Calm Down ... Calmmmmm Downnnn

The NHL schedule gurus saw fit to give the Rangers back-to-back games Friday and Saturday before leaving us fans sitting, watching, waiting, bitching, moaning, whining, complaining, hand-wrenching until Thursday, when the boys in blue play next.

This sucks.

What do we know now?

I think first off, we should relax. Then, if you have Versus, watch the Flyers beat on the Thrashers so you can see what the Rangers aren't doing right when they play them on Thursday. If you don't have Versus, look around online and watch whatever highlights you can so you can see that, five games in, the Rangers are in utter disarray. But, and this is a big but, there is absolutely no reason to give up hope yet.

The Rangers have lost three games, two to Ottawa. The Sens are the class of the conference right now and were Stanley Cup Finalists before getting bitchslapped by the bigger, stronger, quackier Ducks. In both games the Rangers lost, the Sens scored a blitzkrieg of goals and then trapped like hell the rest of the game to hold onto them. The Blueshirts simply couldn't break that trap, not without playing like a team - which they aren't. The talent is certainly there, but the chemistry and dedication to a team game predominantly is not. Sure there are some guys that have done their job to the letter - Hank, Callahan, Prucha, Girardi, Bettsy - but without the entire team playing as a unit, they won't be able to hang with top tier teams. As for the lower ones, as we saw in the Islanders game, the New York Rangers have to be physical and - above all - cannot be outworked. The Islanders have a quarter of the skill that the Rangers do, but each one of the grunts on their roster battles every shift. Even that pansy Satan (what a misnamed guy he is).

So right now the Rangers are below 500. So what? Its five games in an 82 game season and if every point ends up counting come April, then we will have bigger problems to worry about. That is why I am not panicking just yet. I am not calling for anyone's head ... well, except for Malik but that was to be expected since he played the Tin Man last season and a few months off for the summer won't help him find a heart. He is a UFA at the end of the year so let's just hope he picks up his play a bit so some other team signs him.