Don’t look at me like that. I still played more than you would have if you were in the lineup. (Photo: Melissa Andus)

I skipped game two of this little game and it didn’t go well for the boys so we’re starting it up again. (Yes I realize they lost when I guessed in game one…but at least the score was close in that game.) For game one, I guessed Brian Boyle would play 16:42 in regulation. This time I was off by 23 seconds as he played 17:05 (I’m getting good at this).

This time I figured I would pick a player we will all be watching tonight to see if he can bounce back. (I’m not even questioning it, I know he can.) He had his lowest time on ice for the year playing under twenty minutes for the first time this season. I guess that’s what happens when you’re technically a minus-5 in a game. (Stat sheet showed minus-4 since he was on for one of the Rangers goals.)

Not only do I not expect him to be anywhere near that unlucky defensively again, but I also expect him to play more minutes. I have this belief that his minutes have a direct correlation to how the Rangers do. Look at when the team loses. Those are usually the nights Girardi doesn’t lead the team in ice time. Being it’s a home game, Tortorella can get his matchups so I think that will prevent his ice time from getting ridiculous. I’m going to go with 24:52. There’s really no rhyme or reason to that but that’s the number that popped into my head, so I’m going with it.

What does everyone else think?

I love the guy on the left but in regards to the one on the right…please be okay, please be okay, please be okay… (Photo: Bridget Samuels/flickr)

So how about that game yesterday? Yeah I don’t want to talk about it either. Did you know that no team in history has rallied back from consecutive 2-0 deficits? Well, there’s always a first.

Honestly I have no idea what to expect so not going to try to guess. I did think this was another series that would be tied after four. I just thought they’d split at home and on the road. Oh well. I know the Rangers motto is “the right way” but at this point I think it needs to be changed to “the hard way”.

In regards to actual news, there isn’t much of it today. The main thing everyone was worried about was Henrik Lundqvist’s shoulder, which he apparently hurt late in the third period yesterday afternoon (as if that period could get any worse for the visiting team). The good news is he practiced today and said he would be fine. The bad news is he said it was sore but he could play through it. I’m thinking that will be an issue. If for some reason he can’t go, I think we can all agree the Rangers are done (all due respect to Marty Biron who is an above average goaltender).

As for the three injured soldiers, Marc Staal and Darroll Powe again skated with the extras after practice was complete. It’s a good sign they are out skating. Now we just need to get them into an actual practice. Ryane Clowe, though, has yet to be seen. That is horrible news as his style of play is perfect for a series like this. As much as I want him on the ice, at this point I’m more worried he’s dealing with the “c” word which could mean he will be out for longer than this season (as we’ve seen too often the past few years). Get well soon boys!

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On a separate note, it was announced that game five would be a 5:30 game on Saturday IF NECESSARY. Look, I know the Rangers have looked bad but do we really think the Bruins are sweeping the series? The series might only go five games but I can’t see the Rangers being swept. If they are…well, then I give up. (Editors Note: Yes I know that is a formality that has to be given but the way the writers mentioned it, made it seem like they were giving the time to game seven if we were to get to that point.)

Thanks for finally showing up! Too bad the rest of the team is exhausted (Photo: Melissa Andus)

So… this is starting to look familiar, isn’t it? The Rangers opening their series on the road with two straight losses. While I think the Rangers are looking much better in the second round than they did in the first, drawing out the first round to seven games didn’t do the team any favors in terms of fitness and reserves. So, we’re still missing Clowe, Staal, and Powe, the defense is clearly exhausted, and a 1 in 5 road record is… not great.

Well, let’s beat this dead horse!

Let’s rip into the defense:

They looked tired. The Rangers defense let Bruins rookies and top scorers get way too many scoring chances, and guess what, the Bruins scored! A 5-2 loss is pretty embarrassing and watching the defense drooping and letting goals in was depressing. Do we need to talk about Girardi basically kicking the puck to Campbell and then letting him get up in Lundqvist’s face to put it in? Or how about letting a rookie get in scoring position, ALMOST LOSE THE PUCK between his legs, recover, and score to open the game? Ryan McDonagh and Dan Girardi, where were you on that? McDonagh was looking right at Krug and Girardi tried, too late, to dive on it. Where was the energy to get up to the blue line and dig for the puck? I think the Rangers have proven that the defense collapsing back to the goal doesn’t really work well for them or for Lundqvist, who was clearly frustrated after that first Krug goal.

Or, let’s look at 12 minutes into the second, where a lost face off in the Bruins zone led to Callahan and Del Zotto on Marchand. Callahan was up in his face, swiping away, Del Zotto just fell back, Girardi moved over to cover Bergeron and… they just watched as Boychuk got the pass and sent the puck past Lundqvist. Bergeron even saw it coming, picking up his foot right in front of Girardi to let the puck coast by. No help for the goalie from the man wearing the A?

Or, how about 26 seconds into the third period, where Bergeron flies past Del Zotto, passes to Marchand and Girardi just lets Marchand score. I can’t even talk about that cluster fluff of a final goal, where Nash hits Hamilton and skates away. Hamilton hands the puck over to Lucic off the hit, who then jumps over a sliding Girardi and stuffs it in. The amount of people trying to play out of their positions (particularly Brassard and Zuccarello) to plug the holes just led to a mess. And Torts’ reaction shot said it all.

I don’t want to make it seem like it’s all the fault of the tired defense. Lundqvist looked tired too, and admitted he needed to play better next game. But… goals like we saw tonight, where you can see that the defense needs to move up and not fall back, just get really frustrating really fast.

On the positive side:

Callahan was in fine form about 8 minutes into the first period, where he blocked a Bruins pass, chased it down into the Bruins zone, out skated all the Bruins d, and then just went around Rask to flick a nice wrister in. A nice unassisted goal that had me loving the captain again. Welcome back!

Congratulations to Rick Nash, who broke his playoff scoring drought with a nice Rick Nash goal 3:20 into the second period. After being denied by Rask on the previous play, Nash could taste a goal. He got possession of the puck in the Rangers’ zone, out skated and played keep away with Chara, went right up to Rask and shot it in. Zuccarello and Girardi got assists. He looked like Rick Nash, beating the defense with his crazy bursts of speed and amazing stick handling. Sadly, that was the last Rangers goal of the night.

Now, why couldn’t Brassard and Hagelin and Zuccarello and Richards take a lesson from two breakway goals and try some of that themselves? The eternal question.

At least he’s working out off ice… (Photo: Melissa Andus)

Honestly, there wasn’t much news from the Rangers practice earlier today. No one new was on the ice so the lineup is expected to remain the same for game two tomorrow, a game the Rangers kind of have to win.

As for updates on our injured players, Marc Staal snuck on the ice towards the end of the optional skate the Rangers held yesterday but was not out there today. The good news is he did skate and is in Boston. Another player in Boston is Darroll Powe, who was seen doing off-ice workouts yesterday as well. Ryane Clowe, on the other hand, is still in New York (or at least I assume he’s in New York since he isn’t with the team in Boston). That isn’t good news.

The only other news to come out of practice today was this quote from Tortorella:

“I’m not a big adjustment guy,” Tortorella said. “You look at some small things after Game 1. To me, it’s not so much on the ice. There are some other adjustments we have to make. I’m not going to tell you.”

Other adjustments not on the ice? To me, that is a message to one or a group of players about something they are doing in preparing for games. I won’t even begin to speculate who or what the issue is but I hope the message is received and taken care of right away. Otherwise, we may find out over the summer when a random player is traded. Right now, I’m not too concerned but maybe I should be since Torts doesn’t usually make comments like that. You better not be doing something stupid, Rangers players…

“I thought it was pretty even going into the overtime,” coach John Tortorella said. “But we got spanked in the overtime.”

Yes your team did. And I know a lot of people will try and blame you but I can’t see it being your fault the guys played one way for 60 minutes (they actually played 60 minutes, more or less) and then the exact opposite over the next 20 or however long overtime lasts in that particular game. It doesn’t make sense.

Anyway, rather than try and figure out why it happens, I figured everyone might like a reminder that the Rangers can indeed win in overtime:

Sure the goal was scored by Marian Gaborik, who is no longer on the team, after a pass from Brad Richards, who I’m pretty sure is no longer on the team either, but if they could do it then the rest of this roster can as well. Or how about this option:

Wait…a power play overtime goal? Wow, I’d love to see that but let’s just start with one or the other guys. And Marc Staal…the first thing I noticed in that interview was he wasn’t wearing a visor.

(By the way, can you tell I also enjoy seeing disappointed Caps?)

Since I’m postive another game will go to overtime in this series, here is my plea to the Rangers – please watch these videos and know you can do it. I’d much rather watch that then a disappointed Henrik Lundqvist slamming his stick again.

Get used to this Rangers and Bruins fans. Not so much the outcome, as I expect that to fluctuate each game, but the style of play and length of the game. Maybe we should start a pool for how many minutes will be played in this series. These two teams are just so identical that I can’t imagine we see anything else. I just wish the Rangers wouldn’t have blown a game where our two boys from Minnesota scored.

The first twenty minutes were exactly what I expected from this series – good defensive hockey that just put everyone to sleep. I can’t say either team played poorly. I can’t say they played well either. Let’s just say both teams did what they were told to do. The result? Nothing happened in the first period.

Early in the second, each team got a chance on the power kill. Even Pierre McGuire made a sarcastic comment about both teams getting the chance to work on their man advantage. Of course the Rangers one was worse but neither was anything worth talking about.

A little over twelve minutes into the period, I don’t know what happened with the Rangers defense but the Bruins took control of the puck and Chara put a shot on net that somehow got through Lundqvist ending his shutout streak of over 150 minutes. In trying to grab it, I think he put it in his own net. I’m not blaming Lundqvist as the rest of the team just stood around and watched the play develop but it wasn’t a good goal by him.

So who was the great defense who disappeared on this play? Dan Girardi and Michael Del Zotto. I believe it was Del Zotto’s rookie year when that pairing was first put together. I hated it then, I still hate it now. I understand Torts is in a jam (no pun intended) but that pairing should not be an option. It just doesn’t work.

The remainder of the period was your typical Rangers when they are down by a goal. In other words, it wasn’t good. With a minute to go, I just kept hoping the score would only be 1-0. Then with less than fifteen seconds to go, the Rangers got the puck and headed the other way. Nash brought the puck in and got off a shot that rebounded out. The Bruins were unable to clear it and it came to the point where Ryan McDonagh rifled it past Rask for his first career playoff goal with 1.3 seconds to go in the period. I’m not sure what I was more surprised about – the fact the Rangers shot knowing time was short or the fact it was actually on net and went in. Either way, tie game as Nash and Brassard got the assists.

Then just 14 seconds into the third period, the Rangers somehow took the lead as Carl Hagelin got the puck to Derek Stepan who took a quick shot that beat Rask for his third goal of the playoffs. Even though there was a lot of time left, I thought the Rangers may be safe since every one of Stepan’s playoff goals have been game winners. I should’ve known better.

A minute later, Steve Eminger took a penalty and the Bruins got something no one expected to see in this series – a power play goal – to tie the game at two.

I’m not sure what happened at that point but both teams looked like they wanted to win the game. Of course, neither team was able to before the buzzer sounded even though both gave the other the opportunity to do so, with the Bruins taking a penalty with a little under four minutes to go and the Rangers taking one with 25 seconds remaining in their power kill.

And so to overtime we went. I don’t think I need to mention the Rangers recent overtime record but needless to say, it isn’t good. Sure enough they proved why as the Bruins completely dominated from the moment the puck dropped. Somehow they kept hitting the post or crossbar until there was 4:20 remaining in the period when Marchand finally hit the back of the net. Honestly, I don’t know how the Bruins didn’t end it earlier. The more chances they got and missed, the more I thought maybe the Rangers would get a fluky goal and steal game one. Oh well.

I really don’t know what else to say about this game. It was exactly what I expect the entire series to be. Neither team played good or bad (well other than overtime when it was clear one team wanted to go home with a win and the other just wanted to go home) and the series is far from over. I do know the Rangers need to learn to win in overtime. Otherwise the series will be over a lot faster than anyone predicted.

To keep up with the Bruins side of things, check out the awesome girls of A Cup A Bruin.

Can you do this again tonight? Without getting a penalty of course (Photo: deb/flickr)

A new series means we get to keep playing our game of guessing the ice time of a Rangers player in that nights’ game. For game seven I predicted Brad Richards would play 11:34. I was off by 22 seconds.

In picking today’s “contestant” (if you will), I wasn’t sure which direction to go since we have no idea what to expect from this series other than low scoring, tight checking games that will probably be longer than 420 minutes (i.e. 7 games at 60 minutes a piece).

So I went with the local boy – Brian Boyle. I don’t think it’s a secret Boyle grew up a Bruins fan right outside of Boston. If you weren’t sure, just listen to him speak. Deciding his ice time, however, was tricky. He technically plays on the third line (assuming the lines stay as they were the last two games, which I expect them to do). But he also is great on face-offs and kills penalties so that all plays into his ice time. We also don’t know matchups.

In the last series, he ranged from 11:29 to 23:29 per night. As the series went on, he was closer to the higher number so I expect him to see more than third line minutes. Just not that high. My completely random guess (remember, regulation only) is 16:42. (Let it be known I originally had 14:42 but thought that was too low.)

Now it’s your turn – how much does the local boy play?

I have an idea…let’s turn this into a hockey rink! (Photo: John Dalton)

This isn’t so much breaking news (no matter what the NHL tries to tell us) as it is an official announcement of what we all knew weeks ago – the Rangers will be playing two games outdoors in Yankee Stadium next January. From the official release:

The 2014 Coors Light NHL Stadium Series will see the three New York City metropolitan NHL teams play a pair of games at the home of the New York Yankees. The New York Rangers will face the New Jersey Devils at 12:30 p.m. ET on Jan. 26, 2014, and the Rangers will face the New York Islanders at 7:30 p.m. ET on Jan. 29, 2014.

Rangers-Islanders in a spectacle game on a Wednesday night. Yeah, that should go well. At least the Rangers-Devils game is a Sunday afternoon one.

The Rangers are expected to be the road team for both of these games because Dolan would never give up home revenue for a game like this unless it was the actual Winter Classic. (Sarcasm aside, I’m sure the Devils and Islanders were promised they would be home games in exchange for the Rangers getting to play two of them.) Ticket information hasn’t been released yet but expect it to be a lottery that no one who is a fan of the two teams will be able to win.

Honestly, I haven’t written much about this because I think the idea of numerous outdoor games is ridiculous. Everyone watches the Winter Classic because it is different from the rest of the season but even that has lost viewers over the years. To add five or six games to that just doesn’t make sense to me. But the NHL doesn’t care about viewers, they care about money. And these games will make them more than the gap between the NHL and NHLPA that caused a three month lockout.

Photo: Dinur Blum/flickr

Earlier today, it became official – starting next season the Rangers AHL team will no longer be called the Connecticut Whale but will instead revert back to being the Hartford Wolfpack.

I know today’s announcement regarding the name change came with mixed reviews but I’m not sure I understand why. Yes, I realize that Connecticut fans love and miss their Whalers. But this team never was that and maybe it’s me, but I wouldn’t want another team pretending to be my team. (That would be like the Wild saying they are the North Stars or the current Winnipeg Jets saying they are the original ones. They aren’t and fans of the original teams don’t treat them as such.)

All of that said, the Whale name never grew on me. I tried to like it but it just didn’t feel right saying I was going to “watch the Whale”. So I continued to call them the Pack. Maybe it’s because when I started following them as a team, they were called that but I was so used to that name I didn’t want it to change. And maybe that’s how Whaler fans feel. I don’t know. But I’m happy they are back to being called the Wolfpack.

For those in the Connecticut area and looking for ticket information, that’s the only thing currently up on the website which can be found here. I’m sure there will be more info coming out soon.

In the meantime, welcome back Hartford Wolfpack!

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In other AHL-related news, two members of the Rangers taxi squad were sent home this week to rest wrist injuries. One wasn’t a surprise but the other was, at least to me, as J.T. Miller headed back to Ohio and Stu Bickel headed back to Minnesota. We all knew Miller’s wrist hadn’t healed but I have no idea when Bickel injured his. Either way, they are done for the season so no matter what happens, neither will be appearing in the Rangers lineup again until September. Speedy recoveries to you both!

Henrik is getting his shut-outs in the post-season! (Photo: Melissa Andus)

So, for a few minutes there, I was worried that this game was going to turn into the Boston-Toronto game, where Boston came back from a 3 goal deficit to win in overtime. But that didn’t happen. Lundqvist scored his second shut out in a row and the Rangers broke their streak of never winning a game 7 on the road with a 5-0 victory over the Washington Capitals. Congrats boys. Now we head to Boston for round 2….

The Rangers were looking strong going into game 7. 5 minutes into the game, Brassard takes the puck down ice to Nash, who was stopped by Holtby. Going back to the net to get into position for the rebound, Nash gets toppled over Holtby’s back. Holtby is so aggressive with Nash, I’ve seen him make this exact play before. Luckily, Nash is used to physical play and just shakes it off.

So, apparently there aren’t going to be penalties called tonight, because Ovechkin just knocked McDonagh into the boards face first.  Mac Truck went right to the bench to get checked out by a trainer, who swabbed the two cuts above and below his right eye. Boyle went out and had some words with Ovechkin and Del Zotto comes in for Mac.

Moving on to the first goal. Kreider comes out with the 4th line, probably to take on Green who was driving to the net. Kreider goes diagonally across the ice instead of sticking to Green and Lundqvist helps Kreider out by blocking the Green goal. Kreider picks up the puck, takes it into the zone and makes a nice drop pass to Asham. Asham bounced his shot off the post to score. Sadly, he followed that goal up by shoving his stick blade into someone’s face and draws a penalty. Sooo… that’s what you have to do to draw a penalty tonight, shove your stick into someone’s face. The penalty was split with 42 seconds left going into the second period.

Looking faster coming into the second and they sucessfully kill the 42 seconds of the penalty. The third line got it done with a nice Pyatt goal to make it 2-0. Dorsett knocks it off the post, then the rebound gets set up, Dorsett draws Holtby out of position and Pyatt gets the puck and puts it in the big gap on the side of the net left by Holtby. Two minutes and ten seconds later, Del Zotto makes a pass and it deflects into the goal. 3-0 Rangers. Nash and Brassard helped set it up for Del Zotto to knock it in right thorough the five hole.

The Caps are not liking the 3-0 game and are getting really fighty halfway through the second. Boyle is riling them up by running his mouth near the benches. At the next break in play, Ovechkin gets into it on the boards, pushing and shoving everyone around.

Callahan shut down that fighty energy with his goal in the opening second of the third period. He got the puck off the face off, broke away and scored. It’s 4-0 now and it got really quiet in D.C. Brouwer got a stupid penalty by slashing Brassard’s wrist. Rangers make the most of the power play but don’t score. Then, on a rush by Eminger, a nice pass from Brassard finds Zuccarello alone in front of the net after a Caps line change. Zuccarello dekes then flips it up and over Holtby’s skate to make it 5-0 Rangers. A pan across the Caps’ bench and shows Ovechkin with his head in his hands as the crowd starts leaving the arena.

Eminger draws my least favorite penalty: delay of game for knocking the puck out. The penalty kill looks great, just blocking all of the shots and moving the puck out of the zone. Not used to this, really. Then Brouwer slashes Brassard’s wrist AGAIN. Really? And we have a half-hearted power play, where the Rangers just bat it around for a while in the Caps zone.

So, the Rangers have broken the streak of not winning a game 7 on the road, they made it past the Caps and are off to face the Bruins in the playoffs for the first time since 1973. And Mac Truck gets the Broadway Hat tonight! He deserved it after Ovi made him eat the boards… poor kid!