NYR/ANA 10/17 Review: Rangers Club California Seals (Pardon Me Joe) – Blueshirts Dine on Ducks! Mixed-Bag Victory (But Two Points is Two Points), Panarin Makes History (Twice), Motorin’ Mika, Another Team-Effort, M$GN & More

Greetings and salutations everyone and welcome to another blog here on BlueCollarBlueShirts.com. It wasn’t pretty, but at the end of the day – a win is a win.

If you’re a regular reader of this site, then you know this much to be true – my opinions on this team, and how they performed, are usually in line with whatever head coach Gerard Gallant is thinking or says.

As I write these words, I haven’t seen “The Turk’s” post-game interview yet, but I imagine he said what I’m thinking right now – I’m happy with the win, but there’s plenty of room for improvement.

But hey, that’s why they play an 82-game regular season and not a four-game season.

I don’t know if “frustrating” is the right word or not when describing this game (especially after scoring six goals in a near wire-to-wire victory); but without a shadow of a doubt – the Rangers can play much better than this.

Yes, six goals scored is a nice duck feather in the cap – but four goals allowed is not.

Perhaps even crazier? Even with the touchdown on the board – the Rangers could have easily hit double-digits too – a good problem to have!

While only four games into a season is obviously too early for a full analysis on the state of the team; there are a few things that are becoming apparent:

1 – This team is no longer the CZAR IGOR show. That’s not a knock on the 2022 Vezina Trophy winner at all. This is a compliment about the team itself.

As opposed to last season, when #31 in blue carried the team during the first half of the season; four games in and it’s been a team-wide effort in every game played. (And as the season moseys along, there WILL be games where CZAR IGOR single-handedly wins them.)

2 – Those Mika milk carton pictures, that have been plastered throughout the streets of Rangerstown, USA during the first few weeks of prior Rangers seasons? They are non-existent this season, as Zibanejad is currently experiencing the best start of an NHL campaign in his career.

3 – The same applies to Artemi Panarin, who following a disappointing playoffs (even if he was injured), set a new record on Monday night – and I’m not talking about the fact that he hasn’t scored on his last eleven breakaways (dating back to last season – he went 0-1 tonight, bringing him to 0-3 on the season) – I’m talking about his ten points scored in his first four games – a new Rangers’ record.

4 – And maybe I’m jumping the gun here, but I do believe this to be true – K’Andre Miller and Jacob Trouba are officially the team’s first defensive pair. Adam Fox and Ryan Lindgren are second – where to be clear – that’s not a knock on #23 and #55 – this comment is made in praise of #8 and #79.

I talked a lot about Mika SELKEbanejad last night. I also talked about the Ducks, so click the link above for more, including for thoughts on “OLD FRIEND” Ryan Strome, and the recent roster updates.

I bring up last night’s blog for one main reason.

During it, I said that I expected a tight game tonight, because as we’ve seen so many times before, whenever a Western Conference team comes to town to play the Rangers, Islanders and Devils – whenever they take a bad loss (as the Ducks did on Saturday night), then usually, that left-coast team rebounds a bit in their next game.

That’s somewhat what happened tonight.

The Rangers had plenty of chances to blow the Ducks out of the water in this match, and while the final score may indicate a blow-out – the team was much better this past Thursday night, when they truly blew out the Wild.

When you see that CZAR IGOR only made 18 saves on 22 shots faced – this easily could have been a 5-1, 6-2, 7-0, type of a Rangers’ victory had things went differently – especially defensively.

Most of this game was sloppy – just like the way Major League Baseball handled their postponement announcement of Monday night’s Yankees game – but more on that in just a bit.

In game that was half track-meet/half run-n-gun, the Rangers got the better of it – against a bad team.

However, this team finds different ways to win – like all playoff teams do.

The way the Rangers played tonight probably wouldn’t have resulted in a victory against the Tampa Bay Lightning, a team who the Blueshirts did defeat last Tuesday night, when playing a well-structured game.

Conversely, the Rangers from the home-opener probably would’ve set the franchise record for biggest margin of defeat tonight (12-1 against the Seals is the record – more on the extinct Californian team below), had they played the Ducks in the same fashion.

In a way – I think the Rangers played up to their competition against Tampa and down to their competition against Anaheim.

However, and to go back to what I said at the top of this – we’re only four games in.

There’s plenty of time to tighten-up all of the screws and bolts – and come the playoffs – this team will be ready to go for the silver.

“The Turk” skated a new line-up tonight, one that included Sammy Blais, as #91 made his season debut. I thought Blais (3 hits, 3 SOG) looked strong and had instant chemistry with his new linemates.

After one game of Libor Hajek, Zac Jones was back in the line-up too. However, the people who cried real tears about Hajek playing on Friday night had nothing to say about the obvious – Gallant is rotating his 3LD.

Here’s what Gallant put out there for this 6-4 victory:

FIRST LINE: Kreider/Mika/Kakko

SECOND LINE: Panarin/Trocheck/Lafreniere

THIRD LINE: Vesey/Chytil/Blais

FOURTH LINE: Hunt/Goodrow/Reaves

Defensively, we saw:

FIRST PAIR: Miller/Trouba

SECOND PAIR: Lindgren/Fox

THIRD PAIR: Jones/Schneider

STARTING GOALIE: CZAR IGOR

BACK-UP GOALIE: THE HALAKNESS MONSTER

BOX SCORE time.

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

SCORING:

PENALTIES:

TEAM STATS:

GOALIES:

As mentioned all season (and I’ll remind you one last time on Thursday, as five times should be enough), I’ll only recap these M$GN pregame segments whenever Lundqvist is on.

For me, Vagistat is just too exhausting and nauseating to endure anymore.

Lundqvist opened up the broadcast by saying that the Rangers had a pretty good opening week. I’d concur!

After praising the team, the panel talked about Ryan Strome vs Vincent Trocheck, where as you’d expect, the two #16’s were a topic of discussion all night.

As friend of the blog Jennifer E. commented – “does anyone know what channel the Rangers’ broadcast is on?”

No joke – if you took a shot anytime that Ryan Strome or Frank Vatrano were brought up on the broadcast tonight – you’d be face-first on the floor like a late 1990s Chris Farley.

Trocheck was then interviewed by Michelle Gingras, where the new Rangers’ center continued to state the obvious – it will take time to create chemistry, he likes his new team, he enjoys his new teammates and all of the other platitudes that you’d expect.

Trocheck also mentioned that today was his daughter’s birthday – so she received a nice birthday gift from her “daddy.”

“Daddy” in quotes for one reason – every time Joe Micheletti says “daddy” on-air (and he says it a lot more than you’d think), I get that feeling whenever you hear nails on a chalkboard.

Here is a quick synopsis of Sieve Vagistat tonight:

“East-west passes, I once played under Benoit Allaire, look at me Henrik, royal road this, high danger chances that, anyone know what time the Ramrod closes tonight?”

For whatever reason, “east-to-west passes” is Vagistat’s new go-to talking point this season, even going as far to mention east-to-west passing rates from the 2017-18 season. He also said this tonight: “I feel we find ourselves talking about east-to-west passes all the time.”

I’ve already watched about twelve non-Ranger hockey broadcasts this season – not once was the topic of “east-to-west” passes discussed on any of them.

I guess Vagistat is trying to promote this junk since that’s what his self-serving company is tracking this year.

FACTS: Aside from the NHL’s beginnings, when forward passing was illegal – east-to-west passes (cross-ice passes) have always been around. Setting up one-timers, tip-ins, odd-man rushes, whatever – this isn’t new to hockey this season – no matter what the seven foot Clairol’d bird-brain is trying to sell to unsuspecting rubes this season.

You know what’s the worst part about Vagistat? I always want to see Lundqvist on-air, but now I’m rooting for “The King” to take a few nights off – just so I can skip these Vagistat M$GN segments!

Here’s Lundqvist on Ryan Strome: “he’s a great guy, a great leader. You want a guy like him in the room. He’s great both on-and-off of the ice. He loosened things up. An all-around great guy.”

(And yes, Lundqvist used the word “great” several times!)

Vagistat’s response, “the thing about Strome’s east-to-west passes are…”

Ugh.

Lundqvist and John Giannone also chuckled about Strome’s pregame press conference, when the former Ranger said, “this is just another game.”

Lundqvist mentioned that during his brief time with the Capitals, he had the game against the Rangers circled on his calendar.

And had heart issues not forced Lundqvist into retirement – Lundqvist, as a M$G visitor, would’ve created a moment for this generation comparable (if not greater) than the time Eddie Giacomin, now as a Red Wing, returned to M$G.

(Don’t believe me? Then just ask anyone who was inside of M$G on November 2nd, 1975. To this day, it’s the most emotional regular season game in all of Rangers’ history – a fact – not an opinion.)

One last thing before getting into the GAME REVIEW.

Since I like to track this stuff – I think tonight’s game will wind up as the cheapest of the season – barring a Yankees World Series game and/or a Jets and/or Giants Conference championship game.

Ten minutes before puckdrop, the get-in price for this game was $29.35. The price of a beer!

Good seats in the lower bowl were going for $75, the price of three beers!

Obviously, tonight’s game was a perfect storm for buyers, as not only was this a weeknight game against a non-rivalry opponent – the Yankees were set to host a do-or-die playoff elimination game.

And those poor schmucks who thought that Major League Baseball would treat their fans with respect.

Despite heavy rain in the forecast all-day; rather than postponing the game (where to MLB’s credit – they actually postponed last Thursday’s game at around noontime), MLB made fans stay in Yankee Stadium for over two hours – and then postponed the game.

Refunds on $20 beers, $30 hamburgers, $40 buckets of chicken? HA!

And a refund on $50-$100 parking spots – HA HA HA!

Suffice to say, I’m glad that hockey is my favorite sport – no weather delays (barring the outdoor games – those damn sunspots!)

GAME REVIEW TIME!

FIRST PERIOD:

This was a wacky period, where by the end of it, you felt like the Rangers could’ve been up by five or six goals, but after twenty minutes – the Rangers only had a one-goal lead.

And let’s get this out of the way – poor John Gibson, the Ducks’ starting netminder, and a goalie who hasn’t had a team in front of him for years.

As I’ve been saying for a while now – stats and analytics doesn’t tell you the whole story.

They also didn’t accurately depict Gibson’s forty minutes of action tonight. He made a ton of good saves, but the non-stop Rangers’ barrage was impossible to handle.

Sammy Blais, in his first regular season game in nearly a year, made an immediate impact, when he leveled Colton White on his first shift. Not to be outdone, Ryan Reaves welcomed White to M$G with a nice hit too.

The first six minutes of this game was a turnover-fest – and from both sides.

The Rangers’ first best chance of scoring happened at around the five minute mark, when Kakko perfectly set-up Schneider. However, as Schneider’s shot was trickling through Gibson’s wickets, the goaltender was able to snap the pads at the last possible second, in order to prevent a goal for the youngest Ranger.

While most of this game was centered around Strome; at the six minute mark, Trouba blasted another “OLD FRIEND,” and a good chum of his himself, Frank Vatrano. All is fair in love and hockey!

At the 6:15 mark, Calder Trophy candidate, Mason McTavish, airmailed a puck over the glass. In turn, we had the first Rangers’ power-play of the game, where the Blueshirts’ first power-play unit absolutely dominated the Ducks’ man-down teams all night.

Prior to the power-play commencing, the Rangers thanked Ryan Strome. Strome really appreciated it, as he pounded his heart and gave his trademarked “thumbs-up” to the crowd:

welcome back Stromer! pic.twitter.com/7iITURnbZk

— Rangers on MSG (@RangersMSGN) October 17, 2022

After Strome’s thumbs-up, the Rangers’ one-upped the Ducks, where who else, but Strome’s replacement, Vincent Trocheck, who scored the first goal of the game:

VinNY! 1-0 #NYR pic.twitter.com/2FMmvNpXDS

— Rangers on MSG (@RangersMSGN) October 17, 2022

1-0, GOOD GUYS, after a tic-tac-GOAL set up by Panarin and Zibanejad!

Prior to this goal, Gibson absolutely robbed Kreider, but as was the case all game – the Rangers’ power-play never relented.

And (Part I) – talk about a huge goal for Trocheck, as he continues to create chemistry with his new team.

And (Part II) – my prediction about Mika hitting 100 points? Four games in and I’m feeling very confident about it!

And (Part III) – Sam Rosen, with sheer excitement, belted out, “FRANK VATRANO, it’s a power-play goal!”

I’ve talked enough about Rosen over the years, but yep, he lost his fastball a long time ago. He’s always said that if one of his family members said he was slipping, then he would retire before making a fool of himself.

While I don’t think that Rosen is a fool – he’s become “grandfatherly,” and where you can never take his goal calls with 100% accuracy.

I also think with the Rangers as a Cup contender – he won’t retire until they win it all.

Whatever you think about Rosen, this much is true – he’s a diehard fan just like any of us. And when that day comes when he retires – it will be a sad day – but I’d expect Rosen to continue to follow the Rangers from his Florida home.

As previously discussed on this site, Rosen is also a jinx, because wouldn’t you know it – Vatrano later scored in the game – and yep – Rosen didn’t even notice that Vatrano scored.

“OH JOE” – you can’t make this up!

With about ten minutes remaining, CZAR IGOR made another one of his patented homerun passes, this time to Panarin. Gibson denied the Breadman on this breakaway.

At this point, rather than making these long distances passes to his comrade; Shestyorkin should skate up the ice himself and take the shot!

Obviously, Panarin has some sort of mental block whenever on a breakaway, as these one-on-one chances have become his kryptonite.

It’s my opinion that he’s overthinking and psyching himself out whenever given one of these opportunities. I also feel, that once Panarin scores on the breakaway, he’ll continue to score on them. He just needs to get the first one.

And yep – how can you knock Panarin – even if all of these failed chances are frustrating? The guy had another four-point game!

After missing on this chance, Panarin, while shaking his head, skated to the bench, but not before Derek Grant hooked Lafreniere with 8:31 to go.

Up next? Mika SELKE scoring a power-play goal:

MIKA ZIBANEJAD! IT’S A POWER PLAY GOAL! pic.twitter.com/ypyVuRMrrD

— Rangers on MSG (@RangersMSGN) October 17, 2022

2-0, GOOD GUYS, following Zibanejad’s roof-job on Gibson. With this goal, Panarin, Trocheck and Zibanejad all had two-point games at this stage of the game. Mika and Panarin weren’t done yet.

Seriously, it felt like whenever Zibanejad was on the ice, especially against this bad Ducks team, that he was going to score on every shift.

Down to 4:12 remaining, Vatrano lived up to his “RIFLE” nickname, as he absolutely blasted a puck past CZAR IGOR from the circle to the right of the Rangers’ goaltender. Rosen called this a glove save, and then hit his trademark line – “Pardon me Joe, that puck went in.”

At one point, I was expecting Rosen to refer to the Anaheim Ducks as the California Seals – that’s how much his fastball has slowed down over the years.

And maybe the Hockey Hall of Fame should reevaluate their selection process. Similar to players – the HOF should wait until announcers retire too. These last few years of Rosen have been anything but Hall of Fame worthy.

Right after Vatrano’s goal, Chytil hooked Zegras. The Ducks’ power-play were on-point, but CZAR IGOR was better.

Officially, Igor was credited with two saves during these two minutes, but to me, he at least made four stops. Of course, I’m very generous on what I consider to be shots on goal when counting saves for Ranger goalies!

After successfully killing the Ducks’ power-play (which meant that the Ranger special teams units were a perfect 3-3), Mika got one last look at Gibson (Zibanejad finished with a game-high nine shots on goal); but the Rangers’ lead remained at one.

2-1, GOOD GUYS, after twenty minutes.

Here’s what I said at the time:

2-1, GOOD GUYS, after 20. 1P Thoughts:
— This game should be 10-0, but a one-goal difference.
— #NYR started sloppy, heated up and then gt messy at the end.
— Rosen needs to retire.
— SOG 15-9 & Hits 13-3 Rangers; FO’s 10-9 Ducks
— NYR special teams 3-3, 2 PPG’s.
LGR!

— BlueCollarBlueShirts (@NYCTheMiC) October 17, 2022

SECOND PERIOD:

After Sam Rosen asked Micheletti, “SECOND PERIOD WHAT DO YOU LOOK FOR HERE JOE?” and then wondered if Gilles Meloche could make a few more big stops for the Seals (okay – I made that last part up), the Rangers had another wacky start to a period.

Right away, the Ducks had a two vs one odd-man rush, but Fox broke it up. Then, just 1:15 in, Trouba blocked a slap shot from Troy Terry. The puck hit the side of Trouba’s helmet and the captain crumpled to the ice – but thankfully – only for a second – but a long second in real-time.

In what could’ve been a dangerous situation, Trouba popped back up, skated to the bench and then went to the locker room, where I assume he was checked out by a concussion spotter.

Of note – play immediately stopped after this, where Terry rushed to Trouba to check in on him and to apologize. Class act. (And this is part of the game – Terry wasn’t aiming for Trouba – this was a pure accident.)

A better “of note?” Trouba, after missing 3-4 shifts, later returned to the game without issue. A major crisis averted for both Trouba and his health, and the Rangers too.

1:34 into the period – Trevor Zegras scored – the end result of poor defensive play and Ranger sloppiness.

At the time, this just felt like one of those games where the Rangers should have been laughing the Ducks out of the building, but instead, allowed the road team to hang in there.

Six minutes into the period, the Ducks were out-shooting the Rangers 3-0. That would soon change – and big-time at that.

Following Sam Rosen talking about Hispanic Heritage Month, “Oh Jose, I think El Kakko Taco is due Jose;” Trouba returned to the ice and then saw his teammates score:

KAAPO KAKKO! 3-2 #NYR pic.twitter.com/nr1TP4LmfO

— Rangers on MSG (@RangersMSGN) October 18, 2022

3-2, GOOD GUYS, on a goal that created debate in regards to who scored it.

According to the official scorers, this goal was credited to Kakko, then to Zibanejad and then back to Kakko.

While I didn’t care who scored as long as the Rangers scored – this was a great goal.

Not only did Zibanejad fire a puck at net, once again, and as he’s newly been doing all season – there was Kakko crashing the net.

And yep, too bad this goal wasn’t awarded to Mika. Had that been the case – he would have finished with a hat trick tonight! However, and this comes from “Captain Obvious” – Kakko needed this goal on his ledger more than Zibanejad did.

Either way – Kakko has earned his spot as RW1 – you can see him improving in each game.

Kravtsov who?

This goal was a reawakening for the Rangers.

Once down 3-0 on the SOG stat – the Rangers soon worked their way to 12-3, as all four lines were buzzing.

Down to 4:40 remaining, Shattenkirk tripped Blais.

The Rangers did everything but score here, as it was during these two minutes where Gibson really shone, as he made robbery saves on Kreider, Zibanejad and Trocheck. The goalie also made a sweeping BESSIE save on #16 towards the end of the Ducks’ penalty kill.

However, the Rangers didn’t give up after this failed power-play. Instead, just twelve seconds after the power-play had expired, it was time for Lafreniere to score his first goal of the season:

Chytil ➡️ Laf pic.twitter.com/XpHhNMq7bN

— Rangers on MSG (@RangersMSGN) October 18, 2022

4-2, GOOD GUYS, as Chytil set-up his buddy and all #13 had to do was tap the puck into the net.

And I can’t stress this enough – ALL FOUR RANGER LINES WERE CREATING OFFENSE TONIGHT.

While there were defensive issues (I didn’t think that Fox and Lindgren looked so hot tonight); the Rangers, as a collective group of skaters, were in “shoot first, ask questions later” mode all game.

In perhaps a new trend (who are these guys?), the Rangers finished with 43 SOG tonight. They haven’t finished a game yet with 34 SOG or less. WOW!

One of those 43 SOG? This one, and with just 34 ticks remaining:

BREAD WITH A RIP! 5-2 #NYR pic.twitter.com/hMnD16wacM

— Rangers on MSG (@RangersMSGN) October 18, 2022

5-2, GOOD GUYS!

Maybe Panarin is better off with two opponents on either side of him rather than being by himself on breakaways!

5-2, GOOD GUYS, after forty minutes. Here’s what I said at the time:

5-2, GOOD GUYS after 40. 2P Thoughts:
— Slow start, electric finish.
— SOG 34-15, Hits 22-12 #NYR , FO’s 22-17 Ducks
— Five GA suggests Gibson is having another crap game but I wouldn’t say that.
— Sloppy game but Rangers are burying their chances.
FINISH!
LGR!

— BlueCollarBlueShirts (@NYCTheMiC) October 18, 2022

THIRD PERIOD:

This final frame is something you see all the time, and this isn’t exclusive to the Rangers either – a team with a big lead took their foot off of the gas a bit, and in turn, allowed the other team to make a game of it.

Of the four goals CZAR IGOR allowed tonight – I think the two goals that the Ducks scored in this period are the ones he’d most like back.

While CZAR IGOR’s GAA and save percentage numbers aren’t where he’d like them at (and all of this will balance out as the season progresses), the only number that matters here is three, as in his 3-0 record.

Speaking of less-than-ideal numbers, Gibson’s night was done at this point in the game. In turn, former Flyer, Anthony Stolarz, took over the Ducks net.

Not even twenty seconds into the period, Stolarz was tested right away by Trocheck, as the Rangers’ center had a breakaway opportunity afforded to him. Perhaps Panarin is a bit contagious, as Trocheck bailed out Stolarz by airmailing a puck over the net and into the glass.

I also want to say this – we all know about the Rangers’ salary cap issues and how money accrues, but with everyone not at 100% right now (Kravtsov and Carpenter) – every skater is going balls-to-the-wall, as none of them wants to experience the nightlife in Hartford, Connecticut.

With the Rangers up by three, I think the officials let some Duck penalties go uncalled, as Kakko’s stick was held on one play and Reaves was interfered with on another. One of these uncalled infractions led to a Ducks’ goal, as after Kakko’s stick was held, the Ducks went into the zone and Maxim Comtois (pronounced Cum-Twat) then beat Igor.

5-3, good guys, and with 14:27 remaining.

The Rangers created good vibes as they kept on getting to Stolarz, but the Ducks’ back-up was able to fend them off. Negative vibes were then created, when M$GN cut to a segment with Vagistat, who said nothing of merit.

Down to ten minutes to go, CZAR IGOR made a pair of excellent back-to-back saves.

With 9:31 left in regulation, Vatrano interfered with Zibanejad.

Now on their fourth power-play of the game – Mika made them pay again, where yep – Rosen didn’t even realize that the puck went in. Needless to say – this was another off-night for Hall of Fame announcer.

6-3, GOOD GUYS, and with only 8:18 to go.

After a slow start to the power-play during the preseason – the Rangers are now scoring power-play goals in bunches. And just to think – this power-play isn’t 100% yet, at least not until Trocheck gets a few more games with his new teammates.

With 5:35 to go, Stolarz denied Mika of a hat-trick, in what was the goalie’s best save of the game.

The Rangers kept looking for the extra point, rather than playing conservatively. However, this aggression led to a turnover and boom, 6-4, following Grant’s goal scored with 3:46 to go.

I don’t know what Ducks’ bench boss, Dallas Eakins, was thinking here.

Down by two, you would think he’d pull his goalie ASAP and hope for a prayer to be answered.

Instead, Eakins took a timeout with only 1:33 remaining and then pulled Stolarz.

After a Ducks’ icing with thirty ticks remaining, Stolarz went back into the net, the Ducks waved their white flag, and boom – 6-4, GOOD GUYS, your final from M$G.

Gallant and company know what this game was – a good win, but the team can play better. They also know that this style won’t work against the better teams of the league.

The Rangers are now off for the next two days, where I expect defense will be stressed during their two practices.

Up next, “OLD FRIEND” David Quinn and the San Jose Sharks.

Similar to Strome – I liked DQ.

As said then – I didn’t think that DQ deserved to be fired – but I understood it. A new general manager should always be able to hire the coach that he wants.

I had one person ask me tonight, “what did DQ ever do?”

Talk to Adam Fox, who won a Norris under him.

Talk to both Panarin and Zibanejad, who at the time, had career years under him.

Yes, DQ made his mistakes (especially allowing the media to bully him), but look at the Rangers now – they’ve grown. He was there for the start of it. Gallant is here to bring them to the finish line.

Sometimes, you can plant the seed, but you won’t be around to see the tree grow.

I hope DQ gets a “Thank You” message too – he doesn’t deserve to be booed – despite what others may be saying.

PLUGS TIME!

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:

Why Mika Zibanejad Must Be Considered For the Selke Trophy; Selke History, Early Thoughts on the Metropolitan Division; M$GN Broadcasts, “Innocent” Ian Cole, Sports Equinox, NYR/Ducks Preview; Strome’s Return & More

NYR/WPG 10/14 Review: Snakebit Rangers Stung By Schedule; Get “Goalie’d” By a Vezina Winner, Bakery Closed in Canada, Eye Test > Analytics (Again), “OLD FRIENDS,” Upcoming Games, Reaves Goes Viral, Hajek & Hunt Law Firm Prove Doubters Wrong & More

NYR/MIN 10/13 Review: Redemption Rangers Wild Out in Minnesota; Another Team-Wide Effort in Blueshirts’ Blowout, Multi-Point Games Galore & CZAR IGOR, Mika Selke, Gallant Does It Again, Kravtsov Who, Isles LOL, M$GN & More

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

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/

I may return on Wednesday, recapping all of the Rangers’ practice news. If nothing really of note happens, I’ll return Thursday night with a NYR/SJS review.

Thanks for reading.

LET’S GO RANGERS!

Sean McCaffrey

BULLSMC@aol.com

@NYCTHEMIC on the Tweeter machine