|
|
| GOMEZ MAKES IT 1 DOWN, 15 TO GO FOR RANGERS |
Ryan Callahan scores what would be the game-winner for New York in game 1
|
It was everything we expected, AND YET SO MUCH MORE. It was boring, it was exciting. It was low-scoring, it was high-scoring. It was weak goals, it was high-light reel saves. It was Devils, it was Rangers. And it was Scott Gomez, Scott Gomez, and more Scott Gomez.
As was expected, the Devils did all they could to make the opening match of a highly-anticipated series as bo-oo-oo-ring as possible through the first two periods. The goalless first period followed by the 1-1 score after the second certainly would indicate that their plan was working, but someone (Kevin Weekes) must have told Martin Brodeur and the defense that the whole 'keep the goals against low' plan was being abandoned for a wacky, new 'try to suck' plan that is so crazy it just might work! Or not. The next two Rangers goals can be described as opportunistic, timely, lucky, or, perhaps more accurately, as bad.
In all seriousness, this game was a lot closer than the final score would indicate. The Devils secret scoring plan of shooting high on Henrik Lundqvist (also known as Buffalo's 2007 plan) would have worked had they been able to beat the posts, as well, and they also played their suspiciously still-successful trapping game in The New NHL remarkably well throughout much of the contest. It was only until Brodeur lost his mind for the second goal and the New Jersey D started showing signs of breaking down that the Rangers were able to capitalize and take the lead. Regardless of how the pucks managed to cross the line, all three non-empty net goals were the direct result of Scott Gomez's head's up play and hard work, who was easily the game's stand out player. Of course, Lundqvist's game-saving save after game-saving save to keep the Rangers in this contest also easily earns him the game's second star. Both teams struggled in certain areas and both can take away positives to build on for Friday's match, but only one can take away a win. 1 down, 15 more to go for New York.
|
| PLAYOFFS HOCKEY STARTS TONIGHT: YOU SHOULD WATCH |
RZA knows that any self-respecting New Yorker is all about the Rangers, baby
|
The Rocky song. The Ultimate Warrior's intro music. Jump Around. None of these classic pump-you-up songs need apply - when it's playoff hockey you're talking about, only a national anthem or two are needed to fire you up. Tonight's opening salvo between the New Jersey Devils and New York Rangers will launch a series that will not be one in want of storylines. Gomez revisits New Jersey for the first time in a playoff series. The Rangers have a chance to redeem themselves after their embarrassing sweep at the Devils' hands two years ago. Kevin Weekes can continue to give all kinds of insights into the Blueshirts to his new cross-river teammates (and judging by their regular season record, let's hope they keep listening). Atlantic City casinos can make a killing on the over/under on how many games the Devs will need to go down before Lou Lamoriello fires MENSA member Brent Sutter and takes over behind the bench himself. In the end, hockey, elimination-style, will be played by two bitter rivals.
Should be fun! |
| RANGERS CAFÉ UPDATE RECAP: RANGERS CAFÉ UPDATED |
Some Rangers fans unenthusiastically celebrating something or other at MSG
|
Hey Rangers fan who hasn't updated their bookmarks: Welcome to the New York Rangers Café! While our main stories and poll section of the site hasn't been updated since the second game of the season and neither the standings or newsfeed have been even remotely attended to this year, we want to thank you for still visiting this section of the site. Despite the main page giving the impression that this site has long since been abandoned, the truth of the matter is that the heart of our site, the message board, has never been more active (OK, maybe not 2000-01 active, but easily it's most lively since the lock-out announcement). 1994 left and returned, Reijo has been as entertaining and engaging as ever, xcheck still types in English, and on the odd occasion that I post, I never fail to floor everyone with my insight and knowledge. Really!
In all honesty, while a variety of factors in Rob's and my life have changed so much in the past year or two that we simply don't have the time to give this site the attention it deserves, you can rest assured that no matter how out-of-date our main page is, the message board is always alive and kicking. If you've been having trouble registering or haven't had your new account authorized yet, send us an email and we'll get to it a.s.a.p. We would also like to take this opportunity to promise that, if when! the Rangers make the playoffs, you will see updates just as frequent and entertaining as last year's two round run. Scout's Honour.
By the way, did you know that Martin Straka still plays for the New York Rangers? You want to talk about boosting your lineup at the trading deadline for a post-season run, wouldn't it be great to get the 2007 version of this guy back?
|
| BREAKING NEWS: SOMEONE BOUGHT A RYAN HOLLWEG JERSEY |
Timmy here is either really rich or his mom screwed up his xmas gift… bad
|
Despite the overwhelming 1 in 460,000 odds that the mystery Hollweg fan's name is actually Timmy, the New York Rangers Café can now report to you that we have no idea who this fan is but that we feel confident in speculating that he probably uses some kind of combination of consonants and vowels to spell his name. The motives behind the purchase of said jersey by the mystery fan are left only to the imagination: already owning every other Rangers players' jersey, taking those early-July Souray-to-NYR rumours just a tad too seriously, or maybe winning a bet that he could fire more pucks into an open net from the blueline than Hollweg… in any case, what we have here is a truly remarkable story of an obviously incredibly die-hard Rangers fan doing his best to support his favourite team, Madison Square Garden, Cablevision, and all of its subsidiaries and employees. If you're reading this Timmy, we'd love hear your story. This news is so exciting we are, for the first time ever, breaking our 1-line blue-bar headline rule. Please contact us at the Email link on the right of our menu bar as soon as possible. Thanks.
On a side note: If you're a teammate, friend, or special lady lady friend of Ryan Hollweg, could you please inform Ryan that it would appear that a true blue, die-hard Rangers fan invested in the purchase of a jersey of his? Seriously. I don't mean to poke fun at Ryan, I think this might trigger some kind of bonus in his contract for him.
|
| RANGERS TRADE DEADLINE RECAP |
Christian Backman: Already doomed to be treated as poorly as Marek Malik
|
No Marian Hossa, no Brad Richards, no Brian Campbell, no Adam Foote. With most of this and part of next year's salary cap already tied up in their current roster, General Manager Glen Sather didn't exactly have a lot of room to work with to make any impactful deadline deals this year, and given how overvalued a lot of the players that change teams are at this time of year, I don't think that's such a bad thing. In the end, Sather decided to make some absolutely crazy moves like addressing his lack of depth on the blue line by trading a measly 4th rounder for an actual NHL-caliber player and to deal his oft-injured, under-achieving, no-future-with-the-organization goalie prospect Al Montoya along with 2nd tier whipping boy Marcel Hossa to the Phoenix Coyotes for a forward who has actually scored in the double-digits this year, a goon (always popular with the Slap Shot crowd), and an even lower-rated goalie prospect.
Coming the Rangers way were Christian Backman, a puck-moving European defenseman who isn't overly-physical but looks poised to draw the combined boos of the departed Hossa and soon-to-be-departed Marek Malik, unless he magically morphs into Chris Pronger, of course. Along with Backman comes Frederick Sjostrom (who? Oh, the guy with 10 goals for Phoenix), Josh Gratton (who? Oh, the goon), and David LeNeveu (I've heard of him!), a former first-round pick a half-decade ago. Backman looks to fill Karel Rachunek's role from last year (be better than Jason Strudwick) while Sjostrom is actually a versatile young forward who will help round out any of the bottom 3 lines on any given night. The team might have only gotten incrementally better than it was 72 hours ago, but to their credit, they didn't give up much to do so.
| |
|
