267 thoughts on “Rangers at Stars… It’s Go Time!”

  35. This team is embarrassing to watch! HOW IN THE WORLD IT’S NOT A BENCH CLEARING BRAWL?!?! YOU’RE BEST PLAYER GET INIHALATED AND YOU DON’T DO ANYTHING?! DAD PUCKING TEAM!

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  72. Embarrassing..the power play, the victim mentality this coach gives the team, the absolute lack of physical response this team has.
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    Word is out to the league that you can physically abuse the rangers and they won’t protect their own.
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    Only cussing out in the locker room by AV is to Holden for stepping up and engaging the opposition physically

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  76. The Rangers have actually been pretty good this season at protecting their own and retaliating. Better than past years. You should see the Panthers. I’m surprised they don’t join in and beat up their own guys when fights break out.

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  85. The only way to save this game is to spend more time in their zone. It would be a real shame if all Hank’s sacrifice, which BTW, bought his team such an (unused)advantage, will be in vain because of some fluke and only goal in this game against.

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  130. In such an innocent situation…Strange. Doing everything possible to create a difficulties to themselves. Like to overcome? Pushing luck…

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  132. Parade of dumbness during the 2nd half of that period. Dopey penalties and allowing far too many shots and chances. Raanta had entire games with 19 shots and we gave that is just in the 2nd period. What happened to the right defensive game?

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  141. Remember all the people making Kreider into a star because of his first few games this season?

    You know who’s a star? Pastrnak. Thats who.

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  142. Suffice to say, there hasn’t been a meaningful insight on a between period interview ever. The best is when Trouserwig asked Clendening if he was nervous about joining a D playing so well and he replied, “Do you mean our team, right?”

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  143. Carp
    It would have accomplished a lot imho since skjel has a full face shield on, eaves would have broken some knuckles…but you are correct, we really made them pay with that power play, we should let them run more of our players without retribution;)

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  191. Henrik is thinking about his postgame suit! It’s rumored he has a different pregame and postgame suit for each game of the year, ya know.

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  234. We’re gonna really regret all of our missed scoring chances last night when the lost two points drops us to fifth in Metro and we don’t get the crossover to play Podunk in round one. No way we’ll beat any Metro goalies four of seven when we’re so terrible.

    Wait, what? We won? without two top six forwards? Never mind. It’s about time. Steal the points and run to Nashville. Bah humbug

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  236. Good morning, boneheads!
    Carp, you’re right. Not two, but three of their best players returned with a bang.
    They’ve been playing some entertaining, physical hockey against WC, which appears to be the leastern conference this year.
    But! Does anyone remember what used to happen if anyone ran their goalie, especially the way Eakin did last night? Or if someone rag-dolls your captain the way Crosby did some time ago?
    Vanilla soft. Both the team and the league in general.
    You’re welcome, Wicky 🙂

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  237. So does the shutout go in the books like a combined nohitter? Regardless, Hank was pretty sharp and Nash came back at 100%. The improvement they have shown in team D and in net makes them a contender if they can sustain it. Even with it they could be fifth in the Metro which is looking very tough at the moment.

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  239. The officials did there job last night on the Eakin play. Now will the league? The one guy who I thought really struggled last night was Stepan. His passing on the PP was brutal. He was fighting the puck all night. Faska got real quiet after Holden body slammed him. Every game I like Holden more and more. I was certainly not a fan of his at the start of the season.

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  242. Well said ilb re the puddin’ soft this team is….but I don’t think the league is softer as a whole (seems like there are more fights this season than last so far). But av certainly has team tapioca playing the victim a lot.

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  243. The rangers can either man up and drop the mitts or can do what the sens did the other night and target the opposition’s top guys…they go after karlsson with cheap shot, we cheap shot couture.
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    Personally I’d want my team to do both, go after the perp immediately (you have to be quick, Bettman wants to protect those guys) and then target their stars the rest of the game.

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  244. Does anyone remember what used to happen if anyone ran their goalie, especially the way Eakin did last night?

    ———

    It still happens, ilb. In Pittsburgh. I bet everything I own if this happened to aby of the Pen()s goalies there be immediate reaction. Everyone on the ice wouldo jump Eakin or whoever. No question. I bet even the lowly Isles would not stand still.

    I usually don’t care much for the physical game as I watch hockey for its skill and speed but last night’s none-response after your best player almost got decapitated really turned me off. I don’t like this team.

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  245. I like a fair amount of toughness on my teams. Nothing over the top, ie Ryan Reaves, or a dedicated enforcer-type. None of the staged fights, or guys that feel the need to scrum it up after his teammate absorbs a good solid hit. I just want good honest guys that stick up for one another. Others have said it better than I, but the fact that the only person to attempt to get at Eakin was Nash, and even he did it kinda half-assed…that was PATHETIC. Someone needed to jump Eakin immediately. That was effing embarrassing. Even worse was when we didn’t make them pay.

    Separate thought – Personally I think goalies should be fair game when they leave the crease. But they aren’t, so Cody Eakin can go to hell. And even if they were, the guy decided to jump at Hank’s head. When do we play them again?

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  246. One has to wonder when something as dirty and unacceptable as the hit, perhaps better described as an attack, on a player (any player, but in this case a goalie) without any response from teammates does to the team within the locker room. Every team in the league will be aware of what happened and, more to the point, what didn’t happen in response. How do they not hang their heads in shame? Who wants any one of these guys in their foxhole when the cheap shots start flying? For me, the two points alone aren’t enough to justify what didn’t happpen at any point last night.

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  247. I think it was CCCP, last night who said, there should have been a bench clearing brawl.
    Dave,
    You can’t make goalies fair game. They would be getting run left and right. The Rangers goalies would be Hellberg, and Skapski.

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  249. BDL – I think making goalies fair game would cut down on the amount that goalies come out of the crease to play the puck. For someone like Hank, it’s addition by subtraction.

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  250. Dave,
    If the result of making goalies fair game would be them not playing the puck (it won’t be), the result of that would be Dmen getting killed. It’s a bad idea.

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  251. If Hasek or Belfour got hit like that? Oh boy…poor Eakin! They wouldnt need anyone to stand up for them! They woulda ripped him a new one themselves!

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  253. Bdl, agreed but I would think that “taking one for the team” has its limits and in this case does more harm than good. At what point does the coach start losing the team when he demands that they ? And to have no response even within the limits of the rules? Wouldn’t a coach want every player finishing their checks? Wouldn’t the players feel compelled to respond with fiercely physical play at least within the minutes following something as out of bounds on a defenseless player?

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  256. NHL Network radio had a number of people opine on the lack of response to the hit on Hank.

    I may have missed something, but this is what it looked like to me. After Eakins ran Lundqvist he went over to the bench area like a chicken sh*t looking for somewhere to hide. Nash started to confront him, but the refs pushed them both away and hurriedly ushered Eakins off the ice to prevent a retaliation.

    I’m not sure what I’m more disappointed in, the fact that nobody retaliated either at the time or later or the fact that they couldn’t score on a 7 minute power play which included about a minute of 5-on-3.

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  258. CCC – there was a moment after the hit where Skjei was in prime position to jump on Eakin (but played the puck instead). Then when Eakin was coming out of the zone, Nash started to track him, but Vesey was right on him and could’ve grabbed him but didn’t.

    I’m not saying it would’ve been smart for Skjei or Vesey to do so – they likely would’ve gotten creamed. But when you see Hank Lundqvist, or any teammate for that matter, take a headshot, your first instinct should be to challenge the perp.

    But yes – when the whistle blew and Nash was closing in, Eakin had no interest in mixing it up, and backed off into the safe motherly arms of the officials.

    How about when Holden dropped the gloves with Johns later on and Johns just skated off? I thought they made them tough down in the Lone Star State.

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  259. I’m not an advocate of fighting, but you don’t run the goalie. You just don’t. To hell with the instigator penalty and game misconduct and whatever penalty you get. Just start throwing punches.

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  260. I guess it is hockey’s history(I’m old enough to remember the brawls), but, why can’t an illegal hit be handled within the rules? If Eli gets hit in the head the Giants (or any NFL team) don’t jump the player who hit him and no one accuses the team of being a bunch of wussies even if a flag isn’t thrown. In the one ref era when games were not televised and analyzed ad nauseam, frontier justice may have made sense. Time have changed. Nothing happens today that isn’t seen. The on ice officials removed Eakins from the game and now it is up to the league to deal with him. I assume there is some overlap between Ranger and Giant fans. Why is it ok for the Giants to play “whistle to whistle” but when the Rangers do it they are a bunch of pansies who need to grow a pair.

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  261. Skjel, opie, Girardi…etc. Sadly a long line of player that don’t have the proper teammate mentality when it counts.
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    I remember a game against the red wings where a wing hit messier low along the boards and graves instantly turned around and skated halfway across the rink to get after him…how quick did mcilrath go after belesky (or hertl sadly)?…look how fast Crosby went after mcdonut, hit a duck cheaply with perry or getzlaf on the ice and see how fast they respond.
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    It’s about the coach and his victim team tapioca mentality and also some of the players lack of ability to be a good teammate or lack of intestinal fortitude.

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  263. I seem to remember when McDonuts played tougher and stood up for himself. To watch him be ragdolled by Liverlips and others tells me the Captain is following orders from the White House, currently occupied by AV.

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  264. Nothing irks me more than when a good hard hit is followed up by scrum. It’s infuriating and takes the flow out of the game. So if it were a position player, maybe the guys who didn’t really see what happened don’t want to risk taking an unnecessary penalty facewashing someone for legally doing their job. But when you see your star goalie on the ground without a helmet after taking a big hit, there’s no room for thought. Jump the dude. If you negate a powerplay, you negate a powerplay.

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