How about the captain tonight?

With banners all around the place begging him to stay, Jaromir Jagr lined up for the national anthem, alone by the far boards as he usually is, looking around the place as he always does, but maybe for the final time.

He played all those games growing up on Mario Lemieux’s [...]

The Rangers really are trying to convince us … and probably more accurately, trying to convince themselves, that the task they now face is not impossible.

“We have a chance to make history,” Jaromir Jagr said. “What else? It might be my last game, man. Let’s make it special.”

He sounded sad when he said it, sad [...]

I’m back, and picking the Rangers again. I know, I should have posted all of my picks yesterday, prior to Game 1s of the two conference semifinals that began last night. Nevertheless, here are my picks:

Rangers in 7.
Flyers in 7.
Red Wings in 6.
Sharks in 6.

Anybody want to join in? By the way, did anybody get [...]

As expected, the NHL acted swiftly to put an end to Sean Avery’s clever shenanigans in Game 3 (Here’s the YouTube clip).

It’s like the NFL ruling that you can’t fumble forward into the end zone after a playoff touchdown happened that way. Avery found a loophole, used it, and it was quickly closed.

Now he, or [...]

I don’t know how you guys feel about this, but today is the 68th anniversary of the Rangers’ 1940 Stanley Cup.

Before 1994, just the year, “1940” had a terribly negative connotation. I just wonder if now it is seen as something to be celebrated as part of team history, or if it is still [...]

Teams have climbed out of 2-0 holes in the Stanley Cup playoffs, although the number is only 37 out of 280 all-time in best-of-seven series.

The Devils did it against Boston in 1994, in the series before the epic Eastern Conference final with the Rangers—also losing the first two at home that year. The Rangers did [...]

Help me out here, because I was writing a blog and a column in the third period, and had no access to what was being said on TV.  What were they saying about A) the goal/no-goal review. I thought it was completely inconclusive … and B) the icing call with the Devils’ short-handed? What did you [...]

Starting lineups: NYR: G Lundqvist. Up front Dawes-Drury-Callahan. On D Girardi and Tyutin.

NJ: G Brodeur. Up front Pandolfo-Madden-Gionta. On D Martin and Oduya.Refs: Jackson and Rooney. Linesmen: G. Devorski and Kovachik. …

If you’re really bored (not likely) and not busy commenting on this blog (I hope you are) I’m scheduled to be interviewed by [...]

Tom Renney officially said that there will be no lineup changes in terms of “same players” which doesn’t mean he won’t shuffle a line combo or somebody’s minutes in Game 2. But overall, Renney liked what Game 1 showed him. After that game he said the Rangers will have to be better in Game 2, so [...]

Same time, same place. Same players.

Both coaches said this morning that there will be no lineup changes tonight.

Actually, Tom Renney said he’s leaning toward using the same lineup. The NHL coaches handbook pretty much dictates that the winning coach in any Stanley Cup playoff game doesn’t dare make any changes. The losing coach often [...]