Friday, December 10, 2010

Two Mediocre Teams Split Home-and-Home

...and no one was surprised. With this season's disappointment in Frolov, and the total lack of Drury and Prospal, it's no surprise that this team is just okay. The Rangers are looking at a king's ransom of second- and third- liners: Christensen, Avery, Dubinsky, Callahan, Anisimov, Boyle, Prust, and Fedotenko. If we call Gaborik a definite first-liner and Boogaard a definite fourth-liner, that leaves us with Frolov, Stepan, and Todd Freakin' White to fill in the gaps. This is not the world's most elite collection of parts. So, no one should be surprised that we're a middle-of-the-pack team.

Last night was once again the kind of win which people call "sloppy," "unlikely," "grinding," and "far from perfect." No surprises. We responded very quickly each time Ottawa took the lead (1:46 the first time, 1:09 the second time) until entering the third period down 3-2 and scoring 3 goals in the final period to win 5-3. The Rangers once again battled back and grinded out a win. This is all starting to sound familiar.

Which is not really a reason to despair. We have these parts, and we're using them to pretty good effect. Make no mistake: this season's middle-of-the-pack squad is a lot more fun to watch and a lot easier to have faith in than last season's. I don't know why, but I feel like, when we lose, it's not usually because we should have won and got lazy. So, things are looking up? Plus, at least we're not the Devils or the Islanders.

With that said, I am having some trouble wrapping my head around Coach Tortorella's "Lines? Lines?!? We don't need no stinkin' lines!!" policy. I'm all for a policy of line rotation, but having a bunch of second- and third-liners is no excuse to just assemble them differently every 3 days. There's a balance to be struck between giving everyone a shot to perform and giving lines a chance to gel and find some chemistry. I sometimes wonder if Torts believes in the latter at all.

A few nights ago, when preparing to play the Ottawa Senators, Erik Christensen and Sean Avery were the best forwards available to sit on the top line with superstar Marian Gaborik. Meanwhile, Artem Anisimov was punished onto the fourth line with a slumping Alex Frolov, and Derek Stepan took his place keying Dubi and Cally, leaving Ruslan Fedotenko to play with Boyle and Prust.

Last night, zero injuries or forward substitutions later, when preparing to play the Ottawa Senators, Erik Christensen and Sean Avery were the bottom-ranked forwards available, placed on the 4th line with big punchin'-guy Derek Boogaard. Meanwhile, Stepan and Fedotenko were the best forwards available to sit on the top line with superstar Marian Gaborik, which left room for Anisimov to come back from his punishment and key Dubi and Cally, leaving a slumping Frolov to play with Boyle and Prust.

That, to me, is not a little bit of rotation to shake things up. That, to me, is some epic shifting. Though this be madness, I've been trying to find some method in't. One theory I've come up with is that because Torts has absolutely no idea what he is supposed to do with this Boogaard fellow (whose shoulder, not his broken nose, kept him out after last night's fight with blood-flicker Matt Carkner), so he tends to use Boogaard's fourth-line wing spot as a place to double-shift Gaborik. Did you notice that the left-handed Boogaard, who played left wing his entire pre-Ranger career, is now suddenly a right wing? Yeah, well this would explain that. It would also explain why the same pair of linemates that belonged on the first line against the Senators Sunday belong on the fourth line against the Senators Thursday. I seriously think this explains some things, strange/sad as it is.

That said, it doesn't explain everything. There's still a crazy amount of line-shifting going on, including (by the stopped-clock principle) the line I've been begging to see for a while now, Avery-Boyle-Prust at practice on Tuesday morning. I just wonder if, now that it's December, it might make sense to just stick some lines together and let them gel for a bit? It seems like Torts would rather just keep developing individuals and not line units, and I wonder if that's not gonna hurt us in the long run.

Nutting up (with the alternative, shutting up, being undesirable to me), what would I do? Assuming we can't have Drury or Prospal back any time soon, I would probably use last night's lines, with a slight modification, and see what sticks. I'd like to see Dubinsky-Anisimov-Callahan and Avery-Boyle-Prust as the two core lines. Most of the time, I'd like to see them together. I'd also give Stepan a meaningful chance to pivot Gaborik - they've both got talent, but neither has found long-term chemistry with anyone, which at least Gaborik has mentioned. If we keep calling Stepan the team's "most creative playmaking center," which we do, let's let these two guys stay together.

That leaves Fedotenko, Christensen, Frolov, and White dangling (assuming Boogaard belongs on the fourth line). I'd alternate Fedotenko and Frolov as first line/fourth line winger, which gives them each incentive to outplay the other. Fedotenko's been good but not great no matter where we put him, and I'd like to see what he can do consistently with Stepan and Gaborik. That first line left wing spot has been Frolov's to lose, and he's done a good job of losing it so far. This is his opportunity to earn it back, and if he doesn't, he's done here anyway. Maybe Fedo picks up his game a lot. And if neither works out, what a good place for Prospal to return. Christensen clearly deserves a roster spot more than White right now, but maybe let them battle each other a little, too. Again, if neither works out, Drury comes back.

So, there. That's what I would do. But they never ask me. And, to be honest, it's hard to totally argue with what appears to be modest success. Yeah, we haven't played amazing teams lately, and all our wins seem to be chippy and hang by a thread, and we're only two points into the playoffs. But let's be honest: with two of our better forwards out (all season so far, no less) - with the cast of second- and third-liners listed above - we've won 3 of our last 4, 5 of our last 7, 7 of our last 10, and 10 of our last 15, dating back a month. Also that's a really nice pattern of triangular numbers.

So, we may not have a Sidney Crosby scoring 80 bagrillion goals a week, but we're not doing so badly for ourselves, either. And, as I said earlier, at least we're not the Devils or the Islanders. This weekend, we're in Columbus Saturday night, then back home against the Capitals Sunday night. This season, in games played the night after we played another game, we're 7-0. Think that streak can continue against Ovechkin and friends?

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