Sorry for the delay, watched the Pittsburgh game till it finished and then grabbed some grub. Heres the long and the short of it. The Rangers have been playing poor hockey for 4 games now. Luckily they have picked up 6 out of a possible 8 points, but I think we can all agree that they really dont even deserve a single point for their efforts. Tomorrow against the Leafs is going to be tough, the Leafs are just about as hot as we are right now, and have played against far better competition than us. Id like to think we can grab 2 points in regulation, but right now I am pretty dubious.

Another interesting side story is that Jaromir Jagr needs 2 more goals in his final 4 games to have his 15 consecutive 30 goal season. Can Jagr do it? I guess we will know in 7 days.

Henrik Lundqvist is also an interesting story. He hasnt been sharp for a few periods now. This whole game, and the game against the Habs till he was pulled. Im not sure whats going on with him but hes giving up tons of rebounds and not making some of the stops he usually does. Can you blame him for any of the goals? Maybe not, you could certainly point to the suddenly invisible Rangers D. Or perhaps even moreso to the Rangers O which flat out refused to play D in this one for long stretches of the game. However Henrik has to take his lumps if you praise him, as I have, for his superior play prior to the game in Montreal. He probably could have had 2 of those goals, he didnt, we still won, I hope he gets over it.

This Ryan Callahan kid has continued to impress me. Hes got a terrific understanding of the game, far ahead of most kids his age.

Rangers win out, theyve got the 6th seed. If they win tomorrow, they would just need 1 more point to clinch a playoff spot.

Just win baby. Here are the projections:

How this works:

Basically what I do, is to take the points a team has managed till now, divide it by the games played, then multiply it by 82. That should accurately project what the team should finish like, unless there is an extreme streak one way or the other. I will no longer be including the points per game column because lets face it, you don’t care how many points per game!

As you can see, according to tonights calculations, I project the Rangers as MAKING the playoffs. Therefore using these numbers we can project what the Rangers would have to go over the remaining 4 games in order to secure the projected 93 points needed to secure the final playoff spot:

-Inferno

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Want a bad flashback? Think about the first part of this season. Rangers D was leaving Henrik out to dry, Rangers forwards werent helping out, and in turn were scoring more goals, but letting in way too many as well. Thats what I am seeing out there, and I gotta tell you, it frightens the crap outta me. The Rangers may pick up 2 points here tonight, but there will still be 4 games remaining for teams behind them, if the Rangers dont turn things around, they may find themselves in the unenviable position of having to win the last game of the season to make the playoffs.

Be afraid, be very afraid.

-Inferno

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That was a bit more wide-open than I would like from the Rangers. They just dont have the depth, the skill, the ability to play that way for 60 minutes against playoff caliber teams. That is except for Jaromir Jagr, who scored one of the more spectacular goals youll see all season long. Speaking of spectacular plays, did any of you catch the play by Dan Boyle last night? Check this puppy out:

Pretty amazing play aye?

Getting back to this one, the Rangers gave up far too many shots, something like 18 or so in the first period. Although most were not quality chances, Henrik clearly didnt handle them as well as he should have. I think Henrik is a bit off his game, not sure exactly why, but he doesnt look right. Maybe more work will get him in the game.

The Flyers are taunting Orr all over the ice, they want a fight, and they want it bad. Not sure why exactly, nobody has really stood up well to Colton from the Flyers, looking to get your face broken isn’t exactly smart hockey.

-Inferno

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You are getting sleepy, very sleepy. In a matter of moments you will forget what you have just witnessed. You will not remember the Canadiens making our defense look like swiss cheese, you will not remember our goaltender get pulled, you will not remember this game.
Why am I performing this mojo on you? Simple, the Rangers have to wait till Saturday to play next. The LAST thing these guys need is to focus on this loss. If they dwell on it, they could find themselves on the outside looking in. Remember, they are just 1 point ahead of 7 and 8, and only 3 points out of the playoffs. They absolutely, without a doubt, MUST win against the Flyers, and you know damn well the Flyers would cherish being the ones to knock us out of the playoffs.

I dont want to talk about this game anymore, its too painful. Here are the projections as of tonight:

How this works:

Basically what I do, is to take the points a team has managed till now, divide it by the games played, then multiply it by 82. That should accurately project what the team should finish like, unless there is an extreme streak one way or the other. I will no longer be including the points per game column because lets face it, you don’t care how many points per game!

As you can see, according to tonights calculations, I project the Rangers as MAKING the playoffs. Therefore using these numbers we can project what the Rangers would have to go over the remaining 5 games in order to secure the projected 93 points needed to secure the final playoff spot:

-Inferno

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During our last game against the Islanders I mentioned this:

Rangers play against a team, get pretty much owned the whole game, and pick up 2 points, then actually play worse in the next game, but get bailed out by their goaltending.
No, im not talking about yesterday and today, im talking about games against the Senators and the Stars that preceded the 7 game losing streak…

In both situations the Rangers were riding long winning streaks, and in both Henrik was bailing them out time and time again. Rangers need to get their head in this game. They may be leading 1-0 but we all know how quickly leads can evaporate.

-Inferno

Do I need to say more? Rangers just got utterly owned that period. The Habs showed us what speed can do in the new NHL, and man oh man were they ever flying. Henrik wasnt bad despite the 4 goals allowed, I mean, all 4 were scored from within 5 feet, and several off of point blank shots, or rebounds off of point blank shots.

Rangers had this coming, I’m not surprised, but they need to get their act together, and in a hurry.

Hockey Gods, help us out with some losses by other teams. We have that coming our way.

-Inferno

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Wow, I don’t know if I have seen a playoff hockey game as intense as that was. Everyone was flying, the passing, the hitting, the shooting, everything was top notch. While the Rangers may have a 2-0 lead, it is by no stretch of the imagination a safe one (like I need to explain that to you guys!). That period could have easily gone the habs way, as they hit a post, came within millimeters of scoring and had chances galore of the quality variety. This was so fun, so great, I want more!

Can anyone even remember the last time the Rangers followed up a bad break in the offensive zone and scored? Seriously, how often do you see the team hit the post, then have the puck come the other way for a goal against. I cant even remember the last time a play where the Rangers got unlucky was followed up shortly with a goal of their own anyway.

Halak was actually quite good in that period, despite the 2 goals allowed. The Rangers got an insane amount of quality scoring chances.

The key is to stay out of the box.

-Inferno

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Ted Nolan must be secretly on the Rangers payroll. Either that or he just made one of the bonehead moves of the decade. You have a winded Jaromir Jagr, drawing a penalty late in OT. The Rangers dont have a timeout left so Jagr heads to the bench. Then, Nolan, for some ungodly reason calls a time out. Why exactly? I have no idea. His PK guys shouldnt have been winded, and even if they were, you always have 2 sets of PK guys. Its NEVER worth getting back your PK guy if youre going to rest 2 of the Rangers best players.

Funnily enough, the Rangers didnt earn the first point, but most definitely earned the second. I guess thats a push, or karma or whatever you want to call it. Although I can point to a losing streak earlier this year that followed a game like this, it wasnt exactly the same. Although the Isles did dominate us for many stretches, for the most part though it was played in the neutral zone, in the islanders zone on the perimeter, or in the Rangers zone on the perimeter.

I just wish that NBC had a post game show, interviews, analysis, anything, because I wanna hear Nolans explanation for that brainfart.

Oh, yeah, We’re in 6th place.

Doing projections as of right now, you most likely wont get an update tonight, doing a BBQ with the fam:

How this works:

Basically what I do, is to take the points a team has managed till now, divide it by the games played, then multiply it by 82. That should accurately project what the team should finish like, unless there is an extreme streak one way or the other. I will no longer be including the points per game column because lets face it, you don’t care how many points per game!

As you can see, according to tonights calculations, I project the Rangers as MAKING the playoffs. Therefore using these numbers we can project what the Rangers would have to go over the remaining 6 games in order to secure the projected 93 points needed to secure the final playoff spot:

-Inferno

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Rangers play against a team, get pretty much owned the whole game, and pick up 2 points, then actually play worse in the next game, but get bailed out by their goaltending.
No, im not talking about yesterday and today, im talking about games against the Senators and the Stars that preceded the 7 game losing streak…

In both situations the Rangers were riding long winning streaks, and in both Henrik was bailing them out time and time again. Rangers need to get their head in this game. They may be leading 1-0 but we all know how quickly leads can evaporate.

-Inferno

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One entire team came out very hungry for a win. Only 2 guys came out hungry for a win on the other team. Now, using a number 2 pencil, correctly describe each of the following as described before:

Sean Avery-
The Islanders-
The Rangers-
Henrik Lundqvist-

Well, that was very depressing to watch. The Rangers, once again, come out flat on a day game. Not sure why, but they just dont play well during the day. Actually generally speaking the overall level of play in a hockey game is considerably lower on day games versus night games (en masse).

Henrik Lundqvist, and Sean Avery, those are the only 2 players on the Rangers who brought their A game, the rest of these guys are sleepwalking. Any more of that and were in for a long, and painful remaining 40 minutes.

-Inferno

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Apologies for the downtime. My host, Globat (who by the way is the worst hosting company ever, as soon as my contract is up with them (12/28/07 blech) i will change) had their entire system go down.

Since the game is over (and what a finish by the good guys!) I will do a post game wrap a little later, gotta go buy some propane for the old grill.

-Inferno

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