I’m not one of those guys who minds saying I told you so. Obviously by being a douchebag like that, I get a lot of I told you so’s back my way. I accept that reaction back the next time I am wrong (a pretty common occurrence). With all that said…

On the message boards there were about 50,000 threads about how awful Lundqvist has been. Those threads are OK with me. Why? Because the numbers actually kind of support that mentality. The threads I have a problem with are the ones saying ridiculous things like benching him for Vally, or never should have signed him, or even going as far as saying we should trade him away. There is nothing wrong with critiquing a players performance like the guys at the NYRangersCast do, but I have a serious problem with knee jerk stupidity. This isn’t some flash in the pan folks. This isn’t some kid who came out of nowhere and was great for a year and fell off the planet. This is a guy who dominated the SEL when NHLers were playing there, a guy who won a gold medal, a guy who is only the 2nd player in NHL history to win 30 games in his first 3 years, and a guy whose been nominated for the Vezina in each of his first 2 years. That is not the kind of guy you say ridiculously stupid things about.

Critique him on a game by game basis, call him out for letting in a soft goal here and there, or for not keeping his team in it by not being mentally in it, or whatever you want to say about the way he is playing, but at least keep it within the realm of sanity. I am not even conceding that he has been bad this year (I think the defense in front of him has been pathetic for a lot of the middle of this year), but I can understand why you would be annoyed at some of his startlingly high numbers. Be concerned, don’t give up on the guy. Otherwise you might have to see him putting up a ridiculous performance like todays in another uniform, because despite what some of you think, I have to believe if Henrik made it to the offseason without a contract a GM would have easily given him a 7….8….9 million per year contract. Young goalies with his kind of ability don’t grow on trees, and if I were a GM I probably would do just that, and I am dead set against giving offer sheets under most circumstances. Henrik, like Crosby, like Ovechkin would fall in the exception category.

That’s all I have to say on this one.

I forgot to mention, there will be no between period thoughts tomorrow. I will be watching the game on DVR probably starting around 11:00 and ending at about 1:00, then ill do a post game wrap. But no posts till then. This will be the norm as my league has started up and we have games on Mondays.

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From a goaltending point of view, the 2nd was really enjoyable to watch. Both goalies looked exceptional, particularly Lundqvist who didn’t have to face as many shots, but probably had the more difficult shots to face. The Rangers definitely picked up their play in that period, but they have a long way to go before they reach the level they were playing at in just the last game. Taking penalties to end periods isn’t a smart way of doing that, it really kills the momentum. Really not much more to say. I apologize for not being particularly insightful, but for the most part, this is boring, crap hockey.

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No legs, no legs, no legs. Rangers had no speed at all in the first. Its not hard to figure out why, but it is annoying nonetheless.

Have I said it often enough? I hate afternoon games….in every sport. It’s just so unnatural.

Give credit to the Bruins. No Thomas, no Chara, and they are still buzzing around like annoying little gnats. One random thought I had in that first period…this looks like the kind of game where the Rangers are going to give up a short handed goal. Hopefully I am wrong.

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