Rangers Report Blog

That’s a line from Blazing Saddles, by the way.

Sigh, I have to work today, on this beautiful, sunny, warm spring day that was made with Mr. Titleist in mind. Oh well, there will be others. I can rest in the comfort that the Rangers are enjoying themselves on golf courses. PS, a friend of mine played locally with Colton Orr the other day.
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Some rollicking start to the conference semifinals, or as they used to be called, the Stanley Cup quarterfinals. (Versus’ promotional ad calls them the Stanley Cup semifinals, and points out that eight teams start and only four survive; duh, how could it be semifinals with eight teams?).

I digress. I thought that was a fabulous game last night, though I didn’t see the whole thing, and you gotta just love all the goals being scored in these playoffs, and that games aren’t over when a team scores first, and they aren’t over when a team leads in the third period.

A friend sent me this photo: a stop sign spotted in Washington, D.C.
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One downside I forgot to mention about Washington’s ouster. Beninati is now available to do Versus games. Ugh. Tallies, helpers, stanzas, campaigns, twine, etc. “On Versus” every five seconds. Too bad.
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Finally, it’s official: The winner of “the inaugural Olli Jokinen Five-Hole/Beat the Blogfather Extravaganza and Picnic” is True Fans Bleed RW&B. Most of you have congratulated him already. Those who haven’t should. He very nearly went 8-for-8, but was upset by Halak and Co. in Game 7.

And for those who asked what the prize is for correctly picking the next round … I’ll happily mention you in the blog. I would imagine we’d have to have tiebreakers since there are only four series. The first will be the number of games in the Pitt-Montreal series, next the number of games in Boston-Philthy, then Detroit-San Jose, then Vancouver-Chicago.
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This announcement just in from USA Hockey.

That among the players added to its World Championship tournament roster, from teams just eliminated from the Stanley Cup playoffs is:

“Chris Kreider (Boxford, Mass./Boston College), who helped the U.S. to the gold medal at the 2010 IIHF World Junior Championship, will make his first U.S. Men’s National Team appearance.”
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Looks to me like Bonehead True Fans Bleed RW&B, who picked seven of eight first-round series correctly, is the winner of “the inaugural Olli Jokinen Five-Hole/Beat the Blogfather Extravaganza and Picnic” and the book “100 Ranger Greats” unless somebody else comes up with another 7 for 8. I did a quick check yesterday, at which point True Fans was the only one with seven wins, so unless somebody had six and Montreal last night, True Fans is the champ.

So last call for any others, though I don’t think there are any others.
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Just for fun, does anybody want to try picking the next round?

Here are mine:
Penguins over Habs in four.
Bruins over Flyers in seven.
Sharks over Red Wings in seven.
Blackhawks over Canucks in six.
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AFTERNOON UPDATE, 4:40 P.M.: Also, Mark Messier added Michael Del Zotto to his young Canadian team.
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First of all, I was just imagining what our beards might look like by now, had the Rangers, you know, won the skills competition in Philly, gotten the No. 8 seed and done to Washington what Montreal just did.

But the Festivus/Paul Mara Memorial Playoff Beard Extravaganza and Picnic had to be scrapped in favor of the Olli Jokinen Five-Hole/Beat the Blogfather Extravaganza and Picnic. Well, Yours Truly went 6-2, missing out on the Capitals and the Devils.

So, who won?

I am counting on you Boneheads to tally up your own scores for the first round and tell me (I will go back and check the winning claim or claims, so don’t pull any carcillo). Did anybody go 8 f0r 8 (yeah, right). OK, did anybody go 7 for 8? Let me know today, asap.

Winner gets a copy of the book “100 Ranger Greats” as promised.
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As you know by now, the Habs became the first No.8 seed to come back from a 3-1 deficit to win a series … ever. Don’t know if you also know this: 22 times teams have come back from 3-1 to win playoff series, and the Capitals have been involved in six of those now, winning two (including last spring’s Mara Beard Extravaganza ender) and being eliminated four times by blowing leads of 3-1.

So, who’s happiest today? Montreal fans? The Penguins? The Orioles? Who’s saddest? NHL HQ, Versus, NBC?

Another point that crossed my peabrain last night was the “elite goalie” theory. So far, Brian Boucher (who beat Henrik Lundqvist in Game 82 and the skills competition) has defeated Martin Brodeur; the Rask kid in Boston beat Ryan Miller; and Jaroslav Halak, who wasn’t even the No. 1 goalie on his team, shut down the Presidents’ Trophy winning, highest-scoring team in the NHL.

The West semifinals begin—already!—tonight. Those ought to be wars.
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Some interesting first-round notes courtesy of the NHL:

• Road teams won 27 games (27-22), the most ever in the first round. Three series tied the NHL playoff record for most road wins (five, Montreal vs. Washington; Pittsburgh vs. Ottawa and Detroit vs. Phoenix). The Boston Bruins were the only of the eight advancing clubs to clinch the series on home ice.
• There were comebacks galore: the winning team in 24 of the 49 games trailed at some point in the contest. Five teams won after trailing by two or more goals. A club trailing in the third period came back to win nine times.
• Teams combined to score an average of 5.90 goals per game, the highest for an opening round since 1996 and a 36% increase over 2004 (4.34), the last playoff year before the adoption of several rule changes designed to limit obstruction. The first-round scoring average also topped that of the 2009-10 regular season (5.53), marking the first time that’s happened since 1994-95.
• Twelve of the 49 games were decided in overtime, the most in opening-round play since 2001 (14). Seven of the eight series had at least one game extend to overtime.
• Scoring the game’s first goal wasn’t as much an advantage as advertised. The teams scoring first lost five of the six games in the Vancouver Canucks-Los Angeles Kings series (VAN 1-2, LA 0-3). The Buffalo Sabres opened the scoring five times against the Boston Bruins, but went 2-3 in those games.
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  AFTERNOON UPDATE, 12:26 P.M.: Hart Trophy (MVP) finalists also happen to be the top three scorers in the NHL this season: Sidney Crosby, Alex Ovechkin and Henrik Sedin. See the NHL.com story here.

Washington is playing a Game 7 for the fourth consecutive series—all of those at home:

2008: Lost to Philadelphia, 3-2.
2009: Beat the Rangers, 2-1.
2009: Lost to Pittsburgh, 6-2.

It still strikes me as incredible that those rag-tag Rangers had a 3-1 series lead on the Caps and were in the game in Game 7 with a chance to advance. I’m not sure these Canadiens are any better, and this time the tables are turned … the Habs having trailed 3-1 in games.

As for Montreal, since 1971,when it beat Chicago to win the Stanley Cup in a Game 7, all of the Habs Game 7s have been against Boston. Until tonight.
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Last night’s Game 7 turned out to be a dud. Kind of reminded me of the Rangers-Devils Game 7 in 1992, after their brawl at the end of Game 6. Total letdown. But does anybody want to play the Red Wings now? San Jose sure doesn’t. But has no choice.
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AFTERNOON UPDATE, 2:40 P.M. (and fairly late): Jack Adams Trophy finalists (coach of the year, voted on by the broadcasters): Joe Sacco, Barry Trotz and Dave Tippett.

So, to sum up the Leastern playoffs:

No. 1 Washington is in a Game 7 tomorrow against lowly Montreal.

No. 2 New Jersey is out.

No. 3 Buffalo is out.

No. 4 Pittsburgh—which happens to be the defending Stanley Cup champion—is in the next round.

No. 9 Rangers are playing golf, and have been for weeks (I actually saw Vinny Prospal on a practice green last week).

In other words, pending Game 7, Pittsburgh could be the highest seed remaining in the next round, and the other conference semi could then feature the No. 6 (Boston) vs. No. 7 (Philly) teams, with No. 6 having home-ice.

Though I expect Washington to get it together and win Game 7 at home.
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Tonight is Game 7 in the West, Detroit at Phoenix, 9 p.m. Even coming down the homestretch, everybody thought these were the two most interesting teams in the tournament, the Red Wings—the dynasty of the last two decades, and finalists in each of the last two years—the dangerous low-seed nobody wanted to face; the Desert Dogs the Cinderellas rising like a phoenix from the ashes, or Glendale, or more exactly out of nowhere. Let’s see how Versus messes this up.
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A lot of you have asked about the links below the posts. Here’s the answer:

I have no idea. Nobody tells me anything.

I’m guessing we’re still trying—like everybody else—to figure out how to make enough money to stay afloat with our web product. But your guess is as good as mine at this point. And you’re making as much money off this as I am.
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NOON UPDATE, 12 P.M. (duh): This from the NHL:

The Red Wings will be playing the 21st Game 7 in franchise history (12-8). The club is in quest of its first road victory in a Game 7 since a 4-2 win over the Chicago Blackhawks to clinch their semifinal series on April 9, 1964. Owning home-ice advantage in the majority of the series they have contested in the intervening years, the Red Wings have traveled for a series-decider just twice since then, losing at Toronto in the 1964 Stanley Cup Final and at St. Louis in a 1991 first-round series. The Red Wings have played each of their last seven Game 7s at Joe Louis Arena, posting a 4-3 record.

Overall, 129 playoff series have gone to seven games since the NHL introduced the best-of-seven format in 1939. The home team has won 80 (.620 percentage).

Here’s a little game I started playing in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

Play along if you like.

Name the former Rangers still alive in the playoffs (and there are plenty of them, and some just jump right off the scoresheet lately).

Include players, coaches, assistants, GMs, etc.

Sort of like a blue, red and white Where’s Waldo.
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AFTERNOON UPDATE, 1:19 P.M.: Captain Clutch missed out on the Masterton (perseverence, dedication) Trophy for which he was the Rangers’ nominee. The finalists are Jed Ortmeyer of San Jose, Kurtis Foster of Tampa Bay, and Jose Three… er … Theodore of Washington.

This is the first time since 1992 that seven of eight first-round playoff series have reached Game 6, with Pittsburgh and San Jose (sigh of relief!) moving on to the next round last night.

Today’s Game 6s:
Phoenix-Detroit (Wings up 3-2) (On NBC, 2 p.m).
Vancouver-LA (‘Nucks up 3-2).

Tomorrow’s Game 6s:
Washington-Montreal (Caps up 3-2).
Buffalo-Boston (B’s up 3-2).
Chicago-Nashville (‘Hawks up 3-2).

And we’ve seen over the years … and heard from guys with Stanley Cup rings all over their hands … how important it can be to end an early-round series when you get the chance.

First of all, obviously, you don’t want to give the opponent any life at all. Second, later on these extra games you create, the additional travel, and the extra days off you lose, can come back to haunt you. And usually do.

You need 16 victories to win it all. The maximum number of games is 28. You want to use as few of the latter as possible to get to the former.

That’s it from me today. Got an all-day assignment, mostly away from the laptop.

Today’s sked: Nasvhille-Chicago Game 5; Pittsburgh-Ottawa Game 6 and San Jose-Colorado Game 6.

See youse.

Some thoughts about the first series to end:

1) The NHL does a few things better than the other big-league sports, and one of them is the post-series handshake, one of the coolest things in sports, still. That’s why it bothers me when a Scott Stevens—when he was a younger player—skipped a handshake at the end of a series with the Rangers and why it still bothers me that Sid Crosby didn’t shake hands with the Red Wings, especially captain Nik Lidstrom, after winning the Cup last season. I give Brodeur the benefit of the doubt with Avery two years ago, because I can only imagine what Avery was saying to him, not to mention the stick-waving. But if you have any sense of history, any sense of what’s right, you shake hands at the end of the series. Win or lose. You just suck it up and do it.

2) There’s no way Kovalchuk goes back to New Jersey. I think he will get crazy money, and if I’m the NYR—whether Glen Sather or somebody else is calling the shots—I ignore him and any other big-ticket guys this summer. But I would be interested in a Paul Martin.

3) Ian Laperriere. I loved the guy when he was a rookie with the Blues, I loved the trade the Rangers made to get him in 1995—for a downward-trending Stephane Matteau. And then the Rangers turned around and threw him into that one-sided trade that just keeps on getting worse: Ray Ferraro, Mattias Norstrom, Nathan LaFayette, Laperriere and a pick for Jari Kurri, Marty McSorley and Shane Churla. My God. I hope the guy’s OK.

4) Whenever the Penguins season ends, the best part for me will be the wrecking ball aimed at that crappy Igloo.

5) Do you think the Devils wish Olli Jokinen had done something better than that 5-hole try in that Game 82 shootout?

6) I agreed with Doc Emrick, and loved that he said it, when coincidental minors were called for a little shoving and facewashing: That no penalty would have been called on such a play in the playoffs 10 years ago. So true. So sad.

7) With the Devils out, so are my chances of going 8 for 8 in “The inaugural  Olli Jokinen Five-Hole/Beat the Blogfather Challenge and Picnic.” But I’m guessing a lot of youse are 0-1 with me.

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AFTERNOON UPDATE, 2: 48 P.M.: Norris Trophy finalists: Drew Doughty, Mike Green (ugh!), Duncan Keith.

I really hate it when guys who are all offense and no defense, like Green, get the award.

We apologize for the technical problems.

I still have no idea what  happened, but obviously something did.

Sorry.
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I was thinking last night, as we post the finalists for the major awards each day, that I haven’t heard much from my Boneheads about the awards—except for the Vezina, and the usual distaste for a certain No. 30 who plays not far from MSG.

Now, I know you guys are smarter than a lot of NHL GMs (they vote for the Vezina). And I’m sure you are smarter than a lot of the broadcasters (they vote for the coach of the year). I doubt you are smarter than sportswriters (just kidding) who vote for everything else.

But I am curious about your thoughts on the big awards: The Hart (MVP), Calder (rookie), Norris (defenseman) and Adams (coach).

By the way, I will be out working, so I won’t be able to post today’s finalists. You guys can feel free to get them at NHL.com at noon or so and put them in the comments. Usually I’d count on Laurel in a situation like this, but she’s out partying, probably at some Blackjack table as we speak, in Vegas.
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Thought for today: Is there anything dumber than all these mock NFL drafts that everybody does? I mean, have you ever seen one that was really close the the actual way the first round transpired? I haven’t.