Sunday, December 23, 2007

Putting Your Money Where Your Mouth Is

Would you bet money on tonight's Blueshirts vs. Senators match?

Vegas has the odds 1-5 that the Rangers will win tonight, whereas covers.com is picking the New York Rangers to beat the Ottawa Senators +105. So it appears 'all bets are off' as the experts willing to put their 'hard-earned dollars' are unsure of which direction tonight's meeting will go. One thing is for certain. The Rangers need this one at home badly and I'd pay a lot of money for them to win - if that was possible. What do you think this is, basketball?

New York (17-14-4) did win the teams' most recent meeting - 5-2 at Ottawa on Dec. 1 - ending a five-game overall slide against the Senators. The Rangers are a paltry 2-5-2 since, though, having allowed at least four goals in each of the seven losses. Keep in mind, the Senators have won four straight at MSG since losing 5-1 to the Rangers on Feb 8, 2006 against the home crowd and Ottawa is 11-3-2 on the road this season, and can match San Jose's NHL-best 12-3-2 road record with a win tonight.

Both teams should be passionate tonight for different reasons - which should make for a good game, that is, unless our captain and coach actually show up. Considering everything we have, what can we count on tonight without question? We know the young'ens will be out there hammering away and Sean Avery will not be in section 404 eating hot dogs and cursing the Senators as he will finally play. We know Petr Prucha will absorb three or four major hits by Ottawa without retaliation. It's possible Hossa - playing tonight - will wrongfully channel his older brother leading to, at least, two turnovers. Brendan Shanahan will question the refs at least three times and quote to the press afterwards on 'how we take too many hits and nothing goes our way.'

So pessimism aside, may we see a winning team tonight. A team that plays to win, wants to win, and believes in the spirit of the home crowd. It's time we get out of this slump and win the hearts of the fans. Beating the Eastern Conference leader (again) would be a great asset to keeping the people believing.

Let's go Rangers! Lastly, my money is behind the Rangers taking the Senators 4 to 2. Quote me on it.

tdr

1 comment:

  1. Your dice should be showing a one and a two, 'craps'.

    ReplyDelete

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