The Dark Ranger: Pinch Me, Please! NYR 6, Colorado 1

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).

Sunday, March 1, 2009

Pinch Me, Please! NYR 6, Colorado 1

Rangers 6, Colorado 1.

4 goals in the first period -- an outburst that led to a total domination of a game that has not been since last year when the Rangers scored 5 to open a Saturday afternoon game against the Sabres. It's been that long. The biggest scoring output of the season. A regulation win. Drury and Zherdev goals. That's 3 signs of the Apocalypse right there. The official recap is here.

Nothing further is needed today to discuss the game with so much else about to happen in the "background" as noted below. I exchanged several e-mails with my friends prior to last night's game and we all agreed that the Rangers were due to score some goals especially considering their feeble 4% shooting percentage. It was only a matter of time. Fortunately, it arrived. (Someone suggested that future games should be telecast on WPIX-11 as was last night's game.) But that's only one game -- there has to be a carryover effect to show that the Blueshirts are going to rebound. The first test will be Thursday against the Isles in Uniondale. That is now a big game.

Once again we learned that while you can question

the talent level of the Rangers (and I have), you can never question their heart -- as evidenced by Sjostrom's recent stitch work (which reopened during Saturday's game) and Mara's pounding on Darcy Tucker without regard to the questionable health of his shoulder.

Tortorella's new system finally paid dividends against Colorado and rewarded him with his first victory as a coach. When Thursday's game at Uniondale starts, three things will have occurred.

First, the Rangers get to practice (and some players can rest) to enable them to get more comfortable with Tortorella's new system.
Second, the Dallas Stars are expected to put Sean Avery on waivers, and many are predicting that he will be available for the Rangers to pick up. Who knows whether he will be suiting up in white on Thursday for the Rangers.
Finally, the trading deadline expires on March 4. Who did we say goodbye to last night? We'll find out soon.

So even without a game for a few days, there will be plenty of action to report about.

---Tony