255 thoughts on “It’s Go Time”

  24. “I think all right-thinking people in this country are sick and tired of being told that ordinary, decent people are fed up in this country with being sick and tired.”

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  26. Perfect game for Rangers to be wearing their alternate pajamas against a team that also wears them. Hate it when they do it against Original Sixers.

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  58. Last-minute goals happen. Reminds me of Phil Rizzuto, EVERY TIME a batter came up next who’d made a good play for the last out in the previous inning: “How many times do see it, Frank? Guy makes a great play and there he is, leading off the next inning. Holy Cow, etc.” Math nerds everywhere bark at the screen, “Once every nine times, Phil.”

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  93. Well I guess I was wrong 6-1 Rangers what was I thinking this is the Avalanche the’re playing! They better come our in the 3rd and put this team away!

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  141. I’m afraid, this season Rangers will run Papa John out of business….Papa miscalculate, based on a previous statistics, his business model for this season with that promotion…Pizza is unhealthy anyway after all.

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  211. Good morning, boneheads!
    Nice win last night. Almost let this one get away, but at the end, they did just enough to beat a lousy team. Sign of a string team. And congrats to Hank! That’s a pretty impressive list he’s leading now.

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  213. I still see multiple posts discussing possible trades including Stepan, Zucc and Co. And all these possible implications of the upcoming expansion draft. I doubt Gorton will worry about who they might lose, be it Grabner or Holden, or anyone else they may acquire. He is going to make sure they have the best roster available to make a run this year, and worry about all this stuff later.

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  216. ILB

    most of trade talk regarding expansion is for after the season at least anything i write

    there is no excuse for leaving grabner unprotected so other options have to be explored

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  218. Wick – Ever hear of Richard Hugo? Old mentor of mine. (started the creative writing program at U of Montana) Quite a guy. 35 combat missions WWII, poet extraordinaire.

    Degrees of Gray in Philipsburg

    By Richard Hugo

    ‘You might come here Sunday on a whim.
    Say your life broke down. The last good kiss
    you had was years ago. You walk these streets
    laid out by the insane, past hotels
    that didn’t last, bars that did, the tortured try
    of local drivers to accelerate their lives.
    Only churches are kept up. The jail
    turned 70 this year. The only prisoner
    is always in, not knowing what he’s done…’

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  219. Alex, there is a lot of hockey to be played, and a ton of different scenarios may come up ( including unwanted injuries, trades) to worry about expansion draft. They need to make sure they have the best possible roster to make a playoff run this year. They, and every other team in this league, will lose somebody they want to keep. We should have full confidence in Gorton’s ability to deal with all this stuff later. He made all the right moves last offseason, no reason to believe he won’t do it again. And it may not necessarily be the moves we think he should make, we are just amateur fans at the end.

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  222. It’s fun to play GM. Especially when you don’t have to live with the decisions. We do tend to lose sight of the fact that the goal is to win the Cup and you have to take chances to give your team a shot. Those trades in 94 may have been lousy but no one complained because they won.

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  223. It’s fun to think back to the dark days, after the Rangers virtually clinched their playoff spot early, playing that breathless speed game. Then, when they went into their injury-related, .500 period, it was over. They would never win the Cup, were the softest team in the league, a one-trick pony, didn’t have each others’ backs, needed to trade for a bruiser pronto… Now it appears to be creeping into the conversation that the Rangers might actually be what their record says they are, that is, a Stanley Cup contender.
    To be sure, all those criticisms may prove valid in the end, but the team appears to be in good position to manage a stretch drive–try to keep the old guys healthy, feed games to Lundqvist as needed to keep him sharp… It may be that a trade or two could help, or it may be that this line-up is as balanced as you can find and you risk wrecking that balance by bringing in a perfectly good player (see Eric Staal). Even if it all falls apart, though, I have enjoyed the hell out this year’s season.

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  226. My concern now is that they will overtake th BJs and get the Pens again in the first round. Need to start resting vets like the Spurs do for meaningless regular season games to hold down fourth in the Metro.

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  227. OK, so the Rangers don’t want the Pens. Do you really think the Pens want the Rangers? It would be better for fans if that match-up occurred later rather than sooner, but if you want the Cup you need to beat the Pens.

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  228. Techinically, the Rangers don’t need to beat the Pens. They just need the Pens to be beat. Can Washington do that this year? I don’t think Columbus can. I think the Rangers can beat any team in a 7 games series but the Penguins will expose their lack of D more than any other team in the East and that’s the biggest problem. That and the fact that they have yet to solve Matt Murray.

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  229. Great point, Ilb. I attempted to explain that fact a little while back but didn’t do it nearly as well. Gorton isn’t going to go “well I have to trade Grabner by the deadline so I don’t lose him to the expansion or as a UFA after next year” nor is is going to avoid pulling the trigger on a deal for a Dman because he’s afraid of losing him in the expansion draft. One thing at a time.

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  233. Exactly, ORF. I heard La Greca on NHL radio Friday and he was talking about the seeding sucks and that they’re better off in 4th place an drawing a team like Montreal. For argument sake if it takes until the ECF to draw Pitts or Wash maybe they’re a little beat up or worn by then.

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  234. Or maybe the best round is the first, when the Rangers are at their healthiest. Or not, if they’re waiting for someone to return. The only thing the Rangers should be thinking about is arriving at the first round at or approaching their peak. Trying to pick your opponent is something you consider if you’re tied with someone in the last week and you know the injury picture for all eight teams.

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  236. True Norm. My guess is Columbus falls apart in March thanks to questionable goaltending, the Rangers take over 3rd place and Eric needs to see a GI for his bleeding ulcer…

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  238. So basically we aren’t supposed to say this team is a one trick pony or not good enough BUT the only way they’ll make it past the first round in the post season is if they take the wild card spot draw Ottawa and Boston in the first two rounds and Columbus or Toronto in the ECF? lol SMH

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  244. Fish Tanks fans beginning to jump back on the bandwagon. They’re baaaack.

    It’s not going to be fun taking on a desperate Fishsticks team later this week.

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  252. Sorry but I really believe the NYR are better than montreal. Carey Price or not.

    Also have believe the odds for Minnesota and Chicago are somewhat exaggerated.

    Maybe I’m just a homer.

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  255. After first 20 games, NYR were 14/6 WAS 13/7 PIT 12/8 CBJ 11/9 MTL 14/6 OTW 12/8 MIN 11/9 CHI 13/7 ANH 9/11 SJS 11/9. Who knows what the last 20 games will look like for those teams? If MTL and OTW close out 15/5 is that still the easy route? Like your stocks, past performance is no guaranty of future performance.

    Every team in the playoff picture in the East Conf. is capable of winning a series from any of the others and they all face the same daunting challenge of there being no let up in the compete level required for each additional round. Your best hope is that you catch a team that has just had a few injuries or for whatever reason, has lost their mojo. Kinda of hard to plan for that.

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