Lundqvist Needs a Rest

You don't have to tell me the importance of sweeping the upcoming Florida excursion. Anything less than four points in the Rangers' next two games could be disastrous. That is why John Tortorella needs to be willing to allow Alex Auld to start one of the games this weekend.

The Rangers had a young backup in Chad Johnson who had acquitted himself perfectly well in his few starts after replacing Stephen Valiquette. Yet, Glen Sather felt it necessary to spend cap dollars on an experienced backup for Henrik Lundqvist. If Auld does not spell Lundqvist either in Tampa or Miami this weekend, it will have been still more wasted cap money.

But, more importantly, Lundqvist has played more than any goalie in the league since the start of the Olympics, and right now, it shows. The fact -and it's a troubling one- is that The King has given up three soft goals in the last 65 minutes of play. Last night against the Islanders, it was Lundqvist's teammates who bailed him out, not the other way around.

John Tortorella needs to show his team that he believes they can win with someone other than Lundqvist in net. Lundqvist, meanwhile, needs a much deserved rest. And the Rangers? They need two wins this weekend. The chances of that happening is increased by the simple, time-tested decision to split the goaltending duties in back-to-back games.

Project Philly Revisited

Since the last post, the Rangers have gone 2-0-1 (cruelly close to a clean 3-0 in Toronto) while the Flyers have gone 1-2-1.

The Flyers have just four games left before the home-and-home finale, and currently sit at 82 points. Let's look at a scenario in which the Flyers beat the Islanders and Leafs while losing to the Red Wings and Canadiens, thereby entering the final weekend with 86 points.

The key for the Rangers is to enter that weekend within three points of the Flyers. If they can do that, a REGULATION sweep of the series would put them one point up in the standings. This is critical, because the Flyers would likely take the first tie-breaker by virtue of more wins.

The Rangers currently sit at 76 points, and have one game in hand on Philly. Of the Blueshirts' five games before facing the Flyers, four of them are against Tampa, Florida, the Isles and the Leafs. Can they defeat these four highly beatable teams? If so, (allowing a loss to Buffalo) the Rangers will enter the home-and-home with 84 points- two points behind Philadelphia and directly within striking distance.

Brian Boucher must falter. When they face the Canadiens, the Habs must play like they mean it. The Wings must play like the title condender they've looked like since the Olympic break.

And the Rangers must take care of business. The must play defensively the way they've only occasionally done this year. They must get their forecheck going every night. Their breakout must be effective, so as to make sure they have the territorial edge, because their D-men cannot win a war a attrition against many teams. -- And Lundqvist must be Lundqvist every minute he's in the net the rest of the way.

This is where we stand. This is the math. It's not over yet.

New Plan: Catch The Flyers

The Philadelphia Flyers have to ride Brian Boucher the rest of the way. Since he was forced into duty following Michael Leighton's high ankle sprain, the Flyers are 0-2. When the Flyers are healthy, Boucher is third on their depth chart.

The Rangers are currently eight points behind the Flyers. Each team has 10 games left. The two teams finish the regular season with a home-and-home two game series.

Of the eight games the Rangers play between now and the regular season's final weekend, six of them are against:

Tampa Bay
Florida
Islanders (twice)
Maple Leafs (twice)

For the sake of argument, let's say the Rangers win these six games, while losing the other two. (against New Jersey and Buffalo) If, during that time, the Flyers go 3-4-1, the Rangers would then need to win BOTH games against the Flyers to finish one point ahead of them in the standings.

They would then need to hope that Atlanta plays no better than .500 hockey the rest of the way.

If all of the above happens, The Rangers will earn four nights on the town with the Capitals.

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Sickening note of the day: Thus far, John Tortorella has shown himself to have more in common with Ron Low than Mike Keenan behind the Rangers bench.

game over man

Rangers suck, season's over, moving on.

Three Point Swing

The worst thing to happen to the Rangers last night was not Kaleta's bank shot off Lundqvist's pad to give Buffalo an overtime win. (though how two Rangers defensemen managed to entangle themselves on the wrong side of the net on the play is a depressing mystery)

The worst thing that happened last night- by far- was Montreal's stunning comeback against the Anaheim Ducks, whereby they erased a two-goal defecit in the final two minutes of the third, en route to a 4-3 shootout win.

Instead of gaining a point on eighth place following their second straight night of hard work, the Rangers lost two. The bar for making the playoffs was raised by two points as a result of Montreal's "Miracle at the Pond." The Rangers lost ground in the playoff race last night- a frightening thing to do in mid-March.

Nothing To Be Proud Of

The third period of tonight's game was painful to watch, not only because each second seemed to last an hour, but because it is not fun to watch your team so thoroughly manhandled and immasculated as the Rangers were throughout the entire game tonight, but especially in the final 23 minutes.

Starting with the coaching staff, every Rangers except Lundqvist needs to take a long look in the mirror. John Tortorella, who once preached "safe is death" while leading the Lightning to a Stanley Cup in 2004, allowed his team to play the entire period waving white flags and begging for mercy. It was nothing short of sickening to watch the Rangers line up at their own blue line, not even breathing on a Penguin until he was over the red line. Not since the days of John Muckler have we seen the Rangers bury their head in the sand over the final stanza the way they did tonight.

When you play not to lose, you've already lost. The Rangers showed no determination -perhaps no INTEREST- in generating a forecheck or slowing the Penguins down in their own end. On the rare occasions when they found the puck on their stick in Pittburgh's zone, they looked nervous. They spent the period chasing Pittsburgh immaculate cycle and and relying and save after save after save from a heroic Lundqvist.

What is equally trouble is that Tortorella is losing Del Zotto. Del Zotto should have realized after a few shifts that his 100-foot passes were not going to connect without Gaborik's powerful stride to receive it. Yet Del Zotto seems to be so frightened of making a mistake these days, so worried about making a mistake, that he is overthinking every shift. The good news is that this kind of slump is normal for a neophyte defenseman over the course of his first 82-game season. The bad news is that, whereas Tom Renney often proved to be a calming influence when his young players stumbled, Tortorella has not shown the same tact with the most important defenseman on the Rangers' roster.

They'll take the point and run, but they'd better ask themselves what will happen two nights from now, when they play the only offense in the league more dynamic than Pittsburgh's. The King aside, each and every member of the Rangers' organization should have the taste of humiliation to motivate them in Washington.