Not sure how it got in, but if you click the titles for any of the articles I wrote, it brings a page not found. Ive been trying to find time to work on it, but at the moment I’m just slammed. To put things in perspective, I was working on Tax related and business related stuff till 5am, then got up this morning after 3 hours sleep and talked to my accountant, and have about 6 billion other business related things to take care of before I have a skate this evening in preparation for Mondays game.

By Mondays game I am talking about the league I joined which hasn’t been an issue yet. Our games are on Monday nights, which means for the foreseeable future, any game that falls on a Monday night will be missed (but DVR’d) by yours truly. Just wanted to give you a heads up.

Rangers Review | Comments Off

See, I have no problem killing Henrik in this one. 2 goals given up that he absolutely should have had (I don’t think either was hit after the initial shot.). The first was a weak wrister by Cole that somehow found its way to the back of the net, and the second was a wrister by Cole that Betts deflected from behind to make it a knuckle puck. Even though Joe Michelletti insisted that it went in after a second tap in by Cole, I have looked at the replay a dozen times on High Def, and I just don’t see Cole touching the puck the second time. It just fluttered between Henriks legs. Those are 2 bad goals. Still, Henrik did make a number of good saves, and was good when it counted. The Rangers also won a game I never really felt worried about. Why? Because they didn’t allow the Canes to sustain pressure sans Power Play. When on even strength the Rangers held the puck in their zone and forced the Canes to do one thing they don’t do well. Defend.

The 2 new guys didn’t make much of an impression on me. Sjostrom had a nice rush, and looked energetic. But he really did not make my jaw drop with his speed (Avery, Straka, and Gomez all look faster than him), nor did he impress me with his defensive prowess in any dramatic way (like for example Blair Betts does). So he was kinda meh to me. Backman on the other hand was disastrous in that 3rd period. He took 10 minutes worth of penalties in the game (albeit 1 was accidental, 1 was an aggression penalty sticking up for himself, and 2 were kind of soft calls/dives.) But in a game that was reffed on a level bordering the ridiculous, it’s hard to kill a guy for taking so many penalties. Especially when we won the game. Backman needs to just forget about the 3rd period, and play more like he did in the first. I thought he was good in the first, and decent in the second, but the 3rd was not good.

The story of this game is once again the play of the top line. Jagr, Avery and Dubinsky showing some sick chemistry again, scoring 2 goals, and they could have easily had a few others (Avery sucks on breakaways, he needs to start waiting for the defenseman to catch up to him or something to make it a one on one). Nigel Dawes also delivered a crisp cross ice tape to tape pass to Shanny in a zone Shanny doesn’t miss often from. Shanny also had at least 2 other high quality chances to score in this one so he was definitely into it. All in all, this was a game that wasn’t really as close as the score would have you believe. I truly think Cam Ward stood on his head in this one. He had at least 4 spectacular saves, and another 6 or 7 really really really good ones as well. We coulda won this by a huge margin if he wasn’t so good. But thats how we need to be. Desperate, hungry, and relentless. In the playoffs, the goaltending only gets better from round to round.

I’m loving what im seeing from this team for the most part. They really have me believing theyve turned th…..uhh, never mind.

Rangers Review | Comments Off

So, let’s see. One ridiculous jumping flying elbow to Rozsivals face nowhere near the puck uncalled? Check. One high stick to Nigel Dawes uncalled? Check. One hit from behind to Ryan Callahan? Check. One extremely quick whistles that cost the Rangers a goal? Check.

Bill McCreary is putting on one of those WTF kinds of games today. Its not likes hes been bad both ways. Hes just been downright onesided here tonight. I know hes a take no crap kinda guy, but for gods sake, at least TRY to look impartial.

Just an absolute disgraceful reffing job here tonight.

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While 1 period does not a game make (see the Montreal game for proof) the Rangers put on an absolute clinic on how you can be an awesome team offensively, defensively, and in the net. They didnt just look good. They looked downright scary good. As Joe Michelletti said, this could have easily been a 5-0 lead for the Rangers after 1. Thats how dominating they were. And even when the Canes got some offensive zone pressure, the D blocked shots, and when they didnt, Henrik made the big save.

This was a very good display (so far). Good because they seem to be doing it day in, and day out.

I’m scared because if they keep playing this well, I may have nothing to bitch about.

Rangers Review | Comments Off

Meh.

Rangers Review | Comments Off

Theres a rumor floating around that this deal might go down before tomorrows deadline..

HockeyRodent + HockeyBird to the Rangers Review for Inferno.

Management from Rangers Review is said to be mulling it over.

Rangers Review | Comments Off

I feel sorry for the Rangers. 5-0-2 in their last 7, I believe now they are 8-2-2 in their last 12, and are clicking on almost every cylinder. They get a true #1 performance from Marek Malik, Jason Strudwick looked like an NHL defenseman (*shudders*), Henrik gets an easy shutout, Jagr scoring goals, and the best player on the ice is a 21 year old rookie from Alaska. So now, we get the trade deadline. Ugh. What could have been a real chance to make some headway in the future (see my post about what I would do if I were GM a little below) they really are forced into being cautious and may not make a single move.

Yes, that’s right folks, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if we did not make a single trade this Tuesday. I could also see us trying to get that one last defensive piece (Salei? Boyle? Campbell? Jackman? Kaberle?) to get us over the top. But right now, I just don’t see us making a huge move to get a forward. Really, there is no need. Colton Orr is out, Petr Prucha is out, and we still look great out there.

One thing is for sure, this Tuesday is going to be very very interesting. I myself will be actively hitting the refresh button every 10 seconds on the TSN website, and enjoying ridiculously long load times on some of my favorite hockey websites and message boards. Is there anything more fun than the NHL trade deadline? Ok, sure, the NHL playoffs, but still, this is the most fun you can have without there actually being a game to watch.

Getting back to this game, I personally felt they chose the wrong #1 star. While Henrik was quite good, he really didn’t have to bust his ass to earn this shutout. It was a relatively easy 8th shutout for the year. The real #1 star was none other than our very own Benedict Arn….err…Marek Malik. I kill the guy when hes off, but you also gotta be willing to give the guy credit when he’s on. Outside of one putrid giveaway a few games ago (I can’t remember which game at the moment, but I want to say Buffalo) hes been a rock in his own zone. Hes been playing the angles perfectly, making perfect tape to tape outlet passes to spring the offense, and hes been *gasp* physical. Did you see him knock the Panther player into the net and give him a few extra shoves? How about 2 pretty strong hits against the boards. Yowza, where has this Malik been all year?

Rangers Review | Comments Off

Is it possible that Mr. Jagr has turned the….umm, has reached a turning….um…has started to pick up his play for the stretch run? it sure appears that way. Even without Doobzilla Jagr was carrying the play when the puck was on his stick. A lot of that, I’m sure, is because of the ineptitude of this depleted Panthers team, but these are still NHL players, and Jaromir is still doing special things. I mentioned this earlier in the season, it’s mental with Jagr, when he thinks he can play like a beast, he plays like a beast, when he thinks he can’t he doesn’t. It’s not a question about laziness as much as its a question about confidence. When he has it, hes still a very special player.

Big 3rd period here, Rangers need to have a solid 60 minute effort going into Tuesdays trade deadline, especially for bubble players who may be traded (Dawes, Callahan, Hossa, Strudwick (bubble ECHL in his case), Hollweg, Malik, Mara (injured), Prucha(injured) all have to be worried for their jobs, and need to show Glen Sather why he should keep them).

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The Rangers worst enemies are themselves. Good thing today they defeated themselves…wait, what the hell? Let me start over again. Yes, the Rangers worst enemies are themselves, because they play down to their opposition far too often. Tonight it looks like they came out with blinders on. Meaning they played as well as they could play, regardless of who the other team is. They need to keep doing that, and I need to work on my comparisons.

Rangers Review | Comments Off

Apparently Sean Avery stopped talking to the press after the Kings game. That would mean hes played 7 games since going on his vocal embargo. His stats during that time? 5 goals, 2 assists. With the Rangers going 4-1-2 in those games and picking up 10 out of a possible 14 points (.714) and going from 9th in the division to hovering right around 6th despite most of the teams around us playing their games in hand over us.

Sean, some friendly advice, keep your mouth shut. It’s working. Whatever the hell this freaky thing he is pulling, whatever his reasons, I don’t care. All I know is it’s working. Of course part of the reason it could be working is hes been put on the line with the best player on the Rangers right now. Oh, I’m not talking about Jaromir, 5 points in 2 games Jagr, I’m talking about DoobZilla. The kid isn’t just developing into a monster…he IS a monster right now. Since January 12th, about 2 weeks before the All Star game, Brandon has played in 19 games. His stats during that time period? 8 goals, 9 assists, for 17 points. Thats a 21 year old point a game player folks. If you project those numbers out to 82 games, were talking 35 goals, 35 assists and 70 points. As a rookie!

Yowza.

There was a lot to like about this game, including Henrik Lundqvist hopefully getting some slack from the guys at the NYRangersCast with a game saving stop against Vanek. Know why it was a game saving stop? BECAUSE THE RANGERS SCORED ANOTHER GOAL!!! Oddly enough when he makes saves like that against the Habs, but the Rangers team in front of him continues to be inept, he becomes the goat.

Go figure.

Tomorrow isn’t just a big game, its a monstrous game. The Rangers are pretty predictable in their gameplay. Big game, they play great, game they should win, they play like crap. They need to stop playing up and down to their opponents and instead playing up to their own ability. Win tomorrow, and youre 5-1-2 in your last 8. Lose, and it undoes a lot of the good the team did these past 2 weeks.

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