Pardon the lateness of this post, I had to go for a last minute dinner run, and have just now sat down to write this up. I was both happy, and incredibly disappointed in the team tonight. While I was ecstatic to see them stand up for once in their lives and say, enough is enough, and fight back, I was absolutely disgusted with Colton Orr’s charge on Ovechkin. Those are the kind of hits that can end guys careers due to head trauma (concussions). Not cool at all Colton, That was a dirty cheap shot and there is NO room in the game for that. At least be a man and try to catch the guy with an open ice, legal hit, dont cross check the guy in the face 15 feet from the puck.

Another thing that disgusted me was the stupid play immediately following Pruchas 2nd goal of the game (he could have had 3 pretty easily in this game). Fedor Tyutin was caught napping, and that led to the lone goal, the shutout breaking goal, which pisses me off because Henrik certainly earned a shutout. You have to give it up for our goalie, hes played very well the past 3 games, despite a suspect goal or 2, hes played well enough to win had the team showed up around him. Tonight though I got the scare of my life when Ovechkin rammed Henriks right leg into the post, and Henrik was writhing in pain. I thought his season was over, I thought the Rangers season was over, I thought i would vomit. Henrik gutted the rest of the game out, but im curious of there will be any lasting effect, he looked to take a pretty severe hit.

This game had the feel that the Rangers were tired of being punching bags and decided to throw a few punches themselves, which I am very happy to see, but what I dont want to see is Brendan Shanahan get a broken jaw because he drops the gloves with a big time heavyweight. Great heart, great leadership by Brendan, but I dont think it was the smart thing to do.

Im a fan of Colton Orrs (unlike most) and I still believe with all my heart that he can be a regular 4th liner in the NHL, but he should be benched for a few because of that hit to AO. Thats just not how I want the Rangers to play.

Still though, big night, and for once, I can sleep easy following a Rangers game.

See you next year!

DONT DRINK AND DRIVE!

-Inferno

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Darius Kasparaitis, that offensive mastermind, that juggernaut with the puck, the scoring machine has put the Rangers firmly in command in this one with a nice goal on a delayed penalty.? Rangers played really well in that period when they werent in the box.? Of course there were 3 just AWFUL calls in that period.? The Nylander hook, was a holding the stick penalty by the other player, and the 2 slashes were nowhere near what I would call actual slashes, they were love taps you see 123,785 times a game.? Looked like even up calls or something, but whatever they were, they killed a lot of momentum by the Rangers, and gave it to the Caps.? Still though, we weathered the storm and still played great.

Henrik has been very very good in the period, I wouldnt call him spectacular as the caps really havent mustered many quality chances, but certainly rock solid. Petr Prucha also looked great in that period once again.? Hes been rewarded with 2nd line minutes, and I feel he hasnt disappointed.

Really, you gotta look at it this way folks.? Despite this 7 game losing streak, despite the mediocre hockey weve been playing, this is a game we win 10 times out of 10.? Washington is playing their 4th in 5th, while decimated with injuries and sickness.? Were not playing Washington, were playing their farm team.

-Inferno

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Much better fellas, MUCH MUCH better. Rangers took what they were given, and played smart hockey.? I was much more impressed w/ our secondary power play unit than our first though.? Those guys take it to the damn net, and go for rebounds.? If it were up to me, I would reward them with their play with MORE power play minutes than the first group.? Petr Prucha, at least in this game, looks to be more assertive, and isnt scared to take the puck to the net.? We need to get Petr working if we are to turn this sucker around.

Lastly the most credit should be given to yours truly.? I bet everything I own (fake money) in vBookie on the Rangers.? They better hold on to this lead!

-Inferno

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Ugh, my long post game wrapup didnt go through when I hit publish, and I forgot to copy it to the clipboard before sending it (like I usually do) blech!!!!

heres a more abbreviated writeup since my fingers are now hurting:

Not much Renney could do, I dont see him as an offensive mastermind as it is.
Rangers showed a tremendous lack of heart for most of this game.

Fire Renney

The MSG feed dropped most of the 3rd, so I really couldnt come up with an opinion on what happened.

Washington should be where the streak ends.

-Inferno

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The Rangers brought a bit more life into that period.? While not spectacular, they certainly looked more into the game.? Though they still struggled to put QUALITY shots on net, at least the quantity was far better than the first.

Is it just me or is Matt Cullen hockeys weakest player on his skates?? Either the guy dives like nobody’s business (not convinced about that) or the guy just cant stay on his skates when he takes even the slightest of hits.? Its simply amazing that guy is on his ass for a good 2-3 minutes a game.? Comon dude, learn to stay on your skates already!

At least the Rangers brought a bit more of an edge to their game into the 2nd. ? They certainly gave some good hits, though they probably took a bit more than they gave.

Henrik was solid in the second as well, hes definitely keeping the team in it, lets just hope the now 131 minutes of ranger offensive ineptitude ends soon so as to not waste a fine performance by Henrik.

-Inferno

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It is unfathomable, and deplorable that coming in with a 6 game losing streak the Rangers were that flat.? They were sluggish, almost uncaring.? They just didnt show up for that period, except for Henrik who made at least 3 SPECTACULAR saves, 2 on Alfredson on the same play off of a turnover on the PP, and one on Heatley who was wide open for a slam dunk that Henrik (flashing his ungodly lateral movement) got to.? The goal that the Rangers did give up was pretty suspect.? I know it was tipped, but it didnt look like much of a tip, so I really think Henrik should have had it, but with that said, Henrik more than redeemed himself with some superb play in that period.? But the team around him was awful, hes keeping them in it.

Renney BETTER be reading them the riot act in between periods.

-Inferno

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Sometimes you gotta tip your hat. Thats what I think of tonight. Rangers played pretty damn well. They limited the high quality scoring chances, and second chance plays, they played very sound hockey, they just got beat by a team who played almost perfect, 60 minute hockey.

Renney tried some interesting combinations including Prucha Immonen and Jagr. A trio I enjoyed watching out there. I was totally flummoxed in trying to explain why he benched Nylander. It makes no sense to me. He didnt do anything to warrant a benching if you ask me. Strange thing to do. There is accountability, and then there is stupidity. If Nylander hooked someone to get a few penalties, then yeah, it makes sense, but an inadvertent high stick? how can you fault the guy for that?? Its just more Bass Ackwards (yes thats spelt that way on purpose!) philosophy by Renney.? Sorry but you wanna bench someone, im all for it, but you do it when they deserve it.? Nylander has done nothing to deserve a benching.

Still though, I gotta go back to my original point.? Islanders played GREAT hockey.? I wish the Rangers played like that, win or lose I would be one happy camper.

Lets talk about some of the positives now though shall we?? None of the defenseman had bad games, all played well or very well, particularly Rozsival whom you all know I dislike with a fiery passion.? He played a great game, using his body, stick, and smarts to play a top pairing game.? More games like this from Rozy and he’ll be off my shit list.

By the way, in case I havent made this clear.? This most definitely IS one of those losses where I can say, win or lose, we played the game smart.? So there you have it, we played smart, and I am satisfied with this one.

We got beat, we didnt beat ourselves.
-Inferno

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Anyone care to tell me what the heck is wrong with Henrik Lundqvist and these long shots?? I simply dont get it.? The guy is 100% money on shootouts where its the shooter and him, and the guy can get as close as he wants, but on long shots, deflections or not, he simply doesnt seem to be able to make those saves consistently.? The Rangers played pretty good, I thought they were very defensively responsible in this one (so far), I just think Henrik shoulda had that one.? Regardless a HUGE penalty kill coming up, one in which we need to be on top of our game.? 1 goal we can come back from, im not sure how this fragile team responds to being down 2 early in the 3rd.

-Inferno

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Really, I thought this was a very good period by both teams.? Rangers played pretty smart, but the Isles played even smarter.? Neither team looked particularly unstoppable, but the Isles definitely carried the play for the bulk of the period.? Ive gotta fix some problems over on baseballnations.com so thats going to be my first period wrap in a nutshell, hopefully ill have the problems resolved asap and can get back to writing about this game

btw, pretty well reffed game.

-Inferno

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Its really amazing how adept the Rangers are at stealing defeats from the jaws of victory.? They seem so adept at doing just what it takes to lose games.? Sadly we were out-everythinged in the 3rd period.? Couple that with just some awful, awful goaltending by Henrik, and there you have it, a loss.

It all starts with discipline.? If you cant stop taking moronic penalties (albeit a few on some suspect calls) then you should pay the price, and pay the price we did.? Then, well, lets face it.? For all the good he did in the first 2 periods, Henrik was just terrible in the 3rd.? I dont know what the heck happened, if he got cocky or if he thought it was in the bag, or that the Lightning were just going to sit down and take the loss, but whatever it was, Henrik gave up 3 incredibly soft goals in that period, which will kill just about every team out there.? Call it what you will, but I wouldnt be surprised if this is further ramifications from Renneys idiotic decision to keep Henrik in for a shelling against the Leafs.? Now when he lets one in, perhaps he looses all confidence and lets a ton in.? I honestly dont know.

-Inferno

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