NYR/TBL 10/11 Review: Rangers’ Redemption Season Starts with a Dominating Bang; Team-Wide Effort, Mika’s Flirtation with 100 Points, “Igor’s Better,” No Weak Links, Kravtsov Injury, Special Teams, ESPN & More

During the course of an 82-game season, unlikely heroes will step up and lift their team to victory. Not on this night. On October 11th, at Madison $quare Garden, all nineteen Rangers on the ice (sans the injured Vitali Kravtsov – more on him later) helped the team to victory. There was not one “passenger” to be found – everyone contributed. Better than that? The big money stars, Mika Zibanejad, Jacob Trouba and CZAR IGOR, all were superb in the Rangers’ 3-1 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning. You couldn’t have asked for a better home-opener.

Greetings and salutations everyone and welcome to another blog here on BlueCollarBlueShirts.com. WOW!

One more time for the people in the back – WOW!

I know what many of you may be thinking right now – if only the Rangers had a game like they had on Tuesday night during Games 3-6 of the 2022 Eastern Conference Final. However, you can’t think that way – or so I say.

Simply put: what’s done is done and you can only look ahead.

However, and with that now said; similar to my four-volume set of books that covered the Rangers’ 2021-22 season, “ONE GAME AT A TIME” (you can purchase them here: https://bluecollarblueshirts.com/onegamebook/ ), I already have my title for this 2022-23 campaign – “REDEMPTION.”

Following one of the most impressive home-opener victories in franchise history; head coach Gerard Gallant and all of his players said the same thing – last season’s loss to the Lightning was out of their mind. Tonight’s game was all about this season.

In fact, Mika Zibanejad, who made history on this night via his two special team goals (more on this during the GAME REVIEW segment), even said that he felt that the media was trying to create a story in regards to “REVENGE OF THE RANGERS.”

While there’s nothing to suggest that these guys aren’t speaking the truth; at the same time, how can last year’s finish NOT be on their minds? Coming so close to sniffing silver should motivate this team all season.

Of course, it’s one thing to think something, it’s another thing to publicly say it.

Plus – why give Tampa any bulletin board material?

And oh yeah – actions speak louder than words – and the Rangers most certainly displayed that tonight.


Mika Zibanejad is on pace for a 164 goal season! Photo Credit: NYR

Last night, during my prediction blog (https://bluecollarblueshirts.com/101022/ ), one of my BOLD predictions was that Mika Zibanejad would flirt with a 100 point season. One game down, eighty-one to go, and I’m looking pretty good right now!

All jokes aside – I really believe it.

Better than that? During most of Mika’s run in New York, he’s been prone to horrendous starts, where he’s sitting on 3-4 goals at the near 25% mark of a season.

Just think about it – how many times have you seen the “Missing Mika” milk carton photo during the early months of an NHL season?

Zibanejad, the now $8.5M per season center, scored two goals tonight. If he can keep this going, he’ll be well on his way in snapping all of his previous career scoring-highs. I say he does it.

And yes, I know what you’re saying right now – “pump the brakes idiot! It’s only one game!”

However, just like last year, when I successfully predicted the Blueshirts to reach the 2022 Eastern Conference Final in September of 2021 (against Tampa no less) – I have predicted the Rangers to win the Stanley Cup Final in 2023.

I truly feel this team has “it,” and once Patrick Kane gets here (I talked about this subject in-depth last night – funny enough, SportsNet currently has a poll on their site where all of their league reporters are pretty much saying Kane to NYR is in the bag) – the team will only get better.

Yes, it’s only one game, but it’s not like the Rangers beat a bunch of scrubs from Arizona or Chicago. Instead, they flat-out DOMINATED the three-time reigning & defending Eastern Conference Champions – where outside of a 5 x 3 Tampa power-play goal – CZAR IGOR and company would’ve shutout the Bolts too.

Every game is a test and in this litmus test against one of the league’s elite – the Rangers aced this one.

Eighty-one more tests remain, where by the end of it – I feel the Rangers will be on top of the Metropolitan Division.


The Rangers have brought back the “NO QUIT IN NY” slogan for this season. Why not? It’s been working! Photo Credit: NYR

A few things before getting into the GAME REVIEW.

Up first, what I have been predicting on this site for the past few weeks rang true on Tuesday – the Rangers’ secondary ticket market suffered a huge collapse, due to the Yankees playoff game in the Bronx.

Last week, tickets in the 200s were going for $300+. I even saw some tickets in the 400s, the obstructed view seats, going for $200+.

By Tuesday afternoon, tickets for the Rangers’ home-opener nearly dropped by $200:

Photo Credit: StubHub

I bring this up for one reason only – unless both the Giants and the Jets qualify for the playoffs and then play on Sunday head-to-head with the Rangers – if you want to attend a “cheap” game at M$G this season – now is the time.

Refer to the archives of this site for more, but keep an eye on the Yankees schedule – and root for them to win. (And root for home games too!)

The further the Yankees go in the playoffs, the cheaper Rangers’ tickets will be on the secondary market. I’m not breaking any new ground here!

Tonight was evidence of this, as a lot of the lower bowl seats were empty tonight, due to the white collar/corporate fans being more interested in the Yankees quest for World Series championship number 28, rather than Ranger hockey. Their loss!


Braden Schneider has ditched the “5” from his jersey number. The former number 45 is now wearing #4 this season. Photo Credit: NYR

Prior to tonight’s game, the Rangers announced that Braden Schneider has switched his jersey number and will now be wearing the #4 on his back.

You know my spiel – this number should have been retired decades ago, in honor of Ron Greschner. Some will even argue that Arnie Brown, who also wore #4, deserves this honor.

And yep, I have a book out there about all of this – one that is plugged at the end of this blog.

Next!


Remember when the analytical fans said that Gallant “HATES” the kids? Both Kaapo Kakko and birthday boy, Alexis Lafreniere, played top-six minutes tonight – where to be fair – #13 was bumped up to the second line following an injury suffered by Kravtsov. And hey, after tonight’s victory, Lafreniere, now 21 years of age, can finally and legally enjoy his first beer in America! This Bud’s for you Lafreniere!

During last night’s blog, I ran down the lines that Gallant was expected to use for the home-opener, where there was only a question mark surrounding the fourth-line.

However, as predicted (I’ve been using that word a lot tonight and I got to stop it – I’m starting to sound like that near fifty year old Staten Island blogger who still lives in the same bedroom from his childhood years, with all of his strange “I KNEW” stuff – stuff he only says after something happens, such as “I KNEW what the lottery numbers were going to be!”); Gallant did dress Jimmy Vesey and scratched Dryden Hunt.

In turn, this is what we saw on Tuesday night:

FIRST LINE: Kreider/Mika/Kakko

SECOND LINE: Panarin/Trocheck/Kravtsov

THIRD LINE: Lafreniere/Chytil/Goodrow

FOURTH LINE: Vesey/Carpenter/Reaves

FIRST PAIR: Miller/Trouba

SECOND PAIR: Lindgren/Fox

THIRD PAIR: Jones/Schneider

STARTING GOALIE: CZAR IGOR

BACK-UP: THE HALAKNESS MONSTER


If you thought that the “C” would weigh down Trouba (ESPN even pondered about this tonight), you would be wrong – at least after one game played.

BOX SCORE TIME!

The following information and graphics come courtesy of ESPN.com:

SCORING:

PENALTIES:

TEAM STATS:

GOALIES:

TBL
SA
GA
SV
SV%
ESSV
PPSV
SHSV
SOSA
SOS
TOI
PIM
39 3 36 .923 20 13 3 0 0 57:56 0

 

NYR
SA
GA
SV
SV%
ESSV
PPSV
SHSV
SOSA
SOS
TOI
PIM
26 1 25 .962 18 7 0 0 0 59:41 0

I almost forgot what the bottom half of Emily Kaplan’s face looked like. It was nice to see everything back to normal on Tuesday night. Covid-19, and all of the masks, are gone! It’s so good to be back to normal! Photo Credit: ESPN

Going into the game, M$GN had a thirty minute pregame show. Thirty seconds into the broadcast, Sieve Vagistat was going on-and-on about analytics and talked about his legendary 46-game career again. That was it for me. I just can’t stomach it anymore.

I’ve spent too much time writing about how horrible Vagistat is on these broadcasts. I don’t know if I can go through another season of doing so – even if I get a ton of positive feedback about my comments – as many of you seem to agree.

I think moving forward, I’ll just recap whenever Henrik Lundqvist is on.

Vagistat’s schtick is still the same – he relentlessly promotes his self-serving analytical company (his company, CSA, has really done wonders for the Maple Leafs – one of his clients – can you imagine paying this jackass just to get bounced out of the first-round every season?) and then talks about his career as if he were the second coming of Dominik Hasek.

You’d think he would have run out of material by now, but every broadcast, he has another story from his epic career.

A few weeks back, I really went in-depth on this topic, so you can read the rest of my thoughts here: https://bluecollarblueshirts.com/92622/

Anyway, after turning off M$GN not even a minute into their pregame show, I turned on ESPN.

ESPN didn’t promote a pregame show, but they wound up having a nice interview with Jacob Trouba and his wife. Mark Messier later interviewed “The Great Eight,” captain-to-captain, and “The Messiah’s” co-hosts, Steve Levy and Chris Chelios, talked about Trouba’s future as team-leader. This was all good stuff.

And yep, if I have a choice of listening to Mark Messier or Sieve Vagistat – I’m going with #11 every-single-time.

Funny enough – it’s Vagistat who talks about himself as a hockey deity. Messier never does – we all know what he did.


I know that many people hate the ESPN broadcasts, and all of their reasons are valid, including:

— Ray Ferraro is a Rangers’ hater.

— These terrible eye-in-the-sky camera angles, camera shots that are seizure-inducing and where you never know what the hell is going on.

— Sean McDonough isn’t Doc Emrick

— Too slickly produced, meaning nothing comes off as organic, especially when compared to TNT broadcasts.

For me, what was truly disappointing was the fact that ESPN didn’t show the Ranger introductions.

After all – I wanted to see if Kravtsov would trip over a camera wire like Lias Andersson once did! I kid, I kid!

(In reality, I wanted to hear the response to Trouba coming out with the “C” on his chest.)

However, kudos to the Rangers, who posted the full player introductions here:


Also bad? Following the Rangers’ victory, ESPN’s cameras immediately went to Tampa’s tunnel, rather than you know – showing the winners on the ice. ESPN didn’t even bother to show us the three stars of the game either.

As the great Chris Russo once told Mike Francesa, “POORLY PRODUCED MICHAEL.”

Perhaps worse than all of that? ESPN’s obsession with head official, Chris Rooney, who on this night, definitely thought he was the star, between his stupid pregame puck drop speech (he wasn’t even accurate, as he said the season started tonight – to hell with the two games that the Sharks and Predators have already played) and the 678567567567855 penalties that he called.

As I write these words, Rooney’s right arm must be in an ice bath, as he held it up for what felt like half of the game.


As far as anything else worth mentioning, in an update to last night’s blog – ESPN lightly brushed upon the Ian Cole story, in what was basically a throwaway segment. Kaplan talked about the story for less than a minute, a report which took place during a stoppage.

As I said last night, I don’t have an opinion on this. I want to see the full results of the investigation first.

That said, I do think it was telling that Cole immediately released a statement where he denied all of it.

I could be wrong about this (wouldn’t be the first time that I was wrong), but I feel if this story was 100% accurate, then Cole wouldn’t have said anything. I also think this is why ESPN didn’t go all-out in their coverage of this story – they are also waiting for the complete findings of the investigation.

If anything, I just think it sucks that we live in a world where an anonymous Twitter user can derail a career, but it is what it is.

Obviously, the league can’t ignore this tweet – a serious allegation which reached millions of eyeballs – and for as fair or unfair as that is.

And if these allegations prove false, I hope that Cole has his day in court, because you don’t want copycat incidents to occur. And if they are true – then I’ll get on my soapbox.

In any event, only time will tell.

GAME REVIEW TIME!


Chris Kreider, the man of 52 goals last season, could have scored two goals tonight – just like his BFF Zibanejad did. However, Andrei Vasilevskiy wasn’t having any of it. Photo Credit: NYR

FIRST PERIOD:

Do you want the short version first? Here you go: in a game featuring the two best goalies of the league, both men lived up to that billing, where it was Vasilevskiy (AV from this point on) who was under constant pressure all night.

If it wasn’t for AV, this game could have easily been a 5-1, 6-1, 7-1 Rangers’ victory.

And if it weren’t for a bullshit penalty – I would’ve had my 4-0 score too!

The other man in the barrel, the 2022 Vezina Trophy winner, CZAR IGOR, was no slouch himself. However, he wasn’t tested nearly as much as AV was – a huge credit to Gallant’s Gang.

Another quick synopsis? There was not one weak link in a blue jersey.

Even when down to eleven forwards, everyone embraced the situation at hand and never gave AV a break.

After CZAR IGOR made his first save of the season 1:16 into the contest; returning Ranger, Jimmy Vesey, kept a forecheck alive after a big hit on Foote.

As the crowd on this night reminded us the difference between the regular season and the preseason – so did the Rangers.

The team made a sage out of head coach Gallant, as “The Turk,” following the team’s two listless losses to the Bruins and the Islanders, said that it was all about the regular season and how he wasn’t concerned about the exhibition games. That showed tonight.

3:45 into the game, Kravtsov streaked to the net. I thought he was tripped, but ESPN didn’t mention it, nor bothered to show us a replay.

“THE GRIM REAVER,” who ESPN also ignored when he did his “SHESTY, RELEASE US!” routine (again, kudos to NYR – they shared the footage with us online), crushed his first of three Bolts on this night, when he destroyed Haydn Fleury with a body blow.

6:30 in, the Rangers’ first line and the Trouba/Miller pair (this pair started the game due to Trouba’s new role as captain – and they wound up logging more ice time than Lindgren/Fox too), had the best Rangers’ shift of the game yet.

After a bunch of shot attempts, the Bolts got out of a hairy situation when Kreider was tripped, but no call was made, thus thwarting what felt like a 75 second Rangers’ attack.

Right after this, Point blew by Panarin, only for CZAR IGOR to make one of his toughest saves of the game.

As the game continued, it was noted that Kravtsov (1:28 TOI) went to the locker room after this play:


I really want to give Kravtsov the benefit of the doubt – but I don’t think that Victor Hedman did anything wrong here – especially if you look at the hits that Reaves and Trouba put forth in this contest.

To me, this was a tough play at the boards – something you see in every NHL game, especially during playoff games.

And yep – while this is a freak play – Kravtsov is learning that the NHL isn’t the KHL. He decided to take the money in Russia, rather than developing in North America. There’s a reason why that “tortoise vs the hare” fable still exists to this very day.

Is this a case of not being tough enough? Maybe, maybe not. At the very least, it’s a case of this NHL game not being something that he’s used to – something we’ve seen all preseason from him.

Of course, and somewhat similar to non-contact injuries (injuries that can derail a season), sometimes the little things can be worse than taking a monstrous shot, akin to a clean bone break vs a shattered bone break.

Following this play, the Rangers reported that Kravtsov was done for the game with an upper-body injury. That can mean anything, such as a concussion, a shoulder injury, a loose tooth, a tough booger that won’t come out, etc.

Following the game, Gallant said that Kravtsov was day-to-day, which means nothing to us.

After all, I heard that following Anne Heche’s car accident, the head coach described the actress as “day-to-day.”

We’ll see if I’m right about this, but if Blais and Kravtsov can’t make the road-trip, then I think that the Rangers will call-up a spare forward (most likely Gauthier, just because he’s a RW) – especially if one of them (if not both) goes on the IR.

As far as Kravtsov goes, where some people consider this kid to be the second coming of Pavel Bure – this is another setback in a history full of them, where in this case, this wasn’t self-inflicted – unless you factor in that it was his decision to walk away from the North American hockey experience.

Simply stated – NHLers hit, and they hit hard. Ask team captain Jacob Trouba.

Similar to Dorothy, “you’re not in the KHL, where NHL careers go to die, anymore Toto.”

I hope Kravtsov gets better, but this play looked really soft. However, and as stated – I have no clue what the injury is.

This “soft” accusation was extremely evident when right after this play, Lindgren went flying head-first into the boards and popped right back up as if he was enjoying an ice cream cone on a hot summer day.

Again, while I’ll give #74 the benefit of the doubt – this was one of the softest plays of the game.

And similar to what I said during the last two blogs on the site, when Blais went down with injury – while no one roots for injuries – Dryden Hunt has to be fist-pumping a bit.

Injuries open up opportunities – just as it did for Kravtsov when Blais went down.

Next man up – where Hunt is now that guy.


When Kravtsov went down, Lafreniere was bumped to the second line RW, his off-wing. Jimmy Vesey was then promoted to Lafreniere’s spot on the third line. Photo Credit: Getty Images

Panarin and Trocheck are still trying to find their game, where as said for a while on this site – it’s going to take some time.

They had several plays that led to turnovers, but yep – the other team is paid to play hockey too.

If there was anything noticeable, it was as the game went on, and as the Rangers strung a few power-plays together, “The Breadman” was not looking to shoot the puck. Instead, he was trying to feed Trocheck in the bumper (middle) spot for shots, where I am to assume #10 wanted to get his new center going.

After one of the second-line turnovers, Goodrow created a turnover on his own and fed Chytil for a good shot – a save for AV.

When the first-line came back on the ice, Mika set-up Trouba perfectly – only for AV to kick out his left pad for the save. This was one of his several robberies on this night.

With 3:47 to go, Kakko, much improved and who drew two penalties tonight, drew his first, a holding call assessed to Cernak.

The Rangers did everything but score here. By my count, AV made four saves, but ESPN credited him with six. In total, AV finished with 13 saves while a man-down.

AV’s best save during these two minutes is when he absolutely robbed Kreider, following a picture-perfect set-up from Panarin. Again, AV is one of the best goalies in the world. Another goalie – this puck goes in.

After one period, we remained scoreless. Here’s what I said at the time:


Of note – how about that faceoff stat????? Who are these guys?

And while this means nothing (in regards to Mika), considering his competition, every Ranger center was flawless at the dot during the first frame, with only Zibanejad losing two draws.

Crazier than that? The Rangers won nine consecutive faceoffs during the end of the period. I think the last time the Rangers won nine faceoffs in a row, Frank Boucher was wearing the #7 jersey on his back!


While CZAR IGOR did have a strong performance; very rarely, is he not the lead story – a good thing on this night! His team played well in front of him. Photo Credit: ESPN

SECOND PERIOD:

The middle stanza was plagued with penalties, five in all, where a rare 5 x 3 two-minute power-play was the difference.

The first penalty was called at the 2:07 mark, when Trocheck was boxed for holding Paul.

No matter.

After being denied on his first short-handed rush, Zibanejad wouldn’t be denied on his second, as at the 3:25 mark, this happened:


1-0, GOOD GUYS!

This goal, a backhanded shorty that went top-shelf, was a historic tally for “MAGIC MIKA.”

Check it out:


At the end of the day – the only thing that matters is the final score, but nevertheless – Mika is now a future Rangers’ “Jeopardy” answer!

And hey, it was nice to see Trouba and Miller picking up the helpers. And while on the defensemen – I thought all six played phenomenal tonight, including Zac Jones, who needed a good showing, just to keep Libor Hajek off of his back.

One of the turning points of the game occurred at the 8:02 mark, when both Miller (tripping) and Goodrow (elbowing) were banged with the infractions – and on the same player too – Brandon Hagel.

This was ridiculous, and in a response, the Garden Faithful serenaded Rooney & company with loud chants of “ASSHOLE.”

Trouba and Lindgren did their best to thwart the Bolts, but following a d-zone faceoff loss (a rare one on this night, but again, the Rangers were down two-men during this), Stammer blasted a puck right by Igor, where not much could’ve been done.

1-1 at the 9:09 mark – and the only Tampa goal of the game.

Yep, it took a BS penalty and a two-man advantage to get one past the CZAR on this night.

Otherwise, the Rangers’ penalty kill was flawless (as they pretty much were during the preseason – only one goal allowed while scoring three SHG) and finished 5-5 on traditional 5 x 4 power-plays – plus the Mika goal too.

Down to nine minutes remaining, Panarin went on a breakaway – and shot the puck right at the Bolt on AV’s chest.

Ninety seconds later, Colton went to the box for interfering with Chytil, but once again, the Rangers’ power-play couldn’t score – and AV (with an assist from Sergachev) robbed Kreider again too.

The Rangers received another power-play late into the period, when with under five minutes remaining, Stamkos slashed Kakko. However, “third time’s a charm” didn’t prove true tonight. Instead – “four time’s a charm” did!

1-1 after forty minutes. Here’s what I said at the time:


Goodrow made a winner out of me tonight! Photo Credit: Padma R.

THIRD PERIOD:

The Rangers kept attacking AV early and often during this final frame, where just a minute in, AV was forced to make a tough stop on the birthday boy, Lafreniere. A minute after that, AV stopped Vesey too.

At the 2:40 mark, Goodrow tripped Bellemare – a legit call, even if the Bolt sold it as if Tonya Harding whacked him in the leg.

The Rangers’ PK stopped another Tampa PP, where this time, Igor stopped Stammer’s one-timer blast.

Down to 15:01 remaining, Goodrow, now out of the box, drew a penalty himself, when “OLD FRIEND” Vladislav Namestnikov high-sticked #21 in Rangers’ blue.

Zibanejad, already with a SHG to his ledger and about five one-timers that were previously stopped by AV, scored on this power-play:


2-1, GOOD GUYS! And a game winning goal for Zibanejad too, who led all NYR shooters with nine shots on goal.

This goal created electricity throughout the building, power that continued when the Rangers strung together two long shifts in Tampa’s zone right after Mika’s tally.

After what felt like the 9678567896967896786th holding call of the game, this time on Carpenter (I wonder if the refs were paid per call tonight?), the PK stood tall again. Igor kept racking up the saves, where for the first time this season, the “I-GOR, I-GOR, I-GOR!” chants loudly echoed throughout the arena.

And to fast-forward a bit, by the end of the game – the crowd brought back another chant – “IGOR’S BETTER!”

I’ll never tell a crowd how to chant, but I’m not so sure if trolling AV is the best idea.

Going into the game, here’s something I put on the old Twitter machine:

At the nine minute mark, this happened:


3-1, GOOD GUYS, a huge insurance goal for Goodrow himself!

And since this was the first even-strength goal of the season – I’m proclaiming myself a victor with my prediction – even if the sportsbooks in Vegas don’t see it that way!

On this goal, Goodrow deflected a Lindgren attempt and that’s all it took. Of note, Carpenter picked up a secondary assist here, so he now has his first point as a Ranger.

As the clock went tick-tick-tick, the refs weren’t done yet, as with 6:53 to go, they called another hold, this time on Chytil. In turn, the Rangers’ PK held on again.

With 1:47 to go and with AV pulled, Tampa took their timeout.

At this point of the game, yours truly, and I’m sure you too, had mixed feelings.

I don’t know if I wanted Mika to score the empty net goal and get the hat trick, or see Igor score his first goal in the NHL! Unfortunately, we didn’t see either – but who cares? The Rangers won and that’s all that matters!

With about 45 or so seconds left, Mika shot from his own end – and in a “freeze-frame moment,” the puck hit the left post. Had that puck crossed the goal line – forget about it – they’d need a new roof for MSG.

3-1, GOOD GUYS, your final from the World’s Most Expensive Arena!

AN EXCELLENT TEAM WIN FOR THE UNDEFEATED NEW YORK RANGERS!


Unless you were expecting something completely ludicrous, like a final score of 100-0, you won’t see that many regular season wins better than this one. I can’t stress this enough – EVERYONE PLAYED WELL AND THERE WERE NO WEAK LINKS. Photo Credit: NYR

It’s getting late as I write these words so I have to wrap this up – but really – I could’ve hit the 100,000 word mark tonight if I had the time. That’s how impressive this win was, where yes, don’t remind me – I’m aware it’s just one game.

However, I think it’s also a sign of things to come, and something we’ll be talking about in June – at the parade. (Yep, I said the “p-word!”)

Up next for the Rangers, a back-to-back set on the road.

The Rangers will visit “OLD FRIEND” Mats Zuccarello in Minnesota on Thursday night and will then go right back at it against the Jets on Friday.

Based on what we saw out of Gallant last season, I’d expect “THE HALAKNESS MONSTER” to get one of these starts, as the head coach doesn’t like to play goalies in back-to-back games.

My gut feeling? CZAR IGOR plays in Minnesota because they are the better team. Halak plays against Winnipeg, which in turn, then gives Igor three nights rest before playing again on Monday night, when the Rangers host “OLD FRIENDS” Ryan Strome and Frank Vatrano (the Ducks).

Barring anything crazy happening between now and Thursday night (we may have some roster/IR transactions), I’ll return here following the game against the Wild.

Enjoy this win Ranger fans, it was as good as any win you’ll see in the regular season – especially when you consider the competition.

PLUGS TIME!


The hardcover version of my first book, available now at Amazon.com

My first plug of tonight’s blog – the mandatory plug for my book, “The New York Rangers Rink of Honor and the Rafters of Madison Square Garden.”

As mentioned previously, the book is now available in hardcover, in paperback and in Kindle formats. To purchase a copy of the book, visit this link:

https://www.amazon.com/Rangers-Rafters-Madison-Square-Garden-ebook/dp/B09CM5N2WD

For those still looking for signed paperback versions of the book, I have re-ordered more copies. I now have a few signed copies for sale at $25 a pop (includes shipping price) through me directly. Here is all the information on that:

Order “The New York Rangers Rink of Honor and the Rafters of Madison Square Garden” Book Today


My four-volume set of books, “One Game at a Time – A Season to Remember,” is a game-by-game recount of the Rangers 2021-22 campaign.

My second title as an author, “One Game at a Time – A Season to Remember,” is now available in eBook, paperback and hardcover formats.

To obtain signed copies, visit: https://bluecollarblueshirts.com/onegamebook/

To purchase all four volumes on Amazon, visit: Amazon.com – “One Game at a Time.”


Here are my last few blogs, in case you missed them:

DROP THE PUCK: New York Rangers Finalize 2022-23 Roster; Name Alternate Captains, A Dozen Bold and Not-So-Bold Predictions, Vesey Makes The Cut, Kravtsov’s Nine Lives, Gallant, NYR v. TBL Preview, Ian Cole/Tex Rickard Allegations & More


NYR/NYI 10/8 Review: Rangers Sputter in Final Tune-Up; Live Report, Mika Creates Fan-For-Life, Glass Half-Full vs Glass Half-Empty, Duguay Dropped From Post; Boucher Birthday, Gallant, Kakko Trending Up; Kravtsov Trending Down, Vesey/Carpenter, Cuts, Final Preseason Thoughts & More


NYR/BOS 10/5 Review: Igor’s #2 Forces Rangers’ #2 Goalie in Net; Kakko & Mika Score Two Goals Too, PP Issues, Gallant’s Lines; Turk’s Telling Comments, Plus/Minus Stats, Preseason Gambling, MLB Playoffs Help NYR Fans & More


If you haven’t already, subscribe to this blog for the next update:


Pre-order today!

Don’t forget to pre-order my new four-volume set of books, “Tricks of the Trade!”

If you don’t pre-order through me, all four volumes will also be on sale over at Amazon.com

For more details, check out: https://bluecollarblueshirts.com/tricksofthetrade/

See ya Thursday night!

Thanks for reading.

LET’S GO RANGERS!

Sean McCaffrey

BULLSMC@aol.com

@NYCTHEMIC on the Tweeter machine

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1 thought on “NYR/TBL 10/11 Review: Rangers’ Redemption Season Starts with a Dominating Bang; Team-Wide Effort, Mika’s Flirtation with 100 Points, “Igor’s Better,” No Weak Links, Kravtsov Injury, Special Teams, ESPN & More

  1. For me, what was truly disappointing was the fact that ESPN didn’t show the Ranger introductions.

    Also bad? Following the Rangers’ victory, ESPN’s cameras immediately went to Tampa’s tunnel, rather than you know – showing the winners on the ice. ESPN didn’t even bother to show us the three stars of the game either.

    Was watching ESPN+ and agree this was disappointing and ridiculous, hoping to get streaming also to get the classic NYR announcers.

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