I will be quick tonight. Since the Rangers didn't show up to play, I shouldn't show up to write much about it.
Nigel Dawes and Petr Prucha were the only highlights today, although Henrik Lundqvist didn't play bad. He just had no support in front of him and had to overcompensate many times. Scott Gomez, although a -4, wasn't awful, either.
On one goal, Marc Staal did nothing near the right wing faceoff circle while Michal Rozsival stood in front of Lundqvist. Tic, tac, toe, goal. Rozsival barely moved his head, didn't move his feet. Was he tired? Do the Rangers need a 7th defenseman to come up if only for back-to-back games when Rozsival - a professional athlete, mind you - is too tired to skate? You would think $5M you don't deserve would be motivation enough, never mind the fact that you're playing in freakin' Montreal tonight.
On another goal, Paul Mara went after the puck carrier on Lundqvist's right. Dmitri "Not a Defenseman" Kalinin left his post on Lundqvist's left to attack the same guy Mara was going after. That player passed to the person Kalinin should've been guarding. Goal. Game over.
Dan Girardi, can you repay me for my jersey and the damage you caused my fantasy team today? I'm already getting crushed this week in +/-, I don't need your -2 hurting me. And what a -2 it was! Standing like a tree in a storm as Canadien players thrash by you and you don't move. Great! You're still one of my favorites on the team, but tonight you had a stinker indeed.
The only reason Wade Redden wasn't horrible tonight is because he only played half a game before getting hurt.
I can deal with a bad game. They happen. You're tired, I understand. But bad effort? I can't stand for that. I wish my ticket money wasn't paying Rozsival and Redden to do nothing continuously.
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Seriously, though. I joke about it, but why did Kalinin ever decide to be a defender? Was he the only kid on his high school team in Chelyabinsk, Russia, who could skate backwards? He pinches on the rush, chases the puck behind the enemy's goal line, and today, I caught him leading the rush into the offensive zone.
At no point does he make smart defensive plays, check players hard, or use his body to block the shot. His positioning is even horrible, and at least 3 goals in the past 2 games are completely his fault.
We need a 7th d-man up from Hartford if only to have him sit for a game.
Watching the Penguins game the other night, I saw one glaring hole in Kalinin's game - he plays the puck, not the man. At one point, Crosby took the puck behind the net and Kalinin FOLLOWED HIM. Because, you know, there's such a great chance of Crosby scoring from behind the net. So, of course, Crosby skated out from the other side of the net with Kalinin right behind him, fired a pass across the crease to one of the Penguins guys, who was standing exactly where Kalinin SHOULD have been, and tapped in an easy goal.
ReplyDeleteNot for nothing, but for all the crap people gave Mark Streit for not being a two-way defenseman, he's made maybe a handful of bad plays this year. Kalinin makes at least one per game. The difference is, Streit has nearly a point per game. Kalinin? Not so much.