What’s up everyone and welcome to another blog here on BlueCollarBlueShirts.com. As I’m recapping and sharing my thoughts with you here, I’m currently on the back end of a case of Labatt Blue Light. I’m also watching the Oilers/Canucks game on my iPad while typing this up in my office. I’m also still recovering/fighting this bronchitis. So with a mixture of medication, beer and being elated with how Cam Talbot & the Oilers are doing this season, I’m hoping not to be too vicious on that overpaid pig Henrik Lundswiss & the New York Rangers.
The Rangers lost to the Carolina Hurricanes, 3-2, on Friday night. What really makes this loss more frustrating than usual was that the Canes are the worst team in the division. They haven’t made the playoffs in ten years. They probably won’t make it for another 10, because they are in the toughest division in hockey. With teams like the Caps, Penguins, Rangers and Devils, this division is not for the weak.
Going into this game, the Rangers had 10 points. The Canes had 4. If the Rangers won, they move to first place and the Canes remain basement dwellers. Instead, the Rangers remain in second and the Canes jump over the Islanders and Bluejackets. Good teams simply can’t lose to bad teams. If Lundswiss can’t beat the Canes, what’s going to happen when he plays upper echelon teams? Just look at Hank’s last two playoff series. He’s giving up 5 goals left and right.
To that point, I bet you Hank doesn’t play against the Bolts on Sunday. The Bolts have owned Hank like they are plantation owners. It’s been 5 goals a game for the Bolts seemingly in every game for the last two seasons. Instead, Hank chose to play this game against a last place team and once again, was outplayed by a cheaper goalie. At least this time, he lost to a goalie who has won a Stanley Cup, rather than to a rookie.
I hate talking about Lundswiss. I really do. I know I’ve beaten this topic to death. What more can I say about this loser that I haven’t said before? However, he’s playing like shit and it affects the Rangers. I’ve said it a million times, the goalie can’t be the highest paid player on any team. I’m not gonna go into the whole spiel, check the archives for that. However once again, the highest paid goalie was outplayed by the opposing goalie.
Save me the arguments about the defense. Every team has defensive lapses. That’s why Hank is paid the most in the league to bail them out. He is not capable of doing that anymore. Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Thinking that you can win a Cup with this guy is just pure insanity.
And before you say “HE ALWAYS STARTS SLOW”, that’s pathetic. He looked horrible in the World Cup. He had a 3 week head start for this season by playing in the World Cup. Plus, HE’S THE HIGHEST PAID GOALTENDER IN THE NHL. THE HIGHEST PAID PLAYER ON HIS TEAM. Sorry, you’re not paid to start slow and you’re not paid to get sonned by the worst team in your division.
Not for nothing, but King 5 Hole’s legs are so wide open right now, that Anthony Weiner is hitting on him.
During this recent win streak, he’s played back-up goalies and was getting 4 goals from his offense, while giving up a goal within the first 90 seconds of the game. This game broke that streak, but it was another game that we’ve seen from Lundswiss before.
The Rangers got the lead after a Zucc PPG. Hank promptly blows the lead to Jeff Skinner. Hank, instead of giving up a goal in the first minute of a game, gave up a goal within the first 30 seconds of the second period, again to Jeff Skinner. Zucc bails out Hank again, making it 2-2. Hank then closes the second period by giving up what looked like to be a hat trick goal to Jeff Skinner. (The goal was cheaply awarded to Bryan Bickell, as the puck barely caught his jersey after a blast from Skinner.) The goal was scored with .03 seconds left in the second.
I watch a ton of hockey. I love my NHL package and it’s worth every cent. I think I pay $119.99 for it and I get every game. I’m telling you, these early and late goals only happen to the highest paid goalie in the league. It drives me insane that every fan will make excuses for Hank, rather than calling out the problem. Defensemen change over the years. What hasn’t changed is the highest paid goalie in the league can’t win a Cup.
Here’s the boxscore, courtesy of ESPN.com:
1st Period Summary |
||||
| Time | Team | Scoring Detail | NYR | CAR |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8:31 |
 |
Mats Zuccarello (3) (Power Play) Assists: Mika Zibanejad, Pavel Buchnevich |
1 | 0 |
| 12:34 |
 |
Jeff Skinner (3) Assists: Noah Hanifin, Victor Rask |
1 | 1 |
| Time | Team | Penalty Detail | ||
| 7:28 |
|
Justin Faulk: 2 Minutes for Delaying the game | ||
2nd Period Summary |
||||
| Time | Team | Scoring Detail | NYR | CAR |
| 0:33 |
|
Jeff Skinner (4) Assists: Brett Pesce, Jaccob Slavin |
1 | 2 |
| 12:17 |
|
Mats Zuccarello (4) Assists: Ryan McDonagh, Henrik Lundqvist |
2 | 2 |
| 19:59 |
|
Bryan Bickell (1) (Power Play) Assists: Jeff Skinner, Victor Rask |
2 | 3 |
| Time | Team | Penalty Detail | ||
| 9:20 |
|
Bryan Bickell: 2 Minutes for Hooking | ||
| 18:26 |
|
Ryan McDonagh: 2 Minutes for Tripping | ||
3rd Period Summary |
||||
| Time | Team | Scoring Detail | NYR | CAR |
| No scoring this period | 2 | 3 | ||
| Time | Team | Penalty Detail | ||
| No penalties this period | ||||
Outside of Lundswiss having another crap game, Nick Holden, who Coach AV suddenly loves, perhaps because Patrick Roy raved about him, was terrible.
My head is still spinning thinking about the way Nick Holden played tonight. It’s like someone injected him with a shot of SUCK tonight. The third period alone will make you itch and give you hemorrhoids. He was a turnover machine. Guys were blowing him by left and right, like he was an old lady driving on the LIE. He had his worst game as a NY Ranger tonight.
For some reason, Adam Clendening, who has been playing great, is still a healthy scratch. The Rangers waived Dylan McIlrath on Thursday and surprisingly he wasn’t picked up. I’m assuming no one wanted to eat the salary of an UFA, especially the salary of a guy who isn’t going to change a bubble team to a Cup contender. So McIlrath returns to the Wolpack, where he will join up with ex-teammate Tanner Glass.
Listen, I’m not saying that Glass & McIlrath make this team better. That’s up for debate. However, they do bring toughness and the Rangers are severely lacking in that department. Rick Nash is one of the biggest soft guys I’ve ever seen. Kreider, who is hurt, is the toughest guy on the team, but you can’t have him throwing down because he’s a huge asset for the offense.
Speaking of, Boston’s David Pastrnak got a two game suspension on his dirty hit on Girardi on Wednesday night. As I said in that blog, I don’t think that hit happens if this was the NHL I grew up watching. With no enforcers and fighting on its way out, guys are gonna be dirty because there are no physical consequences. McIlrath or Glass would’ve lit Pastrnak up like how Hank gets lit up by Tampa Bay.
I have mixed feelings on McIlrath and I think many in the Rangers organization do too. The Rangers, until very recently, didn’t give up on the kid. He’s a first round draft pick. In fact, just look at the 2010 NHL draft, courtesy of Wikipedia.com:
First off – Emerson Etem LMAO.
Now, look who McIlrath was drafted above. Kuznetsov, Tarasenko, Fowler, and even Kevin Hayes. Glen Sather has been a fucking failure his entire Rangers run, so giving up on McIlrath is just another feather in the hat of failure for Sather.
Ranger fans, who can remember the 80’s and 90’s style of hockey (and it was way more physical before that era), love the enforcer and fighting because they grew up with it. I’m not ashamed to admit it. While the Olympic style of hockey is fun, I like the tough guys. I like the idea that the sport polices itself. I want fighting in hockey. It doesn’t have to be every game, but a well placed fight really makes a game and brings excitement.
So the fans like McIlrath. When you hear Rangers management talk, whether it be Gorton or AV, they like the player but stop short of giving a full endorsement.
It’s a shame. McIlrath will have the choice of leaving the team after this season, because he’s not going to hit 42 games played for the Rangers to retain his rights. Give the kid a chance. He can’t be any worse than Holden. If Clendening was playing and not in AV’s doghouse, I wouldn’t make much of a stink, but Holden was terrible tonight and I just don’t get why he’s above Clendening & McIlrath on the depth chart.
Personally, on the bright side, I’m going to the Wolfpack game on Friday night. At least I can see McIlrath and Glass there!
I tweeted out (@NYCTHEMIC) that Zuccarello was due for a big game. With Kreider out, I just felt it was Zucc’s turn to carry the team. I wasn’t wrong, as Zucc scored two goals. His first goal was a power play goal. A loose puck came to Zucc after a scrum in front of Cam Ward and Zucc buried it. The second goal came from a two line breakaway pass from Ryan McDonagh. Zucc finished the breakaway for the goal.
While Zucc scored his two goals, Jeff Skinner also scored two. It looked like Skinner had a hat trick, as Bickell barely deflected a bomb with his jersey for the third goal with .03 seconds left on the clock in the second period. Since it looked like Skinner scored, the Raleigh ice was littered in hats. Talk about a great day to give away free hats, as that’s what the Canes did for their home opener.
It was during the second intermission that the goal was taken away from Skinner and awarded to Bickell. That sucks for Skinner, but I’m sure he was happy with the win.
Both goalies were tested, but Lundswiss couldn’t hold water against a Cup winning goalie on a last place team. Ward finished with 28 saves on 30 shots, as opposed to the 18 saves on 21 shots that Lundswiss faced. You can deny it all you want, and I get if you want to stay rah rah about what once was an elite goalie, but Lundswiss just isn’t capable of stealing games anymore. Lundswiss once said “Give me two goals and I got this.” That feels like ages ago. If it wasn’t for the way he handled his contract negotiations or the fact that abuses women, it would be easier to accept that’s just aging and regressing. However, he makes the most in the league so he should be on blast after a game like this.
As far as the offense, you can’t expect four goals every night. This is why you have the highest paid goaltender in the league. I thought the Rangers PP looked good tonight, but once Carolina had the lead going into the third period, they played very conservatively on defense, limiting the Rangers chances.
The Lightning return to MSG on Sunday night. It seems that they have been putting up 5+ goals a game against Lundswiss for the last two years. Who can forget the 2015 ECF where Hank was giving up touchdowns left and right?
As I said above, I’d be shocked if Hank plays. Seems like a start for Raanta. With the Bolts playing the Devils on Saturday night at the Rock, perhaps the Rangers will draw back-up Andrei Vasilevskiy (I had to google on how to spell his last name.) Vasilejasdkljadklj;lajd;lajadadadaddadkljzzzzxxxxsky is no slouch either. In fact, there have been rumors the Bolts may trade Bishop & keep A.V. as their starter. We’ll see.
For me personally, I’m starting to feel better after this bronchitis and flu. I’m looking forward to next week. On Thursday, you know I will be in the building to see Cam Talbot vs the Rangers. On Friday, I go to Hartford to see the Wolfpack against the Islanders farm team, the Sound Tigers. On Saturday, I go to Boston. On Sunday, I return to MSG to see Laine & the Jets. Since I’m going to four games in four days, I don’t know what the blog schedule is gonna be like. I’ll try to get something up. Being healthy and having time off from work are my main priorities right now and I’m looking forward to enjoying all this hockey.
Well it’s about time to drop the puck on the third period of the Oilers game and it’s about time for me to take another beer piss!
I’ll be back Sunday night, most likely after Walking Dead, to talk Rangers/Bolts.
QUICK EDIT: King Cam Talbot recorded his league leading second shutout tonight. Talbot has stopped 156 of 160 shots (.975) over Edmonton’s 5-game winning streak. Oilers haven’t trailed in 213:39. Hank can’t even go a minute without giving up a softie.
As always,
Let’s Go Rangers
Sean McCaffrey
BULLSMC@aol.com
@NYCTHEMIC on the tweet tweet
