What’s up everyone and welcome to another blog here on BlueCollarBlueShirts.com. I am currently in Las Vegas, in preparation for Sunday’s NYR/VGK tilt. Before getting into tonight’s 2-1 shootout victory over the Arizona Coyotes, there’s a lot of stuff to discuss and get into.
I guess before starting, I should tell you, this will be a LONG one, but I promise to keep it entertaining. I’m looking forward to hearing your thoughts on these subjects too and you can always do that by commenting at the end of the blog, on the twitter or via email.
Originally, I planned on reviewing the Blackhawks vs Rangers game, from this past Wednesday night. However, with the impending snowstorm, I decided to take advantage of my free weather waiver and changed my Thursday AM flight, to Vegas, to a Wednesday night flight.
I don’t mean to pat myself on the back here, but I couldn’t have made a wiser decision. I’m currently reading horror stories about people who were either stuck in airports, couldn’t get another flight to Vegas, being forced to eat their tickets and now their vacation is ruined.
While I did get a cheap flight from Delta Airlines to Vegas, Delta really stuck it up the old poop hole with their nickel and diming, or in their case, “cashing and bashing”, as not only was I charged for vodka shots on the plane, I had to pay $34 for Wifi. In comparison, JetBlue’s Wifi is free and so are the mini liquor bottles.
Even worse, the Wifi wasn’t particularly strong, so when I tried to stream the Rangers/Blackhawks game off of the NBC site, I had to just let 10 minutes go by and then watch. If I didn’t do it that way, my stream would’ve been choppier than the waters Jim Carey had to deal with at the end of “The Truman Show.” (By the way, “The Truman Show” is one of the most underrated movies ever. It really did predict the world we were entering. Check it out if you’ve never seen it. I haven’t seen every Jim Carey movie, but this was his best serious performance if you ask me.)
Only on this blog, will you get a mini-tangent on Jim Carey movies. And then I wonder how can I make these things shorter!
While my plans to watch and review NYR/CHI from home didn’t come to fruition, Plan B was the better option. If you’re a regular reader of these blogs or follow me on twitter, you know my work schedule has been hell lately, working 7 days a week, even during the holidays. Having time off of work, only to be snowed in at an airport, would’ve got me angrier than Lias Andersson with a silver medal. (More on that to come.)
So after work in NYC on Wednesday, I rushed home, did some quick laundry and packed my bags. After being up for nearly 24 hours straight, I checked into the Flamingo hotel and passed out. This is my long way of telling you why there was no blog on Wednesday night!
I’m not going to rehash the loss to the Blackhawks, because why relive all that? For the sake of not missing a game on this blog, I’ll just say what we all know – it was a horrible loss and a wasted night, in the race to the top of the Metropolitan division. It was bad hockey and a bad game for the Rangers. The effort was truly lacking.
I will say, it’s funny the way the media, who is supposed to be unbiased, have no feelings on outcomes and have been around, react after games this season.
I’ve talked about this ten-fold on this blog, but the problem with the hockey media today is that a lot of old timers are being phased out for young kids who work for cheap. The newspaper isn’t the first source of news anymore. For some, it’s not even a source. Even ESPN “Sportscenter” is phased out a bit, because after all, you can get any highlight you want, seconds after it happened, on social media. For better or for worse, most people get their news off of social media these days.
Strong hockey writers of the past, are a rare breed, in today’s sports media climate. There are a few, but they are far and in between. Instead, you are getting more people, like the insufferable Sean Hartnett, who gets paid by CBS New York, to write columns, with the sole purpose of trying to get Joe Micheletti hard. (It’s working.)
Seriously, after the terrible loss to Chicago, Hartnett wrote an Ode to Lundqvist and blamed the team & management for failing to get him a Cup. Not mentioned once in the article was Lundqvist’s cap hit, how NHL teams are winning Cups with strong centers/D-men, how NYR was at their best statistically when Lundqvist was hurt and Talbot took over, how Lundqvist leads the league in most goals allowed in the first two minutes of a period, how Lundqvist leads the league in most two goal blown leads and the myriad of other things I’ve mentioned on this blog in the past.
Articles, like Hartnett’s Swedish love poems, makes you question Hartnett as a JOURNALIST/REPORTER. Listen, I’m a bullshit beer-fueled biased blogger. I don’t hide it. I want the Rangers to win a Cup. That’s it. Reporters can’t say that. I feel that Lundqvist’s contract hurts NYR. I tell you that.
When you see Hartnett write articles, with the sole purpose of him and Joe Micheletti to roll around with raging hard-ons in a cheap Red Roof Inn motel, you gotta question it. Hartnett is clearly biased for Lundqvist. Even if it’s his opinion that Lundqvist is the Swedish dreamboat, that the blue light on Hartnett’s bed sheets suggest, as a reporter, it’s his job to give you the other side. You don’t see that at all, which is why I’m here to call out the FAKE NEWS!
Even when Larry Brooks gets a chub for Lundqvist, at least he will give you the other side. This is the difference between a real reporter and a pimpled face kid out of college, who still lives at home and works for little wage & menial healthcare. Hartnett is kinda forced to tow the NYR company line, because if he doesn’t, he can be replaced by the next kid with a six figure student loan.
I’m not even going to plug Hartnett’s column here, because it was vomit-inducing. I just felt I had to touch on this, since I was tagged in it nearly 100 times. Unlike Hartnett, I will give you both sides. I was tagged in this article by people who hate Lundqvist & think NYR’s best shot at a Cup is without him. I was also tagged in this article by people who love Lundqvist and were doing backflips like a Vegas Cirque du Soleil performer.
I will say, this has been one of Lundqvist’s better seasons, since the questionable contract. However, the team is light in other areas. While Lundqvist’s cap hit, FOR THIS SEASON, isn’t an excuse for the Rangers troubles, it has been in other years. However, you can’t say Lundqvist isn’t producing this season. You can say that about Rick Nash.
That all said – it’s not only Hartnett. After the loss to Chicago, I saw many sports media outlets, that cover NYR, start the gloom & doom shit. These are the same people who have stolen from this blog (Or just came up with the same idea on their own, but hey, let’s go with stealing!) and mention how the Stanley Cup field is lighter than past years. Outside of Tampa Bay, who is really strong? To me, and to many others, it’s no one.
As we’ve seen with the Cup playoffs, anyone can win. Just get in. As talked about in previous blogs, (Check out archives of this blog on the right hand side of the site) anything can happen in the NHL playoffs. An unheard of player could step up. A goalie could get hot. A fluke goal here. A puck luck goal there. A bad call for one fanbase and a break for another. This is why the Rangers, to me, will be BUYERS and not SELLERS at the deadline.
I’ve been talking about moving Lundqvist for years. It’s not going to happen, as he has a voodoo trance on this franchise like no other player before him. That includes Mark Messier, (Cup Champ) Brian Leetch, (Cup Champ) Adam Graves, (Cup Champ) Jaromir Jagr, (Cup Champ with PITT) Eddie Giacomin, (Retired in the rafters) Harry Howell (Retired in the rafters) and Andy Bathgate. (Retired in the rafters & Cup Champ with TOR.)
All these legends and great players were all discarded, despite having better careers than Lundqvist. If you want to say Lundqvist was better than Giacomin, I will give you that, but keep in mind, Giacomin played without a mask for part of his career. You think Lundqvist would do that?
Even more amazing about this – we are in the salary cap era, where more player turnover takes place and is more acceptable than ever before. However, Lundqvist is immune to it all! SAD!
Why the talk about Lundqvist, yet again, despite my New Years Resolution? Easy – for whatever reason, he still remains the face that runs the place. That means, unless Lundqvist asks to waive his No Move Clause, the Rangers will never be sellers.
I don’t think GM Jeff Gorton will make a homerun “IN IT TO WIN IT” trade. I also don’t forsee a flurry of moves, like past Sather seasons, the moves Washington made last year or even going back for NYR fans, the moves Smith/Keenan made in 1994. I can’t envision Gorton making trades to give NYR the best chance to win a Cup this season, at the expense of the future. I also don’t see Gorton wheelin’ & dealin’ Nash & Grabner out of town either.
No, instead I think you’ll see a few minor trades. Pacioretty, of Montreal, a player who grew up as a Ranger fan (Cue the Shattenkirk haters) is on the market. However, what would go back to the Habs that would make sense? In addition, would the Habs even want to trade with the Rangers, especially after the way the last two playoff series between these two teams ended?
While you may see other names brought up (Evander Kane has been one) the question is not what will the Rangers give up, but what will other teams take? The pipe dream scenarios of Nick Holden or Marc Staal, for an example, are just that. Pipe dreams.
One name on the market is Anthony Duclair. In case you missed the story, here is TSN’s take. You can read the report directly here: https://www.tsn.ca/report-coyotes-f-duclair-requests-trade-1.959201
Duclair, 22, has seven goals and 13 points in 31 games with the last-place club this season. He has spent the entire season to date with the NHL club after spending 16 games last season with the AHL’s Tucson Roadrunners.
He scored five goals and posted 15 assists while with the Coyotes in 2016-17, one season after scoring a career-high 20 goals and 44 points with the team in 2015-16.
Duclair was selected in the third round of the 2013 NHL Draft by the New York Rangers and played 18 games with the Rangers during the 2014-15 season. He was traded to the Coyotes at the trade deadline 2015 as part of a package for defenceman Keith Yandle.
Duclair owns a minus-6 rating on the season while logging an average of 13:20 of ice time per game.
While many know me as the “Talbot guy”, Anthony Duclair was another young prospect I was high on. If you’re familiar with my work, I have always said including Duclair in the Yandle trade was a mistake.
I’m not saying Duclair makes this team a Cup Champion or anything. I just think he had good potential and really, what player maximizes their full potential playing in Arizona? It’s a dead market, a dead team and perhaps were one of the bigger victims in the Vegas draft. It’s just one more team, better than Arizona, in the Pacific division.
I felt that if Duclair stayed with NYR, thus playing with a better team & with better players, he would’ve grown. However, he’s still young and there is time to get better.
While this trade may be unconventional, considering you don’t see teams trading pieces they’ve traded before already, an Anthony Duclair for Tony DeAngelo trade might not be a bad idea. After all, Duclair isn’t working for Arizona and while I know this is premature to say it now, DeAngelo has been a bust. DeAngelo may go on to bigger and better things, but it won’t be with the Rangers this season. I don’t even know if he would crack the line-up next season either.
While the low-risk high-reward signings of David Desharnais and Paul Carey have worked, does anyone see them lasting past this season? I’ve always championed a rebuild and for the team to get younger. While DD & PC have been better than advertised for NYR, I wouldn’t mind seeing Duclair & Lettieri getting fourth line minutes with the club. Maybe the youth injection will spark the fat cat millionaires, that quite frequently show up uninspired for many first periods.
Just an idea folks, just an idea.
The Rangers aren’t going to move Nash or Grabner, in my opinion. They are not giving up on this season, especially with the field wide open.
Both players have said they want to remain here. It will be a question about economics. We all know Nash should wear a ski mask when he cashes his check at the bank, but for $3M a season, I think you gotta sign him. Anything more than that, see ya. There’s a lot of youth in the pipeline, and overpaying a glorified third liner is fiscally irresponsible.
On Grabner, he’s having the best years of his career as a Ranger. Why would he want to leave and play elsewhere? Sure, money talks, but I’m sure something can be worked out.
I just can’t stop laughing after every Rangers loss, how even the media, and not just fans, have their 66757786565656565 trade scenarios for Grabner & Nash. Do you really expect this team to go 82-0? Drama much? It’s also entertaining to me that these people want Grabner gone (Because some people believe he’ll bring in a Gretzky-like haul in return) but don’t mention the contract of Lundqvist at all.
Nash and Grabner will be here all season. Accept it. While they might not be here next season, one player should be here and that player is STONE COLD LIAS ANDERSSON!
Man, oh man, do I love this Lias Andersson story. In case you’re not familiar, here’s the story from SB Nation. The direct link is at: https://www.sbnation.com/nhl/2018/1/5/16856964/lias-andersson-silver-medal-toss-2018-world-juniors-team-sweden
The agony of defeat is tough for anyone to process, and maybe more so for a 19-year-old who just lost the biggest game of his life.
After a heartbreaking 3-1 loss to Canada in the 2018 World Junior final, Team Sweden captain Lias Andersson tossed the silver medal he received into the stands after removing it from his neck in the medal line.
Lias Andersson tossing the silver medal into the crowd. Not gonna lie, I’m hyper competitive and get so mad when I lose, so I feel where he’s coming from.
Andersson tossed the medal into the crowd at a Canadian fan, who was clearly perplexed at what to do with the hardware.
reddit user u/JiggediJao just uploaded a different angle and it’s hilarious.
A Swedish player threw his silver medal over the glass and this guy now has a souvenir
Apparently this guy also quickly acquired a Sweden jersey. Big night for him
The Swedish captain did get the silver medal back from the hockey fan in the stands, thankfully, before the team left the ice after the medal ceremony.
As for Andersson’s reasoning as to why he tossed the silver medal? In part, frustration from the 19-year-old who won’t get a chance to play for another World Junior gold medal.
Lias Andersson said he tossed the medal into the stands because “the fans wanted it more.” He cited losing in final of U-18 and U-17 as part of his frustration
Lias Andersson asked if he’s happy he got the silver medal back after tossing it in the crowd: “No.”
Andersson tossing his silver medal into the crowd immediately reminded me of this:
My take on this is simple. I liked it. I also root for the bad guys in the movies and for Negan in “The Walking Dead.” I’m a heel at heart!
How can you argue with someone who hates losing? Shit, I wish Andersson would toss Lundqvist into the East River!
The other take is that Andersson disrespected his tournament and his country. I don’t agree. After all, Andersson hated losing this tournament so much, that he threw his loser’s medal away. He really wanted the gold. Andersson, the captain of the club, felt that he let his country down by losing, hence the silver chuck. It’s not like he’s taking a knee during the National Anthem, while veterans of the Armed Forces are right there, like a vile piece of dog shit.
As a Ranger fan, jaded by many years of losing, Andersson is a breath of fresh air. I still think the Rangers overrated him and only picked him because he’s Swedish, but after a move like this, he got me to turn the corner.
When you see the Rangers play with as much passion as pigs on skates, this Andersson story gives you a glimmer of hope. How can any fan not support a guy, who despises losing so much, that he will not accept second place? Maybe Trump can DEPORT LUNDQVIST and to keep the Swedish quota, IMPORT Andersson!
ANDERSSON 3:16 SAYS FUCK YOUR STUPID SECOND PLACE AWARDS!
I saved the most serious thing for the end. No joke, this has been the longest intro in BlueCollarBlueShirts.com history, and that says alot.
Here’s the latest on Chris Kreider, courtesy of ESPN.com. The full story can be read directly at: http://www.espn.com/nhl/story/_/id/21973869/chris-kreider-new-york-rangers-surgery-remove-part-rib
NEW YORK — New York Rangers forward Chris Kreider will undergo surgery to have a portion of a rib removed.
The team announced the surgery Friday and said Kreider would be out indefinitely.
Kreider hasn’t played since the Rangers’ shootout victory over the Washington Capitals on Dec. 27. The next day, the team said he had a blood clot in his right arm.
The surgery is known as rib resection and involves removing a section of the first rib under the collarbone. The procedure is generally used to treat thoracic outlet syndrome, which occurs when the blood vessels or nerves between the collarbone and the first rib are compressed.
The 26-year-old Kreider is in his sixth season with the Rangers and has 11 goals and 11 assists in 37 games. He scored a career-high 28 goals last season.
While there is a chance Kreider comes back, maybe for the playoffs, I wouldn’t bet on it. You can’t play with your health here. You need to do what’s right for the individual, and not the team, in this situation. There is no point rushing Kreider back and he should only play when he’s 100% recovered.
With Kreider out, the Rangers have Boo Nieves & Vinni Lettieri still on the team, with Lettieri, for some weird reason, as the odd-man out. Even if the Rangers are to get forward help, you better hope it’s an old player, because AV isn’t going to play Duclair either. I would fully expect Max Pacioretty to bump Kevin Hayes off this team!
Get well soon CK20.
As always, in case you missed them, here are my most recent blogs:
NYR/BUF 1/1 WINTER CLASSIC Review: JT Miller Turns Citifield into Miller’s Park; Rangers Get The Much Needed Two Points, Ranger Fans Brave Extreme Temperatures, “Pond Hockey”, Grabner For the All-Star Game, AV Wacks Lettieri, The Lundqvist Love Affair, NBC & NHL Drops The Ball in the Ballpark & Much More from a Visual & Gimmick Spectacular
NYR/DET 12/29 Review: Rangers Come Up Short, Lose a Game Reminiscent of the Dead Wings Era, Vinni Lettieri Shines in NHL Debut, Lundqvist, Arniel & Futile PP Costs NYR Another Point, The Insufferable Joe Micheletti, Chris Kreider’s Health, The WC, & Much More From a Preseason-ish Feeling Game
NYR/WSH 12/27 Review: King Ondrej The Giant Shuts Out The Capitals With a Monumental Performance; Rangers Keep Pace in the Division, The Excruciating NBC Broadcast, Kreider Rumors, The Blueballed Blueshirt Rick Nash, AV’s Decisions Pay Off Again, Fire Arniel & More From an Exciting Victory
NYR/TOR 12/23 Review: Rangers Head To The X-Mas Break With a Lump of Coal in Their Stockings; Can’t Figure Out the Leafs For the Second Time This Season, Power Play Remains Atrocious, AV, Shattenkirk Calls Out Lundqvist, Fire Arniel ASAP, Hank Antics, My X-Mas Thank You & More
NYR/NJD 12/21 Review: Devils Get a Shootout Win in a Game That Gave Off Playoff Vibes, Ex-Rangers Light Up Lundqvist, Shattenkirk Temporarily Benched, Special Teams Going in Opposite Directions, Metro Division & More From The Most Exciting Game of the Regular Season
Finally, let’s talk about tonight’s 2-1 shootout victory over the Arizona ex-Rangers.
For starters, this was perhaps the ugliest win of the season. Granted, Chris Kreider is out and Mats Zuccarello was a game day scratch, as he was sick, but for the talent the Rangers have, there is no excuse to have their ass kicked by the Arizona Coyotes. You know I’m never one to exaggerate this, and really just read the intro again if you need a reminder, but this was two points that Lundqvist brought to the Rangers.
This was also another game where Rick Nash continued to make a mockery out of his weekly check. Seriously, in a game where you’re missing two of your stars, in 20 & 36, you’d need a SWAT team to see if Rick Nash was even on ice.
While KING RAANTA and Henrik Lundqvist each played well, this wasn’t a classic goalie duel either. Arizona kicked the Rangers ass for 20 straight minutes. The Rangers showed some life in the second & looked mildly interested in the third. In the OT, it was all Arizona, as they dominated the puck for nearly the entire five minutes. The Rangers didn’t even log a shot.
In the shootout, Lundqvist had his best showing all season, stopping all three Arizona skaters, to improve his shootout record to 2-3. Zibanejad’s lone shootout goal would be the game winner.
While you can chalk this win and two points up as “one of those games”, it’s just too frequent that the Rangers have these piss-poor opening period efforts. Again, as stated numerously on this blog, they are consistently inconsistent. It’s SAD that the Rangers followed up that Chicago debacle with a period straight out of that game, to start this encounter with the Coyotes.
This was another glaring example of NYR playing down to their competition. In fact, in the spirit of that sentiment, I fully expect NYR to come out, guns blazing, when they skate in Vegas tomorrow.
You can’t even blame the time change or the flight for the terrible effort tonight. Teams do this all the time. Shit, I even stepped my game up and drank more than I usually do. Seriously, it’s incredible that I even write these blogs somewhat coherently!
With the injuries and Zuccarello illness, here’s what the Rangers rolled out:
Miller-Zibanejad-Buchnevich
Grabner-Hayes-Fast
Vesey-Desharnais-Nash
Carey-Nieves-Lettieri
McDonagh-Holden
Skjei-Staal
Smith-Shattenkirk
Lundqvist
Again, $7.8M for third liner Rick Nash. SAD!
I know this blog is going long and I got a poker game to get to, so let me breeze through here. However, as always, here’s the box score from ESPN.com:
1st Period Summary |
||||
| Time | Team | Scoring Detail | NYR | ARI |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10:50 |
 |
Anthony Duclair (9) (Power Play) Assists: Christian Dvorak, Derek Stepan |
0 | 1 |
| Time | Team | Penalty Detail | ||
| 10:43 |
 |
Kevin Shattenkirk: 2 Minutes for Delaying the game | ||
2nd Period Summary |
||||
| Time | Team | Scoring Detail | NYR | ARI |
| 5:11 |
|
Jimmy Vesey (9) Unassisted |
1 | 1 |
| Time | Team | Penalty Detail | ||
| 19:03 |
|
Tobias Rieder: 2 Minutes for Tripping J.T. Miller | ||
3rd Period Summary |
||||
| Time | Team | Scoring Detail | NYR | ARI |
| No scoring this period | 1 | 1 | ||
| Time | Team | Penalty Detail | ||
| No penalties this period | ||||
OT Summary |
||||
| Time | Team | Scoring Detail | NYR | ARI |
| No scoring this period | 1 | 1 | ||
| Time | Team | Penalty Detail | ||
| 3:31 |
|
Brady Skjei: 2 Minutes for Slashing Clayton Keller | ||
Shootout Summary |
||||
| Team | Detail | NYR | ARI | |
|
|
Shootout attempt by Anthony Duclair saved by Henrik Lundqvist | 0 | 0 | |
|
|
Shootout GOAL scored by Mika Zibanejad on Antti Raanta | 1 | 0 | |
|
|
Shootout attempt by Clayton Keller saved by Henrik Lundqvist | 1 | 0 | |
|
|
Shootout attempt by Pavel Buchnevich saved by Antti Raanta | 1 | 0 | |
|
|
Shootout attempt by Derek Stepan saved by Henrik Lundqvist | 1 | 0 | |
Goaltending Summary
|
|
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The first period was absolute shit from the Rangers. Jesper Fast would confirm those feelings in his intermission interview. The Rangers were out-shot 11-6, but it felt like 7676879896 to 1. What surprised me, on the Arizona side, was that Duclair was playing. Perhaps this is league-wide audition. If you’re the Rangers, you had to like what you saw, as Duclair would open the scoring, with a never-seen before from the Rangers, powerplay goal. Take a look:
ANTHONY DUCLAIR! Duclair finds the rebound in tight and beats a sprawling Lundqvist! pic.twitter.com/hzNxXkyM29
— NHL Daily 365 (@NHLDaily365) January 7, 2018
Of note, Stepan got the assist on that goal! Of course.
What needs to be mentioned is that Arizona got this PP, at the half-way mark of the first period, after Shattenkirk was boxed for knocking the net off the moorings. It was obvious live and even more blatant on the replay, that Duclair pushed Shatty into the net. Perhaps the refs realized their error later on in the game, as Shatty would later trip Duclair and got away with it. A make-up no call, I would suppose.
The first period, and really, the whole game, for the Rangers, was dominated by Henrik Lundqvist. Who knows how Pavelec does in the same spot, but on this night, Lundqvist continued his hot streak. I’d roll him out Sunday against Vegas, especially with the week long break coming up.
Raanta, who had a strong game, with a lesser work load, also made some fabulous saves in this game. However, since Arizona brought the fight for the majority of the game, his efforts won’t be talked about as much in the media.
The first period was an absolute trainwreck and the Rangers were lucky to escape being down only 1-0.
The second period, which really couldn’t get any worse than the first, saw the Rangers wake up a bit. Jimmy Vesey would get the Rangers on the board with a superb individual effort at the five minute mark. Check it out:
JIMMY VESEY! WHAT A MOVE, WHAT A GOAL TO ROOF IT OVER RAANTA! pic.twitter.com/lAhmoriLyx
— NHL Daily 365 (@NHLDaily365) January 7, 2018
I’ve said it a bunch of times – we are seeing Vesey grow up and become a better player with each game. On most nights, he’s the most aggressive Ranger of them all. He was even involved in a scruff with Max Domi tonight too!
In a 1-1 game, the talk of the period would be this interaction with JT Miller and the diva goalie:
Coach Lundqvist is frustrated with everyone, including Miller it seems. pic.twitter.com/UO8kxcGhoq
— Shayna (@hayyyshayyy) January 7, 2018
This confirms it – Miller will be gone by next season, if not at the deadline. Whether he gets buried in the desert with Stepan (Who also screamed at Lundqvist on ice) or involved in a potential deal for Pacioretty, who knows. However, when people talk back to King Crybaby, they have a tendency of being moved out of NY.
My take on this is that Lundqvist needs to stop crying. Not one of the Rangers screamed at him when he lost his stick three times in this game. Seriously, weld that stick to his glove or something. I’ve never seen a Ranger throw a hissy fit anytime Lundqvist gives up a soft goal or one of his league-leading early period goals. All this diva behavior is not good for team morale. You just don’t see other goalies do this and with all the other whining & sore loser behavior Lundqvist displays, is just not the sign of someone cool, calm and collected.
There was also a play, later in the game, where Lundqvist was creamed and rolled over. We’ve seen this happen to him before, and just like in incidents past, not one Ranger came to his defense. Take it for what it’s worth.
Granted, in tonight’s game specifically, Lundqvist held it down. However, it’s not his job to scream at his teammates. Let McDonagh be the captain. Let AV do his job. You don’t need your bitch boy goalie rattling his teammates too. This wasn’t a teaching from experience conversation. This was a shouting match. I guess we’ll find out more about this in the postgame, and I’ll recap that in the Vegas/NYR blog.
At the end of the period, Reider would trip JT Miller, giving the Rangers one of those blah wrap-around period powerplays. In the first minute of the PP and in the last minute of the period, the Rangers didn’t do much with it. They would somehow look worse to start the third.
At the end of 2 periods, 1-1.
The Rangers put forth their best effort of the game in the third period, but Raanta was up for the challenge. However, the PP remains brutal and the first minute of the period was a shit-show. The Rangers couldn’t even figure out how to make their line changes correctly. It also still baffles me how the team leader in goals gets no PP time.
Lundqvist would make a highlight reel save, late into the period, which led fanboy Joe Micheletti to rave about a “GAPING NET”. Seriously, and I’ve talked about this before, Micheletti needs to remove the word “gaping” from his vocabulary. I get the meat sweats every time he says it.
Lettieri would get two chances at it, late into the third period, to get the GWG, but came up short. Despite an atrocious effort against a more atrocious team, the Rangers found themselves tied 1-1 to close the game. At least it’s a point, but damn, as Vally said during the intermission break, this game shouldn’t have been so hard.
In the overtime, the Rangers were lost. Arizona dominated the whole fucking thing and even got a PP out of it, after Skjei slashed a streaking-to-Lundqvist Yote. (This is not the same streaking Micheletti does when he sees Lundqvist.) Skjei committed the penalty to prevent a wide open look, after a Lettieri drop pass turnover.
The Rangers found a way to kill the Arizona 4 vs 3 PP, which closed the OT period. AV relied on Marc Staal, Kevin Hayes and Ryan McDonagh here. With both teams using their timeouts, these three PKers did all the heavy lifting.
The shoot out saw the Rangers steal the win. Lundqvist would stop Duclair. DJ Z-Bad beat Raanta. Lundqvist stopped the hottest player on the Coyotes, in Clayton Keller. Pavel Buchnevich with a chance to win it, over skated and Raanta easily stopped him. Not going to lie, I was happy that Buch didn’t score, because I wanted to see the Stepan vs Lundqvist match-up. Lundqvist stoned the guy he ran out of town and that was it, 2-1 Blueshirts.
All in all, two points is two points, but this was not good hockey at all.
Updated Standings time:
| METROPOLITAN DIVISION | W | L | OT | PTS | ROW | GF | GA | HOME | ROAD | L10 | STREAK |
| Washington | 25 | 13 | 3 | 53 | 22 | 128 | 117 | 16-5-0 | 9-8-3 | 7-1-2 | W3 |
| New Jersey | 22 | 11 | 7 | 51 | 19 | 126 | 120 | 12-5-3 | 10-6-4 | 5-2-3 | L4 |
| N.Y. Rangers | 22 | 14 | 5 | 49 | 19 | 127 | 115 | 15-7-3 | 7-7-2 | 6-2-2 | W1 |
| Columbus | 23 | 16 | 3 | 49 | 19 | 115 | 117 | 14-7-0 | 9-9-3 | 3-5-2 | L1 |
| Carolina | 19 | 14 | 8 | 46 | 16 | 115 | 126 | 10-4-4 | 9-10-4 | 6-3-1 | L1 |
| Pittsburgh | 21 | 19 | 3 | 45 | 19 | 120 | 133 | 12-7-1 | 9-12-2 | 5-5-0 | W1 |
| Philadelphia | 18 | 15 | 8 | 44 | 18 | 119 | 121 | 10-8-4 | 8-7-4 | 5-4-1 | W2 |
| N.Y. Islanders | 20 | 18 | 4 | 44 | 18 | 141 | 154 | 12-5-3 | 8-13-1 | 3-6-1 | L5 |
Long season, blah blah blah, but the Rangers move to third place. Of note, look who’s in last place! FUCK THE ISLANDERS!
Up next: the Vegas Golden Knights, then a bye week. I’m assuming the Rangers come into town tonight. If I’m them, save all the bullshit for after the game, since you got a week off after the final horn. Many teams are getting distracted out here, and it’s very easy to get distracted. In fact, if I was AV, I’d make the team sleep in Arizona tonight.
As far as the next blog, it might be done Monday on my plane ride home, providing I have elbow room, as it’s tough pounding out these manifestos on this little laptop!
I’ll have tons of photos on my twitter page from the Vegas game, so check there for live reaction.
As always, thanks for reading and LET’S GO RANGERS
Sean McCaffrey
BULLSMC@aol.com
@NYCTHEMIC on twitter
You are dead wrong on Andersson. I hated what he did. It was a sign of gross immaturity. No other player on the team tossed the silver medal in the crowd. It was a childish temper tantrum. And don’t give me he is just a kid. He is a legal adult competing internationally and should know better. No wonder he did not make the team. Who wants some one so immature on a professional team. My first reaction was the Rangers should trade him. Yes, what he did was a tradable offense. Unlike Andersson however I am an adult. I do not react impulsively and can control my actions. He had better grow up or the pick will have been wasted. Hockey is not the problem here.
I get your take and see the other side. I don’t think NYR will trade him. Plus Lundqvist has bigger hissy fits anyway.