    Like

  35. 3 on 3 hockey is a joke. The only reason I prefer speed-and-skill to dump-and-chase and funnel shots at a screened goalie is that it’s more efficient (if you have the players who can do it) in addition to being more entertaining. The puck moves faster than the man. When I had the horses, I would push the speed and skill. When I didn’t, more often the case, I would push the chip ‘n’ clog. And even though I’m rarely heard when I say it, I’ll say it again: you need both. The Rangers would be foolish to dump and chase all the time, just as they would be foolish never to do it. You can’t afford to be predictable at this level.

    Like

  36. Ottawa is terrible… they needed FOUR overtime games (twice double ot) to beat even more terrible Boston team. If Rangers play smart, Ottawa shouldn’t be a problem.

    Like

  42. What’s going on boys! Oh boy, Carp can’t make up his mind about the Rangers- Sens series, C3 is crying about the trap already, Wicky broke the blog harping on physicality and RR2 is making faulty ads for this HAV. All that’s missing is a “Mr Steinbrenner’s here, George is dead! Call me back!” 🙂 🙂 🙂

    Like

  44. It’s nice that Chris Neil probably won’t see the ice this series…but we do have to deal with the empty husk of what was once Alex Burrows.

    I’ve gotta go Pens in the other series too. There’s just something wrong with Washington.

    Like

  49. One more prediction- most likely scrub to be a thorn in Rangers’ side this series: Victor Stalberg. Though Wingels and Burrows will probably both fight Smith at least once.

    Liked by 1 person

  58. I think the same people who said that was a great way to counter the trap were the same people who said that the Rangers blocking a ton of shots was bad for the game.

    Like

  67. I remember in college playing basketball against a much more talented team. The college’s coach gave us some advice, that we had to slow the game down. We didn’t have a shot clock. So, we did and worked OK until we got behind. Then, slowing down the game was not an advantage to us because we needed to catch up. The moral of the story? To beat the trap, grab the early lead and they will be forced to get out of it by necessity.

    Liked by 1 person

  80. Rangers in 7 (because they always make us suffer)
    Icebirds in 6
    Bluevelvet in 7
    Oilcans in 6

    Unless wordpress forcing the ads on the HAV, is it really worth it seeing everything is pay per click? The twitter stuff is a phone killer too though hard to avoid that. Need a comment system that doesn’t need a page refresh!

    @Carp I’m surprised at how much rope MSG gives you. Not that you are bashing the team but nobody will ever confuse you with Salmon Joe!

    Liked by 1 person

  84. Sabres Clean House: Fire Murray and Bylsma
    by George Kuhn

    It was stunning and it was swift. Questions had been swirling about Coach Dan Bylsma’s future for most of the season. Some players, Jack Eichel in particular, bristled under the rigid positional play required by their coach. Bylsma had similar issues in Pittsburgh with his star players Sydney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin and it contributed to his firing there. Those same problems had resurfaced here.
    At practice the free thinking players went along with their coach. But when the games began they implemented their own plan, did things their own way. In essence the teacher had lost his classroom. The result was a last place finish in the Eastern Conference and a league worst 34.1 shots against per game.

    Many also put the blame for a season performance below expectations on General Manager Tim Murray for assembling a roster largely devoid of quality defensemen and also short on depth of quality forwards. The farm team in Rochester was also a disappointment, finishing 26th out of 30 teams in the American League.
    Apparently Sabres owner Terry Pegula agreed with both points of view as he relieved Murray and Bylsma of their responsibilities. In post season meetings Pegula reportedly asked Murray why he didn’t make moves this season to improve the team. It’s not hard to imagine Pegula wondering why he was paying a manager who wasn’t able to do something to try to fix a bad situation.

    Murray also had issues berating league officials about referees calls in the hallway outside the referees dressing room. Observers who saw blatant penalties go uncalled against Buffalo, like a late season corkscrew takedown of Eichel, can only speculate if some of those missed calls were a reaction to Murray’s verbal tirades.
    As to Bysma, Murray had mentioned in his post season media conference that he wanted his coaches to spend more time coaching the players and less time coaching systems. That comment seems to relate to the fact that Jack Eichel had hired a private coach, former NHL star Adam Oates, to tutor him on the nuances of the game. For some reason this situation has not been widely reported on by the local media except for this column.

    Eichel’s improved play over the second half of the season coincided with his retention of Oates who has quietly assembled a client list of 50 or so active players. To be fair to Bylsma, with all the reponsibilities of coaching an NHL team, each player will not receive a tremendous amount of individual attention. But Eichel’s retention of Oates and his subsequent epiphany as a player couldn’t possibly reflect well of Bylsma and his staff. Again it’s not hard to imagine Pegula wondering why he’s paying Bylsma if his star player has to hire a private tutor?
    During his time as General Manager of the Sabres, Tim Murray has been know as a man of few words. When he was notified of his termination, he reportedly responded with a one word text message: “Thanks.”

    Like

  86. You have to ask why Eichel wasn’t being mentored by his veteran team-mates let alone his coach. But then you look at their roster: their Vets aren’t exactly stellar.

    But they have 5 picks in rounds 1-3 in the draft – they’re due another year of stinkage at least while they clean out a few bad old contracts and bring in some more youngsters. Most desperate for them would be a Goalie and top pair D though.

    Like

  87. No Teddy Roosevelt this time.

    Will hat trick Pumpel play a role in this series? I hope not because it would mean somebody’s hurt, but that would be an interesting twist.

    Like

  88. Good morning, boneheads!
    So the second round begins tonight.
    A lot of talk about Ottawa, and their style. I think NY has had more issues with teams that forecheck hard and prevent them from leaving their zone. They have enough speed upfront to beat the trap, if it’s used properly. If they dump the puck in proper location, their forwards should be able to chase it before some of the Ottawa D-men can get to it. And they’ll probably try to dump it into Karlsson’s corner and hit him hard. I’m not convinced it’s the best approach, it may backfire. I’d say the least time this guy spends with, or around the puck, the better.

    Liked by 2 people

  89. Think this song has a bit more of a New York flair… (Jimmy Cliff cover).
    .
    Well, it seems like I have played the game your way too long
    And it seems the game I’ve played has made you strong
    But when this game is over, I won’t end up the loser
    .

    Liked by 1 person

  90. Had to laugh at this quote: “Definitely going to tell all my players that Brass, for the next two weeks, is not their friend anymore,” Vigneault said. “There will be no little tapping of the butt as he goes by on the ice.”

    But what if BGB has a wedgie?

    Like

  92. CCCP – Thanks for posting the interesting read on the firings in Buffalo.

    Speaking of firings (nice transition, eh), the ESPN firing and layoffs are coming out and it appears their ESPN.com hockey writers are taking a beating as Scott Burnside, Pierre LeBrun and Joe McDonald are gone. They are also getting rid of a couple of football guys which is interesting given that the NFL Draft starts tomorrow. So far no big names, although Karel Ravetvh and hannah storm were told their roles will be “significantly reduced”.

    This link is keeping a running list — http://deadspin.com/a-running-list-of-espn-layoffs-1794664091

    Like

  93. The ESPN model of having their writers serve as on air (Sports Center) has been broken forever. They also have everyone dressed in a suit like they are off to a wedding when 98% of their audience is not. Classic complacent org behavior driven by prior success. Success is a ‘trap’.

    Like

  94. Take it from someone who’s an on-air TV personality…. Our viewing audience is SO fragmented and the idea of “appointment television” is dead. Someone wants their weather? They don’t have to wait until 5/6/11pm to see it. They’ll use an app on their phone that while likely inaccurate is “good enough” for them. Local news AND cable TV are both a dying breed. Everything is now “on demand” and people depend mostly on “social media” even if what they’re getting is garbage. It’s an age of instant gratification. Couple that with the fact that hiring managers prefer female,attractive, young and cheap….and I may very well switch careers within the next year after doing this for 14+.

    Like

  95. Craig, I was just thinking of this last night. A weather guy comes on the air in a 1990s style promo, says there’s some bad wind and rain coming in, “details on my 10 p.m. forecast.” … Way back when, you’d be sure to check back at 10. What this guy did was drive me to my phone to immediately check the forecast (which wasn’t very bad at all) and gave me another reason to skip the 10 p.m. news.

    I actually can’t believe that newspapers still bother to take up space with a weather forecast that is sooooo old by the time it gets printed, delivered and read.

    Like

  97. SO much more is expected of our reporters, and media in general. Your typical Rangers beat reporter now has to basically live-tweet a hockey game, on top of putting together their rundown of the game and subsequent article. Not to mention reader-and-fan engagement, which is a very nice thing…but I would have to imagine its taxing and puts a strain on attention to detail under a deadline.
    And waiting until the next day isn’t good enough anymore – if a game ends at 9:25, readers are going elsewhere if there isn’t something posted by 10. The amazement we felt when we could get things right this second was quickly replaced with our outrage that we aren’t getting things right this second.

    Liked by 1 person

  98. Outside of the death rides with some of the bus drivers, the one thing I don’t miss about covering the Iona hockey team for USCHO was having to make the deadline. It wasn’t too bad when Iona was at home, but some of those road games were tough – especially the ones in Mass. like AIC and Bentley (which played in the coldest rink known to man. The neat thing is that the boards where the Zamboni came out raised up on pulleys rather than opened).

    Not only did I have to get the story in, but I had to enter all of the stats and list the rosters for both teams. Luckily, they had pull-down menus but it was still a pain considering it was a labor of love for nothing more than a byline and a press pass.

    FYI, the second coldest rink was the Wonderland of Ice in Bridgeport – the rink where Chris and Ted Drury played. It was cold and dark and was also the site of the game where they had to stop a game because the Zamboni exhaust was causing people to get sick because someone didn’t put the fans on and the place filled with carbon monoxide. The only good thing about that place was they had good hot chocolate 🙂

    Liked by 2 people

  99. Look, when guys like LeBrun and Burnside get whacked and complete goofballs like Melrose are still employed, it tells you all you want to know about the state of ESPN. They have a few folks that love hockey, but management does not give a damn about it. I am hoping that Linda Cohn, Buccigross and Levy survive this bloodbath.

    Liked by 1 person

  100. Typical days (before I was given the boot) included early blog posts, video, early story for the paper, game blog post, story during the game, live tweeting, lockerroom interviews, sub story with quotes, blogging after the game, another video after the game, finding photos for the game review, post-game tweeting, post-game audio and notes & quotes, then finally a few hours doing the Game review for the next morning, and setting up scheduled tweets to promote that. Not to mention the nearly 3 hours worth of commuting and sometimes 2+ hour live chats.

    not complaining. would love to still be doing that.

    Liked by 4 people

  102. Interesting Carp. What about pre-widespread-internet? Naturally the blog and twitter stuff wasn’t around, but were the other responsibilities just allotted more time over the day? Or was it just an easier day of work in general? Anything that you used to have to do that went away, or was made easier, by today’s standards?

    Like

  103. Dave, once upon a time, not only was there no internet, but we also had late deadlines. I might do one story and a notebook on a game day. A later-starting game would require a story during the game. And that was it. Go to morning skate, get some notes, schmooze a little bit with players and scouts and GMs etc. Have lunch, take a nap, get to the game around 5, back in the hotel (or hotel bar), or home, by midnight.

    Was the greatest job in the world, despite the travel and number of days worked from September-June.

    Liked by 1 person

  104. Carp… I have to tell you… you were THE Gold standard. I genuinely looked forward to following your blog, reading the game review….. etc etc. It was literally a part of my daily routine since the Sam Weinman days, but you took it to another level. All the while, I KNEW that HAD to be a TON of work… and we both know just how well media pays. I’m grateful that we have a Rangers Report “light” and us “boneheads” still get to cheer and jeer the Rangers on together….

    Liked by 5 people

  106. Craig is right on. I am far too old to be the fanboy type, but I actually met up with Carp at the Garden last year because I admire him and his work so much. The best part…..my now 19YO son follows Carp and we talk about the Rangers and Carps tweets almost every day.

    Liked by 1 person

  109. Looks like the ESPN layoffs have not been kind to a couple of former local sportswriters as Johnette Howard (Newsday) and jane mcManus (Journal News, Newsday, NYT) were laid off. Surprisingly, ESPN ditched MLB writer JaysoN Stark.

    Like

  116. Carp – Stark must have either tweeted a hockey story or said the word hockey in Bristol and that is why he had to go (s). I think Linda Cohn, Steve Levy and Barry Melrose remain. John Buccigross is still there, but his contract runs out in the summer so they might let him finish it out.

    Like

  122. Good afternoon all! Loving the preview! I’m devastated that I’ll be missing the game tomorrow…first time I think I’ve ever missed a playoff game, but tickets for another event call…will be with you all in spirit!!! LGR!!!!

    Like

  129. Melrose isn’t pretty

    Stepan made me lol with this quote “even when we are our most physical, we have to keep up our speed game”

    Good lord.

    Ricardo – you are one of the best utha bruthas from anutha mutha around.

    I’ve thought ESPN has sucked moose since about 1979. All a bunch of wanna be comedians in the studio, none of which are funny.

    Like

  133. Ray Lewis could slice through an offensive line like a knife through butta.

    Someday, in the pits of hell, tri captains OJ and Ray Lewis will meet at midfield where Aaron Hernandez will be waiting for the pre-game coin toss.

    Liked by 1 person

  142. Hmm, let me see. I spent the afternoon slogging through my NYR-OTT preview while CCCP found pictures of hot chicks and carp (sadly small “c” carp not big “C” Carp).

    CCCP with the four-game sweep on that one!

    Liked by 1 person

  156. Shame about the espn firings. they gutted the hockey people and like said above Jane was caught in that mess too. I loved when she was on the videos with carp as she was very easy on the eyes.

    Like

  158. Carp, thanks for the education on how much goes into writing a sports column, etc. Generally, people often don’t have enough appreciation for how hard people work in their particular occupation. I did not realize just how much is required. Sounds like a 15 hour day, not to mention the travel and time away from home. Thanks for all you do. I really appreciate your columns/blogs and all the hard work and insight that goes into it.

    Like

  163. Ducks playing a very heavy game.
    Joe Missaplenty adds absolutely nothing to a broadcast. He just tells you what happened in more detail as you watch the replay to see for yourself.
    #Redundant

    Like

  165. I have been reading up on your blog, Val. Sounds like Sally is doing an awesome job and going the very extra mile to help you and Sirocco. How lovely!Petra ChltsiensenParelri 2Star Junior InstructorParelli Central

    Like

  167. Also …“Even if he put up a .680 with a .290/.350/.330, he’d have some value.”He wouldn’t just have “some” value with that line, he’d be a borderline All-Star.But I agree with you: he ain’t putting up those numbers any time soon.

    Like

  168. Tak for det det gode rÃ¥d. Vi har lyse fuger og de bliver hurtigt fyldt med sorte pletter og orange skidt. Men nÃ¥r nu fugerne er blevet beskidte, hvordan fÃ¥r man dem sÃ¥ 100% rene inden man forsegler dem? Har snart prøvet alt for at fÃ¥ de sorte pletter væk….

    Like

  169. To also add something on, with your comment on the previous homepage:It’s simpler, more personal, and it makes it easier to follow and watch the videos that are meaningful to you.Honestly, none of these are present in the current homepage. 3 columns is not simpler compared to one. More personal? I can't even delete videos that I've watched that should be "greyed out". With another column in the right dedicated to videos YouTube thinks _might_ be interesting to you.Please, YouTube, give us the choice to go back.

    Like

Leave a comment