Monday, April 14, 2008

Overtime Goal 'Staals' Romp of New Jersey, NYR 3, Devils 4

Well what can one say about the overtime goal bouncing off of New York Ranger Marc Staal's skate and into our own net? This is the playoffs and any goal is a good one. It was a fluke. It was anti-climatic & it sucked. Move on.... Official recap here.

Disappointment aside, the New York Rangers played with verve throughout the game (with the exception of the second period) and they were a force to be reckoned with. We still go into our second home game on Wednesday with home-ice and leading the series 2-1. Unlike both games in Newark at 'The Pebble', both teams came out strong offensively crashing the net and looking for the right bounces. Not one to complain about the officiating, but in reviewing the broadcast later last night after attending MSG, the calls did not go the Rangers direction and there were questionable & ridiculous calls against my Blueshirts. "Closing the hand on the puck?" -- when was the last time that rule was called? The refs were inconsistent -- at times allowing both teams to physically play post-season hockey and, strangely, at times 'cherry-picking' minor calls that led to power play goals.

Outstanding performances by Jaromir Jagr, Chris Drury, Sean Avery and, of course, goaltender Henrik Lundqvist should be celebrated, as they are the ones who will take us as far as we may go... Scotty Gomez was quick as usual, but not the monster we saw in the previous two games in Newark. Brandon Dubinsky continues to amaze me, as he scored two goals and controlled the best of them -- he is strong and I don't think any defensive opponents expect this young-looking lad to beat on them as he does. As sad as Marc Staal must feel scoring the OT winning goal for New Jersey - I have to hand it to the kid -- here we have a 21-year old kid rookie who is playing like a blueline veteran. The Blueshirts need him and we salute him.

Then there were other standouts last night. WE NEED TO SEND HIM 'BACK, MAN.' Christian Backman needs to get off of this team -- his comrades in Blue must be entirely frustrated in his AHL-level of play and his continual stupid mistakes. You can see the penalties coming a mile away, "Oh no....you can see it in his eyes, look ...he's going to push him into the boards head-first.....BINGO." Score for the other team! (I know we have a terrific penalty kill unit, but for crying out loud!)

Wednesday will be the deciding factor in this first-round, as both teams are evenly matched. Whiner NJ Goaltender Marty Brodeur played a solid game -- chants of MAAAARRRTTTTTTYYYYY throughout the Garden were funny until they won in OT, and chants of BOOOORRRIING from MSG fans I didn't understand, as it was one of the most exciting games of hockey I've seen between these two rivalries.

One thing is for sure -- we have ourselves an exciting first-round playoff run (as expected), and The Dark Ranger will take the loss last night. It was good, solid hockey -- though, it didn't go the way we wanted, I still appreciate what both teams brought to the ice.

Let's Go Rangers!!!! Let's Go Avery!!!! Henrik's Better....!!!!!

tdr

13 comments:

  1. Biron is world-class in Philly--took the head off of the Caps yesterday to even the series. So who do we meet if the Flyers win the series and the Rangers win the series? THAT would be a meeting of rivalries.

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  2. Marc Staal shouldn't have been directly in front of Henrik so he is to blame for the loss. He should have been positioned covering the open man six feet behind him. A sad, sad goal. We should take it in 5.

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  3. be very afraid Dark because you are bias. the Rangers did not play good hockey last night. it was sloppy and your blueliners didn't stop the onslaught.

    lundquist made some good saves but let in some soft ones. wednesday is going to be tough on the Rangers and you and the Garden may be singing the Blues. i'd like to see them win the series, but you can never underestimate New Jersey and their system: lockdown on defense and taking advantage of turnovers.

    with you biting your nails, the rest of the hockey world is enjoying the battle of goaltenders.

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  4. jared...not sure, i believe we will take on the Montreal/Boston winners if we take the first-round.
    dj...strong words...at least he was guarding the net, as opposed to Backman letting Langenbrunner have a picnic all game in front of Lundqvist.
    mitchmen...i am wary and most of my confidence will be shaken post-game Wednesday. I think they have it in them to turn this series around and lock-it-in.

    It is fun to watch, regardless, because in three games we have been more consistent than the entire regular season thus far.

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  5. i did see langenbrunner parked in front of the net and agree with you that something needs to be done about that. wed is big night.

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  6. Avery embarrassed himself, the Rangers and the sport as a whole. Yes he and Marty hate each other and that's all good and well. But to pull the action that Avery pulled? Sad and disgraceful.

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  7. poke...i don't think Avery could embarrass himself any more than he already has this season. consider that he's scored 3 goals in 3 games in the playoffs, so in my book he can dance naked like a chicken and Dark will be okay with it. If he's not scoring and playing like Christian Backman, then I agree with you.

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  8. Lets go Avery! Lets go Avery!

    Broduer sucks.

    BlueNationLaefs

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  9. Dark, I agree with you on Avery, but whatever, the league hateshim and will do whatever it can to protect its boring, vanilla hockey while pushing it closer and closer to nonviolent women's hockey.

    I didn't catch the BORING chants, and am thankful for that because it would have pissed me off.

    And Backman is a disgrace but he won't go anywhere, they are grooming him to replace Rozy next season. It won't work, Wally sucks, but its out of our hands. We just have to pray that he doesn't do anything stupid next time.

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  10. Looking forward to seeing Avery in a Panthers jersey. Heh.

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  11. The NHL has announced a rule change based on Avery's moves last night. WOW.
    Don Cherry on his live Grapeline today called Avery "I've known him since he was 13 and he's a jerk"
    This jerk is our jerk and dates hot models.

    nuff said

    BlueNationLeafs

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  12. 1) As we wrote in our blog, we not Avery fans BUT hate it when the league knee-jerks rule changes.
    2) If what Avery did was illegal why did TWO referees decline to penalize him?
    3) Wwas it dangerous to Avery? Infintile and stupid? Probably, but if there isn't a rule in place to prevent such actions don't create one out of thin air. There is a set way to change existing rules. Problem is that Bettman had to stem the tide of negative publicty the Avery move created.

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  13. Dark, you need to bone up on your hockey playoff rules. After each round, the best seeded team plays the worst seeded team remaining. So if the teams leading right now win their series, Montreal plays Philly and Penguins play Rangers. Only way Philly could play Rangers is if Ottawa beats Pens or Bruins beat Montreal (but not both, then it would be Rangers/Bruins and Flyers/Ottawa). Got it? Good, Go Flyers!!!

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