New York Rangers

My team is out and I have nothing better to do now than watch other teams pursue their Stanley Cup dreams. Here's a few of my takes on what's going on in the playoffs and the teams that were/are involved. Philly - They won't beat Boston much less win a cup if they can't settle on a goalie. I can't blame Laviolette for pulling his goalies when he has but if Bobrovsky was good enough to get the start to open the postseason then why wasn't he good enough to at least back Boucher up after he was yanked? Instead, Laviolette made Leighton, who hadn't even played for a while if I recall correctly, the backup. Then Leighton got the start in a must-win game six only to get yanked in favor of Bouch...

As of Friday morning I had two obvious topics bouncing around in my head in regards to this blog post. I was either going to be doing the Rangers season in review or a playoff preview. Thanks to Tampa I get to postpone the review and touch on a preview of the upcoming Washington Capitals and New York Rangers series. Before I look at washington, let's recap how the Rangers got into the dance. I wasn't feeling too positive Friday morning. Last Sunday we were able to grind out a hard-fought shootout win over Philadelphia. Ironically, it was nearly a year to the day that Philly knocked us out of the postseason via that same shootout. That win enabled us to remain in control of our destiny. If...

A great and resilient win today by the Rangers has been overshadowed somewhat by yet another cheap shot by Penguins forward Matt Cooke. (For those of you who haven't seen the hit I will link to it in a bit). In essence, Rangers defenseman Ryan McDonagh was shooting the puck from the center red line along the boards into the Rangers offensive zone. Cooke skated from center towards an unsuspecting McDonagh. When the rookie defenseman moved slightly and Cooke realized he was going to whiff on contacting McDonagh, Cooke threw his left elbow out and caught McDonagh smack in the chin. The official saw it right away, handed Cooke a 5 minute major penalty and tossed him from the game. I am sick ...

The Rangers have been abysmal at home this year. They are the only team currently in possession of a playoff spot with a sub-.500 mark in their own building. Last week, the Blue Shirts outplayed Tampa at home but lost, 2-1. They then dropped a heart-breaker to Buffalo, a team chasing NY hard in the standings, 3-2. The worst home loss last week was a 3-1 decision to Minnesota; a game in which the Rangers outshot the Wild 41-19 but couldn't take advantage of several glorious chances. Those were hard games to watch as a fan. It was difficult to be mad at the club since they were working hard, creating offensive chances and outplaying their opponents for the most part but coming up short. It ...