No this was not a scene out of the move "Euro Trip", nor was it a prolonged vacation. This was the brutal beginning to the 2011-2012 hockey season for the New York Rangers. A trip that spanned over 20,000 miles, across 2 continents, measuring almost a month's time, and countless cities. The Rangers finished off their 7 game road trip on Monday night with a victory against the recently renewed Winnipeg Jets.
The Rangers began their long voyage towards the end of September going over to Sweden, Slovakia, Finland, and Switzerland to play preseason games against their European counterparts. The Rangers then had to kick off their 2011-2012 season playing two games against the Los Angeles Kings and Anaheim Ducks. The team then flew back to New York to recuperate for a week and play the Islanders. After completing that game the Rangers then headed all the way out to Western Canada to take on the Vancouver Canucks, Calgary Flames, Edmonton Oilers, and lastly the Winnipeg Jets.
A tough grind that gave the Rangers limited quality practice time, and ample team bonding time is one that the players are happy to see end. Ranger's first year captain Ryan Callahan had this to say, "We know there are a lot of things we need to work on, but at the same time it's been an extremely long month with the trip to Europe and then this one, so we'll gladly take the 3-1 (record)."
Towards the end of the trip the Rangers appeared fatigued during games as well as lacking the chemistry and work ethic we're all accustomed to seeing from them. While it was pretty apparent that the team still has quite a bit to work on, the Rangers did finish the long trip with a 3-2-2 record. Considering how poorly the team played in some games, and the length of time they were away that's a very reasonable number.
Some players were up to the task of the trip however. Henrik Lundqvsit, who some would argue was solely responsible for the team's 2 wins in Vancouver and Calgary played incredible throughout the whole excursion. Defensemen Dan Girardi and Ryan McDonagh both stepped up to fill the missing ice time by injured defensemen Marc Staal and Mike Sauer. McDonagh even contributed offensively netting a couple of assists, a goal in Vancouver, and a game-winning goal in Calagry. Marian Gaborik also appears to have his game back in order as he was flying around the ice and creating plenty of scoring chances, tallying 4 goals early on in the season. Brad Richards also had some bright spots, along with wingman Derek Stepan, but Richards also exhibited some problems with chemistry. Another negative spot was the play of the "pack line" of Ryan Callahan, Brandon Dubinsky, and Artem Anisimov. All 3 players appeared sluggish and lacking of creativity forcing Torts to have to constantly flip lines around to get them going. In order for the Rangers to continue to improve and succeed, it is necessary for the other 3 lines to help produce some offense.
While the Garden was undergoing the first of it's 3 year renovation plan, it forced the Rangers away for that long stretch. Instead of flying out to Western Canada, some would argue it would have been a lot more convenient for the team to play road games against teams like the Flyers, Pens, Devils, Isles, and so forth--thus reducing the intensity of the travel. However, with this long trip over, the Rangers return to play a 6 game homestand that will hopefully rejuvenate the team. With Wojtek Wolski returning for the first time against Winnipeg, and Mike Sauer expected to return on Thursday, hopefully things start to improve for the Rangers.
But with the most difficult part of the schedule over with for the Rangers, things should hopefully get a lot easier from here.
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