Where We Are: Remarkably two points out of a playoff spot after two straight wins. And the surprising part is that the Rangers actually have two games in hand on Florida, the team they trail for eighth. Rangers. Games in hand. Definitely a nice change of pace.
Where They Are: Last place in the NHL but slowly turning things around. After struggling with major injuries (Ward and Staal) and major disappointments (Brind'Amour), Carolina is getting healthy and has won two of their last three games. Who To Watch For: The older Staal brother has 12 points in his last eight games and Pat Dwyer (who?) has two goals in each of his last two games but the biggest threat is probably Tuomo Ruutu, who always seems to do well against the Blueshirts. The ageless Ray Whitney is still around as is our old friend Matt Cullen, who just scored a goal in the Canes last game. But no Erik Cole, no Joe Corvo and no Chad LaRose.
What To Watch For: Cam Ward has given up 15 goals in the four games since returning from injury but is certainly capable of turning back into the stellar netminder that won a Cup and was outstanding last season. See how Wade Redden responds to his benching in his first game back. See if Chris Drury and Arty Anisimov can turn back-to-back games with goals into legitimate goal streaks.
What We'll (Hopefully) See: Dare I say it? Three in a row? Three in a row. There, I said it. And that is all I hope to see.
Also Check Out: Red and Black Hockey, Canes Country and Lord Stanley's Blog.
5 comments:
I will be at the Carolina game tonight in a rare chance to see the Rangers in person so lets hope they don't suck out. Anybody else follow this blog that isn't in NY?
Torts does have his coaching issues but you have to respect or at least be amused by this from newsday
Coach John Tortorella was blunt in his assessment of Wade Redden on Friday.
"Wade Redden hasn't played well enough to be in the lineup," he said. "There's going to be no entitlement around here. And I think it kind of stinks of that around here. To me, it doesn't matter how long you've played, how much money you make, what year you were drafted and what draft pick you were. We're going to make decisions on our lineup based on how a person is playing. We're not basing our decisions on who a person is, or who he thinks he is."
I'm from Finland and I follow this blog. You could say i'm quite far from NY.
I follow and Im from MA, about 15min north of Boston. Not 'that' far, all thing considered.
Who knows what will happen tonight but I hope they put up a decent fight
Thanks for reading long-distance folks, and those that are close to the Garden as well! Let's go Rangers!
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