NYR/NJD 11/28 Review: Deja Vu Rangers Do It Again – Blow Another Lead; Give Up Four Straight, Gallant Calls Team a “Problem,” Devil Fans Take Over M$G; Troll Igor, Trouba Goes Viral For All The Wrong Reasons, Kravtsov in Dog House, Stick a Pitchfork in Them Because They’re Done & More

Greetings and salutations everyone and welcome to another blog here on BlueCollarBlueShirts.com. Stick a pitchfork in them – they’re done.

Okay, maybe that’s an overreaction following another dreadful Rangers’ loss at M$G. After all, with a 10-9-4 record (in other words, ten wins and thirteen losses), Gallant’s Gang, with 24 points in the standings, remain one-point shy from the second wild-card in the Eastern Conference.

That said, it already feels like this ship has hit the iceberg and it’s just a slow sink – and with no life preserver(s) coming their way. What pending unrestricted free agent is going to waive their NMC to come here?

You know what’s really bad, or at least for me? Even when the team was up 2-0 – I never thought they’d win this game.

They’ve broken my spirit – and that’s coming from a person that’s been rah-rah about this regime ever since they took over.

The “Find-A-Way-To-Lose” Rangers, now losers in their last three games, found a different way to lose on Monday night – although all of the negative trends that have plagued the team all season were there too:

— CZAR IGOR, whether it’s a new child at home or what, continues to struggle on home ice. For the second consecutive game, he gave up four straight goals and blew a Rangers’ multi-goal lead.

— The 1-5 power-play couldn’t connect until late – and I’ll have more on this once we get to the GAME REVIEW.

— Jacob Trouba, despite all of his big words, was involved in another play that directly led to an opponent’s goal. The team captain, following a career-high eleven goal season last year, remains without a tally during this campaign.

— In crunch time, when it mattered most, the Rangers’ heralded 1-2 punch, Mika Zibanejad and Artemi Panarin, couldn’t lift their team to victory, as other superstar duos around the league do on a daily basis.

— Another contest where the team didn’t play a full sixty-minute game – and it cost them – again.

— Following the game, head coach Gerard Gallant didn’t have any answers. More on this to come.

For someone who always tries to approach these games from a “glass-half full perspective,” here are your silver linings:

— The Rangers didn’t give up any “negative firsts” this season, nor did a member of the alumni score either. In other words, Brendan Smith, scoreless on the season, didn’t beat Igor tonight. I’m shocked!

— The Rangers only blew a two-goal lead rather than a three-goal lead. Progress!

— Mika finally scored an even-strength goal. If you’re keeping count, he now has two games this season where he’s recorded one of these “Haley’s Comets.”

— Panarin broke his twelve-game scoring drought. After that, he was right back into “A-Rod” mode, where it feels like once he gets on the score sheet, then he feels he can take the rest of the game off.

As mentioned at the top of this, I’m running on no sleep and have to be up in several hours for work.

In other words, I apologize in advance – I’m going to have to blow through most of this – not that I think you will mind. I just wish I had more time though, as the fragile state of this team is extremely concerning.

Furthermore, I was going to do a separate blog on Sunday, and post all of the news from the day then; but after the loss to the Oilers – I needed a day off from the computer.

At this time, let’s play catch-up with all of the news from Sunday’s practice, and then jump into tonight’s game.

Lost during the Rangers’ inexcusable 4-3 loss to the Oilers from Saturday was Leon Draisaitl’s celebration of his game winning goal.

While the M$GN didn’t share this footage with us, our lovely friends from north of the border did:

Leon pic.twitter.com/ZlDw1lDAoe

— Smooth Oil (@SmoothOil) November 27, 2022

Leon in his reputation era 🌚 pic.twitter.com/UR4JpcQ12d

— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) November 27, 2022

After watching Leon Draisaitl pulling the hockey equivalent of knocking over Jacob Trouba’s sandcastle – and then kicking sand in the captain’s face too – I was shocked. After all, we’re talking about Trouba here – one of the biggest hitters in all of the league today.

As noted multiple times in this space, I can understand what Trouba is going through right now. I’ve made this reference before, and what’s one more time – he’s pretty much in the similar situation as Kevin Shattenkirk once was.

Trouba, just like Shattenkirk from five years ago, is trying to gut himself through nagging injuries, rather than taking time off. Instead of focusing on his own health and getting back to 100%; due to his new role as team captain, Trouba is sacrificing his own well-being, his stats, and after this ordeal with Draisaitl – his reputation too – all for the sake of the team.

While I think you can explain away some of Trouba’s early troubles from this season on his confirmed injuries (even if Rangers’ bench boss, Gerard Gallant, won’t provide us with specific information on what those ailments are); Draisaitl treating Trouba like yesterday’s trash is completely inexcusable – much like the Rangers themselves during that putrid third period.

Put it this way: had Ryan Reaves still remained in New York, would have Draisaitl tried to out-alpha “The Grim Reaver?” And what about another Ryan, as in Ryan Lindgren? Would Draisaitl attempt to get cute with him too? (Lindgren was in the locker room at the time, due to an injury suffered earlier in the contest.)

Following the Rangers practice from Sunday, the beat reporters of this club, perhaps as “soft” as Trouba was here, had two different chances to ask the team captain about this. Instead of asking #8 about #29 getting the better of him – all of the focus was on a player who hasn’t played in nearly three weeks, Vitali Kravtsov.

It would’ve been nice to hear Trouba’s versions of the event, because let’s face it – he looks bad, defeated and completely uninterested. Then again, this is a team that enjoys talking the talk this season – but rarely walks the walk. This clip personifies that.

Sure, maybe Trouba didn’t want to take a retaliation penalty towards the end of a one-goal game. However, I don’t think that excuse flies, because as anyone who was watching that game knew at the time – the Rangers had already choked and there was no way that a “Heimlich maneuver” was in their future.

Perhaps Trouba will seek his pound of flesh when the Rangers and Oilers rematch again, when the two square off in Edmonton on February 17th. However, by then, it will be too late – just like it was when the Rangers watched Tom Wilson have their way with them towards the end of the 2021 campaign – only to then seek their revenge when the teams played their last match of the season.

Whether it’s sports or “real-life,” we’re often judged by how we “act in the moment.”

In this particular instance, and especially now as the face of the club – Trouba took it on the chin – and for the whole league to see. He could’ve sent a message by dropping the gloves. Instead, his peaceful protest sent another.

Let’s see what happens the next time an opponent tries to get a laugh at the Rangers’ expense. And there will be a next time, especially for teams looking to get an edge over the Blueshirts. Draisaitl just showed them the way.

The never-ending saga of Vitali Kravtsov continues.

Prior to Sunday’s practice, the Rangers announced that Lindgren, and as you’d expect, was “day-to-day.” (Lindgren did play tonight.)

Furthermore, Adam Fox was feeling ill while Trocheck missed the practice due to “maintenance.” (If you recall, Trocheck had that collision with Warren Foegele in the game against Edmonton. Like Lindgren, he too played tonight.)

With Trocheck off for the day, Gallant used these lines:

Kreider/Zibanejad/Vesey

Panarin/Chytil/Kakko

Lafreniere/Goodrow/Kravtsov

Blais/Carpenter/Gautheir

Once practice concluded, Gallant talked to the media for a significant amount of time, but you wouldn’t know it based on what the Rangers shared with their fans:

If you just watched the Sunday edition of “TURK TALK” that the Rangers posted, then all you learned was that Gallant was going to give Panarin and Chytil a spin together. And of course, Gallant reiterated the same old shit, where just like his players – everyone talks the talk but they don’t walk the walk.

So aside from Panarin getting new linemates, all you heard was how the team knows they have to get better, they had a meeting, they talked it out, and blah-blah-blah.

However, the real story, the story that the Rangers didn’t want you to see, is what every beat reporter and their mother were all tweeting out at the same time.

Before sharing you the “UNCENSORED” quotes from Gallant, I do want to say this – this all makes Gallant, and the Rangers themselves, look bad.

“The Newspaper Era” is as dead as the dodo bird. In other words, the second someone says something, it appears online a nanosecond later.

By editing Gallant’s comments, the Rangers just brought more attention to it. It feels like they have something to hide.

Had they ran the press conference unedited, which they normally do, then this wouldn’t really be a story.

However, and as talked about when the Rangers have edited Gallant in the past – it does make a mountain out of a molehill – especially because this time, the club wasn’t editing out comments where Gallant ripped the reporters to shreds. (When Gallant spanks these clueless younger reporters, they never talk about it. However, since Gallant was talking about one of his players, of course all of this was brought to the light – and as it should’ve been.)

Here’s a summary of what Gallant said, as Larry Brooks (the only reporter who has a clue there), Wince Mercogliano, Colin Stephenson and the others all tweeted out:

(When asked Kravtsov): “I like the kid, but right now, he’s our extra forward. I’m happy with the line-up. The fourth line has been playing really well for us. Who am I going to take out to put him in when he’s only played six games this year, he’s been hurt and he’s had surgery?

“I try and get the best of our players. I’m doing my job.

“He’s [Kravtsov] done nothing wrong. It’s just in the chances he’s had, he seemed to get hurt every time he had and opportunity and that’s too bad. It’s not that I don’t like the kid, I like other players.”

---

If you’ve been reading this site ever since Gallant was named as head coach, then you know this is true – I have a pretty good read on him, and usually think the way he does – for better or for worse!

I bring this up again, just to reiterate for the 83883839040505th time what I said following “TEETHGATE” and Kravtsov’s Battle of the Bowels – that was it for him. That was the moment when Gallant officially got fed-up with him – even if the head coach won’t admit it publicly. (He’ll admit it many years down the line, once retired, whether in a book or during a podcast interview – I guarantee it.)

Again, if you don’t know already – do your homework – and look up what type of player Gallant was. In short, he was a physical type who played in an era where men were men. To hear that a player has to miss multiple games over cavities and diarrhea isn’t going to cut it with “The Turk.”

While I don’t think that Ryan Carpenter is the best answer either for the Rangers; what do you think it says when Carpenter has half of his head sliced open by a skate, takes a few staples and stitches to get his dome repaired – and then plays in the next game, while Kravtsov is out flossing his teeth?

Furthermore, what does it say when you have two right-wingers, the position that Kravtsov plays and who were in “last chance mode,” Jimmy Vesey and Julien Gauthier, who have done everything in their power to earn and maintain a roster spot, while every cough-and-fart sends #74 running to Jim Ramsey?

Again, since the Rangers edited out all of these comments, I don’t know what the tone or body language Gallant was using.

However, based on the reports, I don’t think one reporter asked this question:

“Do you feel it’s better to sit Kravtsov against the first-place Devils, and then ease a player who hasn’t played in a while against a team with a poorer record, the Senators?”

And yep – once again, we’re all talking about a player that’s skated in six games this season and has accomplished nothing.

No matter how you feel about Kravtsov, Krapsoft, Kravy, or whatever moniker you use; he’s not the story, nor the reason for the Rangers’ recent failures.

Maybe Artemi Panarin should be thanking his comrade, because with each passing day, it’s Kravtsov who seems to be the center of the universe for the beat reporters, while the $11.6M man struggles are swept under the rug.

Here was tonight’s line-up:

FIRST LINE: Kreider/Mika/Vesey

SECOND LINE: Panarin/Chytil/Kakko

THIRD LINE: Lafreniere/Trocheck/Goodrow

FOURTH LINE: Blais/Carpenter/Gauthier

FIRST PAIR: Lindgren/Fox

SECOND PAIR: Miller/Trouba

THIRD PAIR: Jones/Schneider

STARTING GOALIE: CZAR IGOR

BACK-UP: Jaroslav Halak

BOX SCORE time.

The following graphics and information come from ESPN.com:

SCORING:

PENALTIES:

TEAM STATS:

GOALIES:

In what felt like forever, the M$GN pregame show started at 6:30PM, where Lundqvist, who took the west-coast trip off, returned. However, Sieve Vagistat opened up his pie-hole first, to tell us that he thought that playing the Devils was the best thing for the Rangers tonight. Keep that in mind.

Tonight was also HOCKEY FIGHTS CANCER NIGHT. I thought the Rangers and M$GN did a great job in promoting the cause, but that didn’t stop Shameless Sieve from polluting the message with his non-stop stories about his own crappy career, including the nicknames he earned (just not the one I’ve bestowed upon him) – nicknames and stories that no one cares about but him.

If there was ever a night to give it a rest, it was tonight, but not for Vagistat.

Michelle Gingras was back and she interviewed Kreider. She opened the interview by saying, “Chris, I know that you weren’t happy about last game, but…”

No shit Michelle. After that, I zoned out, especially since Kreider pretty much did what everyone affiliated with the club does these days – talk the talk, but not walk the walk.

Lundqvist, who took a somber tone whenever talking about the state of the club tonight, said, “if you want to be a top team in this league, you can’t slip and lose these games that the Rangers have recently lost.” Vagistat then replied with more tall tales from his epic career.

I haven’t mentioned this before, so why not now – but what’s up with that horrible acoustic song that the Rangers constantly shove down our throats during commercial breaks? I think it’s Ricky Dippendots, the once “Pepsi Fan CFO” winner, who sings it.

Nothing against Mr. Dippendots, but that song is god-awful. The song is depressing, suicidal and I’d be embarrassed to ever hear it live in a bar. Then again, that pretty much sums up the Rangers right now too.

I mean really – when I think of music and hockey – I don’t need a power ballad. Give me Motorhead or something else that’s heavy and fast. I don’t need a lullaby as Jack Kevorkian administers the needle.

Lundqvist said that he was interested to see how Panarin and Chytil would do. Vagistat said that Panarin is hot right now, despite you know – being twelve games without a goal. Also not mentioned by the “Arts & Crafts, Charts & Graphs” stooge? The fact that most of Panarin’s points come in bunches, via secondary assists.

At the end of the pregame show, Vagistat, who nearly thirty minutes earlier, said this would be a good game for the Rangers – then predicted the Devils to handle them with ease. What a dick.

As far as Sam and Joe go, once again, they grabbed their pom-poms for the Rangers’ opponent tonight, and spent nearly three hours acting like teenage girls during the height of “Beatlemania,” whenever talking about another “Fabsome Foursome,” Jack Hughes, Nico Hischier, Jesper Bratt and Dawson Mercer.

Prior to fighting their red-and-black erections from knocking over their desk and equipment; Micheletti pretty much said the equivalent of, “If you eff around like you did last game, then it will be a long night.”

He was proven correct.

GAME REVIEW time.

I guess what shouldn’t be lost in another Rangers’ loss itself is the great job the club and the network did when promoting “HOCKEY FIGHTS CANCER.” Don’t lose sight of that.

Unfortunately, by the end of this game – it were the Rangers who looked like they needed chemotherapy.

Prior to puck drop, the team introduced us to 12-year old Brody Kuenzler, from Holbrook, NY – and whose cancer just went into remission. The response M$G gave this young man was deafening – and the loudest M$G would ever get all night.

NYPD officer, Brianna Fernandez, did a tremendous job while singing the National Anthem in front of a bunch of cancer survivors. The emotions were real, as there was not a dry eye at ice level during this.

However, the Rangers couldn’t use this passion and emotion in the building to energize them – at least not for sixty minutes.

FIRST PERIOD:

Sit back, crack your knuckles, take a deep breath and say it with me folks:

“It wasn’t all that bad…”

Following Zibanejad getting beat at the dot by Hischier to open the contest (Mika won five of fourteen face-offs tonight, for a losing percentage of 35.7%), the new second line soon came on.

Immediately, Filip Chytil, who I thought was the best Ranger forward of the game, forced a turnover at center ice.

As the Devils regrouped and then got into the Rangers’ d-zone; Miller made a great play and found Chytil back around center ice. This then led to a Chytil and Panarin two-vs-one odd-man rush, one that they actually capitalized on:

BREADMAN!!! 1 min. 20 secs. into the game🚨 pic.twitter.com/IGWeTCt2Lh

— Rangers on MSG (@RangersMSGN) November 29, 2022

1-0, GOOD GUYS, Panarin’s first goal in thirteen games – and all it took was Chytil by his side.

Seriously, I was surprised that the Rangers scored here, not because this goal took place at the eighty-second mark, but because Panarin actually shot the puck, rather than forcing the puck back to Chytil for a turnover.

At the time, it looked like Chytil had already established more chemistry with Panarin than Trocheck ever had, but this would be short-lived.

Not even two minutes following the mold being scraped off of the bread; at the 3:01 mark, this happened:

MIKKAAA TIME!!!

RANGRS UP 2-0 pic.twitter.com/kZyHdAOtK1

— Rangers on MSG (@RangersMSGN) November 29, 2022

2-0, GOOD GUYS!

Devils’ goalie, the ex-Capital, Vitek Vanecek, looked like he was having epileptic seizures in his net all night.

Unfortunately, after flubbing a Trouba Bomb, which led to this Mika rebound goal – the Rangers would then allow the loosey-goosey goalie to make thirty consecutive saves – prior to what really amounted to a meaningless power-play goal, scored late into the third period by Trocheck.

In other words, this was your final Rangers’ highlight for nearly fifty or so minutes.

And since I have to be up early tomorrow, and because I’ve sacrificed too much sack time already; we can bullet-point the rest of this game from this point on:

— Following the goal, both Miller and Trouba had plus/minus stats of +2. They’d finish the game with a goose-egg each.

— Five minutes in, I said this in real-time:

Very important for these fragile #NYR to not give a quick one back

— BlueCollarBlueShirts (@NYCTheMiC) November 29, 2022

— At the 7:33 mark, the Devils got that goal right back. Tomas Tatar, who’s really come into his own in New Jersey, flung an innocent looking backhander at Igor. Yes, this is the toughest shot for a goalie to stop (they can’t get a read on the puck); but even still – this should’ve been stopped.

— 2-1, good guys.

— Following the goal, we heard “LET’S GO DEVILS!” chants all over M$G. This wouldn’t be the last of it. Devil fans took over M$G tonight. In all of my life, even going back to the heyday of the Devils – I can’t remember M$G ever being overran by Devil fans as the building was tonight. Completely embarrassing – but all self-inflicted. The Rangers have priced out their hardcore fans long ago.

— After Sam told us that he asked Jimmy Vesey about his time with the Devils; the bumbling buffoons then went into their Jack Hughes Splooge-Fest. The way they were talking about the first-overall pick of the 2019 NHL Draft, you would’ve thought you were watching soft-core porn.

— Down to 6:35 remaining, Jacob Trouba thought he was Bobby Orr. For some inexplicable reason, Trouba, who had all day to pass the puck up ice, decided to stick-handle, as if he was trying to get nominated for one of the NHL All Star Events. Instead, Sharangovich forechecked the hell out of him and forced a turnover. This then led to Sharangovich scoring the tying goal, from the area in-between the slot and the left circle.

— 2-2 – another multi-goal lead blown.

— And oh – Igor had no clue this shot was coming – until it went into his net.

— Right after blowing the lead, Panarin and Kakko had a 2 vs 1 odd-man rush. Rather than shooting as he had done with Chytil; Panarin forced a pass – a turnover.

— With 4:47 remaining, a frustrated Vanecek took a swipe at Trocheck and earned himself an interference penalty, a penalty that Miles Wood served. End result? The Rangers’ power-play were now 0-1 and remained without a PPG in their last 13 periods played.

— To close the period, the Rangers shot wide all over the place, sans a Trouba Bomb, a rebound afforded by Vanecek, but one that Chytil just missed out on.

We remained tied at 2-all after the first period.

Here’s what I said at the time:

2-2 after 20. 1P Thoughts:
— Good start, but another lead flushed.
— Been saying it all year – new kid at home has impacted Igor. His road vs home starts tell the story.
— SOG 13-11, FOs 11-6 NJD; Hits 11-4 #NYR
— Chytil = best forward
— I think I know how this ends.

— BlueCollarBlueShirts (@NYCTheMiC) November 29, 2022

SECOND PERIOD:

This was your standard Rangers’ period where everything unraveled and they couldn’t do anything.

— The Rangers actually started this middle frame with some good intentions. After Zibanejad lost the opening draw, Fox blocked a Bratt shot. This then led to over a minute of a Rangers’ attack in the Devils’ zone – but Mika missed an empty net.

— Missing empty nets and hitting posts – the 2022-23 New York Rangers, who are starting to remind me of the team from thirty years ago.

— In the first two minutes of this period, Vanecek also made five saves. So even when the Rangers put pucks on net – they still couldn’t get one by.

— At the 5:10 mark, Vanecek made his best save of the period, when he robbed Chytil, the only Ranger forward with a pulse for sixty minutes.

— Thirty-four seconds later, Jack Hughes scored the go-ahead goal – much to the delight and glee of Sam & Joe.

— If you can take your Ranger fandom out of it, Hughes’ goal was a beaut. Mercer, from his own end, alley-ooped the puck to Hughes. Hughes, on a breakaway, found Igor’s five-hole.

— 3-2, bad guys. If it wasn’t over once the Devils tied it, then you knew this was it. This team is just took broken to repair themselves after blowing a lead.

— And yep, Igor’s numbers (especially at home) are getting bombed like Nagasaki and Hiroshima this season.

— To be clear, none of this is me taking advantage of hindsight being 20/20. After all, I said this at the time:

“We gotta play better, we talked about it, we know what we have to do, blah blah blah….” #NYR , around 9:45PM EST or so

— BlueCollarBlueShirts (@NYCTheMiC) November 29, 2022

— At the 9:40 mark, Michael McLeod scored a rebound goal. You have to listen to the way Sam Rosen called this:

McLeod slaps in the rebound to double the Devils lead! #LAPGOTW

Devils – 4
Rangers – 2 pic.twitter.com/LPk4elFOjh

— Late Arrivals (@LateArrivalsPod) November 29, 2022

— “OH JOE, IT’S IN, IT’S OUT, IT HIT THE POST, WAIT IT’S IN, NO IT’S A SAVE, WHO CAN WE BLOW FROM THE SENATORS ON WEDNESDAY NIGHT JOE AND IT’S A GOAL!”

— 4-2, bad guys.

— I’m sure it’s happened before in the the over one hundred years of the NHL’s existence, but leave it to the Rangers to blow two back-to-back games of consecutive leads, where on both occasions, they gave up four-straight goals in the process.

— This is when it got bad. While Ranger fans were checking train schedules, Devil fans were on fire, where they started trolling Igor the familiar “EEEEEEEEEEE-GOOOOOOORRRREEE” chants that we heard last season, during the first-round series with the Penguins.

— And Igor definitely heard it too. Following the game, the 2022 Vezina Trophy winner said, “The goalie played like shit again, I am ashamed.”

— More concerning? And I’ll have this for you at the end of this blog – Gallant agreed – rather than defending his player as he normally does.

— With 10:08 remaining, Jacob “PLEASE, NO MORE DADDY DRAISAITL” Trouba, interfered with Alex Holtz. The Rangers’ penalty kill actually survived these two minutes, although Igor made four saves during this PK.

— Down to 6:30 remaining, Igor couldn’t handle a two mile-per-hour shot from Bratt. Fortunately, Fox was able to get the rebound out of dodge.

— As the period wound down, Devil fans wouldn’t let up – nor should they have. Seriously, I’ve never heard Devil fans just completely own M$G like this. What a sorry state of affairs.

— With 3:26 remaining, Trocheck took an o-zone penalty for tripping noted sniper, Brendan Smith.

— The Rangers’ PK got some breaks here, as the Devils spent the entire two minutes in the Rangers’ zone, but due to some pucks taking weird hops – the Devils couldn’t get their fifth goal here. No joke, by the end of this, the Rangers looked like wax dolls – they looked human – but they couldn’t move.

— As the Rangers’ were attacking, Panarin tried to snipe one past Vanecek. Kakko, with his left skate, blocked the shot for the Devils’ goalie.

— At the 19:37 mark, the Devils got busted for too many men on the ice. In turn, the Rangers opened up the final frame with a 1:38 power-play.

4-2, bad guys, after forty minutes. Here’s what I said at the time:

4-2, bad guys, after 40. 2P Thoughts:
— Good teams don’t blow two-goal leads. Don’t see the Devils doing what #NYR did.
— SOG 32-21, FOs 19-10 NJD; Hits 19-11 NYR
— I hope Sorokin has some kids soon
— They don’t have cap space to make a trade now
— MSG = sad and bad

— BlueCollarBlueShirts (@NYCTheMiC) November 29, 2022

THIRD PERIOD:

During the intermission, my Twitter notifications were filled with this talk, “if only Kravtsov played, and if only Reaves was here, and blah blah blah.”

Please – as if Kravtsov was going to score ten goals and Reaves was going to hit every Devil shooter before they shot the puck.

And by talking about Kravtsov and Reaves at this moment; in my eyes, this told me that people were ignoring the real problems.

— After failing on the power-play, Vanecek vacated his net. No worries – Kakko couldn’t make him pay – the usual.

— As you were wondering if Alexis Lafreniere was even playing; at the 4:42 mark, he took his second stupid and boneheaded o-zone penalty in as many games, when he tripped Jack Hughes behind the Devils’ net.

— The Rangers’ PK got a break here, when 58 seconds into their power-play, Mercer tripped Vesey.

— The end result – once returned to five-vs-five, the score remained 4-2.

— Down to 10:51 remaining, the Devils, hellbent on trying to will the Rangers back into this game, took another penalty, when Graves interfered with Mika.

— This is what I said at the time:

Here’s where #NYR will tickle your balls a bit with a PPG then lose 5-3

— BlueCollarBlueShirts (@NYCTheMiC) November 29, 2022

— This is what eventually happened – but just not on this power-play. Instead, every Ranger aimed at the boards and after about six or seven rubber-marks later, the Devils got their kill.

— Down to 7:26 remaining, Miller was high-sticked by Tatar. Again, the Devils were trying to gift-wrap this game for the Rangers, but the Blueshirts weren’t accepting charity tonight. However, did they score on this power-play, their fifth of the game.

— As there were just 6:42 left on the clock, Fox bombed a puck at Vaneck and Trocheck collected the loose change.

— 4-3, bad guys – and where there was not one fiber in my being that I thought that the Rangers would find the equalizer, thus stealing at least a point, and then playing for the extra point in overtime.

— In fact, right after scoring, the Devils then went on a two-vs-one odd-man rush, and fortunately for Igor and company, Jack Hughes fell/whiffed.

— Now under three minutes to go, the Rangers put forth their best forecheck yet, where it looked like Kakko drew two different tripping penalties. After handing out penalties left-and-right all game, this is when the officials decided to swallow their whistles. Maybe they had a train to catch too.

— After Lafreniere failed to take advantage of Vanecek leaving his net, the goalie recovered and then made a stick-shaft save on Trocheck. The puck sailed out of play with 2:04 to go. Timeout Gallant, Igor to the bench.

— The Rangers did their usual act here, where they did everything but score and came up short.

— After playing around with the emotions of whatever fans were still left inside of M$G; Sharangovich scored the inevitable empty net goal with just sixteen seconds remaining.

— 5-3 bad guys, 5-3 your final.

I don’t even know if I’m mad anymore. The Rangers just don’t have it this season. And even if they win a few of their next games against less-than-stellar competition (a tall task for them) – I expect they’ll revert right back to this. They’ve just shown no consistency this season.

Here’s Gallant after the game:

I wish I had more time to dissect what “The Turk” said, but here is the most telling quote, when talking about CZAR IGOR:

“The team is the problem, the whole group of us. Coaches, the whole group, we gotta turn it around. Tonight was a good night to try and turn it around with the team we were playing. They are a young team, but they play hard, play fast. I wouldn’t say they are the surprise team of the year, but they look really good and played hard and Lindy’s done a good job with that team, they have a lot of confidence and play the right way. I think Shesterkin said what he said, he’d like to have a couple of goals back.”

I think Ranger fans would’ve liked these three hours back. Heck, I think we’d all like to go back to that moment in time, following the Rangers’ home-opener victory over the Lightning.

I know that many of you guys and gals criticized me when I first said this, but while this isn’t an excuse, nor an explanation for all of the recent failures, this much is true:

That loss to the Sharks changed everything.

You can go back and read about it (https://bluecollarblueshirts.com/102022/ ), but as said – I think DQ gave the league a blueprint on how to beat the Blueshirts. They just haven’t been the same since.

I also think we’re finding out a lot about this leadership group – just like Gallant – they don’t have any answers. When teams and coaches talk like this, either someone loses a job or it’s a very long season.

I’m still not in the “HOT FOR TROTZ” camp (and TROTZ was trending on Twitter after this game), but I do admit that Gallant doesn’t sound confident right now.

I also don’t see a coaching firing, not only because Gallant still has several years left on his contract (and how quick we are to forget his success from last season); but a firing would be a Drury admission that he hired the wrong guy.

The Rangers travel to Ottawa Wednesday night, for the first of a back-to-back home-and-away series with the Senators. Expect a Cam Talbot shutout.

Also expect Sam and Joe to have an all-out orgy over Tim Stutzle, a disgusting love-affair that even Caligula would find shameful.

Depending on my work schedule, maybe I’ll add more on Tuesday. If not, see ya Wednesday night.

PLUGS TIME!

On Sunday night, our pals at “2 Guys 1 Cup” returned with a new episode. To listen to it, click the link below:

Episode 64 is up!

Is Gallant on the hot seat?
When will Kravtsov get back in?#NYR https://t.co/CSF4LXicpq

— 2 Guys 1 Cup Podcast (@2G1CRangers) November 28, 2022

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.”

“Tricks of the Trade – A Century-Long Journey Through Every Trade Made In New York Rangers’ History,” a four-volume set of books that meticulously covers every trade made in franchise history, is now on sale.

All four volumes of the title can be purchased on Amazon.com and are presented in three different formats – eBook, paperback and hardcover.

To purchase Volume I: Conn Smythe (1926) – Craig Patrick (1986), visit Amazon.com

To purchase Volume II: Phil Esposito (1986) – Neil Smith (2000), visit Amazon.com

To purchase Volume III: Glen Sather (2000-2015), visit Amazon.com

To purchase Volume IV: Jeff Gorton (2015) – Chris Drury (2022), visit Amazon.com

To purchase signed copies of all four volumes, visit https://bluecollarblueshirts.com/tricksofthetrade/

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

NYR/EDM 11/26 Review: Slump-Busting “Find-A-Way-To-Lose” Rangers Do It Again; Wet Their Pants & Choke a Three-Goal Lead in Another “Worst Loss of the Season,” Every Reverse Jinx & Negative Firsts Strike as Usual, Team-Wide Failure, GET RID OF THE LIBERTY JERSEYS, Lindgren Hurt, Accountability, Gallant, M$GN & More

The New York Rangers Quarter-Pole Report Card: Grades & Reviews of Every Blueshirt, Thoughts at the 25% Mark of the Season, Tired Thanksgiving Talking Point, Predictions, NYR/EDM Preview, Gallant & More

NYR/ANA 11/23 Review: Rangers Trade Ryan Reaves For Scoring Help; Get Absolutely Embarrassed By the Worst Team in the NHL, Find-A-Way-to-Lose Blueshirts Play Slump-Buster Again (DING!), Too Many Excuses for Another Inexcusable Failure; M$GN’s Broadcast Just as Horrendous, Halak The Horrible, Puny Panarin & More

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

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

If you don’t order through me, all four volumes are now available on Amazon.com

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

Thanks for reading.

LET’S GO RANGERS!

Sean McCaffrey

BULLSMC@aol.com

@NYCTHEMIC on the Tweeter machine