Greetings and salutations everyone and welcome to another blog here on BlueCollarBlueShirts.com. There’s a lot to get into tonight, so let’s get it all rolling by starting off with the plugs.
As usual, here are my last few blogs in case you missed them:
NYR/PITT 2/17 Review: The Penguins Win The Matinee Showing of “The Battle of the Back-Ups”, How One Play Swung This Whole Game (And How Everyone Knew It At The Time Too), Jeff Gorton To Define His Rangers Legacy Soon, The Ever-Annoying Pierre McGuire, The Case For Keeping Zuccarello, 30 vs 40, Vinni “FN” Lettieri & More
NYR/BUF 2/15 Review: The Russian Rangers Dine on Buffalo Wings; Whoop The Sabres 6-2, “By George, I Think He’s Got It!”, Tony DeMAGAngelo’s One Hitter Quitter, A New Boston Boy, The Mind of David Quinn, Secondary Scoring, Lundqvist vs Pitt Stats, MSGN, THE CAM TALBOT TRADE & More
NYR/WPG 2/12 Review: Lundqvist Chokes Another Game; Gives Away Two Points, More Ammo For the “Georgiev Should’ve Started This One” Fans, 30 vs 40 Stats, Dave Maloney & Integrity Vs The Rest of the Fake News MSG Networks Crew, Zibanejad Continues To Stun & Awe, Rangers Trade the Wrong Goalie, Halverson, Dirty Byfuglien & More
NYR/TOR 2/10 Review: On His 23rd Birthday, “The King of Kings” Alexandar Georgiev Has The Best Game of His Career; Makes 55 Saves Against a Tough Toronto Team, Lundqvist Eagerly Awaits The Next Non-Playoff Team on The Schedule, 11F/7D Finally Produces a Win, Potential Last NYR Home Game For 13 and 36 & Much More On The NYR & Georgiev’s Highlight Reel Victory
NYR/CAR 2/8 Review: The “I Should’ve Left M$G After the 1994 Celebration” Blog! The M$G Experience, Re-Living 1994 for the 1994th Time, Masks vs Merit, The Latest Rangers Fiasco & Much More
Before diving into tonight’s 2-1 Rangers victory over the Carolina Hurricanes, you have to start with the Hurricanes themselves. The Hurricanes are currently the talk of the NHL, due to their post-game theatrics. If you’re unaware of what goes on after Hurricane home wins, just Google it. For those who don’t have time for the Google, the short end of the story is that after every game, the Hurricanes put on a performance that the Vegas Golden Knights pregame show is jealous of.
After every victory in Raleigh, the Hurricanes do these deeply rehearsed celebrations, such as home run derby’s, bowling a strike and other such nonsense. I guess it’s fine if you’re winning, but when you lose 2-1, at home, in a game that you kind of had to win, the Hurricanes are going to be criticized for their celebrations. Instead of taking an hour or however long it takes to come up with these synchronized celebrations, the Canes could’ve used that hour to work on their game.
Many old-timers have come out to bury the Hurricanes for their post-game antics. Brian Burke, in November of this season, was the first prominent name to chastise the Hurricanes for their pee-wee post-game parties. Of course, social media, which skews younger in age, destroyed Brian Burke.
Keep in mind, Brian Burke, who engineered a Stanley Cup victory for the Anaheim Ducks in 2007, was lambasted by hockey fans for having an opinion that differed from theirs. Of course, most of these hockey fans are young and live with their parents. Apparently, because Burke disagreed with the celebrations of the Hurricanes, he was labeled as a guy who “DOESN’T KNOW NOTHING” and some fans said, “BURKE IS A DUMB AZZ DINOSORE!!!”
Brian Burke was dragged through the social media mud for his comments. While I’m not calling hockey critics “thin-skinned”, most of these people want to be liked. Unlike this blog, I don’t care what you think about me! We can agree, disagree or agree to disagree. I’m just not going to get into long-winded fights of the name calling variety, which is what people tried to do with Brian Burke.
With many hockey men clamming up on the subject, as they don’t want to feel the wrath and ire of social media fans like Burke did, you know, the fans/SJW’s who just look to be offended by anything, (YOU LIKE THE SUN! FUCK YOU! DO YOU KNOW THAT THE SUN CAUSES SKIN CANCER YOU INSENSITIVE PIECE OF SHIT MOTHERFUCKER, I HOPE YOU DIE. #BELLLETSTALK) one old-timer had the balls, or should I say, the grapes, to speak out.
Here’s Don Cherry, who has played, coached, GM’d, commentated, broadcasted and has given 50+ years of his life to the NHL:
Quite honestly, I don’t care what Cherry thinks, but he’s entitled to his opinion. It’s just like me with my opinions on the MSG Networks crew – I don’t always agree with them, but they are entitled to say whatever they want. In the same vein, as a paying CUSTOMER (that’s what most of us are) I feel entitled to my opinions too, hence this blog.
In what I thought was a great move from the Hurricanes, right after Cherry’s “bunch of jerks” comment, the Hurricanes doubled-down and they released the following shirt:
The jerk store called…we are now taking orders!
👕 » https://t.co/FWVvmuiYym pic.twitter.com/kDoJdRPvxM
— Carolina Hurricanes (@NHLCanes) February 17, 2019
From the time Cherry said his comments, to the time the puck was dropped in tonight’s Rangers/Canes game, the official twitter account of the Canes was all about this jerk nonsense. Two things here:
1. As I’ve said in the past, Twitter skews to younger people. I’m sure whoever runs the Canes twitter account, is someone under 30 years of age. That’s not a bad thing. That’s playing to your demographics. It’s a “takes one, to know one” kind of thing.
2. I loved this shirt and I love the Canes running with this.
If you’re going to troll your haters, you might as well go all-in, and that’s exactly what the Canes are doing. Let’s face this fact too – the Canes are a small market team and have shitty crowds. This is great guerilla marketing and a way to create a “Us vs the World” type of vibe. Everyone loves rooting for the underdog and while I believe Cherry has the right to say whatever he wants, I also enjoy the Hurricanes banking off of Cherry too. If the Canes really wanted to go the extra mile, they would donate all the proceeds/profits from these shirts to the charity of Cherry’s choosing.
The only issue for the Hurricanes with all this drama, and they certainly open themselves up for this, is that when they lose a game at home like tonight, you’re going to have people bash and criticize them for losing. And that criticism is deserved.
If the Canes want to do cartwheels and circus de soleil shows after victories, they better not come up short like they did to the Rangers tonight. This gives Don Cherry and Brian Burke every right to say, “I told you so!”
As far as my opinion on this, what the Hurricanes do does not bother me. Like most things, if something doesn’t affect me personally, I really don’t care. The Hurricanes can do what they want, but if they miss the playoffs again, their only relevancy, during these last 12 years, will be for dancing like a bunch of jackasses during a frat party. And I’m not talking about “cool” dancing either. I’m talking about straight up white-boy nerd shit, shit that looks worse than the “Carlton”.
One can make the argument that the Canes were too busy planning out their post game jig tonight, rather than focusing on the game at hand. I’m not saying that’s the case, I’m saying you can make the argument. If the Canes, who are in the mix of a playoff race, miss the playoffs by a point, two points, three points or whatever, you can say they were too worried about doing the “YMCA”, rather than winning hockey games.
Furthermore, put it this way – do you think the team that the Canes are chasing, in the Pittsburgh Penguins, are worried about dance recitals? There’s a reason why some teams are contenders and why some teams are pretenders. For the Hurricanes, they better hope to whatever deity they believe in, that they make the playoffs, or you will have everyone dancing on the grave of their 2018-2019 season.
When you’ve been talking about wanting Lundqvist traded since 2015, whenever something big about Lundqvist is written or happens, I get a bunch of comments on social media and on email. Today was no different.
Before tonight’s game with the Hurricanes, Brett Crygalis, of the New York Post, wrote an article on Henrik Lundqvist.
To read the story from the source, check out: https://nypost.com/2019/02/19/this-is-what-life-is-like-as-henrik-lundqvists-backup/
To paraphrase Frank Costanza, (wow, two Seinfeld references in one blog) “I got a lot of problems with you people and now you’re gonna hear about it!”
First off, in case you’re too lazy to click the link to the NY Post article, here’s Brett’s article, unedited:
RALEIGH, N.C. — The Rangers have been here before, with a backup goalie excelling under the stewardship of position coach Benoit Allaire and nowhere for the netminder to go besides out. And each time, the Blueshirts have taken what they could in return.
It is a little different now with Alexandar Georgiev, the affable Bulgarian who just had his 23rd birthday- celebrated by stopping 55 shots in a win over the Maple Leafs on Feb. 10 — as compared to the two previous scenarios with Antti Raanta and Cam Talbot. Both of those players had far more NHL experience and deeper résumés when the front office traded them out from the shadow of Henrik Lundqvist.
Now, it’s Georgiev’s turn to show to the league he is at least worth considering as a worthy competitor for a No. 1 job somewhere. And the rebuilding Rangers have been giving him a nice little run, including three of the previous four starts going into Lundqvist’s return to nets for Tuesday night’s game against the Hurricanes.
“You have to earn your ice time, doesn’t matter who you are,” Lundqvist said after he was one of eight players to take part in an optional skate Monday afternoon. “He’s been playing really well. I think he’s been good all year. He’s taken another step here the last couple months. He’s so skilled and competes and battles really hard. It’s no surprise he’s been doing well, especially the last few weeks in some big games.”
It’s been a strange season for Lundqvist, who turns 37 on March 2 and started 32 of the first 39 games. The workload seemingly had him a little overrun following a tiring two-game road trip leading into New Year’s Eve. Since then, first-year head coach David Quinn has given him more time off.
That means Georgiev has gotten nine of the past 19 starts, maybe part showcase and maybe just because he has been playing better.
“I’m not going to overanalyze it because for the most part, I’m feeling good,” Lundqvist said. “But you compare a goalie to a player: For a player, you can play a strong game and have a few mistakes, and it’s a really strong game; as a goalie, you can’t afford that. That’s a different ballgame. A lot of times, that’s your mind more than anything.”
Lundqvist has two more years left on his contract, carrying an annual salary-cap hit of $8.5 million. He has a no-trade clause and has committed himself to sticking with the only NHL team he has known even as it goes through this rebuilding process.
His legendary work ethic has pushed Georgiev, just as it did Raanta and Talbot before him. Talbot had been terrific when Lundqvist went down for an extended period of time with a throat injury in 2014-15. Glen Sather, the general manager at the time and now team president, might have overplayed his hand with Talbot, getting just three picks (Nos. 57, 79 and 184) back in return during a draft-day trade with the Oilers in summer 2015. (Talbot was traded again a week ago, this time going to the Flyers.)
Raanta also went in the summer, going with Derek Stepan to the Coyotes in a deal before the 2017 draft that brought back defenseman Tony DeAngelo and the No. 7-overall pick used on Lias Andersson.
All of this was also done under the pretense — growing with each year — young Russian netminder Igor Shesterkin is the natural heir to Lundqvist’s throne. The 23-year-old’s contract in the KHL is over after this season, and following the World Championships in May, he could sign his entry-level deal and be in camp come September.
It doesn’t mean there is any pressure on current GM Jeff Gorton to move Georgiev soon. With another year on his deal before restricted free agency, Georgiev could make it through the draft and onto next year’s team if it’s decided Shesterkin needs some time in the AHL to start his North American career.
But when someone does come calling for a goalie, the Rangers know what to do. They’ve already started the process — again.
OF NOTE: BRETT DIDN’T INTERVIEW GEORGIEV FOR THIS ARTICLE. Talk about a misleading headline!
Real quick, in case you don’t know who Brett Crygalis is, he’s basically being groomed as the next top hockey reporter at the NY Post. After all, Larry Brooks won’t live forever. The only time you may have heard of Brett’s name from a Rangers player, is when Dan Boyle wanted Brett kicked out of a locker room that he wasn’t even in. (This was during the end of the 2015-2016 season and when Boyle famously went at it with Larry Brooks. At the time, I believe Crygalis was covering an Islanders playoff game for the NYP.)
Friend of the blog and a friend of mine for 19 years now, in a one Ricky Otazu, commented on the article. He said this:
Brett Crygalis immediately fired back a response, as he said this:
Ricky then retorted with this:
When Brett found out that Ricky made all these messages public on Twitter, Brett said this:
I respond to an email and you post it on Twitter? Learn how to have a reasonable dialogue, man.
— Brett Cyrgalis (@BrettCyrgalis) February 19, 2019
If Brett is looking for a reasonable dialogue, well let me oblige him. Then again, Brett was kind of snippy with Ricky Otazu during their personal exchange. Perhaps Brett won’t be as snippy with me as he was with Ricky! That is, if Mr. Crygalis cares to respond to my following dissection of his latest Lundqvist propaganda!
At this time, I would like to look at Brett’s article and go through his fake news, paragraph-by-paragraph. His words will be in italics. My comments will be in bold.
RALEIGH, N.C. — The Rangers have been here before, with a backup goalie excelling under the stewardship of position coach Benoit Allaire and nowhere for the netminder to go besides out. And each time, the Blueshirts have taken what they could in return.
And each time, the Rangers have not won a Cup with Henrik Lundqvist. The Rangers are the only team in the league to overpay for an aging goaltender. Furthermore, unlike former Cup contenders and Cup winners, like the Tampa Bay Lightning, the Winnipeg Jets and the Pittsburgh Penguins, the Rangers haven’t figured out that you can’t win a Stanley Cup when your goalie is the top cap hit on the team.
It is a little different now with Alexandar Georgiev, the affable Bulgarian who just had his 23rd birthday- celebrated by stopping 55 shots in a win over the Maple Leafs on Feb. 10 — as compared to the two previous scenarios with Antti Raanta and Cam Talbot. Both of those players had far more NHL experience and deeper résumés when the front office traded them out from the shadow of Henrik Lundqvist.
Crygalis brought up Benoit Allaire already. Why not mention how Benoit Allaire groomed two former back-ups into starters? Cap-wise, wouldn’t it make sense to go younger and cheaper in net? Furthermore, neither goalie was in Hank’s shadow. In fact, both goalies OUT-PERFORMED Henrik Lundqvist in the season before they were traded out of town.
Now, it’s Georgiev’s turn to show to the league he is at least worth considering as a worthy competitor for a No. 1 job somewhere. And the rebuilding Rangers have been giving him a nice little run, including three of the previous four starts going into Lundqvist’s return to nets for Tuesday night’s game against the Hurricanes.
Not mentioned by Brett, as I’ve previously mentioned on these blogs, is the quality of competition that Georgiev faces, as opposed to Henrik Lundqvist. Check out my past blogs for more on that. Even Giannone and Maloney have brought this topic up on their podcast.
Simply put, Georgiev faces more playoff and upper-echelon teams than Lundqvist. Lundqvist leads all NHL starting goalies in starts against non-playoff teams. Georgiev leads all back-up goalies with starts against playoff teams.
“You have to earn your ice time, doesn’t matter who you are,” Lundqvist said after he was one of eight players to take part in an optional skate Monday afternoon. “He’s been playing really well. I think he’s been good all year. He’s taken another step here the last couple months. He’s so skilled and competes and battles really hard. It’s no surprise he’s been doing well, especially the last few weeks in some big games.”
This is coming from Henrik Lundqvist, the same guy who David Quinn said gets to choose and has a say in when he starts. This fact was reported by Larry Brooks, who works with Crygalis.
It’s been a strange season for Lundqvist, who turns 37 on March 2 and started 32 of the first 39 games. The workload seemingly had him a little overrun following a tiring two-game road trip leading into New Year’s Eve. Since then, first-year head coach David Quinn has given him more time off.
It’s not that strange. In fact, if this was strange, Brett would’ve never mentioned the names of Cam Talbot or Antti Raanta to start off this article. This has been going on ever since Lundqvist signed that albatross of a contract. What work-load is Lundqvist dealing with? The big bad Arizona Coyotes? The scary LA Kings? Those pesky little Ottawa Senators?
That means Georgiev has gotten nine of the past 19 starts, maybe part showcase and maybe just because he has been playing better.
The truest thing in the whole article. What isn’t mentioned is that most of these Georgiev starts also featured playoff teams, teams that Lundqvist avoids. In fact, Georgiev has started in 30% more games against playoff teams than Lundqvist has. But hey, don’t let the truth get in the way of the narrative you’re trying to sell here Brett!
“I’m not going to overanalyze it because for the most part, I’m feeling good,” Lundqvist said. “But you compare a goalie to a player: For a player, you can play a strong game and have a few mistakes, and it’s a really strong game; as a goalie, you can’t afford that. That’s a different ballgame. A lot of times, that’s your mind more than anything.”’
That’s not true. People recognize when goalies have strong games, despite a loss. After all, that’s all the New York Post and MSG Networks report after every Lundqvist loss! It’s never Hank’s fault!
Lundqvist has two more years left on his contract, carrying an annual salary-cap hit of $8.5 million. He has a no-trade clause and has committed himself to sticking with the only NHL team he has known even as it goes through this rebuilding process.
For all the articles the Post has written over the years about trading this guy or that guy or buying out this guy and that guy, Lundqvist gets a pass. In what world does it make sense for a rebuilding team to feature a 37 year old goalie? Especially a 37 year old goalie whose numbers are at the bottom of the league in save percentage and GAA?
His legendary work ethic has pushed Georgiev, just as it did Raanta and Talbot before him. Talbot had been terrific when Lundqvist went down for an extended period of time with a throat injury in 2014-15. Glen Sather, the general manager at the time and now team president, might have overplayed his hand with Talbot, getting just three picks (Nos. 57, 79 and 184) back in return during a draft-day trade with the Oilers in summer 2015. (Talbot was traded again a week ago, this time going to the Flyers.)
Does Brett write for the NY Post or is he Lundqvist’s press secretary? LEGENDARY WORK ETHIC! LMAO! All these guys work hard.
Not mentioned in Brett’s propaganda of an epic kiss-ass proportion – Georgiev left his native Bulgaria to hone his craft in Russia. You’re telling me that Georgiev busted his ass for 23 years, and only when meeting Lundqvist, that’s when he decided to work hard? Are you telling me that Talbot and Raanta floated around and needed Lundqvist to motivate them? What a crock of bullshit!
In regards to Talbot – not mentioned, was how Talbot helped the team to the Presidents’ Trophy that season, was the hot hand, akin to Matt Murray in later seasons for the Penguins and was then ceremoniously benched, just so Lundqvist could give up back-to-back touchdowns to Tampa in the ECF. 61-65 in the playoffs. How regal!
Raanta also went in the summer, going with Derek Stepan to the Coyotes in a deal before the 2017 draft that brought back defenseman Tony DeAngelo and the No. 7-overall pick used on Lias Andersson.
This is a fact. It’s hard to talk Raanta vs Lundqvist because Raanta hasn’t been able to stay healthy. I wonder what would’ve happened if Raanta stayed in NY? I just think the doctors are much better here in NY than in Arizona, and just like Talbot, Raanta would’ve only flourished with Allaire.
All of this was also done under the pretense — growing with each year — young Russian netminder Igor Shesterkin is the natural heir to Lundqvist’s throne. The 23-year-old’s contract in the KHL is over after this season, and following the World Championships in May, he could sign his entry-level deal and be in camp come September.
Not mentioned – Brandon Halverson was supposed to be the heir to Hank’s throne, a throne that is now made of toilet porcelain. What would make sense for a REBUILDING team, would be Georgiev and Halverson splitting starts. You already know that you can’t win a Cup with Lundqvist and that terrible contract. What’s going to happen when Cally, Mac and Iron Man Dan win the Cup this season? Will any of these NY Post writers admit that the Rangers banked on the wrong person?
Also not mentioned – Shestyorkin told a Russian reporter that he isn’t coming to America to play in the minors.
It doesn’t mean there is any pressure on current GM Jeff Gorton to move Georgiev soon. With another year on his deal before restricted free agency, Georgiev could make it through the draft and onto next year’s team if it’s decided Shesterkin needs some time in the AHL to start his North American career.
Shestyorkin isn’t coming here to play in the minors. What should happen is the Rangers force Hank to waive, by telling him his new throne is in the press box. If this is a REBUILD, you must develop your new goalies, so they are ready when the team in front of them are. The best case scenario for the Rangers, something the Post won’t say, is that Hank waives and the Rangers go with an all Russian tandem next season. By losing Hank’s contract, that gives you $ for a big free agent. Furthermore, it’s the young guns in net that are at top of the league right now, not the old guys.
By the way, how is Ben Bishop doing? Tampa must be miserable with the younger Andrei Vasilevskiy, right?
But when someone does come calling for a goalie, the Rangers know what to do. They’ve already started the process — again.
Brett should’ve closed off his article with this – “the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. For the Rangers, they rather lose with Lundqvist than try to win without him. FUCKING SAD!
While I still 100% believe that the Rangers would’ve won the Cup in 2015 if they rode the hot hand of Cam Talbot, they didn’t. While I thought the Rangers would’ve made the ECF in 2017 if they rode Antti Raanta, they didn’t. The Rangers are all Henrik, all losing, all the time.
Now, I’m not saying that Georgiev, or even Shestyorkin, are guaranteed to lead the Rangers to the Cup. While I think CZAR IGOR (Remind me to trademark that) can be the guy, nothing is guaranteed. All I’m saying here is that I know the Rangers can’t and won’t win a Cup with Lundqvist and all of these Lundqvist starts does nothing for the future.
I told you I had a lot to say tonight!
Now, away from the goalie stuff, albeit temporarily, let’s go to the NEWS department of the blog!
Cue the radish jokes, as the Rangers traded Peter Holland to Chicago for Darren Raddysh. Like the Brickley/Schneider swap, this looks to be an AHL player for an AHL player trade. However, with Brickley now with NYR, who knows, maybe Raddysh gets some time with the big club too.
As far as the trade, I can’t sit here and opine with any true certainty. It’s not like I follow the Rockford ICE HOGS (I love that name) and I haven’t seen much of the Wolfpack this season. That said, from the people who watch this stuff regularly, the stuff I got from them is that Holland has been scoring and the Ice Hogs need a scorer.
From the Rangers end of things, the only thing I don’t get is that by acquiring Raddysh, they now have what seems like 76347863473674633478968936 defensemen between the AHL Hartford Wolfpack and the ECHL Maine Mariners. It’s like the Rangers are going to have their own version of defensemen “SURVIVOR” and whoever is the last man standing, will then get out of the dregs of the horrible Hartford Wolfpack.
Speaking of television shows, who wouldn’t pay to see a “Lord of the Flies” themed NYR defensemen show?
Peter Holland, we hardly knew ye!
As debuted during my last blog, welcome to the “VINNI LETTIERI” watch segment of this blog. The Hartford Wolfpack didn’t play tonight. Thus, that concludes the LETTIERI WATCH segment for tonight’s blog. However, Lettieri’s name will be mentioned again in this particular blog. I’m sure you’re shaking with anticipation, as you await me bringing up his name again tonight!
After taking a high stick against Pittsburgh on Sunday, Neal Pionk was ruled out for tonight’s game. His injury isn’t thought to be serious, but he’s being held out for precautionary reasons. Here’s Pionk’s shiner, as a result of the Crosby high-stick on Sunday:
With Pionk out, Skjei, who was out Sunday with a tweaked leg, came back. Fred Claesson, who was just brought back to team, was in the press box tonight. It is what it is.
Here’s what Quinn rolled out tonight:
FIRST LINE: Kreider/Zibanejad/Zuccarello (No points logged tonight, which is odd, especially against a non-playoff team.)
SECOND LINE: Buchnevich/Hayes/Vesey (They should play horse-shoes, because they always come so close to scoring more times than not.)
THIRD LINE: Namestnikov/Strome/Fast (Namestnikov is really finding his game now.)
FOURTH LINE: Brickley/Nieves/Chytil (A line with no chemistry since they’ve never played together before tonight.)
Defensively, Quinn went with this:
FIRST PAIR: Skjei/McQuaid (As mentioned, McQuaid has upped Skjei’s game.)
SECOND PAIR: Staal/DeAngelo (You could make the argument that Tony DeAngelo was the best skater on the ice for the Rangers tonight.)
THIRD PAIR: Smith/Shattenkirk (A horror show. It would be a wet dream for Jeff Gorton if he could find a team to take both of these contracts off of his hands. Gorton can’t blame Sather for these misses either.)
As mentioned, Lundqvist was in net. Over the years, Lundqvist has been kryptonite for Carolina. That remained true tonight.
Moving along, let’s go to the gambling section of the blog:
Lundqvist in net – bet the over and relax #nyr pic.twitter.com/A8SYXCmvxQ
— BlueCollarBlueShirts (@NYCTheMiC) February 19, 2019
I hope you didn’t relax too much. I take the “L” tonight. My record now drops to 25-12-1. Away from the Rangers, I hit with the Lightning, Penguins and Canadiens, but as far as my Ranger-centric bets, I didn’t even come close tonight.
Even with Lundqvist having a horrible season this year, I figured the Rangers would get to Carolina goalie, Curtis McElhinney. A few posts, shitty PP’s and both teams just blowing opportunities fucked my bet tonight. As they say, no individual ever wins in gambling, only the house does.
Minga, I’m 5000 words in already. Let’s go to the ESPN.com box score:
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PENALTY SUMMARY:
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GOALIES:
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I thought Steve Valiquette, before the game, said something that didn’t mean anything. At the end of the game, he said something that I was going to and will say here. Let’s start at the beginning.
Valiquette brought up Talbot, Raanta and Georgiev and then tried comparing them to Lundqvist. I just don’t get how Talbot, Raanta or Georgiev affect Lundqvist’s bottom of the league numbers. Maybe Vally was influenced by this blog to make mention of these three players. Even worse, maybe he was influenced by Brett Crygalis!
What I did agree with Vally on, was what he said at the end of the game. Carolina showed no desperation. It felt that even a bad team like Ottawa, Anaheim or whoever else, could’ve just walked right in and won this game. Granted, Lundqvist had one of his best games of the season, but when you’re trying to get a playoff spot, you have to score more than one goal.
While Carolina did put 44 shots on net and the Rangers would block 24 more, (TDA with a team high of 5 blocked shots) Carolina could just never finish. They got close and there were too many times were they simply just shot wide and high. Carolina also went 0-2 on their PP and couldn’t get one by Lundqvist with McElhinney pulled for nearly 2 minutes and 30 seconds.
With Carolina being so loud on social media with all their “Bunch of Jerks” stuff, the crowd was made up of 25% Ranger fans, 25% Hurricane fans and 50% empty seats. The crowd was quiet all night and on TV, I heard more “Let’s Go Rangers” chants and the Potvin whistle than anything to do with the Hurricanes. You can’t fault the attempts of the Hurricanes to draw fans and create crowd participation, but their bark is louder on social media than their bite, at least during this game in particular.
For a team that desperately wants to make the playoffs, I don’t know how you come into this game with all this momentum and score only one flukish goal. Again, this will make people wonder if the Hurricanes are more worried about their cheer-leading routines than the game itself.
The first period saw the two teams skate to a 0-0 affair after twenty minutes. I thought both goalies, during the duration of this period and the game itself, were fantastic. Lundqvist had more of a work load, but McElhinney, someone who the Rangers have pummeled in the past, held his own.
Here are two new narratives from the MSG Networks. One, Brendan Smith is “EMOTIONAL”, while Tony DeAngelo is “IMMATURE”. For the record, it was Brendan Smith who broke his hand by punching a teammate last season, but hey, TDA voted for Trump, so that makes him immature. Hilarious.
The second narrative isn’t really that new. It’s the fact that out of every opponent the Rangers play, Sam and Joe have no bigger hard-on, than they do for the Hurricanes. I don’t know what it is about Carolina, but Sam & Joe are obsessed with them. If you took a shot for every time Joe mentioned Slavin or Aho, your liver would look like Artie Lange’s nose.
As far as the game itself, I thought the defensemen were the stars of the game, as both Tony DeAngelo for the Rangers and Jaccob Slavin for Carolina, stood out the most. Slavin would start the game by sweeping a puck that was going into the net, a puck that Buchnevich probably should’ve put past McElhinney. Slavin’s defense saved Carolina from a 1-0 deficit, just 30 seconds into the game.
Here’s Slavin’s play:
Who ya gonna call?@JSlavin74, of course! pic.twitter.com/mVkpYfGiBO
— Carolina Hurricanes (@NHLCanes) February 20, 2019
With 50% of the available jerks in attendance tonight for this game, as the building was half empty, Calvin deHaan would blow a 4 vs 3 opportunity. Again, for a team trying to make a playoff run, there were so many plays in this game where Carolina would make the extra pass to nowhere, rather than shoot on the net and hope for a rebound or deflection.
Smith would take another dumbass penalty in this game, as he was caught being emotional and cross-checking a Hurricane in retaliation. The Rangers PK would kill the Carolina penalty.
As the game went on, both teams would try the wrap-around stuff-in goal, but both goalies were on top of their game and had the move scouted.
Later on in the period, Smith was boarded, sending him head first into the glass. No call. You just never know when the refs will decide to do their jobs or not.
With the period almost over, the Rangers seemed happy to skate to the locker room. However, they skated to the locker room five seconds too early, and left Carolina all alone with Lundqvist. Fortunately for the Rangers, Carolina just shot wide instead of on net. Another blown opportunity for the Carolina Kickline.
After twenty, 0-0, in a strong defensive battle from both the defense and the goalies.
I don’t know what Vally’s deal is as of late. Does he feel that he must stroke the rod of the Swedish Cupless King during every game? One, what Vally said isn’t even true. Two, how many people discuss “net play”? Sounds like Vally is more interested in verbal foreplay with his Swede buddy, than commenting on the game itself.
The second period remained a defensive affair and TDA was the shining star. I know every game is independent of another (Which is why I laugh when I’m tagged in a million “LUNDQUISS IS THE BEST EVA OMG” tweets, as if every other game this season is forgotten) but TDA is really stepping up as of late. TDA has been very crisp and on point with his passes. Even better, his defense is improving tremendously. I hope TDA keeps it up. While it was thought that Pionk made Shattenkirk more expendable than anyone, as of late, it’s been TDA. Plus, TDA is a major threat on the PP too.
And to reiterate something that Jim Schmeideberg of BSU Radio said on twitter tonight – wouldn’t it be something if the Rangers made TDA their captain? It won’t happen, but I’d love to see NYR twitter lose their shit if this did happen!
Oh, and I gotta say, I found it hysterical when one of the biggest TDA haters in all of Rangersland, a person’s name not even worth mentioning, threatened to kill herself tonight if Zuccarello was traded to Pittsburgh. This vile woman even said she would jump off the bridges of MSG! Hopefully if she does this, she lands on Micheletti or something! Imagine contemplating suicide over a hockey trade? Someone needs the good doctor, in FRASIER CRANE. (Mandatory Cheers reference!)
And while suicide isn’t funny, I only joke here because this nasty woman has offered money for people to spit at me and she only hates TDA because he voted for Trump. Furthermore, TDA, <GASP> has the balls to like the tweets of Donald Trump. That scamp! That cad! How dare TDA support his country! Hopefully Trump sends this woman, who you know, preaches tolerance and acceptance, but will bury anyone who doesn’t think the way she does, straight to Guantanamo! And hopefully she doesn’t pass go either!
If this TDA hate from one nimrod isn’t enough for you, how about this tweet from another Ranger blogger, which was brought to my attention:
The second period was the Tony DeAngelo Show. He was blocking shots, breaking up odd-man rushes and had Carolina flustered.
At the 9:53 mark of the second period, Carolina finally broke up the scoreless tie:
JORDAN MARTINOOK TAPS HOME THE REBOUND!#TakeWarning pic.twitter.com/LAz0rSWe53
— Hockey Daily (@HockeyDaily365) February 20, 2019
1-0, bad guys. I can’t kill Hank on the goal allowed.
A minute later, Tony DeAngelo, because who else, helped set up the tying goal at 10:40:
He had to wait for it … but Connor Brickley gets his first #NYR goal! pic.twitter.com/6ecbEGK9DQ
— MSG Networks (@MSGNetworks) February 20, 2019
1-1.
Couple of things here.
For starters, this wasn’t initially a goal, as it was ruled a goal after review. The debate was if Brickley punched it in or not. He didn’t and it was a goal.
From the eating my crow department here, this was a BRICK…….HOUSE goal, as Connor Brickley got the goal. In three games with NYR, he now has 1G, 1A. Lettieri, the player I’ve been white knighting for two seasons now, has 0 goals and 0 assists in 20+ games played this season. In other words, I can’t blame Lettieri’s position on the fourth line. Sure, I want Lettieri to have one game on the second line, but for the people who argue with me about Lettieri, I must submit and admit – Brickley has done more with his time than Lettieri. No excuses. I can’t defend Lettieri when Brickley, even if this was a lucky/fluky type of goal, is scoring.
That said, LET’S GO LETTIERI!
The Rangers would later get a PP at 17:04 in the period, a chance to close the period off with the lead. The Rangers didn’t do anything on the PP. I’m telling you, as I’ve been saying for a while now, let TDA play with the first line on the PP, and put Shattenkirk on the second unit. In other words, ride the hot hand!
1-1 after forty minutes. As a fan of the goaltending, I loved this game. As someone who bet the over, I did not!
Simply put – the third period was the Henrik Lundqvist Highlight Reel Show. So many times this season, we’ve seen Lundqvist crack in the third period and get beat for that back-breaking goal. If Lundqvist ever had an excuse to give one up, it was tonight. Carolina peppered him throughout this third period, especially during the final 2:30, with McElhinney pulled and with Carolina having the extra attacker. Sure, there was some puck luck along the way, but when you’re good, you get some breaks. Lundqvist held down the fort.
However, before Lundqvist would have his “VINTAGE” game, (I love when people say that, because it implies that Lundqvist isn’t what he was, despite currently being the second highest paid goalie in the league today) the Rangers would score a goal and would also make another mess with their PP.
At 2:49, Wallmark would get called for holding. At 4:08, McGinn would be called for tripping. In other words, the Rangers had 43 seconds of a 5 vs 3 PP. Just like the Pittsburgh game, this was crunch/clutch time. The Rangers wouldn’t score on the PP, but would score seconds after the PP expired, as Namestnikov got this goal:
VLAD NAMESTNIKOV SWEEPS HOME THE REBOUND! RANGERS LEAD!#NYR pic.twitter.com/oALWQCpFJq
— Hockey Daily (@HockeyDaily365) February 20, 2019
At the 6:10 mark and after finishing off a rebound, Vladislav Namestnikov made it 2-1, good guys. This would be your game winning goal.
Funny thing about this goal – Sam Rosen went nuts with his “IT’S A POWER PLAY GOAL!” call, despite the power-play being over for 5-10 seconds. Eh, at least he was excited about the goal!
On Namestnikov, right after he scored this goal, he turned into the IRON SHEIK. For those who don’t get that reference, that means Namestnikov started playing like he had a 10 INCH COCK. Seriously, right after this goal, Namestnikov was shooting like a redneck in a field of empty tin cans. You could see the confidence halo over his helmet. Okay, I’m exaggerating here, but no joke – Namestnikov was in the zone.
For the next 12+ minutes, both teams continued their defensive battle. As we got into the final minutes, Carolina tried and tried again, but it was Henrik Lundqvist flipping the Jerk Store sign from “Open” to “Closed”.
Rangers win, 2-1.
This wasn’t the greatest win ever, and you’ll probably forget about this win by the time this season is over, but this was one of the better defensive games the Rangers have won this season.
Couple of things before heading home here.
Did you see Torts press conference before tonight’s Blue Jackets game?
Here are the highlights:
#CBJ Panarin won’t face #Habs tonight due to illness. Torts was emphatic that Panarin’s absence is not to protect a potential trade asset: “He’s SICK… he shit his pants and he’s puking his guts out.”
— John Lu (@JohnLuTSNMtl) February 19, 2019
If Panarin shitting his pants wasn’t enough juice for you, Torts then took a dump against former Ranger, Anthony Duclair:
(The following images come from reporter @ArponBasu)
As someone who always liked Torts and thought the Rangers cut bait on Duclair too quickly, these quotes come straight outta the OUCH FILES. I don’t watch every CBJ game and I know the personality of Torts & the way he can be, but this can’t help Duclair.
I talked about this story before on this blog. At a BSU party earlier this season, I was talking to Ron Duguay about Duclair. He said Duclair had a bad attitude and it was smart that the Rangers got rid of him. I now see this stuff from Torts and I have to wonder about Duclair’s future. I’d also like to see what Duclair has to say about all of this too. It’s a shame, the kid has talent, but all these coaches can’t be wrong. When a young player is traded 3-4 times, there’s a reason for it.
While on the topic of ex-Rangers, how about those Tampa Bay Lightning, who are just destroying the league right now? Seriously, as talked about before, if the Bolts don’t win the Cup this season, I don’t see it ever happening with this core. They must wire-to-wire this season.
Speaking of, here’s your friendly reminder that if the Bolts win the Cup this season, the Rangers get their first round draft pick in the 2019 NHL draft. Just like last year, I will be supporting McDonagh, Cally and Girardi in their quest for the Cup. (Yes I know JT Miller and Anton Stralman are there, but as a fan, I was a bigger fan of the previous three than these two.)
And finally, when on the topic of ex-Rangers, the Flyers have now played three games since making the trade for Cam Talbot. Talbot is currently delayed from making his debut with the Flyers, due to work-visa issues. Just makes you think, if Zuccarello is traded to a Canadian team, how long will it take for him to actually play for a team, such as the Jets or Flames? That said, I hope Zucc, if traded, goes to Pittsburgh. (IN-BlOG CALL BACK!)
The Rangers have now finished up their four game road trip and will host the clinging-for-their-playoff-lives Minneota Wild. The Wild are one of those teams that are usually good enough to make the playoffs, but then are bounced out in the first round.
After the Wild game on Thursday, two games remain before the 2/25 NHL trade deadline, as the Rangers play back-to-back matinee games over the weekend with the Devils at home on Saturday and then on the road against the Captials on Sunday.
As far as goalie starts, I would assume Lundqvist against the Wild on Thursday, Georgiev on Saturday vs NJD and then Lundqvist against the Caps on National TV. After the Caps game, the deadline will come and go and then the Rangers will host the Lightning on Wednesday, 2/27. Before that game with Tampa, we will have a better look into the future of the Rangers.
I think this blog has gone on long enough, don’t you?
Until next time, as always, thanks for reading and…
“LET’S GO RANGERS!”
Sean McCaffrey
BULLSMC@aol.com
@NYCTHEMIC on twitter
I read your blog after each game, and, you definitely have a talent for writing. I was at the game last night and that was accurate what you wrote and for the most part, the crowd was quiet, but, was one of the better games played at Carolina and was great to watch in person.
I read your blog after each game, and, you definitely have a talent for writing. As always, your blogs are right on target, but, was one of the better games played at Carolina and was great to watch in person.
I’m glad you enjoy the blogs Barbara. I was in Carolina earlier in the season. Great arena and the franchise tries. I just don’t know if the fan support is 100% there.
Shatty checking out her tramp stamp.