NFT: NY Rangers 2023 - 2024 Season

[EDjohnst1981]

They've lost too many players to injury. Last night even Mika didn't play though at least he just had the flu. Chytil may be out for the season I don't know what Kakko's timetable is but they need him back. When Vesey is skating with the top 6 you've got issues. They'll probably have to make a trade at the deadline.

The Athletic report that Kakko might be back for Saturday.

[Messiah717]

They're reverting back to the team of last season.  Losers of six of their last eight games.  Carolina will jump over them soon. 

[DaveBrown74]

Extremely disappointing.

It's starting to become legitimately concerning now.

[Messiah717]

Extremely disappointing.

It's starting to become legitimately concerning now.

Frankly, they're a soft team that road a scorching Panarin and Trocheck.  Throw in hot and cold Shesterkin and fans should be alarmed.

[kartanoman]

Bumping this back up since the gloom and doom has temporarily been replaced by the two consecutive wins over Washington and Seattle.

The Pacific Division Road trip starts tonight in Vegas as they take on the champs who have cooled off a bit, similar to themselves, and should make for a great opportunity to get their mojo back if they can get a win. I believe I read that Igor will start in goal tonight so that Quickie will take on his old team Saturday night. The Kings game is the first of a back-to-back schedule where the Quackers of Anaheim await them on the back-end Sunday night. A travel day up to Silicon Valley and a Tuesday match against the Sharks ends the road trip; however, the Rangers return home for a few days' rest and complete their Pacific Division schedule block with the champs visiting the Garden next Friday.

The Rangers kicked their season into high gear when they completed their Western Canadien road-trip early in the season with a perfect 5-0 record and blazed ahead in the Metro Division. This would be the perfect opportunity to run the table out west once again with another 5-0 run and get back on track heading into February where huge matchups (i.e. Colorado, Dallas) await them while the Metro Division games start picking up towards the back end of the month.

Now that Kakko is back, and the team is playing a little better, let's see if they can start building some momentum with the marquee matchups ahead of them the next few days.

Peace!

[jgrangers2]

Getting Kakko back was big because it gives that first line a true puck possession guy and you can see how much better they are with him in there. Game tonight will be interesting. Obviously Vegas is very good but they're down a handful of players so should be a winnable game.

[babywhales]

Dominated the bulk of the first and somehow still have a tuff, tuff start.

Down 0-4 with real crappy puck luck on 2 of the first 4

Let's what the 3rd brings 

[kartanoman]

Just another disappointing outing with another zoned out point of giving up temporary goals in 30 seconds. It's becoming a hallmark for this group and a weakness teams are all too happy to exploit.

Also, they started strong buy couldn't put one in the net. I sensed they were getting frustrated over that.

Regroup and hope Quickie pulls off another insane performance against his former team on Saturday.

The Rangers are showing that they're not able to compete with the best in the league. They've beaten Boston and Winnpeg when they were struggling. All others have been losses and the results haven't been close. Vegas is in second in the Pacific while LA is in third. If the Rangers can't figure it out, they'll find themselves out of first place soon enough.

The road record is becoming a concern.

Peace.

[DaveBrown74]

Didn't stay up for this one but I'm glad I didn't.

I'm starting to wonder if the first two or so months were a mirage.

[Gmo11]

Kind of crazy that they couldn't get at least one in the net during that first 10 mins of the 1st period.  They spent basically the entire first half of that period in the offensive zone but nothing got through.  Then of course they give up 2 before the period is over and the entire team is deflated.  Followed by your typical 2 goals in 30 seconds that happens more often with the Rangers than any other team in the league and that was that.  They have hit a bit of a rut here and do need to make some adjustments.  I don't know about a mirage but they are not getting the breaks they got early in the season that's for sure.

[kartanoman]

Didn't stay up for this one but I'm glad I didn't.

I'm starting to wonder if the first two or so months were a mirage.

There may be some truth to that; however, I think a lot of other good teams may have started slow (e.g. Edmonton, Winnipeg, Colorado, Carolina) and are now running as hot as the Rangers were early on after the Western Canadien road trip.

Last season, and earlier this season, the Rangers played well on other teams' ice and were a tough out. Now, they've lost that edge. There are some things going on where team harmony is a little bit off. I read the other day that D'Andre Miller is thinking about taking some time off for mental health/wellness reasons. So, that tells me there's a lot of pressure on the defense to pick up their game because the offense isn't scoring against the good teams as much and the goalies cannot produce lights-out performances every game.

So, maybe Drury needs to go out and shore up the defense before the end of the trading deadline to get the team stabilized until the offense can get back on track. In the meantime, the LA game becomes a critical matchup they'll want to win and then keep the pedal to the metal on Anaheim and San Jose who are both pesky teams who can give the Rangers fits when they're not at their best, as they currently are playing. If they can take the next three, then come home and get even with the Vegas boys, this part of the schedule can still be claimed as a success.

But they have to break this road loss slump, first.

Peace.

[kartanoman]

I found the link to D'Andre Miller talking about taking time off for his mental health:

Rangers' K'Andre Miller talks openly about stepping away to focus on mental health

It's a subject that some brush off and suggest one "man up" or "tough it out." The truth is that when you feel like you're losing control, hope and the basic things in life become overwhelming, it doesn't make you less of a person to ask for or seek help.

Again, I reference the Australian Football League where many players have stepped forward to talk about their own experiences of needing time to work with counselors to help them deal with the issues which are affecting them. They report that it has made all the difference in the world to them and they've not only had the support of their teammates and coaches, they've come back better focused and playing their best football.

I'm glad Miller had the courage to share his experience and hope that his teammates and coach fully supported his decision and welcomed him back. I appreciate that he is hard on himself, in trying to do too much at times, but when he's involved with the north-south fast-paced hockey the Rangers are capable of playing, he has shown he can be dangerous from the point.

Peace.

[Messiah717]

A problem with this team is they're awful in close.  Nobody can finish around the net. They rely on one timers and deflections for a lot of their goals.  If you can't score the dirty goals down low you will see more results like last night against Vegas. 

[DaveBrown74]

A problem with this team is they're awful in close.  Nobody can finish around the net. They rely on one timers and deflections for a lot of their goals.  If you can't score the dirty goals down low you will see more results like last night against Vegas. 

Krieder is the exception to that rule. Best redirect guy in the league and good at put-backs and just muscling defenders in front of the net.

Otherwise I agree.

[Messiah717]

Down the toilet this season keeps going.