Breakaway Takeaways – December 11th

[custom_headline type=”left” level=”h4″ looks_like=”h4″ accent=”true” id=”” class=”” style=””]Hockey: The Great Escape from the Craziness that is Life[/custom_headline][text_output]Here is a little peak behind the curtain on this piece. Usually on Sunday I will message Greg and the other contributors to this piece to see what everyone was planning out writing about to avoid redundancy. I then come up with a takeaway I had from the week that isn’t already being covered, and I write about it Sunday night or first thing Monday morning. This week, I was planning doing a deep dive on how the Devils game served as a perfect example of the importance of expected goals. However, due to the events that impacted my commute this morning, I couldn’t bring myself to act like it really mattered, not on this morning at least.

I commute into Manhattan from New Jersey via the bus, which drops me off at Port Authority Bus Terminal every morning. By now I’m sure you all heard that there was a bomb that went off near Port Authority. At the time I am writing this (about 8:45 am), it is being reported that the bomb went off near the entrance of the A,C,E line in the Port Authority subway station, and that it was only a partial discharge and that it went off prematurely. Thankfully, the dumb piece of shit carrying the bomb is in fact, a dumb piece of shit, and it went off in a far less crowded area than wherever was his intention. Please keep in mind that I am writing this as news is breaking, so apologies if any of this ends up being incorrect.

As of now, the reports are that the dumb piece of shit is severely injured, and that two civilians sustained injuries that “are deemed not life threatening.” Thoughts out to the injured individuals, and let’s all wish them speedy recoveries.

I got off my bus just before 8 am, about 15 minutes or so after the explosion. Immediately when I got off the bus I knew something was wrong; the upper level of port authority was eerily quiet, and there was a heavier police presence than normal. The police instructed us to quickly move downstairs, where I find A TON more police officers, military guards and federal agents, most of which were armored and heavily armed. I then get outside and witness a sea of flashing lights—ambulances, police cars, undercover cars, firetrucks—as well as a media hoard gathering across the street. At this moment I realize something significant clearly happened, and this was not the usual scare that I’m used to dealing with as someone that commutes into Port Authority and works in a building connected to Grand Central. My mind starts to race, and all I can think is, “I hope everyone is alright.”

[/text_output][image type=”circle” float=”none” src=”1154″ alt=”” href=”” title=”” info_content=”” lightbox_caption=”” id=”” class=”aligncenter” style=””][text_output]I get across the street and make it to an area that isn’t completely overrun by emergency responders, media and gawkers. I pull out my phone and checked Twitter. My heart sinks as I see the top trends include “Port Authority,” “Times Square,” and “42^nd Street,” and that the first tweet I see is referencing an explosion “in or near Port Authority.” Miraculously though, I see that, at the time at least, they were reporting that there were no “life threatening injuries or fatalities.” The text messages from family start to stream in making sure I am alright, and I respond to those and preemptively text my wife to let her know that I’m fine.

This is a very long-winded way of getting me to my point, which is that hockey serves as a fantastic distraction from all the craziness that is the world today. The fact that I’m sitting here right now, writing for a hockey blog but also venting about my morning, is a small microcosm of the wonderful escape that is hockey, and all sports for that matter. I am blessed to have a wonderful family and group of friends, and I am thankful that we live in a society that, while it certainly has its serious issues, also provides us with the brilliant escape from every day life that is hockey. So I just want to take this moment to say that I greatly appreciate each and every one of you reading this article, and who not only support Blueshirts Breakaway, but support the Rangers and the great sport of hockey. You are all the best, and I look forward to rooting on the Rangers with all of you for the rest of my life.

Let’s go Rangers!

-Drew Way[/text_output][image type=”thumbnail” float=”none” src=”1155″ alt=”” href=”” title=”” info_content=”” lightbox_caption=”” id=”” class=”aligncenter” style=””][custom_headline type=”left” level=”h4″ looks_like=”h4″ accent=”true” id=”” class=”” style=””]Protecting Lundqvist[/custom_headline][text_output]There are times where I feel like I break out a menu and pick a new complaint du jour when it comes to my relationship with Alain Vigneault.

I find myself getting so angry with his decision-making process on such a regular basis that I actually wonder if I’ve put myself in a warped reality. Have I hit rock bottom with AV? Have I been too hard on him? Am I just yelling for the sake of yelling?

But then, I “enjoy” a moment of clarity and quickly snap back into this crazy world we live in and realize I’m not being crazy at all.

I’m just trying to confront a world in which the coach of my favorite team is incompetent.[/text_output][image type=”circle” float=”none” src=”1150″ alt=”” href=”” title=”” info_content=”” lightbox_caption=”” id=”” class=”aligncenter” style=””][text_output]We talked about this on last week’s podcast, but the Rangers are entering what feels like a critical stretch in their schedule. They’re coming off a road-to-home back-to-back with the Capitals and Devils, and now will play four games in the next week.

The way Henrik Lundqvist has been deployed leading up to this run of games and playing Lundqvist in both ends of the home and home is ridiculous.

Henrik Lundqvist has played in 25 of the Rangers first 29 games, which puts him on pace to play in 70 games this season, something he hasn’t done since the 2009-10 season. While Hank has been stellar, especially since his rough opening stretch to begin the season, his current usage rate is simply unsustainable.

And that’s a massive problem, for a couple of reasons.

First, no player is more important to the Rangers team success than Lundqvist. The defense has not played well enough to prop up a replacement-level goaltender should Hank be forced out of the line-up to injury. As important as players like Ryan McDonagh and Mika Zibanejad are to the Rangers, this team has proven they can absorb those blows in small doses. Losing Hank for any period of time is a crippling blow, and one that would likely send the season off the rail.

Second, because Lundqvist is so important to the Rangers success, you want him healthy and with a full tank of gas when the games become critical. Was Saturday’s game against the Devils important? Sure, and two points are two points whether they come in October, December or March.

However, if you were to use that principle for all Rangers games, there wouldn’t be a single time you’d feel “comfortable” taking Lundqvist out of the line-up, which nullifies that entire thought process. You have to keep your 35-year old star rested and fresh, and you have to be able to find games to do that.

The Rangers knew what their schedule was going to be this summer. They knew they were going to have this run of games in mid-December against divisional opponents and historically strong teams. These games should not have come as a surprise to them.

For this coaching staff to not be able to identify games to give starts to Ondrej Pavelec is embarrassing. And for this coaching staff not to give Pavelec a start this weekend against the Devils after a 40+ save performance (in a win) against the Pittsburgh Penguins is flat out discouraging.

You have to keep Henrik Lundqvist healthy. The best way to keep your starting goaltender healthy is by finding him games he can get a rest, especially on the back end of back-to-backs.

The fact that the Rangers coaching staff has failed to do this to start the season is a perfectly justifiable reason to be angry at them.

The real question is: how many perfectly justifiable reasons to be angry at a coaching staff do you need before somebody makes a change?

-Greg Kaplan[/text_output][custom_headline type=”left” level=”h4″ looks_like=”h4″ accent=”true” id=”” class=”” style=””]What is with this Metro Division!?[/custom_headline][text_output]I think the best way to describe this last week or so of games is…pressure cooker. With how tight the Metropolitan race has been, it was essential the Rangers be able to gain as many points possible. However, this would be without their number one center, Mika Zibanejad (concussion), and the week would also begin without their starting goalie, Henrik Lundqvist (flu). To top it all off, every matchup would be up against a divisional rival, all of which are in the thick of the Playoff race; the Pittsburgh Penguins, the Washington Capitals, and the New Jersey Devils. Like I said, pressure cooker.

The Rangers managed to come out with four of six possible points, leaving them still peaking outside of a wildcard spot.

To show how crazy this divisional race has been, I’ve made a little graph of the last week of games spanning between December 3^rd – 10^th (below) As you might see on sites like NHL.com, standings are typically laid out as seeds numbers 1 through 8. Although this gives you a great idea of what potential matchups might be like, you can further appreciate (or stress over!) how nuts divisional races are, if you visualize this in just a slightly different way.[/text_output][image type=”thumbnail” float=”none” src=”1160″ alt=”” href=”” title=”” info_content=”” lightbox_caption=”” id=”” class=”aligncenter” style=””][text_output]Compared are the points of every team over this last week, with the Rangers in blue/marked with the shield. Above the Rangers are the five teams in a Playoff spot, which includes Columbus, Washington, New Jersey, NY Islanders, and Pittsburgh. In contrast, below the Rangers are Carolina and Philadelphia. With how I’ve outlined it, you can now see how teams have done over the last week, as well, how they compare to each other.

Here are a few things to consider:

• You realize just how close this Playoff race is; throughout this week, Playoff teams were never by no more than 3-4 points. Take a look at Dec. 7^th (black arrow). There were four teams all tied at 35 points; New Jersey holding first place with only one more point at 36! But with one win, both Columbus and Washington propelled forward. It’s gotten to the point where seed doesn’t even matter, as single wins can dictate teams jumping from wild card spots to #1, then back again.
• The Rangers trend can be seen…alone ☹. Kidding. Look at Dec. 9th, though. You can appreciate just how essential the win against New Jersey was, as well as the losses by the NY Islanders and Pittsburgh. When it looked like the Rangers might possibly pull away, they find themselves just a single point behind Pittsburgh.
• It’s also understood that this excludes the differences in numbers of games played. Although the Rangers have a couple of games at hand over some other teams, it’s never a guaranteed advantage. Ultimately, at the end of the year, every team is going to play a full 82.

Overall, it’s crazy. Right now, any team within a Playoff spot just needs points. The Rangers? They just need points. I also wonder if this might be a time where the games in the beginning of the year do actually matter. Either way, the Rangers, amidst all the other Metropolitan teams, find themselves clawing for any type of win if Playoffs remain a hope. The next stretch of games will be incredibly interesting to watch.

P.S. Might we have gotten a taste of a potential Playoff matchup this week? Rangers-Pens, Rangers-Caps, or Rangers-Devils. Hmm…

-Keetner[/text_output]