Greetings and salutations everyone and welcome to another blog here on BlueCollarBlueShirts.com. 72 down, 10 to go and 1 playoff spot secured!
Off puck drop, sorry for the tardiness of today’s blog, but on Tuesday, and between several of my co-workers calling out – I had to work a 20-hour shift on Tuesday.
While I was able to sneak in the game with my well-timed breaks; by the time that I got home at 3AM – Mr. Sandman got the best of me – but I am writing these words right now prior to my 12-hour shift that begins this Wednesday afternoon!
But of course, you’re not here to read my gripes about my busy work schedule – instead, you’re here to read about the BEST IN THE WORLD BLUESHIRTS!
However, this is my way of saying that I do have to make this quick today – but I’ll have some long-form stuff for you beginning this Thursday (I’m off!) – and following what’s another litmus test for the Rangers during the course of this 2023-24 regular season – a road game against Alexandar Georgiev’s Colorado Avalanche.
As I jump around all over the place and make sure to hit everything that I want to say today, what impressed me the most following the Rangers’ never-say-die 6-5 overtime win over the Flyers was their reaction.
Many times in sports, and especially in baseball, whenever a team officially clinches a playoff berth in the regular season and/or wins a round in the postseason, then we usually witness an hour of “alcohol abuse,” as the players douse each other with champagne and domestic beer.
These staged celebrations have grown so much so throughout the years, that we now have goggle companies as official sponsors, following some burned eyes after meetings with the cheap bubbly and even cheaper beer.
The Rangers, who became the first team to officially clinch a playoff spot on Tuesday night?
There was none of that at all.
While celebratory with each other and happy with what they’ve accomplished – their locker room wasn’t littered with popped corks and empty cans of tin either.
In a way, it felt like they were extremely aware of the 25-word disclaimer that I’ve been running on this site all-season, you know, this one:
“WHATEVER THE RANGERS DO IN THE REGULAR SEASON DOESN’T MATTER. THEY CAN ONLY BE JUDGED BY WHATEVER THEY DO IN THE 2024 STANLEY CUP PLAYOFFS!”
As the head coach and anyone on the team will tell you, the Rangers weren’t at their best on Tuesday night. However, that’s fine too, as no one remains perfect throughout an 82-game season – and there are more “finger-painting” wins than Picasso victories to boot.
Needless to say, “style wins” aren’t a thing in the NHL – as all two-points count the same.
Perhaps an excuse, even though it’s valid; heading into Tuesday’s tilt, the Flyers needed this game a lot more than their opponents.
The team that many projected to finish at the bottom of the league in September of ’23, John Tortorella’s Flyers, are the most successful surprise going today.
Having made a bevy of “rebuilding trades” in the off-season, and a complete overhaul of their front office regime too, many thought that the Flyers would be competing for a first-overall pick this June – and not for the Stanley Cup.
Prior to their hard-fought 6-5 overtime loss to our beloved Blueshirts, the orange-and-black were looking to preserve their third-overall standing in the Metropolitan Division – while also trying to create distance against whatever two teams will wind up with the two Eastern Conference wild card berths.
The Rangers?
While of course, no one goes into any game expecting to lose; the big picture, which also includes staying healthy, was all that mattered.
A Presidents’ Trophy would be nice – but ultimately it means nothing – and as the 2023 Boston Bruins can tell you.
And for these 2023-24 Rangers – just reaching the playoffs means nothing for them either – and as last year’s team can tell you too.
While the Flyers, currently embroiled in a controversy between their head coach and the captain that the head coach never wanted in the first place (Sean Couturier), have been no stranger to injuries and man-games lost either (and there’s no reason to rehash the Carter Hart story either); the Rangers took on Tuesday’s challenge not only with one-half of their top-four of defense missing (Jacob Trouba and Ryan Lindgren), but with 50% of their entire starting defense M.I.A. (Erik Gustafsson).
For the kicker, third line center, Alex Wennberg, also missed Tuesday’s game, as it was all but confirmed that his wife was having the couple’s second child.
Laviolette, needing his stars to shoulder the load, eventually saw that transpire – but with a few “heart attacks” along the way too!
The GAG LINE 2.0, Artemi Panarin, Vincent Trocheck and Alexis Lafreniere, three players who have combined to largely carry the Rangers this season, were phenomenal.
On a milestone night at M$G, Panarin, who as a result of his three assists, is not only a 100-point player these days, but now an over-a-hundred-points performer too (102), assisted on what many thought at the time would be a game winner – aka the Rangers’ fifth goal of the game.
When the Flyers derailed such plans, and then forced an overtime too, there was Panarin again, who this time, assisted on Adam Fox’s game-winner.
For the 2021 Norris Trophy winner, it was his career-high 15th goal of the season.
Better than that?
During the past few weeks, we’ve seen two wrinkles emerge in what’s already shaping up to be a possible Hall of Fame career for Mr. Fox – and one from both positive and negative realms.
To get the bad news out of the way first, #23 has become “penalty prone,” as once again on Tuesday, he had a two-minute timeout in the penalty box.
But the good news?
Fox has been willing to shoot the puck more – and as if he was hanging out on a grassy knoll – he’s sniping these pucks too.
Fox, already one of the best rearguards in the league, is only heating up – and now as a scoring threat – only makes the Rangers more dangerous.
Also assisting on these two goals?
First-line center Vincent Trocheck, who prior to collecting these pair of apples, scored one of the prettiest short-handed goals that you’ll ever see too.
While Lafreniere never picked up an assist in this game – I don’t think that anyone cared about that – as after all – rather than assisting – he was scoring instead!
The Rangers, who entered the third period down by a score of 2-1, saw Lafreniere score two goals during the next twenty-minutes of play.
His first goal was a solo job, while his second goal, which at the time, put the Rangers ahead on the scoreboard 5-4, was a PURE GAG LINE 2.0 strike, as both of his linemates picked up assists on a goal that was only scored because of another o-zone faceoff win on behalf of NONNA TROCHECK’S BAMBINO.
Speaking of centers, Zibanejad, and where there’s no other way to say this, has made the Flyers “his bitch” during the past several years or so, and Jonny Brodzinski, who perhaps would have been scratched had the Wennberg’s not been expected, also contributed goals against the orange-and-black netminder on this night, Sam Ersson.
On a night when CZAR IGOR allowed five, and where all five of them were either the end results of breakaways or questionable defense from the patchwork line-up, his team lifted him to another “w” next to his name.
But as they say – hockey is a “team game” – and the Rangers sure embraced that fact!
Due to time constraints, let’s blow through all of the pregame news as fast as humanly possible.
Following their big win over the Cats from Saturday night, come Sunday, the team was off.
On Monday, the team reconvened for practice at their training facility in Tarrytown, NY, which brings us to…
Here’s what Laviolette had to say following Monday’s skate:
On Tuesday, and following the team’s sponsored “RISE AND SHINE” morning skate, the bench boss addressed the media one more time:
To amalgamate (not a bad word for someone on no sleep) everything; here’s all of the pregame news & notes that you need to know:
— Both Ryan Lindgren and Jacob Trouba are already back and skating with the team. While we don’t know when they’ll return to the line-up just yet; barring something horrible taking place, then both men are fully expected to be back for the playoffs – although they should be back for some “tune-up” games prior to when the real games begin.
— As noted earlier, Alex Wennberg is assumed to be at a hospital right now – and where by the time that you read these words – he may already now be a two-time father. Congrats to the Wennberg’s!
— Erik Gustafsson, who was elbowed in the head by Sam Reinhart on Saturday night, is currently day-to-day. In a response, Brandon Scanlin, already with the team, made his NHL debut on Tuesday night.
— And in an update, and as I write these words at 1PM Wednesday – the Rangers haven’t recalled anyone from Hartford prior to their final road-trip of the season, which takes place Thursday in Colorado and Saturday in Arizona.
In other words, and since the Rangers are most likely in the air as I’m writing this – then I am to assume that the two Swedes, Gustafsson and Wennberg, are traveling with the team.
Granted, while the Rangers can go on without Wennberg, they would need to carry an extra defenseman if Gustafsson is to miss anymore games.
Then again, perhaps Trouba and/or Lindgren are ready to go too.
— Last but not least, Laviolette confirmed that CZAR IGOR would start against the Flyers, which told us the following:
Lavy wanted his starter in net for the possible clinching game – and as a result – didn’t give Quick a chance to become the all-time win-leader amongst American-born goalies on home ice.
Looking ahead, and not that the head coach would care about such a thing, but this may mean that we won’t get CZAR IGOR v. Alexandar Georgiev on Thursday night either.
But as they say, “we’ll see!”
Here was Laviolette’s line-up for the seventy-second game of this 2023-24 season:
FIRST LINE: Panarin/Trocheck/Lafreniere
SECOND LINE: Kreider/Zibanejad/Roslovic
THIRD LINE: Cuylle/Brodzinski/Kakko
FOURTH LINE: Vesey/Goodrow/Rempe
FIRST PAIR: Jones/Fox
SECOND PAIR: Miller/Schneider
THIRD PAIR: Scanlin/Ruhwedel
STARTER: CZAR IGOR
BACK-UP: Jonathan Quick
Healthy Scratches: None
Injured: Lindgren & Trouba
Watching the birth of his child: Wennberg
BOX SCORE time.
The following graphics and information come from ESPN.com:
SCORING:
PENALTIES:
TEAM STATS:
GOALIES:
|
PHI
|
|
SA
|
GA
|
SV
|
SV%
|
ESSV
|
PPSV
|
SHSV
|
SOSA
|
SOS
|
TOI
|
PIM
|
| 27 | 6 | 21 | .778 | 18 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 60:36 | 0 |
|
NYR
|
|
SA
|
GA
|
SV
|
SV%
|
ESSV
|
PPSV
|
SHSV
|
SOSA
|
SOS
|
TOI
|
PIM
|
| 41 | 5 | 36 | .878 | 34 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 60:36 | 0 |
Since I was at work, then obviously, I skipped the pregame show.
However, throughout the broadcast, M$GN paraded out the useless Sieve Vagistat – you know – the same dweeb who said that the Rangers couldn’t beat anyone good following their loss from one week ago (Jets).
Since that time?
The Rangers have only gone on to knock off the other two best teams in the East (Bruins and Panthers), while beating a third-place team too (Flyers).
Fire Vagistat!
Henrik Lundqvist was finally back tonight, but I really didn’t get to see much of him – but I did feel bad for him that he was saddled with the worst back-up goalie in franchise history.
And yep, and as I always say during these “Garden of Dream” fundraiser broadcasts – if I ever win the signed Vagistat stick, then I will record myself burning it for all of you lovely guys and gals!
Up next?
The extremely truncated GAME REVIEW.
With eleven goals scored tonight, and due to my race against the clock too, then I can’t post every goal clip for you here.
However, you can find all of the scoring plays either on NHL.com or by clicking this video as presented by the Rangers below:
FIRST PERIOD
As Sam Rosen informed us that John Tortorella and the Italian delicacy, Mortadella, were not related; the Rangers got off to a decent start, but such a start would quickly fade.
And really, until the third period, that’s how most of this game went too – as the Flyers had several consecutive elongated shifts in the Rangers’ zone.
But of course, and one last reminder – the Blueshirts were without one-half of their starting defense, where in addition, you had two new players in this line-up (Ruhwedel and Scanlin) too – and for the kicker – this pair have never played together before either.
Rosen, who brought the kinkiness all-game (check out my Tweeter feed, https://twitter.com/NYCTheMiC , for all of it), as the HOF announcer was telling us who was on top of who and who wanted to go into what, was all over the place tonight – which not only is on-brand – but accurately sums up this match too!
Scanlin, during his second NHL shift, found himself buried deep into the Rangers’ zone for two-minutes.
Once the Rangers got the puck out, and with Fox on, the man who eventually scored the game-winning goal set-up both Zibanejad and new partner Zac Jones for GOOD LOOKS – but Mika went wide while Jones just missed.
With 10:36 remaining, CZAR IGOR made a monstrous save on Brink – and wait for it – put the Flyers on the “brink” too!
Of course, the Flyers would soon find a way to get the 2022 Vezina Trophy winner to crack – and five times at that.
As the period progressed, two things became noticeable:
One – The Flyers wanted no part of Rempe. At times, you had orange-and-black skaters trying to avoid REMPESTEIN – but despite their attempts – #73 registered three hits.
And for the morons who still claim that “THE ONLY THING REMPE DOES IS FIGHT” – they couldn’t have been anymore wrong (again) tonight.
Not only was Rempe forechecking as usual – but he was also blocking shots (2) – and where his first shot block was most certainly a perilous one – as he just flat out dove face-first into a puck – but thankfully, the rubber hit his body rather than his grill.
I guess Rempe wanted to extend the Rangers’ record for most players to wear a fishbowl helmet this season!
Two, and the other thing?
Prior to the five goals, CZAR IGOR was feeling it.
Not only was he making breakaway saves and his homerun passes, but on one play, and with two Flyers crashing him, he made this soft-and-deft pass to a teammate, a successful one, but also a pass that had everyone in the building screaming “NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!” at the time too.
The best thing following this pass that no goalie should make?
Jonathan Quick laughing on the bench – and then laughing it up with CZAR IGOR during a TV timeout too!
Following Fox’s first penalty of the game, Rosen made sure to tell us verbatim, “THE FLYERS’ HAVE THE WORST POWER-PLAY IN THE LEAGUE JOE!”
Not verbatim? How Rosen says all of this in a defiant tone, and where he should add, “THEY SHOULD KILL THEMSELVES JOE! THEIR PARENTS ARE EMBARRASSED JOE!”
The Flyers wouldn’t score on their first power-play – but they would score on their second attempt.
End result?
Another SAMMY WHAMMY hit tonight.
Here’s what I said after the scoreless first frame – and one where it felt like the time of possession stat favored the Flyers to a tune of 90%:
Not a bad 1P when you consider the Rangers are missing half their defense and still have the Ghost of Zibanejad still in their line up. Feels like the same good old script – wait for Panarin’s line to score and sticks up. #nyr
— BlueCollarBlueShirts (@NYCTheMiC) March 26, 2024
SECOND PERIOD
Following a terrible change from Zibanejad, which then put Miller in a bad spot when trying to defend what turned out to be a breakaway for Scott Laughton, the Flyers took the first lead of the game at the 2:58 mark.
A Trocheck tripping call at the 10:06 mark, on Tyson Foerster (no relation to Forest Gump or Mike Tyson Joe), put the Flyers on the power-play – and as noted – this is when the SAMMY WHAMMY hit, as Ryan Poehling put his team ahead on the scoreboard, 2-0.
However, the man with no relation to Mr. Gump and Mr. Tyson then took a penalty himself, as Foerster high-sticked Fox at the 14:40 mark.
Less than a minute later?
Panarin picked up his 100th point of the season – and oh yeah – we had a Zibanejad sighting here too – as it was Mika who cut the Flyers’ lead in half with his power-play goal.
Again, Mika, and to his credit, did what he always does to the Flyers on this night – brutalize them – but he has to do this against the other 31-teams of the league too – or at least the hopeful four that the Rangers will see during the postseason.
Needless to say – I can’t suffer through another long season of pouty-faced Mika and crying Kreider.
Please show up when it matters.
Come the end of the horn, we remained at 2-1, bad guys – and where no one could have predicted what was going to take place next.
THIRD PERIOD
At just the 1:23 mark of the frame, and following a Kaapo Kakko sighting too, as he set the whole thing up – BLAMMO – a goal for JONNY HOCKEY – a player that would’ve been scratched had Wennberg not been expecting.
2-2.
And after having this done to them so many times this season – the Rangers scored two goals within two-minutes or less themselves, 1:33 to be exact, as Lafreniere then played the role of “clean-up crew” on the Rangers’ go-ahead 3-2, GOOD GUYS, goal.
Come the 6:45 mark, and following a Vesey shot that took a bad bounce and rim around the boards; Travis Konecny beat CZAR IGOR on a breakaway.
3-3.
Two minutes later and Jones was boxed for high-sticking Frost.
The Rangers’ PK, so good this season, but beaten earlier this game, got their revenge – and leave it to the Flyers’ regular tormentor, Zibanejad, to set it all up.
At the 9:34 mark, in some center-with-center violence, Zibanejad made an excellent two-vs-one pass to Trocheck for the Rangers’ 4-3, GOOD GUYS, goal – and a short-handed tally to boot!
As M$G was exploding, Owen Tippett, and with some help (a fortunate rattle off of the post), beat CZAR IGOR on another breakaway goal allowed by the Blueshirts’ backstop.
4-4 – and with 8:15 remaining in regulation.
Come 6:01 remaining?
Who else to save the day rather than the GAG LINE 2.0?
Following a Trocheck o-zone faceoff win, a Panarin shot was blocked and on the rebound, Lafreniere scored his second goal of the game.
5-4, GOOD GUYS, and that had to be it, right?
I mean, could the Rangers really blow three one-goal leads in one-period?
The answer? Yes!
Just thirty-seconds after what we thought would now be the game-winning goal; Foerster, during a goalmouth scramble, and where Jimmy Vesey didn’t exactly do his goaltender any favors either – we were tied again, this time, 5-5.
As far as anything else from this point on in regulation, two things:
One, Rempe didn’t get a shift – which has to be demoralizing for him – and especially with fans chanting his name.
I mean go figure, all this star-power on this team, and nobody chants for Panarin, Mika, Fox, Lafreniere, et al.
But they do chant Rempe – and let’s be clear – HE’S NOT A SIDESHOW EITHER. HE CONTRIBUTES!
At the same time?
How can you question a future Hall of Fame coach – and one that’s been extremely successful during his first foray behind the Blueshirts’ bench?
Two, during the end of the period, long-time agitator, Garnett Hathaway, and following a CZAR IGOR freeze, waited a full three-seconds, even skating around Zac Jones in the process, when hitting the Rangers’ goalie.
The officials’ response?
“Play on.”
This was bullshit to me – as this should’ve been a Rangers’ power-play.
And again on this site – I have no problems with players going to the end of the whistle, nor with scrums either (heck, I enjoy them) – but the play was dead here for a few seconds – yet Hathaway got a free shot at CZAR IGOR without any form of repercussions to follow – as the Rangers couldn’t take the bait (reaction/retaliation penalty) – and where they thought that the zebras would do their jobs too.
No such chance.
Overtime was needed.
OVERTIME
Just 36-seconds into the bonus period, and where you dreaded the idea of a shootout too (because CZAR IGOR wasn’t stopping that many breakaways); Fox ended all such talk:
ADAM FOX WITH THE OT WINNER! pic.twitter.com/kycF9rHnbH
— Rangers Videos (@SNYRangers) March 27, 2024
6-5, GOOD GUYS!
6-5, GOOD GUYS, your final!
And as a result, your updated standings too:
Here’s a relieved Laviolette (and who may have relieved himself by shitting his pants all-game too!) following the win – and the 800th victory in his Hall of Fame bound career:
Again, sorry for going so short today – but real life, my job, blah-blah-blah.
But I do apologize for all of the typos and formatting errors that you most likely “finded” (okay – I’m joking – the word is “found”) through these “short” 5,000 words – as I do take pride in my grammar – but again – refer to the above!
Truly, I wish that I had more time to write about this game; but really, it’s more about what happens next anyway.
And let’s face it – the Rangers were never in peril of missing the playoffs this season – and I think we knew this would be the case starting all the way back to the start of the season, when the team, who has made history all-season, made their first bit of history when they swept (5-0) the grueling Western Canadian road-trip (Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver), the longest road-trip of the season, which was also book-ended with wins in Seattle and Winnipeg.
Make history for the fifth time this June.
I’ll be back on Thursday – and where I’ll fill in any blanks that I missed today.
And like the Seven Dwarfs, “Heigh-Ho, Heigh-Ho, it’s off to work I go,” which for you, means…
PLUGS TIME! (Buy a book and support my Rangers’ induced therapy bills. After all, I don’t run ads on this site!)
My fourth title and tenth book is now available!
“The Top 100 Villains of New York Rangers History,” is now available for sale!
For complete information, please visit: https://bluecollarblueshirts.com/rangerkillers/
My second plug of tonight’s blog – the mandatory plug for my book, “The New York Rangers Rink of Honor and the Rafters of Madison Square Garden.”
As mentioned previously, the book is now available in hardcover, in paperback and in Kindle formats. To purchase a copy of the book, visit this link:
https://www.amazon.com/Rangers-Rafters-Madison-Square-Garden-ebook/dp/B09CM5N2WD
For those still looking for signed paperback versions of the book, I have re-ordered more copies. I now have a few signed copies for sale at $25 a pop (includes shipping price) through me directly. Here is all the information on that:
Order “The New York Rangers Rink of Honor and the Rafters of Madison Square Garden” Book Today
My four-volume set of books, “One Game at a Time – A Season to Remember,” is a game-by-game recount of the Rangers 2021-22 campaign.
My second title as an author, “One Game at a Time – A Season to Remember,” is now available in eBook, paperback and hardcover formats.
To obtain signed copies, visit: https://bluecollarblueshirts.com/onegamebook/
To purchase all four volumes on Amazon, visit: Amazon.com – “One Game at a Time.”
The greatest volume-set of books on Rangers’ history today!
“Tricks of the Trade – A Century-Long Journey Through Every Trade Made In New York Rangers’ History,” a four-volume set of books that meticulously covers every trade made in franchise history, is now on sale.
All four volumes of the title can be purchased on Amazon.com and are presented in three different formats – eBook, paperback and hardcover.
To purchase Volume I: Conn Smythe (1926) – Craig Patrick (1986), visit Amazon.com
To purchase Volume II: Phil Esposito (1986) – Neil Smith (2000), visit Amazon.com
To purchase Volume III: Glen Sather (2000-2015), visit Amazon.com
To purchase Volume IV: Jeff Gorton (2015) – Chris Drury (2022), visit Amazon.com
To purchase signed copies of all four volumes, visit https://bluecollarblueshirts.com/tricksofthetrade/
Here are my last few blogs, in case you missed them:
NYR/FLA 3/23 Review: ACKNOWLEDGE THEM! “The Tribal Breadman” Bakes Three Goals Again; BEST IN THE WORLD & BEAST OF THE EAST BLUESHIRTS Neuter Cats, More “Broken Records” – GAG LINE 2.0 Does The Heavy Lifting; Not Much From the BFF & The Feckless Finn, Zac Jones Apology, Lavy Wins War Against “The Cuylle Crybabies,” A Hell of Game & ESPN Broadcast – But What’s Up with Kaplan? Stunning Defense; Stupid Sieve Vagistat & More
NYR/BOS 3/21 Review: Breadman Bakes Hat Trick in Beantown; No Clam Chowder For Pasta or Cheese For “The Rat” Either, Rangers Give The Middle Finger to Sieve Vagistat, Jonathan Quick Makes History Again During 2023-24 Comeback Tour, Fox Trots, Mining For Miller, Rempe Returns to Mixed Results; “Laviolette Neutering,” Debunking Playoff Positioning Malarkey, No Show Mika Gets an ENG, M$GN & More
NYR/WPG 3/19 Review: Same Old Problems Plague Blueshirts in Loss to The Juiced Up Jets; “Mika Don’t March, We’re In Trouble!” Rempe Scratch Leads to Morgue $quare Garden, Lindgren Injury Not as Bad as Feared; Ruhwedel Ready, The Hucklebuck “Goalies” The Rangers Again, RIP Chris Simon, Brutal M$GN Broadcast – But At Least We Had Brian “Mini Maloney” Boyle & More
If you haven’t already, subscribe to this blog for the next update:
Don’t forget to order my four-volume set of books, “Tricks of the Trade!”
If you don’t order through me, all four volumes are now available on Amazon.com
For more details, check out: https://bluecollarblueshirts.com/tricksofthetrade/
Thanks for reading.
LET’S GO RANGERS!
Sean McCaffrey
BULLSMC@aol.com
@NYCTHEMIC on the Tweeter machine
