Big news coming out of tonight's game...Stephen Valiquette gets the start. What does this mean for the Rangers? Well, it's hard to say. The trend appears to be that when Valiquette plays, the game tends to be low scoring. Why? Because the Rangers collapse around their own net. Vally's presence in the goal always seems to mark an extremely noticeable shift in the Rangers' play. Overall the team tends to play a neutral zone game, with few offensive and defensive zone risks. We tend to see fewer odd man rushes for and against. While Vally's presence forces the players to play conservatively on the offensive end, it does inspire a high level of defensive accountibility.
I think this could end up being a good thing for this team. The Flyers play a very wide open style of hockey and the chances of the Rangers winning a 7-8+ goal are very unlikely. A goal here, a goal there, and shutdown D might be this team's best chance at a win.
If the Rangers are willing to play a defensively tight, low scoring game they will HAVE TO come through on the powerplay. What we saw on Tuesday night was nice but that was 4 on 3. The Rangers need 3-4 high pressure 5 on 4 powerplays to score the goals they will need to win this game. Que up Shanny, Jagr, Drury (the usual suspects) to come through. Jags always seems to light up Philly so we'll see what happens.
Btw, has anyone seen Scott Hartnell's line in the past 10 games. 17 points in that span is impressive but 5 GWG!!! is ridiculous. Got to be careful of this guy as well as the rest of the Philly powerplay, ranked #1 in the league right now. Easy solution, don't take any penalties. Easy enough right?
Let's Go Rangers!
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