2013-2014 NHL Thread
Hey, just because football has started, doesn't mean we should forget the COOLEST sport on the planet.
Spring rookie reporting is starting, following by training camps and then pre season. It's not that far away... ;-)
Orange & Black forever!!
GC Rangers have a new coach. It will be interesting to see what they come out skating like.
jdem 
Andy Loigu New Owners, New Year, lots of shakeups within the organization but if Lou is ready so am I... Let's Go Devils!!!
JrzyGirl88 Canucks have a new coach! haha I believe in Luongo and I think trading Schneider to the Devils for #9 was a good move.
GO CANUCKS!
jiro03 jiro03 - Even if you believe in the team, I think your Canucks already are hampered with an albatross. Your new coach is more interested in getting negative tweets from is own players and says he doesn't want to treat them like kids. And then promptly treats them like kids:
http://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/nhl/story/2013/09/12/sp-nhl-hockey-vancouver-canucks-coach-john-tortorella-warns-players-about-twitter-social-media.html
Sorry to say, I think your team is in for a long rough ride.
That coaching "swap" looked like two teams wanting a guy who was the total opposite of what they had the year before. As a somewhat tepid Rangers' fan (I followed their AHL farm team when I first started watching hockey) I feel the Rangers got the better coach ... and that's really understating it.
GC, one would hope that a statement such as the one he made wouldn't be necessary. Unfortunately, there's a story in the news every week, seemingly, about an athlete in trouble for something he tweeted.
There's an old saying that nothing good happens after 2am. It doesn't hold true just for being in public anymore. People really don't need to know what you're thinking when you're piss drunk at 3am...
ianimal my team in for a long tough ride? haha have you ever met a Canucks fan? We have not won a cup yet.... so a long tough ride is something we are used to.
Every year I have hope but that's always crushed in the playoffs. The Canucks always have VERY entertaining hockey and always a blast to route for.
I think it's good for a coach to come in and put his foot down about social media. Why not focus on hockey ESPECIALLY in the locker room. Twitter and facebook has brought trouble on many professionals in every profession.
Another thing what we can look forward to is Olympic Hockey! GO CANADA!
Were you at the last Olympics in Vancouver? I watched as much of it as I could. Love the Olympics. It's been four years already? WOW. DOUBLE WOW.
I've visited Montreal and Toronto (the cleanest and most modern city I'd ever seen). Never been to the great west.
Well, lots of professional teams have "broken through." The best example is the Phillies in baseball, finally winning the World Series in 1980, the 97th year of their existence. The Angels went some 40 years before they won in 2002. And, then there were those Brooklyn Dodgers of 1955.
If the Phillies could do it, with all the negativity they were up against from their own fan base, then surely the Canucks can do it, eh?
By the way, in a 2002 local sports column, I wrote that North Warren will win a state playoff football championship, before the "small market" Minnesota Twins will win a World Series. Remember when they and the Expos were up for "contraction?"
With the improvements that have been made to North Warren football since then, I may turn out to be a prophet.
Kind of a tangent, but we're talking about breakthroughs, eh?
ianimal - While I understand the about the need for the statement, is it really about what happens after 2AM or at 7:05PM? My point is he's more worried about himself than the players.
jiro03 - You're talking to a Flyers fan of the early Brind'amour years, you don't have to tell me. But the whole focus of the locker room begins in the locker room. Torture-ella could have made the exact same statement and kept it all behind four walls. He already violated that rule. So what is he teaching the players to do? Go to the media to whine about the media and blame someone else publicly instead of handling it internally. Not a good start to be adversarial with just about anyone you can find to talk to.
Wow, you are a raging Torto-phobe, lol. You got a lot more out of that 200-word article than I did.
I see it as him getting out in front of the situation. Now, instead of players having to answer questions from the media about why they aren't tweeting, everyone already knows. This is becoming pretty common as a policy.
Many college football programs (Clemson comes to mind) have a similar policy and I expect many more teams in every major sport, pro and college, to adopt it in the future... as the number of posts requiring public apologies and creating huge distractions continues to increase.
Alison1 I was routing for the Canucks when Hextall was playing for the Flyers! Canucks fans are always hoping that this will be the year... haha.
I don't care the AV was fired but our GM needs to go too. I can't say I like or do not like our new head coach. I will save that for mid season.
North Warren lost today 7-27.
I see they are playing a pre-season game in Brooklyn .... that's great ... the Islanders must be testing the waters for a franchise shift (unless there is a new arena in the works on the Island I'm not aware of).
The Capitals will be playing the Bruins in Baltimore ... the only arena in that city is the 50-year-old civic center where the AHL Clippers and NBA Bullets used to play. They put priority into getting the NFL back into town, than attracting basketball and hockey teams with a new arena.
They still showcase a lot of figure skating, indoor tennis, indoor soccer (The Blast), the circus, and Springsteen and Beyonce still do shows.
I remember the years the Spectrum was still standing, after the Flyers had moved to the new arena (now called The Wells Fargo Center). The AHL Phantoms were playing across the street from The Flyers. There were several times each season a real hard core fan could watch the NHL and AHL on the same day and leave his car in the same parking space the whole time.
Well, I see the Islanders are moving to Brooklyn in a couple of years.
Why wait? The arena's already there and ready. Are they stuck in a lease? Will they still be the Islanders or is there a name change in the works?
Does anybody in the Hackettstown area even care about the Ice-landers?
@Andy Loigu
"Does anybody in the Hackettstown area even care about the Ice-landers?"
It's spelled "Islanders", and the answer to that is yes.
When all is said and done in springtime, you'll find the Isles above the Devils and Flyers in the standings, and I wouldn't be shocked to see them make a couple rounds' run in the postseason.
Matt D That would be cool. I used the Steve Summers spelling, he's such a wise guy.
Will they still be the Islanders when they make Brooklyn their home? Maybe we could think of a good Brooklyn name for them?
I was impressed by the Islanders' performance against the Penguins in last year's playoffs. They showed me something.
Considering that Brooklyn is ON Long Island and one of its most famous areas is CONEY Island... the name should remain the same.
Sounds good to me. Keeping the name would not be like calling a team in Indianapolis the Colts, or the worst one, when the transplanted New Orleans Jazz in the NBA was called the Utah Jazz.
The only music that Utah brings to mind is the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and The Osmonds!
@Andy Loigu, @ianimal
Islanders will be keeping the team name and colors when they move to the Barclays Center for good in 2015. The only thing (we're told) that will change is our hideous third jersey, which will probably be updated to align with the black/white color scheme that the Nets currently employ. Not looking forward to that but as I said any new third would be an improvement on the current third which is dire.
Isles WERE solid against the Pens last season but a lot of that was due to some truly awful goaltending by Fleury. Against a better goalie they don't make that series as close. This year the kids are all a year older and Garth Snow was actually able to bring in some decent FAs instead of the usual bargain-basement Jon Sims of the league. So hope springs eternal for one more year in the paved paradise of Uniondale!
Sooner or later the Islanders have to be good with all the top draft picks they have over all the years of losing. They have the absolute worst owner in all of professional sports. Out of their top 5 salaried players on the payroll, one was released Dipeitro after years of injuries and shaky goal-tending paying him 1.5 million until 2029, one retired in 2007 and they are still paying 2 million a year on his buyout, and the other Tim Thomas they singed just so they could make the NHL minimum salary cap, knowing he was never going to play a game for them. Wang ruined this franchise! He is a clown and should be booted out of the NHL.
Denis I remember a couple of bad goals Fleury gave up. I watched those games. The Isles played hard and were in the games. If they had been totally outclassed, a couple of bad goals would not have made any difference.
I went to the Nassau Coliseum back in 92 ... the L.I.E. was BRUTAL (talk about backed up) and the arena was this one lone building in the middle of a huge parking lot. There was nothing to block the bitter wind that blew into our faces as we walked to the arena.
I liked the AHL games in Baltimore where the parking was in an underground garage. You took the elevator up, crossed the street and were in the arena.
Not irrationally negative about Tortorella. His actions don't just hurt his team, that's their business. He has hurt hockey over a number of years with player put downs, and silly playground tirades. He's like a coaching version of Matthew Barnaby, ridiculously childish to the point it's torture to watch.
And speaking of other things hurting hockey - couldn't agree more with the ultimate in daddy sports. Wang bought the Islanders to give his 10 year old a present. At one of the first press conferences he encounters resistance and has no response other than "sit down, shut up". And it's been downhill from there putting confidence in people that totally couldn't handle it. Even Mike Milbury had to fire himself. I respect Wang on the personal side for his charity work, but still with the shady business dealings he's got a lot of baggage. They won't let Basile buy a team, but Wang can? Not good for hockey at all.
It's not that the Islanders have to be good with all the picks - Columbus has had their share and see what that's got them. The Islanders have vastly improved because of the quality of how those picks have turned out, and finally the $ spent in the right place. Nabokov finally get them real goal tending and made a huge difference.
(the Brooklyn arena isn't quite ready by the way, they said the ice was next to unplayable and needed work - it will still be good to go before two years, but they're not going to cut the cord early unless they come to agreement on buying out the old lease)
"See" Phantoms/Flyers nothing - guys could *play* in both games. ;-)
Brooklyn or Baltimore are only mildly interesting venues considering the plethora of the early locations. They didn't do the international start they've done in the past so there were lots of alternates already played. Not just the alternates and practice facilities, but something like the Hockeyville game at Belleville. That's a very classy outreach program to small town Canada. Not just grants to the localities, but meet & greets and a days worth of events for kids.
Some of the Isles draft picks have really panned out (Tavares, Hamonic, Martin) but real credit has to go to GM Garth Snow for his work on the free-agent market the last few seasons. Remember that the Islanders were until very recently Siberia as far as "attractive hockey markets" go, and thus never attracted marquee FAs.
Starting with the Matt Moulson renaissance, Snow has really picked up a lot of castoffs that helped the team a lot - Grabner, Streit last year, Nabokov has played pretty well - so all credit to him. We all thought he was a real joke, but he's actually one of the best GMs in the league.
And whoever above was calling Uncle Charlie Wang the worst owner in the NHL, you're right - he'll be bought out once the franchise hits Brooklyn for good. That's all he ever wanted anyway was to make a profit and magically it's happened for him. Met him a few times and he's a friendly guy but a terrible pro sports owner.
battle of the Ex coaches!
GO CANUCKS!
2-0... for now.
Both teams have awful preseason records but you can't really judge them until regular season starts!
Well, the Rangers have had plenty of years where they had a great start and then were a disappointment at the end ... so bad performances at this stage don't concern me.
It's how you finish that matters.
You ran Torts out of town on a rail and are now bemoaning a lack of defensive toughness? What did you think was gonna happen when he left? We'll need to outscore teams this year; hopefully we can, but I somehow doubt it.
Is the Isles leaving Nassau for Brooklyn a done deal? I remember hearing last week that the Nassau County commissioners approved a $230M renovation on the Coliseum. Seems like a lot of money to spend just for the occasional Miley Cyrus concert...
I watched the Spectrum in Philly getting wrecked ...lots of the old Sixers and Flyers legends were there ... looking forward to the same thing happening in Funky Nassau.. Dr. J once played there, too ... he could be a guest of honor along with all the old Islander heroes .
ianimal - Have a read of this:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/24/nyregion/developer-wins-approval-to-renovate-nassau-coliseum.html?_r=0
The developer is the same one as in Brooklyn, so it sounds like he and Uncle Charlie are already in cahoots. They're actually downsizing the arena and putting in big theaters and restaurants so it has more general appeal as well as more revenue during events. But the kicker is Uncle Charlie got an AHL team in the deal for Fishsticks. So it's likely Bridgeport will move to the revamped Coliseum.
As for Rangers D - I don't see that as an issue not to mention the fact that it's not 1972 again. I would definitely be worried if King Henry continues. When you get 40 shots and only give up 20 but lose 5 to zip - that's not your defensemen or any forward's defensive play. It'll be an exceptionally long year for the Rangers if Henry gets tossed a lot and Biron plays more than 50%.
Aw, I was looking forward to seeing this at the Nassau Coliseum, maybe the Izod Center (or whatever they call it these days) will be next ... ka-boom.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nALg1w1IeJo
Some people would say that Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum has been housing a minor league hockey team for decades (-;
I'm looking forward to watching the Wolfpack (nee Whale, nee Wolfpack) battle the Phantoms at PPL next year. A minor league hockey arena in the Lehigh Valley is going to be a big draw for me.
As for the Rags... they gave up 4 power plays in the first two periods without drawing any of their own. 2 PPGs against. 5-0 after two periods. It's only preseason, but they seem a lot less disciplined than they were last year. The pendulum may have swung in the other direction a bit too far. This Dorsett kid seems to want to break the PiM record this year... 9 minutes last night and 14 the game before.
There is that concern that they are going from one bad extreme to another.
I always find the truth is somewhere in the middle of polar extremes, but I'm now starting to sound like I'm talking politics. ... and this is the age of moderation be damned. ... it shows in the legislators we've elected.
I'll leave the Rangers at this early stage of things with the Beatles song, "we can work it out."
They might even do the same thing in DC ... or then again, they may not.
The plan is not to blow up the Coliseum, that's the whole point of why it's 2 mill instead of 4 mill. The plan is to rebuild, not start from scratch.
As far as minor teams go, have you seen Bridgeport? They make Fishsticks look professional. I hope Lehigh Valley has a dentist in the building, root canal will be less painful.
ianimal the best thing that's happened to Rangers in recent years is having Torts fired, good riddance!! I didn't say I wanted them to go back to the defensive mind set of Tortorella, I said they need more toughness on D. Someone one to clear out the front of the net, and play with a nasty attitude. They don't have anyone who resembles that. To bad we cant have a younger Samuelsson on the ice, instead of behind the bench.
I agree with you Denis but sadly the days of those tough guys is over. The nhl wants a soft game. The will penalize the life out of any grinder like that. I was no fan of all the shot blocking under torts or even renney for that matter but I can see why they go that route when the league frowns on hitting anymore. This year they want players to fight with helmets on.
Yes Jdem, It's pretty sad what Bettman and the rest are doing to the game, this isn't Europe let the game be played the way it has been here for decades. I'll still be going to the Ranger games wearing my #22 Fotiu jersey. The helmet rule is a joke. I don't know if you saw this clip but I thinks it's hilarious, a way of the players getting around the new rule.
http://www.hockeyfights.com/fights/117925
With Detroit in the Eastern Conference now, it's going to be a tougher road to the finals for the Rangers, Devils, Islanders, Flyers ....
also, the schedule looks crazy, with this being an Olympic year and that Olympic break right in the middle of it ... and then some teams will be impacted by players getting hurt in the Olympics, etc.
However, I love watching the Olympic hockey ... it's even better than the NHL playoffs because there is so much riding on every game ... and it is a great chance to sell the sport to people who are kind of lukewarm on hockey the rest of the time.
Might be stating the obvious here, but the Rangers are going to need more offense to give Lundqvist some margin for error. Pretty tough to shut the opposition out every night.
Brad Richards needs to get back to being the player he was with Tampa. Hopefully Ryan Callahan can get back into action soon and is recovered from his shoulder surgery and hopefully Rick Nash has fully recovered from the wrist injury that limited his playoff production.
A few more goals will make the living more easy for the Rangers' faithful legion of fans.
The Rags start the season on a NINE-game road trip, thanks to ongoing construction at MSG.
One game tonight in AZ, then 3 in CA, one in St. Louis, then to DC, on to Newark, then Philly, then flying out to Detroit before FINALLY having their home opener on October 28th against the Habs. That is going to be brutal...
Red Wings join the Eastern Conference this year... Chicago is the only Original 6-er left in the West.
Go Canucks and Go Team Canada!
All I can say is that the Canucks opener is tonight! I hope our preseason is not a taste of what is coming this season (except for the last game against NYR).
Well I am sure we will all become enemies as the season goes on but good luck to all!
Hockey fans should feel a certain fraternal kinship ... every Tom, Dick, and Harry watches football.
GC brought up some very pertinent points about Eric Lindros' career, yeah, we spun off into hockey on the football thread. Sometimes, being hypercritical sports fans, we forget that these people are human beings.
I remember the Spectrum and those Flyers teams that won a couple of Stanley Cups well. I was the sports editor of a South Jersey daily paper at the time and had a press pass ... the fans made their own version of the Bennie and the Jets song, making it Bernie in the Nets. And, speaking of that Flyers team and "popular" songs...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fj9lkXnpm9Q
Bringing the Hextall/Thibault issue here where it belongs... you are absolutely correct, GC and I am appropriately chastened and humbled (-;
That said, F Ron Hextall, lol..
Well, the Broadway Blueshirts made Radim Vrbata look like the second coming of 'The Rocket' Richard last night. Sigh ...
Season has a long, long way to go, though.
The highlight of Svoboda's hockey career was scoring the only goal in Czechoslovakia's 1-0 win in the 1998 gold medal game in the Olympics.
I only brought him up because of the similarity to Ron Swoboda's name.
Of course, in typical HL tradition, people who never did anything in international or pro sports rush in to minimize somebody's achievements.
Laviolette has been fired.
http://espn.go.com/nhl/story/_/id/9785141/peter-laviolette-fired-philadelphia-flyers-head-coach-source-confirms
Calico696 One of the posts on the ESPN thread nailed it .... you didn't expect Holmgren to fire himself, did you?
I have not decided if I like Tort as our new coach. So far the pressure game is working but I'll give you my final decision after this season. Going to see how the team grows with him and how he deals with the playoffs.
If you didn't think Laviolette was the right guy, why now?? The lockout was a convenient time, and missing the playoffs afterwards was enough reason if you were going to do it. But a record three games in? Not fair to Laviolette, and not fair to the team that just finished camp only to have to start over again.
As for GM's - it's one heck of a rare day the Snyders step in. I'm expecting more of the same for the foreseeable future.
ianimal - Yeah, thanks for that.
Even better, GC, they hired the goon Berube to take over. Wait till he starts calling black people "monkeys" in his press conferences...
Well, Berube had over 3,000 penalty minutes, one of the all-time leaders, and he punched a referee.
That'll set a "fine" example. LOL
Thinking about going to the Canucks-Devils game on the 24th. How are the fans to visiting teams? I know NJ is nothing like Philly but just curious.
I've cheered for the Rangers there and had no trouble. It helped that half the building was full of very vocal Rangers fans. Of course, it's how you do it. I didn't do anything to call attention to myself or do any trash talking. I didn't get in any Devils' fans faces ... as I got into conversation with one fan I said, I've been watching hockey since the NHL had only six teams ... I'm glad New Jersey has a team now and I'm glad it's a good one. It's good for the sport.
Basically, when you're at a game you can tell what people to avoid and what people seem like they are sensible and just want to enjoy a good game.
Thread's been kind of quiet. Shared a little bit on the other sports threads about the days in the 1970s when I had media credentials for all the pro sports in Philly ... recalled this about the old "Broad Street Bullies" Flyers, who I didn't even like, but covered because the readers were bandwagon jumping fanatical about them.
Asked one of the goons about a particular fight that night and he just sits there, no emotion, and says, "that was business, wasn't personal."
What a sport.
I remember a Phillies game at the Vet, against Cincinnati with all the superstars that team had in those days. The Flyers were playing in the playoffs and everybody was listening on their transistors ... game was on TV in the press-box ...so we knew everything that was going on.
The pitcher's looking in for the sign, the infielders are scratching themselves, and suddenly 30,000 stand up all at once and scream because the Flyers scored.
The Reds players in the field are looking around, stunned, like, what the **** is going on? The stuff you remember four decades later.
DEVILS FANS ... Devils tickets are being auctioned off on WRNJ Radio (1510 AM and 92.7 FM if you don't already know) for a charity fundraiser. Give them a listen.
They just awarded the Blackhawks game of Jan. 3 ... they have three more games to auction off.
It's for a good charity, just taking this to HL because I don't believe a lot of Devils' fans in the area know about WRNJ, since The Fan is the station that broadcasts the Devils' games on the radio and WRNJ does not do a lot of sports on a regular daily basis.
Rags trade Michael del Zotto to the Preds for Kevin Klein. I think it's a good move... MDZ wasn't fitting into Vigneault's schemes and we had way too many lefty blue liners. Klein is a solid righty defenseman and a great shot blocker. Welcome to the Big Apple, Kevin.
Canucks fan here like always...
How about that game against the Flames a few days ago? haha crazy. Torts is nuts but I like what he is bringing to Vancouver.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIcdbxzrtbI
westvillage Torts is nuts ... I love understatement, often do it myself.
Well, you knew what you were getting ... kind of like when the Yankees hired Billy Martin five times.
Right now, I'm pulling a Mitt Romney, expressing concern about the security at the Olympics. Now we know Mitt did not need to go before the world media and insinuate the Brits were not ready, they were.
Russia? Let us pray.
I'm so looking forward to the Olympic hockey.
Heard a rumor that Brodeur has been traded to Minnesota, but will play one last home game to say goodbye to the fans tonight. Haven't seen confirmation anywhere though.
Then I see that the Wild got Bryzgalov from Edmonton... so maybe the other deal fell through?
I heard the Brodeur rumor, too.
I don't like the talk about the Rangers possibly trading Callahan because he wants to test the free agent market and get paid what he's worth.
Maybe I'm optimistic, because the Rangers aren't a great powerhouse scoring team by any stretch, but I think they will peak for a nice playoff run this year and Callahan would have to lead the charge for them to do it.
He may not get what he wants in free agency and may just come back to the Rangers, anyway. I would not trade him ... I don't think they'd get anything of real value in a deadline deal.
Canucks fan here... I really don't want to trade Kesler but if we can get a forward as good as him, plus a so so player and a high pick.... maybe?
fujiCally had to go, sorry he was not an elite player to command 6.5 -7 million a year. For once slather was smart. He is a well rounded player but not worth more than 5.5 to 6 million a year. I think he will refer not taking the rangers offer come July.
Devils keep Marty. Ho hum. Shows Lou is no dope. It's a business and it's the many Broduer fans attending which help pay the bills.
Still need a prolific scorer to consistently make the playoffs and have a chance to bring home the cup. Lou needs to figure that one out......more wins equals more fans equals more money to buy better players which score more goals to win more games....
TU TU I doubt that smart business had anything to do with keeping Broduer. Lou does put together good teams but they have never been good at marketing the team. He is still a devil because no teams are in need of a 5.6 million dollar back up. Whether he wants to face it or not it is what he is at this point. Lou was loyal to him to a fault. They should have dealt him 2 years ago when he still had value.
Well, the Rangers now have the oldest player to win an NHL scoring title and a former league MVP..
They needed a goal scorer, but I hope they didn't hurt their team chemistry and backchecking and the tough play that Cally gave them.
Andy I think it is easier to teach grit and forechecking that they had in cally the. To produce a 35 to 40 goal scorer they just gained for another year at only 5.6 million
Andy - St Louis has always had a bit more defensively than people give him credit for. He won't ever win a Selke, but he does give what you pay $6mill a year to see. As for chemistry, only time will tell. But remember he's a good fit already for Richards. Particularly when you look at having a year still remaining on a contract vs a contract at a price no one will pay, it's not that bad a gamble.
TU - No one pays the Devils bills, they operate at a loss. Their ticket revenue is a fairly low $20mill a year unless they win a cup. Even then I received 8 free tickets during those years - zero $ revenue just to pack the stands when they don't sell out during playoff games. Lou has already figured out he doesn't need any scorer to win, and counts on the TV contract to pay the bills.
Jdem - Although I think you're correct about the reason for Brodeur to be still there, I don't know that history supports Lou's loyalty. The minute you cross him, don't accept any offer ever given, or take the team to arbitration, you're traded. No matter who you are. There are a number of examples of that in the past. Lou's philosophy is that everyone is interchangeable parts. Loyalty and trade value are mutually exclusive.
fuji - You got your wish. I think it was just a bit much to expect in return for Kesler. If a team gets an equal player in trade, then that's where it usually ends. Expecting an additional player, and then a pick on top of that, means the trade just doesn't look doable to the other side. It's only when the other play isn't of the same value that things like another player and a pick are added. Throw on top of that the Vancouver injuries and Kesler is more valuable even if somewhat unhappy.
Yes, St. Louis and Richards work together well. As a Rangers fan, I've seen many big names come here and not work out, but I'm hopeful ... it's been 20 years since the last cup, but they are not the only franchise that has been waiting.
Good deal for the Rangers, Callahan isn't going to get what he is looking for as a free agent. Maybe he'll come back. St. Louis is a big upgrade. They still desperately need some size and toughness. My sympathies to the Islanders fans with the Vanek debacle, you would think they would have learned by now, no decent upcoming free agent would ever sign a deal with them as long as Wang is the owner.
Denis, I agree I am a big ranger fan and liked Callahan but not for that kinda money. As for the isles Garth Snow has no idea what he is doing.
In the tight Metropolitan playoff race, Philadelphia held off a late Washington rally to end with a final empty netter while the Rangers came back to erase a 2-0 deficit only to give up a goal in overtime. The Rangers loss gives Philadelphia one more point in the standings while Washington gives up the game in hand to Columbus with the night off.
Yeah, it's getting into stretch drive time. In hockey, especially, it's all about just getting into the playoffs and hoping your guys become the hot team.
Getting home ice is nice, but not essential.
Won't read too much into the Rangers losing in overtime last night.
This trade does represent a major change in philosophy in moving from a defense-first system to a new system built on skating and up-tempo offense under a new coach.
Even though Lundqvist gives them a chance in any playoff series, the Rangers are certainly a team in transition and their drafting and off-season player acquisitions will bear watching.
The Rangers made that change in philosophy, when they fired Tortorella and hired Vigneault. St. Louis was a huge upgrade in that transition. I thought he looked really good last night even in the loss. I'm a Ranger fan, but unless they add some size I don't think they have much of a chance to get past the Bruins if they make it that far in the Playoffs. The last game was a perfect example, the Rangers came out on fire in the first period, then the Bruins started to get physical and turned the game around.
That was exciting. It really was.
The Flyers Claude Giroux scores and...
its...
an...
overtime...
4.2 seconds to go...
goal!!!
They stay in the #2 slot after their back to back wins against the leading Penguins winning both of their home and home serious.
Meanwhile, the Rangers who have struggled against the Sens score a convincing win over Ottawa to keep pace even though they give up two games in hand. And in Columbus they will need those games in hand as they fall to the Canes 3 to 1 and swap places with NYR.
Kind of exciting. At least I think so.
Rags score 8 goals in a much needed win over Ottawa to temporarily reclaim the 3rd seed in the Met Division. Unfortunately, that probably means that they'll score one goal in the next three games combined.
Well, the trade was supposed to improve the offense.
Maybe it's good for the Rangers that Dolan is paying more attention to basketball these days.
Unfortunately, Dolan just hired Phil Jackson to run the Knicks. That means he's going to have a lot more free time to use toward the ruination of the Blueshirts.
For Ranger Fans, vote for the Steven McDonald extra effort award.
http://rangers.nhl.com/club/page.htm?id=96944
Well, they traded the guy who won it four of the last five years.
Before I vote, I'm open to nominations.
I think Zuccarello will win this year. Hard to think of anyone more fitting for the above and beyond premise of the award.
I go with Girardi, the guy puts up more minutes than anyone, I think only missed maybe 5 games his whole career and just locked in to stay.he is a work horse.
Roywhite 
Clyde Potts I just looked at the standings and the schedule... it gave me agita.
Gonna be a long 3-1/2 weeks... especially the road trip to Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver and Colorado. The Canadian teams are all near the bottom of the Western Conference; what do you wanna bet the Rags lose at least two of those three games?
It's gonna be a tough row to hoe... I'm not all that confident we make it.
As if staying up to watch those crazy NCAA games wasn't bad enough.
Gotta step it up and get to the next level.
How's that for corny clichés?
Congratulations to Lundqvist for setting the Rangers' franchise career record for shutouts ... and the Broadway Blues NEEDED it tonight.
As I always say when I extend happy birthday wishes ... AND MANY MORE.
Five wins in a row for the Rangers! Now for the dreaded Western Canada trip, and without Chris Kreider.
Carry on, carry on.
Big 60-minute win for the Blueshirts against the jack-o-lanterns at home tonight. Lundqvist just missed another shutout, but he was fantastic for most of the game. That's five in a row for the Rags, who now hold a three point lead over the Flyers, who gave two games in hand though. But, as Mullet Melrose is known to opine... games in hand only matter if you win them.
It's certainly looking like a Flyers/Rangers first round series. Only thing to be decided is home ice, which is incredibly important, if only mentally, as the Flyers haven't won in the Garden their last eight visits, spanning more than three full years.
I like that the Broadway Blues scored in each period and added to the lead ....as it was said above, a real 60-minute game .... giving the goalie a little margin for error down the stretch.
As long as they play well and score on power plays, they can steal a playoff game in Philly and win on home ice.
Blueshirts officially clinch a playoff spot... not that there was much doubt recently, but it's a start. Now if they can hold on to home ice for the 1st round...
Tonight's game against Carolina will be interesting ... not only would it be a good one to win, but the Rangers need to figure out the right combinations for their lines.. get everybody on the same page for the playoff games.
They've been playing well, 10-5-1, nobody can say they "backed in."
I'm a die hard Ranger fan, they are playing well, but I give them zero chance of ever getting past the Bruins if they meet in the Conference finals. The Bruins have their number, pound them into submission with there superior size and toughness. Last year we lost Richards, and Nash to cheap shots, now we just lost McDonough to a cheap shot. Do we bring up Haley, Bickel, or Mcilrath??? to give out skill players a little protection, no we bring up Jesper Fast. Sather will never learn, and if I hear A.V. talk one more time about the old Red Wings winning without toughness I'm going to puke. They had a much more physical roster than the current Rangers.
With last nights win in Florida and their previous win against Buffalo, the Flyers follow the lead of the Rangers and officially clinch their playoff birth. The additional game in hand now only comes into play for the home ice advantage.
The tight Metropolitan division has now settled the regular spots but still has to resolve the wild cards. Columbus back to back wins against the Islanders and the Coyotes still doesn't officially seal the deal but goes a long way with only 3 games left yet leading the Caps by 4 points even though they received help from the Flames win over the Devils.
I saw some real roughhouse hockey in the AHL back in the 60s, when the NHL had just six teams and the Rangers' AHL club was the Baltimore Clippers.
I still remember the opponents, the Hershey Bears, Rochester Americans, Providence Reds, Springfield Indians, and Quebec Aces.
The Johnstown Jets, the inspiration for Slapshot, were in the Eastern League.
That was hockey!!!
The Islanders just called up this guy last night, impressive debut as an enforcer. They already have Boulton, and Carkner as it is.
http://www.hockeyfights.com/fights/123868
ianimal - Do you know of a feline women's hockey league?? Cause I'll switch my skates if there was. Until then, I twirl cause I'm Cat Girl!! ;-)
Ok. So I ramble a bit.
Home ice in the first round now locked up. Flyers still have a chance to lose the 5-seed to the BJs, but I don't think it'll happen. I think they both get 2 points in their last two games... Philly loses to Pittsburgh, Columbus loses to TB.
Less than a week until the playoffs start... if I could grow a beard, this would be the time to start, lol.
There's no place like home, especially when it is "the world's most famous arena."
The Blue Jackets end their season on an up note with a win over the Panthers. The Rangers end regulation play in a scoreless tie with the Canadiens but Brian Gionta breaks the tie.
The one point in the overtime loss is crucial because the Flyers also play to a thrilling back and forth 3rd period tie against the Penguins. Then Mark Streit puts it home. Without the point, the Flyers afternoon game today could have tied up the Rangers. But that's all moot now as the playoffs begin!!
If the Rangers get good goaltending and punish the Flyers' transgressions by scoring on the power plays ...
Rangers in seven.
White Skates... the Rangers had the tiebreaker wrapped up, so it wouldn't have mattered in any event.
Emery folded down the stretch. If the Jack O' Lanterns don't get Mason back, this could be over in four. Regardless, like Denis pointed out earlier, neither of these teams stands much of a chance against the Bruins.
Well, just keep showing up and competing. Don't concede anything. A good pro team should not live in fear of anybody.
I remember when the Phillies took inspiration from the Flyers in 1974 (I was in the clubhouse and saw it for myself) ... Dave Cash got them fired up simply by chanting Yes We Can, Yes We Can ... that team transformed from last place to contention in a hurry. Mike Schmidt becoming the best home run hitter in the game didn't hurt, either.
Go Red Wings. Hopefully, no one will have to worry about the Broons in the conference semis...
Reversal of Fortune as rookie Jason Akeson who committed a team unhinging double-minor penalty in the first game of the series scores a goal enroute to the Flyers win. Ray Emery's goaltending was critical as Hendrik Lundqvist was solid too but got crossed up with the bench's instructions at the very end and a Flyers PP results.
Now the venue switches to Philadelphia on Tuesday with the series all tied up.
Pulling the goalie is always a move of desperation, anyway.
The Rangers have a history of being flat in game twos ... goes back a lot of years.
I expected a seven game series, so nothing shocked me today, they're going to have to grind ... playing the Flyers in a playoff series is never a picnic.
Busy game by Carcillo tonight. Gets blindsided with a cheap shot to the head that wasn't called and then gets called for a phantom hook on an outstanding defensive play. Instead of getting down, he perseveres and puts the biscuit in the basket after exiting the sin bin. His gritty effort is appreciated.
The Flyers seemed intent on gooning it up tonight. Seems to have backfired.
In this battle of Broadway vs. Broad Street, the Flyers do seem to be intent on bringing back the "legacy" (if you can call it that) of the old Broad Street Bullies.
It's flat out dirty play.
They used to get away with the chippy play against the Rangers, years ago. Seems they forget its 2014.
Hagelin does kind of resemble a young Ron Duguay... he just needs a little hairspray, lol.
With the celebration of Aaron hitting 715, 40 years ago, maybe the Flyers decided to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Broad Street Bullies.
Without Bernie Parent in the nets, it ain't working.
One thing I have always said, these hockey series should just be two out of three.
No need for four out of seven ... all it breeds is nastiness and fighting ... maybe that's what the owners want!
I think four out of seven is perfect. Two out of three doesn't give enough advantage to the better team. Having to be beaten four times, though... the better team usually wins.
Plus, you'd have to be traveling every day and a sweep of your opponent wouldn't be that big of a deal if your next round opponent has to go all the way. But if you win your series in 4 and the other team had to go 7, there's a big advantage to getting your opponent out quick.
I think the SC playoffs are about the most perfect thing in the wide world of sports. I wouldn't want anything to change.
I'm still watching, so I'm not complaining.
Baseball has the pitching rotations, so I understand the need for 4-of-7 there, but four-of-seven for hockey and basketball seems kind of drawn out.
For me, the Rangers have proven they are the better team as it stands right now.
Football and March Madness thrive on the one game means everything urgency.
For hockey, I understand the financial need to give each team one or two home games. Beyond that, well, I still watch ...
I remember the 154-game baseball season ... I'm one of those cranky old timers.
Hhhkkaaaaaapftaaflwappppftt.......
Oh, was that you shoes iPhone-imal? Cause that was my lunch. I got me white shoes, you shoes got Fancy Feast. Merry Christmas, dooooooood.
I'm no fan of a bad shoulder to the head, and clearly any team needs discipline in the playoffs. But I will also say someone missed the stick in the skates take down of Timmonen that resulted in St Louis' goal. The refs may have stopped the knock down drag out brawl from happening, but they blew lots of other calls. Ugly game all around...
PS. Everyone knows you can't have 3 of 5 series for the same reasons you can't have just 8 teams in the playoffs or why you can't fold 10 teams to bring back quality - money. The playoff $ mean as much or more than the regular season for the have-not teams that operate every year at a loss.
Bring back quality? You may have to search further around the world to get the number of players needed to fill the league, but talent-wise, I'd say it's the best it's ever been, overall. You don't have that one freakishly great player like 99 or 66, but Kjell Samuelsson isn't out there either (-;
Well, I'm old enough to say the AHL isn't what it used to be, but the NHL is good right now with the influx of all the Fins, Swedes, etc.
I believe the 74 and 75 Flyers teams are the last ones to win the Cup that were entirely made up of guys from Canada.
Perhaps White Shoes can confirm that.
Glad to see AV put Carcillo in the lineup, he should have been there from the start. Pouliot should have put on a Flyers uniform last night.
Major goaltending issues in Steeltown. Fleury has a major gaffe with 0:22 left to let the BJs send it to OT and then gives up one of the weakest goals I've ever seen to give them the victory. Series tied 2-2 and headed back to Pittsburgh.
Fleury also had big time problems last year in their series with the Ice-landers.
As Rangers fans watching guys like Richter and Lundqvist over the years, we've kinda been spoiled watching so much solid goaltending.
I'm really surprised the Penguins didn't address the goal tending during the off season based on his history. Fleury, can be great, but when he's shaky it doesn't matter how well the rest of the team plays, he is going to give up some terrible goals.
Gotta give the Rangers credit for the way they help their goalie by blocking shots.
Lundqvist blocked 31 shots Tuesday night, and their wall of defenders blocked about another 28. That's pretty brave to throw yourself into that lane and take that shot for your team. You know it's coming and you know it's going to hurt.
Mason was really sharp in goal for the Flyers tonight. The Rangers certainly peppered enough shots at him.
Would have been nice to go up 3-1 but it just didn't happen.
I had a feeling this would be a seven game series.
Despite the coaching change, the Rangers still lack that killer instinct to put away a team after taking a lead in a playoff series.
Well, back to the Garden, ... it is now the Rangers' time to "hold serve."
Pouliot is killing us again with idiotic penalties. I wish they would sit him and put Carcillo in.
The Flyers are fighting for their lives. Overall, the Rags haven't played too badly. Mason has made a couple of great saves and the Flyers have capitalized on the few opportunities they've gotten.
Hopefully we can get one back on this PP
It is what it is ... the Rangers always do this ... make us sweat through a long series against a team they should have put away by now.
Game 7 is *tomorrow*!!
Better rest up, I'm following Lundqvist's lead and getting an early start. ;-)
The Rags have been great at stealing the puck and getting chances. If not for Mason, it could easily be 5-0 instead of only 2-0.
Tried to book a Tee-Time for tomorrow morning. Was told its all booked up, by a number of guys in Orange & Black
Time to bring on Cindy and the Pens. Hopefully AV keeps Carcillo in the lineup for the rest of the playoffs.
Better luck next year, White Skates... or should I call you White Golf Shoes instead (-;
No, Andy, you arent the only one who watched it. But apparently you're the only one who watched it who had nothing better to do at noon on Saturday than to post about it on the Forum (-;
Glad to get the win, but overall it was a very uneven performance by the Rags. They almost let one slip away, but obviously im glad they didn't.
When you can steal one on the road to start a playoff series, you take it any way you can get it.
They had to be a tired team after playing games six and seven in back to back nights, and then heading to the Steel City for their third game in four nights.
Yes, some Pittsburgh shots hit the post, and the Rangers struggled mightily, but as the old line goes, I'd rather win ugly than lose pretty. Leave it to a Ravens fan to say that ;-)
And why so negative, saying I posted because I had nothing better to do? All I did was ask an honest question.
If I'm not welcome on HL, I'll just stop posting entirely ... my life went perfectly well for 60 years before I started posting here.
I was hoping the Rangers would lose to the flyers since I am a Canucks fan.
LA vs Montreal final?
What's your guess?
I dont see it as NY getting outplayed, their possesion, speed and forcheck continues to be excellent. They just can't score, the whole season NY had low goal totals now their weaknest is overexposed in playoffs. As soon as the powerplay can get back to something like 15% rate and Fluery starts playing like his less than superstar ability NY has a chance. Unfortunatly there may only be 2 games left to do it. I need a win plan on going on Sunday.
...oh yeah, I thought St Louis was supposed to be great. Welcome to NY where former superstars come to die...
The only useful thing Jesper Fast has done for the Rangers is take a stick to the face. How the hell does he get in the lineup over Carcillo?????
Lundqvist got fined for squirting water on the Nhl's chosen one meanwhile Crosby spears Moore in the nether region and he is good to go
Ya wanna talk about corny, I recall when a Philly announcer dug up a tape of an overtime win by the Flyers, that happened seven years earlier on that date.
When the winning shot went into the net, the play-by-play guy (Gene Hart) yelled, SCORE, SCORE, SCORE, SCORE ...
The announcer then said, "That was four score, seven years ago."
Should have beat the pens no problem.
I don't see nyr winning the cup. You have to beat boston (though I'm cheering for the habs) and if you get through that you need to beat one of the western teams.
The Pens were the #1 seed in the Metro, so I don't know that "should have beat them no problem" is entirely accurate. Not very many people picked the Rags to advance in that series, so it feels good as a fan... esp. w/ the St. Louis back story and the 1-3 comeback. The only chance I had given them before the series began was if Fleury melted down in net. That didn't come close to happening; he was actually phenomenal in net but the Rangers defense (and Lundqvist, obviously) stepped up big time, holding the Pens to just under 2 goals per game.
The Habs are tough and will likely be a marked favorite, but I think we match up slightly better versus them than the Bs. The Rangers will need to find a way to solve Carey Price, who's been solid in net in his own right. If we can do that, and shut down PJ Subban, we've got a "puncher's chance" to make it to the SC Finals.
Three O6 teams in the conference finals and a chance at another O6 SC Final again this year. Gotta love it...
iPhone-imal - I would agree about "no problem". The Pens had much more depth all around. I'm not so sure I would exactly say "defense" in general, but I think it definitely is going 7 for 49 on the PP. That can be either side of the equation, or both.
P K Subban isn't the only issue. Look again at the team - they're rolling two strong lines up front. Pacioretty broke through this year and helped bring along Desharnais, Plakanec has helped bring along Gallagher, plus Vanek and Briere have helped their PP tremendously together with Subban. Montreal has been great on the PP and if the Rangers are going anywhere they'll need to not only shut down Montreal's PP, they'll have to do better on their own.
They may not be either Chicago or Pittsburgh in depth. But Montreal is for real.
I still think the Pens are over rated and the series shouldn't have come down to a boring game 7.
I don't think seed really counts. Kings won the cup seeded 8th a couple years ago. I thought the flyers were going to win in the first round but that's the thing about hockey is that anything can happen.
I don't see anything the rangers have on the habs. Both goalies are amazing but I think the habs are better overall on defense and offense.
I think habs win it in 5 games.
Do you think the pens were better than the flyers?
The seeding has been replaced with brackets. You can't compare now to a couple of years ago any more.
Flyers vs Pens is a matter of whether you want to know if they could be or whether they played better in the series. The Pens *could* have been far better, they have more depth than anything but a couple of Western teams. But they didn't play like it. Their PP stunk and their biggest guns never lived up to their capabilities.
The Flyers were very inconsistent - played very well one game, tanked the next. A couple of players did well, their PP was very good, but they also coughed up the puck time after time. The Rangers should have coasted given the offensive turn overs and break away chances. But they were less than spectacular as well.
All together it doesn't bode well for the East at all.
The Pens and Flyers played an identical 82 game schedule and the Pens attained 109 points to the Flyers 94. Yes, I think that shows that the Pens were a markedly better team overall. However, that doesn't mean that the Penguins necessarily match up well versus the Flyers head to head and would definitely beat them in a 7 game series.
Similarly, the Flyers, for whatever reason, don't match up the best with the Rags. I'm sure many Flyer fans would have preferred if they had gotten the 4-seed in the Metro instead of Columbus. I was pretty confident that we would beat the Flyers; I was more surprised it took seven games.
Again, I think the Rangers match up fairly well with Montreal. Much better than we do against Boston. Like GC said, it'll come down to execution on special teams. The Rangers seem to have gotten their offense on track in the last three games. The first two periods of Game 7 might have been the most fluid and skillful I have seen them play with the puck all year. Richards is playing better, St. Louis is playing his heart out on every shift and the young kids are all playing with a lot of jump. Even Nash, though he would have a hard time scoring in a Tijuana whorehouse with $1,000 in his pocket it seems, is playing hard every shift and doing a lot of the little things well.
But at the end of the day, there's always the ridiculous goaltending factor. You mentioned the 8-seed Kings of a few years ago. That was all Jon Quick. 16-4 with a 1.41 GAA. If the other team can't score, it's hard for your team to lose.
Not exactly what I expected, with the Rangers up 7-1 with about 5:00 to go. I love a good blowout, saves quite a bit of stress in the last two minutes, lol. Hopefully, the Rags don't suffer a letdown as they are wont to do after blowing a team out... they all too often follow it up with a couple clunkers. Time will tell, I suppose.
Rangers have been winning with defense, goaltending, and timely scoring.
Gotta be an optimist and at least keep thinking they have a chance. It would be nice if they don't allow this series go to seven, and give me a chance to watch some baseball and basketball.
Nice to see that all that roughing, slashing, and unsportsmanlike conduct on the part of the "Habs" did not go unpunished.
I can't remember the last time I've seen the Rangers play this well over a sustained length of time. It's like something clicked and they're finally playing up to their ability.
Keep the pedal to the medal, Rangers.
Win it for Jeff Beukeboom, Brian Leetch.
Shoot the puck, shoot the puck.
Got beat by a great goaltending performance.
Need the next one to "hold serve" and maintain home ice advantage and keep it a comfortable series ... another loss would mean we have to sweat it out ... again.
Maybe that's the way the Broadway Blues prefer to do it? Giving their fans aggravation and agitta?
Of the 6 goals scored by the Habs, one off chest, 3(?) off defensive skates and one blooped over Kings head I know they all count and NY has a few like that also but not an impressive performance.
Seems to me like NHL officiating has always been selective and inconsistent.
What are ya gonna do?
NHL...what are you gonna do??? Didn't someone get suspended for hitting a ref recently?
acl76 Hit a ref? No class.
Squirt with the water bottle? No class.
Chop out the goalies knees? No class.
Break a jaw? No class.
Claim you don't know you have a penalty? No class.
So many culprits, too few people taken off the ice. Press conferences full os spin. Juvenile. Unsportsmanlike. Manup or get out of the sport.
Meanwhile the west is for real and entertaining. The East is like a canceled sitcom thinking they only need an ego based letter campaign to get them back. Not gonna happen.
GC, I've been loving the Habs vs. Rangers series despite the poor officiating, the games have been great, very close and competitive. Seeing Hank squirt Crosby with the water bottle in the Pens series was hilarious, and well deserved! That being said I'm hoping that we have a Rangers vs. Blackhawks finals. They said in the game the other night that they have never meet in the finals, which is hard to believe since they are both original 6 teams.
I remember the Blackhawks beating the Wings in the 61 finals, then losing to the Leafs in the 62 final, to Montreal in the 65 final in seven games, and again to Montreal in 71 and 73.
There was a Rangers - Bruins final in the middle there, in 72.
The Blackhawks didn't make another final until 92, when they lost to the Pens in a sweep.
One good thing that's helped the Rangers this year, they've kept playing all four lines. It's giving them staying power.
The main thing that helped the Rangers this year was firing Tortorella! Hope they can close it out tonight. Rangers Vs. Blackhawks is not looking to good right now.
I hated to see Shanahan go, but the trade for St. Louis has worked out ... they got a guy with a history of producing in the playoffs ... combined with Lundqvist's marvelous play, it's working. It's working!
And the team really came together when St. Louis' mother passed away ... one of the best stories of this playoff season. And lots of players have scored, they haven't just been depending on a couple of guys.
Lundqvist just has to save more shots now, since Callahan isn't out there taking them for the team anymore (OUCH).
I love how everyone is dismissing the Rangers in the SC Finals (if they should make it that far). Everyone is dazzled by the foufou European-style series going on between the Kings and the 'Hawks. No defense, skating up and down the ice unmolested, like it's the friggin All-Star game for Pete's sake.
That's Dinah Shore hockey... It certainly ain't Eddie Shore. Time for the Rags (if they make it) to put a stick in their guts and let 'em know they're there. I've hated the Kings ever since Matt Johnson sucker punched Beukeboom in the back of the head and ended his career. Time for some payback, a generation later. Here it is... just to fire up the faithful:
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_pS_D3FP4Zs&feature=kp
Look at how poorly Detroit did once they moved into the East.
Old time hockey. Eddie Shore!
Keep killing those penalties, boys.
Habs survive one more game!
I called a Montreal Kings final when the playoffs started..... far from right though.
Lundqvist pulled made my night.
I heard St. Louis in an interview on the car radio, he was being congratulated for how the Rangers were playing and he just said, "that fourth one is the hardest to win."
If I was a New York DJ, I'd play this one to fire up the Rangers and the fan base... you don't want to play a game seven in Canada ... this is it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WflkuBweSYo&feature=kp
What ever happened to Emile Francis, wasn't he the Rangers coach who went to St. Louis??
Your Eastern Conference Champions: the New York Rangers....
Hen-rik.... Hen-rik... Hen-rik....
Emile Francis was the Rangers' coach when I became a fan ... he built a struggling team in the 60s into a team that reached the Stanley Cup finals in 1972.
Very classy guy. He then went to the St. Louis Blues.
It's still sinking in, like I'm pinching myself to make sure this isn't a dream ... the Rangers are in the finals.
How about that? It's only been 20 years!
A real good video, full of memories, for the Rangers' faithful to enjoy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJqnjLk_gPo
I am with you....went to the triple OT game in early 70s
against Chicago...tony esposito vs eddie giocomin (sp) ...watching dave maloney interviewed
.... :)...
mammadone Chicago looks scary, hope the time off to rest helps the Rangers.
The Rangers have the best defensive team still standing, though, and Lundqvist.
Time off is not always a good thing. Some times the players get complacent and too confident. That's a real test of a coach in how prepared they are for the first game. If Chicago looks scary, the Kings are right there with them. The West in general is far better than what is mostly mediocre in the East.
Lundqvist is the guy ... they would not be where they are without him.
In over 50 years of keeping up with sports, I've seen the "rest thing" work both ways.
What I've often seen (in all sports that have playoff series) is the rested team coming out and playing a stinker in game one, but then the light switch goes on, and they play great guns the rest of the way, and win it ... if they are the better team.
A series I'll always remember is the 1982 NBA Eastern Conference series ... Boston beat the Sixers by 40 points in game one and the brutal Philly media buried the Sixers right there ... but the Sixers won the next three games.
Sports Illustrated had a cool cover as the Sixers advanced to the final ... Dr. J dunking and a big headline saying TAKE THAT, BOSTON!
Game 1 has a pretty late start on a school night for me to go all the way to Htown, but maybe Game 2 on Saturday night if nothing else comes up.
Kings viewing at my place but no ranger fans allowed.... So I guess it's going to be me and my dog.
fujixt1 - Don't worry, there are more anti-Rangers around than you would think from reading here. And if you don't believe me, try the big party at Broad & Pattison. ;-)
Well I have good reasons to really dislike the Rangers...
My #1 team- Vancouver Canucks... my #2 team is LA..... So the last time you beat my #1 team and this year you are playing my #2 team.
Go KINGS !!! This is going to be a great Stanley Cup Series. IMO it will be a battle of the netminder. Both are excellent. I do think that the western confrence does play a harder and faster game than here on the east coast.
Hockeymom115 When it comes to a clinching game, I'd be happy to join you guys for a Rangers viewing.
My #2 team is whoever happens to be playing the Devils. I really don't understand the whole concept of rooting for a second team. If your team is out and you need a reason to be interested... well, that's why god invented bookies, lol.
Why don't you understand rooting for a second team?
I have no problem or need a reason to be interested in watching NHL.
If you need a reason to watch a sport when your team is not playing, maybe you're not really into that sport and only watch it when it's convenient.
I don't understand rooting for a second team because there can be only one. After that, it's all about rooting against the teams whose fans will be most likely to talk crap all year, lol.
I don't need a reason to watch, like inventing a second favorite team. But, you're right in that I certainly don't make the same effort to watch a hockey game between two teams I don't care about as I do when my favorite team is playing. That's only common sense. I suppose if I had 30 favorite teams, I'd feel differently.
because there can only be one? There can be only one #1 yes... but surely you have to know that one can root for one or even TWO other teams. They may not be as die hard as #1 but very close. I have 5 Canucks jerseys and 3 Kings ones.
So you let me know if I am wrong...
I am a Canucks fan because I was born and raised in Vancouver and have always rooted for them.
I am a LA fan since Luc Robitaille was on that team... and most recently another Canadian player, Doughty, is on that team I love to watch his game.
When they play each other during the reg season I usually root for who needs the points most. They will NEVER end up playing in the finals so that will never been an issue. If they ended up playing each other in the playoffs, I would root for Vancouver but wouldn't upset if LA won.
Why only one or two other teams? Why can't you root for ten or fifteen other teams? Why don't you just rank your favorites from 1-30 and carry it around so that you don't forget who you should be rooting for in any given game? I prefer to keep it simple. I'm not saying there aren't other teams that I "like", but I wouldn't go so far as to call them 2nd or 3rd favorite, because I have only one favorite.
iPhone-imal - Why not? There isn't just one fun team to watch, there are some good line ups out there. Why be limited in the appreciation of the game?
fujixt1 - Luc Robitaille was a talented finisher and in the HOF. Over 500 career goals and even a year with 60+. But have you ever seen him in an interview? Didn't care for him personally at all. To me the greatest Kings to watch were Taylor-Simmer-Dionne. In the era right before running and gunning they were tearing it up.
Why not have second and third favorite teams? Because look at fujix... he's actually envisioned a scenario where he will root against his favorite team if it helps his second favorite team.
Besides GC, I know how anti-"us versus them" you are. I never said that I don't appreciate the talent on other teams nor did I say that I don't enjoy watching them. I just don't pick sides... unless they're playing a team I hate (-;
Ranking teams that you like and having 2 teams is different in my opinion.
Yes I like NJ and Flyers over NYR but have I gone out of my way to go see their games live or bought any fan appeal or follow their farm teams? No.
What I do differently with the Canucks and kings is go out of my way to watch their games on tv and live. I have fan appeal and wear it proudly. I follow upcoming draft picks.
Just to agree with you. Here are my favorite teams.
#1- Canucks
#2- Kings
#3- all other teams remaining that I have not mentioned.
Now I have ranked them.
Would you root for NJ devils to win if it helps your teams chances of getting a better first round playoff match?
So now your rooting for your #1 hated team against your #1 team? The madness!!!!!
If you have a #1 team and so against having a #2 team, how can you have a #1 team that you hate. That means you are also ranking them!! The madness again!!!!
Having two teams is like having two wives. If you need a second, the first apparently isn't enough for you. You need to figure out what it is about the Canucks that prevent them from satisfying you as a fan.
So many questions, so little time...
Would I root for the Devils if it helped the Rangers? Absolutely. I love the Rangers far more than I hate the Devils. And contrary to your statement, I wouldn't be rooting "against" the Rangers... I would obviously be rooting "for" them if a Devils victory was advantageous for the Rangers in any way.
A better question to have asked would have been whether I would root for the Rangers to lose a personally meaningless game if it meant the Devils wouldn't make the playoffs. The answer to that would be "maybe". I can't say for sure until the situation occurred. It's analogous to whether I hate the Phillies or Yankees more. I couldn't really answer the question until they met in the 2009 World Series. Turns out that I do in fact hate the Yankees more.
How can I not have a #2 favorite team while having a #1 hated team? That's easy. I'm a Rangers fan. It's us against the world. The rest of the league are all our enemies, to one degree or another. The level of hatred for each individual team boils down to proximity, level of rivalry and the number of friends who will bust my balls all year if their team wins. Pretty simple formula. But you can call it Madness if you wish. I've been called worse (-;
I'm done with you. You can have one team and I have as many as I want. Done?
KINGS KINGS KINGS!
You're done with me? I'm the one arguing with a person who not only has two favorite teams, but has two favorite teams who play in the SAME DIVISION... that's quite the head scratcher. It's like someone rooting for the Eagles and the Giants, lol.
"After that, it's all about rooting against the teams whose fans will be most likely to talk crap all year, lol."
That's exactly why I don't root for the Mets. Nobody can talk @##** like a Mets fan when his team is in first place. That does not apply to 1969 (different world back then) when the Mets fans were just genuinely happy ... I liked the way the O's just put it behind them, congratulated them, and made sure they returned to the Series and won the whole enchilada the next year.
I do always find a team to root for when Baltimore is out of it ... I rooted for the Steelers in their Super Bowls ... the 86 Mets because I liked Mookie ... the Phillies when they have made the post-season .... the Broncos with John Elway ... the Angels with Alex Ochoa (LOL) ... the Red Sox finally breaking the curse and then winning it again just to show the Yankees fans it wasn't an accident.
In hockey I have rooted for the Islanders, Flyers, and Devils when they have reached the finals ...been disappointed that they have not done the same for the Rangers, but ... no hatred ... I just happened to become a Rangers fan before those franchises existed.... I go back to the original six.
Hey, we're all wired differently ... I often wonder why people in NJ became lifelong Cowboys fans, but they are what they are. Life is too short to be hating them for it.
Know what? To me, when I say I'm a fan of a particular team, that means that is the team whose games I find the most interesting.
When I check the scores, that is the team whose score I look for first.
Beyond that, I see there is a whole weird psychology that goes into "fandom" and it amazes me when people tell other people what kind of fan he (or she) should be.
We all are products of our experiences, I go back to that time and time again.
I think people who get really angry at someone else (to the point where it is unhealthy) because of what team they like, is generally an intolerant person.
To survive, the sports industry NEEDS people with rooting interests. People don't just turn on the sports to find out what is going on, the way they would turn on the news.
Amen Andy.
I know you are also a NYR fan but I respect that but that doesn't mean I agree with you when they win or lose. haha.
Tonight at 8pm!
I'll see you guys back here around 11pm.
Wearing my LA hat all day!
Jonathan Quick was amazing tonight. Lundqvist was terrific, too, what a game!
I'm getting too old for these overtime games.
Yeah getting really late.
Even though Doughty had that great goal, he caused some awful turnovers.
On to game 2!
The Rangers' top line needs to show up.
After getting the early lead, they got outplayed pretty badly the rest of the game.
They've been getting away with some sloppy puck handling, because Lundqvist has always been back there to stop the rushes that resulted from turnovers, but they can't keep counting on that.
They're playing a much better team than the Flyers, Pens, or Habs now. It's cliché but it applies, they need to step up to the next level now.
Talk about sloppy ... How many breakaways or or man rushes did the kings give up!
I wish there was a game on tonight.
You can give both defenses credit, but it seemed most of that third period was played in front of the Rangers' goal.
iPhone-imal, with all due respect to the great one, time to break out a real all time Ranger favorite to turn the karma around.
With all due respect to Nick Fotiu, he wasn't the guy dropping the ceremonial first puck last night. Needed to swing the 99 mojo away from the Queens. It worked... for about 15 minutes, lol.
Old time hockey.
We need to bring in Rod Gilbert, Vic Hadfield, and Jean Ratelle.
A septuagenarian line is just what we need, Andy. Do they make walkers with skate blades on them? (-;
So, they do... good. Now all we need to do is fabricate oarlocks for the walkers and a mechanism attached to their helmets whereby they can stickhandle with their face and we'll be good to go (-;
Has RIck Nash done anything for the team? Everyone wanted him, even I wanted him but I don't recall him having a major impact with NYR or even Team Canada at the Olympics.
I'm afraid there is going to be a lot of lackluster play in this series ... no knock on the athletes ... the travel schedule is brutal.
They may fly on the best planes and stay in the best hotels ... they are flying at 30,000 feet coast to coast, across all those time zones ... that's brutal.
Going back and forth coast to coast ... we'll see who does the best job of overcoming all the jet lag.
Ah, yes, loved the days when the entire NHL was contained in the Eastern and Central time zones. Old time hockey.
Listening to Colin Cowherd at lunch time, Andy? I thought Kenny Albert's travel schedule during the conference championships was even more brutal:
Chicago to Montreal to Chicago to New York to Los Angeles to New York to Los Angeles to Montreal to Chicago to New York to Los Angeles to Chicago. All in a space of 12 days.
The reason for all the travel was that he was booked not only to do the TV broadcast for the Western Conference Finals for NBC, but to do radio broadcasts for the Rangers as well.
We great sports journalists all think alike.
Colin doesn't care what the snarky people think of him, either.
HL is great, a place to get away from all the yak yak about LeBron James ;-)
Do you think they shut the air conditioning off in San Antonio on purpose? The conspiracy theorists are going nuts with that one.
Miami depends too much on one guy, if anybody wants my opinion on basketball.
I don't like the NHL's 2-2-1-1-1 schedule for the finals, especially when it is east coast to west coast.
Baseball's 2-3-2 makes a lot more sense.
That's just me.
bummer ... not over yet but it'll be one rough mountain to climb.
Good night, all.
Such a great series.
It's either a fluke or amazing goal that scores. The goalies are so freaking good.
Now I know what it feels like to play against the cancels before with coach AV. As a Canucks fan, we were always blowing leads and choking with it counts.
Thanks to a real long Detroit Red Wings game in 1954, real beer is no longer allowed in the broadcasting booth.
I heard this on a funny sports bloopers record (those old things we used to play on a turntable) when I was a kid. The Detroit announcers were drinking the sponsor's beer during the commercials ... by the third overtime they sounded like this ...
... "Dese Sch-tanley Cluff payoffs arerealleee ex-chi-ting ..."
Andy, same thing happens when HL posters drink and type ;)
Lots of action last night. Apparently not enough to keep me awake for ot2.
maja "I don't like the NHL's 2-2-1-1-1 schedule for the finals, especially when it is east coast to west coast."
That's ok. It will only be 2-2 anyway.
NJD On that same record, they had a clip of an interview during the World Series where a guy says ...
"I'm not a fan of either the Giants or Indians, I'm an Athletics supporter."
Gotta love live radio ;-)
"drinking the sponsor's beer" - either that or they were just from the Montreal broadcast crew...
Does anyone know about the expansion rummers. I heard that the owner of the Seahawks wanted a team in Seatle. I also heard rummers about the Hartford Whalers and Quebec Nordiques comming back. I even heard something about a second Toronto team
Swaggity I think a team in Seattle would work, and it would be good for the Vancouver Canucks (who have the worst traveling schedule in the NHL every year) to have a nearby rival.
Seattle supported the NBA Supersonics beautifully for many years ... when they went to the finals in back-to-back years in 1978 and 79, I remember the Sixers and Nets players used to call a trip to Seattle a trip to "the badlands" because the fans were so loud ...
and NFL fans know what the decibel level is like at the Seahawks' games!!
The NBA's mistake in taking a team out of Seattle is a great opportunity for the NHL.
After two games in this final, I can say I'm definitely in favor of shortening regulation time. LOL
Gretzky was on with Mike and Mike this morning, would not say anything controversial about the referees.
The Garden needs to be electric tonight, I'm sure it will be.
Swaggity - Your source of rumors is not so good. First you have to understand the league has a dozen teams losing money. Despite Bettman's very old statement about "always in expansion mode", the owners are completely opposed to it. Particularly the "have nots" are not going to allow more losing teams when they need the $ themselves. So any team would be a relocation, not an expansion.
As it is there is no opportunity in Seattle if the NBA *doesn't* put a team there. This was the current news about Ballmer wanting to buy a team to move to Seattle for ages. But with the Clippers situation, the NBA is in favor only if the Clippers don't move. Without Ballmer they can't get an NBA team in, and without that the owners of the facility aren't interested in NHL alone. So even if viable, Seattle is a very dead prospect at the moment.
Hartford has no viability, and the only talk is from the Governor. They've been searching for investors and have less than zero interest. That's nothing but hot air.
As for Quebec, their chance was the move of Atlanta. They lost out on that for failing to produce fan interest. Quebec has so much minor and junior hockey that they don't really need a pro team. It's also a very small market which is why the big question of viability. It's a very separate and distinct situation there. (tongue fully in cheek)
There's no way they'll have a second team in Toronto. The rumor is probably very old talk about Jim Balsillie. He would not place the team in Toronto but Hamilton. There is a very large facility there for many years, still has teams that play there, and is very family oriented. But the owners consider him completely crooked and will not sell under any circumstances. He's said several times he would keep a team in their current location yet when pressed admitted that would only be a stop gap until the team could be moved to Hamilton. The league will never allow the sale, so that deal is much older and much deader than the others.
That isn't to say with so many teams in bad finances that moving one may not happen. But the most viable place in Seattle has just had its investor head south. It will likely take a lot of time before another investor comes along and may even need a new facility by then.
Other places have minor interest but aren't quite as viable. The most interesting might be Las Vegas who has a facility and minor league experience, has at least some interest, and fans as tourists might go to games while they're there.
There are other places for relocation like Salt Lake or Portland. But there are quite a few pieces that would have to fall in place.
The league won't let it happen, but the best thing for them would be to fold at least two franchises and stop diluting the sport.
I'm an old original six guy and I remember my incredulous reaction when the NHL expanded into Los Angeles.
Los Angeles???
Well, it has worked out quite well.
This one's for the Rangers and their fans, from that old Ranger fan from Hoboken himself, ol' blue eyes...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWZ-pLUb9L8
fujixt1 The Rangers out shot the Kings 32 to 15, but the Kings "absolutely dominated the Rangers"?? Not sure what game you were watching. They have gotten the benefits of a lot of good breaks, bad penalties and Quick has been amazing. No one can say they dominated in any way in any game.
The Rangers never trailed in the first two games, but lost both in overtime.
Would not call that being "dominated." Oh well, fans get exuberant sometimes.
The games have been very competitive, despite the 3-0 standing.
well the Kings are up 3-0 in the series.. They beat NYR 3-0 at home against one of the worlds best goalies. Okay so they didn't dominate in stats but when I was watching the game and not counting shots, hits or puck possession time, I saw a very confident team win the game.
The first two games were very competitive.
Talk about breaks.... the Kings had no breaks or bounces their way against Chicago and still won. How about game two when Quick had a unlucky bounce and hoped over W. Mitchell's stick and that resulted in a goal? Bad penalties? That can go both ways... I am sure as a NYR fan and me as a LA Kings fan we see thing a little differently. Was that goalie interference? Has there ever been a bad call in the NHL before that? Has there been missed calls in this series?
In the end the Kings are up 3-0 and closing on Lord Stanley.
There are always bad calls, it's the NHL! It's what they do best. I'm not saying the Kings don't deserve to be in the position they are in, but in no way did they came close to dominating that game. It's been a very evenly played series, and your goalie is playing better than ours. Not throwing in the towel just yet.
I would say that fujixt is correct, as far as Game 3 went. The first two games were dominated by the Rags but they turned turtle and played not to lose in the 3rd period of each game. Whether this was a deliberate strategy employed by AV or the players just got tight, I can't say. But not walking out of LA with a win was the kiss of death, unfortunately. The Rangers aren't a very good home ice team, comparatively.
They played the Kings about even in period 1 of Game 3, but they squandered golden opportunities. I still can't figure out how Zuke didn't get that goal and the shot that hit Quicks stick square on the paddle was about two of the worst strokes of luck I've seen. And giving up the goal with not less than a minute, but less than a second in the period... that was demoralizing.
The Kings pretty much had their way with them the rest of the game. The Rangers may have had a lot more shots, but they were easy saves for the most part. The size of the Kings forwards really started to take its toll as the game went on. They started to physically take the puck away more easily and also started to entrench themselves in front of the crease more consistently.
At least that's how I saw it. I still have hope, but that was (obviously) the worst game the Rangers have played.
All great points discussed above, I really see the Kings size advantage (actually NY is a bit small) taking the advatage in the crease on both ends of the ice.
Going to the game tomorrow so a win is in the bag, I'll be the guy in blue cheering.
Love hockey and love the passion from the fans.
As a Canucks fan and knowing AV.... He can never carry a team all the way. Watching the NYR play and blowing a 2-0 lead in the first two games reminds me of how the Canucks play. I always said that the Canucks are not safe unless they have a 5 goal lead.
That being said, tomorrow will be a tough game for both. kings will want to win it and NYR will want to force a game 5.
Can't wait for draft talk too
I agree the Kings are taking advantage of the Rangers lack of toughness in the crease. I hope that Dylan McIlrath is ready next year. The Rangers really need that kind of presence in front of there own net.
I've always liked Callahan and since they made the finals I'm not going to be upset about the trade ... but they could use him in THIS series.
Cally's about 5'-10" and 180 pounds. The average Kings forward is about 6'-2"/210. Plus, he's a forward himself... it's not like he would be the guy protecting the crease.
What they could really use is a young Jeff Beukeboom in this series, lol.
ianimal- I know your pain. When the Canucks made the finals in 2011 against Boston, the Canucks were tiny compared to their team.
We need a young Harry Howell AND a young Jeff Beukeboom.
Old time hockey .... one shift at a time.
I'm sure every one of you guys who has played football has heard this one ...
it's not the size of the dog in the fight,
it's the size of the fight in the dog.
It was a popular phrase before Michael Vick.
Andy. The problem with that saying is the kings are the bigger dog and want it just as bad hahaha
That's the one thing that really annoys me about AV, he always downplays the importance of size and toughness.
I also think the Rangers signed the wrong free agent to a long term deal, Callahan was a great high energy player. Girardi has SUCKED in this series.
The Rangers have not been dominated. They have their pride, not in our house!
They held the lead in this one. Lundqvist is the man.
Ca-li-for-nia here we come, right back where we started from ...
For Rangers' fans from the disco era ...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_izvAbhExY&feature=kp
For Rangers' fans who got into the "old" MSG (pre-1968) for six bits kids' price.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPkd9ZQOtbI
Game 5!
I have posted this before but it's always a good one to watch.... pissed off goalies.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8v9wZF-aQ9U
I'm not sure who's more pathetic... Girardi for the Rangers or Martinez for the Queens. Both guys have had extremely sloppy games on the defensive end.
But, yeah, Denis... I think the refs have a tee time for tomorrow and don't wanna go back to NYC. That tripping call against Zuke that let LA tie it up was egregious. The Rags should have been on the PP with a chance to go up by two. It was glaringly apparent that the defenseman was the one who threw his leg out and caused the contact. The game should already be over.
A chaotic game ... the cup ceremony is always special to see ... wait till next year.
Patti 
Hats off to the Kings, they were the better team. It's a shame though that another playoff series was tarnished by the incompetent NHL officials. At least we didn't get screwed as bad as the Devils did when they played the Kings in the finals.
Hey Patti do you want a slightly used Girardi, we'll trade him for a Flyers water bottle.
Denis - I don't know that either Patti and I can speak for the Orange and Black. But when you sign a 30 year old for six years at $33 million he's on your team until he retires.
Maybe it's because I was a Rangers fan before the Flyers, Islanders, and Devils even existed, but I've had no problem with pulling for those "newcomer teams" when they've been in the finals ... Flyers and Devils very recently, too. Did not rejoice in them losing. My attitude has been, it's good for the sport of hockey to have all these teams playing nearby.
Worth mentioning, this year was the first time since Bobby Nystrom in 1980, that a Stanley Cup has been won on an overtime goal by the home team.
Sorry to bring up a bad memory for Flyers fans who are old enough to remember.
Ok when does next season start!!!
What are your main concerns for your team(s).
Canucks- head coach? Kesler? Draft picks!?
Since the NBA season has come and gone without anybody starting a thread, I'll throw this trivia question out there ... When the NBA had its first championship final involving two black head coaches, who were they?
I'll see if anybody bothers looking it up.
fujixt1 - I suggest a new thread for that. The other sports seem to have both the season thread and one for free agents, drafts, training camps, and pre-season. A "NHL Off Season" would seem to be the way to go.
As for your Canucks, I think it's all going to come down to the new management's choice of coach. If it's a minor leaguer stepping up to the majors, figure they've taken the rebuilding route and it could be a long season for you. The Sedin's aren't getting any younger in addition to the Kesler drama. Maybe you know more of what talent is in the pipeline to know if that's a realistic direction or not.
Don't think there is enough interest to sustain an NBA off-season thread, not on this site, anyway.
Back to hockey, what's Marty Brodeur doing next year?
Guess Clyde has been too busy to get on HL today ... nice to see somebody has a life, LOL.
The answer to that NBA trivia question is Al Attles of the Golden State Warriors and KC Jones of the Washington Bullets in 1975, the first time both head coaches in the NBA Finals were African Americans ... Attles grew up in New Jersey.
That will probably put a wrap on this thread.
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