We Are Now Bottom Feeders

The New York Rangers have now sunk to the bottom of the NHL's food chain, and have become the lowest of the low: bottom feeders.

METROPOLITAN	GP	W	L	OTL	PTS	GF	GA	DIFF	L10	STRK
New Jersey	10	8	2	0	16	40	31	+9	8-2-0	Won 2
Pittsburgh	12	7	4	1	15	35	43	-8	7-3-0	Lost 1
Columbus	11	7	4	0	14	33	27	+6	6-4-0	Lost 1
NY Islanders	11	6	4	1	13	39	35	+4	6-3-1	Won 1
Philadelphia	11	6	5	0	12	38	31	+7	5-5-0	Won 1
Carolina	9	4	4	1	11	25	26	-1	4-4-1	Lost 1
Washington	10	4	5	1	9	30	37	-7	4-5-1	Lost 2
NY Rangers	12	3	7	2	8	34	43	-9	3-5-2	Lost 1

Following Saturday's 4-5 loss to the other Eastern Conference cellar dwellers, the Montreal Canadiens, Rangerland must face the sad reality that the Blueshirts have now officially crossed the event horizon into bottom feeder status. Once a team gets sucked into the black hole of bottom feeder status this deep into a season, powerful gravitation forces will work to keep them there. The forces of nature and sports psychology will now crush not just the hopes of the fans, but the confidence of the team. Things could get very ugly.

Alain Vigneault said: "We’re 3-7-2, that’s alarming to me right now." It's good that Vigneault is alarmed, but what buttons can he really push now to kick in some warp drives to lift the team out of the abyss. Keeping Lundqvist on the bench in Montreal certainly was the most significant button V. could have pressed. But, it didn't work. The defense with or without Lundqvist looks horrible.

No matter how much you've won, no matter how many games, no matter how many championships, no matter how many Super Bowls, you're not winning now, so you stink. – Bill Parcells

Going 1-1, with the other basement dwellers, the Habs and Yotes, this week, without Henrik Lundqvist in net, might mark the end of an era. It's painfully hard to imagine that the Age of King Henrik is ending. Just like it's hard to imagine this team making any sort of run at the playoffs, much less the Cup.

Reality bites, but that's the cycle of life and of our sports heroes.

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