Looking forward before looking back: Do you know the last time all three metropolitan New York teams missed the playoffs in the same year? How about never? Do you remember 1988? That was the year the Rangers shut out Quebec at the Garden (John Vanbiesbrouck doing the honors) on the… Read More →
Has there been a game this season that better defined these Rangers, the It’s Just Paingers? In a game, let’s face it, they pretty much had to win, they played with all those characteristics we’ve seen most of the year: The shot blocking, the body checks, the PK, the struggle… Read More →
Apparently there is a chance the Rangers can recoup those two points from last night. The NHL is investigating whether the Islanders used an illegal lineup in the game, and it could result in a forfeit of the two points … though I’m not sure if the two points would… Read More →
John Tortorella was not happy after this one, and who could blame him? Because while the effort wasn’t good enough, as he put it, for Game 77, neither was the concentration. I mean, there’s a kid goalie thrown in under emergency circumstances, and yet the Rangers insisted on passing up… Read More →
Awful. Just awful. Maybe you could have seen this coming. Maybe. But, really, the Rangers have given us reason to think they won’t succumb to the set-up, to playing down to the opponent. They did, although I’m giving Ottawa a little bit of credit for lulling them to sleep, and… Read More →
OK, it was unwatchable. And the Garden crowd was dreadfully quiet—that’s what happens when people buy season tickets and have to sell a lot of them because of the cost, and then cherry-pick which games they’ll attend; but also when the Garden insists on making hockey games in New York… Read More →
There are no relevant games affecting the Rangers’ playoff push on Monday. Pennsylvania. The Keystone state. Home of the Amish. Gentle, hard-working, and honest people. Also, home of two of the most disgusting sporting teams in existence – the Filthy flyers and the Dirty Penguins. The Pittsburgh Penguins have been in… Read More →
I’ll link later to my game story … which was about how there’s always these goofy swings in Rangers-Isles games, and how the Rangers survived the lows by going back to basics—down low, straight-ahead play. They do it after bad periods. They do it after bad games (see: California trip… Read More →
Marian Gaborik: “The first period was good and the second period we kind of had a little hiccup there. So, big goal by Cally there and we kept rolling from there.” “It’s always nice to score, definitely. But big win. We didn’t have a lot of games lately. But we’ve… Read More →
And then there were 12. Your heroes sure came up big in the Shark Tank last night, or should I say this morning? Perfect? Not nearly. Better than Anaheim? Only about 100 times better. Big, huge skills competition win. That Bettman Bonus Point could come in handy. Thoughts: 1) The… Read More →
According to the reporters at the game today (I’m not), both Marian Gaborik and Ryan McDonagh are returning to the lineup. Erik Christensen will be prucha’d. I’m not sure if I like the idea of Gaborik coming back so quickly, especially in a game that should be nasty with the… Read More →
Serenity Now… 1) The power play is enough to make a man crazy (i’m not crazy). 2) I always thought that the “jam” was a cop-out phrase from Torts, for playing well vs. not playing well, but in the first period I became a convert to the “jam.” In the NHL if you can hold… Read More →
Or not? The Monday trade deadline is coming fast, and a lot of teams have jumped out ahead of the parade and made big deals. I still suspect there will be a massive number of trades Monday. And we will be here, at Blog HQ with youse, from breakfast, through… Read More →
So two buddies are on a fishing trip, when they come across a grizzly bear. One of them says, “Run!” The other says, “You can’t outrun a grizzly bear.” And the first guy says, “I don’t have to outrun the bear, I just have to outrun you.” That’s the way… Read More →
Just when I start to think the East is closing the gap on the West, another Western team on the bubble comes along and pops my eyes wide open. L.A. is a pretty solid team, big and fast and talented, and was only ninth in the West coming into the… Read More →
John Tortorella: “We make it exciting, don’t we?” “I just think we’ve got some balls. We’ve been like that all year long. I like that about our club. Are we playing our best hockey now? No. Did we make some mistakes? Yes. But we do. We’ve got some balls. I… Read More →
Henrik Lundqvist: “They needed some luck to get back in the game there. It felt like we were really on them, especially in the third. But they kept working hard and got the bounces. So there’s not much to say. We responded in a good way, though. “You score that… Read More →
Here are a couple of pics the Rangers sent along from their Casino Night for the Garden of Dreams foundation (Henrik Lundqvist spokesperson):
Same old story for the NY Rangers. Keep it close for 55 minutes, and then turn it on. That scenario didn’t bode well for our boys: On the road against a superior team that has been shut out two games in a row. I wasn’t betting on tonight being the end… Read More →
The contest is now closed. No more entries. Erik Christensen is back in the lineup, replacing Chris Drury (knee). Martin Biron starts in goal. Michael Del Zotto remains on defense. Steve Eminger is prucha’d.
