Rangers' Power Play Saves the Series, but Will Kill Their Cup Chances in the End

In hockey, most teams relish the chance to go on the man-advantage, particularly during the playoffs.  If you're a Rangers fan however, you should be rooting for even strength, even in the wake of a pair of pp-goals for the ages.


All right, let me come right out and admit it: the Rangers' power play very likely saved their season Monday night.


A mere 7.6 seconds (officially amended from 6.6) separated the Blue Shirts from a demoralizing and back-braking 3-2 loss.  Demoralizing because it was a game where they outshot their opponent more than 2:1 (when's the last time they did that?).  Back-braking because it would have meant going down in the series 3-2 with the task of winning a do-or-die Game 6 on the road and another Game 7 for the second straight round.


Could they have done it again?  Possibly, but it would have been a lot harder to do against the Capitals, a stingy, battle-tested squad that's giving them a much tougher fight than the Senators...albeit more so in the competitive sense and less so in the literal.

The Rangers celebrate a pair of miraculous power play goals that may
have saved their season.  So power play ails cured right?  Not quite.

Fortunately for Rangers fans, it's a moot point.  The miraculous last-second score by Brad Richards and subsequent OT-winner from Marc Staal have vaulted New York into commanding position.  Instead it is Washington down 3-2 and feeling the effects a dizzying, deflating Game 5 stunner.


And I will say it again because it's worth reiterating: the Rangers scored both of those goals on the power play.


Before you go on prematurely celebrating Ranger Nation, why don't you all ease the collective foot on the Zamboni brake pedal for me?  Yes, the power play clicked in a dramatic spot, and there have been a couple instances this postseason where it has shown sparks of life (namely Games 3 and 6 against Ottawa).


But these flashes are just that, fugacious flickers that quickly give way to the pp-status quo: a man-advantage muddled with indecisiveness, poor shot selection, sluggish puck movement, and a chronic inability to get pucks to the net.  The power play is so dreadful that it has actually become a burden and a momentum squasher for the Rangers.


You think I'm over-estimating the extent and importance of their power play anemia?  Allow me to point to a couple recent instances where their inept man-advantage prevented them from taking over the series.


Recall Game 4.  The Rangers came out looking as flat as they have all postseason, chasing the puck all over the Verizon Center with an exasperation that might convince the uniformed viewer they were the side that had lost Game 3 in triple-OT three nights prior (hint: they weren't).


Somehow down just a goal after twenty minutes, the Rangers skated onto the ice in the second period with an energy and a determination the likes of which I had not witnessed in the entire 2012 playoffs.  It was the legs of the Rangers from November and December, the fore-checking vigor that nabbed them the top conference seed, the kind of smothering defense for which the Capitals had no retort.

Rangers coach John Tortorella reported that it was the Capitals power
play that gave them the edge in Game 4.  In fact it was the Rangers'
man-advantage (or lack thereof) that swung the game in Washington's favor.

'This is it,' chirped the fan in me, bubbling inwardly with excitement.  'This is the moment when they finally take it to that next level, when they finally put their boot on the jugular and take over this series.'  A game-tying goal seemed to confirm my suspicions.  'Here comes the onslaught.'


Then, the worst possible thing that could have happened, happened.  Power. Play. Rangers.


In the ensuing two minutes, New York's power play incompetency was on full display.  All that energy, all that momentum they had built up from the opening twelve minutes of the period completely evaporated, and what's more it allowed the Capitals to swing the pendulum in their favor.  Shortly after Washington killed the penalty, Nicklas Backstrom gave the Capitals the lead.  They went on to win 3-2.


Questioned as to what gave the Caps the edge in the game, Rangers' head coach John Tortorella riposted with a typically laconic Tortorellaism: "their power play."  No Mr. Tortorella, it was in fact your power play, or lack there of, that allowed them to tilt the action.


A similar scenario played out in Game 5.  The Rangers were blasting shots from all sorts of angles at Braden Holtby in the first period, tallying 15 shots and a goal as a result.  Right on cue, the Capitals take a penalty and suddenly, the Rangers couldn't buy a shot on goal.  The post-power play dropoff wasn't as pronounced as in Game 4, but it was a hindrance none the less, and they weren't able to regain the control until the final frantic seconds of regulation.


Some of these struggles have to do with Washington's penalty killing strategy, which has served to deeply exacerbate and expose the Rangers' power play weaknesses.  Their approach is to put as much pressure on the Rangers' point men as possible while maintaining blockers in the shooting lanes.


Because New York likes to hold the puck at the point and search for the ideal shooting/passing opportunity, this high-zone defensive attack forces them to make decisions quickly, usually resulting in the point man blasting the puck around the boards.  This is not a good recipe for puck control as it gives the opponent a strong chance to stop the puck and clear it.

The Capitals' penalty kill has been doing a superb job of putting pressure
on the Rangers point men and getting in the shooting lanes, exacerbating
the weaknesses of an already clumsy Rangers power play.

There are three ways the Rangers can counteract this penalty killing schematic:


1) Point men can fake shots in an attempt to get the pressuring defender to go down for the block.  Then he can step around them into space and either look for the shot or a pass to an open teammate.  This is how Anton Stralman scored the first Rangers goal in Game 5.


2) Bring the point men further into the zone and collapse all five skaters on the net.  The idea then is to keep the puck below the circles and hope you find a rebound in the scrum of bodies.  This is how they scored the miraculous game-tying goal in Game 5.


3) Move the puck quickly around the perimeter and look for a one-timer.  This forces the defense to shift quickly and drift out of position.  Chances are that eventually a shooting lane will open up.  Of all the options, this is the one the Rangers are least likely to put into play, essentially because they do not have guys with the puck skills to pull it off.


In all likelihood, the Rangers will not employ any of these techniques, and they will continue to rely on their even strength forechecking, their board play, and their world-class goaltending to dictate the pace and steal victories.


To wrap up, I'd like to cite ESPN analyst Barry Melrose.  Barry claims that 5-on-5 hockey has been the Rangers "Achillies heel" this season.  I could not disagree with him more.  I don't know what team he's been watching, but there's no way New York would be where they were at if it weren't for their ability to skate well when skating 5-aside.


It's the power play that has been their true bug-a-boo.  It is going to keep on haunting them, and it will be the main reason they do not win the Cup, unless they make some severe adjustments to their 5-on-4 strategy.


As for me, I'll be rooting for the other team not to take a penalty.  Let's go opposing team discipline!

Brian Boyle: A Coming of Age Tale

The Rangers effort in the opening series against Ottawa has been anything but consistent.  There is, however, one very steady theme emerging from the last four games: Brian Boyle is now a man.  Check that--he is now THE man.

I'm not sure where and when, but at some point late this season, it seemed like an idea took hold in the mind of Brian Boyle.  A simple idea, a formula if you will, that burned a vision in his brain of how he could begin making an impact again on the offensive end.

Go to the net.  Park your 6'7'', 244lbs. frame in front of the goaltender.  Wait for a rebound.  Light up the lamp.

It's a concept that worked for Mark Messier and Adam Graves,  and it's a concept that Boyle has dedicated himself to over the last month.  The results have been Grave-esque.

Boyle and teammate Dan Girardi celebrate his third goal

To say that this discovery and Boyle's subsequent resurgence could not have come at a better time for the Rangers would be the season's biggest understatement.  Putting it plainly, Boyle is the main reason that New York is tied at two games in this first-round series with two overtime losses and not down 3-1 with three losses in regulation.  He's earning it for his team and making the Senators earn theirs the hard way.

“I’m just trying to contribute in all facets and playing some good minutes,"  he humbly assessed after Game 3.  "Do the physical stuff, playing defensively sound, killing penalties and contributing offensively. Those are all responsibilities when you get to play those minutes and you have the opportunity to do that."

Not Gaborik, not Richards, not Callahan.  But Brian Boyle.  Brian Boyle has been doing it all, stealing the show (or better, prolonging the show) in this young postseason.

I'm still having trouble processing it myself.

Allow me to place his sudden spark of stardom in context by reviewing Mr. Boyle's history with the team:

2009-10 season:  In his debut season, the Boston University product is relegated to a limited role on the fourth and checking lines.  Essentially, he is a big, bumbling oaf on the ice.  Despite his massive size, he displays no instinctual knowledge of how to use it his positional and physical advantage.  Boyle's line reads 4 goals, 2 assists, and a -6 rating in 71 games.

2010-11 season:  From clumsy buffoon to graceful giant, Boyle shocks the Rangers community in his second year with a 21-goal, 14-assist campaign.  The once ogreish centerman displays agility, power, and a sureness on his skates that was entirely absent in the previous season.  His secret?  An offseason with figure skater and power-skating specialist Barbara Underhill.

For as much as Barb does for Boyle's bladework, she does little to inspire him to take the body with authority.  He forechecks harder this season, but still shies away from violent contact--compared to a guy like Ryan Callahan, Boyle is a pacifist.  This frustrates certain fans (and one blogger specifically) to no end.

2011-12 season:  Boyle continues to provide valuable forechecking and penalty killing services, yet remains tentative when it comes to asserting his hulking physical presence in a forceful fashion.  Offensively though, there is a noticeable decline in production: through the first 73 games of the season, he scores just six times.

But then...the aforementioned light bulb goes off.  He becomes a fixture in between the circles and in front of the crease, and he unloads for 5 goals in 9 games.  This hot streak carries over into the playoffs, which brings us back to present times.

The really impressive part about all this is that Boyle's meteoric rise into the stratosphere has persevered through, if not been propelled by, a direct and hostile challenge from the Ottawa Senators.  In the opening game of the series, Boyle and Senator's prized young defenseman Erik Karlsson had an unfriendly exchange during which Boyle took several jabs in the direction of Karlsson's face.

Linesman attempt to untangle a melee in Game 2,
sparked when Matt Carkner pounced on an
unguarded Boyle and began pounding him.
Clearly, he's gotten under Ottawa's skin.

Ottawa didn't take to kindly to that gesture, as evidenced when in Game 2, Boyle was literally assaulted by defenseman Matt Carkner.  We're talking jumped-in-a-dark-alley-in-the-South-Bronx, kick-him-while-he's-down kind of beating here.  Carkner received a game misconduct and a suspension for his actions while Boyle skated away with a mere black eye.

Did this deter the battered Ranger?  Did he revert back into that shell of temerity, that gentle giant attitude?

No, no he did not.  In fact, Brian Boyle did the exact opposite.  He accepted his assignment as postseason villain and, what's more, he embraced it, wearing that black eye with pride and purpose.

“Honestly, it was a surprise,” Boyle said. “But if I’m the villain to them, that’s good.”

For the first time in his Rangers career, Boyle is recognizing what he has the potential to be, both in terms of his offensive capacity and in terms of his capacity to inflict physical and emotional damage to opposing players.  He has indeed become a man, one that I have ceased to hate (despite his lack of ability to win a faceoff, his one flaw) and learned to respect.

Now what the Rangers need is someone else to step it up in a big way as Mr. Boyle has done, else they may be heading for a very disappointing first-round exit.

“A lot of us can start following [Boyle's] lead," said head coach John Tortorella.  "That’s what he’s doing now, leading."

NHL Postseason Preview: Three Major Concerns for the Rangers

The first-place Blue Shirts have played a truly inspired brand of hockey this season, earning them prime playoff seeding for the first time since the '93-'94 campaign.  But none of it will matter if the squad cannot improve on three key weaknesses to their seemingly airtight approach.


I'd like to begin if I may with a brief moment of self-reflection, leading to a briefer moment of self-affirmation of identity.

This will be just the second post I've ever made on this pathetic excuse for a sports blog (which I seriously plan on improving in the immediate future).  It will also be the very first post I've ever done about the New York Rangers, and it comes in the midst of the best season they've had since I began watching them in 1995.

Captain Ryan Callahan and the New York Rangers have made
some truly remarkable strides this year...but that's not what
this post is about

I say this because what you are about to read will not be a celebration of their regular season success.  I will not be adulating their commitment to physical sacrifice in the shooting lanes, and their resultant league-best total in blocked shots.  I will not be commending their excessive toughness on the boards, their relentless pursuit on the forecheck, their willingness to dole out/receive the big hit, or their valor in hand-to-hand combat regardless of the size of their combatant (in other words, Brandon Prust is insane).  I will not be discussing how Ryan Callahan has forged himself into one of the three-best two-way players in hockey, or how Henrik Lundqvist continues to perform at a top-one-or-two goaltender level, or how the development of youngsters like Carl Hagelin, Derek Steppan, and Ryan McDonagh have been just as instrumental to the cause as the offensive talent of superstars Marion Gaborik and Brad Richards.

No, this article is going to focus on the things that the Rangers don't do well, the most glaring potholes in their game that may very well prevent them from hoisting Lord Stanley's Cup this year if not addressed.

Yes my friends, this compulsion to focus on flaws in the face of overwhelming achievement can only mean one thing: I am indeed a New York sports fan.

Let me follow that, and preface my "negative Nancy" diatribe by stating that no matter what the postseason outcome, I have thoroughly enjoyed the ride this team has taken me on for the past six months.  Even it ends in a first-round out to the Senators (the fan in me would like to extend a preemptive 'screw you' to Jason Spezza at this time), I will resist the urge to label the 2011-12 season a "failure."  As pessimistic and captious a Rangers fan I may appear to be, I refuse to be one of those fans who dismisses the first 82 minutes of an epic movie because the ending wasn't to my liking.  This team has reminded me of why I love to watch hockey, why I am proud to be a Rangers fan, and why the bond between man and sport team can be downright special (and corny when acknowledged in a large public forum such as the internet).  I have nothing but unconditional gratitude for this hockey club.

Now without further ado, here's what the Rangers suck at:

1) Overzealous Pinching by Defensemen


Yes, you read that correctly.  That is how I will start this critique.  Allow me to expound...

One of the more overlooked aspects of the Rangers offensive success this season was the uncanny ability of their defensemen to pinch on the boards at exactly the right time, and the equally uncanny ability of their forwards to cycle back to the blue line and cover the abandoned area.  This combination of timely pinching and speedy cycling was a huge part of their strong puck support game, and strong puck support is what led to the vast majority of their goals.  It is also how they drew penalties, but we'll get into why being on the power-play has actually hurt them at times.

In the early half of the season, the Rangers defense pinched
intelligently, leading to smiles like the ones above.  But the
latter half saw those smiles turn to odd-man rush induced frowns.

But ever since the All-Star Game, their defensemen have become increasingly overzealous when pinching, a problem that became especially pronounced in the final 20 games, give or take.  It lead to a countless number of odd-man rushes for the other team.  Needless to say, odd-man rushes are exactly the kind of thing you want to limit in the playoffs.

The February 16th loss to the Blackhawks stands as the prime example of when some poorly-timed pinching cost the Rangers the game.  On 3 of Chicago's 4 first-period goals, the defense soldiered down the boards to support the puck, either unaware or indifferent to the fact that all three forwards were trapped below the circles.  And before John Tortorella could finish one of his patented profanity-laced screeds, his team was down 4-0.

Now it is typical in the playoffs that teams become much more offensively conservative, particularly in regards to defensemen chipping in down low.  It was clear in last night's game that the Rangers were taking a much more conservative approach in that regard, but not conservative to the point of becoming offensively impotent.  They picked their spots well (especially Marc Staal, who I thought had a very nice overall game), allowing the forwards to work the cycle below the hashmarks, then stepping in near the blue line or pinching down low when the situation dictated.  They resisted their over-zealous urges in other words and avoided bottling themselves into odd-man rushes.

It was a smart approach, and it is exactly the kind of pick-and-choose pinching mentality that they must stick with for the duration of the postseason if they want to make a deep run.  Unfortunately, I'm not sure if there's as clear a way to ameliorate the next problem area...

2) Faceoffs

This has been a problem all year for the Rangers.  Their lack of a strong, quick-reflexed forward in the faceoff circle is obvious, especially when they go up against teams like Philadelphia and Boston.  Not too mention their first-round opponent Ottawa and Jason Spezza, second-best faceoff man in the league (909 wins for a 53.1 win percentage...again, I say 'screw you' sir).

I was never a fan of Chris Drury, but if there was one thing he knew how to do, it was win a faceoff.  Unfortunately, the boys have no one near as clutch as that.  Granted, Brad Richards has done a decent job, and Brian Boyle has shown definite improvement in that area.  Still, they don't have a guy that can consistently hold his own against the Spezzas, the Patrice Bergerons, and the Claude Girouxs in a critical spot.

Of course I'd be remiss not to mention the one team I recall burning them the most off the faceoff.  It is also the team that will probably win the Eastern Conference: the Pittsburgh Penguins.  With "Sid the Kid" back in full swing, this issue looms even larger should the Rangers and Penguins meet in the semi or conference finals.

Crosby is nothing short of the most clutch faceoff man in hockey, and he is especially adept at getting the big win on the power play in the offensive zone.  The Rangers will line up their best killing unit against him, meaning Boyle will be taking the puck drop.  I'll give you one guess as to how that matchup turned out in the regular season, and how will it turn out more times than not in the playoffs.

The solution?  Well, there isn't one really.  At this point, the Rangers are obviously stuck with what they have (unless they were ballsy enough to stick tag-along Chris Kreider in the circle to see what he can do).  Based on what we saw in Game 1, it seems like it's Richards, Boyle, and Dubinsky or bust.  They will have to do what they've done all year: hope that Lundqvist and the defense can thwart power plays like Pittsburgh's even when giving up consistent own zone faceoff wins.

Which segues nicely to the final problem area...

3) The Power Play / Brad Richards

Brad Richards holds the master key to jump-starting a dormant
Rangers power play, and maybe a sprint to the Stanley Cup

Ahhhh, the good old Rangers power play.  When hasn't their power play been an issue for them?  Ever since Adam Graves began making his largest contributions to the team philanthropically and not on the scoreboard, the Ranger power-play has continuously struggled.

This year it has shown flashes of quality play mixed with periods of futility.  The fact that they cannot win faceoffs with any regularity certainly doesn't help.

But even more to the point, it is as if the man-advantage doesn't suit their style of play.  This is largely because they do not have guys who can skate with the puck through the neutral zone while maintaining possession.  It is so much easier to set up your power play and generate shots to the net when you can bring the puck across the blue line cleanly and without having to dump it deep.

Sure, once the Rangers are able to get the saucer below the opponent's goal line, they are an outstanding puck possession team (because of that strong puck support I alluded to earlier), but in order to get it down there, they rarely carry it into the offensive zone.  Instead, they employ a steady regiment of dump-and-chase forechecking.  This might work on even strength, but on the power play, the opponent is looking to get a stick on the puck and fling as far down to the other end as possible.  It becomes much more difficult to establish position on the power play off the dump-and-chase formula because the other team can ice the puck at will.  And how many times have have I seen them dump it deep, only to watch the opposition beat them to the spot and heave it right back out of the zone?  Too many times to not bitch about it, evidently.

What's even more important to their key cog in the apparatus.  That man has been and will continue to be Brad Richards.  With his performance, so too goes the performance of their man-advantage.  He is the so-called "quarterback" of the power play, as hockey analysts these days love to say.

There will be a lot of pressure on him to move the puck to the right areas and get shots to the net when able.  Richards seemed to hit a mini-stride late in the season for a short stretch of games, and it appeared that he and the rest of the unit were really beginning to click in terms of their spacing and their anticipation.  But this chemistry dwindled again in the final couple of weeks.

To me, Richards and the first man-advantage unit will have to do better than the 0-4 they posted against the Senators Thursday.  If he and the rest of the first unit are able to recapture this mojo, then maybe,  just maybe, the Blue Shirts might have a shot of getting past the Penguins (making assumptions here) on their way to the finals.  It is the most crucial aspect of their game that they have to sure up, and it is the only well they will be able to keep up with Crosby, Malkin, Neal, and Dupuis.  It's not a matter of 'if' those guys score, but 'when,' and without some modicum of production from the power play, the Rangers don't stand a chance in a best of seven series.

Let's me not get too ahead of myself here.  They have to take care of business against Ottawa first and foremost.  I will be keeping track of their progress in these areas throughout the playoffs, as well as providing my oh-so-insightful perspective on the in-game developments.  Check back after Game 2 for another update.

Process of Self-Discovery a Good Thing for Sanchez and Gang Green

It’s not so much that Mark Sanchez and the Jets have been winning lately, rather it’s the way in which they’ve done so.  In each of their last four wins, the sophomore quarterback has guided his squad to fourth quarter or overtime comebacks over the Broncos, the Lions, the Browns, and now the Texans this past Sunday.  Sure, you could argue that a win is just a win, or that none of those teams were above .500, but that misses the point.  Late game rallies like those mentioned above have the potential to affect the confidence of a young quarterback in a way that a more controlled, more convincing, more typical path of winning simply cannot.

Throughout the year, Jets head coach Rex Ryan has continually harped on the significant strides Sanchez made during the offseason.  He stresses the fact Mark is always the first one in the door and the last one to leave the practice field, and how his teammates have responded to his deepening sense of leadership.  Certainly, if he’s exhibited anything, Sanchez has shown that he has the willingness and the determination to improve and excel at this level.

But while practice and preseason preparation are essential to the success of any professional athlete, the place where one truly learns and matures as both a player and a leader is in the game on the live field.  And I would venture to say that the USC alum has learned more about the game and, more importantly, about himself in 2010 than he has at any point of his career.

For one he’s learned, and continues to learn, that he still has a lot to learn, to phrase it crudely.  He still has trouble throwing a consistently accurate deep ball, as witnessed last week when he overthrew a streaking Santonio Holmes in the second quarter, then sailed one past the arms of an open Braylon Edwards deep downfield late in the fourth quarter, right before throwing his only interception of the game.  Sanchez has had issues with accuracy in general this season, whether throwing a 3-yard checkdown toss or a 40-yard sideline pattern, as he’ll bounce a pass in the flat to a runningback one play and fire a long strike to a blanketed tight-end the next.  He has also displayed at times a tendency to rush the play, opting for the safe, short pass instead of holding his scan and allowing his receivers’ routes to develop downfield, even in situations with little to no pocket pressure.

This is not to downplay the profound progress he has made on the field, however, especially over the last few weeks.  Mark has learned above all that when it comes down to it, he is steadily evolving into an excellent pressure quarterback.  He’s mobile, he throws fairly well on the run, his tuck-it-and-sprint and get-rid-of-it instincts are getting better each week, and he has made particularly impressive improvements in his ability to expose blitzes and avoid edge/gap pressure.  In the Texans game, Sanchez went 12 of 18 for 189 yards when Houston brought five rushers and 5 for 7 when they brought six.  All three of his touchdown passes came in the face of a six-man rush (stats courtesy of ESPN Stats & Information).

Most importantly, however, Sanchez has learned to thrive when the circumstances are most adverse.  At Denver, he came back not once, but twice in the fourth quarter to march the Jets to their fifth win.  He orchestrated a pair of fourth-quarter scoring drives in Detroit as well, this time within the span of 4 minutes and 26 seconds, to force overtime and eventually steal the victory.  Two weeks ago in Cleveland, the magic continued as Mark found Holmes in the closing seconds of overtime to avoid the dreaded tie and salvage what was a dominant second-half performance.

And finally last week in New Jersey, with twenty-four seconds left on the clock and his team trailing by four points, Sanchez uncorked one of the finest throws he’s ever made in a Jets uniform, connecting with Edwards deep down the right sideline for 42-yards to the Houston 6 yard line.  The receiver had sprinted into an opening between corner Jason Allen and safety Eugene Wilson Texans safety, giving Sanchez just enough of a window to arch one into his lap.  It’s not every Sunday you see a quarterback make that kind of a throw in that kind of situation, let alone a second-year guy who has been criticized for the low degree of difficulty of his completed passes.  Mark sealed yet another comeback win with a quick zip to Holmes for the go-ahead touchdown.  On the game he netted 300+ yards passing for second time in his career.  His first came two weeks prior against the Lions, the first time a Jets quarterback had done so since Chad Pennington in 2006.

So now the Jets are 8-2, off to their best start since the 1986 season, and they have a young man at the helm of the offensive unit who is rapidly discovering just what kind of gutsy maestro he has the potential to be.  Despite an auspicious head start, Sanchez and the offense will have to maintain their magical ways, as the Jets defense (of all things) has started to falter in these recent weeks.  Every Sunday I find myself agreeing more and more with Mr. Howie Long’s opinion that the highly-touted New York Jets will only go as far as their franchise quarterback can take them, and for once, I’m feeling comfortable with that idea.  And I’d wager that at the current moment, the “Sanchize” is feeling pretty okay with it too.