Make Room for MCCabe

According to TSN.CA: Florida Panthers captain Bryan McCabe has been traded to the New York Rangers in exchange for forward Tim Kennedy and a third-round draft pick. Read the full story here.

In addition to scoring from the Blue line, Perhaps McCabe will be able to use his experience as captain to provide some added calming influence for when things get a little frantic and the teams energy disperses and mistakes begin to snowball. If not, its only a rental till July 1st. At which point, should we decide to keep him or he decide he wants to stay, he can be signed to a new (maybe less expensive contract.

As for Kennedy, he seemed to have a lot of hustle early on and be the type of player that could excel in this young leg, grinding system. Was he another Callahan? I guess the Panthers will have a chance to find that out. The 3rd round pick. Eh well.... A few seasons ago, we seemed like a team that should be grasping for our picks like Rosie O'Donnell for the last jelly donut. But our farm system seems to be a lot more effective with Schoeny back there cracking the whip and helping develop our younger guys. So I'm willing to let a pick slide here and there. At the very least come July 1st, we'll still be free up of Kennedy's money and Kreider would be that much closer to making the team.

Sound Off, Ranger Fans... Will McCabe make a difference? We want your Opinions.

Till next Time Ranger Fans,

J_Undisputed

Will The Flyers Determine Our Fate?

Does the madness end in Philadelphia next Sunday?

With the Blueshirts (36-32-10) picking up another two points against the Florida Panthers 4-1 this past Saturday, rounding out a total of four of four points on their Florida trek, they remain in 9th place knowing exactly where they are in the standings and trying to ignore it.  This is just the type of pressure that tenses up their style, paralyzing the Tort's puck-moving-forward system.  When this team thinks about it, they lose. 

For a recap of the Panthers game (or just call it the '3rd period only Rangers Blitzkreig'), go here.

So the current points-a-plenty run of 5-0-1 is coming from a Blueshirts squad most of us are unfamiliar with this season - one whose current position is that they don't care about where they stand (or so they say) and are approaching each game as their last.  Frankly, I don't buy into this mentality or press angle and think much of this winning surge is due to our much criticized coach.

For months we all felt that John Tortorella was washed up as Motivation Director in Blue, but it is obvious that it may be simply a matter of players finally getting comfortable actually playing for more than 20 minutes a game.  Torts has been more recently critical of veteran players not giving their all, assaulting the media and (sometimes) benching them (players and, ah em...the media - i.e. see Larry Brooks), our controversial coach hasn't been afraid to substitute harder working minors from The Wolfpack in Hartford over the much greater paid roster.  The experiment is working and much deserving commuters P.A. Parantheau and Aaron Voros have added the much needed sparks, an element of desperation every game -- a motivation that has fired-up all cylinders with the entire team.  Even defenders Marc Staal and Dan Girardi have risen from hibernation, feeling more comfortable pushing the puck forward -- in many ways Torts has allowed them to learn it and make their own.  Even 'The Horrible' Wade Redden is not as dreadful as the first 2/3 of the season, (I take back comparisons to Marek Malik -- a MUST-SEE goal by the way, M&M) - and his sidekick Rozsival still stinks as far as I am concerned.

It is refreshing to see the Rangers making a desperation run with eyes on the final playoff seed of the conference, trailing the ailing Philadelphia Flyers.   After the Panthers win on Saturday, our hopes of Phllly's continued losing streak came to an end as they miraculously beat the Detroit Red Wings yesterday afternoon - giving them a 2-points advantage with three games left in the season.  The Rangers have one game in hand.  So providing the Rangers win one game against either the Buffalo Sabres (tomorrow night) or the Toronto Maple Leafs (Wed night) - and assuming the Flyers win vs. Toronto tomorrow night --- the Rangers will need to sweep the home & home series this coming weekend to make the playoffs.

We've done it before.  We'll do it again.  To the death.   One positive outlook for the Rangers is Philadelphia's goalkeeper problems -- starter Ray Emery is out for the remainder of the season and even their backup Michael Leighton is out as well.  Some half-ass minor goalies are in net, and that is a huge thing to take advantage of.  If you can get past the monster Pronger line, the Rangers need to shoot twice the shots as they normally have and something is bound to go in.  With the Wall in net also known as Henrik Lundqvist, our beloved goaltender will need to stand on his head and withstand what is sure to be an offensive onslaught of Orange and Black.  Hang in there Hank -- it's going to be a long weekend.

And if you've ever wished a player to get hurt this week (and not that The Dark Ranger would ever wish this to happen to anyone) keep names like Jeff Carter and Mike Richards in your thoughts....

Let's go BLUE and show 'em how to play playoff hockey in season....  Sabres tomorrow night, expecting the win.

tdr

Blueshirts Outdress Blue Jackets

And the game winning goal against the Columbus Blue Jackets was a timeout?  I'll later explain...

NYR 7,  Columbus 4

We are the goon squad and we're coming to town....beep, beep.   No I'm not talking about Sean Avery and his obsession with shoes and fashion, I am talking about how John Tortorella and his New York Rangers decided to raise the roof and give themselves and the fans a little taste of the ooh laaa laaa we got used to at the beginning of the season - a fashionable undressing from top to bottom. 

If you were in need of further suffering and decided to watch tonight's game against the surging Columbus Blue Jackets, led by former Philadelphia Flyers coach Kenny Hitchcock, you would have noticed two things in the opening nine minutes of the first period.  First, the evenly matched game left the Rangers down 0-2, spectators filled with that 'ole familiar feeling', the foreshadowing of another loss that was yet to come.  Secondly, admirable Blue Jackets coach Ken Hitchcock appeared to be more overweight than usual.   I think the guy ate Nik Antropov this afternoon!!?

So things half way through the first period didn't look good for the Rangers, so Coach John Tortorella called a spontaneous and unexpected timeout - a moment that would last a lifetime (or realistically until I finished writing this blog entry).  With nine minutes left on the clock, Torts kept his cool (or so it looked from the 200's section) and reminded his boys that there was plenty of hockey left to be played, the game was early, they had played well up until that point and he wasn't about to point fingers.  When Chris Higgins accidentally called him Tom Renney, it might have gone a different direction, but Torts didn't mind it - keeping his cool and encouraging his boys to continue playing good hockey (I made up the Higgins story part of it).

Needless to say, the timely timeout was the game changer.   Official game recap.

And there began the onslaught of Rangers' offense of seven goals in a row - a phenomenon not seen since October when the Rangers were on top of the league, defying and proving chemistry on a squad can be coached by arrogance and accountability.  Each goal symbolic of the early seven game winning streak last October (ohhh, my nostalgia bubbles over).  Largely carried by Vinny Prospal and Marian Gaboriks' scoring throughout the season, tonight we saw a strong effort and results from Sean Avery (2 goals), Artem Anisimov (1 goal), Michael Del Zotto, (dare I say) Wade Redden, Marc Staal and Matt Gilroy - 1 goal -  (and let us not forget Vinny (1 assist) and Marian (2 goals, 2 assists) - who did their usual part).    Sean Avery was a standout tonight -- he fought, he agitated, he scored, and for all that, he was given more ice time to prove himself even further.  I hope this is a readjustment for Avery.

Tonight was Sean Avery and coach John Tortorella's victory (oh yeah, and that healthy dude we picked up from the Minnesota Wild last summer).

Our goaltending King Henrik Lundqvist played as Prince tonight, not his usual self as he let through a couple of clunkers at the wrong moments, pulling out the win having let four goals through.  Not great but no one should complain.    Aaron Voros won anonymously in a punching match against Jarod Boll's jersey, and because the jersey lost the bout, the Blue Jackets never changed the tenor of the game.   Later in the third period, Columbus surged ahead with two more goals, making the evening slightly reminiscent of a 'never to be mentioned again' Montreal game seasons ago, but it never went further than a fleeting awful thought.

The sweetest goal of the night, as there were many for the Rangers, was the third goal where Michael Del Zotto took back a puck, carried it over three lines weaving in and out of three Blue Jackets - at the time unassisted - carried it forward and scored.  It was sweet and I look forward to more of those.

So the New York Rangers are now 12-10-1, tied with 25 points in the Atlantic Division with Philadelphia and the Islanders.  We can all hope this will remind our boys that they have it in them to score goals and are built as an offensive machine with a system behind them that provides scoring opportunities.  Tonight's victory is the 'first of a five-game stretch, all in one week', next up a rematch against the Florida Panthers.

Tonight was fun, but Wednesday means more.  Let's show them Wednesday that hockey doesn't belong in Miami Sunrise, FL!

tdr

A Symbolic Knuckle Sandwich, Blueshirts 5, Panthers 0

What a treat!

New York Ranger goalkeeper Henrik Lundqvist stopped 23 shots in his eighth shutout for the Rangers against the Florida Panthers 5-0. The Panthers seemed to have little left after pulling out a 2-1 overtime win at Philadelphia on Saturday night as The Blueshirts mauled them from start to finish. The Rangers are now (32-24-8) sitting in sixth place in the Eastern Conference with 19 games left in the season. Anything can happen, but these two important wins are proof that this team's offense is coming together. Official recap here.

I am surprised to say this, but the game belonged to our Captain Mr. Jags! Not only did Jaromir Jagr score his second goal in two nights, he reminded us again why he is the All-Star we know -- a sweet 'give and go' to Sean Avery, duping Panthers goalie Vokoun and sliding an impressive goal in net (right! I remember this guy!). Post game he even sounded like our Captain.

"Once you're winning, you feel confidence about your system, about your game," Jagr said. "We had the same thing last year. We needed to win a lot of games at the end of the season to make the playoffs and I think this year we realize it, too."

Trade bait Marek Malik scored his first goal of the season, plus an assist -- hailed by the press as some hero of the game (hardly!) -- truth be told, if he had missed the perfect setup he would have been sent to Hartford -- but he did play a good game of hockey worthy of increasing his trade value by the deadline.....tomorrow.

Speaking of which, there seems to be very little movement this season in trades -- the Rangers are mentioned in every trade possibility - which is humorous - but the most believable trade rumors could be future New York Ranger Dan Boyle from Tampa Bay and/or Bryan McCabe of the Maple Leafs. Tomorrow's deadline strikes and hopefully it's Lightning. ;) Superhero defenseman Marek Malik still must go!

We see a rematch of the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday, 7pm EST in Raleigh -- stay tuned and 'Let's Go Rangers!' (feels nice to say that again).

tdr

Blueshirts Open Season Tonight, Eyes on the Cup!

The New York Rangers debut their season, 7PM EST, against the Florida Panthers in the home season opener tonight at The World's Most Famous Arena. More eyes will be watching than ever as the Blueshirts "on paper" are predicted (and targeted) as a real Stanley Cup contender. On the ice is always a different matter. Aside from the talk by hockey fans, critics and experts in the NHL, it all begins and ends with the players on the ice and the locker room is abuzz.

Brendan Shanahan has said of this upcoming season, "Every year there's probably about half a dozen or maybe eight teams that have the players to win the Cup, but only one of them can win. We're one of those teams right now."

Chris Drury is quoted, "I think it's a good thing for me, because I always want to give more and I always want to be at my best. As a New York fan -- Rangers fan, Yankees fan, Knicks fan, whatever it is -- they always expect more, 110 percent. And they always expect you to be at your best, and that's where I always want to be, so it's a good match."

Sean Avery ends with, "Florida is dead to me. I will eat their young." (he never really said this, but I am sure he'll demonstrate it this evening)

The puck drops at 7pm EST at Madison Square Garden. Who would win in a fight? "The King" of the Jungle or a little tropical Panther? We'll know soon enough.

tdr

(press here to download complete game notes for tonight)