Callahan & Tortorella discussing a move by Jagr during intermission. (Photo: screen shot from Episode 3 courtesy of Puck Daddy.)
Throughout the lockout, many blogs are doing fake recaps of the games that should’ve been taking place. I’ve decided to go another route by doing real recaps…of the games that happened on that date one year ago.
This one is actually one year ago today last night as episode 3 aired on December 28th right after the Caps game. I actually remember hoping the post game didn’t run over because I didn’t want to miss any of 24/7. I’m pretty sure I ended up missing the end of the post game.
Episode 3 was based mostly on the game between the Rangers and Flyers that took place right before Christmas – the one the Rangers won so we knew the episode would be good for Rangers fans.
Little didn’t we know what else we were in store for as our boys also took us to their personal Christmas party and we got to watch one of them buy a Christmas tree. Of course, they showed the Flyers too as the game where Laviolette had a run in with a Dallas player took place during this week as well so lot’s of videos to get to.
First, I finally found episode 2. I insist you click this link and fast forward to the 4:02 mark. You can actually watch from the beginning to the 5:55 mark since it’s all Rangers if you want, but you must watch from 4:02 to 5:55. I’ll wait.
Now that we’re ready to move on to episode 3, for those who have time, here is the full episode:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8jwdEQgt8w
If you go to the 6:25 mark, you can see the Rangers official Christmas party at Bryant Park where we get to see Derek Stepan helping his girlfriend skate and Landon Girardi skate for the first time:
Landon & Dan Girardi (Photo: screen shot from video above)
Too adorable.
For those who don’t have time, here are some of the memorable moments from this episode.
First we have the infamous ugly sweater Christmas party:
I want to know where the boys find these sweaters. Better yet, I want to know why someone makes them in the first place.
Next we have Laviolette screaming at his team because they were down by a goal against Colorado. Seriously, just one goal. That’s how much these games mean to these coaches:
“Start playing with some jam”? Who do you think you are, Tortorella?
Next we have Gaborik buying a Christmas tree and taking it home, literally:
I will be completely honest…I was hysterical during this entire scene. Oh Gaby.
Next we have Steve Ott, Claude Giroux and Peter Laviolette in Dallas and just…well watch:
Good to know the players look at stats as much as fans do. And that incident Laviolette doesn’t remember would be a run-in he had with Ott as they went off the ice after the first period:
As for the conversation that took place:
The Laviolette/Ott incident was revealed by “24/7″ mics; it went like this:
OTT: “Show some class. You’re going to let our team go.”
LAVY: “Go [gretzky] yourself.”
OTT: “Hey …”
LAVY: “Go [gretzky] yourself.”
OTT: “Show some [gretzkying] class!”
Alright then. Still love 24/7 
Now to the game HBO was waiting for – the warm-up to the Winter Classic. The best part about them focusing on a specific game is we get to hear all the chirping that goes on between the teams. For instance, Tom Sestito mouthing off to the Rangers bench and receiving this response from Brad Richards:
Or Jody Shelley going after Mike Rupp, who told him how important he was in the outcome of the game:
There were fans who were upset Shelley didn’t return to the Rangers but saying he was irrelevant to the outcome of a game is pretty accurate. The best part? Most people probably thought the same thing about Rupp. I would say he was important in the Winter Classic.
If you watched the full episode above, you’ll have noticed that Laviolette guaranteed in the second intermission that the game would end 4-2. (If not, it’s at the forty minute mark.) He’s psychic I tell you.
I’ll end with the end of the episode…where HBO does what it does best in previewing what this whole series is about and what comes next: The Winter Classic.
