Blueshirts Actually Make Larry Brooks Say Nice Things

Sat.  NYR 1, St. Louis Blues 4

Sun  NYR 6, Montreal 2

Take a breather folks and fellow Blueshirt Groupies, if your weekend was at Bernies like mine then you've arrived back to a hairball of emotions.  Having traveled the last six days (and missing posts -- sorry fans, it won't happen again - I promise) I woke up this morning to Larry Brooks of The Post saying great things about The Rangers after their blitzkrieg of goals against the Montreal Canadiens last night.  When have you heard the 'Torts-busting-his-chops-unhappy-since-1994' Rangers columnist says nice things like the following?:

"First the Rangers rocked.  Yes, the Rangers. And then the Rangers rolled to six consecutive goals over the final 40 minutes to bury the Canadiens at the Garden 6-2 in a rollicking game of old-time hockey. Yes, the Rangers." -Larry Brooks, NY Post

So there you have it from our creepy hockey uncle of The Post.  Take a breath.  Relax.  Enjoy.  Keep him away from your kids. 

Saturday official recap here (no need because the game sucked)
Sunday official recap here.  (no need...just believe!)

Having only seen the Rangers in 60 late last night post-game, I cannot speak to much of the above with authority, but friends at The Garden last night proclaimed it even more exciting than the shootout loss to New Jersey last week -- two equally exciting games, but this time with goals!!!!   Sam Rosen of the MSG network declared post-game the 'end of the Rangers drought', which frankly is jumping a little ahead of himself.  Yes...we are hopeful fans and it is optimistic to think our Boys in Blue have gained back a smidgen of confidence in their skate -- LOOK MA, THEY CAN SCORE!, but another 3-4 games of scoring more than 2 or 3 goals would be worthy of such proclamation. 

So for fun here's a friend's take on last night at The Garden (not a literal translation, but I tried best to articulate):

"First period, F*ck this shit, Michael Cammaleri and Brian Gionta score first period goals - that was a high-stick goal...friggin refs...calling it their way, Henrik is off his rocker again.  What is it with this team already?  Next thing you know Mara and Gomez are going to score against The King, I mean...the Prince....  (Second period & third period) Wow Callahan just scored from a delicious Gaborik feed....maybe there's hope, but another one of these merry-go-round games when.....Mama help me, Dubinsky just scored throwing himself to the net...and another....WHAT?  Lisin defending himself AND WADE REDDEN DROPPING THE GLOVES??????  AM I DREAMING?  WHAT IS HAPPENING?  CAN YOU FRIGGIN BELIEVE THIS?  GRIND MY GEARS, TONIGHT IS THE NIGHT!  ANOTHER SWEETIE BY CALLAHAN... ANOTHER BY GABORIK..... PULL MY FINGER, CAUSE I GOTTA SHIT SO BAD I CAN TASTE IT!  LET'S GO RANGERS!!!  (air drum, air drum, air drum)....LET'S GO RANGERS?   WHAT?  CHRIS DRURY SCORED 2 ON 1?  THE CLUTCH MAN ROCKS.....send this guy to the Olympics!"

Where is this fist going?  It wasn't pretty, but Redden dropped 'em (I mean the gloves)

You have to appreciate die-hard Rangers fans.   I know, just like the guy who sits next to your seats.

Here's an alarming fact from last night. The Rangers snapped a goal-scoring drought at home of 147:02. The six goals were one more than they had in the previous five games combined, five more than they scored over their 0-2-1 run in the previous three games and the most since they had seven against Columbus at home Nov. 23. So there is much to be done and much more to prove to themselves before we can rejoice our new scoring Blueshirts of 2010. Against an Original Six rival like the Montreal Canadiens, a blowout of this magnitude was atypical of how we've historically played this team -- a role reversal, so we will watch with enthusiasm as we play the Tampa Bay Lightning tomorrow night (Tuesday). As both teams have shown 'the skids' over the last months, the Rangers sit with a 23-19-7 record sitting unstable in sixth place in the Eastern Conference. We are dreadfully two losses away from 11th place in the standings so a win tomorrow night would be nice to further the distance from the non-playoffs.

Sean Avery rocks.  Brushed off two penalties in the first period, shouted back at Torts and ignored him and lit it up to defend everyone on the team.  He defies his reputation and plays great old time hockey.  Dubinsky and Callahan are two of the hardest working guys on the team --- we are finally seeing the potential....may it continue God willing.

So that's the crude recap from a killer game folks.  Check in post-Tuesday as J_Undisputed will hopefully say 'Larry Brooks'-like things about our beloved Blue-Men post-game.

tdr