Hey man, we should leave Matt alone. The Red Sox started it off by winning the series, the White Sox of all teams followed it up, the Cincinatti Bengals won a division, Rutgers made a bowl game (and played well, to boot)...clearly the sports landscape has been set on it's ear. Anything can happen. There's no reason why the Islanders can't make the playoffs and go all the way. [/straight face] Dig up Al Arbor!
Alright Matt, I'll leave you alone. GO FISH STICKS!!!! Apparently I mentioned the Rangers take on the Flyers on New Year's Eve but they are facing the Pens instead. My dad on the error. Hopefully they'll dominate since the Pens already have an early season win against us.
The Pens lost 6 straight (4 by 1 goal), and beat the Devils 6-2, so hopefully that was their upset of the month.
Ok I really got pay more attention to game times. I assumed the game was tonight but they played earlier today and lost. Interestingly the Rangers scored all 3 goals on the PP, even if the Pens do have a crappy PK, it's encouraging. However apparently the Rangers gave the Pens plenty of chances of their own and Sid the Kid won it in OT. What was the penalty against Roszival? I saw it was 5 mins for hooking but I've never seen a major for hooking before. Bah, discouraging way to end the year against the lowly, lowly Pens. Well, here's to 2006 and hoping the Rangers continue overachieving.
Okay, I need to stop going to hockey games. The Rangers outshoot the Lightnuts 35-15 in the first 3 periods, and lose in friggin OT on a poke in of the 3rd rebound of a nothing shot. It seriously looked like they were taking all 35 shots right at the keeper (who had a good game, but still). When the highlight of the evening is a hoodie sweatshirt at half off in the team store...that's an issue.
I agree. Grahame was strong and got the shutout but none of the shots really looked like they were challenging him. It was a weak goal to win it in OT but a goal nonetheless. The Rangers had some great chances like that amazing move Jagr made to setup Nylander with the wide open net but of course he fanned. Nylander also had a great chance in OT before the Bolts went on the rush and scored. I thought Nylander got pulled down but whatever. At least we get a point out of it. Also glad to see the HMO (Hollweg-Moore-Ortmeyer) line or whatever they're gonna call it back together because they provided one helluva spark. Flyers come in on Thursday. It'll be a tough game against the division leaders.
Deja vu all over again, the Rangers lose in OT (dropping their third straight). They've taken to calling it the OHM line, btw. The NY Post on Tuesday called an OHM a measure of electricity, though that's not actually accurate*, yet to a layman I think they got the point across. It's a good line, I think. nerd alert: * An ohm is a resistance that produces a potential difference of one volt when a current of one ampere is flowing through it.
The fan polls decided to call it the HMO line which I liked but I'm sure there'll be variations throughout the season as long as they're together. Tough loss. They came out flying the first period and it was some damn good hockey. After the Flyers drew first blood with the PP goal, the Rangers got things going and scored twice, including another goal by Prucha. Hollweg got into a fight with Eager and the Garden was rocking. Second period the Rangers were pretty lame. Johnsson's coast-to-coast PP goal was a joke. No way that goal should've happened but he just kept finding the open lanes to skate through. Some dumb penalties and all of a sudden the Flyers are up. The third period the Rangers appeared to be scrambling for some offense. Jagr setup Straka for a beautiful goal to tie things up and Weekes made a tremendous glove save with time winding down to send it to OT. OT lasted no more than 7 secs as Simon Gagne just went straight through after the faceoff to put a weak one past Weaks. A shame it had to end like that. Especially since Weekes seemed to have redeemed himself with the Garden crowd after that tremendous glove save. But that was a weak ass shot which he should've handled. If Henrik isn't in net for the next one I think they'll be all over Weekes, and that's not a good thing. The effort was there but some stupid mistakes and bad penalties cost them. Still, I gotta say that this was probably the most entertaining game of the season. We saw a little bit of everything tonight and even though the result sucked, it was fun to watch. Rangers vs. Panthers on Saturday. Matinee game which I have to remember since I've missed just about everyone so far this season thinking they were in the evening. Lets get our first win of 2006.
Ahhhhh, that felt good. Rangers back into the win column with a 4-0 thumping of the Panthers. Have to give some more love to Lundqvist who got his second career shutout after stopping 38 shots, and is now something like 10-2-2 at the Garden (I went to both losses, doh). His save percentage is up to .925 %, 3rd in the NHL. Petr Prucha must be loving the accomodations, as he scored his 20th of the year, pretty hot for a rookie (though, on an ugly muff of a shot). Ovechkin or Crosby will win the rookie of the year award, but Prucha is having a pretty good year for the blueshirts. Hope he stays around a while.. Speaking of blueshirts, my quest for a Lundqvist jersey continues...
Welcome Petr Sykora to the Rangers. we got him and a draft pick for Maxim Kondratiev. Kinda sad to see Max go but if Sykora regains his scoring touch then it'll help us take the scoring load off of Jagr and Prucha.
Finally made the trade. Surprised how little we gave up for it. I didn't think much of Kondratiev. I know he's still young and developing, but I think this will help balance out the scoring a little. Good timing too since Blair Betts is gonna be out for 6-8 weeks with a knee sprain. The last link (I think) to the Brian Leetch trade is now gone. Hopefully Sykora can regain his form. We got ourselves a whole Czech team now!
If anyone caught the MSG interview that Al Trautwig did with Tom Renney, he positively blanched whenever Al mentioned the fact that they were playing 12 games in March and, on top of that, were going to lose 10+ guys for the Olympics, including the likes of Jagr, King Henrik, etc. It could be a bad March if those guys come back with tired legs.
Didn't catch the game but caught Rangers In 60, the condensed version of the game with all the main highlights. Things started off badly for the Rangers but they quickly got things going. Petr Sykora made his Ranger debut and notched a goal and an assist. His goal was a shot off Kiprusoff from behind the net and his assist was a friggin beautiful pass. They looked strong once they got the tying goal and kept pressuring the Flames with offense, although it's hard to tell since this was the condensed version. Lundqvist had only 19 saves but looked good in net and was named third star. First star to Petr Sykora. Welcome to the Rangers. Oh, and Dominic Moore added an empty netter. Good to see his name go back up on the scoresheet as well, even if it was an empty net. Second win in a row and second of 2006. Thursday night is the Oilers and it's gonna be a night to remember. Sadly I didn't become a Ranger fan till the dark ages (99-00 was my first season) but of course I knew who Messier was and his legacy with the Rangers. I got to live a part of it for a few seasons on some terrible Ranger teams but that was good enough for me. It's gonna be an awesome night.
Rangers lose to the Red Wings yesterday on NBC's NHL broadcast debut. Final score, 4-3. The Red Wings defense was tough all game. They took away the blue line and the Rangers couldn't generate much offense. Surprised they even scored 3 goals. Ortmeyer's goal which was the Rangers third was a complete fluke as it looked like it deflected off of 2 Red Wing players. Somehow it found the back of the net. The game also reminded me of how much I miss Mathieu Schneider. It'd be nice to have his rocket of a shot on the PP. Kasparaitis also didn't play because of a sprained MCL after colliding with Dominic Moore during warmups. I didn't see it so I can't comment but I find it unbelievable that he was able to injure himself after colliding with his teammate during the pregame skate. I mean seriously, were they going fast or something? Anyway, another loss to another Western Conference foe. Jackets coming up on Monday. They better win this one.
Rangers lost to the Blue Jackets the other night. A shameful defeat. If I see Kevin Weekes in net, I will no longer back Tom Renney. God, it's like Willie Randolph and Tom Renney share the same brain. They do the right things, motivate the kids, demand accountability, yet makes some serious questionable moves. Still, Marcel Hossa netted 1 goals after starting in his first game after sitting out the last 6 I think. Oblong Head (Jason Ward) scored the other as well. Thomas Pock also finally made a start. Pens coming up on Thursday. I wanna see Lundqvist.
Rangers end their 2 game losing streak against the lowly Pens. I couldn't watch more than the first period since MSG went out on me. My cable has been screwy lately and chances are I'll be without it till Monday. Anyway, Rozsival had the game winner after apparently scoring an own-goal. Prucha tallied 2 more. This guy is something else. And the Rangers got a PP goal. Of course they also allowed 2 more. I don't know what happened to the PK. Special teams just isn't working out right now. Anyway, they got the win and head to Boston to face the B's on Saturday. I was gonna go and do my annual Bruins/Rangers matchup at the Fleet (or whatever the hell they call it now) but my buddy up there can't make it. Ahh well. A win will be good enough for me. If I can watch it that is.
Rangers win a big one over the Devils at the Garden, 3-1. Prucha, Nylander, and Moore got the goals. The Devils came in with a 9 game win streak and a hot power play. Devs scored one late in the third from Scott Gomez, even strength. Lundqvist was awesome in net again. I'm just glad Renney didn't go with Weekes. Kasparaitis left the game early in the first after receiving a game misconduct for a hit on Marshall. The Rangers were with only 5 defensemen but you couldn't tell from the way they were playing. They killed off a Devils PP unit that was hot and even got a PP goal themselves from Prucha. The Rangers played a pretty solid game, mostly thanks to King Henrik who has been nothing short of unbelievable. The guy is something else. Sabres come in on Tuesday. The Rangers jumped ahead of them in the standings to take 4th in the East. Hopefully the team will have the same energy on Tuesday night.
Ugh, as in ugly loss. The Sabres were the better team last night. The Rangers looked like they had their heads up their asses except for Kaspar and the HMO Line and Jagr. The rest of the team was a no show. Stupid turnovers killed them, especially the Malik one that lead to the game winner. The powerplay once again was horrendous despite Jagr's lone PP goal. They had a chance to build on their lead for the 4th spot but failed. Tim Conolly left the game with a sore knee after a beautiful hip-check by Kasparaitis. Kaspar has really been playing well as of late and been hitting hard. Well, Rangers don't play till Saturday when they face Sid the Kid and the Super Marioless Pens. This game will be on NBC. Maybe they were just tired so the few days off could be beneficial for them. Let's hope. Oh, and Henrik was amazing again tonight. This guy is seriously something else. Maybe my next jersey will say Lundqvist on the back.
Rangers destroyed the Pens today at the Garden, 7-1. The Rangers had 51, 51 shots on goal!!! Jagr accounted for 11 of them alone and had 2 goals and an assist. Game looked like a struggle early on but the Rangers broke things open in the third with 4 goals. This was probably the most impressive all-around performance they've had in a long time. They only took 2 penalties the entire game, both coming in the first. The defenseman were active all throughout and got involved in the offense the most I've ever seen all season, with goals coming from Rozsival and Strudwick. Prucha also got another goal; a nice putback off Fleury's skate from the side of the net. The PP came up lame though, with their lone PP goal coming on a 5-3, which was a rocket from Jagr from the point. Still, they did shoot more than they normally seemed to on the PP, but you can still see them trying to make that extra pass that kills them. Henrik didn't have much work to do but made some big stops. And Sid the Kid has balls. After Henrik was clipped by Armstrong, he went after him and you saw Sid come up to Henrik and give him a little shove. I admire the tenacity, but don't ******** with Henrik, kid. Anyway, the Rangers looked fresh against their weaker opponents with the few days off they had. The Flyers come to the Garden on Monday for what should be another tough battle. Hopefully if the game goes to OT, it'll last more than 7 secs.
I was at the game, and wow was that a rout. I was actually bummed when the Pens got their 11th shot, because I liked the poetry of holding them to only 10. They had 6 in the first period, 2 in the second, and 2 for about 15 minutes of the third. They got 4 shots towards the end in garbage time and even hit the inside of the post on one, but it was total domination by the Rangers and it was so ugly that Crosby was throwing his stick around. Fleury was throwing pucks out of his net...just beautiful. It was kids day at the garden which always takes the edge out of the crowd, but it was loud enough. The Pens don't play again for 5 days, when they (oddly), play @ MSG again on Wednesday. As a fellow fan said leaving the garden "Well...I'm sure they'll stew on that one...". You can stick that Sydney Crosby up your ass, feet first... Enjoy Winnipeg, hosers! And I finally got to order my Lundqvist jersey, which I can pick up in 2 (kevin) weeks.
Where'd your order your jersey from? I was thinking about getting a Lundqvist myself but I'm not sure where they get the lettering done. I know the ones in the Garden shops suck because they have nameplates on the back. I used to get my number and lettering done at the Mets Clubhouse shop in Roosevelt Field Mall since I used to work there and got a discount; plus the place we sent the jerseys to used official numbers and letters.