Same Line-up vs. Bruins; Girardi/McDonagh Back Together
#NYR sticking with same lineup tonight...Lundqvist starts in goal
— New York Rangers (@NYRangers) February 12, 2013
...if it ain't broke don't fix it. Starting to feel bad for Boyle. Ah, who am I kidding, I couldn't care less as long as the Rangers are winning.
In other line-up news, Andrew Gross at the Bergen Record reports that Dan Girardi will be back with Ryan McDonagh on defense tonight.
...oh well, would have liked to see Girardi and Staal back together, but am I really going to complain about Girardi/McD?
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“I know I can be a good player and effective player in this League and on this team,” he said after the morning skate. “It’s infuriating sitting out, it’s awful.
“And it’s pissing me off a lot.”
@JoshKaye I was just going to mention this. Pissed enough to want a trade? (Fingers crossed)
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@slapshot13j Assuming they wait the full five games before making a decision. If they keep winning he stays.
@KevinDeLury @slapshot13j Boston Defense much tougher than Tampa or NYI, this will be a good test for Miller.
@KevinDeLury @slapshot13j Something I've been thinking about. Think what they may do is let Miller get the five games in for the experience, send him down to avoid eating a year of the entry level contract, and bring up Mashinter? By bringing him up with Miller earlier they obviously feel he could be part of the squad when the time comes. I don't know if Masher could have the same impact as Miller, but he's proving that he is willing to lay it down on the line for his teammates. Plus the scoring never hurts. It's a long shot, but it's just something that I've been thinking about.
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@Iron Mike Asham gets his face pounded in that fight... Id rather see the 4th line cause trouble in their zone - maybe draw a penalty
@chrisdub Yeah, he's get rocked but man I can't stand that guy. He's a power forward... would love to get under his skin and draw a few penalties though for sure.
@Iron Mike @chrisdub Are you trying to get Boyle back in? if Asham fights he'll sit a game or two to recover and he's actually been playing pretty good!
@Iron Mike I don't think our guys should be looking to muck it up, but ya I'm sure he'll do something to start a fight.
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These line are what players have earned. I see in the twitter section that somebody said Boyle's better than Halpern...not he's not. He should be, but Halpern is KILLING him right now. I wouldn't even give him a chance to get back in the line up until one of our forth liners completely take a crap. His play earned him exactly what he got.
@GLENsatherVSglennDANZIG Halpern may not be the size of Boyle, but he plays a much bigger game. He's confident in the corners and on the boards and he doesn't slow up when he's about to hit someone. He also is a solid face off guy and a great penalty killer. Halpern has played physical and fought hard to earn his spot on the team. Boyle may be 2nd on the team with hits but for a guy his size he should be crushing everyone else.
@JoshKaye @GLENsatherVSglennDANZIG -- we've been waiting and Boyle will never play to his size. He can still be effective with his compete level up, but even when he is physical he never plays to that size.
@AG_Blue @chrisdub @JoshKaye @GLENsatherVSglennDANZIG But at least Step is dishing the puck not just turning it over!
@AG_Blue @chrisdub @GLENsatherVSglennDANZIG Yeah I know. Richie has won 116 faceoffs and lost 115. His 231 faceoffs are 11th in the league. The problem is guys in our division (Giroux, Crosby, Tavares, Zajac) are in the division, and they're all solid. Giroux wins 57.2, Crosby 55.9, Tavares is the same as Richie and Zajac is the best at 58.7. Richie faces off against everyone of those guys. That can't be an excuse for him though. We need him to fight at the drop for those pucks, since we've seen what happens when we lose faceoffs cleanly.
As for Step and Boyle, looking at the amount of faceoffs they took in their games, Step takes about 15 while Boyle took about 13, that's not too much of a difference.
@JoshKaye @chrisdub @GLENsatherVSglennDANZIG -- (but I'd like Richie's percentage up a few points too)
@JoshKaye @chrisdub @GLENsatherVSglennDANZIG -- Remember when looking at faceoff percentage, it's heavily skewed by the number of faceoffs a player takes. Richie takes more faceoffs than anyone, so take that in to account; he's still our best faceoff guy. And Boyle was taking more than Step when he was in the lineup, 'cause the staff knows .....
@AG_Blue @chrisdub @GLENsatherVSglennDANZIG Boyle actually does have the best faceoff percentage on the team. He's won 53% of faceoffs, Step has won 52%, and Richie has won 50% (all of these are rounded). Halpern is at 46%, he got off to an awful start on faceoffs (2 wins out of 10 in his first game) and he's been streaky. Miller in his short time is at 45%. As a team we need to be better at faceoffs so there is that. I expect Richie to be winning more and I expect Halpern's percentage to get back to where it is for his career.
@chrisdub @JoshKaye @GLENsatherVSglennDANZIG -- he was winning faceoffs so far this year, gotta give him that ... better than Stepan
@AG_Blue @JoshKaye @GLENsatherVSglennDANZIG He was great in the playoffs last year until Neil crushed him. That was the last time i saw him playing big, winning face offs, getting dirty in the corners etc...
I like girardi and McDonagh together, just because McDonagh is still very young and could use some veteran guidance. Keep staal with Stralman to spread around the veteran presence. Otherwise I have a feeling the rangers pp will struggle more than usual tonight... Boston has the best penalty kill in the NHL. Hopefully we steal this game it would be huge for us.
Get rid of him he sucks make a trade guy can't skate nor shoot and can't even throw the dukes
I don't feel bad for him. He is a great guy with a great attitude with solid penalty kill skills. That being said, he is a mediocre and sometimes less than mediocre player at best who had one outbreak scoring year and was over utilized as a direct result of it.
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Something tells me at some point during this game you will see Girardi and Staal back together. You just need to wait for a few breakaways and odd man rushes to happen...
@VinnieR -- You beat me to it! Same. No reason Torts won't pair them up again ... obviously.
@AnnoyingJoe @AG_Blue @VinnieR Oh god please don't let the DelZaster loose without a really good stay at home partner!!!
@AG_Blue @VinnieR remember 2 years ago in the Capitals series? Everytime Ovi hit the ice Staal and Girardi were all over him. That's how good our top 4 dmen are that we could split up a a top shut down pairing in favor of another league topping shut down pairing. I think I could see a trade for a right handed dman with with a shot coming. That's the only thing that could make our d better.
Well, by his own admission, Boyle realizes it is his fault. He'll have another chance, hockey being what it is (and Torts being who he is).
