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A sellout crowd yearned for a goal as time ticked down on the Penguins’ fifth power play of the night.  Six seconds after Callahan left the penalty box, Chris Kunitz tracked the rebound of his own wrist shot and slid it past a sprawled Lundqvist.  On the next shift, as Kunitz’ goal was being announced, Matt Cooke skated through the left faceoff circle then placed a perfect shot over the right shoulder of Lundqvist to give Pittsburgh an abrupt 2-1 lead.  Seething, Lundqvist broke his stick and hurled it to the boards, drawing a penalty.  Yet somehow, the Rangers were able to regroup in the final two minutes of regulation time and took back momentum that the Penguins had suddenly seized.

The game-tying goal was made possible by all-around work by Dubinsky.  After Evgeni Malkin’s centering pass in the Rangers’ zone was intercepted by Dubinsky in the slot, the Rangers’ centre raced up ice almost carrying the puck into the Pittsburgh slot.  He turned to the near boards then backhanded a pass to a pinching Marc Staal who wasted no time roofing a shot by a stunned Marc-Andre Fleury.

In overtime, it was Dubinsky again creating the winning scoring chance.  When Pittsburgh defenceman Zbynek Michalek fell at the New York blue line, Callahan skated up the right wing into the Pens’ zone then sent the puck across to Dubinsky.  After Pittsburgh defender Paul Martin slid prone onto the ice too early, Dubinsky calmly deked around him then gave a return pass to Callahan for an easy tap in.

While the Penguins were able to salvage a consolation point in the overtime loss, they lost ground to the Rangers in the Atlantic Division standings.  After 19 games, Pittsburgh has 20 points (9-8-2) and sits in third place (5th in the Eastern Conference).  New York sits second in the division with 21 points (10-7-1) after their victory tonight.  Consistency on the power play continues to be a problem that has plagued the Penguins since the opening of the season last month.  The late game-tying shorthanded goal allowed was the exclamation point on an evening when the Pens came up empty with the man advantage, whiffing on all six PP opportunities.  Of note, Pittsburgh recorded just six shots in total on the power play last night.

In their 10 losses this year, the Penguins have converted 4 of 45 (8.9%) power play chances.  In their 9 wins, they have scored on 8 of 47 (17.0%) power play chances.  Clearly, while a 17% conversion rate is not spectacular, the relative difference in rates between games that resulted in wins and losses shows some rudimentary, intuitive positive correlation between game outcome and power play execution.  Pittsburgh simply has to perform better with the man advantage as the season enters its second quarter if they are to keep pace in the ultra-competitive Atlantic.

Sidney Crosby shone for Pittsburgh in the loss by garnering a game-tying assist and winning a whopping 25 out of 32 faceoffs.  He began the game by winning 12 straight and was 16-1 at the second intermission.  The captain has a 57.4% faceoff win percentage, 14th best in the NHL, and leads all Eastern centres in faceoffs taken (441) and faceoffs won (253).

In a statistical oddity, the Penguins yielded no power play chances to their opponent.  The last time that happened was the memorable Game 7 of the 2009 Eastern Conference semifinal when the Penguins eliminated the Capitals at Washington 6-2.  The last occurrence of a “zero PP” night for an opponent in the regular season was November 23, 2002 when the Penguins defeated visiting San Jose 4-1.

This game had it’s moments as the Devils did try to take advantage of the tired Rangers, but simply could not beat Henrik and on the offensive side, they got a pair from Dubinsky including a shorthanded goal which pretty much sealed the game.  This game was also one of the rare times through the years where they did not face Brodeur, who was out with an injury to his elbow.  The turning point of this game came after the Devils had put on tons of pressure and then were called for a penalty which resulted in the Rangers getting a PPG which made the score 2-0 late in the 2nd period.  Dubinsky now has 10 goals on the season, which is one of the tops in the league at this point and lets hope he keeps it up.  On another note, Gaborik is set to return to the team next week and it couldn’t be at a better time for the team and his offense is going to be welcomed.

In addition, it’s nice to see them bounce back after a lackluster perfomance the night before.  Their next game is Sunday night against St.Louis where they will face a very good Blues team at the Garden; game time is 7pm.  This is also the start of a 4 game homestand for them which I believe is the longest of the season.

Anyway, thats all for now folks, so until the next time,

Howie

Offensively, they have have done decently with Dubinsky and Callahan stepping it up as well as a couple of others.  One real disappointment has been Frolov who needs a GPS to find the net and has looked lost during some games.  In goal, they have gotten steady play from Lundqvist, but haven’t always given him enough support. 

If this type of play keeps up, the season may be over sooner than we think since they can’t continue to think they can win at all playing blah hockey like this.  I’m hoping that when Gaborik comes back that they can get back to some better efforts on the ice to stay in the race for a playoff spot.  I know it’s only late October, but playoff spots can be won and lost in the first 20-25 games and if they start to go in reverse, the last 70+ games could be agonizing to watch.

Well on the bright side, at least they have found ways to find the back of the net unlike last year, where it was a struggle to get goals from anyone besides Gaborik.  I do hope that this trend continues since it will keep them in games all season long.  I know that I have been rambling on for a bit, but I just wanted to get my points across about what I have seen so far. 

They finish the month tomorrow in Toronto where for some reason, they are meeting the Leafs for the 3rd time this year.  I am still at a loss to figure out how the league schedules these games, you’d think they would break them up so they meet early and late in the year.  Great going NHL Office, finding ways to screw things up on a daily basis. 

Anyway, that’s about it for tonight so until the next time,

Howie

The B’s will look to extend their winning streak past four games for the first time since November of last year (won seven straight games from 11/19/09-12/2/09) tonight. Tuukka Rask was the first goalie off the ice during the morning skate, in most cases that is a clear indication of that night’s starter. Though, the Bruins proved on Thursday that is not always the case as Tim Thomas started after leaving the ice last during the morning skate. One would imagine Rask should receive the start though, with Tim Thomas deserving of a rest after four straight starts, and Rask’s history vs the Rangers (2-1-0, 1.34 GAA, .957 save percentage, 1 shutout) proving to be rather successful.

Projected Lines:

Boston Bruins

Forwards
Milan Lucic-David Krejci-Nathan Horton
Jordan Caron-Patrice Bergeron-Blake Wheeler
Mark Recchi-Tyler Seguin-Michael Ryder
Shawn Thornton-Gregory Campbell-Brad Marchand

Defense
Zdeno Chara-Johnny Boychuk
Mark Stuart- Dennis Seidenberg
Andrew Ference-Matt Hunwick

Goalies
Tuukka Rask
Tim Thomas

Scratches: Daniel Paille, Brian McGrattan, Adam McQuaid

New York Rangers

Forwards
Brandon Dubinsky-Artem Anisimov-Ryan Callahan
Sean Avery-Derek Stepan-Ruslan Fedotenko
Alex Frolov-Erik Christensen-Brandon Prust
Derek Boogaard-Todd White-Brian Boyle

Defense
Marc Staal-Michal Rozsival
Michael Del Zotto-Dan Girardi
Michael Sauer-Matt Gilroy

Goalies

Henrik Lundqvist

Martin Biron

Scratches: Steve Eminger

Who To Watch For:

Brad Marchand – The young forward took a vicious puck off the stick of Alexander Ovechkin to the foot on Thursday night. The injury forced Marchand to the locker room and held him to limited ice-time for the rest of the game. Head coach Claude Julian gave Marchand the day off on Friday to heal up, so look for him to be slotted on the right wing of the 4^th line tonight vs New York. Establishing himself as quite the motor-mouth in the early goings this season, the 22 year-old winger may have more than a few run-in’s with notorious “tough guy” Sean Avery in this evening’s contest.

Bruins Game Notes:

- (Carried over from my previous game preview) – After four straight impressive starts for Tim Thomas, head coach Claude Julian will turn to young-sensation Tuukka Rask in net tonight. It will be interesting to see how the Finnish netminder performs after being peppered for five goals (mainly due to poor defense) in his first start of the year.

- Once again Nathan Horton will be a player of note, with at least a point recorded in all five of the B’s games so far this season, Horton leads the team in scoring and looks to extend his point streak to six games tonight.

- Both Blake Wheeler and Patrice Bergeron are still in search of their first goals. The 2nd line was very effective last game and assuming Julian goes with a similar strategy tonight one has to imagine both of these young forwards will get in the goal column soon.

The puck drops at 7:00PM EST on NESN(HD).

Bruins Video Of The Day:

Thank you once again to BostonBsProductions on Youtube

Click here to view the embedded video.

I do hope that they get rid of the shootout as it should never decide a playoff spot in this sport. I would rather they play a full OT period instead. The NHL has done some good things and the shootout was ok when the lockout ended, but it has outlived its usefulness and I have found it a terrible way to decide a game now.  I mean look at the Coyotes, 19 wins after regulation and get this, 14 in the Shootout, unacceptable, it has turned the league into a joke.

I want to say in closing that it has been sometimes frustrating at times to watch this team, but there were enjoyable ones as well and I enjoyed writing here this season.  I do plan on popping in from time to time during the playoffs to offer my opinions on how they are going, and so until the next time, this is your NYR blogger,

Howie

This win came on the heels of a 5-1 thrashing of the Leafs on Wed. night where it was all Rangers all the time from the drop of the puck. I’m still amazed this team is alive for a spot considering that they were listless coming into the final stretch and showing no heart at all. This team has shown nothing but heart in this stretch where they have only lost 1 game in regulation.

There’s truly not much left to say other than that I want all the Ranger fans to root super hard for them on Sunday and whatever happens, that we are proud of the fact they didn’t give up when they could have folded up the tent and left.

So until Sunday,

Howie

The unbelievable part about this trip is that I gave them no hope for doing anything as far as getting near a playoff spot and here they are with one game to go in Buffalo on Tuesday with a 4-0-1 record.  After that, they finish off with 2 of their last 3 at home and now have some control of where they can potentially finish thanks to all the teams around them not playing quite as well at this time.

Anyway, there is still some work to do, but we Ranger fans appreciate the fact that they didn’t mail it in when they were just about out of it.  I will keep hope that they can sneak in and plan on being at the Toronto game on Wed. night, cheering them on.  Well, that’s about it for now, so until Tuesday night…….

Have a happy Easter and Passover all,

Howie

If they somehow sneak in, well I think they aren’t long for them however, but you never know.  They have 2 games left on the trip, including a game tomorrow in Sunrise vs. the Panthers and one in Buffalo vs. the Sabres on Tuesday and have amazingly picked up 7 of 8 possible points so far which is amazing in itself.  Well the one edge they have is that they still have a game in hand on some of the teams around them, which could play into their favor.  It remains to be seen if they can take advantage of that, but at this point in the year, anything is possible.

Anyway, that’s all for tonight and until tomorrow night,

Howie

One other note, I don’t think I’ve seen Tortorella act that happy on a goal ever behind the Ranger bench, but when Drury scored, he acted as if his job was just saved.  Let’s be clear, I’m not sold that just because they have crept to within 3 points of the 8th spot, they still have a couple of teams to jump over and not many games left.  They still have 5 games left on this road trip starting with a game in Toronto on Saturday and then to the Mausoleum for a game against the Isles on Tuesday.  With 8 games to go, it’s gonna be a tough task for them, but hey you never know with the way things go in the league.

Anyway, thats pretty much it for the time being.

Until next time,

Howie

At this point, I’m not sold on this team getting there due to the many shortcomings that they have shown on most nights this year.  Too many defensive lapses in which Lundqvist has been hung out to dry and not enough offense on a lot of evenings.  I would rather see them retool for next season and try to become a true contender instead of a mediocre midpack team, which is what they have become over the last few years. 

Well, this homestand continues with games against MTL on Tuesday on VS, which I still don’t get thanks to Directv/Comcast’s ongoing BS and Thursday against STL, which is their last game vs. the West.  After this, they have to play 8 of their final 11 on the road where it’s a true crap shoot for them.  Well, I’m not sure about what else to comment about them except that I will continue to hope that they can sneak in to postseason play, but I won’t be upset if they don’t make it.

So, on that note, until next time

Howie

The season has been up and down and after that 7-1 start which is now seems like ages ago, they are 22-28-8 since and in my opinion, not good enough.  Not enough production from certain players, the D is way too soft and the goalies being left hung out to dry way too many times.  Also, there have been way too many goalless droughts this year too just to add to this team’s ineptness. 

I believe that it’s now time to forget about it this year and look towards 10-11 while making some real changes over the summer, including at the management level.  Sather’s time in NY is over and he needs to be shown the door already.  Over 10 years and all this guy has to show for it is 2 2nd round playoff exits and a lot of bad moves personnel wise.  In addition, I’m tired of the mentality of let’s just get in the playoffs and make the extra $$$ for the one round they would probably play.  I mean, my $37 season seats jumped to $65 per seat for the playoffs, wow thats a 76% increase over the regular season cost and to me an incredible ripoff.  What happened to affordability for playoff games, guess that theory is out now thanks to the Dolans.

One other note, I find it appalling that NHL VP Colin Campbell could use such distorted logic in not handing down cheap shot artist Matt Cooke a suspension for his hit on Marc Savard the other day.  This is why the league is a joke in my opinion and it’s time for some changes in the NHL offices as well since certain people have worn out their welcome having been in their positions way too long.  Maybe we should all go to Campbell’s office and blindside him and see what his reaction would be.  If this had been Crosby who got knocked out, Cooke would have been suspended in 5 seconds, but because of the obvious double standard, and BS reasoning about rules, nothing was given out.  A precedent could have been set and instead, the same old same old came out of the league office, simply unacceptable in my opinion.  I hope that someone beats the hell out Cooke, he would deserve it.

Anyway, the inept Rangers play next in Atlanta on Friday where they will be playing in front a mostly empty arena down there.

Until next time,

Howie

This team has shown offensive ineptitude too many times this year and the lack of scoring is one of the many problems that plague this team.  I’m finally saying that this team is way too flawed to do anything in the playoffs, should they somehow get there and I hope that they don’t so Sather can finally get what’s coming to him, a pink slip.  He has done a lot of horrible things to this franchise and has them further away from a cup than when Jagr was here playing.  I’m also sick of the Dolans who have turned the Rangers in to a joke since they have owned them, meaning that whatever they touch turns to crap.  In addition, the playoff invoices have come out and my $37 seats for the regular season are $65 for the 1st round of the playoffs.  I remember when the playoff tickets were not that much higher than the regular season tickets and I find the greed to be just sick at this point.  Nothing like continuing to raise prices to see an inferior product, it’s not like this team is gonna be a contender for a cup anytime soon.

Anyway, their next game is Wed. in NJ where it will be another low scoring defensive contest as they continue to wind up the post olympic portion of the schedule, which for me can’t come to an end soon enough.

Until next time,

Howie

After they had a somewhat sluggish first period, they exploded for 4 goals in the second to turn a 1-0 deficit into a 4-1 lead which they would not relinquish for the rest of the night.  The team defense limited the Sens big-time and kept the home crowd quiet for most of the evening.  It would be nice to see them carry this effort over into Thursday night, but that will remain to be seen since this team has been up and down all year.

What I hope doesn’t happen is that Sather does something foolish like trying to get a quick fix for a one and done playoff run.  I’d rather see this team build around its youth and turn this crap into a cup contender for years to come so we Ranger fans have something to look forward to.

One other thing, I’m still at a loss at Directv’s stubbornness at the whole Versus issue; come on already, the playoffs are 6 weeks or so away and subscribers can still not see the games on that channel.  Time for both sides to get it done and stop the BS that has been going on for now 6 months and newsflash – the ones who are suffering are the subscribers and no one else, so cut the s__t Comcast and Directv.

Well, their next few games are as follows:  home against the Pens and Sidney Crybaby on Thurs, in DC to face Ovie and the Caps on Saturday, and home against Ryan Miller and the Sabres on Sunday Night as they continue to wind down their season schedule.

Until next time,

Howie

Next, Lundqvist can’t do it himself every night as this has become the theme for this team as they are offensively challenged on a nightly basis, scoring 1 or 2 goals most nights and relying on Henrik to stand on his head non stop.  I’m hoping at this point that they miss the playoffs even though they are in the pack withn a few points of a spot.  This could serve notice to the franchise that changes are needed to become a stronger team instead of the constant quick fixes.  First to go should be Sather since in 10 years as GM, the team has only 2 2nd round appearances and 4 spots overall.  This is a constant point of contention and the Garden faithful have made no bones about his firing with non stop chants.  Next, I would love to get rid of the deadwood contracts, but the key is finding a sucker GM  to take on those albatrosses.

Well, one last bone to pick and this one is with the NHL, why in the world did they not get radio broadcast rights for the Olympic hockey tournament???  They talk about promoting their game and the XM channels will be mostly silent for the next 2 weeks instead of having the games on them.  Another bonehead move by our esteemed Commissioner, who continues to show us all what a butthead he is.  This, the horrid officiating and other issues have made the league a joke.  The only thing he’s concerned with is the Winter Classic, which has created a boring contest and having teams start the season over in Europe.  Hey Gary, why not have the whole damn league start over there already, seems like that’s the plan eventually.

Anyway, I couldn’t be happier that the break is just about here since I’m sick of watching lousy Ranger hockey as has been the case most of this season.  The 2 games the have left are in Pitt on Friday vs. the Pens where they will probably get killed and then a Valentine’s Day tilt against the resurgent Lightning, who I’m sure would love to send them off to the break on a bad note.  Maybe the break will help them, but I have my doubts at this point since they have shown not enough life for my liking at this point.

Until next time,

Howie

Well, the Olympic break is about a week away and the Rangers are in a tight race with a bunch of other teams fighting for the bottom 4 playoff spots.  The only thing that concerns me is I don’t want to sacrifice any kids to bring in an over the hill vet for a futile one round playoff run.  Let’s think about the future since this has become a lost season in some respects as they haven’t shown any kind of consistency for most of the year.  They have shown ability at times that gives us hope, but then they play like absolute crap at other times that make you scratch your head.

Well a couple of things that are driving me nuts is still the horrid officiating on a nightly basis and the fact that all the league wants to do is put the Pens on national tv all the time.  I know they want to promote the sport, but there are 29 other teams in the league that deserve exposure too and it’s time to give them a chance to be on as well.  I forgot though, according to Bettman, there are only a few teams worth putting on national tv. 

One more thing, now that Kovalchuk has been traded out of Atlanta, how many people are going to go to the arena down there, like 10?  The franchise is in trouble and there is no sign of relief coming for them as well as many other franchises that don’t draw flies and have attendance issues.   Maybe it’s time to consider relocations for some of these teams or maybe contractions since there have been issues with some teams  financially before the economy went in the tank. 

Anyway, the Rangers have a few games left before the break and they are Wed at MSG vs. Nashville Predators, Fri. in Pittsburgh to face Sidney (Crybaby) and the Pens (Gary’s Boys) and then lastly, host Tampa on Valentine’s Day.  It would be nice if they could win a couple of these before the break to at least have a good feeling going into it since the league will be shut down for 2 weeks.

Until Wed. Night,

Howie

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

I’m further disgusted since this poor effort came on the heels of back to back top notch performances at home where they scored 14 goals in the 2 games.  Maybe they left their scoring shoes at home because they showed zip tonight.  The other Rangers who didn’t play bad were Lundqvist and Avery but the rest of the team was pretty invisible tonight. 

The roller coaster ride with this team continues as some days they are up and others they are down.  I simply can’t make heads or tails regarding this bunch.  One thing I do know is that Kotalik is likely not going to be a Ranger much longer as he has been a total bust and they need to trade him before his no-trade clause or else they are stuck with him. 

I have a few things I want to discuss that are league issues.  The officiating has come under fire lately with the whole Burrows-Auger incident, which of course was brushed under the rug by the league as per usual.  I find it laughable that a professional league could have such inept officials in charge of these games.  Phantom calls and other interesting ones have made games less fun to watch as well as way too many discussions from announcers, bloggers, and twitterers regarding their total ineptitude.  One other issue is that there is too much of a disparity when it comes to doling out discipline.  It’s time that suspensions be the same for the same type of dangerous or dirty play, regardless of who commits the infraction instead of this bs system of preferential treatment depending on who you are.

Another thing is the oversized goalie equipment which has become an issue again as scoring has dropped off to a point where it looks like some games are pre lockout style hockey.  Other than Marty Brodeur, most other goalies including our own Lundqvist have the some of the biggest equipment I have seen yet.  These guys look like Michelin men and it’s getting out of hand since there is hardly any net to shoot at as well as way too many shutouts being recorded.

One last thing is that it’s becoming alarming regarding the downward slide in attendance in some cities as well as the financial issues of some franchises.  I get tired of hearing Bettman talk about how the league is solvent, I beg to differ since PHX, CLB, TB, FLA, ATL, NYI, NJ, DAL, and other teams have trouble drawing fans with lower bowls looking like ghost towns.  It’s time that things change in order to have 30 solid teams, but it might include relocating franchises and yes even maybe some back to Canada of all places to Bettman’s dismay or even contraction of some teams.

Now that I’m done with my NHL rant, back to the task at hand regarding the Rangers.

Hopefully they will get this dud out of the way and get back on the horse on Saturday when they faceoff against the Habs, who they beat on Sunday at MSG.  After that, they then face the Pens at MSG on Monday and then the Canes at MSG on Wednesday.

That’s it for now.

Your NYR Blogger

Looking at this game tonight, the top performers for this game were:  Callahan, who had a pair of goals including a PPG, the first in 6 games as well as 2 assists; Dubinsky, who had a pair of goals including a SHG; Gaborik with a goal and 2 assists; Drury, who had a goal and 2 assists; Prospal who had a pair of assists, and Lundqvist; who once again was solid in net when he had to be as the Rangers D limited the number of chances to score the rest of the evening after allowing 2 in the first.

Callahan’s goal broke a 147 plus minute goalless drought and the floodgates just seemed to open with goal after goal coming.  It then became a boxing match with a few fights with Redden and Avery being some of the featured pugilists.  Hey even Drury scored tonight and he played solidly for a change and acted like the Captain that he is out on the ice.  It was nice to see the Garden rocking and really loud for a change as it has not been pretty in the building lately.

Going forward this month, they will face Tampa on Tuesday at MSG and then they are off to Philly on Thursday to take on the Flyers at the Wachovia Center.  I will be in the building on Tuesday evening for the Tampa game.

Anyway, that’s it for tonight folks.

Until next time,

Your NYR blogger,

Howie

I just want to touch on a couple of things that have been just puzzling me lately:

Let me say this about what happened with Auger and Burrows, the league slapped Burrows with a fine, which was expected, but they let Auger off the hook and said there wasn’t enough information to go forward with it.  This assclown of a ref was then allowed to work a game tonight, unreal.  Apparently, the league didn’t think it warranted a suspension for the ref, but why would Burrows make this up?  I heard that this is not the first time that Auger has had issues with players.  The league needs to stop the bullshit and do something about the inept officials.  These refs have blown more calls than I can count and the league continues to turn a blind eye to it.  Too bad Bettman and Campbell have their heads up their asses to see what is truly going on here.

There’s nothing like making your product look even worse and while I’m on a roll, let me mention again about the crap regarding Directv and Comcast regarding Versus.  The NHL doesn’t seem to give a rat’s ass about its fans and doesn’t want to get involved.  Real smart, so that your audience will be small and people like me stuck watching the games on my pc.  The issue I have with Directv is that they say it’s too expensive to add the channel back onto the lineup, but meanwhile my service is going up in price, damn hypocrites.

Now that I’m done with my rant, the next game is home tomorrow vs. Ottawa and then they are on the road with a game in St. Louis on Saturday before they come home to face the Canadiens on Sunday and then the Lightning on the following Tuesday.

Well, that’s it for now folks and until the next game,

Let’s Go Rangers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Howie

Usually that is a positive formula for winning.

One thing that has been a constant, as usual, is Henrik Lundqvist, who has been in there pretty much every night for the Blueshirts. the past couple of years, the Rangers have been able to count on Stephen Valiquette to give Hank the occasional break, but that was the past. Unfortunately, now Valiquette could not stop a beach ball from going into the net.

The Rangers need to keep Henrik fresh. Chad Johnson has only seen action in one game, and he was impressed in limited action. The Rangers have just sent him down so he can get some playing time, and it looks like he is the best option to spell the King.

One problem that is coming up is the Olympics. Henrik will be competing with his native Sweden to try and defend the gold medal the team won the last time. Now I have no problem with Henrik being loyal toward his country, but he is going to get runned down because of this.

The Rangers better create some distance between themselves and the teams that are not currently in the playoff picture, because the ware and tear is going to catch up with Henrik. The past couple of seasons, it has seemed like the effects have taken place at the worst time, which is the playoffs.

What do you think the Rangers should do? Should they seek some outside help?

This was a well earned win since they had a letdown game a couple of evenings ago in Atlanta, but it was to be expected as the game before that was quite a roller coaster of emotions against Dallas.  It’s not they lost 2 pts there, they did get one by losing in a shootout and hey, at this point of the year, it’s vital to continue to earn as many as possible.

So, now that they got 3 out of 4 pts on this brief 2 game trip, their next 2 games come at home vs. NJ on the 12^th and Ottawa on the 14^th.  Again, I want to reemphasize the importance of racking up as many points as possible, whether it comes as wins or OT/SO losses.  Hey points are points and that was their 8th win in the last 12 games since the 2 months of bad hockey.

Well, that’s it for now folks and until the next game,

Let’s Go Rangers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Howie

I want to give out some kudos tonight to several players for top performances tonight.  Avery, who was all over the ice, scored a goal for the first time in ages and had 3 assists and even took a 10 min. misconduct; Cally – EN Goal; Drury – 1 goal; Gabby – 1 goal; Kotalik – 1 goal; Henrik, who was solid in net and had a rare assist; and Christensen, Gilroy, & Del Zotto with solid efforts as well.

It’s finally nice to see this team put a stretch together where they don’t want to make me rip my hair out or want to throw the remote through the TV.  Hopefully they can keep this going for a nice stretch to pick up more points before the break.  I just want to be able  see them get another playoff spot this season which would make it their 5th straight if they did.

Anyway, their next games are on the road in Atlanta on Thursday and then face the Bruins for the 2^nd time in less than a week on Saturday up in Boston.

Well folks, that’s it till next time.

Your content NYR blogger,

Howie

I want to tip my cap this evening to Callahan, Kotalik, who had his first goal since the flood, Christensen, who has seemed to find his scoring touch and of course, Henrik, who is just awesome as usual.  I just wish that they would play D in their own zone a little better as they once again gave up a shortie.  Another thing that drove me nuts is that they got caught in their own zone and allowed the Bruins to tie the game in 1:26 in the 3^rd after they had built up a 2-0 lead through 2 periods.

I want to quickly get on my soapbox with my next comments.

My beef with these games on Versus is that I have to watch them on a pc since Directv still doesn’t have it on their lineup, which totally sucks.  The issue that I have with watching on the pc is that the picture is really small, but I guess being able to watch something is better than nothing.  I really think that it would be nice if both Comcast, who now owns NBC Universal and Directv would stop being stubborn and finally put their damn heads together to solve this issue before the playoffs come around. 

Anyway, their next game against the Stars on Wednesday at MSG and then they are off on the road in Atlanta on Thursday and then face these same Bruins on Saturday up in Boston.

Well folks, that’s it till next time.

Your quite happy NYR blogger,

Howie

Amazingly, this was their first win on 12/31 in quite a long time and ironically, the last time they did win on this night, it was against these Canes.  Even after the horrid game vs. Philly, they are still 5-1-1 going into the New Year, which is amazing since they have played 2 duds in their last 8 games.

The one thing that drove me crazy tonight is that the officiating left a lot to be desired, but that shouldn’t shock anybody at this point as they have been bad all year.   Just watch any game and see players, coaches and hear the announcers just befuddled about some of the calls that these guys make.

I don’t want to take up any more time since I want to enjoy the rest of my night.

Anyway, their next games after Saturday are Monday where they will face the Bruins and the Stars on Wednesday at MSG.

Well folks, that’s it till next time.

Wishing Everyone a Happy New Year!!!

Your much calmer NYR blogger,

Howie

The team has no guts whatsoever and showed zip out there tonight, mistakes all over the place and no hustle at all for the majority of the evening.  News flash to the players, just putting on the uniform and showing up on the ice is not enough, you need to actually play the game with effort, which was absent tonight.  I wish that the fans could have been given their money back since the team should not get paid at all for that crappy effort.  If I went out at my job and performed like that, I would lose my job, but these guys never do.  I now know that things need to change in a hurry before any chance at a playoff spot disappears on them, which at this point I think will happen. 

The team needs to stop relying on the big 3 (Gaborik, Prospal, Lundqvist) and pick up the slack through other players (ha ha).  I’m not sure about how they are going to play the next bunch of games and at this point, they continue to throw away points in the standings and fall further behind in doing so.  Their next game is tomorrow in Raleigh to face off vs. the Canes, but I’m skeptical at best.

I have nothing left to say so I will stop now.

Until the next frustrating game,

Your aggravated NYR blogger

Howie