Scanning the headlines
There was no formal pregame access other than random players milling about the hallway.
Ryan Callahan and Dan Girardi again again bearing coffee, albeit this time only for themselves.
Henrik Lundqvist sat alone on the Rangers’ bench before an empty arena.
Jaromir Jagr—he of the fledgling 21st century mullet—worked on his sticks while wearing headphones. Jovial as ever, Jagr spotted linemate Michael Nylander and cracked, “As long as he’s here, I’m OK.”
Beyond that, it seems like the Rangers are just like everyone else in that they just want to get this going. And speaking of which, I spent the afternoon fruitlessly trying to nap to rest up for tonight (seeing how I had another 4 a.m. bell this morning). But even I was too anxious to get much sleep. I’m an impartial observer, mind you, but I’m getting at least the sense that this is going to be a far more compelling series than the first round.
Meanwhile, in perusing the headlines up here, there are some predominant themes, none of which may come as much of a surprise.
But again, no pressure.
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Does Buffalo have anything else going for the city besides their beloved team?
Yeah, the Scott Norwood hall of Fame.
Hey, let’s give credit where credit is due: Buffalo wings are really, really tasty.
Hahaha
I’d take a hefty NY Strip Steak any day over their boney wings-
Sam let them hate Avery for the whole seies.
If the players hate Avery as much as the fans, he will wor as well as we planned
avery has already beaten the sabres in his mind—check out all the nhl websites & newspapers. he’s the center of attention, just what he wants to distract those sabres.
bitten by the typo once again. I should have said “work” instead of “wor”
Avery’s diversion was obviously planned by Rangers MGMT—WELL PLANNED…surprisingly.
Remember the SI article about Dolan…No one craps without asking Jimmy boy permission first.
the guy has a magnetic ablity to annoy , he’s there headache now.
Why do they hate Jagr? He never played there. When he was with the Penguins a few years ago they beat the Sabres in a game seven in the second round,but he didn’t score the game winner Darius Kapararitis did. I guess what everyone on here says about the people in Buffalo is true they’re idiots. The Sabres are a good team ,but they are NOT unbeatable. They are NOT going to beat the Rangers in four. I say Rangers win in seven!! or maybe six!!
Right on Barb!
Barbara a few teams’ fans believe booing Jagr gets him off his game which has been true, but tonight it should pump him up.
I’ve always assumed they boo Jagr because he admitted it gets to him. Although, I’m pretty sure he was only referring to the Pittsburgh crowds booing him (which is also stupid, just for different reasons). Or maybe they boo him for the same reason Ottawa crowds booed Crosby: he’s a good player who doesn’t play for them.
Rangers fans at MSG never boo opposing good players; unless there’s a good reason like the crowd booing Kovalchuk last series.
Real New Yorkers have class.
Buffalonians (only New Yorkers by name) have none-
I hope Avery doesn’t get caught up too much in the Avery-ness of it all. He’s got to do his nasty thing, but he also needs to maintain discipline and make some offense happen.
LET’S GO RANGERS!
the more the chip fans are booing the better.
chris read…http://www.nhl.com/nhl/app/?service=page&page=NewsPage&articleid=300478
bklynblue,
Thanks for the heads up. Everything’s easier said than done. If Buffalo does manage to shut him out of their heads, I hope he doesn’t get too caught up in trying too hard to distract them and lose his own focus. We don’t need penalties. That being said, you got to love this guy.
Hope Hollweg can restrain himself, too. At least, play smart. Not that the Rangers shouldn’t crush guys, but as someone else pointed out, there’s going to be a lot of last second turning of the back at Hollweg.
Valliquette’s still the back-up? That’s gotta be tough for Weekes. I know most people think he sucks, but I don’t. Not that he helped us beat the Sabres earlier this year. Still…Val didn’t look so hot when he was in there.
Come on, Henrik!
Come on, Jags!
Come on, Nylander! North-South, baby!
Let’s go Rangers!
Hopefully a lot more NORTH!!
Let’s Go Rangers!!!!
Ok Everyone, Hopefully heres to a Ranger win!!!!!
LETS GO RANGERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!
chris word on vs is the chips had a meeting about Avery, he’ll find a way to get it done .
Gee, I sure would like to watch the game tonight.
Too bad the NHL put the game on a premium cable channel I don’t get.
Fuck you Versus
Nylander is scruffy …hahaha
HERE WE GO!!!!!! I’m ready LET’S ROLL BOYS!!! THE REAL NY TEAM IS GONNA ROLL!!!!! Henrik, Jags, Shanny, and Sean are gonna show those Snow Shovelers what it’s all about!
Can’t blame VS Jarod – They took hockey when noone else would! ESPN is wishing they had this series
Hollweg & Rachky in
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDjKkMxdLW4 ANYONE who lets their players film this kind of commercial needs to take a long hard lok at their life. Anyone who would be a spokes person for this commercial should reconsider their life
Let’s Go Boys!!!
Beat those Banana Slugs!!
Welcome back Rachunek… nice giveaway.
And Avery takes the first penalty, and it was crap
actually, on second look, it was a good call
Bad penalty. Lame.
Rangers gotta hit the net!
these announcers are garbage. twirly-bird save? top of the umbrella? playing catch with the puck?
yeah, we need Sam and Joe
ehh, maybe not Sam. He needs to retire, his eyes are gone.
OK. Maloney
PW listen to Dave Maloney on the radio, he’s real good.
P.W. – I thought the same until I saw the replay.
Sam, will you be gracing our presence with some in-game blogging tonight?
That’s two color guys. You need a play-by-play. I don’t like Kenny Alberts and I HATE Crispino. My vote is for John Giannone to get the big time promotion.
Giannone is a good guy.
bklyn – I listen to the games on the radio all the time. I often get the Rangers games bumped on MSG in favor of Buffalo games while at school
I’m stuck until 8 reading the feed from NHL.com. I see Avery has taken 3 faceoffs. Is Straka getting chased or is Avery taking them on purpose, and if so, is he going back to the wing afterwards or playing center?
I don’t like the way Beninati says the goalie melts it down when most peoplewould say puck was frozen. Unfortunately, the online radio is at least 10 seconds behind Versus on my TV.
Oh, Malik! Don’t get too cute.
Avery is taking the draws and then moving to wing
Get a real radio.
We cannot take penalties like those last two.
Thanks PW
Doodie – too bad I’m in Pennsylvania!
might as well slam the goalie if they’re going make that call
Hey, you can definitley get the 1050 in Pennsylvania. I get it in Potsdam, which is about 45 minutes from Ottawa.
My condolensces.
Excuse me, but that was a terrible play by Mara; he did slam Miller. Great call.
Glad to see they havn’t come out flat after a long layoff
Ugh… Too many penalties. This should be the one where the Sabres score..
These penalties…3 already…
STOP TAKING PENALTIES!!!!
Looked like a bad call-
Wasn’t a hook
How was that not a penalty on the guy who hit Callahan on the Cullen penalty?
Let me tell you what would really piss Buffalo off: Avery scoring.
Another penalty on the Rangers.
This is not shaping up well at all.
Rangers are a better team, if they stop taking bad penalties they should win.
Rangers outplayed in 1st. only Henrik’s goaltending keeping the game scoreless.
Sam is on the intermission report on 1050
sam’s going to on with dave now on the radio.
>> How was that not a penalty on the guy who hit Callahan on the Cullen penalty?
The guy that got hit wasn’t wearing a Sabres jersey.
sam has been on the radio a lot this week
Callahan actually had his stick stuck in the net, which kind of looked like he was hit.
sam has a face for radio and a voice that squeaks, other than that he’s fine
callahan took a stick to the face, but we wont get any calls…they’ve missed a few interference calls on buffalo already
I am having to watch this on VS…and i dont think there is any more room on the sabres bandwagon. The commentators..the league..the commercials…its killing me jerry.
Sam, nice job on the radio
You’ve got to be f’ing kidding me.
What is up to all of these penalties against the Rangers? Aren’t they suposed to keep it close? The league must really want Buffalo to advance.
Malik is a retard
Do the refs hate Rangers too?
Malik taking a penalty and being out of position. Anything else new? At least the PK’ers are doing their job tonight.
This is ridiculous, i go to school in Buffalo and tried to watch the first period in a public area because we dont get the game on our campus tv. Lets just say I’m now listening to the game in my room because sabres fans are ridiculous! they cheer over everything, even when nothing happens! WHY?
Becuase their lives are pathetic so they need to cheer everything. otherwise, they would just commit mass suicide.
We need shots on goal!
i hear that’s the thing to do these days, so much so one of my fellow students at Potsdam did it yesterday morning.
Buffalo fans need to cheer about everything because they know when it comes down to it, they will choke
Is one or both of the Versus announcers the Sabres television guy? They seem way more enthused by the Sabres than by the Rangers on scoring chances.
Did anyone else see the people in the stands with blue and red pom-poms? I’m all for supporting your team, especially if your team is the Rangers, but in Buffalo? It’s playoff time and those people are crazy. I’d be keeping a low profile.
We need to wake up here-
Stop taking stupid penalties-
Hard enough to beat Miller..no shooting doesn’t help matters-
What happened to Rozsival that he got hurt?
no rosi. that will hurt
Snow shower avery!
That’s not good to hear Rozsival is out. He may not be an oustanding D-man, but having 6 defenders is a helluva lot better than 5.
new post
Rosi hurt his knee it looked like in the 1st.
Seriously, what is up with these announcers? They go into a TIZZY when the Sabres get a chance and when the Rangers get a legitimate scoring chance they calmly announce the game. This is really annoying!
That was a good look by Hossa. Other than that the PP looks like shit. Nice intentional offside by Shanahan. Excellent work.
Hollweg better knock out several Sabres into the next month.
Way too many giveaways and bad penalties. Straka should be better about that especially in the playoffs.
...and it finally costs them.
I CAN’T STAND THESE ANNOUNCERS!!!!! AND THE STUPID SABER FANS!!!!
terrible giveaway and penalty by straka. that goal is on him.
Can they get the mic OFF THE BOARDS? Bad enough we have to listen to these two muppets we have to keep hearing clang clang clang!
Joe Benanati is surprisingly biased in calling this game. Rangers take a shot and he acts like nothing has happened, but when Buffalo so much as shuffles their skates it’s a tremendous play.
shoot me
And they continue to fall apart. Lundy should’ve had that one.
And, my god, who was the defender back there? Marek Malik. So much for his team leading plus-minus. What a bogus goal.
OH MY GOD.. is the really happening??? Is hank sleeping?
i want there to be a brutal fight in which either briere, drury, or miller gets hurt. that could be the only thing to make my day after this game, the way it’s going… and i wish someone would tell the announcers to SHUT UP!
At this rate, Buffalo WILL sweep with four straight shut outs. God damn it, someone wake up this team.