It's a shame we waited this long. Why does Torts like these grind it out guys that have no hands so much? It's annoying watching them play.
I love when fans yell shoot the puck. I am a novice hockey fan (still don't know many of the rules like icing) But I am always of the ilk of trusting the players instincts. I mean I've been to MSG for a few Ranger games, and some fans are just idiots who want the Rangers to shoot the second they touch the puck. In today's game we actually needed to shoot the puck so, no problems lol /rant
Normally it is annoying, BUT this team has a really terrible PP (29 out of 30 teams), one of the reasons being that they over pass looking for the perfect shot. Needed that win, desperately. Luckily Richards decided to go HAM tonight.
It's pretty awful. But it's also clear which fans have never held a stick, yelling SHOOT IT while a point man has no angle. I'd say at least 75% of the time Johnny Blueseats has no idea what he's saying when he's yelling for guys to just fire away. It's usually the first guy complaining when the shot doesn't get through as well.
Except that if the Canadiens (with 24 championships and basically the founders of pro hockey in the world) keep dancing around like the Rangers do you bet your ass every fan (most of who played hockey in their lives) in the Forum or Bell Center would be yelling SHOOT THE FUCKING PUCK!!!! Has nothing to do with having never held a stick, has everything to do with SHOOT THE FUCKING PUCK!!!! On the game winner the passing was justified because the fish sticks had 3 back collapsing the slot and there was no opening at all. But in the first minute of that power play there were tons of slapshot opportunities from the point but they were always looking for the perfect play. SHOOT THE FUCKING PUCK!!!
And the fact that Torts had the village idiot Boyle in front of the net during the PPs, it is evident that he would like the Rangers to "shoot the fucking puck"
I'm not saying it wasn't true last night. McD especially on one play had a great angle, top of the circle and tried to pass thru traffic to Gaborik if memory serves. Pass never got there but even just in terms of difficulty of the pass it wasn't smart. Most of the time however, the guys yelling SHOOT are foolish. Not exactly sure where you were going with the Canadiens analogy..I'm sure it happens everywhere, it's the nature of fans to be the know-it-alls of every situation. For the most part, I'm gonna say the guys making millions have a slightly better idea of what to do than the guy in section 427 four beers deep.
This too...As much as I'd love to believe Zucc was the shot in the arm to the power play as Torts was reveling in after the game, I think this is more responsible for the success. You've got a monster like Boyle who, if he can do nothing else, can get in the way in front of the net. I've said it in passing before that I wondered if they ever gave any thought to planting him in front and letting the skill guys go to work. Looks like it might be worth another go in the coming games.
Just saying, that you were implying that people yelling shoot didn't know hockey and my point is that if you look at a place where people live and breath hockey from the day they are born, they say the same the thing when the team gets cute on the PP looking for the perfect play
Ok, this is my assessment. The Rangers biggest enemy is the style of hockey they play. They lead the league in hits and shots blocked, well guess what it caught up with them. The super physical style of play is almost impossible to keep up for an entire NHL season. Hank is also wearing out, when you expect a butterfly goalie to keep up the level of play that he has for an entire season is near impossible to do, I don’t care who plays goalie. Marty Biron has been shakey as of late and I have zero confidence in his game play and his beachball sized five hole. My biggest fear is the Rangers face the Pens or Devils in the 1st round. Both teams are now just getting healthy and playing great as of late.
I don't see how the Rangers could end up playing the Penguins in either the first or second round. Most likely scenario is Rangers 1st seed and Penguins 4th seed, or vice versa. Rangers would play #8, penguins would play #5. Then the teams get reseeded and Rangers would play the winner of 2-7 or 3-6, and the Penguins would play the other winner. Then they could face off in round 3. If the Rangers fall to 4, there's a chance they could face the Devils in round 1. But I'm not afraid of the Devils, they're on a hot streak and the Rangers on a cold streak. They're both going to fall back in line by the time the playoffs arrive. Penguins are going to the be the mother of challenges and are the big roadblock on the way to the cup
I think this is wildly wrong, I reckon the Penguins are gone in the first round no matter who they play. They can't keep up this level of results (which have largely been against some fairly crappy opposition, yesterday's result notwithstanding), let's see how they do in the next six or seven games which includes NY, Philly, Nashville, Ottawa and the Devils twice before we start anointing them.
Well first off, it's nearly impossible that the Rangers face either the Devils OR Penguins in the first round. There would be a lot of movement in the ranks for that to take place. Though, I don't disagree with you about it being a worriesome match up later on, particularly the Pens. As for the "style of play" point: It's an easy arguement to make being that the Rangers are in a slide and guys are banged up but considering that style of play (i.e. blocking shots, hits, hardnose skating) is condusive to injuries and fatigue at anytime, I'm not sure I agree with your assessment. Callahan could very well have blocked a shot in December and had the same result. It's bad luck, but surely a possibility at any point of the season. Keep in mind, with the exception of Staal's recurring symptoms of his concussion last year and Sauer this year, the Rangers have been one of the healthiest teams going. Other thing is this, the style of play that you say is contributing to their demise also got them to tops in the conference and the league for the better part of this season. They're assembled to play that kind of game. Yes, they're going to be banged up heading into the playoffs, surely the Rangers aren't the only team that can say this. The Lundqvist point is off the wall IMO considering this is probably as rested as he's ever been at this point of any given season in his career. The Rangers aren't fighting to earn an invite to the playoffs, he's started far fewer games than years past, and up until about a month or two ago, Biron was about as reliable a backup as you could ask for. Lundqvist's stamina has to be lightyears ahead of where he's been in years past. Don't inch any closer to the ledge. The Rangers have hit the skids but better now than in a month from now.
If the Devils add one point, they are the 5th seed. That means they would play either the Penguins or the Rangers (4pt difference with Pitts)
My bad, Devils are a possibility, the Pens wouldn't be a likely match up in the 1st round because they're the only team that's going to realistically catch the Rangers to knock them back to 4th or lower.
So the Devils are nothing to worry about because they're streaking, but the Penguins are class because they're streaking? Boston remain the team to beat in the East, they were at the start of the season and they still are. For my money it's between them and Philly for the SC berth. Pittsburgh don't make it out the first round.
Johnny, why do you continue to bash the Pens. Hahaha, I hope youre right but I know that youre wrong.
Because I don't think they're as good as you folks seem to, especially with Crosby and Letang missing. I think you're swayed by the fact that they're division rivals just like I am with the Sabres - if you were more objective you'd be far less concerned about them. I'd love the Sens to get the Penguins in the first round although it's highly unlikely now, we owe them for our last two trips to the postseason and I think they're extremely vulnerable this time round. It's funny, you're so dismissive of the Senators and so scared of the Penguins, but we're 2-1-0 against the Pens this season and have put 14 goals on them (two of the three games being in Pittsburgh), and we're 3-1-0 against the Rangers scoring 14 against them as well. If you're worried about the Pens, you should be shitting yourselves about seeing Ottawa again.
