The Islanders had a hard time getting into the city last night due to the blizzard. Tonight they faced a blizzard of shots by the Rangers losing 7-2 in an avalanche of Ranger goals.

The weather and the MTA worked in concert against me. I was not able to attend tonight’s game. I had to give my tickets away. For that, my fellow Ranger fans should be truly thankful. Invariably, something crazy happens when I’m at a Ranger/Fishstick game.

After a shaky start, gratis Henrik Lundqvist, I thought my “jinx” was affecting TV games now too. What in the world is going on with Lundqvist lately? We are seeing Henke give up some soft goals. Again I ask is Henrik sick or playing injured? I know, I know, it doesn’t help if the team in front of him isn’t being defensively responsible. But the goals he is giving up are uncharacteristic of him. Thank goodness he didn’t have to face too many shots after the first period.

The Rangers scored six unanswered goals.  Facing 50+ shots was too much even for the steady Duane Roloson. The Islander’s recently seemed to be finding some footing after winning their last three games against two pretty decent teams. The Rangers once again played down to the Icelanders in the first period and were sorry they did. Matt Gilroy scored the first goal only 44 seconds in but by the halfway mark in the period the Rangers were down 2-1.  Gaborik scored on the powerplay in the last minute of play in the first period to knot the score at 2-2. That’s something other teams usually do to the Rangers.

I am not used to seeing the Fishsticks give up but they certainly did tonight. After  Brian “Backhand” Boyle scored the Rangers fourth goal (Roloson not hugging the post), the air came out of the Icelanders tires. The Rangers started to pile on the goals and the Fishsticks were fried. What sweet irony that Long Island boy Matt Gilroy scored two goals to close the door on his hometown team. Tonight Gilroy showed the fans and Tortorella that offensively and defensively he deserves to be playing rather then a healthy scratch. Do the Rangers finally have real depth on defense?

Good things: the Rangers were 2 for 4 on the powerplay while not allowing any powerplay goals for the Fish.

Bad things: too many giveaways in the first period and the dangerous cross ice passes continuuuuue…

After almost giving the game away in the first period, the Rangers were able to get it together and dismantle the Icelanders. Now someone should dismantle the executive board of the LIRR. If Metro North was rolling, why not the LIRR?  They got the same amount of snow. A multimillion dollar renovation of the switches in Jamaica, diesel/electric cars and no LIRR service since last night? That’s BS.

Charles Wang doesn’t want to pay for a better team and the MTA doesn’t want to pay overtime. Something stinks on Long Island and it ain’t just the Fishsticks.

Posted under New York Rangers

The Rangers managed to eek out one point from last night’s shoot out loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning, a team that had just surrendered a point to the red hot (not) Islanders  in Nassau on the night before the night before the night before Christmas. Ordinarily, I would have been a little peeved about this loss. The Bolts were pushed to a shootout on Hempstead Turnpike on Wednesday and lost to penultimate team in the Eastern Conference. The Lightning should have been tired and vulnerable.

It wasn’t for lack of work or heart that brought this game to the shoot out. Once again, giveaways caused by bad passes determined the outcome of this game. And, as pointed out by the ever observant Hockey Rodent, the primary culprit wasn’t youngster Michael Del Zotto this time. It was veterans Roszival and Girardi. Maybe they need to sit out a couple of games and take notes. Perhaps Torts should make them write out a punish lesson, 1000x “I must not make risky cross ice passes”. Matt Gilroy played well last night. He deserves a little of that veteran ice time.

The Rangers finally got some scoring from mostly invisible comrades, Fedotenko and Frolov, who got A’s for a change instead of F’s last night. Rookie Derek Stepan saved the point with a pretty nifty goal. Santa’s elf, diminutive sniper Matts Zuccarello Aasen, looked like the skill player he is in the shoot out. I guess until the league eliminates shoot outs, Eric Christensen has a little job security. My only question is, why did Tortorella put out Gilroy and Staal in the shoot out before Fedotenko or Prust?

In reviewing the game stats,  the Rangers won a higher percentage of the faceoff battles, totaling 57% to  Tampa’s 43%. However, if one looks more closely at face off stats, you see a disturbing pattern emerging. Although the Rangers won the lion’s share of the faceoffs at even strength , they lost both face offs while shorthanded and were only 1 for 3 on the powerplay. That needs to change. Maybe the Rangers need Phil Esposito to coach faceoffs because it doesn’t look like anything Messier said has sunk in.

Lastly, Henrik Lundqvist needs to be sharper. I don’t know if the King has been eating lutefisk or doing too much wassailing but he has to be better. And this is coming from me, one of his most vociferous defenders. Could Henrik be battling through an injury?

I’ll be going to the game on Monday. Let’s hope the usual mayhem doesn’t ensue when the Fishsticks visit. Things are tightening up for the last few playoff spots in the conference. The Rangers have gone from 5^th place to 7^th place in the East in the last week. The point is that every point counts.

Merry Christmas to All

Posted under New York Rangers

December 18, 2010 300pm est

Addendum to this entry:

I wish to apologize to Mike Savino for losing my temper. We both put a lot of work and thought into what we do. It just makes me crazy when stuff like this happens. Believe me, I have had credentialed writers lift my ideas in the past.

Both Mike Savino and I recognize blog content as intellectual property. The correct thing to do is to put quoted content into quotation marks and to reference the source. I would extend that to article titles as well.

If you gaze down this blog page, you will see I entitled my entry on December 9th “In Prust We Trust”. I am taking due ownership of this phrase.

I believe I was the first blogger to coin that phrase, in fact, I KNOW I was. I don’t mind other  bloggers or sports writers borrowing the phrase but they must give credit to the originator. Otherwise, it’s plagiarism.

Imitation being the sincerest form of flattery be damned. In the past, phrases and ideas I have posted on this blog were lifted and used elsewhere. I did not speak up then. I will no longer remain silent.

I don’t care who does it. Whether it’s Ranger Pundit or Larry Brooks, I’ll call whoever does it out.

PS. Larry didn’t and Ranger Pundit did.

Word.

Posted under New York Rangers

Last night my section mates in 409 George, Joanne, Tim, Peter and I all  looked at each other and shrugged. Like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, we kept asking each other “Who are those guys”? We couldn’t believe our eyes. Our Rangers, your Rangers, were spanking the Washington Capitals and league MVP Alexander Ovechkin.

The Rangers handed the Caps their sixth loss in a row. Henrik Lundqvist, assisted by Mr. Crossbar and Mr. Pipe, earned his fifth shut out of the season at the expense of  Bruce Boudreau’s boys. Only after the Rangers had scored their sixth goal was I convinced that victory was assured. The question remaining was whether Henrik would get the shut out.

Usually a blow out of this nature is the stuff of fan’s dreams. But, there was so much going on in this game the mind boggled. Clean hits, dirty hits, fights, cheap shots, more fights, shots on goal, shorthanded goals, power play goals, misconducts and goal celebrations. The only thing we didn’t see was a penalty shot. I’m telling you, all the goal celebrating was exhausting!

Not to take anything from the Rangers, they defended very well for the most part. Henrik Lundqvist made some incredible saves. But let’s face it, The Caps rang no fewer then five shots off the metal.  They are snake bitten. You have to admit that all the hockey gods were smiling on the Rangers. Even the officials contributed by calling a fair game. Either that or they hate showboating Ovechkin more then they hate Avery. Nah, just kidding.

Varmalov, the bane of the Ranger’s playoff run two seasons ago, was not “on”. He let in 7 goals on 20 shots.  Three of the Ranger goals were scored on shots from the slot. The other four were garbage goals down low on Varlamov.  Four goals were scored by “The Garbage Goal” line of Callahan, Anisimov and Dubinsky. Torts might want to leave those boys together when Drury comes back. They have developed a chemistry on the ice like Redford and Newman did on the big screen.

The most important thing the Rangers can  learn from last night’s game is that the more you shoot the puck on net the better the chance that it goes in. So, the Rangers should think of the opposition’s goalie as Bolivia. Next the crowd shouts “shoot the puck on Bolivia”, shoot the puck on Bolivia. Next time!

Posted under New York Rangers

The Rangers defeated Ottawa 5-3 tonight with their hard work and never say die attitude. This has happened more this season then any in recent memory. One player who has exhibited that never say die attitude is Brandon Prust.

Not to take anything away from the other boys who have worked hard all season but tonight Prusty proved how much better off the Rangers are for retaining his services then Jody Shelley. He’s been chipping in all season.

He is hard on the puck. He stands up for his teammates and he can score goals. He’s the Walter Tkaczuk of the new millennium. Coming from me that is indeed a high complement. I thought the world of Walter.

In fact, we have a few Walteresque players on the team. Callahan goes without saying. Brian Boyle is right there too. Second and third line players who can step up and make a difference with secondary scoring and stellar defensive play.

The 2010-2011 New York Rangers have the right mix of  forwards to make things happen. They have skill and finish in Gaborik, Anisimov, Stepan, Fedotenko, Frolov, and Christensen. Grit in Callahan, Dubinsky, Prust, Boyle and Boogaard. And then there is always the Avery Effect. Maybe Ken Hitchcock is on to something.

The defense has been pretty solid all season. Sauer caused the first goal for Ottawa and then redeemed himself by scoring the game winner. Michael Del Zotto was a healthy scratch and was given an opportunity to have a different look at the game. Let’s hope Tortorella’s object lesson had the desired effect  on young Michael.

Meanwhile, Del Zotto’s replacement, Matt Gilroy, wasn’t noticeable. Sometimes that’s just what you want to see out of a young defenseman. He played 12+ minutes, had 2 shots on goal and was a plus 1. If at some point Tort’s wants to go with 7 defensemen, it’s nice to know that Gilroy can step up.

Lastly, I would be remiss if I did not credit John Tortorella and his coaching staff for the good job they have done with all these young kids so far this season. After a rocky start with the Rangers, I have seen the fiery John Tortorella adjust his attitude and grow as a professional and a person. He’s now cooperative with the press, not so adversarial. MSG’s” Behind the Bench” program with Torts and Keenan is serving its purpose in putting a human and likeable face on John Tortorella.

All in all, it was a grinding, gut it out road win for the Rangers. Not pretty but we’ll bank the two points and move on.

Posted under New York Rangers

I wonder if Sean Avery was up all night making good on his threat to email every trendy club in New York City to ban PA Parenteau. You’ve  got to give Seany credit. His quotes make interesting copy. The only reply the Islanders had to Avery and the Rangers was to email in last night’s game. Avery effect or not, it was one of the most boring games of the season thus far.

I was extremely disappointed in the Icelanders last night. Even in the throws of what looks to be another horrendous, bottom dwelling season, the Fishsticks are usually scrappy and energetic. What a difference a day makes. Thursday night the Islanders kept coming back. Last night they looked like filleted flounder. If Roloson wasn’t so good, the Rangers might have scored at least one more goal. The Rangers were just as offensively hapless as the Fish were defensively.

The Rangers emailed in their offensive game. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Rangers first goal was scored on the only shot they took while with the man advantage. Granted, the Rangers were without their 4 point pest from Thursday night for 14 minutes. I guess McCreary and L’Ecuyer  got  an email from Collie Campbell instructing them to get Avery off the ice. Less time for Avery to garner more glory and attract the press after the game.

As for the officiating, one would think that maybe Sather finally got mad enough to call Campbell and complain about the liberties teams are taking on Henrik Lundqvist.  How else can you explain to two back to back goaltender interference penalties assessed to John Sim? I’ve seen other teams take worse shots at Henrik (Penguins) and get away scott free. Either Sather spoke up or the refs had it in for Sim. I tend to think the former.

As far as the Ryan Callahan elbowing penalty is concerned, you’ll get no Chico Resch homering from me. If the war room in Toronto and Campbell think that the Callahan hit on Nielsen warrants a fine or a one game suspension, Ranger fans shouldn’t whine. Cally’s shoulder/elbow did come up. Nielsen did get clocked but sold it pretty well.

There are mitigating circumstances. It was a North/South hit and Nielsen was coming in low. I tend to think that, being as duplicitous as he is, Campbell will give Callahan a pass on this borderline infraction. After all, he let Crosby get away from a clear slew foot on Callahan without any disciplinary action on Monday. Don’t want to be playing favorites do they?

When all is said and done, the Rangers were and are the better team defensively. They won the battles in the face off circles and along the boards. They didn’t get burned by their lack of offense. Take another two points and continue to fly under the radar.

Ken Hitchcock has the Rangers as his sleeper team in the East this season. That’s a pretty nice compliment from the fat man but I prefer that the Rangers keep getting it done quietly. Let Crosby get all the fanfare as long as the Rangers stick it to old Liver Lips and his Ice Chickens next game.

There were very few Fishstick Fans in the Garden last night. The Garden beefed up security upstairs just for this game. They needn’t have bothered. They should save it for games where loud and obnoxious out of town fans from Montreal, Pittsburgh and Philadelphia fill up the overpriced Ranger Ticket Exchange seats.

I think the time has come to pronounce the Ranger/Islander rivalry pretty much dead. Wang’s Lighthouse Project  is also pretty much dead. Buffalo is up for sale. Dallas is up for sale. The Islanders might be up for sale soon. What other option does the league have but to contract? Someone should send Gary Bettman an email.

Posted under New York Rangers