The Dark Ranger: It's Like Tin Foil On Your Cavity, Flyers 4, Rangers 3 SO

Bio of TDR

TDR is a working professional in entertainment and is obsessed with the game of hockey. More fourteen years ago, this site emerged as a means (or an outlet) to tell some truth'isms about the game post-lockout, rather than the crud fed to us through knuckleheads like Jimmy Dolan and his lemmings universe. Today, there are a hundred Rangers sites and is thankful and grateful to all those that have come after him, but honorable thanks go to his fellow Dark-writers, Graying Mantis and J_Undisputed. And "Let's Go Rangers!"

Bio of General Ganz

General Ganz is a cynical yet well-informed student of the human spirit. He's a professional of sorts, with a post-graduate education, some experience working in real companies, and some limited athletic ability. The total small package. He got picked on a fair bit as a kid, and he experienced his first human-non-relation kiss in his teens. He also grew up on the other side of the tracks, thereby helping to cultivate a healthy contempt for dreamers and optimists whose rosy upbringing gave them something to smile about, even when "life produced lemons." Like it or not, his only mission is to point out the potholes you're lucky enough to miss on your drive to work. To find the blemish on your daughter's carefully-stitched (and not-yet-paid-for) wedding dress. To take that little smidgen of hope that your favorite hockey teams fill you with, and pour orange paint on it. Oh, and he is a Blueshirts fan, and takes most of his fashion direction from Ron Duguay (whose name he dropped as a way to close the deal on that first kiss).

Saturday, March 22, 2008

It's Like Tin Foil On Your Cavity, Flyers 4, Rangers 3 SO

How else to describe a loss to Philadelphia? The matchups between the Flyers and The New York Rangers are always the good ones - the rivalry, the brutality, the real hockey of it all. Watching the game felt like a really bad date that ended with disappointment, or better yet, after a night of drinks, with the stomach churning, you're leaning over the toilet bowl staring at the water and nothing is coming out. , but needless to say we took a point in our standings maintaining the sixth spot in the Eastern Conference - still four points ahead of the Flyers eight spot.

Official recap here.

It was a hell of a third period. Three goals in the last eight minutes and an overtime that actually made me think we might win the game and pull out another 'steal' during our run to the playoffs. The first and second periods, the New York Rangers were lifeless as the Philadelphia Flyers put up a defensive zone and neutered our offense. Mind you, there were plenty of opportunities to score. We just didn't....until the third BONANZA!!!! With a scoreless overtime, we were left playing a team with one of the worst shootout records in the league....and our backup goalie. I wasn't confident with this and my instincts were correct. He failed miserably -- our King Henrik Lundqvist was sorely missed (Scotty Hockey suggests in his recap that Renney should have, perhaps, put Lundqvist in for the shootout -- I think a great idea on paper, but not the right thing to do as Valiquette deserved every fair opportunity to play it through. Well, Scotty was right.)

Scott Gomez took an alarming "Brian Boytano" (sp?) slide into the boards leaving him out for the rest of the game and perhaps the next week or so (some undisclosed upper body injury). Stephen Valiquette played a fairly solid game in goal for the Rangers, a great coaching choice by Tom Renney - as he has only found success playing against Philly this season.

Rematch against Philly this Tuesday. Feeling good....despite the lack of sleep.

tdr

4 comments:

AnonymousSunday, March 23, 2008 12:52:00 PM
Hey Dark Ranger, lack of sleep? Rangers or baby?

Happy Easter!
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AnonymousSunday, March 23, 2008 6:14:00 PM
No sleep to lose on the Rangers, dark. They'll do just fine. You, though, I am worried about! ;)
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AnonymousTuesday, March 25, 2008 9:22:00 PM
Would the Rangers be in the playoffs this season without the extra point in the shootout?
Every other game is in OT...
shanny has earned his cheques!
At the end of the 82 game schedule the playoff format would certainly look quite different. Lets get rid of the divison leaders getting special treatment in the conference seedings. Watching Carolina get home ice in an opening round against the Rangers would be wrong!

BlueNationLeafs
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The Dark RangerWednesday, March 26, 2008 1:32:00 PM
The rules are the rules, BNLeafs...but I do agree that the point system should change. Arguably though, it there were no points given to an OT for any team in the league, it could be said that teams would play harder in the last two minutes rather than playing it safe.

I would be pleased playing Carolina in the first round, but again I gotta agree that the division leaders should not get immediate positioning- as this season we may see a division leader with significantly less points than the 7th or 8th qualifying team in the conference. Strange.
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