NYR/ANA 12/15 Review: American Blueshirts Dine on Ducks (As They Were “Supposed” To); That New Swede Kid (Adam Edstrom) Ain’t Shabby Either, Rangers Right Their Ways But All Eyes Remain on CZAR IGOR, The Mysterious M.I.A. Miller, “LAVY’S LOUNGES,” RIP Rangers’ Alum; Carr v. Chadwick, M$GN & More

Greetings and salutations everyone and welcome to another blog here on BlueCollarBlueShirts.com. Peace – or at least for the next 24-hours anyway!

Following the Blueshirts’ brutal Tuesday night loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs, now 72-hours removed from that drubbing, the Rangers restored order themselves against the putrid Anaheim Ducks.

While the 5-1 final score may suggest a blowout, that wasn’t really the case either, as the last-place Pacific Division Ducks (yes – they are even worse than the San Jose Sharks!), and with their back-up goaltender in net to boot, Lukas Dostal, held their own against the first-place in the Metropolitan Division Rangers.

In another game from this 2023-24 campaign that had all of the makings of another “Any Given Sunday,” the Ducks struck first, following a Brett Leason goal scored at the 13:30 mark of the first frame.

The Rangers, once again now trailing, would soon score five unanswered goals – a tying goal from Chris Kreider in the first period, a go-ahead goal from Jimmy Vesey in the second period, and the insurance goal from CK20 which was also scored during the second stanza.

The Americans on this team, who had a heck of a night at the office, later saw a pair of Swedes, Mika Zibanejad and rookie Adam Edstrom, score during the final frame, en route to the 5-1 win.

For Kreider, who is also famously known by his middle name of JAMES, it was a historic night.

With his pair of tallies, Kreider scored the 281st goal of his career – now good for third-best in franchise history. For the cherry on top, he now has 501 career points to his name too.

And yep – while there are still many seasons left for CK20 – one day, and as previously explained on this site – he’ll have his #20 hanging from the rafters of M$G – and where I also suspect that he’ll join Henrik Lundqvist as a team/franchise ambassador.

Where the physical location of M$G will be on that future date still remains up for debate – Kreider’s status as a Rangers’ legend, an icon, is not.

In other words – we are presently enjoying Blueshirts’ history, so relish in it!

But of course, this lone win, one from an 82-game schedule, is just that – and where let’s face it – the Rangers did what they were supposed to do on Friday night – ruffle and pluck the feathers of the ugly ducklings.

And yes, you guessed it, this is my transition to my season-long daily disclaimer too:

“WHATEVER THE RANGERS DO IN THE REGULAR SEASON DOESN’T MATTER. THEY CAN ONLY BE JUDGED BY WHATEVER THEY DO IN THE 2024 STANLEY CUP PLAYOFFS!”

There were a lot of highlights, and as mentioned, historic milestones met too, on Friday night.

However, and since my disclaimer is the only thing that matters to me (win in the playoffs), I couldn’t help to think about the present “goalie controversy” in Rangerstown, USA.

Jonathan Quick, who has made general manager Chris Drury look like an absolute genius this season, was once again near-perfect – and really, when you look at today’s NHL – one goal allowed is pretty much perfect these days.

An odd-man rush goal allowed, following a Rangers’ turnover, was the only blemish on Quick’s 29 saves on 30 shots faced night.

In other words – not one bad goal allowed for JQ32 –  and who more and more – is doing his best to make you forget all about what happened in June of 2014.

And while I don’t do the ANALytical junk on this site; I’d reckon to guess that at least half of Quick’s saves on Friday night were of the “HIGH DANGER” variety.

Even I, a loyal and devout fan of CZAR IGOR, wondered throughout this game if he, in his present state, would’ve been able to limit the Ducks to one goal.

Another thought?

While both the Rangers and their fans were riding high following this win – what happens tomorrow night in Boston?

Another poor showing from Shestyorkin?

Then, and while the “goalie controversy” talk, stuff which we’ve talked about on this site during the past two-weeks, isn’t exactly 100% genuine – but at the same time – you do have to wonder if Rangers’ head coach Peter Laviolette will ride the hot-hand- and while CZAR IGOR sits on the bench during game day – while also spending his off-days sitting under the learning tree of goalie guru, Benoit Allaire.

(Holy run-on sentence Batman!)

But we can talk more about CZAR IGOR tomorrow night, following the Rangers’ Original Six tilt in Beantown.

Tonight?

Let’s talk about all of the positivity from Friday’s win – while also covering all of the pregame news & notes too – and where there’s a lot to get into.

However, and before getting there – sadly, we have two alumni deaths to discuss.

On December 13th, former Blueshirt Gene Carr passed away at 72-years-old.

I’ve written many words on this site about Carr in the past, but I feel my best work when recapping his career and time with the Rangers is in my book “Tricks of the Trade.”

Since tonight’s blog is fairly long, perhaps later next week, I’ll share the Carr material from that book on this site for free.

(But you should still buy that four-volume set anyway! After all, I don’t run ads here!)

While Carr is most infamously remembered as the butt-end of former Rangers’ announcer Bill Chadwick’s most famous quote, “he couldn’t put the puck in the ocean if he was standing at the end of the pier” – Carr, who never got over from this scathing commentary, was more than that.

(Some would argue that Chadwick’s comments, while true at the time, ruined Carr’s career.)

Known for his flowing blonde hair, Carr was the fourth-overall pick (St. Louis) of the top-heavy 1971 NHL Amateur Draft.

Ironically, Carr, and like the three men drafted prior to him (#1 Guy Lafleur, Montreal, #2 Marcel Dionne, Los Angeles and #3, Jocelyn Guevremont, Vancouver) later played for the Rangers.

Carr, acquired during the early stages of the 1971-72 season (full details in “Tricks of the Trade”), played for the Blueshirts during the height of the Emile Francis Era and also played in all sixteen games of the Rangers’ run to the 1972 Stanley Cup Final.

However, the young man could never sustain success in New York, and just two seasons following the Stanley Cup Final loss to the Boston Bruins, he was then demoted to the AHL (Providence Reds).

Come Valentine’s Day of 1974, he was shipped to the other side of the country to Los Angeles for the Kings’ first-round draft pick – but not of that year – but of 1977 instead.

But the less said about Ron Duguay vs Mike Bossy, the better (and again – you can read all about this in “Tricks of the Trade”).

Carr, who didn’t really work out with the Blues, nor the Blueshirts for that matter neither, had the best years of his career in Los Angeles.

And go figure:

On November 2nd, 1977, the Kings traded Carr to the Pittsburgh Penguins for another former Ranger, Hartland Monahan – and another former NHLer who also passed away at the age of 72-years-old this week:

The NHL Alumni Association is deeply saddened to learn that Hartland Monahan has passed away at the age of 72.

Hartland was drafted in 1972 to the California Golden Seals, 43rd overall. He played one game for the Golden Seals in 1973-74 before moving to the @NYRangers. Monahan… pic.twitter.com/9pRhNzifUc

— NHL Alumni (@NHLAlumni) December 13, 2023

Unlike Carr, there were less expectations imposed on Monahan, who was drafted 43rd-overall in 1971 (Seals).

And also unlike Carr, Monahan only had a cup of coffee in the Big Apple, as he skated in six games for the Rangers during the 1974-75 season, as he spent the bulk of that campaign with the Reds.

Monahan’s time with the Rangers wasn’t that memorable, as really, the right-winger was mainly known as the son-in-law of a former Blueshirt player (and head coach too), Bernie “BOOM BOOM” Geoffrion.

(I think Geoffrion may have played for the Montreal Canadiens too!)

In either event, my condolences to the friends and families of both Carr and Monahan.

And as noted, I’ll try to have more on Carr sometime next week – as his time with the Rangers was fascinating.

At this time, let’s get out of the obituaries and into today.

Up first: The Rangers’ off-days prior to Friday night’s puck drop.

Following their embarrassing loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs from Tuesday night, no less than twelve-hours after it, the team returned to their practice facility in Tarrytown, NY.

Similar to the game, Miller remained away from the team with his “personal issue.”

In “nothing burger” news, both Chris Kreider and Blake Wheeler didn’t participate, but only due to “maintenance” reasons.

Once the sponsored “RISE AND SHINE” skate was complete, the Blueshirts’ bench boss conducted his Wednesday edition of “LAVY’S LOUNGE.”

Here it is:

Really, outside of saying what you’d expect him to say, such as “we have to play better, I don’t want to be emotional after games, we have to tighten things up,” and blah-blah-blah; the only thing “of note” were the “progress reports” that Laviolette gave on his missing players – and where such progress remained as status-quo.

On Filip Chytil, Lavy said that the Czech center continues to skate on his own but couldn’t provide any sort of a time-table on when he’d be able to return.

On Kaapo Kakko, Lavy said the obvious – the Finn is nowhere close to skating. However, when asked for a time-table, the head coach laughed about it and just said that #24 is on the LTIR and how the LTIR covers a minimum amount of time.

In other words, Kakko is nowhere close to returning – but one more time – we already knew that.

On Miller, Lavy said that he wanted to protect his player’s privacy and just reiterated that #79’s absence was personal.

And I guess just to mention it – yes – Laviolette also gave a vote of confidence for his starting goaltender, CZAR IGOR.

Then again, what would you expect Lavy to say?

A day later, Thursday, the Rangers reconvened in Tarrytown for another practice.

This time around, not only were Kreider and Wheeler back – but so was Miller.

During the practice, Jimmy Vesey caught an errant puck off of a crossbar to his mouth, which as a result, marked the second time in a week where a Blueshirts’ prominent fourth liner had his mouth rearranged following some “friendly fire.”

That was what Laviolette spoke about first, during Thursday’s “LAVY’S LOUNGE.”

Here it is for you below:

Since Lavy had spoken the day before, and despite speaking for 78676786786 hours – not much was learnt here.

Instead, the big talk of the day surrounded the status of Miller – and a Miller who did speak to the media following the practice, albeit for less than a minute:

“I don’t feel too comfortable talking about it right now, but I’m doing better and I’m in a better headspace. Happy to be back with the guys.”

K’Andre Miller talks about missing time with a “personal issue” pic.twitter.com/iYWh8Towef

— Rangers Videos (@SNYRangers) December 14, 2023

In a word – “interesting” – as this quote suggests that whatever is going on with Miller right now is mental-health related, rather than something truly serious and grave, such as the death of a loved one.

(I only bring up the death of a loved one because more times than not, “personal reasons,” are the two words used to explain a player’s unplanned absence.

I also had some readers write in and suggest that Miller may be feeling guilty about the Goodrow injury that he inflicted – but I can’t see that being the case.

After all, any player who laces the skates knows the risks at hand – and how accidents, and sometimes shit too, happens.

On Friday, and with no morning skate to be had, at around 4PM, the Rangers announced the following:

UPDATE: The Rangers have recalled Adam Edstrom from the Hartford Wolf Pack.

— NY Rangers PR (@NYR_PR) December 15, 2023

About an hour or so later, during his final “LAVY’S LOUNGE” prior to puck drop, the head coach remarked, “around the league there’s a lot of sickness going around. You can see it through reports and so, just want to make sure we have enough players for the game. The whole thing is precautionary.”

Laviolette also mentioned that Miller would not be playing, which only created more speculation about #79’s “personal issue.”

The whole K’Andre Miller thing is peculiar.

It has to be a mental health thing as I have been suggesting, no?

I’m not knocking him, so don’t take it that way – but Miller leaves the team for a few days, then practices with them, then only to bring up his head space and how he needed tonight off too.

Keep in mind, he has rarely missed time throughout his relatively short career.

If Miller’s “personal reasons” are related to mental health (and to reiterate – I’m speculating – NOT confirming), then I wonder what triggered it.

In any event, and I know that this sounds inhumane, but from a team-perspective (FYI: Another one of my never-ending cliches is “the show must go on”) – then it’s better that Miller addresses these issues now, rather than doing so during the playoffs.

Last but not least; the bench boss confirmed that Quick would be starting in net, which made sense for all of the obvious reasons, including the fact that JQ32 has a good track record, and a ton of familiarity too, against his former one-time biggest rival, the Anaheim Ducks.

Not mentioned during any of this?

How Nick Bonino had (explosive) diarrhea, where as a result, Adam Edstrom skated in his first NHL game.

More about this below – and Edstrom’s first NHL goal too!

Here was Laviolette’s line-up for the twenty-eighth game of this 2023-24 season:

FIRST LINE: Panarin/Trocheck/Lafreniere

SECOND LINE: Kreider/Zibanejad/Wheeler

THIRD LINE: Cuylle/Edstrom/Brodzinski

FOURTH LINE: Vesey/Goodrow/Pitlick

FIRST PAIR: Lindgren/Fox

SECOND PAIR: Gustafsson/Trouba

THIRD PAIR: Jones/Schneider

STARTER: Quick

BACK-UP: CZAR IGOR

DIARRHEA: Bonino

PERSONAL ISSUES: Miller

LONG TERM INJURED RESERVE: Chytil and Kakko

BOX SCORE time.

The following graphics and information come from ESPN.com:

SCORING:

PENALTIES:

TEAM STATS:

GOALIES:

At 6:30:00PM, I tuned into the M$GN. Once it was revealed that “THE KING OF COMMENTARY,” Henrik Lundqvist, had the night off, that was it for me – as there was no shot in hell that I was going to sit through thirty-minutes of Sieve Vagistat comparing his shitty career to Jonathan Quick, Mike Richter, Eddie Giacomin, Chuck Rayner, Dave Kerr, et. al.

Whenever I tune out of the M$GN during solo-Vagistat performances, I usually flip to the NHL Network.

And that’s what I did tonight, where once there, I saw the insufferable clueless birdbrain, Mollie Walker, on their airwaves.

Long story short?

From 6:30PM-7:00PM, I watched a repeat episode of “Impractical Jokers” on TruTV!

(Bring back Joe Gatto!)

While I’m sure that M$GN told you to bet your life savings on tonight’s game, I found two pregame odds from the Las Vegas line makers to be telling.

First, the Rangers were favored -355 tonight.

Yea, I know – the Blueshirts won by four goals on Friday.

But even so, to lay that type of wood (risk $355 to win $100) is just insane to me, especially since this is an “Any Given Sunday” league, in addition to the fact that the Blueshirts usually play down to their level competition.

And as mentioned above – that’s what happened during the first half of tonight’s tilt.

The other interesting pregame wager was that Frank Vatrano was +160 to score a goal tonight.

Apparently, the gambling gods are aware of the Rangers’ track record against their former players – and especially how these former Blueshirt right-wingers have a tendency to score against them!

Fortunately, this bet never hit tonight (and I’m sure that many Blueshirt backers backed this bet too) – as the Blueshirts, at least for one night, bucked this nasty little trend.

Once returned to M$GN at 7:00PM, it was reported that while Bonino took part of the pregame warm-ups, he was still feeling under the weather (LOWER BODY, DAY-TO-DAY, DIARRHEA) and was unable to go. In turn, this meant that Adam Edstrom (who didn’t receive his traditional “rookie lap” tonight), would be making his debut.

And what a debut it was!

Just to fast-forward a bit, here’s Edstrom following the win – and his goal scored too:

“Bones came up to me at the end of warmup and was like ‘I’m not gonna play today’. So, I was a bit shocked because I didn’t really do any reps out there in warmup. I was just standing around stick-handling. Just time to get to it I guess.”

Should “Bones” be out tomorrow, then perhaps Edstrom shouldn’t do any reps during Saturday night’s warm-ups either!

GAME REVIEW time!

Prior to puck drop, Sam and Joe did their best to “REVERSE CURSE” the Rangers – but nothing would take! Praise the hockey gods!

Despite their usual flowers being handed out to every Duck on the frozen pond; I thought that Micheletti was poignant when he said, “Sam, Quick isn’t a back-up. It isn’t right to call him that.”

And Jumpin’ Joe was right.

At the same time, I thought that Rosen was freakin’ senile when he said, “OH JOE, MIKA ZIBANEJAD LIFTS THIS TEAM DURING SLUMPS JOE!”

As you all know, Zibanejad rarely scores even-strength goals, and where 99.9% of them this season have been scored against the Flyers – his personal whipping boys.

Last but not least, and after Rosen informed us, “OH JOE, FRANK VATRANO LIKES TO SHOOT IT (all over my face) JOE” – the following exchange:

“OH JOE, THE EIGHTEEN YEAR OLD LEO CARLSSON JOE, I’M HARD JOE!”

“Just wait until he gains 15-20 pounds in the off-season Sam!”

(This really happened – except for the part about Rosen mentioning his erection.)

FIRST PERIOD

As said a few times already – the first-half of this game felt like another contest where the Rangers play down to their level of competition.

Put it this way: At the 32-minute mark of the game, the Rangers only had eight shots on goal. Come twelve-minutes remaining in the match, the Blueshirts had quadrupled that total to 32.

The Panarin line began the game, as Vincent Trocheck (15-9, 62.5%) won the first draw of the contest.

At just the thirty-second mark, Troy Terry, who both Sam and Joe wanted to see score tonight, blew a major opportunity when wide-open – as he then shot the puck wide too.

Sam’s response?

“MOOOOOOOOO!”

Just a half-minute later, Ryan Strome, completely ineffective tonight (and I was a huge fan of his during his time in New York City – and not on Long Island), led a 3 x 2 odd-man rush – but your 2021 Norris Trophy winner, Adam Fox, broke up this particular attack.

With 18:34 remaining, Ryan Lindgren recorded the first Rangers’ SOG of the game.

Similar to the way that #55 seems to eat huge hit after huge hit in every game played – it also feels like Lindgren registers the first SOG more times than not too.

During a stoppage, we got a close-up shot of Jimmy Vesey.

Similar to Barclay Goodrow, “JIMMY THE LIP” was wearing a face shield/cage too, after eating the puck off of the crossbar during Thursday’s practice.

Word to the wise?

If I’m Tyler Pitlick, then I’m also throwing on the good old fishbowl over my dome, because it’s only inevitable before he takes a puck to the grill too.

And similar to his center, Vesey is also just one tough and tenacious son of a bitch.

Throughout his career, and mainly with the Rangers, we’ve seen the 2016 Hobey Baker winner play with multiple missing teeth, black eyes that rivaled Rihanna, broken noses and now with such a nasty face injury, that it looked like that he had a cleft lip.

HOCKEY PLAYERS.

And this can’t be debated – JIMMY VESEY IS A WARRIOR.

As Sam and Joe continued to go on about nothing, where Sam actually said, “OH JOE, EDSTROM AND CARLSSON GREW UP TOGETHER IN SWEDEN JOE – THEY TOOK BATHS TOGETHER JOE!” (okay, he didn’t really say the baths remark); Edstrom, wearing #84, took his first shift of the game.

And as noted earlier – you would have never known that the 23-year-old was playing in his first NHL game of his career.

Come 16:32 remaining, Quick made his first of 29 saves.

Following the save, the Ducks rebounded which then led to Trouba blocking a Strome shot. After the block, the puck took a nice bounce to Kreider. CK20 then found his BFF, DJ MIKA, for a breakaway opportunity. Despite a back-up goalie in net, the man who desperately needs a haircut couldn’t capitalize.

And because of how this game ultimately ended – I doubt that you’ll see this play mentioned in other game recounts.

With 14:00 remaining, Sam had to bring up one of my “RANGER KILLERS” from my new book, Adam Henrique.

No one loves recounting Rangers’ misery more than Rosen – and I say that as the person who literally wrote the book on this subject! (https://bluecollarblueshirts.com/rangerkillers/ )

At the same time, Vesey, who had a nose for the net all game (a whopping team-high of six SOG – a total that was only matched by Kreider), was denied by Dostal.

After Dave Maloney, from in-between the benches, told us that Zibanejad needs to score an even-strength goal sometime again in his career (and the former captain is really a master of all trades, as he can excel in any facet of a hockey broadcast with perfection), Quick came up with another save with 13:33 remaining.

Sam and Joe also brought up the Miller situation, but outside of mentioning it, they just said “personal reasons” and left it at that.

With 11:05 to go, Quick, when making a routine play by passing the puck to his defenseman while behind his own net, had to avoid Lafreniere, as #13 came an inch shy of barreling over his goaltender.

While Lafreniere has played well, he also isn’t scoring these days either.

Just sayin’.

Now down to 10:37 to play, the first of two back-to-back Anaheim power-plays.

The first saw Trocheck revert to taking his usual one boneheaded penalty per game, this time for needlessly interfering with Brett Leason.

Then, with nine-seconds remaining on this kill, Lindgren had hooked Terry.

The Rangers penalty kill finished a perfect 2-2 here and for several reasons, including:

— Jimmy Vesey and Barclay Goodrow.

— The Ducks’ knack for blocking more of their own shots than the Rangers ever did.

— Quick.

To reset, the Rangers had now killed back-to-back penalties and even an abbreviated Ducks’ 5 x 3 attack too.

What happened next once returned to full-strength?

Yep, you know it – the Ducks broke the nil-nil tie:

Brett Leason and the Ducks strike first. 🦆 pic.twitter.com/01VEX4HECj

— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) December 16, 2023

1-0, bad guys, and with 6:30 remaining.

This goal was the end result of the newly dubbed “DANNY MACK SPECIAL,” as once again, Lindgren got crushed by a big hit, this time courtesy of Brock McGinn.

This is not a knock on Lindgren at all – but seriously – the dude takes more big hits than Chytil ever did.

I don’t know if Lindgren is targeted or just doesn’t see these huge collisions coming, but either way, he takes a beating out there.

With Lindgren out of the play, this led to this goal allowed – and the only goal that Quick would afford.

As the Rangers went into “aw shit” mode, M$GN did one of their cryptic camera shots where they honed in on CZAR IGOR.

In a response, Rosen brought up how the Rangers only had five shots on goal – and no less than a nanosecond later, Kreider recorded the team’s sixth – and the Rangers’ first goal scored too:

Christopher James Kreider.

Point No. 500 ‼️ pic.twitter.com/x857XrqFT0

— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) December 16, 2023

1-1, and with 2:54 remaining.

This goal was all about Zibanejad winning a dirty puck battle at the boards between he and two Ducks. Once getting the puck to squirt towards Kreider, C. JAMES Kreider then banged home the goal.

While you’d like to see Zibanejad go on a heater, at least he’s making plays like these in the interim.

This goal somewhat changed everything, as it did wake up both the team and the Garden.

Down to 1:23 remaining, a Schneider shot was stopped and a scrum ensued.

Looking to throw hands?

Will Cuylle and Adam Edstrom.

Laviolette had to be happy about that, but at the very least – I know that I was!

With under a minute to go, this is when we first really noticed the Rangers’ top line, the Panarin line, as a #10 to #13 pass led to a Cam “Not Dylan McIlrath” Fowler deflection. Without it, who knows?

1-all after twenty-minutes of action.

Here’s what I said at the time:

1-1 through 1. 1P Thoughts:
— About time Kreider scored that triple milestone goal.
— Feels like another game where the Rangers are playing down to the competition.
— Seems like a lot of people are noticing that Lindgren gets hit as often as Chytil used to get hit.
— A…

— BlueCollarBlueShirts (@NYCTheMiC) December 16, 2023

SECOND PERIOD

As Ranger fans on Twitter complained about the 1-1 score, and where I’m now muting (I don’t block) accounts that say, “THEY SUCK, THEY WON’T MAKE THE PLAYOFFS, IT’S OVER!” – Trocheck won another opening faceoff.

At just the fifty-second mark, and following Quick denying the Ducks’ temporary 6 x 5 delayed penalty attack, captain Jacob Trouba was sent to the sin bin for holding Carlsson.

One-second later?

“OLD FRIEND” Ryan Strome joined Trouba on his two-minute timeout, as he had blatantly tripped Fox.

It was a play like this that proved that my EYE TEST view of hockey trumps all.

To get straight to the point, the Rangers, following this foreplay, received a one-second power-play.

In turn, the Blueshirts’ power-play percentage numbers took a hit, as a one-second power-play is recorded exactly the same as if it were a full two-minute power-play.

EYE TEST > ALL!

Prior to the one-second Rangers’ power-play, Fox and Kreider collided with each other which then set-up a Ducks’ 3 x 1 odd-man rush. Vatrano, and of all players, flubbed it.

Whew.

Once returned to full-strength, the Rangers got a crack at a full two-minute power-play, as Radko Gudas, a player that you love to hate but wish that he was on your team too, had crosschecked Edstrom from behind.

With 16:02 remaining, the Blueshirts’ PP1 unit set a record (breaking their own) for most passes without a shot on goal.

Old habits die hard, as the Rangers just kept forcing one-timed passes to Zibanejad, but since he had just scored twice in this fashion during the past two games, then I guess that I somewhat understand this strategy.

However, and with that said – by forcing passes to Mika, it then takes away from Panarin’s play-making abilities.

Once returned to the ice, Gudas had a jack-in-the-box try, but Quick shoved that shit right back into the box and returned the puck to the sender – and then stopped Killorn too.

Very quickly, the Rangers returned to the power-play, as the second-most penalized team in hockey was short-handed again, this time following Ilya Lyubushkin holding Goodrow with 13:28 remaining.

Once again, the Blueshirts employed their pass-pass-pass strategy, where at the end of it, they didn’t register a SOG.

In what I thought was great insight, especially from a former player, Maloney said, “You don’t realize how fast this game moves when standing here [between the benches]. It’s like watching NASCAR with no lanes!”

I don’t want to sound like an elitist snob, but in the days when “THE STUBHUB TRICK” worked, I sat on the glass for a few games at M$G ($200 or less – aka the days of old).

I know that not everyone can afford to do the same (and I can’t afford to do so myself anymore), but if you can ever get the chance, and even if it’s a preseason game, then you’ll know exactly what Maloney meant when he said this.

(Another option – watch the Rangers on the road – where if you notice – the last few games that I’ve attended have all been on the road. The M$G experience just isn’t worth the cost anymore – at least not for me. You get more value for your hard-earned money by going elsewhere.)

But seriously, and for as much as we can all appreciate and be in awe of these players when sitting on our couches – seeing them up close from the glass is a sight to behold.

Simply stated: You are even more so impressed and amazed when seeing these players from that perspective.

As we approached the half-way mark of the game/period, and with the score still tied at 1-1 – Jonathan Quick – as this time – he made another monster save on Carlsson.

With 9:10 to go, Lafreniere set-up Panarin on a tee, but the Breadman whiffed.

I don’t want to suggest that Panarin is cold or anything like that, but he’s been recently silent following his red-hot start.

After Sam legit said, “OH JOE, YOU HAVE TO LOVE KIA CARDS JOE” (tonight’s KIA card was the usual – a Rangers’ opponent, this time Vatrano); with 8:15 remaining, Vesey was finally rewarded:

A great read by #NYR Adam Fox.

He caught Vatrano puck watching, jumped him and made a great pass over Jimmy Vesey for another big goal from 26. pic.twitter.com/EBSgINAkCh

— Jonny Lazarus (@JLazzy23) December 16, 2023

2-1, GOOD GUYS!

This was an ALL-AMERICAN goal, as Wheeler found Fox and bang – Fox, with his Harvard hockey IQ, found Vesey for the no-doubt-about-it, slam-dunk, goal.

And yep – another game winner for JIMMY THE LIP!

One more time – HOCKEY PLAYER.

And “WARRIOR” too!

This goal changed everything, as from this point on, the Rangers finally started to impose their will and skill over the daft and daffy Ducks.

But of course, none of this happens without the goalie either, who made saves like this all game:

Jonathan Quick at it again. pic.twitter.com/3xAOJJkfF1

— Jonny Lazarus (@JLazzy23) December 16, 2023

No joke:

Following this save, and for the first time this season, we heard battling chants of “JOHN-NY!” and “QUICK-IE,” as the Garden Faithful were conflicted on whether to chant the one-time Ranger Killer’s first name or his surname.

Down to 4:21 remaining, and with both the goalie and the team in front of him motoring, another bottom-sixer, this time JONNY HOCKEY, was tripped by Urho Vaakanainen. (Yes, I had to google the spelling of this name!)

Fifty-seconds later?

CK20 made history – again:

Chris Kreider officially passes Adam Graves as the 3rd all-time leading goal scorer in @NYRangers history (281). pic.twitter.com/7gMxfyHCTa

— Jonny Lazarus (@JLazzy23) December 16, 2023

3-1, GOOD GUYS, following the Panarin-to-Kreider intended deflection.

What more can we say about Kreider that hasn’t been said?

As a fan, and as a ten-time award winning author (hello Bill W. and Linda H., two people who get a kick out of my egotistical remark more than anyone else) – it’s so easy to root for Kreider.

You know he’s a good guy. You know he cares. And unlike the useless Mollie Walker – you know that he “gives a shit” too.

I also found Rosen, who does have his fastball from time-to-time, and his Rangers’ fan card too, to be enjoyable in this moment- as he was so excited with this milestone goal that he couldn’t talk about it without tripping all over himself.

And give kudos to Sam and Joe too – as right after the goal, both of these affable announcers waxed poetic about Edstrom – and as written here – said that he didn’t look like a rookie at all.

Following two Mika turnovers during the final ninety seconds (Quick bailed him out on both), the alleged “back-up goalie” then made one more big save with seven-seconds remaining in order to preserve the feel-good two-goal lead.

3-1, GOOD GUYS, after forty-minutes.

Here’s what I said at the time:

3-1, GOOD GUYS, through 40. 2P Thoughts:
— Hell of a night for the American Rangers so far – Kreider 2 goals, Fox 2 assists, Vesey GWG on record thus far and Quick.
— If this holds, then the pressure for CZAR IGOR will only be intensified tomorrow.
— Gotta beat the bad…

— BlueCollarBlueShirts (@NYCTheMiC) December 16, 2023

THIRD PERIOD

I have to mention that during the intermission segment, Michelle Gingras interviewed Zibanejad, where her line of questioning was all about Kreider’s success.

I’m not exaggerating:

Not only was Mika beaming from ear-to-ear throughout, but at one point, it looked like he was about to break down and shed tears of joy.

I know that a lot of people think that the Rangers’ best bet is to break-up #93 and #20 for a while, but when you see an interview like this, then you know why it won’t ever happen – and especially with a head coach who values such relationships.

Also during the intermission?

This loser Vagistat shared some of his made-up stats.

The guy has no clue on how to tell stories, nor share the human aspect of the game, either.

Get this scumbag off of my TV!

Once again, Trocheck won another opening draw – and where for the next twenty-minutes – the eventual victor of this game was never in doubt.

Let’s just hit the highlights, as it’s getting late and my fingers are about ten-minutes away from needing ice!

(For the full play-by-play, then check out my Tweeter page over at: https://twitter.com/NYCTheMiC )

— With 17:30 remaining, Gudas The Coward got dirty with Goodrow – you know – a player with a fishbowl on his head and unable to fight.

— Thirty-seconds later, two strong plays from Edstrom, as he almost picked up his first NHL point and then, following a Cuylle blocked shot that knocked the blade off of his skate – the rookie helped his fellow rookie to the bench before a “too many men on the ice” penalty could be doled out.

— With 16:07 remaining, Lindgren was cross-checked by Killorn.

— On the power-play, all 18,006 spectators were hoping for Kreider’s third goal, the hat trick, but it never came. Neither did this power-play, but all that mattered was that the Blueshirts burnt two-minutes from the clock – and were also out-shooting their opponents this period at the time to a tune of 8-0.

— As Sam and Joe tried to manifest a Troy Terry goal, Dostal stopped Lafreniere with 12:19 remaining.

— Once returned from a TV timeout, Rosen told us how the annual $1,000 a plate Rangers’ Casino Night would be taking place on 2/13/24. Rosen also remarked how Jacob “Claude Monet” Trouba’s artwork would be auctioned at the event.

— With 10:53 remaining – Quick, Quick, Quick, as this time, he made a point-blank save on Leason.

— As the game progressed, and with the Rangers continuing their firm grasp over their lead; with 5:36 remaining – shenanigans.

— Gudas and Goodrow, still maintaining their beef, saw the Ranger get away with a crosscheck. The officials missed that. However, they didn’t miss Gudas’ retaliation as he chopped Goodrow’s leg as if he was cutting firewood.

— As the refs tore Gudas away from Goodrow (AND DON’T FORGET THAT GOODROW IS CURRENTLY EATING OUT OF A STRAW THESE DAYS AND CAN’T FIGHT), Goody’s former two-time Cup winning teammate in Tampa, Alex Killorn, pulled him away.

— While Gudas earned his misconduct penalty – I have no clue why Killorn received one too. In my eyes, this was like the misconduct penalty that Zibanejad received on Sunday against the Kings – completely unwarranted.

— The Rangers got a power-play out of this – and where the only “bad” thing to happen is that Mika scored, thus negating a chance for a potential Kreider hat trick – but it’s not like JAMES cares about such trivial things:

Great job hounding pucks by #NYR PP1 and Mika Zibanejad bangs one home. pic.twitter.com/UI7g5Lb6wE

— Jonny Lazarus (@JLazzy23) December 16, 2023

— 4-1, GOOD GUYS, Game, Set, Match!

— But it wasn’t over yet.

— With just three-seconds remaining, may I present to you Adam Edstrom:

Adam Edstrom scores in his NHL debut! Welcome to the #NHL Adam. #NYR pic.twitter.com/BdQ3Jpcchj

— David 🏒 (@DaveyUpper) December 16, 2023

5-1, GOOD GUYS!

How could you not be happy for Edstrom!?!?!

(Well maybe Duck fans weren’t as elated as yours truly!)

And oh yeah: With the goal, Edstrom (being paid chump change) now has more goals than Filip Chytil ($4.4M, alleged second-line center) this season (0).

What I loved about this goal, is that TEAM LEADER, Barclay Goodrow, after giving Edstrom his honors following his assist on this top-shelf strike, then immediately raced to the Ducks’ net and retrieved the puck.

According to the liar Adam Hermtrans, the only blogger in hockey history to ever be berated and called-out as a fibber by an NHL Team President (and as John Davidson did in 2021), Goodrow stole this puck due to his anti-Swedish bias!

And if you’re new here, then YES, I AM JOKING!

Similar to Kreider’s milestone pucks, this milestone puck was saved for Edstrom.

5-1, GOOD GUYS, your final – a feel-good win most certainly, but a win that will also be “quickly” forgotten about should CZAR IGOR not be able to get out of his funk on Saturday night.

Here’s Laviolette following his team’s bounce-back performance:

Seriously, and as repeatedly mentioned on this site – it’s amazing that Laviolette doesn’t have a lozenge company sponsor him, as once again, he spoke for nearly ten-minutes.

There’s no rest for the weary, as the Rangers are now up in Boston – and also received a forty-five minute head-start to Massachusetts, as the Bruins disposed of the Islanders, 5-4, via the shootout, on Friday night at IBS.

You already know what happened the first time when these two teams met, when the Rangers won a wild one, 7-4, at M$G.

I’d expect Boston to be foaming at the mouth in the rematch, which is why admittedly – I am nervous for CZAR IGOR.

I’d also like to reiterate the following:

Jonathan Quick, 9-0-1.

Back at it tomorrow night, with a Rangers/Bruins review.

PLUGS TIME! (Buy a book and support my Rangers’ induced therapy bills. After all, I don’t run ads on this site!)

This past Wednesday (12/13), our friends over at “The Blueshirt Underground Show” returned with a new episode. To check it out, click the play button below:

On Thursday night, our other friends, “2 Guys, 1 Cup,” returned with a new episode.

To check it out, click this link: https://www.facebook.com/shawn.stein.507/videos/1735215876975339/?idorvanity=228102235825482

My fourth title and tenth book is now available for preorder!

“The Top 100 Villains of New York Rangers History,” is now available for preorder.

For complete information, please visit: https://bluecollarblueshirts.com/rangerkillers/

My second 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.”

The greatest volume-set of books on Rangers’ history today!

“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/TOR 12/12 Review: RAKED! Rangers Continue Brutal Loss Streak; Leafs Blowout Blueshirts, The “Goalie Controversy” Continues; Defense Not Much Help Either, Toronto’s Top-Six Shows Up; Ranger Stars Do Not, Missing Miller, M$GN, Garden of Dreams vs Gambling, Bad Jokes, Up Next & More

NYR/LAK 12/10 Review: ESCAPE FROM LA! Jonathan “Goalie Controversy” Quick Turns Back the Clock (Again); Blanks Kings (But Not the Refs), A “Tranq-to-Meth” Match; “Madness in Madison,” JONNY “Bobby Orr” HOCKEY, Another GWG For Easy Pesey Jimmy Vesey, Goody Got It, Clown Show Officials; M$GN Equally as Bad, Lavy Gives (And Not Takes) All the Credit & More

NYR/WSH 12/9 Review: BULLIED! Another Candidate For “Worst Loss of the Season;” Blueshirts (Sans Lafreniere & Vesey) Show No Effort in Lavy’s “Revenge Game,” Excuses vs Explanations; Gustafsson vs Kakko, Struggling Shestyorkin, Rangers Shutout For the First Time; When They Lose Then They Lose Bad, Negative Trends, Infuriating M$GN & Birdbrain Mollie Add to the Frustration & More

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

Don’t forget to order my recently released 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