Deprecated: Automatic conversion of false to array is deprecated in /var/www/hockeybuzz.com/classes/clsBlog.php on line 243 HockeyBuzz.com - Jan Levine - Good vibes from Thursday's win vanish in 7-4 loss to the Capitals
The good vibes from Thursday's win against Boston ended quickly Saturday. After a solid first period, the Rangers faltered in the second and third, as we have seen too often this season. A questionable overturned goal certainly didn't help matters, but that wasn't the sole reason why the Blueshirts lost. New York takes on Chicago in the Windy City on Sunday.
A few thoughts:
1) Overall - the main difference between the first and latter two periods was the level of forecheck in the initial 20 minutes. New York hounded Washington consistently, creating chances and limiting the Caps' opportunities. Following the first intermission, it's almost like the switch flipped and the Blueshirts reverted to bad habits, allowing the Caps to carry play and force the action, If the team could find a way to bottle the effort from the initial stanza and sprinkle it on the team before every period we might have something.
2) Overturned goal - the intention of the replay rule was to reverse blatant miscalls like Jim Joyce and the im-perfect game, not to require a Zapruder like frame by frame review. That's almost what we received on Saturday. In addition, allowing a team to take a timeout to buy more time to determine if they want to challenge also is a bastardization of the rules. Require coaches have a limited period of time, like in baseball, to decide if they want to challenge. In addition, give at most 60 seconds for a ruling to be made, If you require more than that, the call on the ice stands. The overturned call didn't determine the win or loss but it certainly played a key role, though it is amazing that the officials also missed the high stick to Ryan Lindgren on the play.
3) Mika Zibanejad - if there was a positive to take out of the game, it's that Zib has scored in back to back games. That isn't the full story as he has been much more aggressive since the calendar flipped to 2025 than we saw the last two months of 2024. Chris Kreider also had a solid goal off a turnover, shooting and not hesitating. But the offense was stagnant. In addition, the forwards did a lousy job of helping the defense in their own zone and through the neutral zone.
4) The blueline remains a mess. Lindgren still is scuffling as is K'Andre Miller. I wonder if Peter Laviolette and Phil Housley will try Urho Vaakanainen with Adam Fox to see if maybe that pair might work. The current pairs are not working well enough that a mix and match is not worth a look. Could Zac Jones be freed tomorrow?
5) World Junior Championship - Team US defeated Czechia 4-1 on Saturday to advance to the Gold Medal game Sunday versus Finland. Gabe Perreault was brilliant again with a goal and an assist. Drew Fortescue continues to be solid in his own zone, as he has been all tournament.
New York Rangers Blogger • 
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