It is hard to imagine where the Rangers would be this year without Lundqvist. Heck, its hard to imagine where they would be any year since he came up. Yes, the media and blogs are all agog over Dan Girardi scoring the game winner in OT. OK. Dan played a nice game. He played 29:13 and in that time managed all of two shots, one the game winner, and one hit. One hit! The rest of the team were equally inept.
The Rangers were out shot in every period, except the OT, where they had a 2-1 edge. Their power play is in playoff form going 0-4. They got all of 20 shots on goal and the Isles got 29. The Isles outplayed the Rangers, but unfortunately for the Islanders the Rangers have the great equalizer... Henrik Lundqvist.
In all fairness Lundqvist had some help. The goalposts and the crossbar. I counted at least three and there maybe have been more. But don't tell me about crossbars. I still hear that one back in 1950. And crossbars and goalposts and nets off their pins and sometimes even refs have always helped goalies. Just ask Sawchuk and Roy and Plante and Hasek and all the other great goalies who have had a speck of luck and pluck and imagination to save them.
But this was a great game before a packed and frenzied house including number one son and granddaughter Kaila. Somehow we always have at least one family member at these big games. Last time at the Island we had three. I flipped between the Ranger channel and the Islander channel and couldn't figure who had the most fans. I stuck with the Islander channel for the third period as I found Jiggs and Butch less grating and annoying than Sam and Joe. Oh how I miss Jim Gordon and Bill Chadwick.
But I digress. The win put the Rangers in a very strong position to make the playoffs. They are two up on ninth place Winnipeg with a game in hand and seven to play. The Rangers are one behind the Isles with a game in hand and are only two back of Ottawa for 6th and even in games. Sixth would be a great spot as they would get the Caps instead of the Pens or Canadiens/Bruins. However, the Caps are one of the real hot teams in the NHL right now and Alex Ovechkin is on fire. So be careful what you wish for.
So now it's the stretch run and it's one game at a time. As we say at The Rinx, let the kids play. Don't overcoach and we will be fine. And for heavens sake please take care of Henrik Lundqvist. God bless him and finally, "Hail To The King."
Sunday, April 14, 2013
Hail To The King!
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Girardi was in a win-win situation when he went to the net in OT and got the game winner. If they score he's a hero, if the Isles go back down with an odd man rush and score, what is Torts going to do cut his minutes back from 29 to 19? Giardi must have had in the back of his mind that both of those options were pretty good outcomes.
LOL JB! Great comment.
Yeah the Rangers have reverted back to Henrik doing all the work and winning one goal games. The game plan sucks. I hate to lose to the Islanders- EVER- so I was so nervous the entire game. Watching the Islanders control the puck the entire game was torture. That's the plan. Defend while the opponent controls the game, block shots and wait for them to stop coming at you for your chance to take a "risk" on offense. The only problem was the Islanders didn't stop coming at us for one second. I hate to say it because I hoped the Islanders would suck forever, but they look like an up and coming dangerous team to me. They are tenacious, aggressive, and a pretty fast pack of hungry wolves. They don't go away. Henrik completely stole that game from them and I don't like it one bit. I don't only want to win games by the skin of our teeth, I want to OWN games. Especially against teams like the Islanders, Flyers, Devils. Then coach disagreeable chimes in after the game with his stupid "I don't buy that this is a rivalry" comment. Just when you think the guy can't get any dumber he surprises you with another ignorant quote. Yeah nothing motivates a team going into the biggest game of the season in a RIVAL building, like "hey guys play it straight the rivalry isn't real anyway." Even if the rivalry isn't as intense as it used to be because the Islanders sucked for so long, its still a rivalry. He says that you need to play a few 7 game playoff series to build a rivalry which makes me think I just figured out his strategy behind all of his dumb decisions that led to seven game series against weaker teams in the playoffs last year- He's just trying to build rivalries. Jacka**. I wonder what the Rangers marketing department thinks of this stroke of genius: hey fans, don't bother to come to any more Ranger Islander games because they're not really our rivals. Do the Leafs and Canadians know about this new rule? When was the last time they met up in the playoffs? Or how about the Flames and the Oilers? Nope. How could they possibly be rivals if the current group hasn't played each other in the playoffs? He's so dumb I just can't take it anymore. Hey Torts, you ignorant fool, its called history. Look it up.