yeah, the SO was a gift brought to you by lundqvist. what a bad goal.
antropov is an animal. i like.
You mean Frankenleaf.
I've never seen so clumsy a fuckhead get so many points in my life.
I expected 3 periods exactly like the third, so it was a pleasant memory for golf season.
I think Antropov is exactly what the Rangers needed. A big mother fucker who skates towards the net.
I gotta tell you, I've always disliked Gomez, especially during that losing streak he was absolutely awful. But now him being a part of a speedy offense, he's getting points and I like it.
Henrik's 2 on 1 save last night was unbelievable.
If the season ended today and we had to play the Caps, I think it could go either way. The Rangers have gotten a lot of shots on goal recently and Washington's goaltending isn't great, but their defense is incredible. I wouldn't mind seeing Henrik vs Ovi for 7 games, but I don't think we would win because theres also Semin, Backstrom, Federov, Green, Braschear (or however you spell his name) is a fan favorite here in DC, it's incredible...he was such a LOSER when he was in Philly.
That said, I kind of hope we seed 7 to play the Devils in a 7 game series. We would win that, we'll get to Marty again. After that...I don't want to play Philly or Pittl
2003: Uniondale, MSG x2 | 2004: Reading | 2005: Gorge, Vancouver, Philly | 2006: East Rutherford x2, Gorge x2, Camden 1, Hartford | 2008: MSG x2, VA Beach | 2009: Philly x3 | 2010: MSG x2, Bristow | 2011: Alpine Valley x2 | 2012: MIA Philly | 2013: Wrigley, Charlottesville, Brooklyn 2 | 2014: Milan, Amsterdam 1 | 2016: MSG x2, Fenway x2, Wrigley 2 | 2018: Rome, Krakow, Berlin, Wrigley 2 | 2021: Sea Hear Now | 2022: San Diego, LA x2, MSG, Camden, Nashville, St. Louis, Denver | 2023: St. Paul 1, Chicago x2, Fort Worth x2, Austin 2 | 2024: Las Vegas 1, Seattle x2, Indy, MSG x2, Philly x2, Baltimore
I think Antropov is exactly what the Rangers needed. A big mother fucker who skates towards the net.
I gotta tell you, I've always disliked Gomez, especially during that losing streak he was absolutely awful. But now him being a part of a speedy offense, he's getting points and I like it.
Henrik's 2 on 1 save last night was unbelievable.
If the season ended today and we had to play the Caps, I think it could go either way. The Rangers have gotten a lot of shots on goal recently and Washington's goaltending isn't great, but their defense is incredible. I wouldn't mind seeing Henrik vs Ovi for 7 games, but I don't think we would win because theres also Semin, Backstrom, Federov, Green, Braschear (or however you spell his name) is a fan favorite here in DC, it's incredible...he was such a LOSER when he was in Philly.
That said, I kind of hope we seed 7 to play the Devils in a 7 game series. We would win that, we'll get to Marty again. After that...I don't want to play Philly or Pittl
i was at Bathgate & Howell night, where the NYRs played agaisnt Toronto before the trade deadline-
I remember saying to myself " holy fuck that Antropov is one big MFer " .
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I have to say that was one of the best games of the year. It was really a fun up and down game and the fact the Rangers actually won a type of game like that is nice, considering they wouldn't have won this type of game earlier this year.
Reading 2004
Albany 2006 Camden 2006 E. Rutherford 2, 2006 Inglewood 2006,
Chicago 2007
Camden 2008 MSG 2008 MSG 2008 Hartford 2008.
Seattle 2009 Seattle 2009 Philadelphia 2009,Philadelphia 2009 Philadelphia 2009
Hartford 2010 MSG 2010 MSG 2010
Toronto 2011,Toronto 2011
Wrigley Field 2013 Brooklyn 2013 Brooklyn 2013 Philadelphia 2, 2013
Philadelphia 1, 2016 Philadelphia 2 2016 New York 2016 New York 2016 Fenway 1, 2016 Fenway 2, 2018 MSG 2022 St. Paul, 1, St. Paul 2 2023 MSG 2024, MSG 2024 Philadelphia 2024
"I play good, hard-nosed basketball.
Things happen in the game. Nothing you
can do. I don't go and say,
"I'm gonna beat this guy up."
looking good as of late, lets keep it rolling.
watched hockey all day , penguins-0 flyers
then the devils,
now our team.
Lets Go Rangers
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The Rangers have certainly played a lot better in the last dozen games than in the disastrous dozen that preceded John Tortorella's hiring. Their 7-4-1 record in those games is obviously a far sight better than the 2-7-3 slump that cost Tom Renney his job. So when they play like they did last night in dropping a 2-1 decision to Ottawa at the Garden, in a manner so reminiscent of the last days of the Renney era, you have to look at it as the new exception rather than the old rule. Just as they rebounded from a similar loss in Carolina, there is no reason to believe that they can't rebound from this one, despite scoring only one goal, despite taking the collar on the power play with the game in the balance, despite giving up a quick third period goal to fall behind, and all the other things that were the norm in January and February.
"The game is not always going to be easy," Tortorella said after this one. "This isn’t supposed to be easy. You're not going to always be at your best." But after saying that last night in winning, the coach was hoping to see his team move forward tonight rather than backwards. "I was hoping we'd make a step even though we weren’t at our best. We're in the third period 1-1, we needed to win that period, and we didn’t. Hopefully in those situations, if it arises again, we'll be able to answer it. That's how you grow as a team. Am I going to overreact to it? No. We're going to go back and try to do the same things we've done where we've won and hopefully get better at it. That's all you can do. We're going to have a short term memory and go back to work tomorrow with tape work and we'll get ready for Minnesota."
The Rangers weren't all there from the start, despite getting an early goal from Brandon Dubinsky (his first in 24 games) off some hustle from Ryan Callahan (what else is new?). But they ended up with only six shots on goal in the first period despite getting three power plays, missing the net nine times and having seven other shots blocked. "The game was sloppy by both teams," Tortorella said. "It was one of those games where you're about to make a play and you can't get it done, you're trying to make a pass and it's picked off, you turn the puck over when you should be making an easy play." No one believed that playing back-to-back games had anything to do with it. "I don't think that had anything to do with it," Sean Avery said. "They played back-to-back [too]. We could've beared down a little more -- we should've played a better game." "I don't think we were tired," Henrik Lundqvist said.
The power play hurt the cause, not only unable to get a goal but unable to get anything going, going 0-for-5 and failing to score six-on-five in the final minute and a half. "We definitely had our chances to get the game going on the power play," Lundqvist said. "But for some reason we had a tough time getting the power play going tonight. We had opportunities on the power play to tie the game but they played pretty well with their PK. In a game like this, you hope to get one on the power play." "Sometimes that's the difference," Avery said. "It wasn't the difference tonight because we didn't score. We certainly have to bear down as a group and start capitalizing on opportunities cause that's what wins games down the stretch and that's what wins playoff games." "It would have been nice if we got a P.P. along the way," Chris Drury said. "They pressured the puck well -- they sent four guys and we didn't respond too good to it. We had to get it to the other side of the ice and we never got it over there."
"With the power play, It's not so much your percentage, it's scoring at a key time, especially this time of year," Tortorella said. "In a close game, a 2-1 game, a power play goal would be very important. We didn't get it done tonight. When you get to the third period and it's 1-1, that's where you need to find a way to grind one out. We gave up a goal -- I don't think we played the two on two properly. I think it's the right play by Scotty on the turnover at their blue line, but he leaves a tail on it. It's the right idea, but it ends up being a costly turnover. But we need to try to find a way to tie it up and we couldn't. We had a couple of opportunities -- Nik [Antropov] hit a skate with a wide open net. Bottom line, you're not going to win games scoring one goal. I thought we were stale offensively -- we just weren't getting much offense going at all."
Fredrik Sjostrom said the team let down after the Senators tied the score in the second period. "After their goal, we got a little down," he said. "We came back pretty good in the third, but for some reason the efficiency wasn't there today. We created chances, but we weren't calm. When we had the opportunity, we didn't capitalize -- that's the big difference. We were on them, we were forechecking good, but the last part wasn't there -- you gotta put the puck in the net. We'd like to have this one back, but this one's over -- there's not time to dwell on these. We'll go tomorrow and try to correct the things we didn't do too well, back on it. We still have a good feeling -- we know we've been playing good hockey lately. We just have to rebound -- start a new streak."
And thus the beat went on, with everyone believing that this one just needed to go into the history books and all attention turned to the next game. "It clearly wasn't our night, but it's over, and back at it tomorrow," Drury said. "I felt we actually got better as the game went on, we had some chances in the third. Obviously, we want to win them all and play our best, every single one down the stretch. There are going to be nights when you don’t have it. The key is how you respond to it and how you bounce back." "We didn't play our best game by any means," Avery said. "But you aren't going to win every game. We're going to get back to work tomorrow and just get back on track here." Unlike the many times we've heard this refrain this season, this time it sounds less like a promise broken than a promise to be fulfilled.
One Ranger, however, does not deserve the benefit of any doubt tonight. That's former Senator Wade Redden. When Tortorella said the two-on-two wasn't played well, he can't have been talking about Derek Morris, who stuck with his man as two Sens criss-crossed -- he was talking about Redden, who drifted over lazily toward the goal scorer and screened Lundqvist as the shot rang off the post. And for all of his new rules, here's one for Tortorella to consider -- how about no fraternizing with the opposition after games in the hallway between locker rooms, where Redden was holding court with Alfredsson, Heatley, and a third Senator after helping his former mates win the game.
Here are some early links -- game reports: Newsday, Record, Daily News, Journal News, Times, Post, NYR.com, AP, and Ottawa Citizen; more from the Record, Newsday, and Inside Shots; pre-game, in-game, and post-game updates from Ranger Rants here and here, Rangers Report here and here, Blue Notes here and here, and Game On! -- they include a bit of news on Rozsival, who limped home under his own power and is slated to undergo an MRI tomorrow. The Wolf Pack lost yesterday -- see Howlings and WP.com. Hockey's Future has a spring update on the Rangers' top 20 prospects, and Prospect Park has an update on how some of them did in Sunday playoff action.
i hope rozsivals knee is okay,...
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i cant believe theres only like 10 games remaining,
wow this year flew by
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If the Rangers win tonight and Florida loses to the Flyers without a losers' point, that puts them seven points clear of the drop zone with seven to go. I'm wondering if Valiquette will ever get a start under Tortorella or is he just going to ride the King until April 12th.
If the Rangers win tonight and Florida loses to the Flyers without a losers' point, that puts them seven points clear of the drop zone with seven to go. I'm wondering if Valiquette will ever get a start under Tortorella or is he just going to ride the King until April 12th.
C'MON YOU BLUESHIRTS!
Jw
the BOS/MTL/PHI/PHI sequence scares me. I don't see the rangers clinching a spot until the last 3 games or so of the season, montreal and philly play us tough. the important thing is to get points, if they lose at least get it to OT.
todays papers covered how torts believes a non playoff team, ( like toights opponents atlanta ) can give us big problems.
1 game and 1 day at a time.
Lets Go Rangers
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wow is right. not to be too critical, but vally didn't have the game we needed from him tonight... had a good game, but should of/could of had a few of those atlanta goals.
but as i said a few posts above we need POINTS... not happy we didn't get 2 tonight, but we did still get a valuable 1.
anyhow, wait till tom against martin and the devils.
in case anyone has forgotten or missed it, you can vote for the steven mcdopnald extra effort award here.
i predioct the winner will be ryan callahan or possibly sean avery ......
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the Rangers will attempt to extend their record against the Devils to 12-2-3 with Avery in the lineup. This is the night on which Henrik Lundqvist will attempt to extend his record against Brodeur to 18-6-4. This is the night on which the faltering Blueshirts will attempt to solidify their tenuous hold on a playoff spot.
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i thought it was one of their best games of the years and probably the best from start to finish in the tortorella era.
Reading 2004
Albany 2006 Camden 2006 E. Rutherford 2, 2006 Inglewood 2006,
Chicago 2007
Camden 2008 MSG 2008 MSG 2008 Hartford 2008.
Seattle 2009 Seattle 2009 Philadelphia 2009,Philadelphia 2009 Philadelphia 2009
Hartford 2010 MSG 2010 MSG 2010
Toronto 2011,Toronto 2011
Wrigley Field 2013 Brooklyn 2013 Brooklyn 2013 Philadelphia 2, 2013
Philadelphia 1, 2016 Philadelphia 2 2016 New York 2016 New York 2016 Fenway 1, 2016 Fenway 2, 2018 MSG 2022 St. Paul, 1, St. Paul 2 2023 MSG 2024, MSG 2024 Philadelphia 2024
"I play good, hard-nosed basketball.
Things happen in the game. Nothing you
can do. I don't go and say,
"I'm gonna beat this guy up."
Avery Abuse
NEW YORK - It seems like every time the Rangers take on the Devils, the devil incarnate himself, Sean Avery, has something to do with the decision.
Tonight’s 3-0 Ranger win was no exception.
With an assist and a non-fight against David Clarkson, the Grate One had his presence felt each minute he was on the ice.
“It’s old news right now,” said coach John Tortorella. “Sean Avery is part of the hockey team. He’s a disciplined player for us. He’s an effective player for us. I just want to make sure we keep Sean in the team and not make it the team and Sean.”
Very well, and Avery is a different player. But as long as the NHL continues to allow the forward to be an unfair target, there will be questions about Avery.
All night long the Devils were seeking out No. 16. He was bumped bruised and tossed around by packs of faceless players. And when David Clarkson went after Avery in the third, the referees allowed Avery to be rag dolled to the ice, not once but twice.
And the league doesn’t just turn a blind eye, it actually sanctions the abuse. The referees sit there and unfairly let Avery take his lumps. He took a pummeling and then had to sit for two minutes on a roughing call? That’s ridiculous. If Avery was good enough to be reinstated, then he should be shown the same impartial on-ice arbitration as every other player in the rink.
“I think [the refs] look at him differently than the rest of us,” said Ranger captain Chris Drury. “For whatever reason, because he was never suspended for anything on-ice. I think he got a tough ride. He’s been competing like crazy and showing discipline.”
Sure Avery and his mouth brought all of this on, but he did the time for the crime and now has a second chance. Unfortunately the National Hypocrite League doesn’t see it that way and continues to persecute a player for a past sin with time served. If Avery was suspended for a cocaine addiction, frequented a prostitute, did steroids, or anything else illegal he would have been welcomed back with open arms for his courage and strength to get through the tough time. Heck he may have been a Masterton nominee for it.
But all Avery did was say things about his ex-girlfriend and agitate players. It makes you wonder about the thin skin of the NHL. These players have competed on a high level since grade school. They have to have heard it all. What does No. 16 say that makes them so crazy? Sure he gets personal, but come-on. Have they ever just thought of just ignoring him?
Of course not, which makes Avery a target. To his credit Avery is a changed person. No longer does he send barbs out through the press. Two years ago he called Clarkson a “bonehead minor leaguer” after being targeted and now Avery is a little more restrained with his remarks.
“You know it’s a 3-0 game and I don’t think there’s anything to gain at that point,” he said and also added, “It certainly takes discipline for sure. You fight for your team and for your teammates. At that point, I didn’t need to fight for either of them.”
Clarkson received a 10 minute misconduct, but Colin Campbell needs to step in and suspend the Devils forward. If the league is serious about cutting down on fighting, they need to do something about the mugging that took place in the third. It’s only right.
Imagine if the same thing happened with Brandon Dubinsky, Ryan Callahan, or even Chris Drury. The question would then not be if, but how long should Clarkson sit. But because it’s Avery, the National Hypocrite League decides it’s ok for it to happen. Because Avery is persona non-grata in this league, the biased calls and cheap shots are allowed to continue.
Yet, maybe in the long run that’s a good thing. Avery is trying to improve and become a better player and person and with each passing day, the Rangers little devil is proving that he’s already above the hypocrites that run this show.
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April 01, 2009
No More Fooling Around With Avery
Who needs an April Fool's joke when you have this: Sean Avery is no longer a story, not after behaving like an angel versus the Devils. "It's old news now," Ranger coach John Tortorella said when asked about Avery after the Rangers blanked the Devils 3-0. "I hope we can move by all the stories about what's going to happen to Sean," he said when asked a second time about Avery (no one was going to risk asking him a third question, not after this response).
"He has bought into the team concept and is part of the club," Tortorella went on. "What I'd like to focus on is that the team found a way to win and Sean was a big part of that by playing hockey. Sean Avery is part of the hockey team. He's a disciplined player for us, he's an effective player for us. I just want to make sure we keep Sean within the team and not [have] the team [on one side] and Sean [on the other side]. Sean has definitely bought into that."
Even frequent antagonist Martin Brodeur, he who refused to shake Avery's hand after the playoffs last year, said that Avery didn't do anything worth noting. "He didn't say a word to me," said the Jersey netminder, failing to note that Avery behaved himself even after taking a Brodeur stick to the chin. "He was just in front of me. That's just battling. That's normal. I just wanted to get my space." Yeah, that's normal -- stick to the chin. Cough-cough. "He was all right," Brodeur went on. "He didn't do much."
So just how did Avery do it (or not do it, as the case may be)? "I know there was a lot of anticipation beforehand, for sure," Avery said of facing Brodeur again as a Ranger. "I just went into it the same as I have for a lot of games -- just trying to get focused and knowing what I have to do and knowing what Torts expects of me." Well, you can see why "Torts" doesn't want to waste time on this story -- there doesn't seem to be much of story there anymore.
Except for two things -- opponents keep running Avery, and referees keep looking the other way. "He has that ability to get guys ticked off on the other side," Chris Drury said of Avery's ablity to anger opponents just by his mere presence, even when he behaves himself -- of course, you can argue that that is even more irritating than when he lives up to their expectations of him, and nothing is more irritating than when he hurts you on the scoreboard.
"He played a heck of a game," Drury continued. "He made a great play to Gomer on Callahan's goal. He just drives the other team crazy, that's for sure. That thing with Clarkson could have escalated fast. We know Sean is tough enough and willing enough to do that, but in a 3-0 game at home, no need to do it. He made a great play by not doing it, showing his discipline -- a win there meant more to him than getting into a scrap." "It helps us out a ton," linemate Ryan Callahan said. "You can see it, when he's on his game, all the attention goes to him -- it lets us have some room."
"It certainly takes discipline, for sure," Avery said of not going at it with Clarkson late in the game, letting himself get rag-dolled to the ice twice before the refs finally stepped in to break things up. "It's a 3-0 game at that point. I don't think that there's anything to gain by doing anything at that point. You fight for your team and for your teammates. At that point, I didn't need to fight for either of them, so there's really no point."
"I was trying to spark the team," Clarkson lied -- after all, it was 3-0 late in the game, the opportunity to spark the team long gone. "He had his one hand cocked back in a fist. Say he throws a punch and hits me. I'm the guy that loses. I was trying to spark the team and ended up getting kicked out." Maybe the NHL should remand Clarkson to an anger management program so that he can decide not to do anything there, the way Avery did.
Then there are the officials. Avery has been turning the other cheek (well, most of the time) and the referees have been turning a blind eye (almost all the time). He actually got a roughing minor during the Clarkson fracas -- "I don't really know what happened there," Avery said. "There's a lot going on in a big scrum." "They give him a penalty for not having a glove on," Drury said. "That's a little insane -- he's getting rag-dolled, showing all the composure in the world not to do anything, and somehow he still gets one."
But he finally got a call from the refs, who gave Clarkson a double minor for roughing, even though it took two takedowns before the referee raised his arm to sanction the Devil agitator. "He lets the guy throw him down three times, the refs finally say, 'OK, he's not doing anything,' so that's good," Drury said. "I think he's getting a tough ride some nights. He's been competing like crazy, his discipline has been outstanding -- the more and more he does that, the more and more the refs will say, 'Wow, he really is disciplined, he's not yapping, he's not doing stuff after the whistle,' the calls will start coming his way."
So far, it hasn't happened, and the Rangers let everyone know after the loss in Pittsburgh on Saturday. "Glen and I made a point the other day that we just want to be treated fairly," Tortorella said -- Tortorella made his point in public during his post-game press confernece, but mentioning Glen Sather as having made the point means that he made the case in private to the NHL. But Tortorella just wants to drop the subject now. "We don't want to be a bunch of whiners," he emphasized.
Still, Drury had more to say on the subject. "They look at him differently than the rest of us, for whatever reason," he said. "He's never been suspended on ice. From my perspective, just call it even for everybody, for forty guys on the ice plus goalies. Whatever's good for us, good for them, we'll live with that." Avery's reaction to the support he has gotten from his coach and teammates about the way he's been treated is another new thing. "We're a family here," he said. "We go to bat for each other -- that's what makes a team. I know we'd do it for anybody and it just happens to me in this case."
So opponents continue to drive themselves batty over Avery -- "I just wanted to finish my hit," Mike Rupp lied about going after Avery in the closing moments of the game. "I don't know if someone threw something from the stands and hit him and knocked him down, but he went down pretty easy." Even when Bobby Holik scrapped with his good friend Scott Gomez, he blamed Avery. "To be honest with you, I thought it was Avery," he said. "I had no idea who it was. I was trying to poke at the puck and somebody came and you know I don't discriminate."
Through it all, the new edition of Avery -- Zenmaster Sean -- trusts in a simple method of coping. "I think about a happy place," he said. Yeah, that and plastering Johnny Oduya into the wall with a thunderous check.
Real April Fool's jokes at Rangers Report, NY Sports Day, and Hockey Rodent. Only a handful of actual news stories on the day after the Rangers had the day off -- the Post, Newsday, Blue Notes, and Prospect Park. Bad news on the scoreboard watch, as Montreal and Florida both kept pace with big wins last night, making tomorrow night's game in Carolina that much bigger. If ever the Rangers needed to find that consistency that has been eluding them since October, now is the time. Michal Rozsival is unsure whether he will be ready to play, but he skated today for the first time since sustaining a knee injury -- see Ranger Rants reporting from practice today.
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For the ones who had a notion, a notion deep inside
That it ain't no sin to be glad you're alive
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There has been a remarkable symmetry to paths the Rangers' closest playoff rivals have taken as the season winds down and they jockey for playoff position. The two teams nipping at the Rangers' heels, vying with them as of this moment for the last two playoff spots, have rebounded recently after freefalling through the standings, the two teams just ahead of them have been running hot for quite a while, and the two teams just beyond that have stumbled of late.
Looking over their shoulders, the Rangers see the ninth place Panthers going 3-0 after a 1-4-3 slump knocked them out of the top eight. Montreal, one point back in eighth, is 3-0-1 in its last four, 9-5-3 since they sent Alexei Kovalev home for two games, Kovalev scoring ten goals and seven assists since. Even one step further back, Buffalo is 3-0-1 since their loss to the Rangers after going 3-7-2 from the time Scott Gomez collided with goalie Ryan Miller, knocking him out of action -- Miller is back, but time has just about run out on the Sabres.
Meanwhile, the division leading Devils are 1-6-1 since Martin Brodeur's record setting win, which culminated runs of 8-1 and 13-3 -- Brodeur has allowed 22 goals in losing his last six straight. They're not in much danger of losing the division crown, but they are in danger of going into the playoffs as dead men walking -- indeed, talk of Brent Sutter being coach of the year has devolved into talk of Lou Lamoriello doing to him what he has done to other coaches in the past, firing him in the final days of the season. The second place Flyers, more in danger of being caught and losing home ice advantage in the playoffs, are 0-3-1 in their last four and 8-8 since March 1.
Just ahead of the Rangers are two teams who made the same adjustments the Rangers did -- replacing their head coaches and making the right trade deadline moves. Pittsburgh is 15-2-2 since dropping their first game after changing coaches in mid-February. Carolina didn't get immediate results from their coaching change, but they're 19-7-2 since losing their first game after the all-star break to the Rangers and were a remarkable 10-1-2 in March, winning their last six in a row heading into tonight's match against the Rangers. The difference for them has been their power play, which went 16-for-56 (nearly 30%) in March coming off a 5-for-55 run (less than 10%) in February.
Like the Pens, the Rangers have done well (though not quite as well) since their coaching change, going 9-4-1 after dropping John Tortorella's first two games, which capped a 2-8-4 skid that put them in this predicament. But they are just 2-2-1 since a 7-2 run -- though another way to look at that is that they are 6-3-1 in their last ten since their last visit to Carolina. In those last ten games, Ryan Callahan has six goals, Nik Antropov five, Sean Avery and Nik Zherdev four each, Chris Drury and Brandon Dubinsky three each, and Markus Naslund and Fred Sjostrom two each. Since the arrival of Tortorella and his offense-first system, Callahan has eight goals, Zherdev seven, Antropov six, Drury and Naslund five each, and Scott Gomez four -- balanced scoring.
But they still need more from their power play, which has gone 6-for-55 (just over 10%) in the eleven games since (and incuding) their last visit to Carolina, a 3-0 loss -- they are actually 1-for-36 in nine of those eleven games, going 5-for-19 in the other two. At least their league-leading penalty killing will put up a formidable obstance to the Hurricanes' power play, whcih is 6-for-21 during their six-game win streak. The Rangers' PK has not allowed a goal in its last 25 times short and has held opponents to a 5-for-67 (7.4%) success rate since the oaching change. With six of the Rangers' last seven games and seven of Carolina's last nine games decided by one goal, one clutch special teams goal or kill could make the difference.
Tortorella, realizing that the power play remains a sore spot, has simplified matters for the game tonight. Michal Rozsival is close to returning to action, but will skip this game after a hard morning skate -- see Ranger Rants and Blue Notes reporting from Raleigh. Previews of tonight's game and the final playoff push: Newsday, Record, Daily News, Journal News, Post, NYR.com, NHL.com here and here, Raleigh N&O. More from yesterday's practice at Blue Notes and Rangers Report. The Wolf Pack, having already clinched, hung on to win last night -- see Howlings, WP.com, and Beyond the Blueshirts. Other prospect news at Prospect Park.
Finally, and I hope this doesn't offend anyone, but here is a slightly dated clip of Hitler as a Ranger fan reacting to Vancouver signing Mats Sundin earlier this season -- this clip, from the 2004 German movie "The Downfall" about Hitler's last days as the Allies closed in on his Berlin bunker, has been used often with its subtitles replaced as a comic send-up of various sports teams and other targets.
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Good game so far. Hoping my Canes can pull off another big win. These last few games are going to decide who plays who in the playoffs. 4th place and home ice in the 1st Round are still up for grabs.
Good game so far. Hoping my Canes can pull off another big win. These last few games are going to decide who plays who in the playoffs. 4th place and home ice in the 1st Round are still up for grabs.
Comments
antropov is an animal. i like.
I've never seen so clumsy a fuckhead get so many points in my life.
I expected 3 periods exactly like the third, so it was a pleasant memory for golf season.
I gotta tell you, I've always disliked Gomez, especially during that losing streak he was absolutely awful. But now him being a part of a speedy offense, he's getting points and I like it.
Henrik's 2 on 1 save last night was unbelievable.
If the season ended today and we had to play the Caps, I think it could go either way. The Rangers have gotten a lot of shots on goal recently and Washington's goaltending isn't great, but their defense is incredible. I wouldn't mind seeing Henrik vs Ovi for 7 games, but I don't think we would win because theres also Semin, Backstrom, Federov, Green, Braschear (or however you spell his name) is a fan favorite here in DC, it's incredible...he was such a LOSER when he was in Philly.
That said, I kind of hope we seed 7 to play the Devils in a 7 game series. We would win that, we'll get to Marty again. After that...I don't want to play Philly or Pittl
i was at Bathgate & Howell night, where the NYRs played agaisnt Toronto before the trade deadline-
I remember saying to myself " holy fuck that Antropov is one big MFer " .
That it ain't no sin to be glad you're alive
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Albany 2006 Camden 2006 E. Rutherford 2, 2006 Inglewood 2006,
Chicago 2007
Camden 2008 MSG 2008 MSG 2008 Hartford 2008.
Seattle 2009 Seattle 2009 Philadelphia 2009,Philadelphia 2009 Philadelphia 2009
Hartford 2010 MSG 2010 MSG 2010
Toronto 2011,Toronto 2011
Wrigley Field 2013 Brooklyn 2013 Brooklyn 2013 Philadelphia 2, 2013
Philadelphia 1, 2016 Philadelphia 2 2016 New York 2016 New York 2016 Fenway 1, 2016
Fenway 2, 2018
MSG 2022
St. Paul, 1, St. Paul 2 2023
MSG 2024, MSG 2024
Philadelphia 2024
"I play good, hard-nosed basketball.
Things happen in the game. Nothing you
can do. I don't go and say,
"I'm gonna beat this guy up."
anyone notice redden finally decided to start playing hockey?
Walt Poddubny
looking good as of late, lets keep it rolling.
watched hockey all day , penguins-0 flyers
then the devils,
now our team.
Lets Go Rangers
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The Rangers have certainly played a lot better in the last dozen games than in the disastrous dozen that preceded John Tortorella's hiring. Their 7-4-1 record in those games is obviously a far sight better than the 2-7-3 slump that cost Tom Renney his job. So when they play like they did last night in dropping a 2-1 decision to Ottawa at the Garden, in a manner so reminiscent of the last days of the Renney era, you have to look at it as the new exception rather than the old rule. Just as they rebounded from a similar loss in Carolina, there is no reason to believe that they can't rebound from this one, despite scoring only one goal, despite taking the collar on the power play with the game in the balance, despite giving up a quick third period goal to fall behind, and all the other things that were the norm in January and February.
"The game is not always going to be easy," Tortorella said after this one. "This isn’t supposed to be easy. You're not going to always be at your best." But after saying that last night in winning, the coach was hoping to see his team move forward tonight rather than backwards. "I was hoping we'd make a step even though we weren’t at our best. We're in the third period 1-1, we needed to win that period, and we didn’t. Hopefully in those situations, if it arises again, we'll be able to answer it. That's how you grow as a team. Am I going to overreact to it? No. We're going to go back and try to do the same things we've done where we've won and hopefully get better at it. That's all you can do. We're going to have a short term memory and go back to work tomorrow with tape work and we'll get ready for Minnesota."
The Rangers weren't all there from the start, despite getting an early goal from Brandon Dubinsky (his first in 24 games) off some hustle from Ryan Callahan (what else is new?). But they ended up with only six shots on goal in the first period despite getting three power plays, missing the net nine times and having seven other shots blocked. "The game was sloppy by both teams," Tortorella said. "It was one of those games where you're about to make a play and you can't get it done, you're trying to make a pass and it's picked off, you turn the puck over when you should be making an easy play." No one believed that playing back-to-back games had anything to do with it. "I don't think that had anything to do with it," Sean Avery said. "They played back-to-back [too]. We could've beared down a little more -- we should've played a better game." "I don't think we were tired," Henrik Lundqvist said.
The power play hurt the cause, not only unable to get a goal but unable to get anything going, going 0-for-5 and failing to score six-on-five in the final minute and a half. "We definitely had our chances to get the game going on the power play," Lundqvist said. "But for some reason we had a tough time getting the power play going tonight. We had opportunities on the power play to tie the game but they played pretty well with their PK. In a game like this, you hope to get one on the power play." "Sometimes that's the difference," Avery said. "It wasn't the difference tonight because we didn't score. We certainly have to bear down as a group and start capitalizing on opportunities cause that's what wins games down the stretch and that's what wins playoff games." "It would have been nice if we got a P.P. along the way," Chris Drury said. "They pressured the puck well -- they sent four guys and we didn't respond too good to it. We had to get it to the other side of the ice and we never got it over there."
"With the power play, It's not so much your percentage, it's scoring at a key time, especially this time of year," Tortorella said. "In a close game, a 2-1 game, a power play goal would be very important. We didn't get it done tonight. When you get to the third period and it's 1-1, that's where you need to find a way to grind one out. We gave up a goal -- I don't think we played the two on two properly. I think it's the right play by Scotty on the turnover at their blue line, but he leaves a tail on it. It's the right idea, but it ends up being a costly turnover. But we need to try to find a way to tie it up and we couldn't. We had a couple of opportunities -- Nik [Antropov] hit a skate with a wide open net. Bottom line, you're not going to win games scoring one goal. I thought we were stale offensively -- we just weren't getting much offense going at all."
Fredrik Sjostrom said the team let down after the Senators tied the score in the second period. "After their goal, we got a little down," he said. "We came back pretty good in the third, but for some reason the efficiency wasn't there today. We created chances, but we weren't calm. When we had the opportunity, we didn't capitalize -- that's the big difference. We were on them, we were forechecking good, but the last part wasn't there -- you gotta put the puck in the net. We'd like to have this one back, but this one's over -- there's not time to dwell on these. We'll go tomorrow and try to correct the things we didn't do too well, back on it. We still have a good feeling -- we know we've been playing good hockey lately. We just have to rebound -- start a new streak."
And thus the beat went on, with everyone believing that this one just needed to go into the history books and all attention turned to the next game. "It clearly wasn't our night, but it's over, and back at it tomorrow," Drury said. "I felt we actually got better as the game went on, we had some chances in the third. Obviously, we want to win them all and play our best, every single one down the stretch. There are going to be nights when you don’t have it. The key is how you respond to it and how you bounce back." "We didn't play our best game by any means," Avery said. "But you aren't going to win every game. We're going to get back to work tomorrow and just get back on track here." Unlike the many times we've heard this refrain this season, this time it sounds less like a promise broken than a promise to be fulfilled.
One Ranger, however, does not deserve the benefit of any doubt tonight. That's former Senator Wade Redden. When Tortorella said the two-on-two wasn't played well, he can't have been talking about Derek Morris, who stuck with his man as two Sens criss-crossed -- he was talking about Redden, who drifted over lazily toward the goal scorer and screened Lundqvist as the shot rang off the post. And for all of his new rules, here's one for Tortorella to consider -- how about no fraternizing with the opposition after games in the hallway between locker rooms, where Redden was holding court with Alfredsson, Heatley, and a third Senator after helping his former mates win the game.
Here are some early links -- game reports: Newsday, Record, Daily News, Journal News, Times, Post, NYR.com, AP, and Ottawa Citizen; more from the Record, Newsday, and Inside Shots; pre-game, in-game, and post-game updates from Ranger Rants here and here, Rangers Report here and here, Blue Notes here and here, and Game On! -- they include a bit of news on Rozsival, who limped home under his own power and is slated to undergo an MRI tomorrow. The Wolf Pack lost yesterday -- see Howlings and WP.com. Hockey's Future has a spring update on the Rangers' top 20 prospects, and Prospect Park has an update on how some of them did in Sunday playoff action.
i hope rozsivals knee is okay,...
That it ain't no sin to be glad you're alive
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wow this year flew by
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@PIT
vs.NJ
@CAR
@BOS
vs.MTL
vs.PHI
@PHI
If the Rangers win tonight and Florida loses to the Flyers without a losers' point, that puts them seven points clear of the drop zone with seven to go. I'm wondering if Valiquette will ever get a start under Tortorella or is he just going to ride the King until April 12th.
C'MON YOU BLUESHIRTS!
Jw
the BOS/MTL/PHI/PHI sequence scares me. I don't see the rangers clinching a spot until the last 3 games or so of the season, montreal and philly play us tough. the important thing is to get points, if they lose at least get it to OT.
1 game and 1 day at a time.
Lets Go Rangers
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but as i said a few posts above we need POINTS... not happy we didn't get 2 tonight, but we did still get a valuable 1.
lets keep it going for the next two!
hearbreaker.
anyhow, wait till tom against martin and the devils.
in case anyone has forgotten or missed it, you can vote for the steven mcdopnald extra effort award here.
i predioct the winner will be ryan callahan or possibly sean avery ......
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blair betts!
That it ain't no sin to be glad you're alive
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Albany 2006 Camden 2006 E. Rutherford 2, 2006 Inglewood 2006,
Chicago 2007
Camden 2008 MSG 2008 MSG 2008 Hartford 2008.
Seattle 2009 Seattle 2009 Philadelphia 2009,Philadelphia 2009 Philadelphia 2009
Hartford 2010 MSG 2010 MSG 2010
Toronto 2011,Toronto 2011
Wrigley Field 2013 Brooklyn 2013 Brooklyn 2013 Philadelphia 2, 2013
Philadelphia 1, 2016 Philadelphia 2 2016 New York 2016 New York 2016 Fenway 1, 2016
Fenway 2, 2018
MSG 2022
St. Paul, 1, St. Paul 2 2023
MSG 2024, MSG 2024
Philadelphia 2024
"I play good, hard-nosed basketball.
Things happen in the game. Nothing you
can do. I don't go and say,
"I'm gonna beat this guy up."
NEW YORK - It seems like every time the Rangers take on the Devils, the devil incarnate himself, Sean Avery, has something to do with the decision.
Tonight’s 3-0 Ranger win was no exception.
With an assist and a non-fight against David Clarkson, the Grate One had his presence felt each minute he was on the ice.
“It’s old news right now,” said coach John Tortorella. “Sean Avery is part of the hockey team. He’s a disciplined player for us. He’s an effective player for us. I just want to make sure we keep Sean in the team and not make it the team and Sean.”
Very well, and Avery is a different player. But as long as the NHL continues to allow the forward to be an unfair target, there will be questions about Avery.
All night long the Devils were seeking out No. 16. He was bumped bruised and tossed around by packs of faceless players. And when David Clarkson went after Avery in the third, the referees allowed Avery to be rag dolled to the ice, not once but twice.
And the league doesn’t just turn a blind eye, it actually sanctions the abuse. The referees sit there and unfairly let Avery take his lumps. He took a pummeling and then had to sit for two minutes on a roughing call? That’s ridiculous. If Avery was good enough to be reinstated, then he should be shown the same impartial on-ice arbitration as every other player in the rink.
“I think [the refs] look at him differently than the rest of us,” said Ranger captain Chris Drury. “For whatever reason, because he was never suspended for anything on-ice. I think he got a tough ride. He’s been competing like crazy and showing discipline.”
Sure Avery and his mouth brought all of this on, but he did the time for the crime and now has a second chance. Unfortunately the National Hypocrite League doesn’t see it that way and continues to persecute a player for a past sin with time served. If Avery was suspended for a cocaine addiction, frequented a prostitute, did steroids, or anything else illegal he would have been welcomed back with open arms for his courage and strength to get through the tough time. Heck he may have been a Masterton nominee for it.
But all Avery did was say things about his ex-girlfriend and agitate players. It makes you wonder about the thin skin of the NHL. These players have competed on a high level since grade school. They have to have heard it all. What does No. 16 say that makes them so crazy? Sure he gets personal, but come-on. Have they ever just thought of just ignoring him?
Of course not, which makes Avery a target. To his credit Avery is a changed person. No longer does he send barbs out through the press. Two years ago he called Clarkson a “bonehead minor leaguer” after being targeted and now Avery is a little more restrained with his remarks.
“You know it’s a 3-0 game and I don’t think there’s anything to gain at that point,” he said and also added, “It certainly takes discipline for sure. You fight for your team and for your teammates. At that point, I didn’t need to fight for either of them.”
Clarkson received a 10 minute misconduct, but Colin Campbell needs to step in and suspend the Devils forward. If the league is serious about cutting down on fighting, they need to do something about the mugging that took place in the third. It’s only right.
Imagine if the same thing happened with Brandon Dubinsky, Ryan Callahan, or even Chris Drury. The question would then not be if, but how long should Clarkson sit. But because it’s Avery, the National Hypocrite League decides it’s ok for it to happen. Because Avery is persona non-grata in this league, the biased calls and cheap shots are allowed to continue.
Yet, maybe in the long run that’s a good thing. Avery is trying to improve and become a better player and person and with each passing day, the Rangers little devil is proving that he’s already above the hypocrites that run this show.
That it ain't no sin to be glad you're alive
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No More Fooling Around With Avery
Who needs an April Fool's joke when you have this: Sean Avery is no longer a story, not after behaving like an angel versus the Devils. "It's old news now," Ranger coach John Tortorella said when asked about Avery after the Rangers blanked the Devils 3-0. "I hope we can move by all the stories about what's going to happen to Sean," he said when asked a second time about Avery (no one was going to risk asking him a third question, not after this response).
"He has bought into the team concept and is part of the club," Tortorella went on. "What I'd like to focus on is that the team found a way to win and Sean was a big part of that by playing hockey. Sean Avery is part of the hockey team. He's a disciplined player for us, he's an effective player for us. I just want to make sure we keep Sean within the team and not [have] the team [on one side] and Sean [on the other side]. Sean has definitely bought into that."
Even frequent antagonist Martin Brodeur, he who refused to shake Avery's hand after the playoffs last year, said that Avery didn't do anything worth noting. "He didn't say a word to me," said the Jersey netminder, failing to note that Avery behaved himself even after taking a Brodeur stick to the chin. "He was just in front of me. That's just battling. That's normal. I just wanted to get my space." Yeah, that's normal -- stick to the chin. Cough-cough. "He was all right," Brodeur went on. "He didn't do much."
So just how did Avery do it (or not do it, as the case may be)? "I know there was a lot of anticipation beforehand, for sure," Avery said of facing Brodeur again as a Ranger. "I just went into it the same as I have for a lot of games -- just trying to get focused and knowing what I have to do and knowing what Torts expects of me." Well, you can see why "Torts" doesn't want to waste time on this story -- there doesn't seem to be much of story there anymore.
Except for two things -- opponents keep running Avery, and referees keep looking the other way. "He has that ability to get guys ticked off on the other side," Chris Drury said of Avery's ablity to anger opponents just by his mere presence, even when he behaves himself -- of course, you can argue that that is even more irritating than when he lives up to their expectations of him, and nothing is more irritating than when he hurts you on the scoreboard.
"He played a heck of a game," Drury continued. "He made a great play to Gomer on Callahan's goal. He just drives the other team crazy, that's for sure. That thing with Clarkson could have escalated fast. We know Sean is tough enough and willing enough to do that, but in a 3-0 game at home, no need to do it. He made a great play by not doing it, showing his discipline -- a win there meant more to him than getting into a scrap." "It helps us out a ton," linemate Ryan Callahan said. "You can see it, when he's on his game, all the attention goes to him -- it lets us have some room."
"It certainly takes discipline, for sure," Avery said of not going at it with Clarkson late in the game, letting himself get rag-dolled to the ice twice before the refs finally stepped in to break things up. "It's a 3-0 game at that point. I don't think that there's anything to gain by doing anything at that point. You fight for your team and for your teammates. At that point, I didn't need to fight for either of them, so there's really no point."
"I was trying to spark the team," Clarkson lied -- after all, it was 3-0 late in the game, the opportunity to spark the team long gone. "He had his one hand cocked back in a fist. Say he throws a punch and hits me. I'm the guy that loses. I was trying to spark the team and ended up getting kicked out." Maybe the NHL should remand Clarkson to an anger management program so that he can decide not to do anything there, the way Avery did.
Then there are the officials. Avery has been turning the other cheek (well, most of the time) and the referees have been turning a blind eye (almost all the time). He actually got a roughing minor during the Clarkson fracas -- "I don't really know what happened there," Avery said. "There's a lot going on in a big scrum." "They give him a penalty for not having a glove on," Drury said. "That's a little insane -- he's getting rag-dolled, showing all the composure in the world not to do anything, and somehow he still gets one."
But he finally got a call from the refs, who gave Clarkson a double minor for roughing, even though it took two takedowns before the referee raised his arm to sanction the Devil agitator. "He lets the guy throw him down three times, the refs finally say, 'OK, he's not doing anything,' so that's good," Drury said. "I think he's getting a tough ride some nights. He's been competing like crazy, his discipline has been outstanding -- the more and more he does that, the more and more the refs will say, 'Wow, he really is disciplined, he's not yapping, he's not doing stuff after the whistle,' the calls will start coming his way."
So far, it hasn't happened, and the Rangers let everyone know after the loss in Pittsburgh on Saturday. "Glen and I made a point the other day that we just want to be treated fairly," Tortorella said -- Tortorella made his point in public during his post-game press confernece, but mentioning Glen Sather as having made the point means that he made the case in private to the NHL. But Tortorella just wants to drop the subject now. "We don't want to be a bunch of whiners," he emphasized.
Still, Drury had more to say on the subject. "They look at him differently than the rest of us, for whatever reason," he said. "He's never been suspended on ice. From my perspective, just call it even for everybody, for forty guys on the ice plus goalies. Whatever's good for us, good for them, we'll live with that." Avery's reaction to the support he has gotten from his coach and teammates about the way he's been treated is another new thing. "We're a family here," he said. "We go to bat for each other -- that's what makes a team. I know we'd do it for anybody and it just happens to me in this case."
So opponents continue to drive themselves batty over Avery -- "I just wanted to finish my hit," Mike Rupp lied about going after Avery in the closing moments of the game. "I don't know if someone threw something from the stands and hit him and knocked him down, but he went down pretty easy." Even when Bobby Holik scrapped with his good friend Scott Gomez, he blamed Avery. "To be honest with you, I thought it was Avery," he said. "I had no idea who it was. I was trying to poke at the puck and somebody came and you know I don't discriminate."
Through it all, the new edition of Avery -- Zenmaster Sean -- trusts in a simple method of coping. "I think about a happy place," he said. Yeah, that and plastering Johnny Oduya into the wall with a thunderous check.
Real April Fool's jokes at Rangers Report, NY Sports Day, and Hockey Rodent. Only a handful of actual news stories on the day after the Rangers had the day off -- the Post, Newsday, Blue Notes, and Prospect Park. Bad news on the scoreboard watch, as Montreal and Florida both kept pace with big wins last night, making tomorrow night's game in Carolina that much bigger. If ever the Rangers needed to find that consistency that has been eluding them since October, now is the time. Michal Rozsival is unsure whether he will be ready to play, but he skated today for the first time since sustaining a knee injury -- see Ranger Rants reporting from practice today.
That it ain't no sin to be glad you're alive
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That it ain't no sin to be glad you're alive
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how huge is this one? ( and every other of the 5 remaining )
http://www.blueshirtbulletinplus.com/20 ... -time.html
Crunching Numbers at Crunch Time
There has been a remarkable symmetry to paths the Rangers' closest playoff rivals have taken as the season winds down and they jockey for playoff position. The two teams nipping at the Rangers' heels, vying with them as of this moment for the last two playoff spots, have rebounded recently after freefalling through the standings, the two teams just ahead of them have been running hot for quite a while, and the two teams just beyond that have stumbled of late.
Looking over their shoulders, the Rangers see the ninth place Panthers going 3-0 after a 1-4-3 slump knocked them out of the top eight. Montreal, one point back in eighth, is 3-0-1 in its last four, 9-5-3 since they sent Alexei Kovalev home for two games, Kovalev scoring ten goals and seven assists since. Even one step further back, Buffalo is 3-0-1 since their loss to the Rangers after going 3-7-2 from the time Scott Gomez collided with goalie Ryan Miller, knocking him out of action -- Miller is back, but time has just about run out on the Sabres.
Meanwhile, the division leading Devils are 1-6-1 since Martin Brodeur's record setting win, which culminated runs of 8-1 and 13-3 -- Brodeur has allowed 22 goals in losing his last six straight. They're not in much danger of losing the division crown, but they are in danger of going into the playoffs as dead men walking -- indeed, talk of Brent Sutter being coach of the year has devolved into talk of Lou Lamoriello doing to him what he has done to other coaches in the past, firing him in the final days of the season. The second place Flyers, more in danger of being caught and losing home ice advantage in the playoffs, are 0-3-1 in their last four and 8-8 since March 1.
Just ahead of the Rangers are two teams who made the same adjustments the Rangers did -- replacing their head coaches and making the right trade deadline moves. Pittsburgh is 15-2-2 since dropping their first game after changing coaches in mid-February. Carolina didn't get immediate results from their coaching change, but they're 19-7-2 since losing their first game after the all-star break to the Rangers and were a remarkable 10-1-2 in March, winning their last six in a row heading into tonight's match against the Rangers. The difference for them has been their power play, which went 16-for-56 (nearly 30%) in March coming off a 5-for-55 run (less than 10%) in February.
Like the Pens, the Rangers have done well (though not quite as well) since their coaching change, going 9-4-1 after dropping John Tortorella's first two games, which capped a 2-8-4 skid that put them in this predicament. But they are just 2-2-1 since a 7-2 run -- though another way to look at that is that they are 6-3-1 in their last ten since their last visit to Carolina. In those last ten games, Ryan Callahan has six goals, Nik Antropov five, Sean Avery and Nik Zherdev four each, Chris Drury and Brandon Dubinsky three each, and Markus Naslund and Fred Sjostrom two each. Since the arrival of Tortorella and his offense-first system, Callahan has eight goals, Zherdev seven, Antropov six, Drury and Naslund five each, and Scott Gomez four -- balanced scoring.
But they still need more from their power play, which has gone 6-for-55 (just over 10%) in the eleven games since (and incuding) their last visit to Carolina, a 3-0 loss -- they are actually 1-for-36 in nine of those eleven games, going 5-for-19 in the other two. At least their league-leading penalty killing will put up a formidable obstance to the Hurricanes' power play, whcih is 6-for-21 during their six-game win streak. The Rangers' PK has not allowed a goal in its last 25 times short and has held opponents to a 5-for-67 (7.4%) success rate since the oaching change. With six of the Rangers' last seven games and seven of Carolina's last nine games decided by one goal, one clutch special teams goal or kill could make the difference.
Tortorella, realizing that the power play remains a sore spot, has simplified matters for the game tonight. Michal Rozsival is close to returning to action, but will skip this game after a hard morning skate -- see Ranger Rants and Blue Notes reporting from Raleigh. Previews of tonight's game and the final playoff push: Newsday, Record, Daily News, Journal News, Post, NYR.com, NHL.com here and here, Raleigh N&O. More from yesterday's practice at Blue Notes and Rangers Report. The Wolf Pack, having already clinched, hung on to win last night -- see Howlings, WP.com, and Beyond the Blueshirts. Other prospect news at Prospect Park.
Finally, and I hope this doesn't offend anyone, but here is a slightly dated clip of Hitler as a Ranger fan reacting to Vancouver signing Mats Sundin earlier this season -- this clip, from the 2004 German movie "The Downfall" about Hitler's last days as the Allies closed in on his Berlin bunker, has been used often with its subtitles replaced as a comic send-up of various sports teams and other targets.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXxg7msf ... r_embedded
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tough game last night. early on i had a gut feeling that the rangers wouldn't win that one. the game just kinda had one of those feelings.
no penalty on the play after the whistle in which the carolina player dropped his gloves and punched antropov in the face? what's going on there?