Faceoff Factor

Pens Vs Rangers Grades

Mike Adams | Report Cards

Oct 3, 10:56 AM | Hype this story!

They raised the banner
A new season has begun
With a win, how else?

Offense: B

Only some great saves by Henrik Lundqvist kept this one close. They peppered him at times with some quality chances. The one negative was a distinct tendency to want to make one last pretty pass rather than shooting it. Why do I sense this will be a common theme all year?

Defense: B

They allowed two goals, but both were off lucky bounces. Overall, the coverage in front was very good, and there were very few rebounds. They did get caught up ice a couple times, though on Ranger odd-man breaks.

Yeo Play: B

The first one was tremendous, as they kept putting shots toward the goal. That eventually led to Geno’s awesome deflection. But the second one was the polar opposite. They just passed it around the perimeter the whole time, getting no good chances.

Penalty Kill: C

Fleury totally bailed them out with some great netminding. The first kill was excellent, as they kept the Rags at bay. But the next three, they allowed the Rangers to set up and get some good looks. It wasn’t quite as aggressive as they had been at the end of last season.

Goaltending: A-

Great way for Flower to start the season. He was in top form, standing up when necessary and taking away the angles. He was especially good late in the first and in the second, when the Rangers were dominating. You really couldn’t fault him on either goal, as they were both on odd bounces out front.

Overall: A

The banner was raised. That’s all that mattered last night. But they won to put some icing on the cake.

And now, the rest of the story…

Sid: B

He was in early-season form. He did snap in a goal, and he did have the beautiful Savardian spinorama where he almost scored. But his passing just wasn’t quite there.

Geno: C

He scored on the beautiful deflection, but wasn’t as dominant as we often see him.

Jay McKee: A

He didn’t look out of place at all and looked faster than in the preseason. And he blocked three shots.

Mike Rupp: A

He’s going to be a good addition to the fourth line. He’s good along the boards. And…

Craig Adams: A

Great last name. Oh, and he played a great game last night. He’s one of those guys that just brings it every night.

Eric Godard: A

There ain’t many guys that could take that punch from Donald Brashear and end up winning a fight. But Godard did. Props to him.

Alex Goligoski: C

He looked very good offensively. He loves to put the puck at the net, witness the first goal. But he really struggled in his own end at times. I know he’s not going to hit a lot, but he has to be better positionally than what I saw last night. And he had that horrendous giveaway on the PP where he just put the puck in front of Fleury and skated away. What was that all about?

Striped Buffoon Huh? Call of the Game

The whole game was a huh?. Francois St. Laurent was awful last year, but apparently the garage league likes awful and brought him back full time. And they punished Walkom by giving him St. Laurent. It started with a blatant too many men on the Rangers that all four buffoons missed. The Rangers were slashing and hacking with impunity all game long. They even gave the Rangers a goal by ignoring two blatant cross checks that Cooke took, allowing the Rags to go up ice and score. Then Marc Staal punches Sid in the face, but Sid gets called for a slash. It was a truly embarrassing start to the season for the buffoons.

Chris Minard Pass of the Game

Oh, there were so many candidates. But the one that sticks out is Guerin trying to thread the needle on an odd man break. Bill, you are a sniper. Shoot the damn puck.

Free Cookie

He got Michal Rozsival.

Kunikaze

Dan Girardi felt the wrath.

Monk Moment

The banner going up. Chills, chills, and more chills.

A guide to the game grades can be found here.