NYR/VAN 2/27 Review: Thatcher Demko “Igor’s” the Rangers; Busts Out the Kryptonite on Kreider, NYR’s Powerless Play Comes Up Empty-Handed Again; Fans Blame Georgiev Anyway, A Terrible “No Excuses” Loss, Sam “No Relations” Rosen, Shohei Ohtani vs CZAR IGOR, 72 Hours of Buchnevich & More

Greetings and salutations everyone and welcome to another blog here on BlueCollarBlueShirts.com. That was ugly.

Following most Ranger losses, some fans of this franchise immediately dial up Jack Kevorkian. After all, the word “fan,” derived from the word “fanatic,” implies extreme overreactions after one game on the schedule.

While I’m not advocating for anyone to go to such extremes; at the same time, if you’re pissed off and upset after this loss – I don’t blame you. This game was tough to watch. I feel bad for anyone who paid to attend it.

Numerous times on this site, whenever following a Rangers loss, I go to my “excuse rolodex,” where to be fair, I thought those excuses were fair and just. Some of the excuses I’ve made this season include the following:

— The schedule.

— COVID.

— Travel (which yep, is linked to the schedule too.)

— No one goes undefeated during an 82-game season.

The New York Rangers, after 53 games played this season, now have a record of 33-15-5. This record, good for 71 points overall, currently has the club in third-place in the Metropolitan Division. The team chasing them, the Washington Capitals, have 65 points in 54 games played.

Previously, following each one of the Rangers fourteen regulation losses, I didn’t show much concern. After tonight’s 5-2 loss, I do have some concerns, and for as minor as they may be. It’s my opinion that you can’t make excuses after Sunday’s loss.

Sure, the Rangers played the day before. They even played three games in four nights too. Do you know who else played the day before, and who also played three games during the past four nights as well? The Pittsburgh Penguins.

While the Rangers won their first game of these three games in four nights (4-1 over the Capitals), they then lost the next two, where it took them nearly 110 minutes to score a goal during these two contests. And when Alexis Lafreniere scored at the 9:53 mark of the third period on Sunday night, the game had already been long decided.

(I don’t think it’s fair to call Lafreniere’s goal an “A-Rod Goal,” only because #13 is in his second year. This goal was big for him. It also increased his new-found chemistry with Chris Kreider and Mika Zibanejad – two players that Lafreniere has heavily praised for helping him.)

Conversely, the Penguins, after losing their first game of three in four nights (6-1 loss to the Devils); the black-and-yellow then shut-out the Rangers on Saturday, and then edged out another divisional rival the day after, when they knocked off the Columbus Blue Jackets 3-2 on Sunday night.

In other words, to complain about the schedule is a fruitless endeavor, at least in this instance. I could at least understand the losses, two a piece, to both Colorado and Calgary. This loss to Vancouver? My excuse jar is empty.

During the game, and following this contest; I heard both Ranger fans, and the useless Sieve Vagistat, of the M$G Networks, suggest that Georgiev was a reason for this loss. To me, I found all of that to be pure junk.

And I’m not even making up the following either:

During his post-game analysis tonight, Vagistat explained how CZAR IGOR was better than Georgiev. Really, that’s his hard-hitting professional analysis? A Penn Station heroin-riddled junkie could’ve told you the same thing, and for far less money than whatever M$GN pays (a gross overpay at that), Sieve Vagistat.

Not mentioned by Vagistat, nor by the fans who were trashing Georgiev tonight? The following:

— This was Georgiev’s first game in a MONTH. As in thirty days.

— As mentioned 7867966795757567 times on this site before, Georgiev isn’t a pure back-up goalie. He’s at his best when he’s playing regularly, just like he was during the 2019-20 season, when he received the most starts and playing time of the three-headed goalie dragon that the Rangers had at the time (Lundqvist and Shestyorkin).

— The Rangers went 0-3 on the power-play tonight. (Worth mentioning too – the Canucks penalty kill is ranked worst in the league.) Is it Georgiev’s fault that the team couldn’t score a goal? And was it Georgiev’s fault, when Chris Kreider (eight SOG), had half of his shots robbed by Canucks starting goalie Thatcher Demko?

— For a back-up goalie, especially one that hasn’t played in a while – it’s a good idea to give him some run support. I’m stating the obvious here. That never happened. Instead, following a brutal turnover, JT Miller set up Tanner Pearson for an early goal. Again, not mentioned by the “GEORGIEV = GARBAGIEV” crew? The fact that very often, CZAR IGOR gives up early goals too, after these same Ranger turnovers. The difference? CZAR IGOR then makes 676678678967896 saves to bail out the team. Georgiev isn’t Igor. I think we know that!

— The Canucks power-play scored tonight after controlling the puck for 1:58 worth of time, and I’ll have a lot more on that during the GAME REVIEW segment of this manifesto. Was that Georgiev’s fault too?

The Rangers had many chances to establish a lead in this game. Demko didn’t allow it. Is Demko better than Georgiev? Most certainly, but at the same time, the Rangers didn’t make it easy on their out-of-work goaltender either.

While I may be coming off like a Georgiev sympathizer here (and maybe to a point, I admittedly am); but at the same time, I don’t think Georgiev was the reason why the Rangers lost this game. Instead, I think you have to look at the team in front of him themselves.

Let’s quickly blow through the news and then jump right into the GAME REVIEW.

Unlike the last few blogs posted on this site, we don’t have much from the news department tonight. After all, the Rangers just played the day before. In addition, Sunday’s are usually slow news days to begin with.

With no practice on Sunday morning, only Gerard Gallant spoke with the media, and as he always does, just two hours prior to puck drop. Here’s the short ninety second interview:

The head coach confirmed what we pretty much already knew – Alexandar Georgiev would be getting this start against Vancouver.

Gallant also mentioned that Patrik Nemeth is back with the team, with his wife and baby boy 100% healthy.

For whatever reason, some of the reporters had a hard-on for Filip Chytil. Gallant said what I said on this site yesterday, and confirmed that Chytil wasn’t a healthy scratch for anything he had done. Instead, Gallant was impressed with the way the team has played during their last two games and in turn, wanted to continue to use a line-up that he perceives to be that’s working out.

And yep – I know the Rangers got shut-out against Pittsburgh. But big picture – his line-up (and of course, CZAR IGOR is a huge reason for this too) have only given up two goals in their last two games, and against strong competition at that. The tables would turn tonight.

As far as anything else, Gallant also commented about how well the fourth line, with new addition Barclay Goodrow on it, have played. Gallant even went on to say that the line isn’t truly a “fourth line,” as Goodrow/Rooney/Reaves have been receiving extended minutes and have been matched-up against the top lines of Ranger opponents.

Here’s what “The Turk” went with for this game featuring the two teams of the 1994 Stanley Cup Final.

FIRST LINE: Kreider/Mika/Lafreniere

SECOND LINE: Panarin/Strome/Hunt

THIRD LINE: Barron/McKegg/Gauthier

FOURTH LINE: Goodrow/Rooney/Reaves

Defensively, we had this:

FIRST D-PAIR: Lindgren/Fox

SECOND D-PAIR: Miller/Trouba

THIRD D-PAIR: Jones/Schneider

And in net, the BULGARIAN BEAST, Alexandar Georgiev.

BOX SCORE time.

The following information and graphics come from the new world-wide leader in NHL coverage, ESPN.com:

SCORING:

PENALTIES:

GOALIES:

The M$GN broadcast, which didn’t air the last two games (nor will air Wednesday’s game either, as that’s a TNT affair), wasn’t as bad as it usually is. After all, Henrik Lundqvist was back, which means less time for Sieve Vagistat.

Of course, Vagistat got his barbs in too, which par for the course, ruined an otherwise entertaining broadcast.

No joke, to open up the broadcast, Vagistat said how he knows personally how tough it is to play three NHL games in four nights. I must’ve missed when he did this during his magical and epic NHL career of 46 games played.

Lundqvist, a natural in his new gig (and his first appearance since his jersey retirement ceremony), quickly shut Vagistat down. Lundqvist said that he thought the Rangers would be fine, which negated the “doom and gloom” that Vagistat was selling.

Following that, Michele Gingras confirmed that the line-up from Saturday would be the line-up for this game. She also confirmed that Pavel Bure wouldn’t be playing tonight too. (I kid, I kid. That’s a callback to her comment about David Krejci from a few games back.)

Vagistat, who somehow has his bosses conned, gave us this piece of expertise – “if you play more minutes, you’ll get more opportunity.” I’ve also been told that if you score more goals than the other team, then you have a good chance of winning a game too.

After Vagistat gave us his usual junk spiel, where he makes up a bunch of numbers, numbers that only benefit his analytical company – and not the viewers of these broadcasts; Lundqvist then gave us the eye-test perspective and raved about how Alexis Lafreniere has been coming on as of late – stuff which I’ve been saying since the Rangers returned from break.

Vagistat, who is often anti-Georgiev on these broadcasts (and the legendary goalie of 46 games also had nothing to say during the “150 Seconds” segment, when Bill Pidto talked about how Andrew Hammond was now 2-0 this season, a goalie that Vagistat has routinely buried in the past), then asked Lundqvist for his thoughts about being a back-up goalie with trade rumors swirling around you. Of course, Lundqvist was never in this position once during his career, and unlike Georgiev, also had a no move clause in his contract. (I may have mentioned Lundqvist’s NMC in the past!)

The idiotic Vagistat continued his blabbering, where he said that it was a great idea that the Canucks allowed Jacob Markstrom to walk away for nothing.

I’m being serious here – he actually said this, and he was sincere when he said this as well. I wonder if he also thinks that the Islanders allowing John Tavares to walk away for nothing in return was a good idea too?

We then went to Dave Maloney, as both the former captain and Lundqvist basically asked the Rangers/Chris Drury to trade for JT Miller. Maloney, always dead-on with his opinions, then praised Mika and Kreider, but said that Strome and Panarin need to get on their horses.

Maloney then wondered aloud what I’ve previously pondered in this space – “why would Vancouver trade JT Miller right now?”

In a response to that question, Vagistat said that Vancouver hasn’t been smart in recent years. Of course, just two minutes prior, he was raving about Vancouver for allowing Markstrom to walk away for nothing, in order to give Demko their net. The Clairol has rotted out his brain cells.

Up next was a funny segment, where Lundqvist answered pre-approved questions from his Twitter account.

Lundqvist said that giving up a goal on the road or at home made no difference to him, as his thought process always remained the same. He then gave us his three favorite burger joints, and then said that he wouldn’t be opposed if the NHL ever got rid of the Marty Brodeur “trapezoid” rule.

Vagistat then chimed in, saying that he loved the trapezoid, as he could barely play the puck during his iconic career of 46 games. Lundqvist then laughed, raised his hand and said “same!” That was pretty good.

Around this time, I saw the following on Twitter:

I follow Stacie/@selfo96 on Twitter. While I thought it was cool that CZAR IGOR gave her a stick, I didn’t know the full story. Later on in the broadcast, we got it:

pic.twitter.com/ag4mtW9ReB

— Nivral (@Nivral15) February 28, 2022

I won’t rehash everything I’ve written in the past – but yeah, I’m not a fan of grown men hogging the glass, and asking for free shit.

In this case, I enjoyed this story – after all, I’m probably twice Stacie’s age and she’s not a grown man salivating for free swag. Even better, and in a rare instance – Stacie was making a trade with the CZAR here.

As you can tell from the video, CZAR IGOR gave Stacie a signed stick, and in return, the young woman gave #31 a toy for his dog named Simba.

I share this story with you, because one, it’s a great story, two, we need some positivity after this game, and three, it was nice to see a fan give something back to a player, rather than seeing a sign from a grown adult male that reads, “LAFFY I WANT TO SUCK YOUR TAFFY, WILL SUCK FOR A PUCK!”

This now brings us to Sam and Joe.

I’m including this bit tonight only because I needed a distraction with how bad the Rangers played. Plus, after a bad loss, I’m always trying to get you readers to laugh.

For whatever reason, Sam Rosen, and to a lesser extent, Micheletti as well; are not only obsessed with player ages, weights and hometowns – but they love if a player has a family member in the NHL.

I’m not exaggerating, the duo must’ve mentioned the Hughes’ brothers no less than twenty times today.

If you recall, last season, I was crying laughing when Sam Rosen blurted out during a Rangers vs Sabres game, “K’ANDRE MILLER, COLIN MILLER, NO RELATION JOE!”

On Twitter, I brought this up jokingly, where I remarked that I’m sure Rosen will do this again with JT Miller and K’Andre Miller. He did. Again, this was a highlight during a bad game.

For whatever reason, Rosen then mentioned five different times that Brad Hunt of the Canucks, and Dryden Hunt of the Rangers, were not related.

I’m telling you, if Maury Povich ever wanted to spice up his dated format, he’d hire Rosen to do those DNA tests. “Maury, this DNA determines that Joe Blow is lying, and did have relations with that hooker.”

OH JOE!

And since this game was awful to watch, I will be making a lot of Rosen references during the game review, as I need to entertain myself when writing about this game.

Two last quick observations on the broadcast:

— Sean Avery, Lundqvist’s old buddy, wasn’t brought up at all during the “150 Seconds” segment.

— No mention of the Ukraine/Russia conflict either, which I was fine with.

GAME REVIEW (no relation to replay review), time!

After Mika won the opening draw, the Rangers went offside just 24 seconds into the game. Joe Micheletti mentioned that it would be a good idea if the Rangers could score early and give Georgiev some support. As you know, that never happened.

As Georgiev made his first save on Luke, “brother of Brayden Joe,” Schenn; Micheletti and Rosen really amped-up the JT Miller, “no relations to Dennis Joe,” return to New York talk.

The Rangers, who actually had a decent start to this game; saw Braden, “no relations to Rob Joe,” Schneider shoot a puck off of the back boards, which then led to a solid third line attack.

In what must’ve had both liberals and new-age hockey fans screaming; Micheletti then talked about Filip Chytil.

Micheletti brought up how Chytil missed the game against Washington because he was sick, and because the line-up played well in that game, and then again in Pittsburgh – that Chytil was now the odd-man out.

No joke, Micheletti went old-school here, and said that if you’re hurt or sick, you should still play anyway. The timing of this was hysterical, considering you know, the whole COVID-19 thing.

To be fair to Joe, “father-in-law of Mike Modano Joe,” Micheletti here – this was commonplace in the NHL of eras ago. It’s still commonplace come playoff time as well.

In one of many good Ranger chances that Demko would deny on this night; Adam, “no relations to Michael J. Joe,” Fox set-up Mika for a sure-fire goal, as #93 was sitting in Demko’s crease. Demko came up with the big save, just 2:36 into the period.

Right after this save, Demko then stopped Adam, “no relations to Samantha Joe,” Fox.

At this time, I want to share with you what I wrote at the end of last night’s blog:

The Rangers, who as mentioned, had a good first three minutes to open this game; then allowed Vancouver to strike first.

With the second line failing to clear a puck, where Dryden, “no relation to Mike Joe,” Hunt was the biggest offender; JT Miller got back, retrieved a puck from behind Georgiev’s net and then found a streaking-into-the-slot Tanner Pearson for an easy goal. 1-0, bad guys (no relation to “Da Bad Guy” Razor Ramon Joe), just 3:12 into the game.

If you’re keeping track, and when using the Georgiev-Goals-Allowed-O-Meter, this goal wasn’t on #40. This was on the second line. Could have Igor made this save? Probably, but you can’t do the hypothetical game here – you have to talk about reality. Georgiev isn’t Igor and the second line didn’t help him out here.

After the goal, Georgiev made a few more saves, where he had five in all at this time. Then, in the first of Demko’s four robberies on Chris Kreider – the ‘Nucks netminder stopped a CK20 backhanded try.

As Sam and Joe shared their exuberance of Brad and Dryden Hunt (no relations), Barclay, “no relations to the Barclays Center Joe,” Goodrow cleared a puck out of the zone, thus negating a long Vancouver possession in the Rangers zone.

With 9:52 to go, the Rangers had their first of three power-plays of this game, after Schenn sent a puck over the glass – glass that has “no relations to Tanner Joe.”

The Rangers fumbled around during the first forty seconds of this power-play, and where the Breadman, “no relations to the Bread Line Joe,” turned over a puck.

However, Panarin regrouped and soon found Kreider for an easy tally, but Demko then made his second robbery of a puck shot off of the blade of CK20.

For good measure, Alexis, “no relation to former Ranger Jason Joe,” Lafreniere, found Julien “Gene Carr” Gauthier (maybe related), for a wide-open shot, a shot that reeked of Scott Norwood. I’m over Gauthier. I think he now has a shooting percentage of 2.1%.

After the Canucks got their kill, Trouba and Ryan, “brother of Dylan Joe,” Strome tried a deflection play. No dice.

For whatever reason, Sam and Joe then waxed poetically over the fact that some of the parents of the Canuck players were in the building. These mothers and fathers having sex meant that these players on the ice were related to them.

This is also where Rosen giddily blurted out, “K’ANDRE MILLER, JT MILLER, NO RELATION JOE!”

After a Kreider and Garland scrum (where Sam mentioned that Garland’s parents were in-attendance too – “no relation to Judy Joe”), Panarin drew Vasily Podkolzin for a hooking (no relation to Julia Roberts from “Pretty Woman” Joe), call with 2:57 remaining in the period.

Once again, Demko robbed Kreider during this Rangers power-play. I’m not joking – against a weaker goalie, Kreider could have easily had a hat trick during this first period.

After the Canucks got their kill, with 39 seconds remaining, Miller got his second point, after he assisted on a Tyler, “no relations to Oscar Joe” Myers goal. Of the four goals that Georgiev allowed, this is the one that he’d want back.

2-0, bad guys. And yep, as you’d imagine, this was a deflating goal allowed for the Rangers.

After twenty minutes, we remained at 2-0 in favor of the road team.

For the Rangers, and as Lundqvist would reaffirm during the intermission segment – they played well. However, Vancouver was in the right place and at the right time. The Rangers didn’t look “bad” in this period – they just couldn’t score.

The following wouldn’t apply to the second period, one of the worst periods of the season.

Following an intermission where you hoped that JT Miller was traded during it, and would come out in a Rangers jersey for the second period; Pettersson whiffed on a shot, but Georgiev would have to make a big save anyway, this time on Chiasson.

As you were wondering where the Rangers from the first period were, the Canucks quickly amassed five shots on goal. They’d eventually out-shoot the Rangers in this period 16-6.

With the Rangers withering away a bit, at the 6:06 mark, Juho Lammikko scored. 3-0, bad guys.

This goal was “Kreideresque,” as the right winger swarmed Georgiev’s net and then slammed home the puck. And I can’t confirm this, but on TV, it sounded like the crowd was chanting “IGOR!” Again, Igor can’t play every game and the Rangers had already squandered a bunch of scoring chances at this point, including chances on two separate power-plays.

As we hit the ten-minute mark of the period, the crowd were as quiet as a children’s burn ward. There was nothing to be happy about at all.

If this game wasn’t bad enough, Sam Rosen started talking about Emerson Etem, as a black player who played for both the Rangers and Canucks. This was a bit for a “Black History Month” promotion, where black, white, yellow, green, red, or whatever; Etem sucked! That Hagelin for Etem trade is one of the worst trades of the Senile Sather era.

After Demko stopped Kreider again (a non-robbery save), Brock Boeser, “no relations to Brock Lesnar Joe,” hooked Adam Fox.

Down 3-0, the Rangers now had their third power-play of the game, and where you hoped that the third time would be a charm. That hope was dashed two minutes later.

As was the case all game, the best scoring chance during the power-play featured Chris Kreider, who once again, was robbed by Demko. Demko truly was “Kreider Kryptonite” (no relation to crypto currency Joe) tonight.

After failing on the power-play, just eleven seconds later, Goodrow was boxed for holding Pettersson. Up next, one of the worst Ranger penalty kills of the season.

The Canucks controlled the puck for the first 1:51 of their power-play, where the Ranger penalty killers finally caught a break after Georgiev made a glove save on Hughes.

Now with fresh PKers on the ice, and with nine seconds remaining on the Canucks man-advantage; the Canucks won the face-off, Larsson wristed a puck from deep, and Matthew Highmore deflected the puck past Georgiev, with just two seconds remaining on the Rangers kill.

4-0 bad guys, with 4:44 remaining in the middle stanza.

Again, I don’t know how you can blame Georgiev for this, as the penalty kill units never touched the puck at all here.

To continue the comedy, Rosen pivoted and started talking about the 1994 Rangers and their win over the Canucks. I’m sure this was breaking news information for everyone who watched this broadcast. And what pin-point timing as well.

At the end of two periods, we remained at 4-0 Canucks, and where the patience of Ranger fans was really being tested.

Despite the team’s success and outperforming all expectations; some fans at M$G actually booed the team as they headed off to the locker room. I thought that was a bit classless. After all, it’s not like the Rangers are the New York Jets, a local football team that has no relations to the Winnipeg Jets.

If I had any takeaway after two periods, it was the following:

You know that Japanese pitcher Shohei Ohtani, who plays for the Los Angeles Angels? Like a modern-day Babe Ruth, when he’s not pitching, he plays in the outfield or at the designated hitter position.

After watching five consecutive periods of scoreless Rangers hockey, I think the Blueshirts should entertain the idea of having CZAR IGOR play on the right wing. He couldn’t be any worse than Julien Gauthier.

Whenever Georgiev starts, maybe have Igor take a few reps at the right wing. It can’t hurt. He’s one of the best passers on the team. He also has a shooting percentage that isn’t that much worse than Gauthier either!

Of course, I’m joking here, and this will never happen (nor should it), but I think you get my point – it’s not a good thing when CZAR IGOR seems to be more offensively-gifted than some of these forwards!

And I’ll tell you something else – Igor doesn’t turn over the puck as frequently as fellow comrade Artemi Panarin does!

I kid, I kid, moving on!

Ryan Reaves, “no relation to Christopher Reeve Joe,” had a strong chance of breaking Demko, as early into the period, #75 had a puck deflected high.

Following that, and very quickly to boot, five minutes of game time had expired, and in a game that looked like the Rangers were through in.

After Zac Jones, “no relation to Pacman Jones Joe,” shot a puck off of the backboards; Julien Gauthier went to the net and you know the rest. After that, both Barron and Panarin turned over the puck too.

As you were just waiting for this miserable affair to end; at the 9:53 mark of the period, Zibanejad returned Lafreniere’s favor from Thursday, and found #13 entering the circle to the left of Demko. The 2020 #1 overall pick then ripped a one-timer for a goal, the Rangers first goal in what felt like forever.

4-1, bad guys.

Now under eight minutes to go, Schneider shot a puck that hit Demko’s mask. Sam said it hit the post (no relation to the New York Post). Bless his heart.

In perhaps Demko’s best robbery yet; the Canucks goalie stopped Kreider on a wrap-around back-handed attempt.

I do want to be clear here – Kreider played great tonight. He did everything he could. Demko was just in the zone and had CK20’s number all game.

With 5:57 remaining, the Rangers made it interesting, as Ryan Strome cashed-in a Panarin rebound. 4-2, bad guys. Immediately after the goal, ‘Nucks head coach Bruce Boudreau called a time-out.

Following the timeout, Barclay Goodrow was blatantly tripped. NO CALL!

It seemed like the officials were about to lift their arms up, but whether they had dinner plans at one of Lundqvist’s burger joints or a bet to cash – they decided not to.

I will say, had this penalty been called, I’m not sure if it changes the outcome of this game. The Rangers power-play were already 0-3, and then later on, with Georgiev on the bench, they didn’t do much either. That said, if this penalty was called as it should’ve been – who knows?

After Demko made his eighth stop on Kreider, with 3:04 to go, Georgiev was pulled. Jones came close to bringing the Rangers within one, but no good.

As the Rangers did the pass-pass-pass and hot potato act with the puck; with 2:09 to go, Pettersson sealed the deal with an empty netter. 5-2 bad guys, 5-2 your final.

If this bad loss wasn’t enough, as Sam Rosen closed out the broadcast, he perked up and screamed, “JB SMOOVE HAS A SHOW COMING UP NEXT JOE!” Yeah, that’s what I wanted to hear after this frustrating loss.

Whatever it is, it’s my opinion that the Rangers have slumped a bit since the break. The break kind of cooled them off a bit, as goals are now becoming tough to come by.

If you had told me that of Washington, Pittsburgh and Vancouver, that the Rangers would get dominated by the Canucks, I wouldn’t have believed you. Of these three teams, I thought this game would’ve been the easiest to get two points in.

I’m still kind of puzzled about why the Rangers came out so bad and flat in this game. And if you want to talk about the two late goals scored, be my guest – but to me, they were garbage time goals.

To go back to what I said at the top of this blog, another excuse (where in this case it’s also an explanation), that I’ve made this season is – “sometimes you run into a hot goalie.”

Yes, Demko was great tonight. I’m sure Sieve Vagistat is wacking his bag when screaming out the two words of “STOLEN WIN!”

That said, it’s the NHL. Goaltenders are going to be good. The Rangers have the best goalie in the league in CZAR IGOR, so on most nights, they can go toe-to-toe with anyone. However, they must also pick up these goalies too, and even when the other goaltender is hot – they have to find a way to break through. And it can’t be when you’re down 4-0 with ten minutes to go in regulation.

The Rangers, who started off 2022 hot, end February with a distasteful odor. Of course, it’s a long season, but with under thirty games left, they have to become consistent again – especially with a tough schedule coming up.

We all know that the next 72 hours will be nothing but the two words of “Pavel Buchnevich,” just like how this game were about the two words of “JT Miller.”

And if the former Ranger does what JT Miller did, and what Brett Howden did before him; they won’t hear the end of it – especially since the Rangers go to St. Louis a week after Wednesday’s game.

Of course, and as mentioned 76786667889 times before on this site – the trade deadline will change everything. In no scenario, do I see Drury being idle.

The team now has two days off to find their way again. Maybe they should ask Sieve Vagistat to tend goal during practice, to give the team an emotional and positive lift when it comes to the goal scoring department.

For a team as talented as the Rangers, and who do possess players with plenty of offensive firepower – they’ve rarely blown out a bad team this season. While the Blues are certainly not bad, it would be nice to see the Rangers run up the score for once, in a “get-right” type of a game.

You can throw away this game as “one bad loss,” but when you’ve had a few of these, it does become concerning.

Yes, CZAR IGOR didn’t start tonight, but you can’t win games if you don’t score goals either. That’s why this trade deadline will most likely determine how far the Rangers advance in the playoffs. They already have the talent to make some noise, but to get over the top, they’ll need to add.

PLUGS time!

The hardcover version of my book, available now at Amazon.com

The first plug of tonight’s blog – the mandatory plug for my new 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 2 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

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

NYR/PIT 2/26 Review: The Animal Kingdom Blanks Rangers; Blueshirts Unable to Score Against Jarry, Zebras Ruin a Goaltender’s Duel, Powerplay Comes Up Short, Avery Already Done, Reaves vs Analytics, Brooks vs Vally, Hasek vs Ovi, Devils and Isles Poor Attendance Issues & More

NYR/WSH 2/24 Review: CZAR IGOR and the Rangers Give Gallant a 60 Minute Effort; Dominate the Caps, NYR Rookies Step Up, Lafreniere’s Two-Pointer, Nemeth’s “Personal Issue” Revealed, Russia, Ukraine, ESPN, Kravtsov and Media, Avery’s Return, Georgiev & More

Emile Francis Memories, Jack Humphreys’ NYR Jacket, Guelph Royals, Giacomin Comments on “The Cat” & More. Plus: The Rangers at the Trade Deadline, New Names Pop Up, Gallant Talks Goals & NYR Podcasts

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

Up next: Blues vs Blueshirts on March 2nd. Expect a portion of the fan base (the under 25 years old crowd) to give Pavel Buchnevich the “Eddie Giacomin” treatment.

As always here, thanks for reading and…

LET’S GO RANGERS!

Sean McCaffrey

BULLSMC@aol.com