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Let me tell you something. I only got to watch the last 20 minutes of this game. The Rangers looked a bit sloppy and gave up a bad tying goal with half a period to go. But they played on. They survived the Pittsburgh onslaught with less than a minute to go in the period. Lundqvist stayed sharp and denied the likes of Hossa and Malkin. Actually, the King was sharp the whole game from what I saw from the highlight reel, even if he didn't face many shots.
The overtime had me worried. The Pens are a dangerous club when you give them space, which 4-on-4 hockey always creates. But the Rangers responded with good rushes, and a strong play by Jagr drew a penalty. I thought, "Another power play? We couldn't score on the power play if we were Sean Avery in a dirty Manhattan motel." But a 4-on-3 creates big openings on the ice. They pissed away their first few chances, but when it came time to get shit going, they put the puck to the net, and who else but Chris Drury drove it home.
This win was more important than it may seem. It was another huge goal by Drury, who had been a bit cold lately. It catapulted us into a tie with the Devils for 4th place. More importantly, it got us out of the logjam tie for 6th. A loss tonight would have really put us behind the 8 ball with 3 games to go. 9th place was beginning to creep up on us a bit. But these guys delivered when it was important, and that's what excited me the most. Well, maybe getting to celebrate the OT winner while sitting next to my Penguins-loving father pumped me up the most. In any case, this was a great win. Now if only they could learn to do it in regulation....
A quick sidenote I forgot to mention yesterday. How fucking awesome is the music in The Igloo? I've never heard an arena play "Raining Blood" by Slayer and "Sweating Bullets" by Megadeth in the same death. Come to think of it, when's the last time we heard Slayer or 'Deth in the Garden? Probably the same game where we didn't hear shit by Creed or My Chemical Romance.
Tonight wraps up both the home-and-home and season series with the Pittsburgh Penguins, who took a 3-1 decision yesterday afternoon in the Igloo. Tonight's game can be seen at 7pm on Versus. Unfortunately, I'm working tonight and will only be able to see the last half hour of the game. I'm a bit disappointed that I'll have to miss another garbage broadcast by Gary Bettman's favorite television network that 3 people in this entire country can actually see. I hope for everyone's sake that Joe Beninati isn't calling this game. That guy does nothing but fondle the balls of Crosby, Ovechkin, and the Buffalo Sabres. Not to mention his over-usage of hockey cliches is just brutal.
If the Rangers want to split the home-and-home, the big thing they have to avoid the sin bin. While the officiating was sub-par yesterday, they have to do their best to stay disciplined throughout the game. Too many times did a Blueshirt penalty kill their momentum yesterday. Hopefully, tonight's zebra twosome won't be so liberal with their whistles.
A regulation loss tonight would put the Rangers in a very unwanted situation. It would make a 3-way tie for 6th, with us, Boston, and Philly all having a 40-28-11 record. The tiebreaker would put Boston in 6th, the Rangers in 7th, and Philly in 8th. A win tonight -- be it in regulation or extra time -- is essential. No excuses. If these guys are smart offensively and go to the net, they can get goals and win. It's time to give the Ice Chickens a reason to not want to see us in the playoffs.
Let's Go Rangers!
Friends, it seems that this writer made an unfortunate mistake in a previous entry. I quickly assumed that our star left wing Sean Avery was guilty of partaking in the services of a Manhattan prostitute without seeing any actual evidence. However, according to an article in Newsday, the hooker in question said she never bumped uglies with #16.
So, Sean, this is my public apology to you. I know that I may have used this unfortunate situation to jumpstart my newborn blog and to get a good laugh, but I still really respect you. Your loud mouth is really getting on the nerves of your opponents, and I'm sure Marc-Andre Fleury is worried that tomorrow one of your wristshots might actually come within three feet of the net.
This whole situation has made left me feeling terrible, like Kent Brockman did after preemptively proclaiming his allegiance to our new insect overlords in Deep Space Homer.
Of course, something like this won't go unnoticed in opposing arenas around the league. While I'm sure that some classless fans across the Hudson will jeer at Avery for this mini-scandal, we can just remember that while Sean is doing it with Elisha Cuthbert and one of those Olsen twins (hopefully the non-anorexic one), a certain French Canadian goalie is doing it with his sister-in-law.
Watching today's matinee reminded me of a few things I've disliked about the Rangers this season:
- Their seamless transition from a group that can put out a great effort one game and turn into a lazy, nonchalant team the next.
- Their ever-frustrating pattern of continuously outshooting their opponents but still manage to lose by a multi-goal margin.
- Their power play. After the first goal by Dubinsky, the man-advantage looked as limp-dicked as Hugh Hefner without his Cialis. Once again, too many cute passes, not enough going to the net.
I hope everyone enjoyed the officiating as much as I did today. Don't you love Gary Bettman's new NHL? Guys like Crosby and Ruutu can cross-check people in the back all day long, but GOD FORBID that someone's midsection get tapped by a stick or that anyone dares to touch Sidney Crosfaker's body with their stick. We're a little over a week away from the playoffs; it's time for the zebras to swallow the whistle a bit. Thanks to the tilted officiating, the Rangers couldn't get any momentum going. There were a few blatant penalties (Jagr with what I think is his league-leading 16th hooking call), but honestly, how can Petr Prucha, who is a modest 5'11", 170lbs, merit a roughing call? For God's sake, they should've given the poor Czech a medal for not getting blasted by someone this game. That's two contests in a row!
The loss can't be blamed on shoddy officiating, though. The Rangers failed to get good chances today, and that led to them only scoring one goal in a game that had big implications on their playoff positioning. Given, playing the 'Canes may not be all that bad, but wouldn't a 4 seed be nice? We could have home-ice advantage for once! That hasn't happened since...well let's just say it was in a year that began with "199."
But hey, tomorrow's another day, and it's also a chance to get revenge on the Penguins. We just have to hope that these guys will pull their heads out of their asses and get some offense going.
Today's matinee is the start of a home and home between the Pens and Rangers. The Rangers currently hold a 4-2 series edge over Malkin & Co. Reigning MVP Sidney Crosby is finally back from that ankle boo-boo that kept him sidelined for two months. Also back from injury is deadline acquisition Marian Hossa. I bet the Thrashers are gonna enjoy Pitt's first round pick and #1 prospect when Hossa once again eats it in the playoffs and the Pens are trounced by the second round. Who am I kidding? Waddell will probably trade both of them away for worthless veterans *cough* Tkachuk and Zhitnik *cough*.
Anyway, today's game has immense importance in the standings. A win would put the Rangers alone in 5th place and in a tie for 4th. An OT or shootout loss would put them in a tie for 5th (they have the tiebreaker thanks to Ottawa having played 2 more games). The Rangers definitely need 3 points out of 4 in this home-and-home if they want out of that 6th seed.
Unfortunately, I've gotta DVR this game since I have to be out of town this afternoon. It'll break my heart to fast forward through all of the Heineken robot girl commercials that NBC inevitably shows every Sunday.
Keys to Today's Game:
- Shut down Crosby, Malkin, and Hossa. Duh. Maybe give Sid a nice tap on the ankle with your stick, Sean.
- Speaking of Avery, keep all prostitutes out of the Igloo. If the Rangers win, reward him with a visit from his favorite hooker. If he scores a goal, have Renney pay for it.
- Power play. None of the cute passing shit that the Rangers (I'm looking at you Straka, Jagr, and Rozsival) are guilty of every single game. Shoot from the point, crash the net hoping for rebounds. Conklin and especially Fleury are terrible with rebound control. Take advantage of it.
- Defense, defense, defense. Henrik's been playing very well as of late, but he's been covering up a lot of the team's defensive errors. Not finishing checks in their own zone and bad passes gave the Devils two goals on Thursday. If Lundqvist hadn't been sharp, you can bet your wallet there would've been more.
It'll be a tough game today. The Ice Chickens are fighting for the #1 spot in the conference. But the Rangers have kept up with the Penguins all year. It'll be a good'un.
Let's Go Rangers!
So, according to an article in the NY Daily News, everyone's favorite dickwad Sean Avery's name and cell phone number were found in Manhattan madam Kristin Davis' little black book. Assuming that these allegations are of course true, let's first look at the gal running the show:
Holy crap. I didn't think Avery would be going after your run-of-the-mill, corner of 7th-and-Vine, STD-laden hookers. I thought he might go after the more classy hookers, like the ones in the Emperors Club or even the kind hired by Heidi Fleiss. I guess he couldn't afford them with the crappy $1.9M salary the arbitrator gave him last summer. But hey, don't worry, Sean. Those nasty genital warts you probably contracted from your Maison de L'Amour mistress will be worth it next year when you can afford the grade-A whores 'cause you're making Darcy Tucker money.
So kids, the moral of the story is: money can buy love. Hot supermodel and actress girlfriends will come and go, but there will always be a dirty hooker there to love and care for you.
For $500 an hour, that is.
Welcome Ranger fans, hockey fans, and people who mistakenly came here whilst looking for foot fetish pornography! I'm Dr. D,and this is my new blog. What I want this blog to become is a fresh and humorous look at everyone's (least) favorite team, the New York Rangers, and the laughingstock...erm, I mean, spectacle, that is the NHL. Hopefully you'll like what I've got going here. If not, you're probably just an uppity Devils fan. Just kidding -- I know personally both of the Devs' fans and they're really good sports. Anyway, I hope to see you back here once I put up actual content and not just this page-filling crap.
Let's Go Rangers!
