December 7, 2009, Detroit Red Wings-New York Rangers game story for Metro NYC Newspaper
Published 07:35, December the 7th, 2009
Cleary's goal highlights Rangers' inconsistency
Red Wings 3, Rangers 1
There were variations of the same platitudes emanating forth from the Rangers’locker room.
“We played well enough to win this game,” said Henrik Lundqvist.
“We have to fight through it,” said John Tortorella.
“It’s not the end result, that’s for sure,” Sean Avery lamented.
Following the Rangers’ 3-1 loss to Original Six rival Detroit Sunday night at the Garden, though, is it fair to wonder if this team sees the 2009-10 season as an already lost campaign.
“I don’t think our hockey team has been a lazy hockey team during this. In general, as a team, I think we’ve tried to fight through this,” Tortorella said hours before Sunday night’s game against the Red Wings. Nothing changed for the Rangers last night as the work ethic was there and were physically involved throughout the evening. “Again, I thought we played well. I worry about it a little bit. I think it is kind of our responsibility now to make sure they understand how they played,” Tortorella said afterward. “That’s the coaches’ responsibility and we will. We’ll get back at it here against Chicago.”
The Rangers’ next game is Wednesday night in Chicago against Blackhawks. The Rangers won both games against the Blackhawks last season, a 4-2 win at MSG on October 10, 2008, and a 3-2 OT win on January 16.
With 39 points in 28 games, the Blackhawks are second best in the West and league’s fourth overall in the league. The league’s 12th highest scoring team last week scored big off the ice as it locked up young franchise cornerstone forwards Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews for five years and defenseman Duncan Keith for 13 years.
Therein lays the issue for the Rangers. It is a hard-working group, but the requisite young talent needed to be able to play Tortorella’s puck-pressuring system and to consistently win is not there. Outside of Marian Gaborik, who leads the league in goals with 21 and is second in points with 38, there is not another Ranger in the top 30 in either category.
If Gaborik does not score, the Rangers (14-14-1) don’t win. Brian Boyle scored the game’s first goal, a tap-in with at the 15:56 mark of the first. The Rangers then went scoreless for the final 44:04.
“I think on some of those power plays we have to capitalize,” said Ryan Callahan of a PP unit that finished the night 0-4. Callahan had an opportunity to push the Rangers’ lead to 2-0 early in the second on a penalty shot, but Jimmy Howard’s (28 saves) skate kept the puck out. It was Callahan’s first NHL penalty shot attempt. “I had a little bit of room and it caught the toe of his skate. It was a good save by him.”
The 2009-10 season has not gone to form for the reigning Western Conference Champions, either. The Red Wings are ninth in the West—and third in the Central Division—with a 14-10-5 record. Henrik Zetterberg and Tomas Holmstrom, both of whom will be teammates with Lundqvist on the Swedish Olympic Men’s Hockey Team during the Vancouver Olympics, lead the Red Wing with 30 points and 11 goals, respectively.
Holmstrom and his penchant for crease-crashing was of particular concern for Tortorella and the Rangers. Before the game, Tortorella said, “Holmstrom, you have to be very careful of. You want to clear him out but you don’t want to have a two-man screen in front of Hank. You have to be very careful when you go to him. He wants people to come to him because the goalie can’t see the puck.”
Tortorella’s words were proved prophetic. Midway through the second period, Holmstrom tied up a defenseman in the crease, which allowed Pavel Datsyuk to stuff a shot past Lundqvist stickside to tie the game at one. The goal was Datsyuk’s seventh.
The match stayed tied until the 17:57 mark of the third when Dan Cleary scored his seventh—and the game winner. Much like the tying goal, Holmstrom was parked in front of Lundqvist (30 saves) and battling a Ranger defenseman, which allowed Cleary to throw a stickside shot that rolled through Lundqvist.
“That’s part of the game, having guys in front of you. You just try to be active and try to find the puck all the time. It’s tough when you have a guy who moves with the puck and tries to be in your face. He’s good at that,” Lundqvist said of Holmstrom.
Kris Draper’s empty-netter with at 19:53 ended the scoring.
NOTES:
Last night’s match was the second in 24 hours for both teams. The Rangers beat Buffalo, 2-1, while the Red Wings lost to the Devils at the Rock, 4-3, in the shootout Saturday night.
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Red Wings’ vice president and Team Canada GM Steve Yzerman was at the Garden last night, ostensibly to scout Rangers’ defenseman Marc Staal, who was a part of the Canadian Olympic Tryout Camp in August.
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In his pre-game press conference, Tortorella announced that injured center Brandon Dubinsky (broken hand) has been skating. He is expected to return next month.
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Incomprehensibly, last night’s Original Six match was the first time in almost three years that the Rangers and Red Wings skated at MSG. The Wings topped the Rangers, 4-3, on February 5, 2007.
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During a stoppage of play in the first period, former Ranger and Red Wing (amongst other organizations) Brendan Shanahan was introduced to the crowd and received a standing ovation. Shanahan, who retired on November 17 after a 21 year career, was recently hired by the league to be its Vice President for Hockey and Business development.
posted by Denis P. Gorman at 11:52 AM
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