King Lundqvist Was Overthrown, NYR 2, NJ Devils 3

A much needed regime change was in order last night

It was to be a battle of two elite goaltenders, Mahhhhh-ty Brodeur on the Devils side & Henrik Lundqvist on the Rangers side.  With Brodeur having one of the worst seasons of his career and Our 'King' Lundqvist having one of his top seasons, no one could have predicted that Blueshirt backup Marty Biron would be the one to keep the Rangers in the game.

Official recap here.

Shameful to watch and eerily feeling like watching Rick Dipietro in net, Henrik Lundqvist was in the Twilight Zone throughout this match of the elites.  Kovalchuk connected on New Jersey's first shot to give the Devils the lead 1:04 in,  a hard shot that caromed in off the post.  Shortly after, Dainius Zubrus' scored.  By the second period our very own Zuccarello (Hobbit) failed a clearing attempt pass to Chris Drury, which Elias stole and assisted Brian Rolston who scored giving the Devils a seemingly comfortable 3-0 lead.  Lundqvist was pulled like pork from the bone (and we 'aint talking about Brodeur and his meat fetish).

This is what was left of Henrik.

Marty Biron replaced the fallen goalie, and managed to keep all subsequent pucks out of his net.  

That 'nostalgic stomach gas feeling' filled Rangers fans at this point (see picture to the right), made even worse that half of MSG was filled with strangely happy and cheering Newark fans.  I thought all Devils fans had their heads between their legs this season???!  What motivated them to buy an overpriced Garden ticket in the first place when all hope had been lost?

In his second game after missing 19 because of a broken hand, Callahan took a pass from Anisimov and fired a shot from the bottom of the right circle that beat Brodeur over the left shoulder to make it 3-1 with 3:35 left in the second.

Hope filled the room...maybe.

It got busy at Marty's Meathouse

The third period furthered our hope and positioned the Rangers to comeback, as Vinny Prospal - in his first game of the season after prolonged injuries - scored on Brodeur less than 2 minutes in the period, leaving 18 minutes left for the Rangers to tie up the game, and who knows? maybe even take this one away from the Devil-losers

There were scoring chances....and more chances.....and more chances.   All missed.  The closest scoring opportunity arrived with only 2 seconds remaining in the game, with a blitzkreig of shots and bodies in front of Marty Brodeur's net, Brandon Dubinsky finally found Marty vulnerable, laying on the ground upside down like a spicy rotiserie chicken from Price Chopper with the legs facing the sky, took the shot hitting the post with one second left.  Tie goal, almost..

Cheap Eats if you ask me.  Game effin' over.

The Blueshirts are now 7th in the Eastern conference, only two and a half losses away from sliding into the eighth & last slot for playoff qualification, so let's move on toward a successful points-run starting tomorrow night in Montreal.  Should be an easy one!  Right?

Let's Go Rangers!  Don't let the once-injured vets mess up the chemistry that has won us games!

tdr

Two Bad! NYR 3, Penguins 4

1. Two bad games in a row
2. Two points we didn't get.

The Dark Ranger and The Blueshirts are in a tight spot these days and after the second loss with only six games remaining in the season -- we find playoff qualification hardly a sure thing. Those deep conflicted feelings we all share about our Blueshirts are beginning to show once again - yes, they are a fast moving, puck pushing attack hockey team AND yes, they are certainly a better team with Sean Avery, Nik Antropov and (dare I say) Nik Zherdev actually playing hockey these last few months, AND yes, we have a fast no-nonsense talking coach in Torts that gives our players and the fans confidence that 'lazy' and 'defense hockey' is a thing of the past.

But....the defense cannot secure the center. This was the case this afternoon and it has been all season. Our D-men cannot hold back the onslaught of a playoff-minded Atlantic division rival. Roszival is out for another couple of weeks due to injury, Paul Mara looked like a version of Rocky IV and we are in desperate need for blueline recovery and much needed support. Ooh...look for call-ups from Hartford to secure our 'D'-needs, Corey Potter or Bobby Sanguinetti to take on the role at the most crucial and honest point in the season. That should be fun to watch against the final two games against the Philadelphia Flyers!!?

Official recap here.

The Blueshirts have six games remaining, all against teams that are higher in the standings than the Rangers - so it's going to be a tough road ahead. No doubt, but I do believe they have it in them to be contenders in the final stretch. Everyone plays differently in the playoffs. Aside from some of the most atrocious referee calls and nine penalties called against the Blueshirts (all killed, thank you kindly), without discussing the moments of the game that led to our loss I wanted to fundamentally discuss the state of the New York Rangers.

Is this a team that can get past the first round in the playoffs? Are they capable of actually reaching the Cup? How might one answer without carrying the pessimism of the last seven months?

On a tangent, I was participating in one of the NHL media junkets where they typically interview someone important or relevant in hockey and allow media and bloggers to ask questions live. Because of the "critical Rangers' nature" of this site, The Dark Ranger has never been given permission to participate in a Rangers interview, but I was present when the Coach of the Columbus Blue Jackets, Ken Hitchcock, was asked about how it felt to potentially reach the playoffs for the first time in Columbus. I took interest in his words (also because he successfully coached the Philadelphia Flyers for years) and I enjoyed that he was non specific in his answers. He described what it felt like getting into the playoffs, the pride & glory of the experience, and the vindication of having worked so hard and being given the chance to win the Cup. He wasn't even sure his team could get far into the playoffs, but he did describe "those teams that you know really want it -- you know what I mean?....the teams that are playing their hearts out, burning up the ice with a knowing that there are bigger things ahead. Fear. Guts. Pride. You know which teams have it and which teams don't have it. My team has it!" Now this was Ken Hitchcock talking about the Columbus Blue Jackets.

What is John Tortorella saying? Do we have it? Can we WIN it?

tdr

A Wolf In Wolf's Clothing, NYR 4, Sabres 3

The New York Rangers (31-28-4) last night pulled out an important meeting against the Buffalo Sabres (30-28-4), largely in part to Sean Avery's gritty and relentless performance - his game winning goal in the final five minutes in the third period, ending the contest between two hotly contested Eastern Conference rivals. A goal and an assist reaffirms our knighting Avery a true New York Ranger. Folks, we have ourselves a true Blueshirt -- finally. Re-sign Slats...quickly. Official recap here.

What more could we ask for after Black Tuesday, as a 'win' against Buffalo answers the devastating loss to Montreal (we can try and forget that one) and puts a winning face back on the Blueshirts. Though still uneasy, the Blueshirts are on a bit of a roll lately at 9-3-2 in their past 14 games - maintaining their place in the playoffs, but as we all know anything can happen as they are eight points away from first place in the Eastern Conference and three points away from missing the playoffs. 'Cautiously optimistic' is The Dark Ranger's approach to the remainder of the season, while 'Anything Goes' is the operative slogan of this team. Currently the Rangers are tied with Boston in sixth place in the Eastern Conference. Buffalo dropped to eighth, a point ahead of the New York Islanders and Philadelphia.

New York's goalkeeper money extraordinaire, 'Pauper' Henrik Lundqvist made some terrific saves and gave up some pedestrian goals. It was a mediocre performance at best and hopefully this evening we will see Stephen Valiquette take the net. Hank's nerves looked to carry over from this week's loss to the Habs. Time will show, but the money will be the same.

Jagr finally scored and after the game commented how well the Sabres offensively found the holes in the Rangers defense said, "I would love to play for Buffalo." Hopeful foreshadowing with two days left to the draft deadline, Mr. Jaromir will almost definitely remain a Ranger for now. The off-season is another story as Jags will most likely find a new home for his future hockey days. The Dark Ranger will happily thank Jags for revitalizing the Rangers organization post-lockout for a couple of years, shed one tear and look forward to the naming of a new Captain. You guessed it....Chris Drury.

Speaking of Drury and as would be expected, this was the first game against Buffalo in Buffalo for Chris Drury after becoming a NY Ranger -- so a large 'boo' rang through his former home crowd announcing the starting lineup, Renney choosing to start his line for this very reason. Every time he touched the puck, the crowd booed him....only making Sean Avery jealous of all that attention!

Tonight against the Florida Panthers at 7PM EST -- should be a 'win', but remember that we all know nothing.

tdr

Raking Leafs and Burning Them, NYR 6, Toronto 1

Poor, poor Toronto.

Of the two coaches representing last night, Toronto Maple Leaf Coach Paul Maurice may be looking for a new job after a slaughtering by our New York Rangers at the ACC in Toronto. NYR Coach Tom Renney should be breathing easy for now. A sold out 19,000+ for this highly televised and anticipated Original Six meeting, the Blueshirts completely dominated the game from start to finish and handed the Leafs another loss this season. In fact, last night's beating was the sixth time the Maple Leafs have allowed five goals or more at home this season. "Hate" or "shame" could be fitting words if you are a Leafs fan this month.

Jaromir Jagr had a goal and three assists while Petr Prucha scored two goals for the Rangers (19-15-4). Blair Betts, Brendan Shanahan and Martin Straka also scored and backup goaltender Stephen Valiquette won in his hometown for the second time this season. Toronto's Darcy Tucker scored the loan goal in the third period and prevented "Valley"'s first NHL shutout.

The New York Rangers could not have played a more focused and terrific game. They scored five power play goals out of ten opportunities (50%, woh!) and played their most confident and disciplined game seen this season thus far. Everyone raised the bar last night: Jagr, Shanahan, Gomez, Drury, Betts, Valiquette & ......Tom Renney? Effective line changes, Captain Jagr diverting the Leafs defense, and the team aggressively taking the puck to the net gave them the win. There were less defensive turnovers than usual and even Marek Malik looked to be playing a fairly decent game.

One noteworthy word of the night......Prucha!

On paper, the Toronto Maple Leafs has one of the strongest defensive lines in the League -- or for that matter, maybe just the most expensive defensive ones. Giving the Blueshirts ten power plays was just irresponsible and they demonstrated some of the worst penalty killing ever seen. They literally allowed the Rangers to continuously take shots until we scored on them. The Dark Ranger hasn't seen such sub-par play since the Rangers lost to Atlanta or Phoenix!!?

The 'audience anticipated' Sean Avery/Darcy Tucker event never occurred, but an even fight between Colton Orr & Wade Belak kept the fight-hungry fans wanting more. Unless you were a Rangers fan in Toronto, everyone in the Air Canada Centre had to have been silenced & embarrassed by Andrew Raycroft's (pretending goalkeeper for the Leafs) performance. He was just plain awful. Dump him Toronto.

It was a solid game of hockey and I am thrilled by it. More telling will be how the Rangers can turn the Carolina beating and this 'confidence boosting' Toronto slaughter into another solid game against the Montreal Canadiens tomorrow. A 'win' tomorrow could be the long awaited turnaround we've all been hoping for.

Let's go Rangers and well done. We are proud to be Blue.

tdr

Sean Avery, The Child

I am not interested in cursing the name of a top-needed New York Ranger, Sean Avery, but for a moment let me point out that I randomly bumped into a strange website entitled Kids Prefer Cheese and the cover picture soooo reminded me of Sean Avery as a kid.

Nothing more than that. A funny contemplation.