The New York Rangers (16-12-3) were defeated by the Washington Capitals (12-17-2) by a score of 5-4 in overtime. Mike Green scored 3:41 into overtime for the Capitals. Green's goal was set up when Brendan Shanahan stumbled and fell to the ice in the Capitals' zone. That allowed Brooks Laich to steal the puck and head the other way on an odd-man rush. Laich passed to Green, and the defenseman put the puck past Henrik Lundqvist. That miscue ruined a good night for Shanahan, who had a goal and two assists. Martin Straka scored twice and Jaromir Jagr had an assist for the Rangers, who wasted a 2-0 lead against a team that entered the day with the NHL's worst record. For a full recap go to Yahoo! Sports.
...while I'm not happy that we blew a two goal lead to the worst team in the NHL, at least it was an exciting game filled with goals and comebacks. I would much rather watch a game like this than the usual 3-2 borefest we're accustom to. Much more entertaining.
...having said that, where was the defense? Even though I didn't think Lundqvist was particularly sharp tonight (the injury he sustained on Ovetchkin's shot had a lot to do with that), the defense was atrocious. Especially on Motzko's 2nd goal that gave the Capitals a 3-2 lead when both Jagr and Dubinsky went after the puck instead of the body. Not good.
...I can't beat up on Shanahan for tripping in OT. He had a goal and 2 assists and Micholetti was saying the entire night that the ice was in bad shape. Plus the pass from Drury wasn't exactly tape to tape.
...although Dubinsky had a nice assist on Straka's first goal, I looks to me like his game is slipping a bit. He finally had + rating tonight, but that hasn't been the norm recently and his defense has faltered as I described above, which has lead to him taking lazy penalties. I've been saying this for the last week or so, I think its time to put Drury back on the 1st line.
...we have now lost 4 out of 5 including this one to the worst team in the NHL. Changes need to be made. I know we finally scored some goals tonight, but Dawes needs to be on the next bus to Manhattan. During the game Sam mentioned that Dawes was just named AHL player of the week after his recent six point night. Nah, we couldn't use that type of offense right now with out paltry 2.23 goals a game.
...Sean Avery can't return soon enough.
1 comment:
I would rather watch a 2-1 win than a 5-4 loss anyday.
Not the best game by Prucha and Callahan.
Avery may be back Tuesday against Pittsburgh, this team is not the same without him and need to lock him up longterm.
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