I heard that the Pittsburgh Penguins are the new Stanley Cup Champions. I didn’t personally watch any of the Stanley Cup final games when they were broadcast.  I was so incensed by Gary Bettman and the NHL kowtowing to the NBC schedulers (putting all of the players at a disadvantage by making them unnecessarily play back to back games) that I vowed not to watch. After hearing about Crosby’s breach of Stanley Cup etiquette, I am glad I remained true to my boycott. 

Apparently Crosby was too busy celebrating to shake the hand of Nicklas Lidstrom when the line formed. Nick Lidstrom waited around awhile but Crosby wasn’t forthcoming. Being the gentleman he is, Lidstrom did not complain in the press. But his teammate of over 15 years, Kris Draper, another gentleman and fellow four time Stanley Cup Champion refused to remain silent. Now Draper is being castigated in the media for taking a shot at hockey’s Poster Boy, Sidney Crosby. How dare Draper?

Lidstrom and the rest of the Red Wings formed the line, as did most other Penguins, and went through the time honored ritual which makes hockey the greatest sport. The self-absorbed Sidney was nowhere to be found. Crosby can’t plead innocent by lack of inexperience. He was in the same line last year on the losing side.  Traditionally, Coaches and Captains seek each other out immediately to congratulate each other as soon as the lines form. Crosby may have captained his team to the Stanley Cup but that doesn’t mean he can flout tradition because he’s God’s newest gift to hockey.

I am very happy for Long Island’s own Rob Scuderi, a St. Anthony HS alum, who came up through the hockey programs out here in Suffolk County and later at Boston College. I am also happy that  another Staal brother gets his name on the Stanley Cup. I only hope that our Staal will have the same good fortune with the Rangers some day soon. 

In fact, I congratulate all the Pittsburgh Penguins, except Sidney Crosby. Bettman has chosen his Poster Boy well. Both have a lot of class, all of it low.

Posted under New York Rangers

As if we haven’t had enough of the NHL making up new rules to punish the unworthy, ie the Avery Rule, last night Evgeni Malkin got an instigator penalty during the last five minutes of  the game but he will not get the requisite one day suspension that goes along with it.

Is it because he’s Evgeni Malkin? (Rhetorical question) Some rules don’t apply to players like Malkin, Crosby and Ovechkin. Rules are only invented or “interpreted” to punish the unworthy, the goons, the fourth line pariahs of the league. But. you can bet you sweet assets if Niklas Kronwall or Tomas Holmstrom had been the instigator last night they wouldn’t see the white of the ice at the Igloo on Tuesday. They’re not worthy.

What with the Penguins being down 2-0 in the series, suspending Malkin would put the Penguins at a potentially insurmountable disadvantage for game 3. Gary and Colie couldn’t let that happen, now could they? They cant’ let the Ice Chickens and the Poster Boy go down in flames. They must have this series go on as long as possible to put that extra playoff money in Mario’s pocket.

I did not watch the game on Saturday or last night in protest of the NBC BullSh*t scheduling. I saw the play in question on NHL on the Fly. Malkin got 5 for fighting, 2 for instigating and a 10 minute misconduct. According to the NHL rules, Malkin should be suspended for one game. What happens if Malkin commits another suspendable offense? Because he was not suspend for the one game yesterday, will he get a pass on his next offense? 

Malkin was stymied all game by the Red Wings and by the end of the game was extremely frustrated and vented that frustration. So far, Makin has 41 minutes in penalties during the playoffs.  That’s about half the penalty minutes he’d had all season. While Malkin may not be a fourth line goon, judging by his performance last night he’s a powder keg waiting to explode.

47.22 Fines and Suspensions – Instigator in Final Five Minutes of Regulation Time (or Anytime in Overtime) - A player or goalkeeper who is deemed to be the instigator of an altercation in the final five (5) minutes of regulation time or at anytime in overtime, shall automatically be suspended for one game. The Director of Hockey Operations will review every such incident and may rescind the suspension based on a number of criteria. The criteria for the review shall include, but not limited to, the score, previous incidents, etc. The length of suspension will double for each subsequent offense. This suspension shall be served in addition to any other automatic suspensions a player may incur for an accumulation of three or more instigator penalties.

Following Campbell’s review of the situation, he determined Malkin should have been assessed a game misconduct for not having his jersey tied down during the fight but not suspended as an instigator. Now isn’t that conveeeeenient. (Church Lady font)

Way to go Colin!  Make the NHL more of a joke.

Posted under New York Rangers

Because of Gary Bettman’s lousy television contract, the Stanley Cup Final schedule is being dictated to the NHL, its teams, the players and their fan base by the programmers at NBC Sports.

The first two games of the Stanley Cup finals are going to be played back to back this weekend in Detroit because NBC doesn’t want to take up its valuable weeknight primetime schedule with NHL hockey. Bettman acquiesces because he needs the exposure for the NHL and he’ll take it anyway he can get it, even if it means putting the game and it’s players to disadvantage.

After garnering good ratings with the Winter Classic, one would think that NBC would be willing to put the Stanley Cup Finals up against its schedule of all repeat sitcoms on Monday night, thus allowing both teams a day off in between games. Televising the Stanley Cup Finals in primetime might also attract fans who might not watch midday on a weekend but would watch on a week night. But, that would make too much sense.

Having back to back games on Saturday and Sunday is a win/win situation for Pittsburgh, whose younger legs might not be so weary come Sunday, as opposed to the beat up Red Wings.  Doesn’t it play into Herr Bettman’s hands to give the Penguins every possible advantage. The Cindy Crosby/Gary Bettman love fest continues.

For me, the best possible scenario is for the Red Wings to sweep and for the NBC ratings to be dismal this weekend. Well, maybe a sweep is too hopeful but I’ll take a  Red Wings victory anyway they can get it.I wonder how the officials will try to hand the series to Penguins.  Let’s see if they’ll make up any “new rules” during this series. Perhaps they’ll drag out the old “goaltender interference penalty on Tomas Holmstrom” chestnut that worked so well last year. Maybe another intended but not blown whistle to waive off a goal. 

If the Wings do prevail, their victory will be besmirched for the simple reason that for yet another year, we will have to watch that smarmy little pisher of a Commissioner hand out the greatest trophy in sports.

LET’S GO RED WINGS

Posted under New York Rangers

With Montreal’s loss tonight to the Pittsburgh Penguins, the Rangers first round playoff fate has now been decided. The Habs will be playing their most hated rivals, The Bruins, in Bean Town. The Rangers and Caps should start the ”Acela Series”  on Wednesday night in the Nation’s Capital.

Whether the Ranger’s faced Tim Thomas, the brick wall in Boston or the Ovechkin/Semin/Green firing squad in Washington, the odds of their weathering the first round rest squarely on the shoulders of the King, Henrik Lundqvist. With the scoring power of the aforementioned unholy triumvirate, poor Lundqvist will be flashing his glove in his nightmares until Wednesday.

Lundqvist has 37 wins, 25 losses, a 2.32 goals against average and a .916 save percentage. Theodore  has 32 wins, 16 loses and 5 overtime losses. His goals against average is 2.81 and save percentage is .901. While Lundqvist  may have slightly better numbers on the year, Theodore has had a better, higher scoring team in front of him.

In their four games with the Capitals this season the Rangers are 1 and 3. The Rangers lost both games in DC and two of the four game ended in shoot outs. The Rangers last defeated the Caps on February 11th in a shoot out 5-4. Unfortunately, there are no shoot outs in the playoffs. The Rangers all time away record against the Caps is 34-46-9-3.

Considering the Rangers have no powerplay, bad defense and have trouble scoring at the best of times, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out the the odds are clearly against the Rangers making it through the first round.  Compound that by the fact that in Alexander Ovechkin the Caps have a superstar that not only can score but hit and fight if need be. Ovechkin is not the whining, diving Poster Boy the Rangers faced last season in Cindy Crosby. He’s the biggest superstar in the NHL. He’s the league MVP.

At least true hockey fans will be entertained by the antics of Ovechkin. Ranger fans should sit up and watch regardless of the outcome. Afterall, we’ll get to see a team the Rangers could have been. Had not Sather kept throwing money and big contracts at mediocre, washed up players since he arrived here, we too might have an Ovechkin We too might be in the Tavares sweepstakes like the Islanders.

I sincerely hope that Henrik Lundqvist and the Rangers make it through the first round. But, like waiting for shoes to drop, I am not holding my breathe.

Posted under New York Rangers

As the Rangers ran out of gas in the third period and allowed the Penguins to run the board, you can look back at all the opportunities the Rangers pissed away in the first two periods. Both at even strength and during their three powerplay opportunities, the Rangers failed to bury the biscuit. But that isn’t where the story ends.

What really ticks me off is that the Rangers allowed themselves to be embarrassed again by the Penguins, the lesser team. The Rangers played two decent periods and got blown out in the third for two reasons. Lundqvist’s head was still in Montreal and the Rangers failed to exact pounds of flesh from the Penguins on a night when Crosby was hurting. 

If my team is down 4-1 midway through the third period, I would be telling them to pound the snot out of Crosby, Malkin, Satan and Sykora at every opportunity. When you’re down by three goals, defense first doesn’t matter. Sometimes you’ve gotta just cut your losses and say WTF . They should have started running the opposition’s talent and made them pay every time they touched the puck.

I don’t want to hear any crap like the fluky goal by Sykora, tying the game at 1-1, took the wind out of the Rangers sails. That’s weak BS. The Rangers stopped skating and stopped hitting in the third period and that’s why they lost. Lundqvist had a bad third period. So what. It happens. How many games has he saved for them this season? It’s a team game.

The problem with this team is that they rely on Lundqvist too much. They did not take responsibility for the game individually or as a team. The  entire team let the Penguins walk all over them. I don’t want to hear that they were tired after playing Carolina last night. Carolina wasn’t hitting at all last night. Physically, the Carolina game was a walk in the park . The Rangers coasted to a 3-2 win in a lightly contested game. So, no one should play the “tired card”.

This game was a test of the intestinal fortitude of the Rangers and they failed miserably to a miserable team. How many more times this season will the Rangers let themselves be embarrassed like this?  For God sake, this team needs to man up and go down fighting. They had no edge in the third period tonight. No meanness. No snarl. No discernible passion.

Maybe they do need someone like Avery back to shake them up and get under their skin and the opposition’s skin.  After watching this debacle tonight, maybe they should just cut their loses, concede Saturday’s game in Boston and save themselves and everyone else the grief of seeing them get their butts kicked again.

All this said, I would rather watch the Rangers win a “boring” game then watch them get their asses handed to them by Cindy Crosby and Crue.

Posted under New York Rangers

Well, I guess this game should quiet the doom and gloomers until at least Wednesday. If any one out there can point to a Ranger deficiency in this game, let them speak now or forever hold their peace. Statiscally, the Rangers were better at every aspect of the game, with the exception being shots on goal (27 Penguins/ 26 Rangers).

The Rangers out hit, out faced off, out fought, out goaltended, out penalty killed, out powerplayed and out hustled the Penguins tonight. This was their best game of the season. And yet, I still am reading message boards with the vindictive, bitter ravings of a lunatic fringe out there who attribute this victory to some perceived notion that it was a “walk in the park” against the slumping Penguins.

Please. Although the Penguins may be slumping, they are still the Penguins, with CryBaby Crosby, Genie Malkin and MA Fleury and the refs of this league in their pocket. The geniuses on Versus attribute the decline of the Penguins to the loss of Sergei Gonchar. I think these guys are hitting the same bong their tech crew was hitting tonight that caused the HD feed to black out. Versus must be owned by Disney because it continues to prove itself to be a Mickey Mouse network.

The Rangers held the Penguins off the boards despite ice-tilting by the referees in what I would characterize as one of the most brutally called games all season. These refs were embarrassingly trying to turn the game around for the Poster Boy and his buddies. Weak calls on the Rangers and no call on the Penguins. Shameful. Great job by the Rangers to kill all those penalties. Despite the bogus calls on the Rangers, Renney remained his usual controlled self. Those who want Renney gone would prefer to see a hot head like Tortorella behind the bench throwing folding chairs and cursing.

All of this aside, the biggest question one must ask oneself is, Why don’t the Rangers play like this all the time? They had 2 powerplay goals on 8 opportunities. (25%). They won 100% of their face offs, 8 for 8, on the powerplay. They even had a shorthanded goal when they were down 6 on 4. Does that Shorthanded goal expunge 2 of the 12 shorthanded goals previously scored against them. It damn well should.

Looks like every player bought into the “system” and that the “system” worked tonight. How is that? I thought this coach had lost this team. I though that this team had turned Renney off, that they weren’t buying in to his game plan. Did every single Ranger on the ice somehow have an epiphany tonight? Was every single Ranger suddenly blinded by the light like St. Paul on the road to Damascus?

Why can’t the Rangers play like this all the time? I am not saying that the coaching staff is perfect, far from it. But when the players execute the game plan, they win. When one sees a complete turn around like tonight, it clearly demonstrates that winning and losing is in the hands of the players themselves. The coaches and training staff can do their best to ensure the team has every advantage. But, at the end of the day, it’s up to the players  to play like they know they can and they will win.

I’ll shut up now and savor the two points. I encourage everyone to do the same.

Let’s Go Rangers

Last night I was a guest on the New York Hockey Talk Radio Program.  Have a listen here:

http://www.nyhockeytalk.com/

Download here:

http://sportsradiony.hipcast.com/download/0f1ec7a3-3c02-f498-94d1-cbe23ce13609.mp3

Posted under New York Rangers