That was ugly. What am I referring to? With regards to last night's flop in the phone booth against the Rangers, I'm talking about the defense, the powerplay, the third period goaltending, and the third and fourth lines. That game was one that just made you want to scream, because you know your team was outworked, even if they were the more talented group on the ice. I'm sure that's how Pittsburghers felt the other night when they were blanked by the Coyotes at home. In fairness to the Rags, they're not Phoenix, and Marian Gaborik (when healthy) can be an impressive scoring winger, but the Rangers should have never been in the game. The powerplay decided to take up passing drills rather than putting pucks on net, and Boyd Gordon committed another offensive zone penalty to cost the home team the game. Jose Theodore looked overmatched in the third, and I'm not so sure we won't see Neuvirth called up if Varly struggles against Detroit (assuming he plays). Here are the few things I actually liked about last night:- Brian Pothier needs to stop gracing the press box with his presence. That was a beautiful pass to Semin for goal number one.
- Brendan Morrison seemed to everything right but score a goal. He was really flying around, and seems to be at 100%.
- Knuble looked very good with the first powerplay unit when he was given the opportunity, offering a "big time screen" and net presence according to Beninati.
Three bullets...that's weak. Back to the drawing board. Bruce needs to fire up his team if they want to take a point out of Detroit on Saturday...they won't do it with another effort like that.
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