Don't Worry, Guys, This Game Wasn't THAT Important!

Watching today's matinee reminded me of a few things I've disliked about the Rangers this season:

1. Their seamless transition from a group that can put out a great effort one game and turn into a lazy, nonchalant team the next.
   
2. Their ever-frustrating pattern of continuously outshooting their opponents but still manage to lose by a multi-goal margin.
3. 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.