First things first. Nobody won the contest. I mean, nobody had the right score, nobody had the GWG. I’ll have to chat with my official contest staff to decide whether to A) move onto the shots tiebreaker, B) scratch the whole thing and have another contest Thursday or C) give… Read More →
I truly believe that these four wins over the Flyers won’t mean jack-squat if the Rangers wind up in a playoff series against them. It doesn’t work that way. But I also truly believe that the Rangers are better. And here’s the thing. The Flyers have more skill. The Rangers—can… Read More →
First this: The Rangers will (or maybe they have already) send tapes of Brandon Prust’s fight with Tom Sestito to the league for review. At the very least, they believe Sestito pulled Prust’s hair—which was pretty obvious from the replays. At the worst, there’s the possibity that Sestito actually pulled… Read More →
First things first: We’ve got a Live chat going today at 11:30. Bring your questions, comments, whatever. Please use a username. We’ll go for an hour or so. Be there! ************************** This was playoff-style hockey … or more specifically, the way the Rangers are going to have to play in… Read More →
Hockey Gods. John Tortorella referenced the Hockey Gods the one night this week, when Marian Gaborik was incorrectly called for a double-minor penalty when one opponent’s stick. and not Gaborik’s, hit the face of another opponent. And the Rangers, rightly, killed the penalties. Tortorella said the Hockey Gods have a… Read More →
The pre-game presser started off slowly, as many do, but it picked up … John Tortorella ended up talking about Brandon Prust (he’s had to ask him not to fight some players because Prust is too good a player), and about the power play. You might hear at one point… Read More →
Welcome to the second half. The best team in the East, battling for No. 1 overall, better expect that these bottom-dwellers are going to be fired up to play them. That these teams think it’s a barometer game when they play the Rangers. That there’s no more sneaking up or… Read More →
Shut the front door. That’s how you smother a good team, how you make their night miserable, how you bounce back from a loss. Fact: The Rangers are quickly becoming the team you don’t want to play, because they will make you absorb a beating, fight for every inch and… Read More →
First things first: We will have a Live Chat today at 1:30, so pretend to be working and sneak over here with questions/comments. Please enter a user name when you ask or comment. Makes it easier for me. Thanks. Be there. ************************* Shocker. Rangers get shut out, bunch of you… Read More →
Thoughts: 1) This is one of my favorite of many stats so far through 40 games, with the mid-point of the season coming Thursday: Henrik Lundqvist, who has won seven in a row, has limited opponents to two goals or fewer 21 times in 29 starts. Holy shishkebob. Yet he… Read More →
Maybe we’ve underestimated the Rangers to this point. When we talk about how they find a way to win, maybe that makes it sound like they didn’t deserve to win. Does that make sense? Bottom line is that, when this Rangers team plays the way it knows how to play,... Read More →
Glad that’s over. The NHL will be thrilled—and Gary Bettman clearly was, bogarting the stage as NHL Network’s first interview on the never-ending post-game show—because it made a ton of money, got a zillion eyeballs to watch, sold a gazillion pieces of merchandise. But the all-Philadelphia presentation of the Hyper… Read More →
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 →
Merry Christmas Eve! The lead to my story in The Journal News and LoHud.com today was this: “Laughing all the way.” Because the Rangers go into the holiday break dancing, off four straight wins, three fairly decisive divisional victories in four nights, and in first place in the Patrick Division…. Read More →
Happy Festivus, everyone! Tonight, with the Flyers in town, we will air grievances and have feats of strength. Get the pole. Kruger, you couldn’t smooth a silk sheet if you had a date with a hot babe … “I lost my train of thought.” —Frank Costanza —————————— Thoughts: 1) I… Read More →
This was the lead to my story in The Journal News and on LoHud.com about last night’s game: Get ready, hockey fans. The NHL is going to shove more nights like this down your throats with realignment. More non-conference games, more games with zero playoff implications. Less passion. Quieter arenas…. Read More →
Not going to get all wrapped up in who did what on a lopsided scoresheet, though I’m sure you all enjoyed the heck out of it, and you should have. Instead, how about numbers?: 17-6-4, second best record in the improving East and fewest regulation losses in the NHL; 8-2-2… 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 →
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 →
This is as well as the Rangers have played in any three-game stretch this season, includng the seven-game winning streak … all against good Eastern teams. And I still don’t think they’ve nearly hit their stride, even at 10-2 in the last 12 and 7-0 in the last seven at… Read More →
