The coach's words, not mine. However, all things considered, the words were appropriate. The news conference was typical, though the press is making like the coach got mad at Sam. The coach is an ass but I didn't see any slight toward Sam. I saw a massive slight toward his team and much deserved.
I always talk how we let mediocre, journeymen goalies stone us. Well, last night we pulled off a classic. Thomas Enroth subbed for a sick Ryan Miller, chalked up 32 saves and 'earned' his first win since November 26, 2011. In that span he was 0-10-3. The reincarnation of Dominick Hasek. These guys do it against us all the time. To add insult to injury 'my boy' Marcus Foligno, scored two goals and acted like a third liner that we could surely use. And you all laughed at me when I suggested a trade for him that included our anointed coach. Oh well!
The one ray of sunshine last night was the play of our two most reliable players. Callahan and Stepan, killing off a penalty, accounted for the game's first goal on a beautiful play and pass by Cally to Stepan for his 7th of the year. The Rangers killed off five penalties, but I don't think I saw that combo on the ice killing penalties too often. It was our best offense all game.
After the game the usual platitudes flowed. "I (we) have to play better." And a remarkable comment by Lundqvist. "I think we were the better team." Really? Maybe that's the problem. This team can't see its flaws. Granted the insane line combinations are trying. Marian Gaborik on the same line with Brian Boyle? Gaborik cannot play for this coach. Also, don't underestimate the loss of Marc Staal. It's a huge loss. Add that to the large amount of ice time to McDonagh and Girardi and this team is closer to a collapse than it is to a revival.
But for a change, the coach was right. We suck!!!
Directly from the horses's orifice:
I've been saying that for some time now, it scares me how our players view the effort of the team. Henrik saying we were the better team is truly no surprise, he's said it after other poor efforts, much to my surprise. Another culprit is Cally, who often after 20-40 min efforts will say, i thought we we outplayed them...I cringe. The problem is the coach and his no risk mentality has these guys all brain washed into thinking sitting back half the night is acceptable as long as they "grind it out" in the end. when they don't oh well then we suck of course. he encourages them to play the same every game, no matter the opponent, he wants them to "play it straight", "don't get into a track meet"... these are the phrases that are drilled into their heads everyday. He sucks the emotion right out of our guys, so much so that they cant even recognize when they are skating around like they're asleep. I'm sick of complaining about the same ol stuff... whatever.
Gaby of course is the culprit of the overall effort of the club, he gets shoved to the 3rd line because hey, it must be his fault.
This game had the makings of a let down game, boring buffalo, 29th in the nhl, now 26th with their victory, a goalie who hasn't won in over a year...as history dictates a classic ranger set up for disappointment. But this team is supposed to be a contender, this team has the tools to make a serious run and here we are fighting for 8th place. Sad. Our next game is against Winnipeg, we are currently tied for 8th, oh what an exciting game this sets up...yeah, no i'm kidding, i can't believe this is where we are at. this sucks.
There is no excuse for Torts' actions last night, just like the previous 50 times he did it. He throws a tantrum because he can't explain why HIS team played bad. YOUR team John. Everyone's fault except for the coach, right? It's all on the players, right?
Here's an idea: YOUR team wasn't ready to play Buffalo. They weren't prepared and they weren't motivated. In fact, they hardly ever seem motivated or inspired. Who's fault is that? Maybe the team is sick of hearing you throw them under the bus time and time again? Maybe they'd like a new system. Maybe they've given up on YOU, Johnny boy.
If i were Sam Rosen, i'd give Mr. Tortorella 2 options after he attempted to humiliate him (and, sorry, but that was his intention. He knows Sam has to ask the most basic questions, it's his fucking job).
Option A: A microphone swipe to the face.
Option B: File a claim against him within the rangers
organization. Yes, Sam could do that and he could win. It's happened before.
Of course he won't, because he'd lose his job and be blacklisted for life. At this point, what's worse? Being Avery'd out of town or sticking with this asshole? I'm leaning towards the Avery path after all these pathetic tantrums. Truly embarrassed to be a ranger fan when Fonzi pulls this bull shit. So old, so immature and so ineffective. Him saying 'We Suck' will NOT inspire anyone on the rangers to play better tomorrow.
Pundit,
We didn't laugh at you for Marcus Foligno. We laughed at the clown named Patrick Kaleta that you mentioned.
The guy is an absolute clown that hurts people for a living, and you wanted him for Brad Richards? Little ironic that your boy Kaleta is the POS that almost ended Richie's career. Common man...Don't try and put that back in our face, that's borderline ridiculous
Pundit, I promise I didn't laugh at you. I just didn't want to trade Brad. Also, I must agree with Andy, I don't want a guy who hurts people like Kaleta on my team. Besides I keep saying I don't want to trade anyone before we get rid of this coach.
I must admit, I didn't have the stomach for the coaches inevitable childish temper tantrum so I turned off the post game in favor of watching back Saturday Night Live which was enjoyable by the way. From what I hear, it was a great decision on my part considering I often get so furious with his immature, stupid behavior that I have a hard time sleeping at night and I have let that loser rob me of way too many hours of being angry for one lifetime. After a few laughs with SNL, I slept quite well! Even so, just reading his ridiculous comments off of my twitter timeline is enough to raise my heart rate. I'm right there with Andy and my sis Jeanine, I can't stand how he blames everyone but himself. He's always covering his own inadequacies by pointing the finger somewhere else. Supposedly he wants to hold the players accountable for their poor play but never himself for his poor coaching. His tendency to play favorites, his lack of motivational skills, his habit of jumping ship and pulling lines apart after one or two bad periods because he has no idea what else he can possibly do, his bad comments in the media like calling JT Miller a "dummy" on 3 separate occasions in a failed attempt to say he's a rookie who makes mistakes... not to mention the 3 players he referred to as "stupid" because he needed someone to blame for all of the too many men on the ice penalties he took earlier in the season. He loves to talk about players becoming mature men, two qualities he does not have. Class? Not a shred. You can easily see where the term it takes one to know one comes from since everything he accuses everyone else of from accountability to stupidity is exactly what he is. I can't even believe this jacka** has the honor of being the head coach of the Rangers. This organization has stooped pretty low to have this guy represent who we are. I'm so sick of him its unbelievable. I'm sick of games like last night. Honestly we should have been all over them. Buffalo is a team in disarray that could easily be seen last night. They are a wounded animal. Easy prey. But the Rangers don't go in for the kill. They circle around the prey and let it wiggle away while they are temporarily distracted by that loud sound in the distance- the coaches bark - then by the time they turn around they just say hey where did my dinner go? Oh well. We'll hunt another time. How much hunting do they pass up before they starve?
I like Foligno.
I also think that Patrick Kaleta is a marked man. He has some of that Sean Avery pest vibe, where if you are a Sabres fan you love him, and if you're on another team, you'll call him a POS. Avery stirred up the same feelings.
Anyway, for example the Sabres, "Die by the Blade" blog did a breakdown of the Patrick Kaleta boarding of Brad Richards, versus a similar boarding of Tyler Ennis by Dan Girardi.
Compare and Contrast: Kaleta's Hit On Richards vs. Girardi's Hit On Ennis:
Yes, there are differences in the two hits - Kaleta uses his stick while Girardi uses his shoulder, Richards was further from the boards than Ennis, Richards went in head first while Ennis went in face first. Kaleta will undoubtedly face a suspension of some kind, and should, but what about Girardi? Should prior history play in to penalty calls? Should player injury (or, um, perception of injury) be considered?
The comments/discussion section is interestng, with this one catching my eye.
The NHL enforces suspensions not just on the severity of the infraction but on marketing considerations. I have absolutely no doubt that Kaleta will get a heavy suspension while Girardi gets nothing because of marketing even though Girardi’s infraction was far more flagrant and dangerous.
This rings true based on what I observed with how the league treated Avery.
Avery got a bad wrap because of off ice things. Kaleta has a bad wrap because of head butting people on the ice 3 times and boarding a couple. Sure Girardi should be held accountable. When everyone went nuts on the pacioretty hit on McD i pointed out that McD boarded him hard first and there was no call, leading to the retribution.
I disagree respectfully that Kaleta & Avery can be compared as the same type of player. Yes, they agitate, but Sean never took runs at people or head butted anyone or smashed them from behind. Not one on ice suspension for the Grate One
JB I also have to respectfully disagree. I actually hate the comparison and I don't enjoy watching guys take runs at other guys that could possibly end their careers. If Kaleta was on my team, I still wouldn't like him, whereas Avery is one of my all time favorite Rangers. Avery hurt people with his words. Guys were consumed by Sean the entire game and in some cases an entire playoff series. Sean was clearly out of control some nights which I don't really like to see but the bottom line is, guys who were hurt by Avery skated off with bruised egos, hurt feelings and anger which is much better than concussions, sore necks and body shock, as in Brad's case. As for Girardi, I thought the hit was borderline and I was worried he could get suspended. Matter of fact the tweet that Al read on NYR Extra (post game) from "Jennifer" that they answered regarding a possible suspension for Girardi was mine! Not that they are always right, obviously, but Dave and Joe both felt they were two different hits as pointed out above and it was not in the same league as Kaleta. Was Girardi not being suspended "marketing?" - I don't know, even though I agree that it happens all the time in the NHL. To my knowledge, Buffalo didn't ask the league to review it so that means they don't think its suspension worthy either. I'm glad Dan wasn't suspended. Its not his personality to try and hurt someone. He doesn't deserve that if you ask me.
I hope I'm not posting too late for you guys to see this but here it goes: From the Rangers twitter today:
Torts asked about Buffalo game again today: "I thought we had 'em, and that's what frustrates me the most."
So in other words that's why he had another rant and psychotic meltdown. No coach you were right the first time - we sucked and you know it. When exactly did we "have 'em?" Was it that 1 minute 18 seconds we had the lead? Who knows what he's talking about. So therefore he is either lying to cover his butt in order to have an excuse for his inexcusable childish behavior OR he really is just that unable to assess a hockey game. It's probably a combination of both.
Haha that's pretty awesome Jen. The guy gets a talking to and makes up some crap, like you said, to cover it up. Pathetic.
Another horrid game tonight. 'Tor-to-rella" "Tor-to-rella". Those are some smart fans up in Winnipeg. They know he's a joke and taunted him beautifully.
His reaction to the question about the chant of his name: "The what?" Ranger Rep: "Next question. Anyone have a question about the game?"
And that was the end of the presser. Classic. Eat it torts..
BTW, Jen, that's so cool that your tweet was answered on air! Like i told you a while ago, you could write or do op ed for sure!
HaHa Thank you Andy. That's nice. I do like to write.
I've been checking here all day but no new post. Hope everything is ok with Pundit. Its the same story anyway. I tweeted that I can sum up the game real quick: The Jets played like a team who wanted to win and not only win, win in regulation. The Rangers played like they were thinking hey, we're not worried, we got plenty of time. Actually the truth is the players are done with coach disagreeable. No amount of ranting, raving or even his recent stretch of trying to pat guys on the back can save him now. The only thing he has left on his side is waiting for the GM to face it and that's bad for the Rangers and us fans. But mark my words, his day is coming. Let's just hope it comes before Sather rips apart everything he's built to this point starting with Gaborik. The rumors are flying but the writers are finally starting to write that Torts could be the problem. Seems like they are catching up. Its about time. I think its quite possible Gaby stays and he goes. Mike Keenan was drooling at the idea of having a guy like Gaby to coach a couple of weeks ago. Who couldn't coach him? Its unbelievable.
The chant last night in Winnipeg was epic! I was saying oh I wish I was there. Those fans would be laughing their asses off because I would be standing up with my Rangers jersey on chanting with them and encouraging them to scream louder! If those chants catch on at MSG, I'm going to run to the game!!!! I'll be the loudest one! And yes I love how he pretends he doesn't hear those things. The guy is a professional liar. And he's really good at it too.