Another Brutal Loss Drops The Rangers Under.500

Good evening everyone.  Tonight’s game at the Garden was another close one, but in the end the Rangers came up on the short end of a 3-2 loss.  With this latest loss, they have no dropped below the .500 mark for the first time this year.  The keys to this latest loss were that they played decently for the most part and thanks to some clutch goaltending by Lundqvist until a shorthanded goal in the 2^nd period became the difference maker and the fact that they could not tie the game in the 3^rd due to the Sabres playing a 1-4 style defense, which to me is a form of a trap was indeed mind boggling.

Lundqvist played extremely well as he kept them in the game again for most of the evening. It would really be nice if they could give Henrik some goal support for a change.  The lone bright spot was that the power play finally showed up and did score twice with Gaborik and Callahan tallying.  One huge moment came in the 3^rd when they had a power play and a chance to tie; they spent almost the entire time in the Buffalo zone, but took no shots.  This had me wanting to rip my eyes out after watching that abomination unfold out on the ice.

The biggest issue is that there is still no secondary scoring and tonight their 5 on 5 couldn’t even do anything to put a goal on the board.  I am at a loss for words to keep describing how this team continues to play like they are in quicksand and it’s totally frustrating for the fans to watch, whether in person or on TV.  Hey, at least on TV, you can change the channel and watch something more entertaining or at least a better game if you have Center Ice.

Again, this long stretch of mediocre, boring and sometimes unwatchable play since their 7-1 start has me scratching my head as to where this team is really headed and at this point, my conclusion is indeed, this team has no heart at all.  I ask myself at this point, if this team doesn’t care about the way it plays, why the hell should I?  I have invested 35 years of my life to this team and there has been more bad hockey than good and hey the 1994 Cup run was great, but I’d like to see another cup in my lifetime and share that with my kid as I did with my dad in 94.  To me, it looks like I may never see another cup with the way things are being run, starting with that moron Sather who has no clue at all what he is doing  by sticking the team with awful contracts which keep the team cap strapped.  I’m starting to wonder about Torts as well since whatever he is doing to prepare the team doesn’t seem to be working.

Their next game is Monday night against Atlanta who beat them the last time they were at the Garden in November.  After that, is a home and home with the Islanders Wednesday at the Garden and Thursday at the Coliseum.   I just don’t know what to make of it anymore, but again, these games are vital and they need to pick up some points soon before the train leaves them in the dust.

Well folks, that’s it till next time.

Your NYR blogger,

Howie