This is what happens when you play well for an extended period of a season and people take notice … teams that might not be so good, or not playing so great, find another gear when they play you. It becomes a big game for them. And that really hasn’t… Read More →
First place in the East. Five straight wins. Top two or three in team defense. Fewest losses in the whole freakin’ National Hockey League. And your New York Rangers really haven’t nearly hit their stride or been nearly 100 percent healthy yet. ‘Nuff said. Thoughts: 1) Seven goals allowed in… Read More →
Thoughts: 1) Another staged fight to start the game. Whatever floats your boat, I guess. Maybe it’s hypocritical, but to me they don’t seem as senseless when it’s archrivals playing. I did think Rupp had some good, solid hits, though he wasn’t credited with any, officially. 2) I liked the… Read More →
Well, that was about as wild as it gets. Not one for the archives in terms of how to play, or how to win. But, wow, was that a finish. I am racking the rusty rolodex between my ears trying to remember a similar game, and I’m sure there was… Read More →
Thoughts: 1) The Rangers don’t usually get out hit and outmuscled, but they sure did in the first period and they definitely did on the first goal … even if there was an illegal pick there. I thought they lost about four physical battles on that shift. 2) And from… Read More →
As I predicted, the NHL didn’t have the onions to discipline Tampa Bay’s Steve Downie for leaving the bench to join—and escalate—an altercation with the Rangers. To me, it’s clear as day that Downie sat on the boards during the whole Artem Anisimov-Vinny Lecavalier incident Thursday, then motioned for Dominic… Read More →
John Tortorella spoke at his pre-game presser about subbing Erik Christensen for Sean Avery tonight, about how hard it is to get something out of guys playing five minutes a game, about the importance of getting Brandon Dubinsky going, and about having the HBO cameras and microphones in the lockerrooms…. Read More →
Very nice way to end a two-game losing streak and a very complete win over the Baby Buffaloes for No. 2,500 in franchise history, for No. 4 in a row on the road, No. 13 in the last 17 games overall. Right back at it tonight against the Cats (7:30… Read More →
I do not condone what Artem Anisimov did after that beauty of a short-handed goal put the Rangers up 2-1. You know by now that he went down to a knee, aimed his stick like a rifle toward goalie Mathieu Garon and pumped a few shots. Certainly not the end… Read More →
First, here’s Guy Boucher’s take on the Anisimov/Lecavalier incident: “It was a good rallying moment for us. Definitely, we wanted to stick together tonight. We know we weren’t going to win it individually. We were going to win it as a team and I think that was a gesture that… Read More →
Had some technical/deadline issues thanks to the shootout, earlier deadlines and a brand new computer system. So I never made it to the lockerroom. I did get to John Tortorella’s presser. The coach did not allow Artem Anisimov to address the media regarding his rifle-shot celebration that touched off a… Read More →
First I want to thank the National Hockey League’s Board of Governors for giving me this topic of conversation, because last night’s Rangers-Leaves game was pretty dull and not worthy of much of a review. So I’m going to do this in two parts. First, a quick review of the… Read More →
So, I guess we can say this streak isn’t a fluke, right? I mean, the Rangers have won games by dominating, won games when they were less than dominating, won games protecting leads, won games by coming from behind. They have gotten up for the big teams, haven’t let down… Read More →
You know what? That was an imperfect game against a struggling team. OK, given. But that’s a good, good win. That’s a tough game to be the road team, with the coaching change and the feelings of getting the popular coach fired, and the new coaches on the bench. And… Read More →
First and foremost, Happy Thanksgiving. Hope you get to spend it with people who are more important to you than the Rangers are. Be thankful for what’s really important. And here’s a little piece of info for you: The Winter Classic jerseys aren’t going to be white. They’re going to… Read More →
The Rangers didn’t lose because they’ve had all this time off. They didn’t lose because it’s Hockey Night in Canada in Montreal. They didn’t lose because of the ridiculous pansification rules and penalty calls. They didn’t lose because of a bad goal given up by Martin Biron. They didn’t lose… Read More →
Last night’s game shows how much parity there is in the league, and how difficult it is to win on any given night. Here were the Islanders, skidding to oblivion, unable to score, exhausted from a one-game trip to the Pacific Northwest (Seinfeld reference), and not playing particularly well in… Read More →
I was on a plane while this game was being played … but a cool thing about JetBlue—not only do they have TVs on the plane (no MSG) but they also have satellite radio. So I was able to listen to Dave Maloney and Don LaGreca in the air until… Read More →
I don’t know which game was the Rangers’ second best of the season, but it wasn’t even close to this one. And not just because of the score … if they played the exact same game and, say, lost in a shootout, this still was their best of the year… Read More →
Holy cow, what an ordeal getting home. Never thought 4-6 inches of snow could create such problems, but roads froze, trees fell, power went out. Yikes. October byfuglien 29th. Well, at least ya boys are still NHL-.500, even though they’ve won three and lost six. Thoughts: 1) Marian Gaborik=Beast. Bet… Read More →
