Sunday, April 26, 2009

R1, G6: Well, That Sucked

Did you know that this was Game 6 of a playoff series? With a chance to close out the series at home, New York fell right on their faces and made yet another national embarrassment, a 5-3 loss to Washington that wasn't even remotely as close as the score indicates. The Ranger "performance" today was eerily reminiscent of the passionless, pathetic, limp displays that saw the team tumble down the standings in February. It was a disgraceful exhibition in failure.

One moment, one domino falling can spell the end of a team in a playoff game. Just as the Max Talbot/Dan Carcillo fight in Philadelphia turned that game around for the Pens, the massively illegal elbow to Blair Betts by Donald Brashear turned this one. And, as is typical nowadays, the four officials seemed to miss the massive hockey player race across the ice and throw his elbow directly at Betts' head 10 minutes into the game. The Rangers had some semblance of life prior to that and it disappeared. Paul Mara came over to push and shove at the goon and that was the only retribution. The Blueshirts didn't up their offensive attack and they cowered physically. They didn't even flinch the next period when Henrik Lundqvist was ran on the fifth goal - one he shouldn't have been in the net for.

To the best of my knowledge - and please correct me if I am wrong - Colton Orr was not scratched due to an injury sustained in Game 5 so he was purely scratched upon the stupidity of management. Aaron Voros' contribution was nil and Washington was allowed to hammer the Rangers up and down the lineup. Even Sean Avery was timid as his major target the first few games - Tom Poti - turned into an offensive star. Seeing Poti skate off the ice after the game with his hand to his ear was another horrifying, infuriating moment in a string of them and seemingly a perfect cap to a terrible afternoon.

Originally I was planning to head to Washington for a Game 7 but the Blueshirts have shown no signs whatsoever that they would be capable of winning. Why deal with the obnoxious bandwagon fans in the Phone Booth? Speaking of obnoxious fans, as the Ranger performance got worse and worse, a portion of the Garden faithful devolved into savages screaming streams of obscenities and racial slurs. It was disgusting.

Perhaps later I will break this down further but right now I don't think so. Perhaps Glen Sather shouldn't be writing letters to defend his hypocrite of a coach and instead should be trying to fix this abomination of a team. Actually, upon second thought, he should be writing a letter of resignation instead.

PHW Three Stars (which weren't announced in the building)
3-Alexander Ovechkin - one goal.
2-Simeon Varlamov - 29 saves.
1-Tom Poti - one goal and three assists.

Scotty Hockey Three Stars
3-Cally - As it has been through all of the ups and downs this season, Callahan gave maximum effort and played every shift hard. It is criminal that his teammates can not learn from him.
2-Poti - What better place and time to turn into the player he was supposed to 10 years ago? By slapping the Rangers in the face so, I think my hatred has lessened. perhaps it is because my loathing for Wade Redden has increased. Either way, four points in a playoff game for Poti. Good job, jerk.
1-Brashear - He gives goons a bad name but he got away with it and his physical play put the Rangers on their heels. He got started hitting, Ovechkin followed and then the Blueshirts fell apart and started playing like the overpriced individuals they are rather than the collective consciousness that emerged victorious from that thrilling Game 4.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Heeeeeeennnnnrrriiiccckkk!!!! HAHA!! I love it when the announcers were complimenting the Rangers coaching staff by taking him out of a game as some sort of strategy to rest him for the next game. That is just a nice way of saying he has been pulled for the second consecutive game because he sucks along with the rest of the Ranger clowns. Have another water bottle.

Daniel said...

yeah im pretty sure vally is playing next game. I mean you cant blame the rangers. Well you can, but tort being out had a huge contribution. While i dont expect the rangers to win the seventh game i am still hopeful. The only thing you can do now is plan and wait till next season, maybe the rangers can improve.
oh and to the obnoxious bandwagoner, excuse for a fan above me, When you lose, say nothing, when you win, say nothing less, by the way, do you actually think that washington will win the cup? you think your proud that you beat the rangers? hahaha thats funny, i hope your proud that you just beat the shit out of hellen keller

Anonymous said...

You know I am sitting here trying to figure out what to say.
Let me first and formost, commend Scotty Hockey. A tried and true Ranger fan. Goes to every game, endures the good, bad and ugly that can and will always be the Rangers. God Bless You Scotty.
As far as Anon, goes. A real smart comment. Instead of being humble and thankful for a win. You took the very low road, that only a bandwagon fan will take.
As far as our team goes. I got nothing. You cannot blame the league, John Tortorella, or Sean Avery. King Henrik was playing alone, he was one against 10. Can't keep that up for 60 minutes. I am sure it gets draining. After watching this team all year. I would be shocked if we won on Tuesday. ..

Faraway Fan said...

Scotty, you are so right about Callahan, if only they could learn from him. As far as the others go, if I was THAT BAD at my job that consistently I would have been shown the door quite a while ago. These guys have no idea how lucky they are getting the big bucks for doing absolutely nothing like they have been. Drury is some captain, yessiree! Nasland couldn't hit the broad side of a barn, and Gomez, holy crap. What a shame.

per djoos said...

here's what's depressing to me as a life-long ranger fan: this opposing team has one player with more dynamism in him than the entire rangers team.

is there a single ranger who, when he picks up the puck and moves his skates, you move forward in your seat to see what's gonna happen next?

i've been watching this team since the 70's and this is the hardest squad to root for. fortunately, after tuesday i'll be out of my misery.

Schram said...

This is why I didn't want them to make the play-offs in the first place. They didn't deserve to be there (even though no one else below us should have been either), but now Sather made more money off us Ranger fans. I just finished reading his letter and he had nothing to say about Betts being smashed. Poor Betts, I hope that didn't end his career.
BTW, I wouldn't have given him star of the game Scotty, I feel giving someone like that praise is wrong, even though that hit did change the game (if that was your intention).

Jack said...

this proves the rangers true colors. I already know they will lose on tuesday, so to scotty, thank you for writing through this entire season, i check this blog after and before every game and it has been a pleasure reading this season. thanks

Pete said...

Glen Sather should have someone read his letters before he releases them, in particular, the line that begins " As importantly, " That's not proper usage of the word importantly.

Proper usage of grammar is just "as importantly" as using spell check.

Steve N said...

Don't give up. Let's not forget, the Caps have been scrambling to *tie* us, not to beat us. Yes we are faltering and lack the heart needed to go far in the playoffs, but out of adversity comes opportunity.

To the anonymous Caps fan: I'm not sure why you are so proud- you are the #2 seed and once again find yourself scraping and clawing for survival in the first round. How'd that go for you last year?

Ben said...

Scotty - you looove throwin in that little "bandwagon fans" pot-shot to DC fans don't ya? it's ok, i'll let it slide again.

Vally won't be playing next game like someone said above...that would be more dumb than sitting Avery/Orr in favor or Voros.

This series is not over at all. I am worried to death about this game 7. Hank has the ability, as we have seen, to absolutely steal games.

The Caps cannot come in overconfident for game 7, just like they did last year against Philly. philly took it to us for most of the game and we got lucky to force OT and ended up losing. The players don't want to go through that again, so i think they will come out balls to the wall.

Where the hell did the Rangers "jump" go? They were at least skating hard and throwing hits the first few games of the series...now it looks like they are mailing it in.

Scotty, you are a true fan and you tell it like it is, which is why I continue to come here to get your insight on the game...but man, you were the first person i thought of when i saw Tom Poti's line at the end of the game. as a caps fan, man...that was beautiful!

Anonymous said...

Funny, when let's say Martin Brodeur loses, all of you idiot Ranger fans go nuts and say how overrated he is, yet when Henrik blows it and lets in sharp angle shots go in like in game 5, you whine and say we should be quiet. I am not taking the low road "outlaw", the low road would be to brag about another goalie losing to a team that you are not even playing. Oh wait, Scotty has done that enough this year with Brodeur so nevermind:)