Last week on my favorite message board, The HockeyRodent, I accused the Rangers of being bipolar. After witnessing last nights game, it seems my diagnosis may be correct.  Perhaps while his team was on a manic swing last night, John Tortorella took a little Thorazine to mellow out. 

Instead of fighting his players, Torts let them be themselves for a change. Entering the second period down by two goals to a team that always has a way of making them look foolish, the Rangers decided collectively that they were as mad as hell and weren’t going to take any more BS from the Habs or the officials.

How much more evidence does one need to realize that this league has it in for the Rangers then Montreal’s second goal. Just as the “War Room” in Toronto made a terrible call by not demanding to see all the angles on the Flyer goal last week in Pittsburgh, all the replays showed that the second Montreal goal last night was knocked in with a high stick by Gionta.

This game had disaster written all over it from the moment Sean Avery was bogusly called for boarding less then ten seconds into the first period. In fact, it looked like the Canadiens were being set up by the officials to be to benefactors of the league’s blatant bias against Sean.  Instead of benching Avery and reigning him in, Tortorella actually let loose the reigns and gave Sean his head. It cued every player on the team to get fired up and stop playing soft, reticent hockey. How else can you explain a long absent snarl rising to the surface of most player’s games last night?

Okay, so Tortoella also recognized that the “Dubinsky to wing” experiment wasn’t the greatest idea. If playing center means Brandon will have two goals a night, he needs to stay put at center for the rest of the season between Prospal and Gaborik. Maybe Tortorella actually paid attention to Ron Duguay on Hockey Night Live on Saturday when the “Coiffed One” sincerely implored that Torts keep two lines together for more then a few shifts per game. Stop with the Ranger Puck Player Shuffle already, John.

Either he received a phone call from Ken Gernander asking if he’ll be retaining the number 6 when he arrives in Hartford or Wade Redden chugged a bottle of  Gatorade laced with lithium. Redden actually fought someone last might in anger and with gusto. Redden does have a pulse. Who knew?

Nowhere in any of the altercations last night did we see Georges Laraque. I guess Jacques Martin figured that his enforcer couldn’t intimidate the Rangers. Every Ranger, to a man, made a statement that neither would they let themselves or their teammates be pushed around.

It goes without saying that Henrik Lundqvist always deserves to be a star of the game.  I’ll bet he was more then happy to see his teammates afforded the accolade last night and not himself. I’ll bet Henrik was glad to see his team shooting the puck, clearing his crease, scoring goals and giving him a little breathing room for a change.

What can you say about Ryan Callahan except that he has become the de facto Captain of this team? He plays with guts and emotion. When everyone else is placed in a position to do well, ie. Dubinsky and Prospal, Callahan’s guts and emotion pay off. Sean Avery fires up the crowd. Callahan fires up his teammates. 

Not to be a killjoy but after the season this team has produced so far one wonders how long this manic phase will continue. If the Rangers can come off playing back to back games and play with jump and spirit and dare I say it, skill, why can’t they do that all the time?

Finally, it was indeed a pleasure to see the Montreal fans skulk out of the Garden, the usual sh*teating grins wiped from their gobsmacked faces. Perhaps this game will, in some small way, finally expunge the embarrassment of the Rangers blowing that 5-0 lead in Montreal.

Ole! Ole! Ole! Ole!, No Way, NO WAY…..

Posted under New York Rangers

Why is Madison Square Garden like a bordello? Because the Rangers can’t score in a whorehouse.

Why are Ranger fans like codfish? Because we let this team just keep reeling us in and letting us out again.

Why do both Glen Sather and John Tortorella need to be fired? If you don’t know the answer to this question you weren’t watching tonight’s game.

One hundred and twenty five minutes of hockey and a shoot out and not one goal scored by the Rangers. That’s some achievement. Not.  The Rangers play one of their finest games in recent memory against Marty Brodeur and the Devils and then turn around and lose one of their worst games to AHL goaltender Mike Brodeur and the Ottawa Senators.

Tortorella’s answer to the shoot out loss against the Devils and the lack of goal scoring was to have his team practice the shoot out and the powerplay. That would have been fine if the Rangers were able to get to a shoot out or work hard enough in the offensive zone to draw a powerplay. Tonight they didn’t and weren’t. Torts has them practicing the shoot out and the powerplay? Please.  How about teaching these morons how to make and receive a pass? Just a thought.  I’ve seen the Little Rangers play better fundamental hockey then the Rangers did tonight.

Tortorella should bag skate these guys every practice until they bleed. They’ll continue losing and then we can all call it a season. The faster they are out of playoff contention and a new fire sale begins, the happier I’ll be. Sather should already be gone and maybe he should take Tortorella with him. Tort’s time out tonight certainly wasn’t the answer to the Ranger’s lackluster start to this game. In fact, it turned out to hurt the team at the end of the game when it should have been called.  

If I were Lundqvist I’d beg to be traded rather then spend the best years of my career on a team with Brashear, Drury, Rozsival and Redden. Henrik can get up and talk in the lockerroom until he’s blue in the face and it won’t make a damn bit of difference. This team has no heart, no guts and little skill. Lose those four wastes of cap space and the other underachievers like Boyle, Higgins and Voros. Bring up the youth and let them mature.

I would gladly sell all my remaining tickets at face value and donate the money to a worthy cause like Haitian Earthquake Relief then to have to sit and watch any more of the dreck the Rangers tried to pass off as professional hockey tonight. Right now they are a disgraceful excuse for a team.

Is it the trade deadline yet?

Posted under New York Rangers

Congratulations Team USA 2010 World Junior Champions!

The Rangers draftees Team Captain Derek Stephan 2008 51st pick, Chris Kreider 2009 19th pick and Ryan Bourque 2009 80th pick lead the way to Team USA’s victory over a stunned Team Canada in Saskatoon tonight.

This was an incredible game. After USA took a 5-3 lead in the third periond, Team Canada tied the game and forced the overtime. USA’s Carlson scored a beautifully skilled goal in overtime on a two on one breakaway.

Credit to both teams for a tremendously entertaining game and tournament. With gifted young players like these, the Olympics should go back to being an amateur only contest. This tournament should have been nationally televised on Versus in the USA. It would inspire kids to play and everyone to learn, love and watch the great sport of ice hockey.

Gary Bettman, are you listening?

Posted under New York Rangers

Sorry for the absence of Ranger prose on this blog since Christmas Eve Eve but the Rangers literally haven’t given me anything to write home about. 

I was recently made aware of some disabled hockey players who, unlike some New York Rangers, would make good use of their ice time if they could but find some. Please check out the website below, sign the petition and see if you can help some hockey players who really want to play.

During Hockey Weekend Across America, January 29-31, 2010, Andrew and Jon Schwartz will lead a group of disabled athletes on a journey to visit all 54 New Jersey ice rinks in just 54 hours in an effort to raise awareness and change perceptions.
 
Their Mission – To convince New Jersey’s ice rink owners to allocate one hour of ice time per week, to Disabled Hockey.

www.everybodyskates.com

Posted under New York Rangers