Are the Rangers in Trouble?

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The answer to that question is a resounding no.

At 3-3-3, the New York Rangers certainly have not played their best in this young season and at the same time, have yet to click on all levels. That is the good thing.

The bad thing is that the way has played in their last two games against the Toronto Maple Leafs and Ottawa Senators, both losses at Madison Square Garden. Their play in the third period in both games is also alarming.

In their loss to the Senators on Saturday afternoon at MSG, the team blew a 4-1 lead in the third period and lost 5-4 in the shootout. In a game that the team scores four goals, gets solid performances from both Brad Richards and Marian Gaborik and is at home, it should have been a Rangers? victory.

Unfortunately for the Blueshirts, they got sloppy, rested on their laurels and allowed the Senators to get back into the hockey game by taking undisciplined penalties, something team head coach John Tortorella still has to work on with the team.

Speaking of Tortorella, based on the team?s last two games, it would appear that he is not comfortable with how the team?s offensive lines are. There has been a lot of mixing and juggling going on, which does not allow players to really gel with each other and get any kind of chemistry going.

The team is also missing a spark. The Rangers seem to agree as they placed pest Sean Avery on re-entry waivers. Assuming he does not get claimed by another NHL team, there is a chance he could be back in a Rangers? uniform in the very near future.

Things will not get any easier for the Blueshirts this week. The club first take on a red hot San Jose Sharks tonight followed by games against the Anaheim Ducks, Montreal Canadiens and Winnipeg Jets as the team?s homestand continues.

It is just a bit too early to hit the panic button. With that said, however, the team needs to get it going on home ice and that needs to happen this week.

 

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How 5-0 Run Since Havlat?s Return Reveals Sharks? Biggest Weakness



After a lackluster start to the season saw San Jose go 1-3, there was at least tepid concern in Sharkland over the team?s mediocre play. To be sure, any levelheaded fan would have paid heed to the obvious caveats:

Four games is far too small a sample size to get worked up about ? Absolutely true.
Everything gets blown out of proportion at the start of the year ? Again, no argument.
A team that leads the league in shot differential is mostly just unlucky to find itself with a losing record ? On this one I might make an argument about the quality of those shots, but the point is still a valid one.
Still, at that moment, after all the offseaon talk about getting off to a hot start and putting points in the bank, the Sharks had been defeated three games in a row and had scored just four goals in the process. And now they were looking down the nose of a precarious six-game road trip.

Enter Martin Havlat.


The highly skilled forward made his Sharks debut against the New Jersey Devils on the first game of the trip, and the Sharks snapped their losing streak with a 4-3 come-from-behind shootout victory.
Havlat jumped right onto the second line with Logan Couture and Ryane Clowe, who up to that point had been off to somewhat sluggish starts themselves. Since then, Havlat and Clowe each have five points over five games, and Couture is right behind them with four.
Good news right?
Well yeah, of course? Havlat has been an immediate difference maker, has made a significant impact on the second line, and is even on a better point per game pace than (the player he was traded for in the person of) Dany Heatley, despite averaging 4 1/2 fewer minutes played per game, significantly less power play time, and earning a contract that costs 2.5 million dollars less against the cap.
And yeah, through five games, he?s undefeated as a Shark.
On the other hand, these results also suggest that the loudest critiques of San Jose?s depth chart entering this season have some merit: The Sharks lack scoring depth beyond their top six forwards.
Which is to say, so long as their top six forwards stay healthy, the Sharks have one of the best and most well balanced line-ups in the NHL. But whereas the current roster could probably sustain an injury or two the D-corps or the bottom six forwards and keep on trucking, the same cannot be said for the scoring lines.
Not when the top options for fill-in duty are Benn Ferriero, Tommy Wingels, or Torrey Mitchell.
However, thanks to some shrewd financial moves this offseason (the Havlat for Heatley swap chief among them) Doug Wilson has a little bit of wiggle room under the salary cap for the first time in recent memory. That means he should be able to add a piece to the puzzle come trade deadline time, and can do so without giving up any roster players in return.
While some might be reticent to see the Sharks already depleted farm system take another hit, the fact is that San Jose?s window is starting to close, and that this core of players may never have a better shot at the cup than they do right now.
So the question wouldn?t seem to be if, but rather who does Wilson target, and when. Ideally, it would be a veteran two-way forward who can kill penalties, and who can also chip in with some scoring pop on the top two lines if called upon.
It is a bit hard to speculate who the Sharks might go after without knowing who will or won?t be in contention come February.

 

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Biron in net tonight vs. Sharks; Anisimov OK





Marty Biron will make his second start; he made 27 saves in beating Winnipeg on the road trip. He also had relieved Lundqvist for the final 9:42 in Edmonton, when Lundqvist left with pain his his left foot from a skate issue.
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Artem Anisimov, who saw limited action after a second period hit against the Senators, practiced and said he was good to go tonight.