That said, my doctor told me I had high blood pressure (slightly), so I won't dwell much, but I will say a few things. (To be sure, I did enjoy this game. I thought it was great back-and-forth action, and very exciting. Another Bruins-Rangers 1-0 game that I enjoyed, I just wish the score was reversed. Since they were again shutout, a lot of flaws came to light.)
"Good game" - How good of a game could they have had if they scored 1 goal? They couldn't break through the Bruins' defense, they had no answer for Zdeno Chara's size and wingspan, and while they won a lot of battles along the boards, the one big one they lost turned into a goal.
"Played well" - Again, they couldn't penetrate the Bruins D. They'd try to split the defenders and get stood up, and Tuukka Rask would clear the puck away easily.
"Shown up by a rookie goalie" - Was Rask good? Indeed. Was he great? Not nearly. He made a few good saves, for sure. And when Michal Rozsival hit the post, he was forced to shoot at the post because Rask gave him nothing else to shoot at. But for the most part, the Rangers shot directly at him. Markus Naslund gets a rare rush, shoots right at the "B" on the goalie's chest. Same for Nikolai Zherdev in the 3rd. Earlier in the game, Zherdev has a slight 2-on-1, and instead of passing with a 50% chance of scoring, he shoots from a poor angle and reduces his chance of scoring to about 5%.
Remember when Rick DiPietro made 56 saves against the Rangers in March 2007? People hailed DP as incredible, when in fact he only had a 60-second period in which he made great saves. The rest were right at the logo or right at his pads, where a Shooter Tutor could've made the saves. The Rangers do this all the time - take a lot of crappy shots and turn the opposing goalie into an NHL Star of the Night.
"Playing down a man" - To be honest, they were better off without Dmitri Kalinin. Even Wade Redden had a decent game (sans his awful penalty when the Bruin player - I think Phil Kessel - was already past him because of his poor play).
* * *
Some of the post-game talk and nighttime talk centered on calling up Artem Anisimov because he is doing really well in the AHL for Hartford. I'm a big Anisimov fan and have been ever since they drafted him in 2006. He should've been a 1st round pick but teams were afraid he would never come over from Russia. The Rangers took a chance and it will probably pay off.
But will it pay off this year? If he comes up, who does he replace? He could take Aaron Voros's spot, but Voros plays with his heart a lot and I would rather see Petr Prucha in instead of Anisimov.
You can't sit Blair Betts or Fred Sjostrom. They are invaluable penalty killers who rarely make a mistake 5-on-5 either.
Does Colton Orr take a seat? Maybe, as he is the worst technical player on the roster. But then you call up a player from Hartford and give him 7 minutes a night? And you need Orr on the team most nights (he wasn't needed against Boston but would you like to face Philadelphia without him on the ice?).
The real culprits in today's shutout loss were Naslund, Scott Gomez, Zherdev, and Chris Drury, who was nearly invisible all day. They are relied upon for scoring and couldn't break through the defense or take shots that had any intention of going in the net.
If Renney would sit a Top 6 forward for Anisimov, I say bring him up. But don't bring him up to toil for 6 or 8 or 10 minutes a night.
Plus, like I said, Petr Prucha is waiting in the wings.
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