Greetings and salutations everyone and welcome to another blog here on BlueCollarBlueShirts.com. I don’t even know where to begin.
How about this? Vitali Kravtsov finished a game without injury! Plan the parade! Who has the confetti?
Ugh.
After watching the Rangers’ 4-3 shit-show loss to the Islanders, I was reminded of my youngest niece, Chelsea, who is currently in her potty-training phase. (An important life skill if I say so myself!)
While Chelsea has mastered the art of urinating into the potty; she’s still battling with the idea of taking steamy shits into the potty.
Similar to a bad poker player; Chelsea has “tells” whenever she has those dookie feelings brewing in her stomach.
Whenever she feels the sensation to let loose, she runs to a corner of the house, faces the walls and then, and only then, relieves herself.
Whenever she does this, and whether it be my sister, my brother-in-law, my mother, or whoever else who catches her in the act, we all say – “Chelsea, do you want to go to the potty?”
Her response during the past few months? This: “LEAVE ME ALONE! I NEED PRIVACY!”
After watching the Rangers shit themselves tonight, those three words have never been more true – “I NEED PRIVACY!”
If you want to fast-forward to the game-winning goal of tonight’s fiasco, then be my guest.
While I’ll give you a complete GAME REVIEW below, and in case you missed it (and M$GN’s visual feed was absolutely terrible all game – more on this to come); with 5:30 remaining, Isles’ captain, Anders Lee, backhanded a puck behind CZAR IGOR. This goal made the game 4-3, bad guys, which also held up as the final score.
About five seconds prior to Lee’s game-winner, Oliver Wahlstrom BLATANTLY (and there’s no other adjective to describe this infraction) tripped Kaapo Kakko from behind – and right in front of long-time NHL official, Kelly Sutherland.
What should’ve been a Rangers’ power-play, with 5:35 remaining during a tied 3-3 heated affair; instead, the game turned into a 4-3 Islanders’ lead. That was all she wrote.
Let me say this and then move on from this one play of a sixty-minute contest:
Yes, Sutherland absolutely screwed the Rangers here. There’s no denying that.
However, to single-handedly blame one lowly official for the loss, as fans, the head coach and the beat reporters are doing? Hell no.
Heading into the third period and with a lead for the first time since the fourth game of the season (6-4 win over the Ducks – a game that now feels like a lifetime ago), the Rangers, then up 3-1, completely imploded.
Fourteen seconds into the final frame, Pelech roofed a puck past Igor – the defenseman’s FIRST GOAL of the season, as the Rangers’ continue their negative trend of having opponents celebrate all of their FIRSTS against them.
(Refer to my previous game review blogs for more on this, as I’m not going to relive all of that agony again tonight.)
Come the 11:42 mark, Chytil tripped Lee, thus giving the Islanders, now down by one, a chance to tie via a power-play goal. And that’s what Brock Nelson did, against what’s becoming an abysmal Rangers’ penalty kill.
So yeah, while Sutherland swallowed his whistle – it were the Rangers who had already choked the game prior to the no call.
Plus, even if you harp on Sutherland, that doesn’t excuse all of the missed scoring opportunities that the Rangers had – in what’s now becoming a signature staple of the club.
Whether it were <dings>, failed breakaways, trying to feed Kreider all-game, not shooting the puck when wide-open, not shooting when down a goal with your net empty, or whatever else you want to come up with – Sutherland isn’t the story – the Rangers’ lack of inability to finish games, and put opponents away, is the story.
Game. Set. Match.
Aside from Sutherland, I’m also seeing Ranger fans blame Lindgren’s absence for this loss.
While losing #55 is a major factor – if that’s the straw you’re grasping – then you’re trying to protect yourself from the obvious.
You’re also ignoring the fact that the Islanders have their own injuries too, including one of their life-blood players, Cal Clutterbuck.
And oh yeah – this was the second game in as many nights for the Isles. The Rangers had a day off to prepare.
The truth right now is this – the Rangers aren’t very good – and that pains me to say that.
After all, I did predict them to win the Stanley Cup this year! And while that may still happen – something’s going to have to change – and change fast.
If you’re a regular reader of this website, then you know this much is true about me – no one has been more optimistic and glass half-full about this team than me. Every blog posted on this site since the new regime took over will give you 100% conclusive evidence on that.
(More on conclusive evidence to come – ugh!)
Furthermore, I appreciate the positive messages that I receive from you readers and my followers on social media, whenever things look bleak in Rangerstown, USA.
However, a lot of the feedback that I’m currently receiving is easily debunked.
One common response I’m getting from you guys and gals is the following:
“The Rangers had a blah-blah-blah record last year, and then went on a blah-blah-blah winning streak last year and then they went to the Eastern Conference Final, blah-blah-blah.”
Lost in ALL OF THAT? These bullet-points:
— CZAR IGOR was lights out last year and carried them before the reinforcements came in.
— As mentioned 8796786786896 times before – I 10000000% believe that CZAR IGOR’s new child is impacting his professional career. And that’s not a criticism. That’s just a fact. As any parent will tell you, whether they are new to parenting or have been a parent for over fifty years – a baby changes your life, your schedule, your routine, your sleep, and you get the rest of my point.
— Shestyorkin, perhaps contrary to popular belief, is human – he’s just like anyone else who had a kid.
— There will be no reinforcements joining the cavalry this year. There will be no Frank Vatrano, Andrew Copp, Tyler Motte and/or Justin Braun to help push the team towards a playoff run.
— Due to the never-ending injuries, the Rangers have had only 48 hours to accrue extra cap space. And unlike last year – the Rangers don’t have an extra $20,000,000 to play around with. They have something like $750,000 at this current point in time.
— K’Andre Miller and Jacob Trouba, who both had career-seasons during the 2021-22 campaign, and like many others on this team, have regressed.
— I don’t know what’s up with Miller, but after a strong preseason, he’s been a mess once the regular season began. Trouba is still looking for his first goal of the season and has been more baffled than not whenever matched-up against the league’s best.
— Mika Zibanejad, after fourteen games played, is still without an even-strength goal. Yes he’s prone to slow starts, but for an elite center? He needs more than a goose-egg next to his name.
— Say what you want about Ryan Strome, and this isn’t a knock on Vincent Trocheck (he was actually one of the few shining stars tonight), but with a new #16 in the line-up, the chemistry isn’t there – yet.
— The bottom six is pretty much devoid of any scoring and has too many passengers.
— We all know that Vitali Kravtsov is forced into this line-up and shouldn’t be here. Ryan Carpenter is no Kevin Rooney. Sammy Blais isn’t the same player since returning from injury. And nothing against Jimmy Vesey, who I do think is playing well – but when a player coming off of a PTO is your second line right-winger – what does that say?
I know this all sounds morbid, but as I said a few blogs ago – I can only work with the material that I’m given, including this:
In case you missed it, I covered the Rangers’ busy off-day, Monday, here: https://bluecollarblueshirts.com/11722/
And once you read last night’s blog, then you’ll know all about the Rangers’ line-up changes, where after tonight, where Gallant pretty much panicked, and blew it all up (and really – that’s what he should’ve done after the loss to Detroit) – now what?
Yes, for about thirty minutes or so, the Rangers were the better team of this game. However, and once again, this team fails to realize that these games are sixty minutes long. Not twenty minutes. Not thirty minutes. Not forty minutes. And not fifty-nine minutes either.
As far as any other pregame news (as I now want to finish puking, get into this GAME REVIEW, publish this blog and then cry myself to sleep), there’s this:
We’re expecting it’s going to be Shesterkin vs. Varlamov tonight at MSG.#Isles are 7-1-0 against Shesterkin, whose lone regular season win against them came against a COVID-19 depleted lineup.
*Shesterkin tends to do better for #NYR in preseason against the Islanders.
— CordUp 🔌🍋 (@CordUpTime) November 8, 2022
After tonight, Igor is now 1-8 against the Islanders, where this was his worst game yet against the Rangers’ biggest rivals.
The lines at Monday’s practice was what we saw on Tuesday night, as everything remained the same – including both Lindgren and Gauthier out with unspecified injuries and Reaves as the lone scratch.
And while this benching may have not impacted the final score – I still believe that Reaves is a better option than Carpenter.
However, when you’re moaning and groaning about who and who isn’t playing on the fourth line – then you’re just making excuses.
Here was tonight’s line-up:
FIRST LINE: Panarin/Zibanejad/Kakko
SECOND LINE: Lafreniere/Trocheck/Vesey
THIRD LINE: Kreider/Chytil/Kravtsov
FOURTH LINE: Blais/Carpenter/Goodrow
FIRST PAIR: Miller/Fox (This changed at times, as Gallant flip-flopped his top four.)
SECOND PAIR: Hajek/Trouba
THIRD PAIR: Jones/Schneider
STARTING GOALIE: CZAR IGOR
BACK-UP GOALIE: HALAKNESS MONSTER
BOX SCORE time.
The following graphics and information come from ESPN.com:
SCORING:
PENALTIES:
TEAM STATS:
GOALIES:
|
NYI
|
|
SA
|
GA
|
SV
|
SV%
|
ESSV
|
PPSV
|
SHSV
|
SOSA
|
SOS
|
TOI
|
PIM
|
| 40 | 3 | 37 | .925 | 29 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 59:22 | 0 |
|
NYR
|
|
SA
|
GA
|
SV
|
SV%
|
ESSV
|
PPSV
|
SHSV
|
SOSA
|
SOS
|
TOI
|
PIM
|
| 26 | 4 | 22 | .846 | 17 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 57:54 | 0 |
The M$GN broadcast tonight was the worst of the season (and much like this game), but it wasn’t solely because Henrik Lundqvist wasn’t there.
For whatever reason, whether Michael J. Fox was in the production truck, someone was sniffing bath salts or what – but M$GN had visual issues all game, issues that got worse as the game progressed.
By the third period, this game was like trying to watch “scramblevision porn” on a late 1990s cable system. (People my age will understand this reference – especially if you were a young teenage male during that time!)
The M$GN feed even went out during the Islanders’ tying and game winning goals.
Maybe M$GN didn’t want us to see these goals, because like those old “scramblevision porn” channels – you felt Father Fink’d (for new readers – I use “Father Fink” in lieu of the f-word) – especially on Lee’s game-winner.
As you know, I will no longer watch these M$GN pregame shows whenever they feature Sieve Vagistat by himself.
However, some of you guys are on me to recap them, just because you enjoy my comedic styling whenever talking about them.
That said, I just can’t do it. Just seeing Vagistat on the intermission and post-game shows gives me a rash.
However, I do trust you guys, so whenever you guys & gals tell me what happened – I’ll believe you!
Once I saw that Sieve Vagistat, with his CVS purchased bad hair dye, was by himself tonight, I turned on the Islanders’ pregame show.
Yep – I rather listen to Shannon Hogan than Mr. Bloody Groin himself.
And as mentioned before – I think the Islanders do a better job with their pregame show than the Rangers.
Far too often, the Rangers’ pregame show comes off as stuffy and over-produced. I like the organic and “by-the-fans-for-the-fans” job that the Isles present.
Within minutes of changing the channel, several of you readers told me the following:
— Vagistat brought up his crappy career – again.
— Vagistat praised Varlamov and slammed Igor – again.
— Vagistat plugged his shitty ANALytic company – again.
— Vagistat droned on about east-west passing – again – where I’m surprised that he’s not walking around with a compass these days. Maybe he can use a compass to find his head – which is currently lodged in his five-hole – or so I believe!
Come 7PM, Sam Rosen, who for the love of god, continued his never-ending “reverse jinxes.”
Of everything Rosen said tonight, the only “reverse jinx” that didn’t hit was his prediction of Mat Barzal scoring a goal.
However, everything else rang true – the Islanders are great at third period comebacks, they just made a huge comeback last night (against Calgary), Varlamov’s record against NYR, and you get the rest.
Rosen and Micheletti also told us “HOW FUN” the Liberty jerseys are.
I previously ranted about those wretched rags a few nights back, when the Rangers were butt-humped by the Bruins.
Instead of doing another rant on these cursed threads, I’d advise you to go back and find my Rangers/Bruins blog.
And yep – BURN THOSE FREAKING JERSEYS! THEY ARE THE ABSOLUTELY CURSED AND THE RANGERS NEVER WIN IN THEM!
If there’s anything Sam and Joe said that was both useful and true, it was when they brought up the horrific job by the NHL schedule-makers, and how the Rangers and Islanders only play three times this season.
Then again, after two straight losses to the Islanders – maybe the schedule-makers gave the Rangers a gift.
Can you imagine eight games of this?
(And isn’t it funny how the NHL promotes rivalries with their 2-3 seeding first-round playoff system; but then limits the amount of rivalry games you’ll see during the regular season? Just food for thought.)
Let’s now get into this diarrhea of a game.
FIRST PERIOD:
Just as redundant and as repetitive as “this was the worst loss of the season,” is this line that I’ve been saying more times than not – “it wasn’t all bad.”
Also getting old? This: “the Rangers didn’t play a sixty minute game.”
And you know what else is getting worn out? These two factoids:
— The Rangers haven’t beaten a team playing their second game of a back-to-back all season.
— The Rangers haven’t won a game whenever pegged as a heavy favorite by the sports-books.
It’s sad – the Rangers, at one point, were -197 favorites tonight. I laughed when I saw that and then wondered if every Islander had COVID-19, AIDS, their legs amputated and/or were suffering through some other sort of a crippling affliction.
At best, the Rangers should’ve been -110 favorites, if not flat-out dogs.
And by the final horn – the Rangers were flat-out dog shit.
One more time – “it wasn’t all bad.”
Similar to how “TOUGH LOVE,” featuring a victorious Gallant and Kreider, should’ve been a top story tonight; also worthy of top billing was the play of Vincent Trocheck.
The second-line center had a box-score that anyone should be proud of, as he finished with one goal, one assist, eight shots on goal and won 19 of 22 face-offs (86.4%).
Trocheck’s eight shots on goal (game-high) doubled-up Panarin (4 SOG), as “The Breadman” finished second-best among all Blueshirt forwards. (Trouba had five shots on goal.)
And obviously, Trocheck’s faceoff success rate was also a game-high. At least he showed up.
After #16 defeated notorious Ranger killer, Jean-Gabriel Pageau, on the first face-off of the game; Trocheck’s new left-winger, Alexis Lafreniere, almost caught Islanders’ goalie, Seymon Varlamov, off-guard. No dice though.
Once the “first-line” came on, just 75 seconds in, Panarin set-up Zibanejad with a perfect pass. The result? A <ding> off of the crossbar.
This could’ve been #93’s first even-strength goal of the season – and while yes, this puck hit iron – he has to finish. He didn’t, and had he – the tone of this blog would be very different right now.
Within the first four minutes, the Lafreniere/Trocheck/Vesey line had four scoring chances, but couldn’t beat Varly either.
As this line motored and played aggressive; at the 4:14 mark, Vesey accidentally tripped Ryan Pulock while forechecking.
While this was a trip, albeit accidental – I liked how this was called – while Wahlstrom’s infraction on Kakko was later completely ignored.
The life of an NHL official (and similar to Kravtsov) – where there’s no such thing as job responsibility. We should all be so lucky in life.
Once again, the Rangers’ penalty kill was terrible, where just as was the case against Detroit – the Rangers’ goaltender was the best PKer.
However, unlike Halak, who should’ve been credited with eleven short-handed saves on Sunday; Igor struggled to do the same.
After surviving an Isles’ barrage, including stops on JGP from the bumper and a slap-shot from Noah Dobson; with just ten seconds remaining on the Rangers’ kill, Kyle Palmieri (and if I ever do that 100 MOST HATED NYR VILLAINS book, Palmieri has a few pages dedicated all to himself), and a player who only seems to score against the Rangers; the former Devil-turned-Islander poked a loose puck/rebound through Igor’s five-hole.
1-0, bad guys.
While the Rangers’ PK was terrible here, Igor did give up a rebound after stopping Pulock’s initial shot, thus allowing Palmieri to score.
With the home team now down 1-0 at the 6:04 mark, this is when the tide started to turn, where a Rangers’ “blue wave” would ride high for the next thirty or so minutes. They were then halted, as if they saw a “red” stop sign, come the third period.
Kaapo Kakko, who continues to play well, forced a turnover on Wahlstrom. Wahlstrom recovered and then forced Mika into a turnover in the other end.
Just as you thought that the Islanders would sit back and hold onto their 1-0 lead all game; come 8:24 remaining, this happened:
Miller ➡️ Chytil pic.twitter.com/0HEJF3EUcy
— Rangers on MSG (@RangersMSGN) November 9, 2022
1-1, as Chytil finished Varly after receiving a touch-pass from Miller.
This was a monumental goal too, as another Ranger killer (and a villain for perhaps that book I’ll write one day), Varlamov, hadn’t given up a goal to the Rangers since January of 2020.
Prior to this goal, Varlamov had shut-out the Rangers during his last twelve periods played – hence the reason why he got the start tonight.
And talk about a big goal, although this also tells you about the state of the Rangers:
Right after the goal, Gallant was fist-bumping and proclaiming, “THAT’S HOW WE PLAY.”
John Giannone, in-between the benches, then said, “you could feel the tension leaving the Rangers’ bench.”
But don’t worry – after the game, Gallant seemed nonchalant about the loss – but we’ll soon get there.
It should also be mentioned that prior to the goal, Fox made two keeps during this Rangers’ possession.
Also of note, for these over-eager fans who think that Vitali Kravtsov is the second-coming of “The Russian Rocket,” Pavel Bure? He was on the ice for this goal. He also put a shot on goal in this game (his first of the season), so he finished this game with one shot on goal and a plus/minus rating of +1.
“BREAK UP THE RANGERS! KRAVTSOV IS HERE! WE WANT THE CUP!”
Ugh.
Down to 5:10 remaining, Kreider had Chytil set-up for goal number two, but Varly made a flashy save.
Following a commercial break, “INSPECTOR MICHELETTI” (that’s what Rosen called him), said something that I’ve recently opined on this site – there has to be something that’s bothering Trouba.
Micheletti said verbatim what I said on this site a few days ago – there has to be a reason why Trouba is missing nearly every practice in exchange for “maintenance days.”
Just like me, Micheletti has no conclusive proof with this conspiracy theory – but I don’t think he’s wrong either.
Unless Trouba has completely regressed, and has reverted to the player that he was during his first two years in New York – something is off. Way off at that.
After all, when’s the last time you saw a real “TROO TROO TRAIN” hit this season? When’s the last time a “TROUBA BOMB” has hit the inside of a net?
As we hit 3:20 to go, the Islanders played a puck after one of those derelicts (I think Palmieri) hit it with a high-stick. The officials, in a harbinger of what was to come, didn’t blow their whistle. However, had the Isles scored here, Gallant would’ve won his review.
As the two Russians exchanged saves in net; we approached 8.5 seconds remaining, where Isles’ head coach, and former Ranger, Lane Lambert, thought an icing should’ve been called.
And in Lambert’s defense – icing should’ve been called – just another example of the poor officiating from tonight’s inexcusable affair.
With those 8.5 seconds still on the clock, and a faceoff that should’ve been in the Rangers’ d-zone, rather than in the Isles’ zone (Varly had just stopped a Trocheck one-timer); Casey Cizikas accidentally high-sticked Lafreniere following the puck drop.
In turn, the Rangers would open the second period with 1:54’s worth of a power-play.
One-all after twenty minutes. Here’s what I said at the time:
1-1 after 1. 1P Thoughts:
— Crappy start, but #NYR picked it up after the PPG.
— Chytil, Kakko and Lafreniere are standing out – on three separate lines.
— SOG 14-12, Hits 12-8 NYR; FO’s 9-9
— Both goalies have looked good – as expected
— Can’t lose to these bums
LGR— BlueCollarBlueShirts (@NYCTheMiC) November 9, 2022
SECOND PERIOD:
From this point of the game and on, this become extremely apparent – EVERY RANGER wanted to lift up Kreider, following his demotion to the third line.
The Rangers had four power-plays tonight, and on all of them, the mission was to get Kreider the puck.
While I don’t know if this was designed by Gallant (I don’t think it was); you could see Kreider’s buddies, Panarin, Zibanejad, Fox and everyone else, blowing off open shots in favor of trying to get #20 a hat-trick.
It almost worked – and it did work on this first power-play.
Just 22 seconds into the power-play, this happened:
CHRIS KREIDER! IT’S A POWER PLAY GOAL! pic.twitter.com/EePbnZfaCO
— Rangers on MSG (@RangersMSGN) November 9, 2022
2-1, GOOD GUYS, as Christopher James Kreider, after talking about scoring on Monday, picked up his fifth goal of the season.
Funny enough, this was also one of those “puck luck”/fortunate breaks that Kreider hadn’t been receiving of late, as Panarin had perfectly set-up Kreider. However, the puck hit the heel of his stick (where the blade meets the shaft – “OH JOE, SEX TALK JOE!”), but it didn’t matter – Kreider got enough wood on it and there was nothing Varly could do but watch.
And while trying to feed Kreider was on display all period, so was the Rangers’ motor, as they absolutely dominated this period.
Not only did the Rangers outscore the Isles 2-0 this period, they also out-shot them 17-6, and with a <ding> included too.
Following Mika crashing the net and Trocheck later coming close to a rebound goal; just a minute after Kreider scored, Beauvillier went to the box after hooking Vesey. In turn, this was a way of Vesey canceling out the penalty that he had taken earlier in the game.
The Rangers’ power-play, due to their dedication to Kreider, didn’t get a SOG during these two minutes. There were three times, where Fox, Panarin and Mika each had GOOD LOOKS at the net, but opted to force passes to Kreider instead.
I mean I get it, and I appreciate their loyalty – but this backfired.
While there’s no way I can proclaim a “moral victory” after a loss like this – if you want that silver lining – then it’s the team rallying around Kreider tonight. However, I rather the two points in the standings.
Down to 15:08 remaining, Goodrow cross-checked Lee.
Prior to #21’s two-minute timeout, the Isles had something like a 45 second delayed attack, where the only fortunate thing about this (besides not giving up a goal) was that the Rangers’ fourth line were out there, which meant that the Rangers’ PK1 unit would be fresh.
The Rangers’ PK was much better here than during their first foray, as Igor only had to make one save – a stop on Nelson.
As we hit 12:07 left on the clock, the Isles gave the Rangers what was essentially their third power-play of the period, following Wahlstrom’s interference with Zibanejad.
Of note – once Mika was taken down, Lafreniere immediately charged at the player that the Rangers should’ve drafted during the 2018 NHL Entry Draft.
Once again, the Rangers tried to keep going to Kreider here. It almost worked again too, as Panarin found Kreider, but CK20 found iron instead of twine. However, and more importantly for the Isles – they successfully killed this penalty.
Now back to full-strength; Fox passed up a shot and fed Kreider again, where this timed deflection led to another save for Varly.
As we hit 8:08 to go, the Isles gave the Rangers their fourth power-play in a span of twelve minutes, when Cizikas tripped Blais.
Stop me if this is getting old, but yep – the Rangers kept going to Kreider – and he almost scored again:
As you can see from the picture above, Kreider put 99% of a puck past the goal line. However, this isn’t the NFL – the entire puck has to cross the line, rather than the nose of a football during a touchdown scoring play.
The officials actually got this right. They called no goal on the ice, which hurt the Rangers, just because come review time – the officials had to find clear-cut evidence to overturn this call. There was no such conclusive evidence to the contrary, which meant that this play went down as a save for Varly, where again – was the correct call.
However, after the lengthy review, the Rangers still had 1:47 of power-play time to work with.
With 6:13 left in the period, the Islanders gave the Rangers a break:
VINCENT TROCHECK! IT’S A POWER PLAY GOAL! pic.twitter.com/sXbwF8CS0A
— Rangers on MSG (@RangersMSGN) November 9, 2022
3-1, GOOD GUYS, following Trocheck’s fifth goal of the season.
This goal should’ve never happened.
On this play, Varlamov made a great glove save on Panarin. As Varly was waiting for a whistle, Mayfield, when trying to go after Zibanejad, accidentally made contact with Varly’s glove. Varly then dropped the puck, and boom – Trocheck took advantage and backhanded the rubber past the reliable Islander goalie.
This is where you started to feel confident, where I will admit (and you may have gathered this after reading last night’s blog) – I was dreading this game – a rare feeling prior to a NYR/NYI tilt for me.
Sadly, my fears would soon be realized.
Under 2:30 remaining, this is when the game started to change, as the Rangers closed this middle frame with pure sloppiness.
Wahlstrom hit the top of the crossbar. Then, with 30 seconds remaining, CZAR IGOR heard another <ding> as a puck whizzed by him. In other words, the Isles almost got their two goals back during these final two minutes.
None of this was mentioned by the beat reporters, Vagistat or Gallant. Instead, the no-call on Kakko was the focus.
And those two goals that the Isles almost scored here? They’d soon get them.
Here’s what I said at the end of the period, after the Rangers survived their mini-scare:
3-1, GOOD GUYS after 40. 2P Thoughts:
— Total #NYR domination, but it got sloppy at the end.
— NYR really want Kreider to shine.
— No repeat of what the #Isles did last night please.
— SOG 31-18, Hits 21-13, FO’s 24-15 all NYR
— PP 2-4
— FINISH!!!
— LGR!— BlueCollarBlueShirts (@NYCTheMiC) November 9, 2022
THIRD PERIOD:
Maybe the horrible M$GN was trying to tell us something, as the picture went in-and-out during these final twenty minutes.
Just fourteen seconds into the period, 3-2, good guys, after Pelech’s roof-job on Igor.
This is what I said right after the goal:
#NYR are going to need that insurance goal back, these Isles don’t go away
— BlueCollarBlueShirts (@NYCTheMiC) November 9, 2022
This was one of these occasions where I’m pissed-off about being proven right.
I can’t go through the rest of this period for two reasons – one, M$GN kept losing the picture, and two, this was like watching a kid get hit by a car, where all you could do was scream “NOOOOOOOOO,” in slow-motion and while from a few yards away.
The low-lights of this period:
— With 12:18 remaining, Varly stopped Vesey, at the last second, with a snap of his pads, on #26’s breakaway.
— With 10:05 remaining, an all alone Kakko was stopped by Varly.
— With 8:18 remaining, Chytil hooked Lee. Sixty-four seconds later, Nelson one-timed a puck from the circle. 3-3. I think Igor should’ve stopped this – but it was tough to tell due to the horrendous M$GN feed.
— With 6:45 remaining, K’Andre Miller, looking like Willie Huber, was draped all over Palmieri. The Isle paid no mind and still got to Igor – a rare save from this period. (Five saves on eight shots.)
— Down to 5:30 remaining – the Sutherland no-call trip on Kakko, and five seconds after that – Lee’s backhander – as once again, Miller could do nothing but watch. 4-3, bad guys.
— Down by one and with 2:06 remaining, Gallant took his timeout and pulled Igor.
— As the fans at M$G screamed SHOOT for a continuous minute, these chants fell on deaf ears.
4-3, bad guys, your final from the World’s Most Expensive Arena.
Yes, losing to Columbus (and San Jose too) was worse than losing to the Islanders – but when you pile it all up, and considering the way that the Rangers lost this game (and don’t forget the four-point swing in the standings) – this was brutal.
And yep, this is a recency bias too – but I can’t remember being this down after a Rangers’ loss since the Senators’ Game Two victory over the Rangers during the 2017 Playoffs.
(For what it’s worth: I was never really that upset with a loss from the “DQ Era.” I didn’t expect much, due to the rebuild.)
Furthermore, I also know this – some people (including that moron Sieve Vagistat) are talking about SOG this, and ANALytics that – but the only thing that matters is the final score – the way it’s been since 1917, when the NHL first came into existence.
Whoop-de-doo, the Rangers look nice on a chart. All I care about is how they look in the standings.
Let me know when the Stanley Cup is awarded to the team with the best heat-maps.
Here’s Gallant, who didn’t seem too upset with the loss (or at least – did a great job of hiding it):
Yes, I understand that as fans, we will always overreact to wins and losses (and poor officiating too) – but if there was ever a time for Gallant to rip the officials – it was tonight.
Leave it to the Rangers.
After blowing up the lines – that’s not even a major point of discussion as it was 24 hours ago. In a way, you almost forgot about the lines.
And where’s Gallant’s fire? He sounded like a “participation trophy” millennial with his, “we deserved to win” tripe.
No one deserves to win when you take a whole period off.
It now feels like it doesn’t matter who’s on the ice – the team can’t finish, nor play a full sixty-minute game.
Where did the Rangers from the home-opener go? Someone invite them back to M$G – pronto.
Fourteen games down (17% of the season) and what have we learned besides these Rangers aren’t the same team from last year?
The following:
No game on this 82-game schedule will be easy. Every night will be a fight. And until the Rangers show any sort of motivation or drive to win – they’ll continue to be on the wrong end of these contests.
Furthermore, and I hate to say this, because no one is a bigger fan of CZAR IGOR than me (check the archives of this site – I’ve been talking him up since 2017) – watching him in net this season is like watching Lundqvist during his final years. The extra save, the game-changing save, hasn’t been there.
And at least Lundqvist had a solid resume before his decline.
If this doesn’t change, and with a team that can’t close out games – it could be a long season.
Who wants to step up?
See ya Thursday night, barring something crazy happening at practice on Wednesday.
P.S.: COME BACK SOON RYAN LINDGREN.
And oh yeah – thanks for sticking with me – I had to get this all out of my system, as I feel absolutely sick.
These blogs are my way of purging – especially when I need to let these negative feelings go away!
PLUGS TIME!
On Monday night, our pals at “2 Guys 1 Cup” returned with a new episode. To listen to the podcast, click the link below:
Episode 62 is up!
This one was a good one! Back and forth over the line changes, panic vs no panic, and John Candy #NYR https://t.co/CSF4LXAlDy— 2 Guys 1 Cup Podcast (@2G1CRangers) November 8, 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:
Rangers’ Off-Day News: “Turning Point Turk” Blows Up Lines (A True “Expected” Stat!); Assesses Team, Dissecting the Roster, Interesting Interviews; 2022 Playoffs Brought Up Twice, Kreider Demotion, NYR v. Isles, Upcoming Schedule & More
NYR/BOS 11/3 Review: The Curse of the Liberty Jersey Strikes Again; B’s Best Blueshirts, Lindgren Joins Walking Wounded; “Day-to-Day,” Schneider Statement Game; Invisible Top Six; Pasta Beats Bread, Mika Calls Out Blogger, Trouba Troubles, Boston/Vegas Domination Irony & More
NYR/PHI 11/1 Review: First-Place Rangers Need OT to Knock off Rivals in a Frustrating, Yet Exciting Fashion; Most Dramatic Win Yet, NYR Should Change Nets at M$G; Hart’s Ears Still Ringin’, Kakko Steppin’ Up, Tony DePotvingelo, Lundqvist & Vagistat, Reaves Brings It, Injury Updates & 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
You nailed it 👏