Greetings and salutations everyone and welcome to another blog here on BlueCollarBlueShirts.com.
As mentioned in Wednesday night’s blog, I’m currently picking up extra shifts/hours at at work. While the construction business can be a fickle one, in my perfect world, I want to work as much as possible from the end of the Rangers season until the Fall. This way, I can save up a ton of money to go on my road-trips. SAD? Maybe, but hey, there are worse vices in life. In fact, I’ll talk about one of those vices as we move along here.
As I type these words, I’m writing this blog during my dinner break during my graveyard shift at work. Therefore, time is a major issue and this blog won’t be as long as usual.
I am off for the weekend, so plan on a monster blog tomorrow night, after the season finale with the Pittsburgh Penguins. Once the regular season is over, I plan on doing some “season wrap-up” type of blogs, such as the report cards, looking at the draft, free agency and all that good type of shit. There are also some single topics I want to discuss in-length, and I’ll be doing that during the off-season too.
And yes, only on this blog, can I write more about why this blog is shorter than usual than most other bloggers write during their game recaps!
While this blog isn’t about my fandom of Nirvana, I decided I would use Nirvana to transition to the next section of tonight’s blog.
In the stone ages of the 1990’s, there used to be this TV channel called MTV. On MTV, they would play music videos, which were basically ads dressed as singles, which in turn, promoted albums.
When MTV wasn’t airing music videos, they would air music specials. One of those specials was named “Unplugged.” In what was the most famous MTV “Unplugged” session ever, Kurt Cobain stole the show during Nirvana’s set.
(If you can’t see where I’m going here, you have to be new.)
Speaking of the word “unplugged”, I haven’t plugged my latest blogs yet! In case you missed my latest blogs, you can find them below:
NYR/OTT 4/3 Review: Lundqvist Continues His Mental Breakdown, Rangers Embarrassed By The Worst Team in the NHL, Senile Sather’s Fake Retirement, Vally Has Lost It, Mika McDonald & More
NYR/NJD 4/1 Review: “The Nasty Boys” of Lemieux & DeAngelo Pummel The Devils But The Devils Deny Lundqvist Career Win 450, Old Time Hockey at The Rock, Soy Boy Fans, Fighting in the NHL, We Want Duguay, MSG Network Talking Heads Go Batty, Lundqvist’s Post Game Interview Meltdown, DQ & More
NYR/PHI 3/31 Review: Georgiev Dominant Again; Records Second Shut-Out of The Season, Georgiev Forcing Gorton’s Hand, Brendan “Masterton” Smith Does More Time Than Jussie Smollett, “The Indomitable Strome-Man”, Lemieux Update & More From Philly
NYR/STL 3/29 Review: Oh My Georgiev Does It Again; Posts Another 40+ Save Winning Performance, The Elite Mika Nedved & Debunking the Zibanebots, Ryan “Steve McDonald” Strome Shines, Brooks vs Maloney, Brendan Smith & The Masterton Trophy, Gilmour Goner, The Halakness Monster & More NYR Thoughts & Opinions
NYR/PITT 3/25 Review: Penguins Smash The Rangers in an “At Least Lettieri & Lemieux Scored” Type of Game, Rangers Shut Down High Priced Players, Chytil-Vision, Georgiev v Lundqvist Debates Heating Up, NYR Tix, Another Rangers Bar Shutting Down & More
NYR/TOR 3/23 Review: “You Come At King Georgiev You Better Not Miss!” Georgiev Rakes The Leafs With Another Dominant 40+ Saves/1GA Performance; Wolfpack Stun Toronto in OT, Best NYR Goalie Performances of ’18-’19, Strome Continues To Excel, DQ, Kreider Who & More From a Huge Team-Wide Victory
In tonight’s 3-2 shoot-out loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets, the Rangers were a completely different team from the last game with Ottawa. Of course, a game like this brings up the argument that the team plays better for Georgiev than they do for Lundqvist. I’ve talked about this topic ad-nauseam this season.
That said, what I think what’s also really going down is that Lundqvist has these terrible games against bad teams. Quinn gets pissed off and expects the team to rebound. The Rangers have had this knack this season to play up to the level of competition against good teams, just as they have the same knack to play down to the level of competition against bad teams.
I’ve shown you all season – since the turn of the calendar, the majority of Lundqvist starts are against bad teams. The majority of Georgiev’s starts are against playoff teams. In turn, the Rangers and Lundqvist play down to the level of competition against bad teams. Then, after a shellacking, the Rangers come out with extra motivation in the next game, especially if they are playing a good team. Since Georgiev plays all the good teams, as a result, it would appear that the Rangers give an extra effort when Georgiev starts.
In tonight’s 3-2 shoot-out loss, the Rangers were up for the task. Yes, there were mistakes, but no team is perfect. The story of the first two periods was the fact that Georgiev was pitching another no-no. In fact, until Columbus scored in the third period, Georgiev had a streak of 147 scoreless minutes.
In perhaps in more impressive news, after the second period in tonight’s game, Georgiev had made 93 consecutive saves, which is the most for a Rangers goalie since the 1997-1998 season. Even the faux King himself has never made 93 consecutive saves before.
When you look at the history of rookie New York Ranger goaltenders, Georgiev is right up there with some of the best goaltenders that this franchise has produced. If the Rangers make the right move and give him the ball next season, it will be interesting to see what he does with it. That said, you’d have to think he can only get better. It’s tough to see him regressing. Only time will tell.
While the Rangers themselves struggled to score, they played hard and with focus. Sure, you had some lapses, but that’s hockey and that’s these young Rangers. That said, these baby blueshirts hung in there with another playoff team and only lost this game because of a skills competition.
When you break this game down, it came down to the goaltenders. This was a goaltender’s duel, with Georgiev having much more of a work load than the two-time Vezina winner, in Sergei Bobrovsky. However, don’t discount Bobrovsky here, it’s just that Georgiev had to face more shots and more high quality shots for that matter too.
I love games like tonight. Sure, as someone not in the “tank” camp, I root for the Rangers to win every game. Of course I wanted the Rangers to win this game. However, they lost to a good team during a skills competition. Prior to the shoot-out, the Rangers held their own for 65 minutes.
As someone who loves watching the goalies, I thought Georgiev and Bobrovsky were amazing tonight. I can only hope that Georgiev can continue to grow and that his name is one day known around the league as much as Bobrovsky’s name is. That said, I can 100% confirm that fans in Toronto know the name Alexandar Georgiev!
In our penultimate LETTIERI WATCH segment of the season, Lettieri had a mixed game tonight. He took a penalty. He was a -2, in a league where the plus/minus stat isn’t as relevant as it used to be. He also led the team in hits, logging 6 hits. He also came close to scoring a goal, but this isn’t horseshoes.
I don’t know what the future holds for Lettieri. The Rangers are stockpiled with picks and prospects. Lettieri is getting chances here. You can always see the glimpses of his talent and can think he’s on the cusp of breaking out, but the clock may be against him here.
As you know, I’m rooting for Lettieri here, but if the Rangers part ways in the off-season, I no longer can be upset about that. The Rangers gave him chances. The goals that were scored in Hartford aren’t coming here in the NHL. And as mentioned before, because Lettieri wasn’t acquired through a big trade, nor was he a high draft pick, the Rangers will focus on other players than Lettieri.
In tonight’s latest “SCRATCH LIST OF QUINN” segment, Quinn continues to puzzle. Forget Quinn talking out of both sides of his mouth in regards to Lundqvist from earlier this week. We all know that Lundqvist gets special treatment.
For a guy who preaches accountability, rewards vs punishment and playing smart, Quinn’s constant fluctuation of his defensemen is baffling.
One defenseman that I talked about earlier this season, in regards to Quinn flip-flopping, is Ryan Lindgren. On Thursday, the Rangers announced the following:
I’m happy to see Lindgren back. However, if you recall and how I’ve brought up on past blogs, Quinn once said Lindgren would get a shot and was called up here based on merit. The Rangers would then go 3-0 with Lindgren and Lindgren was solid. However, once Adam McQuaid healed up and the All-Star break was over, we would never see Lindgren again until tonight.
Lindgren was much better than Pionk and Hajek during his first stint here. Shit, he’s been better than Shattenkirk too! That said, Lindgren remained in Hartford until this game with Columbus.
As a result of Lindgren’s call-up, John Gilmour was scratched for the fourth time in five games. Listen, I wanted Gilmour to get a chance as much as anyone else. However, Gilmour has failed to impress. In fact, he’s been horrible in the limited work we’ve seen from him.
Despite Gilmour’s struggles, keep in mind, that just 48 hours ago, Quinn said he wanted to see more of the young guys and wanted to get a deeper look. I understand Gilmour isn’t playing well, but how can you truly assess someone if they are upstairs in the press box?
I think Quinn is just fried at this point and perhaps doesn’t want to be taken literally whenever he says something.
Here were your lines for tonight:
FIRST LINE: Kreider/Zibanejad/Buchnevich (They played well and were definitely the top line of the game. However, they left many goals on the ice tonight, some partly due to the great play of Bobrovsky and some of it being due to these guys not wanting to look selfish. Shoot the puck.)
SECOND LINE: Lemieux/Strome/Namestnikov (Solid work from all three. Lemieux and Strome have to be no-brainers for next season.)
THIRD LINE: Howden/Lettieri/Vesey (Howden was hot and cold all night. Vesey has done nothing to force the Rangers to keep him for next season.)
FOURTH LINE: Smith/Andersson/Brickley (Brickley is growing on me, but like Lettieri, he’s not a priority project for the Rangers.)
Defensively, Quinn went with:
FIRST PAIR: Skjei/Shattenkirk (Shattenkirk just can’t do anything right. He even fanned on a shoot-out attempt. How do you do that?)
SECOND PAIR: Staal/DeAngelo (Best pair, as usual.)
THIRD PAIR: Lindgren/Pionk (Pionk is a mess. I thought Lindgren stepped in tonight and made it look like this was all old hat for him.)
Of course, in goal, was the King of Kings, in Alexandar Georgiev.
Worth mentioning tonight, the Rangers announced Mika Zibanejad as their Team MVP. That was a no-brainer. I will say, if there is any negative here, it’s the fact that Kreider didn’t step up this season. This should’ve been the season for him to become the man here. He didn’t. However, congrats to Mika. Well deserved.
Jesper Fast, for the fourth year in a row, won the player’s player award. This feels like a participation trophy award, because I could think of 5 other guys who deserve this award more. (Zibanejad, Staal, Strome, Georgiev and DeAngelo.)
Oh, and what does it tell you, that in the worst season of the Hank era, that the MVP is Swedish, the Steve McDonald Award winner is Swedish and the Player’s Player is Swedish. I guess building around Swedes isn’t WINNING. It’s LOSING! Hey yo!
Before getting into the usual gambling segment of tonight’s blog, I want to make two things clear.
- I am not against gambling. It is of my opinion that gambling is a hobby, a thrill and for entertainment. In no way, shape or form should gambling be considered as a profession or a way to get rich quick.
- Remind me to do a full length blog on these seeds I’m about to plant here.
I gamble from time-to-time, as you may know by now. However, what really makes me sick, even as someone who isn’t a parent, is the amount of advertising dedicated into getting young people into gambling. To me, this is the same thing as advertising cigarettes. Gambling can kill you and lead you down a dangerous path if you don’t know what you’re doing.
I’m going to do a whole blog on this topic in the off-season, but gambling is dangerous. Just look at millionaires like Craig Carton (Going to jail), Michael Jordan (allegedly lost two years of his NBA career because of it) and the two Charles of Charles Oakley & Charles Barkley, two NBA legends who have been jammed up in casinos.
If multi-millionaires are getting into trouble gambling, how many regular Joe Schmos have a chance?
Here are some tweets I put out before tonight’s game:
Give credit to @MSGNetworks – they don’t discriminate. Every casino, fantasy site and sports book are well represented on these broadcasts. All of these arenas will be empty one day, just like the pockets of these future gamblers. #nyr
— BlueCollarBlueShirts (@NYCTheMiC) April 5, 2019
To recap this #nyr broadcast -2 paid spots for 2 separate casinos, an ad for an online casino where $10 can get you $300,000, another ad for William Hill’s sportsbook & now an in studio spot for Draftkings. I’m not anti-gambling, but a whole generation of kids are being sold BS.
— BlueCollarBlueShirts (@NYCTheMiC) April 5, 2019
Another casino paid spot on this @MSGNetworks broadcast. I’m all for gambling, but kids are being force fed this shit non-stop. #nyr
— BlueCollarBlueShirts (@NYCTheMiC) April 5, 2019
Betfair Casino is advertising how easy it is to win $300,000 off a $10 bet. Sounds like responsible advertising.
— BlueCollarBlueShirts (@NYCTheMiC) April 5, 2019
No joke, the MSG broadcast had two dedicated sponsored spots to promote gambling. Then, during the commercials, we had more ads for gambling.
I’m going to use Steve Valiquette here, because he’s the biggest name of the lot and because he has young children. (He has talked about his young son on the air, so I’m not exposing his personal life here.)
I don’t know how old Vally’s son is exactly, but I wonder how Vally would feel if he found out his son was gambling non-stop? Would Vally still sit in the “RESORTS WORLD” Blue Seats for a segment? Would Vally give us his DRAFT KINGS player selections? Would Vally plug the EMPIRE CASINO Rangers viewing party?
Listen, I’m not trying to pick on Vally here. He’s just doing his job. However, as time goes on, I just think all these gambling ads are irresponsible. A whole generation of young people are being told to bet like Artie Lange on a coke binge during every game.
Again, this topic is something I’ll dive into more in a separate blog.
Oh, and speaking of gambling (how hypocritical and two-faced of me here, but I only bet within my means) here is what I said before tonight’s game:
Georgiev is starting. Bet the under. #nyr pic.twitter.com/9wVC4PFup2
— BlueCollarBlueShirts (@NYCTheMiC) April 5, 2019
3-2 final means the UNDER hit as I predicted. My over-under record now improves to 35-21-3. That said, if you’ve been following my picks, I hope you only bet within your means too! This is entertainment, not a way of life!
ESPN.com box score time:
SCORING SUMMARY:
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PENALTY SUMMARY:
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GOALIES:
CBJ
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NYR
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Sorry I have to short-change you guys here. I can’t do the normal style of review here, as I need to finish this blog within 10 minutes, as I have to get back to work.
For two periods, Georgiev had a shutout going, making 26 straight saves. The Rangers were a little loosey-goosey after taking the lead, but Georgiev bailed them out.
The Rangers would not get a PP in this game, but would kill two separate Columbus PP’s.
Chris Kreider would score 1:47 into the second period, after a beautiful pass from Mika Zibanejad. 1-0 good guys. Just makes you wonder – how come this line can score against a playoff team but look like absolute zombies against last place Ottawa on Steve McDonald night?
Georgiev and Bobrovsky were both fantastic tonight. They did everything they could for their teams.
Ryan Dzingel would break Georgiev’s shut-out streak at 2:25 into the third period to tie the score at 1-1. Dzingel was the beneficiary of a three on one attack. I will say, while I wanted Georgiev to get the shut-out, at least he got beat like this and not by some bullshit like a double-deflection goal off a skate or something.
At 14:27 of the third period, Panarin scored a goal scorer’s type of goal. Strong move, better finish. Nothing you can do here. 2-1, bad guys.
With 1:50 remaining in the game, Georgiev was pulled. After going wide on his first two shots, with six seconds remaining, Buchnevich was right in front of the net and beat Bobrovsky for the tying goal.
This Buchnevich goal was great for many reasons. Those reasons are:
— Most of these TankTards are huge Buchnevich fans. By scoring, Buchnevich guaranteed the Rangers one point and put them in play for two.
— The MSG crowd went nuts for the goal. It just goes to show you that the TankTards are just a small voice but with a reverberating echo chamber that can seem massive.
— It was nice to see Buchnevich get to a dirty area and execute. He really stepped up his game late into this season and let’s hope that the best is yet to come.
In the OT period, both goalies did their job and we went to the shoot-out.
For those looking for irony, Panarin, who scored the go-ahead goal in the third period, would score the lone goal of the shoot-out. As you may have heard, Panarin’s name has been linked to the Rangers, which once again is funny. These TankTards want Panarin, but want the Rangers to be bad next season too. You can’t have both you dickheads!
As a result of Panarin’s lone goal in the shoot-out, Columbus wins the game 3-2. Great game to watch. This was 2270854234562765287647083602460 percent better than the shit-show with Ottawa.
In an update on the Senile Sather news, the Rangers tweeted out the following yesterday:
He should transition to an old folks home #NYR pic.twitter.com/3Yk02u0Fyv
— BlueCollarBlueShirts (@NYCTheMiC) April 5, 2019
I don’t have the time to get too detailed tonight, but this broadcast, away from the non-stop gambling ads, was a salute to Senile Sather. From Al Teethwig to Beavis & Joehead, the verbal fellatio of Senile Sather was torturous and unbearable.
I will say, I’ll give credit to John Giannone, who on his podcast with Dave Maloney, at least had the balls to talk about Sather’s failures with the Rangers. Of course, on tonight’s broadcast, Sather’s famous quote about what he could do with the Rangers payroll, the signing of Wade Redden, the draft of Hugh Jessiman, etc; was all ignored.
Again, I’m pressed for time, but if you watched this broadcast, watching Al Teethwig interview Glen Sather made my stomach make me feel like I ate a White Castle Smoothie, which was blended with 10 year old milk. Proctologists have seen better looking assholes than Glen Sather.
What’s even more sickening, is that Sather will hand-pick his successor. That’s like asking Hitler to find someone to run a country that just declared their independence. Horrifying.
More on this topic after the season.
Up next for the Rangers, the season finale with the Penguins on Saturday night. That blog will be back to the normal format, as previously mentioned.
Of course, I fully expect Georgiev to start this game, as King Coward hides from the big bad Penguins.
See you tomorrow night.
As always, thanks for reading and win or lose…
“LET’S GO RANGERS!”
Sean McCaffrey
@NYCTHEMIC on twitter
Sean
For the post playoffs……..I know you are going to be following Tampa this year…….Go Bolts!
Id love to see them win it all and we sure could use that extra first rounder
I saw this joke on a message board which I am sure you will like……..why does Tampa have such a great team?…….easy…….its because they have the NY Rangers as a farm team.
: )
Ok so anyway for the post playoffs…………watch the Summit Series from the 70’s…..Russia vs Canada………for a guy like you it is even worth getting on disk……..I have the series on disk and it is well worth it……….you will see guys you always heard about but maybe never saw play……….the only guy missing is Bobby Orr……..its a great series but the only reason Team Canada won is because they reverted to 1970’s era Broad Street Bullies GOONISM tactics……..that is how desperate they were after not taking the Soviets seriously…………..I mean Jean Rattelle smacking opponents over the head with his stick????…who the hell ever saw that in an NHL game?……..Bobby Clarke deliberately broke the ankle of a Russian player that was probably the best player in hockey in the entire WORLD at that time because they just could not deal with him…….no exaggeration….that guy had a Gretzky or Orr skill set……it was truly a disgrace but not to hear Canada tell except for maybe Espo but it is a fantastic series to watch and would make great fodder for your Delorean blogs…..watch Yvan Cournyer skate…….wow……..they won but much to his credit Phil Esposito was embarrassed by how they won…..so was the very famous Canadian bradcaster that called the games……….name escapes me……..but when he started calling out Team Canada for their ridiculous and OBVIOUS goonish play…………everyone in Canada wanted to run the guy out of the country tarred and feathered and on a rail……….by like game 3 he took the hint and shut the fuck up about it…………..check out the size of the equipment these guys wore back then……….its like almost nonexistant………jerseys……kneepads…….gloves…….that is it………goaltenders……..even Ken Dryden……look tiny compared to these Michellin Men these days
The series on disk is excellent quality, as good as if you were watching it on a TV with good reception when it happened…….and no commercials
Check it out I know you will enjoy it……..if you ever wanted to see some of the great names from the past play and play like their lives depended on winning……..the Summit Series is for you
Lets go Bolts!
Bolts vs Dallas would be sweet…….and 2 first rounders if Tampa wins I think……..although it will be hard to root against Zuc if he is in the lineup
Can’t believe the Bolts choked in game 1!!!
People all the time tell me to rewatch that Summit Series. I’ve seen highlights, but neve rthe full games themselves. I got to try to make time to watch it over the summer. That Jean Ratelle story is nuts. Are you able to duplicate the discs?
I’m riding Bolts all the way, I got a stronger fandom for McDonagh, Girardi and Callahan than I do with Zucc. Just a personal preference.
I will try and rip and slightly compress the disks…….original would be 24 gigs but with MKV encoding I can cut that to 12 while retaining original quality
Do you know how to use bit torrent?
I have never used bit torrent for an upload but I think I can figure it out
I figure full file size will be about 12 gigs……quality at pretty much the original version
Quality wise it is about as good as you could get on TV for any game back in 1972 even an MSG Ranger game on Manhattan Cable but nothing near like todays super sharp picture
It will take some time to get together but we have all summer
Once I get them ripped and ready to go I will contact you
Let me know about bit torrent first though because that is key
Igor…….hard to tell with this guy as SKA seems to be a stacked team…………Magnus Hellberg is also putting up cartoonish level goalie stats as well…….pretty much matching Igors…………well it looks like SKA and the other stacked team I think CKSA are tied at 3………..hopefully Igor can win the nest one and prevail in the finals…….I don’t know the KHL but I think the other teams remaining are much weaker teams than SKA
There is big money in the KHL and a lot of cred in Russia for the players so there is no guarantee that Shesty will want to come over to ride the bus in Hartford……………and like Zubov and Kovalev said when the team demoted them to Binghamton to play in the AHL playoffs instead of allowing them to play in the WORLD FUCKING CHAMPIONSHIP for the Russian team……which they were both selected to join…………”there are no Championships in Bingo!”………….or Hartford neither
My God how badly they were treated……………..the World Cup or Olympics are HUGE for ALL players especially for players from the other side…….bit no, go to Bingo and win us a Calder…….shit
Sean do you remember THAT NY Ranger lunacy?
Fuck the world championship rookies……..go and get us that fucking Calder Cup!!!!!………..then throw it in the Hudson river because who the fuck cares about the Calder Cup!!?
At least I think its called the Calder Cup………but who the fuck cares so I don’t know for sure…….see what I am saying?
Sheesh Ranger management always gets your goat………this is why I have always had ups and downs with the team…….the management
SKA loses again. Not a good day for Putin, as that’s his favorite team. They don’t even have to abide by salary cap rules!!!
The Rangers have to do what’s best for the franchise and move on from Hank. Give us the commie goalies in net. I remember more of the Kovalev stories than the Zubov stories. (I was born in 82 and news wasn’t as readily available as it is now.)
The Calder Cup is good for guys like Halverson, but yea, I see your point. Hartford has been the worst team in the AHL in 4 of the last 5 seasons. Why does this team have a hard on for Drury? He SUCKS.
Management problems start from the top down. Fuck Dolan.