All I know is that this is becoming a lost season and in a way glad I haven’t gone to that many games.  On the flip side though, I feel like I flushed a ton of money down the toilet on season tickets to see a mediocre team play night after night.  My take is again, if they don’t give a crap, why should anyone at this point.  We as fans invest our time and money and hearts into a team hoping for that Stanley Cup run every year, but this franchise, from the clueless owner Dolan, to the idiot GM Sather; who put this awful team together, should both be shown the door.  I’m sick of blah hockey and the fact that ownership could care less about the fans and only about how many sellouts that they have each year and a one round playoff money grab.

I look at the Yankees and the Steinbrenners, they spend their money correctly and always put a winner out on the field year after year and this is the example the Dolans should be looking at for a change instead of always looking to fill the cash register.  If you build a winner, then more fans will come and it will result in more $$$ to fill the registers with sustained playoff runs and a stronger team to put ou on the ice on a game by game basis. 

Well, their next game is against the resurgent Canes at the Garden before they head out on a 3 game Western trip.  I hope for something good to happen, but I’m running out of optimism at this point so I’ll let you know how I feel after Wednesday night’s game.

Until next time

Your NYR Blogger,

Howie

What I’m hoping is that maybe this team can build off of these 2 wins and continue to climb up the standings and that they play as a team like they have in these last couple after the disaster at MSG on Wednesday evening.  The team most certainly looked like they actually cared about winning in these last 2 and if they can carry that attitude over from game to game, they might actually still have some hope yet this year.  Other than that, there’s nothing else to talk about today related to today’s game.

Their next game is in Carolina on Monday evening where they will face the worst team in the league followed by another 3 game home stand.  As I have said before, I still want to reinforce that these games are important and the continued need to pick up some points is vital if they want to remain in the playoff race.

Well folks, that’s it till next time.

Your NYR blogger,

Howie

One huge thing that Tortorella did was to sit a couple of veterans who were not playing well after last night’s game and they were Redden and Kotalik.  Hopefully watching the game from the press box sent a message that the coach is no longer tolerating lousy play from any of his players.

Lundqvist played extremely well as he made some great saves tonight and was the best player on the team in last night’s debacle at MSG.  The bright spots tonight were that the power play scored three times with Gaborik on a 5 on 3 and Callahan tallying twice, there was a Drury sighting as he scored his first goal in what seemed like ages (20 games) and Anisimov tallied on a beautiful move.  One huge moment came in the 3^rd when they were short handed for 4 minutes and played well not allowing the Isles anything.

What I hope is that maybe this team can build off of this win and maybe start a vertical climb up the standings and that they can finally put the puck in the net on a more regular basis.  I’m still not letting Sather off the hook though; he still is responsible for the team that is on the ice that for the most part has been awful a lot of nights with Wednesday’s game being true rock bottom. 

I know I’m going back and forth between games, but I had to get the point across that after the disaster against the Isles on Wednesday at MSG, I wanted to talk about the effects of what a team meeting and being lambasted by the coach can do for a team.

Their next game is Saturday afternoon in Philly where they will face a reeling Flyer team and then they are off to Carolina on Monday evening where they will face the worst team in the league.  Once again, I just want to reinforce that these games are vital and they need to pick up some points soon before the playoff train leaves them in the dust.

Well folks, that’s it till next time.

Your NYR blogger,

Howie

One great sign was the fact that even though they fell behind early by a pair, the timeout that Torts called after the 2nd goal was a true turning point.  They had been outplayed up till that point and needed something to change the momentum.  This indeed changed the games flow as the Rangers scored not long after that point.  They rang up 7 straight before the Jackets could realize what hit them.   Lundqvist didn’t have too much work bit was solid when he had to be, but hey he usually is their best player. 

In other news, Drury was skating with the team today and is going to join the team on their 3 game road trip, and hopefully be returning to the lineup, which is good news for the team since his presence has been missed both on and off the ice.  The Rangers next road trip will take them first to Sunrise, FL to face the Panthers on Wednesday, who previously beat them on Saturday at MSG, then to Tampa on Friday to face LeCavalier and St. Louis and finally to Pittsburgh on Saturday where they will face Crosby and Malkin for the 2^nd time this year, having lost to them on opening night back in October. 

The main key to this trip is that they need to get at least 4 out of the 6 points since the 4-9-1 slump they have been in has dropped them into a pack of teams right around the playoff bubble. Basically, the more points that they can pile up now, the better chances it will give them as they push towards a potential playoff spot.  This is also important since they have a ton of games in January right before the Olympic Break.

Well folks, that’s all from me till Wednesday evening

Your NYR blogger,

Howie