Emergency Resuscitation: The New York Rangers Power Play

Yes, I chose the name of this blog so I could make cheesy doctor seg-ways and jokes. What of it?

Before I start ranting, I will admit this. The New York Rangers power play is not abysmal, but lacking when the team needs it most.

I find myself more times than not screaming at my television when the Rangers fail to convert on a power play in a close game which ultimately ends up biting the players in the ass. Sometimes, I feel they should be able to decline the power plays, like in football. (shout out to Vin Corrao for giving me that idea)

But like I said, It could definitely be much worse. The Rangers are in 18th place on the power play percentage among the league, tied with Boston at 15.8%.

The absence of Chris Drury and Vinny Prospal are felt most when the Rangers are up a man. Drury's clutch goals and Prospal's awareness are truly missed every time the puck manages to get out of the Rangers zone.

However, the Rangers have 15 goals on the power play and have only let up one shorthanded goal. To me, I see the glass half full, but the Rangers must learn to convert on the power play more often if they wish to continue winning.

11/29/10 Rangers vs. Penguins

Hello all, and welcome to another pre-game post!

Rangers at home against the Pittsburgh Penguins.

The Penguins are coming into this game hot... hotter than any other team in the NHL right now. They are 8-1-1 in their last ten games. Sidney Crosby is on a 12 game point streak and is being talked about as being the best hes ever been in his career, and rightfully so. 25 games into the year and Crosby already has 18 goals, 22 assists, and a total of 40 points... 25 games into the year. Love him or hate him, thats terrifying. Aside from Sid, the rest of the team has started pulling more weight like Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang who are tied with 22 points. However, nobody else on the team has eclipsed the 10 goal plateau yet, which means some consistency problems outside of Crosby. But as we learned in the last game against the Penguins, if any of them get a chance, they have a legitimate shot at capitalizing on it.

The Rangers are happy to be home after a three game road trip against the Avalanche, Predators, and Panthers. The Rangers also improved their last ten games record going 7-3-0. The Rangers have also found scoring in all aspects and have developed into a grinding team who has to work tirelessly for every single point. Henrik Lundqvist has also found his groove after slumping off earlier this season and has improved his save percentage to .919. The Rangers also have a boost of confidence playing against this team after they were revived by the overtime goal of Ryan Callahan that won a close game. If the Rangers can keep that in mind, and get more shots on net, they have a shot to win this one.

My Diagnosis
The Rangers defense needs to be no less than perfect tonight if they want to stay in this one. The Penguins are firing on all cylinders and will not let up when given any opportunity.

And if there was ever a night for Marian Gaborik to start playing like the Marian Gaborik we know and love, its tonight (if he plays tonight, for he missed last game in Nashville with the flu). Gaborik needs to come out and light up on offense in order to force the Penguins to take a step back and adjust their game plan to him. Otherwise, this tilt will turn in favor of the Penguins.

My Predictions
As much as I hate to admit it, the Penguins are too hot to make me think they wont show up tonight. I have to give it to the Penguins 4-2.

Crosby will get the first halfway through the 1st period.
Alexander Frolov will tie it late in the first.
Marian Gaborik will get the second one in the 2nd period.
Pascal Dupuis will have the second one that puts them over the Rangers once they tie it.
Mark Letestu will get the third goal for the Penguins at the start of the 3rd period.
The final will be an empty net goal.

I really hope my predictions are wrong. Although I have been close to right on my past two, if Im suddenly going to become unlucky, I hope its now. Enjoy the game!

Wrapping up the Rangers Road Trip

The boys in blue managed to turn in a nice victory on the last game of their three-game road trip in a shootout against the Predators. Erik Christensen sealed it was a remarkable move to get Pekka Rinne out of position and, put it behind him with ease.

It started off rocky against the Lightning, dropping that game 5-3, but right after that the Rangers picked it up with a very decisive 3-0 shutout against Scott Clemmensen and the Panthers. And finally, in the shootout, the Rangers picked up another two points knocking off the Predators in a hard fought game.

Now, the Rangers have the best road record in the NHL right now with nine wins and four losses. And with their home record improving to 5-6-1, they have good momentum coming back home to face the Penguins tomorrow.

What else this road trip does is it provides some cushion in the standings for the Rangers. The Rangers are now three points ahead of Boston in the Eastern Conference and four points away from the 8th seeded Thrashers.

Little streaks of wins like these are what the Rangers need. Not every game is going to be a dominant performance, and not every game is going to be a win. If they can continue to keep the wins up without losing too many in a row, the Rangers could be looking forward to a solid post season performance.

Chris Pronger is a fool!

There is a lot to be said about Chris Pronger. People can say he's a world class defensemen. People can also say hes a legitimate leader. Others can say hes a gap-toothed f***ing d*****bag who steals pucks. But is he clever? Cunning? Smart? After last night... I would have to say no.

Chris Pronger, in a hard fought overtime period against Calgary last night, decided he was going to try and rip a page out of the Sean Avery Book of Trickery and tried to bend the rules of screening the goaltender as Sean did a few years ago against Martin Brodeur. (I might add, I still LOVE watching tape of that)

Around 1:40 remaining in the overtime period, Pronger took his hand off of his stick and held it out in front of Miikka Kiprusoff's face. Three seconds later, a shot from Mike Richards finds the back of the net, which is then immediately waved off due to goaltender interference, and rightfully so.

Of course, Chris Pronger being the lively scholar that he is, has brushed up on his NHL rulebook, and believes that he did not interfere at all. The rule states that...

"An unsportsmanlike conduct minor penalty will be interpreted and applied, effective immediately, to a situation when an offensive player positions himself facing the opposition goaltender and engages in actions such as waving his arms or stick in front of the goaltender's face, for the purpose of improperly interfering with and/or distracting the goaltender as opposed to positioning himself to try to make a play," Colin Campbell, the NHL director of hockey operations, said in a statement."


No, Pronger did not turn and face Kiprusoff. And no, the whistle was not immediately blown after it happened like it should have. The way I feel about this is that the rule was made the following day after Avery pulled that stunt against Brodeur. (again, love him for that) So, not all the fine details were ironed out right away. The point of this rule is to stop players from not trying to make a play and instead trying to interfere with the goalies vision. The main job of a player on the ice is to try and make a play. And while trying to make that play, if you so happen to wander into the goalies vision of the puck, that is perfectly legal. Pronger changed his goal from trying to make a play, to trying to block Kiprusoff from seeing the puck with his hand.


And since this is the first time I can recall this rule being enforced since it was implemented, and since it is different than what Avery did, there will be debate over how it was handled.


But in my opinion, I believe that it was handled the right way by the officials, and the right call was made. Also, I'm pretty happy it was Pronger who decided to do this and ended up costing Philly the game, that gap-toothed, puck stealing, f***ing d*****bag.

11/27/10 Rangers vs. Predators

These pre-game posts are becoming a regularity... I like it!

Rangers at the Nashville Predators.

Nashville has been getting the worst of the traffic jam in the standings of the Western Conference. They have posted a record of 9-8-4 and sit at 13th in their conference. There problems however stem from the same problems that plague the Panthers: a lack of consistent scoring. Steve Sullivan leads the Predators with 6 goals, and Cal O'Reilly leads the team with 13 points. However, his 13 points come from nine assists and four goals. The Predators are minus 8 in the goals for/goals against ratio, which hasn't provided enough of a cushion for Pekka Rinne, who has a fairly decent save percentage of .911.

The Rangers were absurdly out shot last night at 40-19, which means their young defense is going to have to be one their toes once again. With a lot more threats on this team than Florida has, there is much less room for error tonight. Therefore, if the Rangers can play smart hockey, convert when they get the chance, and shut down the threats of Nashville, the boys in blue can walk out of Nashville victorious.

My Diagnosis
Like last night, all the Rangers need to do is snub out Nashville's top players in Steve Sullivan, Patric Hornqvist and Cal O'Reilly, and they can easily come away with this one. While Nashville can be dangerous at times, the Rangers have way more weapons than the Predators do. It seems as though the young guns or unsung heroes throughout the past few years are finally coming into their own and producing when the Rangers need it most. Also, with Nashville missing two key players in Matthew Lombardi and David Legwand, it will be a lot harder for them to gain some momentum without them.

My Predictions

Rangers win 2-1

Artem Anisimov and Brandon Dubinsky will have the Rangers goals.
JP Dumont will have the lone goal for the Predators early in the third.

I was fairly close on the score last night, so hopefully I can get inside the ballpark on this call tonight. Enjoy the game!

11/26/10 Rangers vs. Panthers

Wake up from your turkey coma, its time for hockey once again.

New York Rangers at the Florida Panthers.

Over the years, Ive been to a handful of Rangers games. The team Ive seen the most often play the Rangers has been the Panthers. Ive seen 5-0 shutout wins, and Ive seen 2-1 last minute losses. Needless to say, I believe anything can happen when the Rangers play the Panthers.

The Panthers, aside from Michael Frolik, have a problem with consistently putting up points.Frolik leads the team with 13 points divided up between four goals and nine assists. Mike Santorelli leads the team with six goals..... that's right, six goals. No one on the Panthers bench has scored over seven goals so far this season, but there are plenty of assists for everyone on the team. But miraculously, they are +2 in the goals for/goals against ratio. You can chalk that success up to Mr. Tomas Vokoun. Vokoun has an 8-8-0 record and a .924 save percentage, which beats out Henrik Lundqvist's .910 save percentage. And no matter how far down the standing the Panthers are, as long as Vokoun is between the pipes there will be a lot of saves.

The Rangers are coming off another disappointing loss against Tampa Bay where they got lit up for two straight periods then resuscitated themselves for a third period all for not. Marian Gaborik has been slumping, and needs to get his game together so the Rangers can keep their wins up to stay in contention for the playoffs. The secondary scoring has been keeping up their end of the bargain, and now its time for the primary scorers to tear it up

Also, Henrik Lundqvist needs to chill the hell out. His frustration is getting it the way of the game and its visibly noticeable. The last thing the Rangers need is for their star goalie to have a meltdown. He needs to just take it slow, relax out there, and play calmly like he has in the past.

My Diagnosis


With the lack of consistent scoring on the side of the Panthers, its hard to think how they could come away with a win tonight. Vokoun will stand on his head once again, but I think the Rangers scorers will definitely be too much for the Panthers to handle.

My Predictions


Rangers win 3-1
Gaborik will get the first goal.
Frolik will score the second soon after.
Fedotenko will get the second Rangers goal one.
The final goal will be an empty netter.

Enjoy the game tonight everyone!

A New York Rangers Thanksgiving!

As I'm waiting for my grandmother to hurry up cooking my Thanksgiving feast, I started thinking about what I'm thankful for as a Ranger fan

And after that embarrassing beating the boys took last night, its kind of hard to focus on the good points, but there are a few Id like to point out that all other Rangers fans should take notices of.

I am thankful for John Tortorella. Ever since he became the Rangers' new head coach, Ive always felt right about the team even in times of complete and utter failure. Because you know he would be giving them an earful after the game was over. John expects 100% from our team night in and night out and will work them tirelessly to get that, and I am all for implementing a little discipline after that pushover Renney left such a laid back image on the Rangers.

I am thankful for Marian Gaboriks health. I know he has been struggling lately, but in all honesty, Id rather have him on the ice than on the bench. Hes a scoring threat no matter who he plays against, and is a true thrill to watch all the time.

I am thankful for secondary scoring. Last season, if the Rangers would have not had Gaborik scoring 20 something percent of their goals, they would have been worse off than the Islanders are right now. Dubinsky, Anisimov, Callahan, and Boyle have all stepped up this season and have provided the Rangers with some much needed depth.

I am thankful for Ilya Kovalchuk, single handedly sucking the life out of the Devils one dollar at a time.

I am thankful for not having a shootout victory this season so far. After the way last season ended on Olli Jokinens stick, the Rangers have learned to squash a game in regulation or overtime, which is a big sigh of relief. The pain that comes from watching the Rangers going into a shootout is a cascade of uncertainty and anxiety. And I am very happy that they have learned to leave it all on the ice, and not in the shootout.

Most importantly, I am thankful for our goaltending corps. Henrik Lundqvist and Martin Biron have become a fearsome tandem in the NHL, and while Henrik hasn't been putting up ridiculous numbers like he has in the past, he is still a solid goaltender who I would not want to leave any time soon. Martin Biron is also a sigh of relief, for the Rangers now have someone competent they can turn to when the you-know-what hits the fan. Not every night is going to be a victory, and not every night is going to be an easy win, which is why I am glad to have both of these goaltenders minding the Rangers net.

I'd also like to wish everyone who reads this blog a safe, and happy Thanksgiving! Enjoy your food, 'cus I know I will!

11/24/10 Rangers vs. Lightning

Hello again all you avid Rangers watchers, welcome to another pre-game article about the game tonight between the Blueshirts and the Bolts.

Tonight's game shall be an interesting one, and both the Rangers and Lightning are streaking teams right now. The Rangers are shooting for their third straight win while the Bolts are looking at their fifth. The Rangers and Lightning have a history of lighting up the scoreboard against each other as five goals have been scored by at least one team in each of their last four meetings.

However, looking at the stats of the Lightning lineup, all of the goals seem to be trending toward man: obviously Mr. Steven Stamkos. Stamkos leads his team, conference, and league with 20 goals in 21 games. Recently he has been the talk of potentially breaking the 50 goals in 50 games plateau. In my opinion, it is WAY too early to be thinking about that. While I do believe its possible for Stamkos to do it, all the talk happening when he still has 30 goals to score is jumping the gun. We've seen it done before. Last year when Ovechkin started scoring once a game he became the center of the league, and then he dropped off in the scoring chart. I'm not trying to put Stamkos down or anything, but hes going to have to ignore that talk, and do the work if he wants to get that record.

But in tonight's game, I feel that if the Rangers can do a good job of shutting down Stamkos like they did to Iginla two days ago, the Rangers could easily walk away with a victory. Also, Martin St. Louis needs to be watched and given no room to work, for he has 19 assists on the season so far (and you could probably take a guess where there all going).

Gaborik also needs to dig a little deeper. Hes our superstar coming off of a bad injury, and I know it takes time to get back in the groove after being away for so long. However, it frightens me that he could go into a bad slump and then try to do to much and it gets even worse (i.e. Ilya Kovalchuk)

My Diagnosis
I see this one being a little closer than the past one-sided blowouts that have taken place between these two teams. But ultimately, I feel the Rangers have a lot more momentum and depth than the Lightning have and that's why I think the Rangers come away with this one. Potentially in overtime.

My Predictions
Rangers win 5-4

Rangers Goals:
Final goal coming late in the third or in overtime by Brandon Dubinsky
Gaborik will have one goal.
Prust will also get one.
Anisimov will have a pair.

Lightning Goals:
Stamkos will get two. One at the start of the game and one at the beginning of the third.
Ryan Malone will also get one.
Final goal is up for grabs.

And I have one more thing I wanted to discuss. Since I'm starting to learn how to do more stuff on my blog, I'm going to try and incorporate more pictures and fun stuff into the blog to keep it interesting. But, I may fail on occasion so don't take it to heart if I do.

Enjoy the game everyone!

Rangers Showing Up On The All-Star Ballot

With the All-Star game rapidly approaching, fans have been casting their votes as to who they would like to see in the All-Star Game on January 30th. Recently, NHL.com has posted the voting leaders and I am very satisfied to see that many Blueshirt faithfuls have done their part in trying to get our home town boys in there!

As far as forwards go, Marian Gaborik obviously leads the Rangers forwards with a well deserved 19,454 votes. However, right behind Gaborik is the one and only, Mr. Sean Avery. Thats not a typo, Sean Avery has had his fans start a campaign to get him into the All-Star Game, and they have not disappointed. Avery has beat out Jarome Iginla, Dany Heatley, Patrick Marleau, Paul Stastny, Ryan Smyth, Rick Nash, Daniel Alfredsson, and Ilya Kovalchuk with 17,494 votes (five of which I am proud to claim as mine)... which may be a little absurd, but it still brings a smile to my face. Give the fans credit, they campaigned and have not let down on their promise. Following Avery is Brandon Dubinsky, and rightfully so. Dubinsky has had a fantastic year so far and his nomination into the All-Star game is a good way for all of us Ranger fans to say "we appreciate you". Although he is not a front runner for making the ballot with only 9,850 votes, if he continues to play the way he has, he may convince some other fans around the league. Who knows? And finally, Ryan Callahan managed to break into the ballot as well with exactly 6,000 votes.

Now, moving onto defensemen, the Rangers only have two nominees from our blue-line on the ballot: Marc Staal and Dan Girardi. Staal managed to break the top 15 with 28,570 votes, beating out Dion Phaneuf, Shea Weber, Dan Boyle, and Sergei Gonchar. Dan Girardi is not as far up as Staal with only 6,593 votes. But, both have stepped up their play this season, blocking nearly every shot that they can get their bodies in front of. I have high hopes for Staal and hopes he gets a shot to represent our Blueshirts in the All-Star game. Just please, don't get hurt blocking a shot.

And finally, goaltenders are the last category on the ballot. Henrik Lundqvist sits at the 11th place spot on the ballot with 24,245 votes. To me, this is a little disheartening. While some of his glory has been overshadowed by the help of Marty Biron this season, Henrik is still a world class goaltender and still manages to get beat out by the likes of Tim Thomas, Carey Price, and Sergei Bobrovsky (gag, gag, and more gag).

But unfortunately, thats the way it is. And there is nothing else I could do about it other than continue to vote for our Rangers until January 3rd, and I urge all other Rangers fans to do the same!

11/22/10 Rangers vs. Flames

Before I start, I'd like to take a moment to say... Yay! My first game post!

Now that thats out of the way, lets get it started.

Rangers at home against the Calgary Flames.

The Rangers have had home struggles this season so far, while the Flames have had struggles almost everywhere. Kiprusoff has slipped in the wins/ losses department going 7-9-1, and the team sits at the 14th position in the Western conference. Despite their less than impressive record and standing placement, they are only -1 in the goals for/goals against ratio. They have a wide variety of players who are capable of scoring, and frankly, they scare me as a team.

The Rangers are coming off an impressive away win against the Wild after being trounced by Colorado earlier this week. Dubinsky, Anisimov, and Boyle have stepped up in the absence of Marian Gaborik earlier this season and hold the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place in goals for the Rangers so far this season. Along with those three, Ryan Callahan has done a remarkable job of being a huge play-maker, leading the team with 12 assists. And, of course Marian Gaborik returns and is always a player the opposition needs to keep an eye on.

My Diagnosis


The Flames are still hurting after that blown lead against Detroit last night, and unless they are all foaming at the mouth with anger, I do not see them walking away with a win tonight at the Garden. With that said, the Rangers defense is going to have to do a somewhat competent job of containing players like Iginla and Bourque if they want to have any shot of winning. Biron is in net and while he has proven himself capable, he is a backup, and could use some help by the defense every once in a while.

My Predictions


The Rangers win 4-3

Rangers goals:
Brandon Dubinsky gets one in the second period.
Ruslan Fedotenko gets one on a battle in front on the net.
Marian Gaborik gets one early in the third.
And the empty netter at the end of the game is up for grabs. Although some foreign being is telling me to think Staal will get it.

Flames goals:
Hagman or Tanguay will get the first one. It will follow up Dubinskys goal within 2 minutes.
Iginla will get the second one to keep the game close at the end of the second.

Unfortunately, I will not be able to watch the game tonight as I already have made plans, so their will not be a post game topic tonight. But enjoy the game everyone!

First Ever New York Rangers Clinic Post!

Hello Hockey Fans!


Allow me to introduce myself and my blog. My name is FrankieDaps, and this is the first post on my first ever blog, The New York Rangers Clinic! I am an intense hockey fan and my team is, obviously, the New York Rangers. I watch them during the highs, the lows, and all the in-betweens. I am 18 years old looking to get in the journalism field, and I thought a blog would be a good way to get my feet wet in that sense. I am not a great page editor, so please excuse my page if it looks rather basic.

What I can promise to you as a blogger is good content on the New York Rangers in every aspect. I will keep my page updated as much as possible and look forward to seeing where this blog can take me. I look forward to my first pre-game post and the rest of the season as I get to blog about the team I love!