Pregame:
*Jagr ... smiling??? Trippy. Who knew having Straka would brighten his outlook so much; now if would only improve his scoreline. It may take a while for Straka to get his timing back but who knows?
*Vally in net. I feel confident in him, you should too.
*Even though it was because of injury, maybe the game off will have the same effect on Rozy that it did for Malik. For those that don't pay as much attention, after being benched, Malik all of a sudden was solid defensively. And no matter how many goals he scores, Rozy's job is to play D.
*Sam and Joe are pointing out Olli Jokinen as the Panther to look out for but I think it will be the combination of Stephen Weiss and Nathan Horton that will prove to be trouble. We'll see ...
First Period:
*Why is Hossa in the lineup over Greg Moore? Hopefully he will be gone when Cally comes back. I really, really hope ...
*All of Dubi's speed will seriously go wasted now that Straka is opposite from Jagr as both love to slow the game down.
*I hope that post shot by Mezei wakes up the Rangers and tells them they need to actually play tight defense, because Shanny gave him a ton of room.
*Quick glove by Vally on the pk. I told you to have faith in him.
*I think Blair Betts may have as many saves as Vally right now. If only he could score ... ever.
*I had no idea Bobby Orr was Marc Staal's agent. That is awesome. Orr won eight consecutive Norris Trophies. What a fantastic mentor for our prize prospect. Thus far this season I would say that Staal has definitely earned himself a spot on the All Rookie team ...
*Shocking, no call when Pru was abused on a break down the wing. That guy takes more abuse than anyone, including Jagr. *The Panthers uniforms really look ridiculous, what with the vertical stripes down the sides of the sweater and the horizontal ones on the socks.
*Please, someone put Hossa out of my misery.
*Florida is playing a really tight box+1 defense (almost like a trap) keeping the Rangers out of the scoring lanes. Best way to beat that is to dump and forecheck hard. Somehow I don't think Jagr's line will be doing that. Guess we will just have to wait for special teams.
*I just realized that this live blogging thing needs some point of reference so I will try to put game times in with each of these rants.
*4:30: King who? Its certainly nice to be able to give Hank a rest without being worried.
*4:20: I hate how MSG misses play for replays, especially when they are covered by idiotic comments by Joe.
*3:25: This Strudwick/Mara pairing isn't working all that well right now. The Panthers keep pouncing on them and getting scoring opportunities.
*2:38: Greg Campbell of all people just walked around Rozy. Guess the time off didn't help his defensive acumen.
*2:38: Now there are audio issues? MSG has technical problems almost every time they go to Florida. Remember when we nearly missed Dom Moore's goal with three seconds left to force overtime two years back because MSG lost signal? That was annoying.
*7.7 seconds: Holy Sh-t!!!!!!!!! Chris Drury scored with 7.7 seconds left. Again. But for the Rangers this time. Oh my god!!!!!! 1-0 Rangers
Second Period:
*14:38: So I had to work through the intermission and the first five minutes of the period but I saw that Vally was stellar. Ho hum. Told you so.
*11:00: Wow is this puck possession power play nonsense not working. Shocking that once the Jagr unit goes off the Rangers get into the Panthers zone and get a chance. No, not really all that shocking.
*9:20: What a fantastic sequence by Staal - great shot from the wing then he skated all the way back to cover his man to negate a Florida 2-on-1.
*9:07: Joe and Sam are raving at how great Booth is to get the game-tying goal but it was more Girardi's blown coverage than Booth's incredible skills. 1-1
*4:10: Jokinen was right, there should have been a penalty.
*3:50: Straka is still shaking off some rust but he is definitely showing signs that he will be huge for us.
*3:10: Cullimore is draped around Jagr and yet there is no holding or interference call. As bad as Jagr has been, the refs are certainly not helping.
*2:29: Have I mentioned lately that Hossa sucks? Cause he does. Two open chances and he blows both.
*2:20: Either these refs are dropping the pucks inordinately fast or MSG is doing a terrible job as they've missed multiple faceoffs in this game.
*1:05: I just heard a Potvin Sucks whistle and chant. That is awesome. In Florida, where Potvin does colour commentary. Fantastic. Let's Go Rangers!
Third Period:
*18:54: Wow. That goal by Weiss was pretty damn impressive. He wasn't even looking at the net. Hmm, who said it earlier that the Rangers had to look out for him? Oh, that would be me. 2-1 Florida
*15:30: There really is no reason for Colton Orr to be playing in this game. I don't think Florida has any big brawlers playing so what's the point? You can't tell me that his spot wouldn't be better served going to G.Moore or Dawsie.
*14:25: My dinner tonight consisted of some pretzels, popcorn and a Mrs. Field's cookie. If I was 10 years old this would be heaven but now I just feel sick.
*13:40: Why are the Panthers dictating the tempo of play? Don't they realize who they are playing? Wait a second, oh yeah, that's the best way to beat the Rangers as they let it happen more often than not.
*9:30: It would be a damn shame if Marty Straka is hurt again, if only because it prolongs Hossa's time with the team.
*7:17: I hate listening to Joe. His astute commentary included 'he (Staal) has a broken blade, yeah, he probably has a broken blade.' Then they show that Staal is getting his skate reedged, so it wasn't broken. Moron. Don't say something if you have no idea. Its my job to speculate, not yours. You are supposed to analyze.
*5:52: What a pass by Toots to find Girardi coming out of the penalty box. Ah, the benefits of no red line. Too bad Dan got hauled down. And no matter what Joe said, it wasn't a penalty shot deserving infraction.
*There is no difference between Bryan Allen's slash on Sean Avery's skate than there was on Mattias Ohlund's on Mikka Koivu except Allen's slash hit lower. That play had better be reviewed by the league and a suspension issued.
*4:35: 5-on-3 and the other team gets a breakaway. For shame. Get Jagr off of the ice. I mean it, this is ridiculous. Not every play has to go through him.
*3:50: The Little Leaguer pulled his Captain Clutch act out again to tie the game, thank goodness for Sather signing him. Notsomuch for Gomez, but for him. 2-2
*2:15: Sean!!!! Goddammit, dude, how do you miss an empty net!?!?? Yes, some nice work by Jagr to set it up but he shouldn't be picking his spots. He should play this way all game long. "Captain Superstar."
*0:00: Vally was great, the Rangers should give him a raise or get him a hooker for his performance bailing them out tonight.
Overtime:
*4:37: There was another Potvin Sucks! How great!
*2:40: Haha, Richard Zednik. Former Islander scum. Gotta appreciate him negating the game-winning goal.
*1:50: Jagr, Shanahan, Drury and Gomez out on the ice. Two, probably three future Hall of Famers. And they can't score. Jesus.
*0:45: Two shorthanded breakaways for Stumpel this game. Unreal. Thank goodness he blew both.
*0:00: I don't know if I can take more games like this. If it was in the Garden, I would probably have an ulcer.
Shootout:
*They just showed a tight shot of Vally and it looked like there was a goal judge behind him. I thought they got rid of that? Maybe it was just an old guy in a suit.
*Peltonen has a ton of skill and tried to be all fancy but Vally wasn't having it.
*Shanny shot wide, MSG matted a graphic over it as he skated. Idiots.
*Vally huge save on Horton. Giving a lil glove! Oh baby! (I miss JD)
*Wow, Hossa missed. I'm surprised. (No, not really).
*Stumpel blew his shot, thats three breakaways he blew in the game.
*Jagr is actually taking the shot when there is no pressure, what surprise. And he did a halfhearted fake and was stopped. Really kids, at one time, he was an incredible player.
*Glove take 2. Olesz was going 500 miles an hour and was stopped by Vally's glove. Awesome!
*Pruuuu, tried to go fast and blew his move.
*Olli scores on a weak wrister five hole. Sad. I wonder if Vally's left skate got stuck since he didn't go down in a full butterfly like he should have.
*Captain Clutch, can he do it again??? Nope. Why the hell did every Rangers shooter try to go low glove-side on Vokoun? Especially when he stopped it every damn time.
Postgame:
*PHW Three Stars
3-David Booth - for one goal? meh.
2-Drury - two clutch goals.
1-Olli - the shootout winner, big deal.
Scotty Hockey Three Stars
3-Weiss - what a incredible goal.
2-Drury - so clutch, so cool. Team USA's future captain in 2010.
1-Vally - much like with Hank game after game, he bailed out some piss-poor play by the Rangers with a stellar performance. I don't care that we lost, we got a point because he was so good.
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