NYR/NYI 9/26 Review: No Preseason Disclaimer Needed! New Line of Othmann, Trocheck and Kakko Shine; (Feed My) REMPESTEIN Dines, A Complete 60-Minute Victory Over Detested “Isles,” Making Laviolette Work; Panarin & Chytil Hurt, Stellar D, M$GN & More

Greetings and salutations everyone and welcome to another blog here on BlueCollarBlueShirts.com. What a difference that 48-hours can make.

Here’s your one-time only disclaimer: Yes, it’s only the preseason and blah-blah-blah.

So please, I don’t need the “GOTCHA” and “BUT, BUT, BUT” stuff tonight (hello Melissa B. – and others like her, as we’re all in the same boat) – as I fully understand what this game was.

That said, for a Rangers’ organization that needs some sort of positivity, and where the ghosts of that 2023 Stanley Cup Playoff performance (or lack thereof) won’t stop haunting the entire franchise and their fans until it’s hopefully exorcised in June of ’24 – without a shadow of a doubt, Tuesday night was a step in the right direction.

Granted, one game, preseason or of the regular variety, won’t determine the eventual fate of this 2023-24 Rangers’ club; but after what felt like an extraordinarily long summer, followed by whatever that was on Sunday night – it was nice to just feel good about this team.

(Let’s see how long these vibes last!)

Plus, and especially if you’re a hardcore Blueshirts’ bozo like me – who wants to waste three-hours of their life watching this team get their dicks get kicked in? (And then spend two hours afterwards writing about it!)

While I’ll have the complete GAME REVIEW for you below in tonight’s main event segment (and yes, I’m going to give this game my normal “GAME REVIEW” treatment – I have to shake off some rust too – and after a game like tonight – what a perfect sixty minutes to recap); there was only one thing to truly gripe about following the Rangers’ 4-2 win over the Islanders – the man-up teams.

Similar to the head coach, who as you’ll see below, continues to speak by using disclaimers, qualifying statements and prefaces; here’s another from me: Laviolette’s group hasn’t spent any time working on the power-play yet.

Following their dreadful 0-5 performance from Sunday night, the Rangers went 0-2 on Tuesday night, where the 0-2 includes a consecutive four-minute power-play, the end result of a Ross Johnston double-minor.

In other words, the Rangers’ power-play is now 0-7 this preseason, where in addition, the team had three minutes of an Isles’ empty net to shoot at in tonight’s win – but they could never score the go-home, no-doubt-about-it, goal.

That’s seventeen minutes in total of not taking advantage of a fortunate situation.

But as stated, you can give both the Blueshirts and Laviolette a pass for now, as the power-play hasn’t been a focus in practice just yet, where need I remind you – the team only got back together last Thursday.

That out of the way, to harp on the power-play tonight would be a fool’s errand.

After all, the Rangers just dominated the Islanders out of the gate, played the best 60-minute performance as possible (it was so good that you couldn’t even judge how the assumed starting goalie in Hartford, Dylan Garand, will do at the NHL level – as he only faced two shots in his first 22+ minutes of action), and heck – by the time that the Rangers had their first-and-only power-play of the game – they were already up on the scoreboard 3-0.

All in all, and however you view the preseason, Tuesday night’s performance has to be considered as an all-out win – and also a huge positive step in the right direction.

Now if they can only play this way when the games really matter – the postseason.

Let’s get all of the pregame news out of the way first and then get into the GAME REVIEW.

Following Sunday night’s 3-0 “same old shit” loss to the Boston Bruins (https://bluecollarblueshirts.com/92423/ ); on Monday, September 25th, the organization returned to Tarrytown, NY for another training camp session.

While the lines and pairings were changed up a bit, we did get a glimpse of what the expected opening night roster will look like, as Rangers’ head coach Laviolette put this group together:

FIRST LINE: Kreider/Zibanejad/Lafreniere

SECOND LINE: Panarin/Chytil/Wheeler

THIRD LINE: Vesey/Trocheck/Kakko

FOURTH LINE: Goodrow/Bonino/Pitlick

FIRST PAIR: Lindgren/Fox

SECOND PAIR: Miller/Trouba

THIRD PAIR: Gustafsson/Schneider

STARTER: CZAR IGOR

BACK-UP: Garand

While of course, none of the lines and pairings are set in stone just yet (nor will they be for some time), this is what we’ll most likely see on October 12th in Buffalo, Game 1 of the season, barring no injuries, and with only one exception – Jonathan Quick backing up CZAR IGOR rather than Dylan Garand.

The only reason Garand backed up the 2022 Vezina Trophy winner at practice (and on Tuesday night too) was because Quick had played the night before.

And from first look, it seems like the new sheriff in town will be keeping CZAR IGOR and the three-time Stanley Cup champion apart for now, in an effort to allow his two varsity roster goalies to start some preseason games.

Once more cuts are made, then I’ll think you’ll see the Shestyorkin/Quick goalie tandem together. (Holy Captain Obvious Batman!)

Speaking of cuts, the Rangers made another on Monday, as net-minder Talyn Boyko was assigned to the Hartford Wolf Pack.

But of course, the biggest news to come as a result of Monday, and as you can see from what Laviolette put together, was the return of Mika Zibanejad.

As mentioned on Sunday night, the part-time Swedish DJ was ruled day-to-day, after suffering an “upper body injury” during a team scrimmage.

During Zibanejad’s return to the ice, he wore a red no-contact jersey; but just 24-hours later, at Tuesday’s practice, he was back and able to practice with full contact.

In another injury update, Brennan Othmann, who was also ruled day-to-day on Sunday, returned, and where he didn’t wear the traditional red no-contact jersey.

And as you already know, he suited up and played – and played well – on Tuesday night.

In other words, all systems were a go.

Here was Monday’s edition of “LAVY’S LOUNGE”:

As brought up a few times before on this site; once again, Laviolette answered every question in full-detail on Monday – and where he continued his habit of answering every question with a qualifying statement/preface/disclaimer before doing so.

You can tell that he’s keenly aware of what happened here last year, while also leaving no chance of anyone twisting his words around.

If there is anything to truly note from what Laviolette said on Monday, then it was his high praise for Will Cuylle, a player suspected to be assigned to Hartford once the regular season begins.

During his remarks on Cuylle, where Laviolette agreed with the Rangers’ beat reporters, and thought that the young man’s game is similar to his former charge in Washington, Tom Wilson (none of the Pulitzer Prize winning writers among the Blueshirts’ beat have asked Lavy about being behind the D.C. bench during the “Tom Wilson Game” – a contest that ended the Rangers’ former front office regime of John Davidson and Jeff Gorton – and how ironic that now, two years later, and as an indirect result, Laviolette has switched sides); the head coach also talked about guaranteed contracts and how there weren’t that many open spots for his 2023-24 club.

On Tuesday morning, game day, the Rangers held a morning skate back at their training facility – and where based on the groupings – it was assumed that a lot of the regulars would be playing against the Islanders at night, including the top four on defense, CZAR IGOR and most of the forwards.

However, the biggest news of the day was that both Artemi Panarin and Filip Chytil were ruled day-to-day.

I’m hearing that “The Breadman’s” injury was that he nicked his head while shaving it.

I kid, I kid!

In all seriousness, and as Laviolette had previously said about Zibanejad – if there is anything bothering any of his regulars, and no matter how small or inconsequential it may be, then he’s not going to press the issue.

In other words, he’s going to treat his team as if they were baseball players! (“OW, I HAVE A PAPER CUT, PUT ME ON THE DL FOR SIX MONTHS!”)

After all, it makes no sense at this time of year to push anyone if they aren’t 100%.

Perhaps I should put “THE ONLY THING THAT MATTERS IS THE PLAYOFFS” on a t-shirt.

Here was the post practice/pregame edition of Tuesday’s “LAVY’S LOUNGE”:

Lavy reiterated that they aren’t going to push anyone if they are ailing – duh.

The 37th coach in franchise history also said that ideally, he’d like to play all of his regulars in three of the team’s six (50%) preseason games – but if that doesn’t happen, then no big deal.

As far as the seriousness of the two injuries suffered by his regulars, Laviolette implied that both injuries were minor and not much to worry about.

And at this rate, and knowing that Zibanejad was right back out there after his mini ordeal, you just have to take the head coach at his word – although that I’m sure that some fans are already weary of the familiar-and-tired “day-to-day” line – which seemed to be a phrase that former head coach, Gerard Gallant, could have profited off of by plastering these three words on a coffee mug.

We’ll see if both players are ready to go when the Rangers play next, this Thursday night, when they host the Devils at M$G.

Here is who Laviolette put together on Tuesday night, in this 4-2 victory:

FIRST LINE: Othmann/Trocheck/Kakko

SECOND LINE: Kreider/Brodzinski/Wheeler

THIRD LINE: Goodrow/Bonino/Pitlick

FOURTH LINE: Edstrom/Leschyshyn/Rempe

FIRST PAIR: Lindgren/Fox

SECOND PAIR: Miller/Trouba

THIRD PAIR: Gustafsson/Hollowell

STARTER: CZAR IGOR

BACK-UP: Garand

BOX SCORE time.

The following graphics and information come from ESPN.com:

SCORING:

PENALTIES:

GOALIES:

Since it’s the preseason, Isles’ color-man, Butch Goring, joined Rosen and Micheletti in the booth tonight.

Do fans forget that M$GN does every season? Apparently so, as I saw a lot of complaints, and had questions directed towards me too, about Goring’s presence.

I’m not going to get into this for the 789678966786678968th time on this site, but I will say this one last time – M$GN does this every year whenever the Rangers play the Islanders and Devils in the preseason, as it’s a cost-cutting measure.

Just be happy that the Blueshirts get top billing, as you get Sam & Joe joined by the other team’s color commentator. (Of Note: Ken Daneyko will be in the booth on Thursday night.)

While I can’t claim to be enamored with the “M$GN $ynergy,” nor do I think that the fan bases of both the Islanders and Devils are either; it is what it is.

All three local teams are under the M$GN umbrella and as a result, the network loves promoting this lovely little happy family – even if the fans of all three teams reject such an inconceivable notion.

Personally, I don’t mind Goring, because he tells it like it is, and unlike Sam and Joe – doesn’t sugarcoat anything.

And you can tell that Goring is better than our aging duo, as Rosen, who always makes a million mistakes per game, continued that act tonight, and whatever senility that he may have must be contagious, as Micheletti also did the same. There were a few times during the broadcast where Sam and Joe had some follies, only for Goring, and without missing a beat, to correct them without a moment’s hesitation.

But for me?

I’ll take Goring, and this lack of a studio pregame show too, than Sieve Vagistat any day of the week, twice on Sundays!

In my final remarks about the announce booth, Sam and Joe mentioned that this was their eighteenth season together.

Holy shit, does time fly – as arguably, the greatest broadcasting duo in franchise history, Sam Rosen and John Davidson (some would argue for Jim Gordon and Bill Chadwick), were together for twenty years.

Should Sam hang around for two more years, then he’ll have called as many seasons with Micheletti as he did with JD.

Mind blown.

Also mind-blowing?

The Rangers’ dominance tonight.

GAME REVIEW time.

FIRST PERIOD

After Sam Rosen excitedly blurted out, “THE TEXAS RANGERS ARE BACK JOE!” (okay, he didn’t really say that – but don’t lie – you would have believed it had he done so), we were shown that CZAR IGOR would be taking on the Isles’ Semyon Varlamov in net, as Igor’s BFF, his off-season training partner to boot, Ilya Sorokin, had the night off.

Varlamov – or Varly as he’s known – has had strong success against the Rangers in the past, but thankfully, that wasn’t the case tonight. (Did I mention that I bet a whole whopping $10 on this game too? What a degenerate!)

In what feels like a common occurrence during most NHL games; following Vincent Trocheck winning the opening faceoff, we then had a whistle no less than six seconds later.

Nine seconds after that? The following:

15 seconds into the preseason and Kaapo Kakko is on the board 👀 pic.twitter.com/tQ3Vmcvrsb

— Jonny Lazarus (@JLazzy23) September 26, 2023

At just the fifteen-second mark of the game, and before the Rangers’ beat reporters could even tweet out pictures of the meals that they ate too (even Larry Brooks is doing this now – although he later deleted his tweet about the muffin he purchased), there was the young Finn, now in his fifth NHL season, pulling off a turn-and-burn move deep in the circle and then burying the puck between the crossbar and the post.

Varly never had a chance.

1-0, GOOD GUYS, just like that – and a goal that felt like it snapped a 897678969696896789678966-minute Rangers’ goal drought too!

And in a way, but only if you include the summer – that’s what it was.

No less than a minute later, at the 1:18 mark, new Ranger Tyler Pitlick finished off Varly too, on a goal that another new Ranger, Erik Gustafsson, and now a Blueshirt of three seasons, Barclay Goodrow, assisted on.

2-0, GOOD GUYS – and where this goal was scored from nearly the same spot where Kakko scored his – and despite the right-hand/left-hand differences between the duo.

In other words, the Rangers had scored two goals in only 78-seconds, where do I need to remind you – it took them ten-minutes on Sunday night to record their first SOG.

After CZAR IGOR made his first save at the 2:03 mark (an elementary one), Kakko and Othmann went on a two-vs-one, perhaps a man-advantage that Othmann should’ve shot on – but like Kakko in years past – Othmann deferred to his veteran winger. (And yep – that’s what Kakko is now – a veteran – and not a freakin’ KID!)

Kakko wouldn’t score here, nor did Trocheck who followed-up on this play, but man-oh-man, was this line clicking – a trend that continued throughout the game.

Following this rush, the Isles tried to get cute, as Scott Mayfield cowardly laid out Kakko from behind. In a response, Othmann took out Sebastian Aho – which was great to see and for many different reasons, including line chemistry, standing up for your teammates, etc. This led to a mini line brawl, one that the stripes were soon to break up.

As I was watching Lateralette chomp on his gum harder than former Rangers’ head coach Alain Vigneault ever did, and with both Grant Hutton and Othmann now serving off-setting penalties; immediately into the foreplay (4 x 4), this happened:

Hell of an effort from Kreider and a silky short handed finish. #NYR buzzing early. pic.twitter.com/C7rH2WDDRw

— Jonny Lazarus (@JLazzy23) September 26, 2023

3-0, GOOD GUYS, following Chris Kreider’s breakaway and backhanded goal.

And who knew – this wound up becoming the game-winning goal for the longest-tenured Blueshirt.

Just 3:10 in, the Rangers already had a field goal on the board – and we had our first timeout too – as Isles’ bench boss, Lane Lambert, now in his second season in Belmont, begged for mercy.

As the game progressed, the Rangers had no issues with getting into the Isles’ zone, and as it would be the case all game – the Othmann/Trocheck/Kakko line made it look easy peasy, lemon squeezy.

At just the 6:30 mark, the Rangers were out-shooting the Isles’ to a tune of 8-1 – and where Trocheck came close to setting up two more goals too.

I brought this up a few days back, when Trocheck pretty much said (but not verbatim) that he was “sick of the shit” and “just wants to win the damn Cup in New York,” and at least for tonight – he backed up those words – and he backed them up to the extreme.

For whatever reason, and with the Rangers rolling, our three-man booth gave us their “Ode to Scott Mayfield.” I don’t even think that Islander fans gave a crap about that!

With 10:41 remaining, Trocheck was boxed for kneeing Matthew Maggio, an Islander who looks like he isn’t even old enough to attend a Sweet Sixteen party, much less meet the height requirement at a ride at “Six Flags.”

During the penalty kill, where we saw some of Rempe (and if this hockey thing doesn’t work out for him, then the New York Jets could use an offensive lineman); Fox put a SOG from behind his own blue line.

Just as you thought that the Blueshirts would get out of this man-down situation unscathed; boom, with just two-seconds remaining, Will Dufour, who Goring was raving about as potential goal scorer just minutes earlier, put the Isles on the board with a power-play goal off of a rebound.

3-1, good guys.

I just wish that Rosen could rave about a Ranger potentially scoring a goal in the same fashion that Goring willed his man!

At this time, and you can make of this what you want, the Blueshirts’ special teams were now 0-5 on the power-play and had surrendered two power-play goals of their own.

With under six minutes to go, and with the Isles having a little life after breaking up CZAR IGOR’s no-no; there was Rempe again, this time leveling Isiah George. This led to a TV timeout, as George needed assistance back to the bench.

In what I thought displayed a great deal of (veteran) patience; with 4:44 remaining, Ross Johnston rabbit-punched Trocheck while the Rangers’ center was down to one knee on the ice.

However, let me be clear – these weren’t haymakers or full swings – these were just cheap jabs, as a way to entice taking one of the better Blueshirts off of the ice, via an off-setting penalty.

Trocheck didn’t take the bait, and as result, the Isles’ goon was sent to the box, having received a double-minor for his thuggery.

As Johnston skated to the penalty box, I tweeted the following:

I hope we get a Rempe vs Johnston fight tonight #NYR

— BlueCollarBlueShirts (@NYCTheMiC) September 26, 2023

The Hockey Fight Gods would soon answer my prayer.

Despite four-minutes of an uninterrupted power-play, the Rangers were no good here and only mustered up two shots on goal. I talked about the power-play earlier, so no reason to go over it again, although I should mention that Kreider, the best point (and goal scoring) producer on the Rangers’ power-play of the last two seasons, didn’t take a shift.

The ignorant twunts that make up the Blueshirts’ beat didn’t ask Laviolette about this, but I am to assume that the head coach already knows what Kreider can do on the power-play and just wanted to get a look at everyone else, including fringe (AHL bound) defenseman, Mac Hollowell.

I bring up Hollowell right now (and Laviolette also praised him after the game), because I thought that he had a fantastic showing tonight.

Admittedly, I said “WHO?” when I first saw him in the line-up tonight, but he most certainly left an impression.

At the very least – I know his name now.

And yes, while I know that some of you will say “you don’t like Zac Jones anyway” – but can anyone argue otherwise – Hollowell, as of this moment, is a better option for the varsity club than Jones.

And while you could argue for Lafreniere stronger than you can for Jones; I think the same also applies to Othmann vs Lafreniere – but we know that won’t happen. (Lafreniere wouldn’t clear waivers to begin with, so the debate/point is moot.)

3-1, GOOD GUYS, after twenty minutes.

Here’s what I said at the time:

3-1, GOOD GUYS, after 20. 1P Thoughts:
— Yes, I know it’s the preseason.
— Heck of a start, but gotta score with a four-minute PP.
— Might get that Rempe/Johnston fight that I want.
— Trocheck line is flying.
— Special Teams should be the focus of Wednesday’s practice.…

— BlueCollarBlueShirts (@NYCTheMiC) September 26, 2023

SECOND PERIOD:

As we entered the middle frame, we heard Rosen ask his familiar, and my favorite, question – “SECOND PERIOD, WHAT DO YOU LOOK FOR HERE JOE?”

“A muzzle for that hyena Mollie Walker Sam!”

In addition, and prior to the period commencing, we saw that Rempe and Johnston had a few words for each other at the benches as they left the ice during the first intermission.

Similar to me, all three announcers were creaming their pants for an “OLD TIME HOCKEY” preseason fight.

And that’s what we got.

But prior to the gloves being dropped, it was noticeable that captain Jacob Trouba, and other Rangers, including his partner K’Andre Miller (who like many, had an amazing game tonight – and led the team with three blocked shots too), were blocking shots left-and-right.

You don’t really see guys sacrificing themselves in meaningless games – outside of the players at risk of being cut.

Another guy who was eating rubber all game? Othmann.

At the 2:09 mark, it was blatantly obvious that Miller had held the stick of Jackson Cates while behind the net of CZAR IGOR. Despite the Rangers touching up, both Sam and Joe said that the Islanders had committed a penalty. Goring, and without missing a beat, made the correction on behalf of the bumbling buffoons.

Both Goodrow and Pitlick looked strong on this particular Rangers’ penalty kill and during a two-minute period where the Islanders looked inept, the Blueshirts then returned to full-strength.

Twenty seconds after being returned to five-vs-five play – REMPESTEIN:

Matt Rempe squares up in a preseason bout with Ross Johnston pic.twitter.com/fjFOgo5MGi

— Rangers Videos (@SNYRangers) September 27, 2023

I know, I know, I know: Rempe has no shot of making this 2023-24 club, at least not to open the season – but should the Rangers need a spark in-season, during a lull period, then who better than Mr. REMPESTEIN?

Johnston, no slouch, was perhaps narrowly defeated here, but even if you consider this fight a draw (and which I do), then at the very least, Rempe held his own with a bonafide NHL face-puncher/goon.

The crowd roared as Rempe asked the crowd to pump up the volume, via raising his hands.

All that was missing here was Rempe doing the Tie Domi gimmick – by mimicking wearing a heavyweight title.

Perhaps that day will come for REMPESTEIN – when the Rangers play the Toronto Maple Leafs, who for some ungodly and unknown reason, gave former Ranger Ryan Reaves a three-year deal.

(Nothing against “THE GRIM REAVER” – I still remain a huge fan of his – but what other general manager in the league was Toronto GM Brad Treliving competing against when he signed #75 for three-years?)

(And yes, “FEED MY REMPESTEIN” is a tribute to Alice Cooper’s “FEED MY FRANKENSTEIN!“)

As we hit the half-way mark of the game, it was clearly apparent that Othmann wants no part of the Wolf Pack – even if it seems like that fate is already sealed.

Even Butch Goring, one of my “Ranger Killers” in my new book, was forced to rant and rave about how impactful he was.

I just can’t say enough about how well Othmann looked tonight – where I guess his line mates also deserve some credit to boot.

As we hit a TV timeout with 10:22 remaining, CZAR IGOR’s night was done, and with Dylan Garand now entering the barrel.

As you’d suspect, CZAR IGOR was once again near-perfect – although he wasn’t challenged much – and the one goal that he afforded was a power-play goal that he really didn’t have much of a chance on.

Following Rempe riling up his teammates; his bruised face and hands were soon rewarded, as just 32 seconds later, this happened:

This no-look back door assist from Jake Leschyshyn to Blake Wheeler is a thing of BEAUTY 🤯 pic.twitter.com/i0QMyxgNhw

— Rangers on MSG (@RangersMSGN) September 27, 2023

4-1, GOOD GUYS, following Jake Leschyshyn’s no look pass to the soon-to-be 38-year-old, Blake Wheeler.

To this day, I don’t know what the Rangers see in Leschyshyn, but without a doubt, this was his biggest highlight while wearing those familiar diagonal letters on his chest.

And while it’s only the preseason, it’s nice to see Wheeler score in his first game as a Ranger too.

The rest of this period saw the Blueshirts sustain a ton of zone time. We also saw Gustafsson hit iron too, as the Rangers continued their 789678667896967896789689696 game streak of eliciting a <DING> sound.

But it wasn’t just about the offense this period.

Garand, who was now in the game for over ten minutes, only had to make one save.

He could’ve live tweeted – and then wrote a blog afterwards – about this game too.

4-1, GOOD GUYS, after forty.

Here’s what I said at the time:

4-1, GOOD GUYS, after 40. 2P Thoughts:
— Domination.
— SOG 24-12 #NYR too.
— Only thing that needs work/you can criticize is special teams.
— REMPESTEIN
— Finish these Isle scumbags!

— BlueCollarBlueShirts (@NYCTheMiC) September 27, 2023

THIRD PERIOD:

Jakub Skarek took over the Isles’ net to start this period.

Speaking of “ISLES,” and as tonight’s headline foreshadowed, how about this picture that I saw on “The Blueshirt Underground” Facebook group:

While I’m sure that today, some crazy wokester will complain about how this jersey disrespects the rainbow alphabet soup mob (it implies that male-on-male oral sex is BAD and UNHOLY!); but for yours truly – I wouldn’t wear this because it’s not grammatically correct.

The irony in “ISLE (pronounced I’ll) SUCK” is hilarious.

Only (illiterate) Ranger fans.

Then again, and in this world of today, who knows – maybe this fan will suck you off too!

If that’s the case, then I’d expect that this fan is into ANALytics too – and that he (WHAT A SEXIST – YOU’RE ASSUMING THIS PERSON’S PRONOUNS – YOU MONSTER!) will also give you 4.5/per 60 expected mouth jobs per-game!

The Blueshirts continued their beat-down over “little brother” in the final frame.

It didn’t take a hockey genius to come up with this one, but seconds into the period, I tweeted the following:

Rempe the Giant should just camp out in front of net, no goalie can see a puck with him there #NYR

— BlueCollarBlueShirts (@NYCTheMiC) September 27, 2023

No less than two minutes later, that’s exactly what happened, as REMPESTEIN screened Skarek during a Miller shot attempt that just missed.

To fast-forward a bit, Ryan Lindgren, who I haven’t praised enough tonight, beat out two Islander forwards in a foot race to create an icing. This took place with 10:24 remaining – which meant that Garand had been in net for over twenty minutes – yet only had two saves to his ledger.

In other words, it was tough to ascertain if Garand was “bland” or “grand.”

This remained true even with 7:30 remaining, when Arnaud Durandeau (I never heard of him before either) scored on a bang-bang play, on really, the lone Rangers’ defensive miscue of the game, as he was wide-open following a clear-as-day backhand pass in Garand’s crease.

There was nothing that Garand could really do here, outside of making a video game save. His stats took a mini-hit at the time, due to the limited amount of shots that he saw; but since the Isles were forced to pull their goalie with three minutes remaining, he racked up enough saves to finish the game with an over .900 (.917) save percentage.

I should mention that Nick Bonino, a Laviolette favorite and new Blueshirt, cleared a puck once the Isles pulled their goalie. I only bring this up because this was the first time in the game where I noticed the former two-time Stanley Cup champion.

But to bring up Bonino, and his lack of presence, in a game like this is futile.

As the final horn went off, Rangers 4, Scum 2.

Here’s the post game edition of LAVY’S LOUNGE:

As you’d expect, Lavy was happy with his club tonight, but of course, and like any other head coach would say – there’s always room for improvement.

As far as anything else that I haven’t already covered tonight, it’s a reiteration – I think the bench boss needs to give Rempe and Othmann as many games as possible this preseason.

Due to the lack of work received, I also think that Garand needs another game or two too, just to get a feel on what he can do – and especially if Quick falters this season. (That’s my prediction and I’m sticking to it!)

While neither of these three men will most likely make the final cut; they’ve earned their minutes and should get more chances to shine before taking that depressing ride to shithole Hartford.

The official three stars of the game tonight were Pitlick (3), Wheeler (2) and Kakko (1).

In my eyes, and I’m cheating, I would’ve went with Kreider (3), Rempe (2) and that entire first line (1).

Back at it Thursday night, with a Rangers/Devils, preseason Game #3, review.

I might attend Friday night’s game at the IBS Arena at Belmont – I’m just waiting to see if a reader comes through with free ducats – and as he previously promised. If not, then maybe I’ll just bite the bullet and spend the $50 to attend.

(I always like attending one preseason game per season, just to sit good and see the younger players/what’s in the system. Plus, and in my humble opinion as someone who has been to 28 of the league’s arenas – the Isles have the best barn in the league. The fact that it’s only 15-minutes away from where I live doesn’t hurt either!)

Lastly, and for my buddy/reader Doug I., and others like him:

See, even though I don’t feel strongly about the Rangers’ chances to win a Stanley Cup this season – I CAN be positive when they play great.

And really – that’s all I want.

After all, ten-years of smashing the keyboard for free for you guys & gals (buy my books and help a brother out) – and I can still get my enthusiasm and fan-boy levels up after a showing like Tuesday night!

PLUGS TIME! (Buy a book and support my Rangers’ induced therapy bills. After all, I don’t run ads on this site!

“The Top 100 Villains of New York Rangers History,” is now available for preorder.

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/BOS 9/24 Review: S.O.S – But An Encouraging Adam Sykora, Multiple “LAVY LOUNGES;” Players Speak Up Too, A Possible Mats Zuccarello Return, Chris “Jong” Drury Lies To His Birdbrain Beat/State Media; PTO Deals Offered, NHL “Down Under,” NYR Alum, Mika Hurt, Lafreniere/Chytil, Kuznetsov Attack & More

The Debut Episode of “Lavy’s Lounge”: Peter Laviolette’s Opening Remarks on the 2023-24 Team, NYR Leadership & What To Expect, “Cue Ball” Panarin Looks to Shine, Dolan’s Ownership “Mea Culpa,” A Humorous CZAR IGOR, An Overdose of Alexis Lafreniere, Phil Watson & More

Mike Babcock Rightfully Out in Columbus; But What Precedent Does This Set? Chris “Jong” Drury Talks to His State Media; Riveting Commentary on Panarin, Ranger Rookies Sweep Flyers; Early Prospect Impressions, NYR Camp Opens Wednesday & More

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

Don’t forget to order my recently released 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