Game 32 Sabres vs. Rangers

Take care of business.

Lafreniere has picked up more than a couple steps on his skating this year

When Ryan Lindgren scores, you must win the game

Cuylle might have deflected that

The dreaded two goal lead is gone as it’s 2-2.

This team is such trash. This record is so misleading. Not sure why this franchise has hard-on for Schneider

Here we go again with the one goal lead headed to the 3rd.

Those uniforms suck. What kind of dumbasses do they hire to create these things?

Yeah, not a fan of those at all. The best alternates they had were the off color cream WC ones with the crest.

Guys will stop challenging cuyyle shortly. Kid can handle himself with his fists. Hate game like this where rangers should be up 2 or 3 goals and instead have to sweat out a 3rd period

Too much with the Zib one-timers still.

lol Schneider is a disgrace

This feels like an end of game fuck up coming.

Kreids!!!!!
Take the win

That was a very entertaining game. Merry Christmas!

Trocheck sucked tonight a rare bad game from him. it’s amazing how many points Lafreniere should’ve had this season that he didn’t get.

lol Trocheck did not suck. He wasn’t great but he did not suck. Schneider is the guy who sucked the most

Schneider has potential but he's been below average this year.

I feel like he was rushed. They should've kept him in AHL for another year.

Schneider needs to play more physical. However, he doesn’t play enough minutes he only played about 10 minutes tonight. He needs to play with more of an edge.

Stepupstepan said:

I feel like he was rushed. They should've kept him in AHL for another year.

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I don't know, i think it's like dump said, he needs to play with the edge he had when he came up. Did score a big goal the other night.

The expectation of Schneider was a big physical kid, and I haven't seen much of that physical play. I also think he has struggled, and it is hard to argue that point. With that all said, the kid is 22, and is playing 15 mpg on one of the best teams in the NHL, so we need to have patience, and understand it is a work in progress. Big picture I expect he'll be good, needs to get that physical element back as mentioned and I expect he will. In the here and now, hard to say he hasn't been the Rangers "worst" dman of their regular 6 this season. I am hopeful he'll improve as the season progresses.

As for the team, have to like where they are at. I know it gets missed sometimes in here, but both teams get paid to play and win games. The Rangers have had some downs, but all teams do. Boston has lost 4 straight, Colorado is 6-4 in their last 10 games, Vegas is 5-4-1 in their last 10. The NHL season is a long marathon, and you will have games where you don't have it. That's reality despite some thinking the Rangers need to be perfect every game, or acting as if the sky is falling when they lose a game or two.

Are they the best team in the NHL, I'd say no, but they are in the conversation, and certainly near the top. To me if they can get Chytil and Kakko back at some point, Drury should target some size and grit needed for a long playoff run at the trade DL. I don't think we need more skill if those guys come back, I think he should focus on playoff grit and a physical element. If you add that, I think we are as legit as any team to make a run and remember in the NHL playoffs you could also lose in round 1 no matter how good your team is, so it's always a crap shoot in this sport.

Vinnie had another dominant faceoff night while Schneider channeled his inner Marc Staal and observed 3 Sabre goals while on ice for 11 minutes, he's now a -6 on the season. Lopsided suckiness advantage to Braden but more importantly it's another win for the Blue Shirts. The Rangers have been a great regular season team the last 3 years but when the physicality of post season starts they have withered, Chytil and Kakko are not resilient enough. The older generation of hockey players talks about guys not knowing how to take a body check, Filip and Kappo fall in that category.

Schneider will figure it out. There is where Trouba needs to lead and start to tell him to play like he does. A lot of Trouba's success simply comes from the fact that players are afraid to enter the zone with speed.