B R O A D W A Y***B L U E S H I R T S

NY PJ1

Bathgate66 wrote:

plus, we've had a few days off, while our opponents for tonight had to play the Devils last night.

Lets hope they are tired, but even tho- like i said earlier- i hope Hollweg and Orr are ready to rock .



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also 3 in 4 nights for them

def. gonna be fights tonights BIG GAME

HAVE A GOOD DAY BATH

at least the game is at night




LET'S GO RANGER'S!!!!

Bathgate66

Happy Birthday Mr Hockey


Gordie Howe turns 79 today.

TCB

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kenshunt

NY PJ1 wrote:

also 3 in 4 nights for them

def. gonna be fights tonights BIG GAME

HAVE A GOOD DAY BATH

at least the game is at night




LET'S GO RANGER'S!!!!

So who's gonna do all the fighting for the Flyers, Cote who fought Janssens last night ?

Bathgate66

kenshunt wrote:

So who's gonna do all the fighting for the Flyers, Cote who fought Janssens last night ?

eager ?

kenshunt

Bathgate66 wrote:

eager ?

So are you expecting a blood bath tonight, i mean after Kaberle got plastered by Janssens, all that happened here was a Belak Janssens fight the next time they played.But i guess the Flyers might want revenge cause they have nothing to play for, and things might get out of hand lol.

To bad Fedoruk wasn't playin so he could get knocked out for the third time this season.

NY PJ1

3-1 after 1 baby keep it going











LETS GO RANGERS

NY PJ1

2 POINTS ,, wasn't easy

better sure up the D

handle our own buisness

BIG GAME FROM JAGR







LET'S GO RANGER'S !!!

NY PJ1

SURPRISING NO FIGHTS

better off ,,didn't need that

NY PJ1

wake up boys

IAM SOO PSYCHED FOR TONIGHT

almost feel like im heading to a playoff game

we'll we basically are playing a playoff game







LET'S GO RANGER'S

NY PJ1

Rangers (40-29-9) vs. Toronto Maple Leafs (38-29-11),
7 p.m. ET

With their 6-4 victory over the Flyers in Philadelphia on Saturday night, the Rangers reached the 40-victory mark for the first time in back-to-back seasons since 1974. They also hit No. 40 for the 12th time in team history.

Four games still remain in their season, including tonight's meeting with Toronto at Madison Square Garden, but reaching 40 was extremely significant. That's because no Rangers team with 40 wins has ever failed to reach the playoffs, and the way things are going for these Blueshirts, the postseason is just around the corner.

The Rangers now need just two victories to clinch a playoff berth, particularly if those victories come in regulation tonight against the Maple Leafs and on Tuesday at the Nassau Coliseum. By reaching 93 points over these next two games -- one more than was needed for teams to make the playoffs last season -- the Rangers would effectively guarantee that neither Toronto nor the Islanders could finish ahead of them.

Eliminating the Leafs and Isles as threats by Wednesday would leave only Carolina with the potential to unseat the Blueshirts if they faltered in their last two, and the 'Canes would have to win all of their remaining games to make that happen.

Tonight's game is huge for both the Rangers and Toronto because:

• A Rangers victory would give them sole possession of sixth place with three games left to play. Sixth is no small matter, since that team will face the Southeast Division winner in the first round of the playoffs. The teams ranked No. 4 and 5 will enter the playoffs with better records than the Southeast champ, which will gain the high seed simply by virtue of winning its division.

• A Maple Leafs victory tonight would push Toronto into the playoff picture, enabling them to pass Montreal for eighth place. That would be a very satisfying outcome for Toronto, simply because they would displace their biggest divisional rival.

Both teams have the same sort of must-win motivation they would experience at any point in the postseason, so it's no stretch to call this a de facto playoff game. There's also no doubt that The Garden will be rocking as the Rangers look for a fourth straight win there. Over the past three wins, they have outscored their guests by a combined 14-1 margin.

It won't make tonight's game any less intense, but the Rangers have the luxury of knowing that no matter what happens tonight, Toronto can't pass them in the standings. Even though the Leafs are only two points back, they have two fewer wins than the Blueshirts this season, and total wins are the first tie-breaking factor in playoff seeding.

Another factor in the Rangers' favor is that while this is the second half of back-to-back games for both teams, Toronto had the tougher evening on Saturday. The Leafs were leading Pittsburgh 4-1 late in the second period at home before the Pens scored three times over the final 23:29 to force overtime. Toronto survived the scare, winning on Tomas Kaberle's goal at 3:55 of the OT, but the emotional game took a lot out of them.

The last team to come into The Garden after such an emotional win the night before was Montreal on Feb. 27, and the Rangers were able to capitalize on their opponent's fatigue factor in what became the first victory in the 11-2-3 surge that made the Blueshirts a playoff contender.

There are no shortage of similarities between the Leafs and Rangers. Both are Original Six teams from their country's largest markets. Both have high-profile European captains in the Rangers' Jaromir Jagr and Leafs' Mats Sundin, who scored the game-winner in a 2-1 Toronto victory when the teams last faced each other at MSG.

Like the Rangers, the Leafs are also coming off a strong month of March. Toronto went 8-4-2 over the past month with wins in three of their last four games and four of their last six. The Leafs haven't lost by more than one goals since a March 16 embarrassment at Washington.

Another bit of common ground between the teams is that they have enjoyed great goaltending from their main man in net. While Henrik Lundqvist has been the key to almost everything good that has happened to the Rangers over the past several weeks, Andrew Raycroft has had the same effect for Toronto. Raycroft has started 12 consecutive games, going 7-3-2 over that stretch. He also made 37 saves in the Leafs' Jan. 31 visit to The Garden, opening the door for Sundin's winner.

Given their recent surges, both the Rangers and Toronto could be going to the playoffs, and when they get there, they are both capable of causing problems for higher-seeded opponents. Tonight, however, they will be trying to make life miserable for each other, which is why this game could tell a lot about each team's postseason potential.

STANDINGS: Maple Leafs -- 87 points, 4th place, Northeast Division. Rangers -- 89 points, 3rd place, Atlantic Division

TEAM LEADERS: Maple Leafs -- Sundin, 27 goals, 44 assists and 71 points; Bryan McCabe, 113 PIM. Rangers -- Brendan Shanahan, Jagr and Martin Straka, 28 goals each; Jagr, 62 assists and 90 points; Sean Avery, 163 PIM.

SPECIAL TEAMS: Maple Leafs -- Power play: 17.4 percent (67 for 384). Penalty killing: 78.7 percent (319 for 405). Rangers -- Power play: 19.0 percent (74 for 390). Penalty killing: 84.0 percent (321 for 382).

GOALTENDERS: Maple Leafs -- Raycroft (36-23-9, 2, 2.91); Jean-Sebastien Aubin (2-5-2, 0, 3.42). Rangers -- Lundqvist (35-21-7, 5, 2.37); Stephen Valiquette (1-2-0, 0, 3.13).

2006-07 SEASON SERIES: Maple Leafs, 2-0-1 (Rangers, 1-2-0)

LAST MEETING: Jan. 31, 2007: Maple Leafs 2, Rangers 1 at Madison Square Garden. Leafs goaltender Raycroft made 37 saves, including numerous spectacular stops, leading his team to to victory. Despite outshooting the visitors by a wide 38-28 margin, the Rangers managed only one goal against Raycroft -- a second-period power play tally by Shanahan. The winning goal came at 6:32 of the third period, when Sundin went in on a breakaway against Lundqvist and fired a wrist shot into the top right corner for his 20th goal of the season.

ROAD/HOME RECORDS: Maple Leafs -- 19-14-6 on road; Rangers -- 19-15-5 at home

Rygar

Do a real hockey club a favor and beat those Leafs, ok?

:P

Bathgate66

Berth-O-Meter


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xavier mcdaniel

congratulations to jed ortmeyer, who was nominated by the ny chapter of the hockey writers association for the masterson trophy

Bathgate66

congratulation to the NYRs

most wins by a team in March, ever

and first back to back 40 win seasons since the 70s.

Nice.


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NY PJ1

Bathgate66 wrote:

congratulation to the NYRs

most wins by a team in March, ever

and first back to back 40 win seasons since the 70s.

Nice.


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VERY NICE




LET'S GO RANGER'S!

Bathgate66

wonder which netminder will crack first.

im guessing raycroft ( or aubin - whichever)


all hail hail

king henrik


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xavier mcdaniel

this one has 4-3, 5-4 written all over it. that tucker-avery fight was pretty entertaining though..

Bdog10

"LET'S GO RANGERS"

I Love it. Kicking the shit out of the Leaf's in the biggest game of the year so far...

Transplant from NY, now living down here in the A. Could be a first round matchup with the Thrashers. Which is what I'm hoping for. A couple weeks ago when the boy's in blue came down here, there were a ton of Ranger fan's in the house. It was good to see.

Bathgate66

Sean Avery- with the # 1 star , and the Gordie Howe Hat trick .

NYR have gotten 37 out of a possible 52 points since Averys aquisition.


Fucking sweet- and even sweeter that after we win on Tuesday night out at the Garden East / Masoleum we clinch our postseason spot .

Lets hope we can get Atlanta in that first round and TCB .


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wavin_goodbye

Thanks from a Canadiens fan!

Looking forward to shutting down Jagr (who is actually my favourite player) and the rest of ya on thursday!