Rangers Sweep Atlanta
Since I'm writing all of this stuff for my hockey pool, I may as well throw it into the blog as well. Non-hockey fans (and Ranger haters) can just skip this one.
From: Monday, April 16th
The first weekend of the playoffs has come and gone. Lots of games available for viewing this year, which is great. Thursday night I had a little slice of hockey heaven as all four games were televised. Of course, the Rangers received the lion's share of my viewing time, but I surfed the channels during game stoppages. [sigh] If only it were like that more often.
Speaking of the Rangers, they're up 2-0 in their series against Atlanta, despite being drastically outhit. Maybe the Thrashers, who resembled the defunct Danbury Trashers of the UHL in their style of play, spent too much time playing the man and not the puck. Both games were decided by one goal. Lundqvist has been outstanding and Johann Hedberg was excellent for Atlanta in game 2, filling in for Kari Lehtonen who first ever NHL playoff game didn't measure up to Coach Bob Hartley's expectations.
In game 2, a bizarre ricochet off a dump in pass from Sean Avery gave the Rangers their first goal of the game. Late in the third, with the game tied, Avery passed the puck to an uncovered Brendan Shanahan who one timed the puck into the net for the game winner. As the game drew down to its final seconds, Atlanta players made it obvious to Avery that they didn't care much for him. He'll likely be a target when the series moves to NYC on Tuesday.
From: Thursday, April 19th
Much to everyone's surprise, the NY Rangers have swept the Atlanta Thrashers. The latter's first ever trip to the playoffs (and with the oldest roster in the league) ended so abruptly that it's likely that there will be some big changes in the offseason.
After two hard fought games in Atlanta, the Rangers returned to MSG with a 2-0 lead in the series. Tuesday night they annihilated the Thrashers 7-0, thanks to a hat trick from Michael Nylander and a pair of goals from rookie Ryan Callahan. Despite a strong performance in game 2 (37 saves), Atlanta coach Bob Hartley opted to pull Johan Hedberg for Kari Lehtonen, who he pulled after game 1. The move backfired. 20% of New York's shots resulted in goals.
In game 4, Hartley put Hedberg back in net. He gave another strong performance, stopping 27 of 30 shots. As a team, Atlanta fought harder this time, without taking penalties. They even had the lead twice in the game, something they hadn't done the whole series. But Matt Cullen got the game winner with a ricochet off the crossbar early in the 3rd.
So what went wrong with Atlanta? Flip flopping on goalie choice didn't help. Hartley should've stuck with Hedberg. The goals that got past him in game 2 weren't his fault.
There was also too much focus on hitting and not enough on the puck. The Rangers outscored Atlanta 17-6 over four games. Even when you take out the blowout game, you're at 10-6 over three games.
Ilya Kovalchuck had 1 goal and 2 assists. He had 42 goals and 34 assists this season. He also let troublemaker Sean Avery get under his skin. Kovalchuck had 19 penalty minutes in the series, most of it in game 3. He had 66 penalty minutes all season.
Keith Tkachuk had 1 goal and 2 assists. He had 27 goals and 31 assists in the regular season. Marian Hossa only had an assist. He had 43 goals and 57 assists in the regular season. Kozlov had 80 points during the regular season but none in the series. He was +9 during the season and a -6 in the series.
Adding to this, there are some other telling stats... Atlanta was only 5.9% on the power play while the Rangers were 20.8% effective. That's a huge difference right there. It shows that the Rangers took advantage of opportunities while holding tight on defense when down a man (or two).
The Rangers outshot Atlanta, on average, 35.8 to 24.8.
Lundqvist had a 1.50 GAA and a 93.9 save percentage.
I guess that's enough gloating for now. RANGERS WIN!!!
\_/
DED
From: Monday, April 16th
The first weekend of the playoffs has come and gone. Lots of games available for viewing this year, which is great. Thursday night I had a little slice of hockey heaven as all four games were televised. Of course, the Rangers received the lion's share of my viewing time, but I surfed the channels during game stoppages. [sigh] If only it were like that more often.
Speaking of the Rangers, they're up 2-0 in their series against Atlanta, despite being drastically outhit. Maybe the Thrashers, who resembled the defunct Danbury Trashers of the UHL in their style of play, spent too much time playing the man and not the puck. Both games were decided by one goal. Lundqvist has been outstanding and Johann Hedberg was excellent for Atlanta in game 2, filling in for Kari Lehtonen who first ever NHL playoff game didn't measure up to Coach Bob Hartley's expectations.
In game 2, a bizarre ricochet off a dump in pass from Sean Avery gave the Rangers their first goal of the game. Late in the third, with the game tied, Avery passed the puck to an uncovered Brendan Shanahan who one timed the puck into the net for the game winner. As the game drew down to its final seconds, Atlanta players made it obvious to Avery that they didn't care much for him. He'll likely be a target when the series moves to NYC on Tuesday.
From: Thursday, April 19th
Much to everyone's surprise, the NY Rangers have swept the Atlanta Thrashers. The latter's first ever trip to the playoffs (and with the oldest roster in the league) ended so abruptly that it's likely that there will be some big changes in the offseason.
After two hard fought games in Atlanta, the Rangers returned to MSG with a 2-0 lead in the series. Tuesday night they annihilated the Thrashers 7-0, thanks to a hat trick from Michael Nylander and a pair of goals from rookie Ryan Callahan. Despite a strong performance in game 2 (37 saves), Atlanta coach Bob Hartley opted to pull Johan Hedberg for Kari Lehtonen, who he pulled after game 1. The move backfired. 20% of New York's shots resulted in goals.
In game 4, Hartley put Hedberg back in net. He gave another strong performance, stopping 27 of 30 shots. As a team, Atlanta fought harder this time, without taking penalties. They even had the lead twice in the game, something they hadn't done the whole series. But Matt Cullen got the game winner with a ricochet off the crossbar early in the 3rd.
So what went wrong with Atlanta? Flip flopping on goalie choice didn't help. Hartley should've stuck with Hedberg. The goals that got past him in game 2 weren't his fault.
There was also too much focus on hitting and not enough on the puck. The Rangers outscored Atlanta 17-6 over four games. Even when you take out the blowout game, you're at 10-6 over three games.
Ilya Kovalchuck had 1 goal and 2 assists. He had 42 goals and 34 assists this season. He also let troublemaker Sean Avery get under his skin. Kovalchuck had 19 penalty minutes in the series, most of it in game 3. He had 66 penalty minutes all season.
Keith Tkachuk had 1 goal and 2 assists. He had 27 goals and 31 assists in the regular season. Marian Hossa only had an assist. He had 43 goals and 57 assists in the regular season. Kozlov had 80 points during the regular season but none in the series. He was +9 during the season and a -6 in the series.
Adding to this, there are some other telling stats... Atlanta was only 5.9% on the power play while the Rangers were 20.8% effective. That's a huge difference right there. It shows that the Rangers took advantage of opportunities while holding tight on defense when down a man (or two).
The Rangers outshot Atlanta, on average, 35.8 to 24.8.
Lundqvist had a 1.50 GAA and a 93.9 save percentage.
I guess that's enough gloating for now. RANGERS WIN!!!
\_/
DED
Labels: hockey
posted by DED at 9:13 PM
1 Comments:
Soooooooooooo-weet.
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