I really don't wanna dive too deeply into this Zdeno Chara/Max Pacioretty stuff. My take is this: it is super-unfortunate. I've seen the hit, which I won't link to here, and it looked totally clean to me. I think labeling it with intent to injure is silly, and I think this news about Montréal police starting an investigation is kinda nonsense. That said, the injury that transpired was horrific, and could easily have been even worse. Everyone's outrage is understandable.
I'm not going to make a statement like "this is the NHL's fault." That's too black-and-white. And I support their decision to not suspend Chara further. However, in general, the focus on supplementary discipline is exactly the problem here. The "New NHL" has made a slight grab around the shoulder or stick tap anywhere on the body an automatic two minutes. In the ideal world of the New NHL, how was Chara supposed to take Pacioretty down? He had the jump on him, and surely, as a defenseman, Chara's job is not to watch Pacioretty skate on by. So, what: hit him softly and see what happens? In 1990, I think Chara sticks an arm out to slow him down a little. But no: the New NHL says that's illegal. So Chara has no choice but to throw his whole (gigantic) body at the guy. And it happens to be in an unfortunate location on the ice (where the New NHL's new boards have a lot less give than they did in the 90s, by the way).
Anyway, I started by saying I didn't really want to get into that. It sickens me, and I think it's another example of how the NHL actively makes decisions that end up making the sport more dangerous. I only bring it up because Torts made some comments on the subject that it's worth reading. He talks about the players "not [being] allowed to police themselves," and I think that's exactly the right way to put it. How many times in the last few seasons have you seen officials break up a fight before it happens? What about assigning an instigator penalty (which is now an automatic 17 minutes, by the way) to the guy who cleanly challenges an opponent who did something nasty to a teammate, while letting "choreographed, pre-arranged" fights (there's a stoppage of play, the coaches line up their "fighters" next to each other, the announcers say "oh boy, I think I know what's coming," and they're off) get off with 5 minutes each? Like that's the good kind of fight?
Now, think hard. When you see officials break up a fight before it happens, or when you see one of these nonsense instigator penalties, do they tend to clean up the game? Does it inspire players to cool down? Or does it make them more agitated, because they didn't have the opportunity to settle things like real men, like hockey players do? Does it maybe cause the game to get more out of hand? (YES, IT DOES.)
The point is: cheers to John Tortorella for calling that out to the media. May more coaches and GMs start to say shit like this, and may the Bettman/Campbell bonehead bifecta ever start to listen to the people who actually know hockey (or, like, retire?).
And, as the post title implies, jeers to Tortorella as well, for the usual: shafting Sean Avery. On a night when absolutely no Ranger forward was good, and when the Wolski-Stepan-Zuccarello line was particularly atrocious, Torts defaulted to his old standby and responded by benching Sean Avery. Avery, who looked no worse than anyone else (Dubinsky and Callahan notwithstanding), and who looked better than many, got a team-low (what else is new?) 8:28, including only 2:01 in the third. This 8:28 was a full 1:50 behind the next-lowest, perennial non-factor Ruslan Fedotenko. For comparison, Wolski, Stepan, and Zuccarello got 12:32, 14:34, and 15:05, respectively, while Avery's "linemates" got 14:36 (Prospal) and 14:48 (Gaborik, who scored despite being unimpressive).
Worse, all signs point to Avery being scratched Saturday night in San Jose, in favor of Erik Christensen. I won't go on another rant here about Avery and Christensen, because it will look like a dozen other posts this season. In short: fuck Erik Christensen, and fuck that move.
Anyway, standings. The Flyers did us a favor and beat the Leafs in regulation last night, but the Bruins gave up a 3-2 lead in the third (with some help from the officials) and lost to Buffalo in overtime. Which puts Buffalo at 74 points, tied with us, with two games-in-hand. Someone needs to start beating these guys, please. As for tonight, we've got the 'Canes in Washington, where Alex Ovechkin really needs to stay hot and win a game in regulation for us. If Carolina wins, the standings become a little more honest, and we officially drop to 9th. We've also got Atlanta at New Jersey. Go Thrash, because if the Devils can lose another game or two, this goddamn "miracle run" talk will end, and we can all go back to laughing at Ilya Kovalchuk a little bit.
I never know how to end blog posts.
Showing posts with label Let's Go Thrashers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Let's Go Thrashers. Show all posts
Friday, March 11, 2011
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
You never call, you never write...
Oh, wait, that's me. I'm back from traveling! And I'm getting on another plane to leave again tonight!
Since I left, we lost some games, and we won some games. I didn't see the Bruins game on Saturday, but it seems like I missed very little. I saw the loss to the 'Canes and the win over the Habs. We can't feel too terrible about these. The Bruins are the best team in the East, and the 'Canes have cold forgotten how to lose games. Other teams didn't do us favors, then they did. We can't worry about that, because we can only win our games. Also, the Penguins are SUCH DICKS that they didn't even beat Florida for us. SUCH DICKS.
We've been playing...decent hockey. I feel like last night's victory had a lot to do with a very jumpy Carey Price. We're crashing the net...more...but not enough. We definitely looked good in the second and third periods, but not exceptional, and we looked awful in the first. The point is that I'm very happy with the points, and we didn't play bad hockey, but if Carey Price were, say, Marty Biron, we might have lost this game 2-1. Just sayin'.
Sean Avery is playing fantastic hockey, despite the fact that his probationary period still doesn't seem to be over. Naslund seems to have stepped up his game, at least for this last one. Antropov continues to be huge. Oh! And Rozsival's back! And...he looks exactly as confused as he did when he left.
At the end of this last hiatus I seem to have taken, here's where our (now significantly diminished) standings update...stands...:
7. Montréal, 92 pts, 2 GR
8. NEW YORK RANGERS, 91 pts, 2 GR
-------------------------
9. Florida, 89 pts, 2 GR
10. Buffalo, 85 pts, 3 GR
Between now and this weekend's finale, the Sabres have to play both the 'Canes and the Bruins. Let's assume that they're not beating both (and the Leafs tonight). That puts us somewhere between 7th and 9th. 9th is out. 8th plays the Bruins round 1. 7th plays the Devils or Caps, most likely the Caps (unless the Caps lose to both the Lightning and the Panthers AND the Devils beat both the Senators and the 'Canes - unlikely).
So, mathy times. If we win one of our two, we are in the playoffs. That's simple. If we win one more, we have more wins than the Panthers can get, and we have as many points as they can get. So we're in with one win. If we don't get that win, Florida or Buffalo can catch us by winning out (really, Florida can catch us with a win/OTL combo too).
As for catching 7th (which, as previously described, is hell of desirable - see also: Boston is a way better team than Washington), we'd need help. Montréal can clinch 7th by winning out the season. If they lose 1, we can clinch it by winning out, if they lose both, we can clinch it by winning 1, etc. This is obvious. In case of 3-point games, here are the tiebreakers:
We have 2 more wins than the Panthers. So if we end up tied, we will likely still have 1 more win than they do, which means we win the tiebreaker. If, however, we end up tied with them by losing both our games in overtime while they win both, we'll be tied in wins, and the tiebreaker will go to the season series, which the Panthers have won.
If we somehow end up tied with Buffalo (they win out, we lose out), we will also end up tied with them in wins. The tiebreaker will go to the season series, which the Sabres have won (this is why they are still in contention).
We are tied with the Canadiens in wins. So, if we end up tied with them in points because they lost in OT a game that we won, we will win the tiebreaker by having the extra win. However, if we end up tied because we lost in OT a game that they lost in regulation, we stay tied in wins, and the tiebreaker will go to the season series, which, as you have no doubt guessed if you're still reading this and good at pattern recognition, the Canadiens have won.
So, what are the chances of these teams doing these various things? Let's look forward. As well you know, our season comes down to a home-and-home against the Flyers, Thursday night at 7 at the Garden, and Sunday night at 5 in Philly. We've already covered the Sabres. Meanwhile, what will the Panthers and Canadiens be doing? Florida is in Atlanta tomorrow night at 7, then home against the Caps Saturday night at 7. Montréal is in Boston tomorrow night at 7, then home against the Pens Saturday night at 7.
This is not so bad for us. It lets us just concentrate on beating the Flyers. If we can beat them in both games, we make the playoffs and have a good chance at 7th. If we can beat them in one game, we make the playoffs and have a mediocre chance at 7th. If we can't win at all, we have a poor chance at the playoffs and no chance at 7th. I know I've described "season-defining moments" before, but....yeah.
Since I left, we lost some games, and we won some games. I didn't see the Bruins game on Saturday, but it seems like I missed very little. I saw the loss to the 'Canes and the win over the Habs. We can't feel too terrible about these. The Bruins are the best team in the East, and the 'Canes have cold forgotten how to lose games. Other teams didn't do us favors, then they did. We can't worry about that, because we can only win our games. Also, the Penguins are SUCH DICKS that they didn't even beat Florida for us. SUCH DICKS.
We've been playing...decent hockey. I feel like last night's victory had a lot to do with a very jumpy Carey Price. We're crashing the net...more...but not enough. We definitely looked good in the second and third periods, but not exceptional, and we looked awful in the first. The point is that I'm very happy with the points, and we didn't play bad hockey, but if Carey Price were, say, Marty Biron, we might have lost this game 2-1. Just sayin'.
Sean Avery is playing fantastic hockey, despite the fact that his probationary period still doesn't seem to be over. Naslund seems to have stepped up his game, at least for this last one. Antropov continues to be huge. Oh! And Rozsival's back! And...he looks exactly as confused as he did when he left.
At the end of this last hiatus I seem to have taken, here's where our (now significantly diminished) standings update...stands...:
7. Montréal, 92 pts, 2 GR
8. NEW YORK RANGERS, 91 pts, 2 GR
-------------------------
9. Florida, 89 pts, 2 GR
10. Buffalo, 85 pts, 3 GR
Between now and this weekend's finale, the Sabres have to play both the 'Canes and the Bruins. Let's assume that they're not beating both (and the Leafs tonight). That puts us somewhere between 7th and 9th. 9th is out. 8th plays the Bruins round 1. 7th plays the Devils or Caps, most likely the Caps (unless the Caps lose to both the Lightning and the Panthers AND the Devils beat both the Senators and the 'Canes - unlikely).
So, mathy times. If we win one of our two, we are in the playoffs. That's simple. If we win one more, we have more wins than the Panthers can get, and we have as many points as they can get. So we're in with one win. If we don't get that win, Florida or Buffalo can catch us by winning out (really, Florida can catch us with a win/OTL combo too).
As for catching 7th (which, as previously described, is hell of desirable - see also: Boston is a way better team than Washington), we'd need help. Montréal can clinch 7th by winning out the season. If they lose 1, we can clinch it by winning out, if they lose both, we can clinch it by winning 1, etc. This is obvious. In case of 3-point games, here are the tiebreakers:
We have 2 more wins than the Panthers. So if we end up tied, we will likely still have 1 more win than they do, which means we win the tiebreaker. If, however, we end up tied with them by losing both our games in overtime while they win both, we'll be tied in wins, and the tiebreaker will go to the season series, which the Panthers have won.
If we somehow end up tied with Buffalo (they win out, we lose out), we will also end up tied with them in wins. The tiebreaker will go to the season series, which the Sabres have won (this is why they are still in contention).
We are tied with the Canadiens in wins. So, if we end up tied with them in points because they lost in OT a game that we won, we will win the tiebreaker by having the extra win. However, if we end up tied because we lost in OT a game that they lost in regulation, we stay tied in wins, and the tiebreaker will go to the season series, which, as you have no doubt guessed if you're still reading this and good at pattern recognition, the Canadiens have won.
So, what are the chances of these teams doing these various things? Let's look forward. As well you know, our season comes down to a home-and-home against the Flyers, Thursday night at 7 at the Garden, and Sunday night at 5 in Philly. We've already covered the Sabres. Meanwhile, what will the Panthers and Canadiens be doing? Florida is in Atlanta tomorrow night at 7, then home against the Caps Saturday night at 7. Montréal is in Boston tomorrow night at 7, then home against the Pens Saturday night at 7.
This is not so bad for us. It lets us just concentrate on beating the Flyers. If we can beat them in both games, we make the playoffs and have a good chance at 7th. If we can beat them in one game, we make the playoffs and have a mediocre chance at 7th. If we can't win at all, we have a poor chance at the playoffs and no chance at 7th. I know I've described "season-defining moments" before, but....yeah.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Looking Forward Again
It's been a while since a standings update. And I'm going to go traveling soon, and I don't know how much posting I'm gonna get to do, pretty much right up through the end of the regular season. I may have to miss games, which makes me SuperMegaUltraMiserable (SMUM). So I'd better get at least this one in now.
4. Philadelphia, 92 pts, 7 GR
5. Carolina, 91 pts, 5 GR
6. Pittsburgh, 90 pts, 6 GR
7. NEW YORK RANGERS, 89 pts, 5 GR
8. Montréal, 86 pts, 7 GR
-------------------------
9. Florida, 85 pts, 6 GR
10. Buffalo, 82 pts, 7 GR
Wow, in all this time, the ranking still hasn't shifted. Don't get comfortable or anything. Just sayin'. It's neat.
Oh Em Gee why am I still listing Buffalo? I think maybe 'cause it's more embarrassing for them if I keep listing them and they never climb? Lindy Ruff is a dick.
Our next game is Thursday night at 7, and it's on the road against the suddenly-hot 'Canes. Do the math: if we win it, we tie them. If they win it, they're 4 points ahead of us with 4 games left in the standings. I know it's not too likely at this point that they'll find themselves in 9th or 10th at season's end, but we need the points on them to keep ourselves out of those spots. And bear in mind how much better a position like 6th or 7th is than a position like 8th. Taking these points from the 'Canes is almost as important as winning them for ourselves. They will be a very hard team to beat right now. If we play the way we have over the last 2 games, we'll be in okay shape.
Also in action before and on that night:
Blackhawks at Montréal, tonight at 7:30 - Come on 'Hawks - you want home-ice advantage, and we could use a little breathing room. The Habs have 2 games-in-hand on us - if they win them both, we're actually in 8th (which is not only precariously close to 9th, it's also a Bruins draw (and therefore likely early exit) in the first round). This counts as one of them.
Senators at Florida, tonight at 7:30 - Remember a week ago, when everyone said "OH HEY THE SENATORS WON SOME GAMES NOW THEY WILL END UP IN 4TH AND WIN THE CUP"? Yeah, that's over. Go Sens.
Sabres at Atlanta, tomorrow night at 7:00 - Go Thrashers! Keep sticking nails in this already-obviously-sealed coffin!
Flyers at Toronto, tomorrow night at 7:30 - I wouldn't normally actually consider catching the Flyers at this point, even though it's only a 3-point difference, because of their 2 games-in-hand and their playing-of-worse-teams-than-we-are-in-the-homestretch. But, our last 2 games of the season each are a home-and-home against each other, so there are big points to be gained between us. Toronto could certainly make this sound a little more plausible if they stole 2 here.
Devils at Pittsburgh, tomorrow night at 7:30 - If I weren't so busy, I would go to this game. I hesitate to say I have a good feeling about any game involving the NHL's godforsaken wunderkind, but the Devils will want one badly against another division rival after we spanked them so badly last night. Come on, Marty!
Canadiens at Long Island, Thursday night at 7:00 - I hate when bubble teams get to play the Fish Sticks, because I hate when bubble teams get free points. You can hope for the Isles in this one, because "anything can happen blah blah blah," but I wouldn't get too excited.
That's it! Let's Go Rangers!
4. Philadelphia, 92 pts, 7 GR
5. Carolina, 91 pts, 5 GR
6. Pittsburgh, 90 pts, 6 GR
7. NEW YORK RANGERS, 89 pts, 5 GR
8. Montréal, 86 pts, 7 GR
-------------------------
9. Florida, 85 pts, 6 GR
10. Buffalo, 82 pts, 7 GR
Wow, in all this time, the ranking still hasn't shifted. Don't get comfortable or anything. Just sayin'. It's neat.
Oh Em Gee why am I still listing Buffalo? I think maybe 'cause it's more embarrassing for them if I keep listing them and they never climb? Lindy Ruff is a dick.
Our next game is Thursday night at 7, and it's on the road against the suddenly-hot 'Canes. Do the math: if we win it, we tie them. If they win it, they're 4 points ahead of us with 4 games left in the standings. I know it's not too likely at this point that they'll find themselves in 9th or 10th at season's end, but we need the points on them to keep ourselves out of those spots. And bear in mind how much better a position like 6th or 7th is than a position like 8th. Taking these points from the 'Canes is almost as important as winning them for ourselves. They will be a very hard team to beat right now. If we play the way we have over the last 2 games, we'll be in okay shape.
Also in action before and on that night:
Blackhawks at Montréal, tonight at 7:30 - Come on 'Hawks - you want home-ice advantage, and we could use a little breathing room. The Habs have 2 games-in-hand on us - if they win them both, we're actually in 8th (which is not only precariously close to 9th, it's also a Bruins draw (and therefore likely early exit) in the first round). This counts as one of them.
Senators at Florida, tonight at 7:30 - Remember a week ago, when everyone said "OH HEY THE SENATORS WON SOME GAMES NOW THEY WILL END UP IN 4TH AND WIN THE CUP"? Yeah, that's over. Go Sens.
Sabres at Atlanta, tomorrow night at 7:00 - Go Thrashers! Keep sticking nails in this already-obviously-sealed coffin!
Flyers at Toronto, tomorrow night at 7:30 - I wouldn't normally actually consider catching the Flyers at this point, even though it's only a 3-point difference, because of their 2 games-in-hand and their playing-of-worse-teams-than-we-are-in-the-homestretch. But, our last 2 games of the season each are a home-and-home against each other, so there are big points to be gained between us. Toronto could certainly make this sound a little more plausible if they stole 2 here.
Devils at Pittsburgh, tomorrow night at 7:30 - If I weren't so busy, I would go to this game. I hesitate to say I have a good feeling about any game involving the NHL's godforsaken wunderkind, but the Devils will want one badly against another division rival after we spanked them so badly last night. Come on, Marty!
Canadiens at Long Island, Thursday night at 7:00 - I hate when bubble teams get to play the Fish Sticks, because I hate when bubble teams get free points. You can hope for the Isles in this one, because "anything can happen blah blah blah," but I wouldn't get too excited.
That's it! Let's Go Rangers!
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Senators 2, Rangers 1
Oh wow I have SO MUCH WORK TO DO, and the game's in 45 minutes, and I'm still at work doing SO MUCH. Okay, fine, the quick summary.
We played the same game we did against the Sabres, but even less exciting. I told you it wasn't enough. We lost because of it. No surprises. Sam and Joe went back to their "OH WOWZ THE OPPOSING GOALIE WAS SO GOOD" tricks, which is terrible. Alex Auld was fine, and we couldn't put more than one past him. We again won faceoffs and puck battles but couldn't figure out what to do from there. We again squandered power plays. Et cetera. We deserved to lose, and we did. Fine, I'm over it - everyone has bad weekends. We're just...running out of time to have them, so let's recover and win three big this week: tonight against the Wild, Thursday against the Thrashers, and Saturday, in Pittsburgh (I'll be there).
Rozsival got hurt. He's out 7-10 days. That is the end of how much I care about this fact. Michael Obernauer's Daily News article opens with:
The bad news is, the Rangers will have to do without Michal Rozsival for a little while. The good news is, they found out Monday that it will only be a little while - seven-to-10 days.
Wait, strike that, reverse it.
We're replacing him with a 21-year-old kid named Michael Sauer, who will be wearing (the original) LT's 56. He has 6 G, 16 G, 35 PIM in 59 games for the Wolf Pack this season, and Schoenfeld picked him because he got over some injury quickly or something. Whatever, he's not Rozsival, woo.
Last night, the Flyers beat the Devils, and the 'Canes beat the Panthers, in OT, so everything that could possibly have gone wrong did.
Standings:
4. Philadelphia, 90 pts, 10 GR
6. Carolina, 87 pts, 7 GR
5. Pittsburgh, 86 pts, 8 GR
7. NEW YORK RANGERS, 84 pts, 9 GR
8. Montréal, 81 pts, 10 GR
-------------------------
9. Florida, 81 pts, 9 GR
10. Buffalo, 76 pts, 10 GR
At this point, the Sens are only a game behind the Sabres, and no way am I adding them to the list, so the Sabres are about to go. I'm leaving them on right now 'cause I'm too busy to make a decision.
Only other game of note tonight (ours is at 7) is Thrashers at Montréal at 7:30. Ugh. Bad time for a bad team to play a team right behind us. Please go Thrashers.
We'd better win this one. If we lose this one, those big wins from last week really seem to stop mattering. The Wild are desperate to get above their dashed line tonight. We need this win. That means we need to come out as if we need this win. We'll see what happens. Let's Go Rangers!
We played the same game we did against the Sabres, but even less exciting. I told you it wasn't enough. We lost because of it. No surprises. Sam and Joe went back to their "OH WOWZ THE OPPOSING GOALIE WAS SO GOOD" tricks, which is terrible. Alex Auld was fine, and we couldn't put more than one past him. We again won faceoffs and puck battles but couldn't figure out what to do from there. We again squandered power plays. Et cetera. We deserved to lose, and we did. Fine, I'm over it - everyone has bad weekends. We're just...running out of time to have them, so let's recover and win three big this week: tonight against the Wild, Thursday against the Thrashers, and Saturday, in Pittsburgh (I'll be there).
Rozsival got hurt. He's out 7-10 days. That is the end of how much I care about this fact. Michael Obernauer's Daily News article opens with:
The bad news is, the Rangers will have to do without Michal Rozsival for a little while. The good news is, they found out Monday that it will only be a little while - seven-to-10 days.
Wait, strike that, reverse it.
We're replacing him with a 21-year-old kid named Michael Sauer, who will be wearing (the original) LT's 56. He has 6 G, 16 G, 35 PIM in 59 games for the Wolf Pack this season, and Schoenfeld picked him because he got over some injury quickly or something. Whatever, he's not Rozsival, woo.
Last night, the Flyers beat the Devils, and the 'Canes beat the Panthers, in OT, so everything that could possibly have gone wrong did.
Standings:
4. Philadelphia, 90 pts, 10 GR
6. Carolina, 87 pts, 7 GR
5. Pittsburgh, 86 pts, 8 GR
7. NEW YORK RANGERS, 84 pts, 9 GR
8. Montréal, 81 pts, 10 GR
-------------------------
9. Florida, 81 pts, 9 GR
10. Buffalo, 76 pts, 10 GR
At this point, the Sens are only a game behind the Sabres, and no way am I adding them to the list, so the Sabres are about to go. I'm leaving them on right now 'cause I'm too busy to make a decision.
Only other game of note tonight (ours is at 7) is Thrashers at Montréal at 7:30. Ugh. Bad time for a bad team to play a team right behind us. Please go Thrashers.
We'd better win this one. If we lose this one, those big wins from last week really seem to stop mattering. The Wild are desperate to get above their dashed line tonight. We need this win. That means we need to come out as if we need this win. We'll see what happens. Let's Go Rangers!
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
More defining moments
Tonight, we play in Montréal at 7:30. This, you'll recall, is the final game of the stretch my father referred to as "season-defining." So far, we're 2-1-0 in that stretch. 3-1 is a better definition of a season than 2-2 is. You've seen the standings. You know why this is big. Winning puts us at the top of the bubble, losing puts us back near that dreaded dashed line (ooooooooooh). But seriously, this is another game against an in-bubble team. The Canadiens, meanwhile, are a team a lot of us are starting to smell blood around. Since firing Carbonneau, they have gained 3 points in 6 games without winning in regulation. This is an opportunity to strike while they're faltering and gain some very important points against some very nearby competition (again, see the current standings 3 posts ago).
In "unimportant storylines people are writing about because they need to write about something" news, Lundqvist hasn't done well in Montréal lately. That's a dumb thing about which to write a story. Relatedly, I'm depressed by how much this blog seems to come down on Larry Brooks, who I really do like. And hey, I guess you have to write about bullshit sometimes, when you write to pay the rent. The point is: that's a dumb article.
More importantly, notice that tonight is our last game until the weekend. That gives the other bubble teams the rest of the week to start making up points on us. This is part of that whole "you need to get points in the games-in-hand for them to matter" thing. If we don't pick up the 2 tonight, and other bubble teams win a lot this week, our recent feel-good success will stop feeling quite so good again. As my father is so fond of saying, "Of course, I'll start to really feel good if they can do this for more than one game in a row..."
Also tonight, at 7:00, is a game the Rangers don't actually care about, but that I'll mention anyway - Blackhawks in New Jersey. Tonight, barring miracles, Martin Brodeur will pass Patrick Roy and become the winningest goalie in NHL history. I threw up a little in my mouth when I said that. I'm not watching this game, but I feel obligated to mention it for a sentence. I'm, of course, rooting for the Blackhawks, but not just on general principle (at this point, Brodeur is obviously going to get this record soon, I'd rather spend that energy blogging about why Roy was still a better goalie, which I may do at some point later in life) - if he fails, he gets another chance against Carolina tomorrow night, and I'd like to see the desire to win that record help us out there. But realistically, he's going to make some modicum of numerical history tonight, so, there you have it. Moving on.
Every game that matters tonight is at 7:30:
Sabres in Ottawa - If the Sens do us a favor here tonight, then the Sabres move on to face the Flyers Friday night. If that game goes as it ought to (not that I necessarily want it to), we could be poised, on 3 days' rest, to put the final nail in the coffin of a tired Buffalo team. I know, I'm getting ahead of myself. But still - an Ottawa win at home can't hurt.
Thrashers in Pittsburgh - Oof. This sucks. Thrashers are playing without Kovalchuk AND Lehtonen tonight, while Malkin seems to be healthy enough to suit up for the Pens. I appreciate the Thrashers' current 6-game streak, and I'd LOVE to see them pull this off for us, but...we might have to bite the bullet on this one. Even so, as you've heard me say before, stranger things have happened.
Capitals in Florida - The Caps need to get their shit together. The Panthers are 2 points behind us with a game in hand, and this game would be a great one for them to lose, against #3 in the conference, as opposed to, for example, Thursday, when they play Toronto. I'd like to get invested in this game, since it has every reason to go well for us, but the Caps keep breaking my heart. Please, guys? You have the best player in hockey!
Flyers in Detroit - I know, we're not thinking about the Flyers yet. I talked about this game before. Just keeping it on the rader.
Let's Go Rangers!
In "unimportant storylines people are writing about because they need to write about something" news, Lundqvist hasn't done well in Montréal lately. That's a dumb thing about which to write a story. Relatedly, I'm depressed by how much this blog seems to come down on Larry Brooks, who I really do like. And hey, I guess you have to write about bullshit sometimes, when you write to pay the rent. The point is: that's a dumb article.
More importantly, notice that tonight is our last game until the weekend. That gives the other bubble teams the rest of the week to start making up points on us. This is part of that whole "you need to get points in the games-in-hand for them to matter" thing. If we don't pick up the 2 tonight, and other bubble teams win a lot this week, our recent feel-good success will stop feeling quite so good again. As my father is so fond of saying, "Of course, I'll start to really feel good if they can do this for more than one game in a row..."
Also tonight, at 7:00, is a game the Rangers don't actually care about, but that I'll mention anyway - Blackhawks in New Jersey. Tonight, barring miracles, Martin Brodeur will pass Patrick Roy and become the winningest goalie in NHL history. I threw up a little in my mouth when I said that. I'm not watching this game, but I feel obligated to mention it for a sentence. I'm, of course, rooting for the Blackhawks, but not just on general principle (at this point, Brodeur is obviously going to get this record soon, I'd rather spend that energy blogging about why Roy was still a better goalie, which I may do at some point later in life) - if he fails, he gets another chance against Carolina tomorrow night, and I'd like to see the desire to win that record help us out there. But realistically, he's going to make some modicum of numerical history tonight, so, there you have it. Moving on.
Every game that matters tonight is at 7:30:
Sabres in Ottawa - If the Sens do us a favor here tonight, then the Sabres move on to face the Flyers Friday night. If that game goes as it ought to (not that I necessarily want it to), we could be poised, on 3 days' rest, to put the final nail in the coffin of a tired Buffalo team. I know, I'm getting ahead of myself. But still - an Ottawa win at home can't hurt.
Thrashers in Pittsburgh - Oof. This sucks. Thrashers are playing without Kovalchuk AND Lehtonen tonight, while Malkin seems to be healthy enough to suit up for the Pens. I appreciate the Thrashers' current 6-game streak, and I'd LOVE to see them pull this off for us, but...we might have to bite the bullet on this one. Even so, as you've heard me say before, stranger things have happened.
Capitals in Florida - The Caps need to get their shit together. The Panthers are 2 points behind us with a game in hand, and this game would be a great one for them to lose, against #3 in the conference, as opposed to, for example, Thursday, when they play Toronto. I'd like to get invested in this game, since it has every reason to go well for us, but the Caps keep breaking my heart. Please, guys? You have the best player in hockey!
Flyers in Detroit - I know, we're not thinking about the Flyers yet. I talked about this game before. Just keeping it on the rader.
Let's Go Rangers!
Friday, March 13, 2009
This weekend
Oh man I am WAY too busy at work to be posting this right now. Fine. Weekend. We play the Flyers in Philly tomorrow at 1, and then back at the Garden Sunday at 12:30. I would really like those games to make this game into some kind of streak. Then I could even reasonably call this a "surge" without being full of shit. But it's going to be hard, the Flyers have consistently been very good all season. Remember when I said the Carolina game was going to be much harder than the Boston game? And then it was? Well, these are, too. And they're getting pretty vital. If there are pre-playoff playoffs, this home-and-home is they. I can't stress this enough, so I won't try. We've been getting better and better. We need another similar growth in skill between yesterday and tomorrow. That's not impossible. But it has to happen.
Meanwhile, a million other games are happening. All 5 other bubble teams are in action tomorrow, too (none against each other), and the Pens play again Sunday. Specifically:
Saturday
RANGERS AT FLYERS, 1:00
Senators at Penguins, 3:00
Thrashers at Sabres, 7:00
Devils at Canadiens, 7:00
Hurricanes at Capitals, 7:00
Lightning at Panthers, 7:00
Sunday
FLYERS AT RANGERS, 12:30
Bruins at Penguins, 3:00
Wow, I could watch 12 hours of hockey this weekend.
Hopefully, we can at least count on the Bruins (who will use their shitty play of the weekend on the Islanders Saturday) and Devils (Marty looking to tie Roy's all-time win record), and possibly count on the Capitals (if they get their shit together - who knows with that team). Then we'll be looking for help from the East's 12 through 14 spots. But hell, we got some help from number 15 last night, and "anything can happen in the New NHL," right??
Hah. Well. As I said yesterday, stranger things have happened. All 3 of them should be way closer games than Isles-Canadiens should have been, so there's always hope.
Most importantly, of course, are our two games. Let's concentrate on those and see how the cards fall out.
Let's Go Rangers!
Meanwhile, a million other games are happening. All 5 other bubble teams are in action tomorrow, too (none against each other), and the Pens play again Sunday. Specifically:
Saturday
RANGERS AT FLYERS, 1:00
Senators at Penguins, 3:00
Thrashers at Sabres, 7:00
Devils at Canadiens, 7:00
Hurricanes at Capitals, 7:00
Lightning at Panthers, 7:00
Sunday
FLYERS AT RANGERS, 12:30
Bruins at Penguins, 3:00
Wow, I could watch 12 hours of hockey this weekend.
Hopefully, we can at least count on the Bruins (who will use their shitty play of the weekend on the Islanders Saturday) and Devils (Marty looking to tie Roy's all-time win record), and possibly count on the Capitals (if they get their shit together - who knows with that team). Then we'll be looking for help from the East's 12 through 14 spots. But hell, we got some help from number 15 last night, and "anything can happen in the New NHL," right??
Hah. Well. As I said yesterday, stranger things have happened. All 3 of them should be way closer games than Isles-Canadiens should have been, so there's always hope.
Most importantly, of course, are our two games. Let's concentrate on those and see how the cards fall out.
Let's Go Rangers!
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