344 thoughts on “IT’S GO TIME! Rangers vs. Devils”

  34. some thoughts at the end times..is it bad coaching to still be juggling line combos, haven’t figured out the penalty kill or play? Is nash stepon zib good at all? Has THE disappeared again ? How many people here think they will get out of the 1st rd? I love the rangers but does anything breed confidence going into the playoffs..For the 1st time in years I’m leaning towards indifference

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  45. Carp, I’ll take your word for it…I really meant that it terms of he drove me crazy as a player, so maybe a backhand compliment? Didn’t mean in the same way I hate Crosby, Hartnell, Cardillo etc.

    Alex….not getting that on Center Ice….

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  66. Last spring lol… who did need a shower?

    You mean game 7 against Tampa? Nobody but Hank showed up.

    16 points in 19 postseason games including 9 goals that year.

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  102. It’s the devils no effort necessary. On paper they should beat this team easily. Maybe they will tune it up for the last 20. But probably not. I’m guessing Kreider is satisfied with 26 goals.

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  109. see the trend here folks? even clean hard hits are starting fights…they will soon diminish and make this sport unwatchable…think france by air/ice capades with sticks..and totally uninteresting

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  125. Nash should only try to score against good teams. Nash can’t even score against the bad teams. Nash only scores when the game is already decided. Nash can’t even score in garbage time. Nash only gets empty-netters. Nash can’t even score on an empty net…

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  152. Ranger announcers repeatedly emphasize how undersized Auntie is, but he is listed as basically the same size as Hank, even heavier. Somebody’s lying. Why, I have no idea, but this goes on everywhere in sports, starting in high school.

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  198. Rangers could win two series in the weak Atlantic. They only need a lot of luck to beat the survivor in the Metro. But they surely won’t beat the Black Hawks for the Cup.

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  206. Nope, that’s not a problem Old Ranger Fan…. it’s being objective and seeing the team for what it really is rather than blindly following them like some others do….

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  211. You can’t be totally objective, or given the odds, you’ll rule out every season. Even the President’s Trophy teams only win occasionally. You gotta have some faith in your team, or at least believe in a little luck at the right time.

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  215. Olga…. I’m all for having faith. Really….. I am. But it really is hard to get excited about this year’s group. After the first quarter of the season, the league figured them out. They’re a one trick pony that lacks grit. All you have to do is clog the neutral zone and/or play an aggressive forecheck against them and congrats, you just beat the NYR. Their best shot to win was 13′-14″ and 14′-15′ (but they were too banged up by the 3rd round). Look at the Penguins…. yes they have Crosby/Malkin…. but it’s their overall team game. They NEVER take their foot off the gas! They’re relentless! Can you say the same about our Rangers? I can’t…. and that, is why I don’t have faith. I wish I did. They’re a frustrating group. And I’m sorry but I think their energy/effort levels are direct reflection of their coach. I’m not saying I want torts…. and I have NO idea who would be a better option than AV at this point…. But, I just feel like with him at the helm, they lack the necessary fire in their belly to win the whole thing. This is his team, and while they exceeded expectations this year (most picked them to miss the playoffs before the season), they’re built way too soft. They don’t need to goon it up, but they need playable toughness.

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  217. Well Craig, then your season is over. But mine isn’t.
    Don’t worry about the Penguins until they meet the Rangers in the playoffs. Who knows, someone might beat them for us.

    Liked by 1 person

  220. Great job by Weather laying out the standard-issue Bonehead narrative. The soft, one-trick pony with the blah coach. Got into this prime position with mirrors, no doubt.

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  221. Olga, do you not agree with any of the points I made? Are we watching the same games? I completely understand that no team is perfect and there’s more parody in the league then ever before. But, this team is just too soft. Soft teams don’t win in the playoffs. Remember last year? It wasn’t even remotely close. They folded up like a lawn chair. I very much enjoyed their runs in 11-12, 13-14 and 14-15. Those teams gave me great hope. This year’s team just doesn’t get me all jazzed up. I’d love more than anything for them to prove me wrong….. but it’s nights like tonight that reaffirm my general “meh” feeling about this group.

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  222. Norm…. please point out to me a 60 minute effort this season. Point out to me the last time they dominated an opponent from start to finish…. You can’t, because they haven’t. It just feels like this season is a house of cards.

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  223. CraigWeather, this year’s Rangers are not a dominant team. There are none of those this season, fortunately, which is why I like their chances.

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  228. Sorry Craig, I got tied up watching the Hawks in OT. To answer your question, I think the Ranger team is flawed in several respects. But in the playoffs stranger things have happened. Eighth placed teams have won the Cup (LA) Favorites have been knock out in early rounds. Some teams jelled at the right time. Do the Rangers have a chance? A good chance? Any chance? The answer is yes, no ,yes. And that, in a nutshell is why we watch the games. I’m not jazzed up either but I’m waiting for the playoffs.

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  231. BTW the Black Hawks lost. The fell behind 4-1. In the third they scored 3 goals to tie and go to OT. I didn’t start carping about them falling behind by 3. I just watched the game and hoped they would pull it out somehow. They did and they didn’t. Lost in OT. Got a point though. Take what you can get and “s’port the team”.

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  232. Heyyy yoooo! Big fan here! Huge! I love theee guys! But why they lose to these clowns tonight? They kicked out butts each fight! If I was out there I’d of beat up the whole team. These guys are too soft.

    The worst part is that we lost with our good goalie. No heart! They stink. We’re done. Bums.

    I lost big cash. I had 2 stacks on rangers winning by 2. Next autograph sessions they have, I’m gonna get the whole teams signatures and wipe my butt with it in their faces boy!!!!!!!

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  235. Carp, totally agree with your 846, 9;40 posts. Since these games don’t mean much right now, since their PO position is pretty much secured, I would go a step further and let Stephan watch from the press box. He is awful on PP, Rarely shoots and when he does he misses net. Also he is way too slow to get to the 50/50 pucks, which ultimately costs them valuable possession time on PP.

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  236. I’ve decided to protest their lackluster play by not growing a playoff beard this year. Every year I grow one despite the fact that I don’t like the way it looks or the way it feels, especially in the warmer weather. If this team can’t put forth an effort for me, I can’t put forth one for them. I’ll still root for them, but I’m not going out of my way to help them.

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  237. Crazy schedule when you have to play back to back game 7’s.

    22, 42 & 26 are not Prust, Bickel & Rupper, but the team responded pretty well in the 3rd. The Rangers were not intimidated. If anything, the Devils woke them up.

    I like Carp’s idea:

    “IMO. Time to get 21 and/or 36 off the first PP, and separated at even strength. Time to get 40 back with 13 and 10, and 19 on fourth line.”

    Wonder if AV decides to dress Glass?

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  238. Chris Kreider is a shell of his former self whatever his former self was. Skates into the offensive zone alone the boards and loses the puck, or throws it behind the net to opposing player brilliant!

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  239. should be interesting game tonight:

    Facing the FishTanks second game of back to back after tough, physical game which ended in a loss in OT. Meanwhile, FishTanks are well-rested and are desperate for points.

    However, let’s see if the Rangers excellent record in second game of back-to-backs as well as after a loss comes into play…

    Oh yeah –the Rangers will be playing “in the Garden”, so there’s that.

    Liked by 1 person

  240. I don’t know how Carp does this night after night without blowing his brains out all over his typewriter.

    Scholastic just called for permission to reprint last night’s comments in their entirety in chapter 1 of the latest version of its WCC Psych 101 textbook

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  242. Glass tonight?
    I would keep Stepan and Zucc together. It’s there LW I would change. Kreider needs line mates with speed who move the puck. Zibanijad should be Kreider center. Get him away from Carmello Zuccarello.

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  243. If the Rangers win tonight we can count on “Fire and Brimstone coming do with from the skies! Rivers and seas boiling, forty years of darkness! Earthquakes, Volcanos, Dead Rising from the graves! Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together mass hysteria…….!

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  245. Yogi Berra’s wife had arranged to have the venetian blinds removed to be cleaned. Son Dale hollers into den where Yogi is watching Saturday football, “Pop, some men are at the door for the venetian blinds.” Yogi: “Go to my wallet on my dresser and trow them a few bucks.”

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  248. “When you have a guy who holds the ball (puck), nobody’s moving the ball (puck), everything is out of whack. ”
    That is Shaq on Carmello Anthony. I think it applies to Zucc as well.

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  254. I was watching the game last night while on the phone when Fight Night at The Rock took place. Did Sam and Joe ever question or mention why Vesey and Lappin didn’t get game misconducts for their secondary fight?

    Rule 56(f) says “(f) A game misconduct penalty shall be imposed on any player who is assessed a major penalty for fighting after the original altercation.

    Notwithstanding this Rule, at the discretion of the Referee, the automatic game misconduct penalty may be waived for a player in the altercation if the opposing player was clearly the instigator of the altercation.”

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  256. From the Lightbulb Finally Going Off Department: “That’s why I’m here,” Nash said. “To score.”

    I nominate Olga to lead RR2 in cheer at the start of each go time. Craig can lead in jeer at the start of the post-game. Its the Yin-Yang of NYR fandom.

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  269. Anthony,
    The fights took place simultaneously. No secondary fight.
    Carp,
    I think the Rangers can beat any team in the East. None of them scare me. Only Washington Pittsburg, and to a lesser extent, Montreal would be pick em series in my book.

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  273. I don’t think the Rangers would have much of a chance at all if they had to play Washington-Pittsburgh back-to-back series. I think they’d beat Columbus (unless Bob was sensational), and Montreal (ditto Price). And be favored in any other series in the Atlantic.

    But I’m not putting them automatically in the ECF, either, because of their inconsistency (and not because they’re too soft, the coach is an idiot, etc.).

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  276. We sure get knocked around pretty good in front of certain teams’ nets and dish out precious little of the same at our end. Maybe all this is insignificant in the larger picture. Who knows?

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  283. Sean Avery:
    580 games 90 goals 157 assists 247 points +16 1533 PIM
    28 playoff games, 5 goals 10 assists
    Career CF% 52.7

    Hardly the worst stats to have on a third or even fourth line.

    Liked by 2 people

  289. Craig FairWeather lol. Touche… Well played.

    For the record, I’m not a “fair weather” fan. I’m just a passionate fan who unfortunately can’t put the blinders on and indiscriminately wave my pom poms. I’ll do my best NOT to post in a negative fashion when they’re getting outplayed. I want these guys to win just as bad as you do…. and I want them to win as if they deserve it on “most” nights. I’d be foolish to think every game they win should be a dominant performance. I just think the majority of the games they’ve won after the first quarter of the season have been squeaked out and they were outplayed/outshot. I’m just calling it like I see it. But…. to recap, I want them to win just as bad as everyone else…. so, there’s that 🙂

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  294. The one thing Avery could do (well, one of the things he could do) was skate. The one thing he couldn’t do (well, one of the things he couldn’t do) was play within a system. And the second time around, if not the first, get along with others.

    And of course the positive was that he was a complete rat to the opposition. Like Glass should be, or Prust should have been, among others.

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  296. Craig – I’ll never question what you know or don’t know about hockey. What I’m saying is the justification that you usually give for your negative posts can be found almost word for word on every sports team’s blog, from one self-proclaimed realist. I can only speak for myself when I say that after a long day of work, I look forward to watching a game and to some dugout talk with the guys, but instead the blizzard of posts I see are like the 11th plague on Pharoah.

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  301. Part of the Glass irony is that AV likes Glass specifically because he will act robotic, not be a pest, not lose his cool and do exactly as he is told. Carp is right in saying he’d be more valuable as a sly rat.

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  304. “Avery was severely disliked by his teammates, especially second time around.”

    ——-

    Do you remember the players Rangers had second time Avery came around? Freaking Redden, E. Christensen, Higgins! Jody Shelley, BRASHEAR!! Jokinen! Kotalik! LISIN!!! My fuggin’ god!

    No wonder he couldn’t get along with those “wonderful” hockey players…

    Liked by 1 person

  305. I quite honestly don’t remember Avery ever flat out losing a fight, especially within his weight class. He never took too many clean shots either within his class. Very evasive. Yeah, he did the smart “turtle” plenty of times against heavyweights, but was pretty damn good in his weight class.

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  307. So we are still on the non realistic “this team has no faults” or “worst team in the league” posts…ah, the consistency and non reality of this place. Love it!!

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  308. 3C, my basement brother – what I meant (mostly) was that Avery’s over the top on-ice mouth and actions made a lot of the guys wary of the opposition losing their cool and taking out their injurious and nasty frustrations on THEM instead of upon Avery himself. Maybe not the noblest reason to dislike the guy, but understandable in the interest of self-preservation. And what Carp said about Hank and Topo makes sense. Never quite thought of it that way before.

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  309. Wicky, there’s people that think the team has no faults and there are those that think the team has an abundant number of faults. I think the truth is somewhere in the middle.

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  312. FWIW, I think this team, when talking wins and losses, has been one of the most consistent teams (if not THE most consistent team) in the league this year. No long win streaks or losing streaks (iirc). They also rarely have the best forward, d man, or goalie in the game, which is both good and bad.

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  316. This team is not greasy, which is passable in the regular season (I can only think of one game where they were clearly out played physicality aka “run out of the building”), but is going to hurt them in a long post season series or two because they are not the initiators.
    –
    Yes, the rangers can win any series against another team in the playoffs, but so can the other teams.
    –
    I think the rangers match up best against the pens and leaves, less so against the caps and sens. But yes, any team can beat any other team in the playoffs.

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  319. The thing that concerns me is there is a trend with AV coached teams. Those teams went to the cup once in his tenure, lost in 7 and 5 respectively but was in the top 3 of the conference in points year after year but would get knocked out of the 1st round of playoffs year after year. AV signed a extension so we will see how it plays out.

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  320. All that being said, i still don’t like av’s line up decisions most of the time or his victim style of play of the team. I’d be fine with him gone.

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  323. Tommy
    You are correct sir, I’m not a believer in the “making the playoffs” is considered a successful season theory. AV hasn’t won a cup until he has and I don’t think he’s got the prowess to win one. His past playoff record seems to back that up (to this point). I think his time is done here with an early ranger exit (which I hope does NOT happen, id love a Stanley cup this season…like every other one).

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  330. Foghorn!!!

    Carp- have the freak outs been bad since I posted the go time thread last night? Missed the whole game but saw your earlier post above t making their way through the Atlantic

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  331. All this talk of the Rangers not being greasy yet how greasy were the Pens last year? Granted, we don’t have Sid and Geno, but remember the Pens defense wasn’t exactly filled with Norris Trophy candidates.

    The Caps are plenty “greasy” with Ovie mowing down players and Wilson practically gooning it up and they have Holtby in goal (and some other good players too), but how well did they do?

    Funny how the Rangers seem to be greasy enough to run roughshod over those big, bad Western Conference teams that were supposed to run the Rangers out of the rink.

    For all their warts, the Rangers have the fifth best record in the NHL with:the league’s most inconsistent PP and PK, with their best player (Hank) being inconsistent and banged up, with two of their top centers suffering through goal-scoring droughts (you can toss in LINK and Nash too).

    Are the Rangers a perfect team, or even a perfect playoff team – NO! But then again, sometimes they get treated like a Knicks team with prima donnas who are coasting through yet another misery of a season with little relief in sight.

    Sometimes perspective is a good thing.

    With that said, could we please win Game 7 tonight!

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  334. Anthony
    In my opinion, the pens are a pretty greasy team. Crosby, Malkin, letang, Kunitz are all greasy. Remember Crosby ragdolling mcdonut around the ice? The pens don’t have to give a roster spot to a player like glass to be greasy, their top line guys do it just fine.
    –
    The pens are more than greasy enough. And it’s their letter wearing, top players that lead the way.

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