12-7-1: Rangers D Beats Cindy and Co.

Another away game while I am at work but I will do what I can to keep up, so a whole lotta train of thought stuff:

*Marc-Andre Fleury looked like garbage early and the Rangers couldn't capitalize. Makes me too nervous. At least he is still wearing those urine-coloured pads.

*I love that the Pittsburgh crowd still boos Jagr every chance they get. Guess he is like their Tom Poti except he won them two Cups and was actually good.

*Rozy gave the first goal away to his former team, which was infuriating to see. When you are the lone defenseman back on a 2-on-1 your lone job is to cover the pass. And he didn't even bother; lost track of the wide man and Cindy found him with a perfect pass. Have I mentioned lately that the Rangers need to bench Rozy? They do. Badly. Hell, even let Malik take his place. Yes, I went there.

*Hmm, when Cindy, the most talented player in the league, is on the ice do you think you should cover him? Apparently Renney and the Rangers don't. Really nice to see Rozy screw up his very next shift on the ice and give up another goal. Goddamn it.

*Hahaha, I love how when I rip on people, they go on to score. I bitch about Rozy, and he puts the Rangers on the board with a nice slapshot. Its happened a number of times before to me while at games in the Garden with Poti, Malik, Colton Orr and Hossa. I think its why the people in the section around me don't mind me giving the boys a hard time, but who knows. Its nice that they scored, but it doesn't mean they were doing their jobs; Rozy evened the game with two goals but he still can't play defense ...

*This technical difficulties thing is really hard to believe. I've watched thousands of games in thousands of sports with no problems and yet MSG has had technical issues that throw them off the air several times over the last year. I know that they rent a lot of equipment while on the road rather than ship their own gear but c'mon, you gotta fax that stuff out before the game.

*At work I am also watching the Hawks Red Wings game and both play some exciting hockey. Its a damn shame the Rangers don't play two of the other Original Six teams this season. Speaking of which, take a look at the Bruins Habs recap - the boxscore makes it look like a helluva game.

*Why won't Dubi learn? He really, really, really should never fight. It was great to see him take on Ruutu, arguably the dirtiest scumbag in the league, but seriously - that is why Colt is on the roster. Dubi got hammered ... again. Poor kid. I still gotta respect his gall though.

*Another player who deserves a while lotta attaboys is Pru. He had yet another solid game doing what he does - battle every second of every shift. He drew penalties with his hard work, caused chaos in the slot and battled. Yeoman work by him.

*Sykora's goal came from the HBO line running around like it was a Chinese fire drill. They had been solid earlier but they were outworked by the Pens and a bouncing puck got them entirely off their game and allowed the game-tying goal.

*Holy sh-t! Just as I looked up to and asked why the hell slow-ass Jason Strudwick was on the ice in 4-on-4 overtime and he scores the game-winning goal off a beautiful pass from Mara. Unbelievable, astounding, amazing, freakin' wow.

*PHW Three Stars:
3-Strudwick
2-Cindy
1-Rozy

Scotty Hockey Three Stars
3-Cindy - She is a crybaby, but her talent and drive is undeniable.
2-Hank - Yeah he only made 20 saves and gave up three goals but two weren't his fault and he made some other big ones, stopping Recchi and Malkin.
1-Paul Mara and Jason Strudwick - purely for the game winning play. That was awesome and ... just unreal. Like Gretzky to Kurri ... just sick.