Avery, it was found out today, was rushed to the hospital after the loss last night. Reports had him unconcious and in cardiac arrest, but that was untrue. He ended up with a lacerated spleen. So, he is done for the year. Betts supposedly had multiple facial fractures after taking a shot to the face. Drury has either a shoulder issue, or a torso problem. The good news is every 33 years a team has come back from a 3-0 deficit. The 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs did it, followed by the 1975 New York Islanders, and yep you guessed it…33years brings us to right now!! See, we do have a chance!
Bad news for us Ranger fans. Hollweg pulled his usual, hit-from-behind crap, that he has been doing all year long, and it cost us. We had two 5 on 3 advantages and plenty of PP time…couldn’t score (same happened all year long as well) and Hank had probably his worst playoff game as a Ranger. So, Hollweg showed up, unfortunately, and Hank didn’t! Betts and Drury injured. Check back tomorrow for game reports. Remember, they need to win four NOT three. Keep the ol’ chins up! Let’s win one game and work from there…
Hit the “Zeke Speaks” tab up top to get to his page, and read all of the goodness. Maybe it’s just me, but I think Zeke likes this player called Sjostrom. Well, he ain’t no Prucha……haha
Ahh, the 3 goal lead. You would think hockey teams would stop trying to score once they’re up 2-0, but noooooo, they have to keep playing well, and get that pesky 3rd goal. Ask San Jose, how they fared in the first round when they were leading 3-0. Calgary pulled their goalie, and the Keenan-led Flames climbed back into the game and won 4-3. It almost seems that it is more likely you will end up with a tick in the “L” column if you get that 3 goal lead. Especially when there is still 25- 30 minutes of hockey left to play. That and the officials seemingly phantom call on Marty Straka in the last few minutes of the game to give the Pens the PP (on which they scored with 1:41 remaining in the contest. If this was the summmer olympics, and there was a pool underneath him, Crosby would’ve scored high marks for his impeccable Greg Louganis impersonation. Yes folks he dove. There was one article yesterday in particular that highlighted Crosby’s whining, diving, penalty-drawing power due strictly to his name and number on his back. Apparently you only need two good seasons in the league before everyone regards you as the second coming. Please. Slow down.
All in all, the Rangers showed they were able to play with them. They just have to be better defensively, and hope that 8 more goals don’t bounce in off defenders legs or feet past the King….lucky bounces won’t save the Pens from game 2. You can be sure of it.
I don’t know about you, but it really didn’t matter to me who we got to play – Pittsburgh or Montreal. We played well against both of those teams during the year, and had winning records against them to boot. Everybody says woooo Crosby, oooooo Malkin, etc. , but what about our squad? We have some top level names, more so than Pittsburgh. So, don’t get brought down by the media – believe in the team we have! Let’s Go Rangers!
For the 3rd year in a row, Henrik has been nominated for the prestigious Vezina Award. Marty “No Class” Brodeur, and Evgeni Nabokov are the other finalists.
I borrowed that headline from the title of that 2005 movie of the same name, but I think it sums up more than half of the Devils players pretty well, AND their coach. (Especially the media-anointed king of all goalies-Martin Brodeur.) If there ever was a diving-whining combo award, this guy would win hands down. There were maybe two devils players that showed up….Elias and …um…..ah……I can’t think of any others. You know, out of all the goals they scored on the NYR during the series, over half were deflected/strange bounces, with the OT winner being the most prominent of those. I know, I shouldn’t be trashing the Devils, but relishing our team’s 1st round ouster of the Devs, but I am way too superstitious to say this stuff during a series…haha. Well, at least Brodeur’s whining will prepare us for another whiner in Crosby, who we most likely will be playing in the next round. Let’s go Rangers……the first step of four is complete.
Look below for some good Saturday morning reading material….
Rangers take the first round with a 5-3 victory Friday night at NJ. Will have reports in the AM. Here are some things floating around the net…Oh yeah, Drury had the eventual game winner…
Avery’s antics, whether you liked them or not, caused a stir in the hockey community yesterday. So much so, that the NHL amended one of its rules to include the Avery-screen (under unsportsmanlike conduct), and is effective immediately. We have never seen that type of play before, and we will never see it again. If you didn’t see the play in question, it was similar to the way a basketball player guards another player…hands going up and down trying to block the players view…except that in hockey this is usually done with ones back to the goalie, NOT facing him while the play is going on around them.
