Keep finding ways to win until the king comes back. Struggling coyotes come to town and we need to make sure we take four points over the next two before we hit the murderers row that is March
gotta grab two points tonight because the schedule significantly toughens starting Saturday (at Philly wont be easy with their season hanging on by a fingernail). Plus sweeping a team 4-0 is never easy - we saw Pittsburgh avoid that last night.
Hopefully Nash is a go. No mercy on this Arizona team - sweep the leg.
This game is more important than just your average Coyotes game because of the upcoming schedule. Need to get these wins where we can with Henrik out.
Wouldnt mind another suffocating defensive effort tonight. As long as they are smart with the puck and dont give the Coyotes any easy goals, I don't see why this cant be an easy W.
Rest Nash, we have a very tough stretch coming up, and the rangers should be able to take care of business without him tonight, beating them badly is not important at all, don't care if that puts a crimp in your plans. i would be thrilled with another game like we had against the Flames, a tight game with Talbot playing well, if he can get another good win maybe he starts to gain some much needed confidence. That is far more important than running up the score on Arizona. I also want to see Hayes on the wing once again, i think that is his better position, and i could see him developing into a 30 goal scorer from there. he has a wicked wrist shot and a good slap shot, and he is just starting to put it together, that also is more important then rushing Nash back.
With Winnik gone a player that i would love the rangers to add is Cam Atkinson, he is a guy with a very low cap hit who could be plugged right into our lineup, maybe on the third line even, and then we can put Miller on the 4th line with Moore and Fast, a very nice upgrade to the 4th line. You also place Atkinson on the 4th line. he is a guy that can play on the power play also. here is a look at his stats. His cap hit is 1.15 mil, very low. He is a very fast skater, the down side is he is another small player. Link - ( New Window )
But he seems to hold JT Miller and John Moore to a different standard then anyone else on the team. We all know it was his idea to bring in tanner Glass, which has been a fucking disaster, but there is a time you have to do what is right for the team, Tanner Glass is a -15 in 46 games played, and has 1 fucking assist all season on a team that has an overall +40, and has scored 186 goals in 59 games. That is almost impossible to achieve, yet he has accomplished this feat. JT Miller has 5 goals and 8 assists in 35 games and is a +2, nothing to write home about, but a long way from being the tool Glass is. I know we have beat this to death, but if i see Miller benched once more and Glass playing, i am going to fucking lose now that he even is fighting to keep playing, how much fucking ass does he have to kiss to play, and yet the other guy can do anything and keeps playing. John Moore is the other player that has been singled out in my opinion, Moore was a good player for us last playoff season, and he has the size/speed combo that is rare, he makes some bad mistakes, but why is he punished and not Glass. Hunwick has been very solid, I ust say, but it is time to give Moore a shot, hunwick is nothing more then a 7th defenseman. Done with my rant.
@AGrossRecord: Henrik Lundqvist skated again this morning but that's only update. No follow-up medical exam scheduled yet, per team.
@AGrossRecord
Ulf Samuelsson's son Henrik, the Coyotes forward set to make NHL debut tonight with dad on opposite bench, just spoke. Will post blog soon.
News on Lundqvist is starting to worry me a bit, I must admit, the team hides the injuries, that is for certain, and with the trade deadline fast approaching, there is no way they would say a word, but I am beginning to get concerned, that is why I am hoping that Talbot can have another really good game tonight to follow up his best performance since he has been the #1 goalie.
has been doing on ice workouts with Benoit Allaire prior to every practice. From the sounds of it things are going just fine and as they predicted. I don't think there's any need to worry.
There has been a lot of news. Last week he started cardio, then skating. This week it has been low shots from BA. Read between the lines -- he's recovering well.
His condition is not something that I think lends itself to clear updates, unless there is a setback. It's a weird thing.
But I didn't feel it necessary to send out a separate Bat-signal; I wanted to thank Greg for taking the time to get together for a couple of drinks last night. Great meeting you and always fun to talk NY sports in the bucolic setting of Richmond.
But I didn't feel it necessary to send out a separate Bat-signal; I wanted to thank Greg for taking the time to get together for a couple of drinks last night. Great meeting you and always fun to talk NY sports in the bucolic setting of Richmond.
should have taken in the VCU-Richmond game last night. What a choke job that was at first by Richmond, then VCU in the 1st overtime choked badly themselves
I'd like to see Moore take another crack at that one
Definitely. Unfortunately I had a meeting with a potential client running till about 7:45 and Greg also had a commitment. We were relegated to sneaking a peek at the tv at the bar. Good time nonetheless.
Definitely. Unfortunately I had a meeting with a potential client running till about 7:45 and Greg also had a commitment. We were relegated to sneaking a peek at the tv at the bar. Good time nonetheless.
What? I didn't know you were suckin cacks. Then again you've been hanging with the King of Suckin Purple Heads, Fish.
We have Talbot in net and seem to be insistent on penalizing ourselves into a Loss
Absolutely fair. Obviously not looking great, but the team has given us good reason to have some confidence at this point. But even if we lose, the level of carrying on tonight isn't commensurate with a team that has taken down point in 9 straight and playing the best hockey in the league since December.
the kids have been terrific lately. Really makes you think this team has a little bigger window than we originally thought Hayes, Miller, Kreider, Duclair, etc can develop the way we think they can, to go with Nash, Brassard and Stepan.
Gotta play a clean 3rd period and come away with points tonight. Cam still makes me awfully nervous back there.
but it doesnt take much to realize their "run" since mid January is fools gold. They've won 7 games in regulation in their past 24 games.... they're generating points because they have taken almost half of their games to OT.
And they lost to Carolina the other night
I've been saying the same thing about Boyle in our end..
to put the Rangers atop the Metropolitan! Rangers have at least a point in 10 straight games according to Sam. Their last regulation loss was 3-2 at Nashville 19 days ago
honestly anytime we can come away with ROW without our best player is good. Hopefully tonight was a wake up call of sorts too... we're not playing sound enough defensively right now to win playoff hockey, i dont care if Lundqvist is back there... lots to clean up.
and 9-1-2 since the King got hurt so this year the Rangers are a lot more than Lundqvist. I thought they showed that when they swept California and beat the Kings 4-3 with Talbot against Quick but this stretch is also proving they're a complete team.
However, the next 2 weeks get brutal. Philly in their building is never easy and they'll goon it up if they get desperate. Then its Nashville at the Garden, and a road trip with Detroit, Chicago, the Isles and Caps (and the Isles and Caps are back to back so Skapski is probably going to see Ovechkin)
Also 2 ROWs in hand on the Isles which is like an extra point in the standings because that's the first tiebreaker, not the H2H record. My guess is that the Isles would beat us out by 4-6 points if they got the same number of ROWs.
As of this moment TB and Nashville are the only teams with 35 ROWs
play weaker teams, and you're the top dog they are going to always get up to play you and give max effort.
The Islanders beat them 5-1. Arizona is one of the three atrocious teams in this league. With that said ... its the NHL. Buffalo beat Vancouver tonight, and Edmonton won in Washington a few weeks ago. Anything can happen.
I'd just like to see a little more defense discipline in front of Cam. He's struggled a bit - he's a backup, its to be expected - but i didnt expect really only 2 solid defensive efforts in front of him during his 10 game stretch (Boston and Calgary)
they can give both Anaheim and LA a run in a playoff series. Do worry a bit about their goaltending, but i just want somebody decent to challenge the Kings ahead of the WCF.
or trade for Vermette if the price is right. Faceoffs are going to kill us in the playoffs and it's our biggest weakness at full strength. We need more puck possession to take out teams like Tampa Bay and arguably the Isles
The road through the East is much harder this year. Washington is better with Holtby establishing himself as a legit goalie. Pittsburgh hasn't played great but still have Crosby and Malkin. Isles are a young but very fast and skilled team. Montreal looks better than last year and Price is in god mode. Tampa is a lot like the Isles and Detroit looks almost back to being Cup contender Detroit again. Even a degraded Bruins team is no easy out
The road through the East is much harder this year. Washington is better with Holtby establishing himself as a legit goalie. Pittsburgh hasn't played great but still have Crosby and Malkin. Isles are a young but very fast and skilled team. Montreal looks better than last year and Price is in god mode. Tampa is a lot like the Isles and Detroit looks almost back to being Cup contender Detroit again. Even a degraded Bruins team is no easy out
It's not like you have to play all these teams. You have to play 3 - and we played 3 good ones last year. In fact its better that none of the other teams will have an easy road. As is always the case in the run for the Cup, you'll need breaks to go your way... no matter what. Kings won 3 game 7s on the road last year, somebody's going to test you, if not multiple teams.
I'm far more concerned about Lundqvist. It's 3.5 weeks now and not a peep other than 'on schedule,' nor a Doctors visit even on the horizon. Rangers have been dishonest about this from the start, and its hard to really trust whats going on, especially since we're around the trade deadline.
The Rangers are just as formidable as anyone in the league. Teams should be just as worried about having to play them. As for Hank, you have to wonder how long it will take for him to get back to where he was pre injury. He was playing great.
Having said that I think Talbot who was shakey at best in the beginning is starting to show more consistency and making the big save when needed. Although the post was his friend a couple of times last night. But the Rangers never panic. I think that's one of their strong points. But their biggest asset is they aren't married to one way of playing the game.
You want up tempo you got it. You want to clog up the nuetral zone you got it. You want to play tight defense you got it. I like their chances against anyone at this point. Of course that doesn't guaruntee anything. The puck takes funny bounces and has a way finding the back of the net even when your goalie and defenseman play it right.
They said he'd be out 'at least three weeks' three weeks ago today. It's been a little longer since his injury. I interpreted the 'at least three weeks' as completely off ice. Once he's cleared, the process for him getting back in a game shouldn't be long.
been dishonest with Henrik's situation rather I'd like to think that it's such a unique and unprecedented injury where they're simply taking every possible precaution. I mean a vascular injury/bruised blood vessel, when was the last time you heard of such an injury? It appears they're treating it much like that of a concussion whereby it's a day to day, week to week situation and they're monitoring him very closely for incremental changes.
Just hope that when he is deemed game ready it won't take him long to get back to form.
Mike.. it seems you left us after this hilarious comment. Just checking in to make sure you're alright.
Just having some fun with my fellow Giants fans. I have no problem with the Rangers per se, my issue is more with people who think that every penalty against them or goal allowed was due to some screw up by officials or those that have such an inferiority complex that they have to compare their team to another just to feel good about the Rangers
been dishonest with Henrik's situation rather I'd like to think that it's such a unique and unprecedented injury where they're simply taking every possible precaution. I mean a vascular injury/bruised blood vessel, when was the last time you heard of such an injury? It appears they're treating it much like that of a concussion whereby it's a day to day, week to week situation and they're monitoring him very closely for incremental changes.
Just hope that when he is deemed game ready it won't take him long to get back to form.
They need to be cautious with Hank. If they fuck up, he could have a stroke.
Mike.. it seems you left us after this hilarious comment. Just checking in to make sure you're alright.
Just having some fun with my fellow Giants fans. I have no problem with the Rangers per se, my issue is more with people who think that every penalty against them or goal allowed was due to some screw up by officials or those that have such an inferiority complex that they have to compare their team to another just to feel good about the Rangers
Well, I thought we got 2 gifts in a row last night between what should have been another double minor AND the Mike Smith penalty which seemed silly. Certainly no issue admitting that. You get some, some go against you. It happens.
Re: Lundqvist.. I think this is a situation where no news is good news for the most part until he's re-examined. A reported setback is what would make me worry. There haven't been any of those yet. He's gone from just light cardio to skating to putting his pads on and taking low shots (albeit, not pucks) so it appears progress is being made and AV has said a few times that Hank remains on schedule.
that I didn't even try to pay for my drinks. Such a ....
The thought never crossed my mind...I invited you and had no problem footing the bill...it was good to meet you, and I'll let you buy one for me next time.
But glad the boys were able to pull themselves out of the fire again. It is head-scratching to read the reviews of the game and see that some thought Glass played a good game. I don't think that's possible under the current laws of physics.
Is simply amazing. I really dont know how we keep piling up the W's, and most of the time its been ugly, but you cant argue with the final results.
Simply needed to tread water until Henrik came back, but instead were sitting in first place and have gone through the best point scoring stretch of the season.
With that said, I still do not like the hockey that has been played over this stretch. Still too many turnovers and the defense/goaltending have been maddeningly inconsistent. Face-offs still a problem. Need that one more piece (bottom six face-off specialist and/or a solid vet defenseman) to truly take this team an Eastern Conference favorite to get back to the Cup. Right now, we are just in the thick of contenders that have deficiencies.
It's amazing how quickly our defensemen have gone from a strength
...people would stop saying that we need a "faceoff specialist".
Would you really trade an asset for a player who adds nothing to the team but a slightly improved faceoff percentage, given the fact that it's been demonstrated that faceoffs have only a minimal impact on overall possession?
McDonagh is top tier, though not playing as consistently well as last season. Staal has been good and steady; he has never been great at possession stats I think. Klein has had a wonderful season, with only occasional hiccups mostly early. Moore has been as expected (and better than MDZ was). Boyle has been as expected. Girardi appears to be in a decline.
Any idea if Nash is a go today?
Hopefully Nash is a go. No mercy on this Arizona team - sweep the leg.
Wouldnt mind another suffocating defensive effort tonight. As long as they are smart with the puck and dont give the Coyotes any easy goals, I don't see why this cant be an easy W.
With Winnik gone a player that i would love the rangers to add is Cam Atkinson, he is a guy with a very low cap hit who could be plugged right into our lineup, maybe on the third line even, and then we can put Miller on the 4th line with Moore and Fast, a very nice upgrade to the 4th line. You also place Atkinson on the 4th line. he is a guy that can play on the power play also. here is a look at his stats. His cap hit is 1.15 mil, very low. He is a very fast skater, the down side is he is another small player.
Link - ( New Window )
And yes, they'd be for die hard Rangers fans.
@AGrossRecord
Ulf Samuelsson's son Henrik, the Coyotes forward set to make NHL debut tonight with dad on opposite bench, just spoke. Will post blog soon.
How much longer can this go on? It's nearly as annoying as AV's, "Glass is half full" notion when it comes to #15.
His condition is not something that I think lends itself to clear updates, unless there is a setback. It's a weird thing.
Fucking BULLSHIT!
with this said after tonight we start playing better teams ... thus lots of air time on NBC (starting Saturday night) cnbc and NHL network anyway
I took a shot and ordered it. It was $50. And not blacked out. But not in hd.
Whatever. Time Warner are fuckin criminals.
We'll see if you're opening your cocksucker after the Rangers take over first tonight with two games on hand.
Fuckin loser trolling the thread as usual. Get a new act.
Rangers will win this one easily.
Greg never invites me out to drinks. :(
His progress has really amazed me over the course of this, his first pro season.
Awful
WAKE UP
What? I didn't know you were suckin cacks. Then again you've been hanging with the King of Suckin Purple Heads, Fish.
This is worse than the Edmonton game back in November. Disgusting.
What? I didn't know you were suckin cacks. Then again you've been hanging with the King of Suckin Purple Heads, Fish.
Agreed - you and I should be the only ones starting threads from now on.
Quote:
What? I didn't know you were suckin cacks. Then again you've been hanging with the King of Suckin Purple Heads, Fish.
Damn, I shoulda thought about the ski pole angle. I went even strength when I coulda gone with the power play. Damn you, you jelly foo'!
Don't be afraid of your true self, ya nasty goo guzzler you!
They should be ashamed
They should be ashamed
Seems a bit much.
They've won 31 out of 40 or thereabouts. The other guys get paid too.
That's pretty sad for a team with cup aspirations
Absolutely fair. Obviously not looking great, but the team has given us good reason to have some confidence at this point. But even if we lose, the level of carrying on tonight isn't commensurate with a team that has taken down point in 9 straight and playing the best hockey in the league since December.
Fucking get one here
That's pretty sad for a team with cup aspirations
Yeah that's nuts. They had a bad period, these things happen.
Hey look, tie game.
Impressive feat
We got lucky as hell right there because that should have been another double minor on us.
Haha another PP to make sure we get the split
Shout out to Dave Tippett's toupee!
Gotta play a clean 3rd period and come away with points tonight. Cam still makes me awfully nervous back there.
Nash has been real quiet out there tonight, hope his neck isnt the issue and its just one of those nights.
I got a buddy of mine who is a Flyers fan and those guys are getting positively giddy over their post season hopes
And they lost to Carolina the other night
Nice sell by the kid.
Hello, 1st place.
:-)
[exhale]
Never doubted it
Huh.
Who would've thought?
Let's cool out though.
Our goal is the Cup. Not the Redskinular Season.
However, the next 2 weeks get brutal. Philly in their building is never easy and they'll goon it up if they get desperate. Then its Nashville at the Garden, and a road trip with Detroit, Chicago, the Isles and Caps (and the Isles and Caps are back to back so Skapski is probably going to see Ovechkin)
Nice game from Lee Rissmiller :)
glad we got the W but can the playoffs just fucking get here already?
Huh.
Who would've thought?
Let's cool out though.
Our goal is the Cup. Not the Redskinular Season.
Also 2 ROWs in hand on the Isles which is like an extra point in the standings because that's the first tiebreaker, not the H2H record. My guess is that the Isles would beat us out by 4-6 points if they got the same number of ROWs.
As of this moment TB and Nashville are the only teams with 35 ROWs
Mike.. it seems you left us after this hilarious comment. Just checking in to make sure you're alright.
glad we got the W but can the playoffs just fucking get here already?
And they hit 5 posts soda. Rangers were a bit lucky.
But I'll take it!
The Islanders beat them 5-1. Arizona is one of the three atrocious teams in this league. With that said ... its the NHL. Buffalo beat Vancouver tonight, and Edmonton won in Washington a few weeks ago. Anything can happen.
I'd just like to see a little more defense discipline in front of Cam. He's struggled a bit - he's a backup, its to be expected - but i didnt expect really only 2 solid defensive efforts in front of him during his 10 game stretch (Boston and Calgary)
I mean it's not Gomez/McDonagh bad, but that's pretty damn bad. Worst contract in the league gets moved for nothing.
The road through the East is much harder this year. Washington is better with Holtby establishing himself as a legit goalie. Pittsburgh hasn't played great but still have Crosby and Malkin. Isles are a young but very fast and skilled team. Montreal looks better than last year and Price is in god mode. Tampa is a lot like the Isles and Detroit looks almost back to being Cup contender Detroit again. Even a degraded Bruins team is no easy out
He's tied for 4th in the WHL in goals with 42 and tied for 8th in points with 74.
The road through the East is much harder this year. Washington is better with Holtby establishing himself as a legit goalie. Pittsburgh hasn't played great but still have Crosby and Malkin. Isles are a young but very fast and skilled team. Montreal looks better than last year and Price is in god mode. Tampa is a lot like the Isles and Detroit looks almost back to being Cup contender Detroit again. Even a degraded Bruins team is no easy out
It's not like you have to play all these teams. You have to play 3 - and we played 3 good ones last year. In fact its better that none of the other teams will have an easy road. As is always the case in the run for the Cup, you'll need breaks to go your way... no matter what. Kings won 3 game 7s on the road last year, somebody's going to test you, if not multiple teams.
I'm far more concerned about Lundqvist. It's 3.5 weeks now and not a peep other than 'on schedule,' nor a Doctors visit even on the horizon. Rangers have been dishonest about this from the start, and its hard to really trust whats going on, especially since we're around the trade deadline.
Having said that I think Talbot who was shakey at best in the beginning is starting to show more consistency and making the big save when needed. Although the post was his friend a couple of times last night. But the Rangers never panic. I think that's one of their strong points. But their biggest asset is they aren't married to one way of playing the game.
You want up tempo you got it. You want to clog up the nuetral zone you got it. You want to play tight defense you got it. I like their chances against anyone at this point. Of course that doesn't guaruntee anything. The puck takes funny bounces and has a way finding the back of the net even when your goalie and defenseman play it right.
Just hope that when he is deemed game ready it won't take him long to get back to form.
Quote:
!
Mike.. it seems you left us after this hilarious comment. Just checking in to make sure you're alright.
Just having some fun with my fellow Giants fans. I have no problem with the Rangers per se, my issue is more with people who think that every penalty against them or goal allowed was due to some screw up by officials or those that have such an inferiority complex that they have to compare their team to another just to feel good about the Rangers
Just hope that when he is deemed game ready it won't take him long to get back to form.
They need to be cautious with Hank. If they fuck up, he could have a stroke.
Quote:
In comment 12154650 Mike in NY said:
Quote:
!
Mike.. it seems you left us after this hilarious comment. Just checking in to make sure you're alright.
Just having some fun with my fellow Giants fans. I have no problem with the Rangers per se, my issue is more with people who think that every penalty against them or goal allowed was due to some screw up by officials or those that have such an inferiority complex that they have to compare their team to another just to feel good about the Rangers
Well, I thought we got 2 gifts in a row last night between what should have been another double minor AND the Mike Smith penalty which seemed silly. Certainly no issue admitting that. You get some, some go against you. It happens.
Re: Lundqvist.. I think this is a situation where no news is good news for the most part until he's re-examined. A reported setback is what would make me worry. There haven't been any of those yet. He's gone from just light cardio to skating to putting his pads on and taking low shots (albeit, not pucks) so it appears progress is being made and AV has said a few times that Hank remains on schedule.
Things are hopefully going according to plan.
It's fair considering we're playing with Tanner Glass and feel the need to spot a team a goal in the first two minutes of a period every other game.
We can do it.
Crotchless panties with the remote controlled butt plug primer too, right? You guys are filthy.
Agreed. It's pathetic.
Link - ( New Window )
Standings, bitch.
Simply needed to tread water until Henrik came back, but instead were sitting in first place and have gone through the best point scoring stretch of the season.
With that said, I still do not like the hockey that has been played over this stretch. Still too many turnovers and the defense/goaltending have been maddeningly inconsistent. Face-offs still a problem. Need that one more piece (bottom six face-off specialist and/or a solid vet defenseman) to truly take this team an Eastern Conference favorite to get back to the Cup. Right now, we are just in the thick of contenders that have deficiencies.
I really wish we could swap out Girardi for Stralman, though.
Would you really trade an asset for a player who adds nothing to the team but a slightly improved faceoff percentage, given the fact that it's been demonstrated that faceoffs have only a minimal impact on overall possession?
Seriously..... My FB wall has been spammed by every ranger fan who for the past 3 months basically said the regular season means nothing.
Priceless ...