46-20-7: Cally Clips The Wings

Sure they didn't have their best defenseman in their line up. Sure they didn't have their leading goal scorer. Sure they didn't have their starting goaltender (or their backup). Details, details. On Wednesday night the Rangers still defeated Detroit, the team that - over the last 30, 35 years - has set the bar for sustained success in the NHL.

It feels nice.

It also shows that the ball is beginning to roll and it can pick up some good speed with the next five games against teams not in playoff positions. But that also makes them that more dangerous, and thus let's ignore them for this evening and focus on the 2-1 overtime win at the Garden.

It is a lovely result but all is not copacetic with either team. Ed. note: Yes I say either team; I am admittedly a Wings fan, they have been my second fav team since the bruise brothers years. The low numbers bely the many missed scoring chances by both sides, ones that both teams should be kicking themselves over. There were times when the intensity was lacking, there were times when sloppiness and mental mistakes proved costly. There is room for improvement, and improvement needs to occur before either side suits up for the playoffs.

Time is tight, so onto the Late Hits:

*There really is something special about Original Six matchups: the history, the sweaters ... even the atmosphere feels different.

*Was happy to hear that the octopus thrower was thrown out, because had he stayed he would have ended up in the hospital. Utterly unacceptable in our building.

*Mats Zuccarello was the best Ranger for about two periods. Zuke did everything asked of him and more, he just didn't score. Outstanding effort by the youngster. Liten mann, stor innsats. (Hope Google translate got that right ... small man, big effort.)

*On the other side of the coin, someone was simply Del Zastrous. DZ's simple cross to Cally in OT does not wipe away the rest of his horrendous play the rest of the night. Gross incompetence, which seems to be par for the course. Thankfully Hank bailed the boy out for the most egregious of his errors, one can only hope he does the right thing and treat the King to dinner.

*Nick Lidstrom and Chris Chelios were in the press box and signed autographs throughout the first intermission. Class. And there were a lot of requests, which shows how Ranger fans appreciate greatness.

*You know why Brad Richard$ gets vilified in this space? Because he has it in him to score goals like the one he put in during tonight's game. Coast to coast, speedy, slices through the defense like butter and calmly puts the puck past the netminder. A true thing of beauty. More consistency of effort would be appreciated. That being said, he has a pretty hot hand now with 12 points in his last eight games - too bad there is still plenty of time until the playoffs.

*Mike Rupp played nearly six minutes, which was nearly six minutes too many. It was perfectly clear that he didn't belong on the same ice as the Red Wings. He can't skate well, he can't stickhandle, he can't do much of anything. It was he who gave Zetterberg the time and space to score the Wings lone goal of the night and how Torts even could have put him out there at the same time as Z is inexplicable. Hell, how he was in the lineup over Feds is also questionable - have to hope the Ukrainian is ok...

*Cally's eighth shot of the night was the one that went in. Dubi had no shots and Gabby just two. Something wrong with that ratio. Everything was right with Cally's final shot - off the post and in - but he shouldn't be the team's triggerman.

*Arty looked tentative with that bum shoulder of his. Have to hope that it keeps healing and he regains his confidence because he needs that to be a factor.

*Love Carl Hagelin but he needs to be reined in a bit - the Swede seems to kick things into overdrive and gets out of control out there. Also needs to use that speed of his to backcheck as well as he forechecks.

*Not sure if Detroit's Brendan Smith was partners with Ryan McDonagh all three seasons the two were at Wisconsin, but they certainly were teammates. That being said, the Rangers certainly got the better of the two Badger blueliners. Smith has ability but McDonagh is the total package (thank you again Bob Gainey, wherever you are).

*PHW Three Stars
3-Ryan Callahan - one goal.
2-Ty Conklin - 32 saves.
1-Henrik Lundqvist - 26 saves.

Scotty Hockey Three Stars
3-Datsyuk - Even on an off night, Pasha was still outstanding. Sure he didn't score or do any of his Datsyukian dekes but every shift he did something impressive - make a pass, pick off a pass, force a Ranger play, set up a Detroit rush... amazing.
2-Hank - Several solid stops and his second assist of the season!
1-Cally - Cally is such a good captain that he gives gifts to other people for his birthday. Helluva guy right there.

29-23-4: Fashion Show

"Ensemble number 32, entitled 'Omar Sharif', and modelled by Chiefs defenceman, Billy Charlebois, who hails from - if I can read the card here - Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan."

The Ranger power play resembles the fashion show in Slap Shot. It is a comedy of errors that becomes an unmitigated disaster. They strut out onto the ice with the man advantage and just like that, the show is over. The players look uncomfortable for a while before whipping it out, wiggling it around and sending everybody in the audience - with the exception of Prospal's wife - runnin' for the exits. And at this point all Tortorella can do is slowly hang up the phone and be sad.

Ok, maybe it is not Prospal's wife sticking around, but you get the reference (and if you don't, click here, NSFW language). We've seen it all season and we saw it tonight in the team's 3-2 loss to Detroit. Now the key difference is that Slap Shot provides pure hilarity while the Ranger power play is providing pure heartbreak. How players with such ability are so incredibly incompetent is astounding. And they are justifying the idiots who yell "SHOOT IT!!!" incessantly every second the puck is in the offensive zone, which is almost as bad. To the best of my recollection, the majority of the team's 31 power play goals this season have came off the rush - not when they set things up. Once the team settles into the zone they are trying to make the right play, look for the right lane. You simply can't do that in the NHL anymore, the penalty killers are too good. Put a body at the top of the paint, throw the puck on the net and crash the crease. It's not rocket science. Endlessly cycling, passing and shooting from bad angles lead to turnovers, not goals. No one kills a Ranger power play better than the Rangers.

Notes:

*Pavel Datsyuk is so very good. Why isn't he in the conversation when they talk about the top three players in the NHL? He and his team are among the class of the NHL, which is why losing to them is no shame. That being said, the Rangers beat themselves in this one with stupid mistakes and their inept power play.

*What would possess Brian Boyle to try to carry the puck off of the endboards, especially with Datsyuk lurking nearby?

*Mike Sauer and Ryan McDonagh were phenomenal. The Versus crew might have fawned over Staal and Girardi early but when Babcock used his last change to get his big guns away from our top pairing, the kids came through. Can't rave about their play enough. Had high hopes for Sauer this season and he has surpassed them; I didn't even think we would see McD in NY, what with Rozy around.

*Matt Gilroy and Michael Del Zotto on the other hand ... blech. Hobey looked outclassed for much of the night and MDZ all but picked up his bus ticket to Hartford. Granted, MDZ didn't play much in the first period and made one or two simple defensive plays that surely will impress Torts when he watches the tape but the lasting memory you take away of MDZ in this game was him sliding helplessly across the ice on Miller's goal to make it 3-1. Connecticut will be good for him.

*Pierre McGuire asking if the Rangers miss Chris Drury is on par with the Versus producers asking if Matt Cooke is a dirty player - just a dumb question with an obvious answer. Losing less than 10 minutes a night of a mediocre fourth liner who can't score doesn't hurt anyone.

*Hockey adages say that the time a team is most vulnerable is the two minutes after they score a goal. Well, Detroit scored 1:55 after Derek Stepan tied the game at one. Ain't that a kick in the pants? And it came on such a horrible play too - the Rangers were chasing the puck around like a pack of seven year olds. Defense like that isn't going to cut it anywhere, much less in the NHL against an elite team.

*Is it me or did Nick Lidstrom look unimpressive? I mean, he was still good but he looked almost ordinary. Love Lidstrom - in my opinion one of the greatest to ever play the game - but he just ... I don't know, didn't look elite. And he got away with an awful cross check in full view of the referee. Pays to have a clean report card I guess.

*Mats Zuccarello had perhaps his worst game as a Ranger to date. Maybe it was the awe of playing against Zetterberg and Lidstrom or something but he did not play his game. Zook had no patience with the puck and went chasing after Red Wings to get hits - none of them earth shattering as most came after the Wing had dished away the puck.

*Who knew Ruslan Salei could still be a solid defenseman in the NHL?

*Sean Avery looked like the Sean Avery of old - constantly skating, pressuring the puck and drawing penalties. He was the best Ranger on the ice, unfortunately he simply couldn't score on Jimmy Howard. Had he capitalized on that breakaway it could have been a totally different game.

*Howard made a boatload of saves and yet not one of them was memorable. He was jumpy and left rebounds all over the ice that the Rangers simply didn't get to in time to score. Biron was steady yet again and can't be faulted for the goals against.

*Did Arty dress for this one? Couldn't tell.

*Gabby did and yet he was still ineffective. Now some of that is due to the Detroit defense but a player of his caliber should make some kind of impact. He had three shots on goal all night; Avery and Prospal had six apiece. But picking on the Slovak Slacker is like beating a dead horse at this point. He has yet to win the Rangers a game this season and they've managed 29 victories anyway. If he shows up, that's great. If not, so be it.

*PHW Three Stars
3-Jimmy Howard - 45 saves.
2-Jiri Hudler - one goal and one assist.
1-Pavel Datsyuk - one goal and one assist.

Scotty Hockey Three Stars
3-Howard - Sure the Rangers inflated his save total but he made those saves and he controlled the rebounds enough so they didn't cost him.
2-Avery - By far the best Ranger on the ice, yet again. Sure he embellished the first of the two high sticks he took but he had to if he was get the the call, seeing as Van Massenhoven turned a blind eye to several other infractions against him throughout the night.
1-Datsyuk - Dude is 'leet man, what can you say? And he didn't even pull out one of his insane dangles. You would probably have to go back to Frank Boucher to find a Ranger so smooth, so skilled on both sides of the ice and yet so clean.

Preseason: Rangers 5, Red Wings 1

Oh man, oh man, oh man. If only this was the regular season. The Rangers improved to 3-1 in the preseason by absolutely dominating Detroit's b-team, as my buddy Eric called them. The Blueshirts controlled the puck, controlled the pace of play, were strong in their own zone and put in some pretty goals. Who could ask for anything more?

Well, me, for one.

All I am asking for is that they play this way during real play, against real teams. It would be nice to believe that this stellar exhibition season is a sign of things to come but we all know that it is virtually meaningless. That being said, some notes on the night:

*All food and drink, from what I have seen, is more expensive at the Garden. Gotta pay for the renovation somehow ... sadly the real fans won't be around to enjoy the fruit of their money's labour but that is another post for another time. Granted, it may be worth all of the extra money as I heard Micheletti was atrocious yet again.

*There was a sizable crowd - more than there were for the Devils game. And the best parts of it? No Dancing Larry and only one Potvin Sucks Whistle.

*The most important thing to come out of the evening was a return to form by Henrik Lundqvist. After looking horrible in his first exhibition match Hank looked quite solid in this one. There were two plays where he extended his legs going cross crease where I gasped but he bounced right up and showed no signs of soreness. Thank freakin' goodness, we're screwed if we have to rely on Islander Biron.

*His counterpart, Jimmy Howard, was horrible. And because of that it is hard to judge the Ranger goals - he looked like he wasn't comfortable in the least. Granted, the defensive corps in front of him so clearly missed the steady presence of the greatest defenseman of our generation, Nick Lidstrom. Down the line though, you can see the Detroit defense will be in good hands with Jakub Kindl and Brendan Smith once they develop a little more. Very impressed with Smith.

*If it is tough to judge our offense because of their defense, then it was also tough to judge our defense because of their offense. Without Zetterberg, Datsyuk, Holmstrom and Cleary Detroit's forwards had little finish. Franzen was bad, Bertuzzi was barely there and Hudler was horrendous.

*But even with the Wings missing their top talent, I was still able to make some observations. Sauer and Valentenko are really making it tough on the Ranger brass for who to keep. Both played solid defense, limited the mistakes and contributed to the offense. In an ideal world, they would both be kept while Rozsival would join Redden down in Hartford. Rozy made several bad passes and he made a classic Redden play, fumbling the puck at the blueline on the power play without any pressure around him. I would rather deal with some growing pains with the kids than deal with more mental mistakes from the overpaid millionaire. MDZ was far better in his own end than he was in his previous appearance and deserves some accolades for that (see, I admitted it Bob!), as well as his ever-present offensive acumen.

*Todd White, have fun in Hartford. It wasn't like Erik Christensen was particularly good but White was weak. He needed to step up his game and, frankly, he didn't. Granted he was saddled with Prust and Boogaard but you would skill like to see more out of the veteran. He didn't see a second of penalty killing time but that isn't his fault, Torts needs to see if this guy can do more than a little north-south skating between two goons.

*Boogaard, by the way, will never again have the scoring chances that he had on this night and he couldn't score on them. So thus far this preseason he hasn't fought, he hasn't scored, he can barely skate ... and we have four years of him. Thankfully Ottawa has Jarkko Ruutu, Chris Neil and Frank Lessard so we are almost certain to see Boogaard do what he is getting paid for this weekend.

*Sean Avery didn't get an assist on Derek Stepan's goal but it was his hard work that kept the play alive. He has been nothing short of fantastic this preseason, shaking my fears that he would lose his job. Of course, I thought he would lose it to Fedotenko, and the two actually complimented each other well in this game.

*Frolov, Gabby and Stepan made for a good line so it would be nice to see them together come opening night. So here is the team I would like to see when the puck drops for real:

Frolov-Stepan-Gabby
Dubi-Christy (Drury)-Cally
Avery-Prospal-Fedotenko
Kennedy-Anisimov-Prust

Whatcha think?

Preseason: Red Wings 5, Rangers 3

Another day, another preseason game. And sadly, a loss.

But seeing as the 5-3 defeat at the hands of Detroit was just another exhibition, the final result is of little consequence. What happened and how the individual Rangers played was what was important - and it was clearly a game of individuals for the Blueshirts. With a few exceptions, there was little line chemistry up front and there was absolutely none on the blueline. So just how did those individuals do?

The Standouts:
*Sean Avery: A night after his antics went a bit over the top, Avery reined in his emotions and played a smart game. He still harassed the Wings, but he managed to go penalty-free while remaining involved in the flow of the game. And he got a goal for his efforts and his willingness to work the front of the crease. I've repeated it again and again and again and again and again and again, if you pay the price, good things happen.

*Pavel Valentenko: Yes he was a step too slow. Yes he made mistakes. But when he saw Tomas Holmstrom camping out in front of the Ranger net he went after him. I will gladly take the two minutes shorthanded in return for the message being sent - get the hell away from our goaltender.

*Alex Frolov: During a pre-recorded interview, Avery said that Frolov was underrated defensively and I can see why. The Russian is responsibly in his own end and good positionally. In this game it resulted in the shorthanded two-on-one that got Arty a goal.

*Ryan McDonagh: Wade who? McD played nearly 25 minutes and certainly showed NHL ability. He suffered a bit from the rotating partners but once he settles in, he will be a capably and reliable part of the Blueshirt blueline.

The No-Shows:
*Both goaltenders: Martin Biron and Chad Johnson both allowed bad goals, with Johnson's horrible showing on the Holmstrom shot being the worst of the worst. That is two terrible goals in two periods of work by DosNueve so he has bought his ticket to Hartford. And, if reports are to be believed, he will even be pushed for his starting job there by Cam Talbot. Biron was still rusty but let's face it, it will take him time to get the stink of the Islanders off.

*Evgeni Grachev: Perhaps I have been a bit hasty labeling him Pavel Brendl II, I am willing to admit that. Grachev is still a kid so he still has time to avoid the bust label, but he isn't doing himself any favours. You can teach a lot of things in hockey, but you can't teach desire. A player has to have the drive to succeed and the confidence that comes with it if he is going to make the show. By all on-ice indications to date, Grachev doesn't have either.

*Alexei Semenov: Semenov is big. Semenov is slow. Semenov is going to develop a hump the way he skates. He lumbers around hunched over, making himself seem smaller than he really is - exactly the opposite of what he should be doing. Management is enamoured with his size but if Frankenstein can't play big, he shouldn't play at all.

As for some of the other guys, Mats Zuccarello is making strides towards adjusting to NHL play but he clearly isn't there yet. Erik Christensen had a back-and-forth game and his top-line position is certainly being threatened by Derek Stepan. As dynamic as Brian Boyle was against the Devils, he looked one-dimensional and outright incompetent at times against Detroit. Mike Sauer wasn't able to keep up with the Wings' pace but I really don't want to write him off just yet.

Torts said that a wave of cuts are likely for Monday and we will see who is standing after that. The building blocks are here for a respectable team this season but, as we just saw, the Rangers are still not even close to the elite talents in the NHL.

Peepin' Foes Preview Edition: Detroit Red Wings

Ah, one of our fine Original Six foes. Detroit has set the bar of success in the NHL over the last 15 years - one the Rangers are so far below they can hardly see it. The Red Wings have an owner who cares, a GM who is a genius and a head coach who puts them in a position to win. Can you imagine? No, I can't either.

Familiar Foes: One of the oldest teams in the NHL, the Wings have a lot of guys who have been around for a while: Datsyuk, Zetterberg, Lidstrom, Franzen, Holmstrom, Kronwall, Draper, Maltby, Rafalski, Stuart, Bertuzzi, Cleary, Osgood ... just look at all that talent, it really is unfair. Although, it should be said that Ozzy has lost his starting job to Jimmy Howard - the bridesmaid of the Detroit goaltenders who finally became the bride last season.

N00bz: Ken Holland decided to tweak his roster by adding a few veteran pieces instead of plugging in more of their capable kids. But those veteran pieces are nothing to frown on: future Hall of Famer Mike Modano and Olympian Ruslan Salei were signed and greedy former Wing Jiri Hudler was allowed to come back from his Russian vacation. Those additions and the extensions of some of the other long-time Detroit landmarks means that blue chip prospects Joakim Andersson, Tomas Tatar, Jakub Kindl, Brendan Smith, Daniel Larsson and Thomas McCollum will all have to wait their turn ... it really is an embarrassment of riches in the rusting city on the Detroit River.

Last Year: Sunday, December 6th, 3-1 Ranger loss.

This Year: Sunday, Sept 26th in Detroit & Wednesday, Sept 29th @ MSG in the preseason; Monday, February 7th in Detroit.

What They Mean To Blue: The Rangers play the middle two of their six preseason games against the Wings to it should be make or break for the borderline Blueshirts - ya figure the first two games will see everyone get a shot and the last two will be Tortorella throwing darts at a board to find line combinations/chemistry. The one regular season matchup will be a Monday night Versus game, which makes it pretty much meaningless and hard to watch but far more listenable than the usual MSG faire as it will be without Micheletti. (Yep, still grindin' that ax.)

14-14-1: Too Much Motown

Despite missing half of their team, the Detroit Red Wings still had enough talent to make the Blueshirts look ridiculous on Sunday night at the Garden. Amazingly, and all too typical of the recent Rangers, it took just one mistake to doom them to destruction. Henrik Lundqvist gave up his one trademark soft goal and that was it as his teammates couldn't solve a rookie goaltender.

Everyone in the Garden was outraged with Rozy for taking that late penalty to end any thought of late heroics but the game was lost long before that.

During my wrap of the Sabre game, I said that Donald Brashear was out with Wizard of Oz Syndrome - no heart, no courage and no brain - and it seems to be spreading.

Credit goes to Howard for stopping Higgins on a breakaway and Cally on a penalty shot but it wasn't like the Rangers didn't get other, better chances. Ales Kotalik missed a mostly empty net just moments before Todd Bertuzzi took a penalty and Sean Avery missed a gimme of a power play goal. The power play, in fact, went 0-4 and I would have sworn that I heard Perry Pearn laughing over the groans of the Garden crowd.

Few Rangers should be able to look in the mirror after this one and say they gave it their all. Of course, they don't need to with the pay cheques that they are still receiving but as a fan I have to imagine that somewhere, deep down, these guys care. I have to. Let me cling to my dream.

Some observations:

*All of that Torts talk about 'if the guys aren't scoring, they had better be doing the other things' and yet Drury and Cally (and Arty and Kotalik and even Gabby) were caught flatfooted again and again. Chris Higgins can't finish a cookie right about now but he made a great feed to Boyle for the big man's goal and he had one helluva penalty kill.

*The ice looked awful with the Knicks having played earlier in the day but the Rangers can't use that as an excuse for all of their terrible passes. The Red Wings skated on the same sheet and they moved the puck just fine.

*Arty needs to skate with his head up. Watching him get creamed by Brad Stuart was pathetic and entirely Arty's own fault.

*MDZ skated for 24:45, more than any other Ranger. A teenager paced a team with multiple multimillionaires. It must be said that he acquitted himself well but this is just not the way to foster the growth of a youngster.

*Especially that while he was on the ice he hardly could have watched Nick Lidstrom. The Detroit captain put on a masters clinic on how to play defense yet again. He does everything so smoothly and often so subtly ... just remarkable.

*He helped Detroit limit Marian Gaborik to zero shots. ZERO. Zilch. Nothing. Nada. I mean, the Red Wings kept P.A. Parenteau without a shot as well but let's face it, he isn't Marian Gaborik. But when two of your offensive specialists don't put the puck on the net there is something seriously wrong.

*Henrik Zetterberg, meanwhile, got plenty of room to shoot time and time again as the Ranger defense worried themselves with getting Tomas Holmstrom away from Hank. Dan Girardi did a great job in that capacity but that left Staal to deal with Z and Pavel Datsyuk.

*I mean, seriously, look at that top unit - Z, Datsyuk, Holmstrom in front, Lidstrom and Brian Rafalski in back. That is just unfair. They can fit those five offensive superstars under the salary cap with a great supporting cast (when healthy) and the Rangers have Gabby. That's it. Just Gabby. Thanks Glen.

*Darren Helm is fast. Like really fast. Like Enver Lisin and Rico Fata fast with some actual skill.

*Patrick Eaves was playing with a full cage and, frankly, I think it helped him. Eaves looked fearless going to the boards or putting himself in front of shots. Definitely something to be said about that.

*Prior to the game they aired a short feature on Gordie Howe. As my buddy Jeremy asked, why? Why would you want to pump up an alumni of the team you are about to face? What next, a nice piece on Potvin before a Islander game? And Gordie may be Mr. Hockey but we do have reason to hate him too - if not for Howe getting homesickness, old Gordie would have broken into the NHL with the Rangers. Instead, he left Ranger camp and ran home to mommy before growing a sack and going to Detroit. Wuss.

*It was great to see Shanny again and we gave him a warm ovation. Hopefully he can help everyone avoid the next labour stoppage.

*Jets coach Rex Ryan certainly did not get the same greeting. But who cares, the Jets play football. Real men play hockey.

*PHW Three Stars
3-Dan Cleary - one goal.
2-Henrik Lundqvist - 28 saves.
1-Jimmy Howard - 28 saves.

Scotty Hockey Three Stars
3-Howard - I said some credit was due to the kid so here it is.
2-Datsyuk - No wonder this guy keeps racking up Selkes, he is so smooth on both sides of the ice.
1-Lidstrom - An artist at work. No shots for Gaborik. None. Damn.

Peepin' Foes: Detroit Red Wings

No rest for the wicked: the Rangers are back in action tonight as they return to the Garden to face Original Six foe and the bastards who stole the 1950 Stanley Cup from us, the Detroit Red Wings.

Where We Are: Trying to pull off two wins in two days. Dream the impossible dream boys.

Where They Are: Detroit is playing their third game in four days and are coming off of a really tough shootout loss to the Devils last night. The Red Wings rallied to come back from 3-1 to force overtime and a shootout where Patrik Elias finished them off. Quite surprisingly, Detroit is in 10th in the West - that's right, the mighty Wings are not even in a playoff position.

Who To Watch For: No Marian Hossa (Chicago), no Mikael Samuelsson (Vancouver), no Jiri Hudler (KHL), no Valtteri Filppula (injured), no Jason Williams (injured), no Nik Kronwall (injured) and no Johan Franzen (injured). And yet they still have Pavel Datsyuk and that other Swedish Henrik guy, Hank Zetterberg, so they will still be tough. Ville Leino was supposed to come in and help fill some of the missing offense and, in screwing my fantasy team, hasn't done much of anything.

What To Watch For: Just watch Nick Lidstrom because you will likely not see another defenseman of his caliber for a long, long time ... if ever. Brian Rafalski has been underwhelming but, considering the damage he used to do to us when he was a Devil, he can not be overlooked. Dan Cleary, Todd Bertuzzi and especially Tomas Holmstrom will go hard to the Ranger crease so the blueliners need to be even tougher than they were in Buffalo.

What We'll (Hopefully) See: No let-down from Saturday. Chris Drury not to suck for the second straight game. More secondary scoring. MDZ and Gilroy to watch and learn from Lidstrom, but preferably not when they are on the ice with him. Jimmy Howard to be abused by Gabby. A good, loud actual sellout crowd in the Garden.

Also Check Out: Able To Yzerman over at Kukla's Korner, George Malik's blog and over at SBN they are Winging It In Motown.

Preseason: New York 4, Detroit 2

I think that we were given a glimpse into the future on Monday night of what this season holds for the Rangers. The highs (the first period), the lows (the second period) and the boring, slightly nerve racking but adequate (the third period). Of course, it all game against a top flight franchise's B team so it isn't a true measure of our destiny but I think it was a fair one.

Since it is too late for me to get metaphorical or any deeper, let's just get into some Monday night notes:

*Marian Gaborik. Gabby started the game, got checked by the Mule and came right back with his best Jaromir Jagr impersonation. Gaborik started with strong work on the quarterboards, held off a defenseman, swooped around the net and sent the puck back to an open Enver Lisin for an easy goal. After that, he was pretty invisible for much of the evening but that is ok, it was just a preseason game.

*Someone should let John Tortorella know that it was indeed just a preseason game. Sure, 'safe is death' and all that, but you don't have to be stupid. When you are holding onto a one-goal lead at home in a meaningless game, there really is no need for you to put your injury-prone superstar on the ice to sit pinned inside his own zone right in front of Nik Kronwall's cannon of a shot. Really, it's not necessary and, frankly, it is stupid. Gabby escaped uninjured, but why take the risk??

*And why the hell would someone come to the Garden wearing a Penguins Bill Guerin jersey with a Stanley Cup patch on it?!? This clown sat in section 327 or so with his girlfriend and took abuse much of the evening. The highlight was his Ranger-fan girlfriend being serenaded with chants of "Dump Your Boyfriend." I love the Garden.

*Walking out of the building after the game was Donald Brashear and Brandon Dubinsky. They left out the front entrance with everyone else and hustled out like their lives depended on it. Dubi denied a girl's autograph request along the way - a girl who was wearing his jersey to boot. I guess once you get paid you don't have to be nice to the little people who will provide that money. And no, the Rangers didn't have a charter to catch - they are practicing in Tarrytown tomorrow.

*Andrew Gross of the News said that they will be working on the power play, which is always great news. After two stunning, early goals that nearly had me in cardiac arrest, the power went out of their play and it became pedestrian yet again. They did show some willingness to enter the zone and go right to the net, which is so very much better than the Renney years when the blue line seemed to come with a stop sign.

*There is no stopping Ryan Callahan. Dude. What a goal. Cally got a great pass from young Grachev, got knocked down and still banged the puck into the net for a goal. Hoooo-weeeeee, what is it with these highlight goals in meaningless games? It's just not fair!

*Even though it was an empty netter, Anisimov scored again. Feel free to pick him up in deeper fantasy leagues but don't go too nuts, there is no indication he will get anything more than third line time.

*Grachev played well but I still don't think he should start Opening night. Why give him third line minutes and limit his spots when he can get play in all situations on the first line in Hartford? It isn't like he is that needed here with at least one of our centers already needing to shift to the wing (Dru, Prospal, Dubi, Arty, Boyle).

*I can honestly say that I hardly saw Dru and Boyle out there tonight. Boyle drew a penalty with hard work, and Dru won a few faceoffs but otherwise, nothin'.

*Speaking of nothing, Pierre Paranteau and Bobby Sanguinetti. Poor PA has played up and down the lineup and has done most things well but nothing great and can't seem to score. Looks like another season in Hartford for him. Bobby saw some power play time tonight and grabbed an assist on that Lisin goal but it is crystal clear that he has been passed on the depth chart by MDZ and Gilroy. By a lot.

*That Aaron Voros is still on the depth chart at all is a testament to his hard work. While I think that ultimately he will be the useless shell of a player that he was at the end of the season, he started this fall as well as he did last year and will be rewarded with a job. More power to him.

*I think Voros was saved from a savage beating by desperation. Dan Cloutier is so desperate to get a job that he refrained from turning Voros into Tommy Salo late in the second period. It is a shame, because it is almost certain that Clooch has no shot at getting a job so it would have been great to see him go nuts like old times.

*Other things on the Red Wings: When Datsyuk turned on his top gear - which he hardly did in this game - he was the best player on the ice and a world class talent. There is nothing to worry about the Wings in term of form; they hit a few posts, took a few bad penalties and yet still nearly tied the game. Johan Ryno would have the coolest name in the league if it was pronounced Rhino and not Ree-no. Ville Leino scored one great goal (a high wrister over Hank on just Detroit's third shot of the game), which is great for me as I spent good draft picks on him in most of my fantasy leagues.

*You may be able to get Gilroy or MDZ late and they should be good for some points. If anything has been clear the last few games it is that they have serious potential. There are certain to be growing pains, but both will be bona fide NHLers sooner rather than later. They are even making Wade Redden look good - what a feat!

*And finally, for now, why is MSG airing their Season Preview show prior to the game against the Caps on Thursday? Why not sometime next week when the roster is set and there are no games for us to immerse ourselves in? Curious.

Preseason: Detroit 4, New York 3

What a tale of two games, huh? For two periods the Rangers completely dominate the pace and location of play and then the Wings remember that they are the Wings and kick the crap out of the Blueshirts in the third to come from behind and win 4-3.

Notes:

*Hank was hot early and showed the form that will be needed this season as he stopped several odd man rushes.

*His replacement, Matt Zah-ba, was strong in the second half of the second period but fell apart in the third. The first and third goals came on shots that he had a clear lane to see, the second was a bad angle that caught him off the post.

*Michal Rozsival was terrible, again. He interfered relentlessly and was busted for a bad penalty for his effort. Offensively he had one or two nice passes but he avoided contact as much as possible. I was about to type that Wade Redden was actually playing adequately but then Afro-Gator scored to make it a 4-2 game with Redden standing right there so that ended that. As I mentioned in a thread over at Blueshirt Banter about John Tortorella calling Rozy and Redden onto the carpet: there is a big difference between talking about accountability and carrying through with it. We'll see what happens.

*Should they be benched or sent to Hartford, the Rangers could still ice a solid blueline, judging by what we've seen this preseason. Heikkinen and Potter were both good against Detroit, if unremarkable. For Potter that is ok as that is his game (steady, smart defense) but I think for Heikkinen to avoid the bus to Hartford he needs to be step up and be great. It is hard to say but Alex Semenov was solid (bad penalty nonwithstanding) and did more to raise his stock than Bobby Sanguinetti did.

*Staying in the hate-to-give-credit-but-grudgingly-will department, Donald Brashear proved why the Rangers chose him over Colton Orr. He was very good with the puck, even tenacious. Ok? You guys happy out there? Brash still didn't stand up for Voros when he got cross checked in the last minute. Maybe that was because it was a one goal game with the Rangers pressuring but - seeing as the result of the preseason game doesn't matter - showing that he will stand up for his teammates would have been something that would carry over into the regular season. Yes, I still loathe him but I did offer compliments.

*After playing like a scared stiff to open the preseason, Arty Anisimov had a helluva goal. He showed off great hands going inside/outside as he entered the zone and used a screen to fire off a laser of a shot. It really was quite impressive and what we have been hoping to see. Double-A backchecked, fought for loose pucks and hustled. How the hell did that happen and why can't this magic be spread around?

*The same can be said for Grachev, who went hard to the net and limited turnovers. It was his drive that allowed Enver Lisen to make it a 2-0 game in the second. I still think that he needs serious seasoning before stepping on Broadway.

*The chemistry between Chris Higgins and Ryan Callahan was striking. We are going to love watching this pair work this season. Two honest, hard-working guys battling every shift. And Chris Drury didn't look too bad in the middle. I am not sure if Dru is the long-term solution there (funny to say it but Dubi actually might be a better fit) but he made room for his wingers to go to the net. I still wish we could hire a hypnotist for him so he imagines he is playing against the Isles every game.

*As I said in the Kessel piece earlier, MSG is clearly doing their best to bury Dubinsky. They read the statement from his agent - which seemed reasonable - then proceed to air an interview with Torts trashing him and have their on-air talent rip the hell out of the kid as well. How soon until they realize that 23 year old Brandon Dubinsky at $1.5 million (or so) is a better solution than someone like Robert Lang at 39 years old and three or four million?

*It truly is striking how smooth and entertaining Dave Maloney is, especially compared to Micheletti. He has a slower, less excitable tone with more accessible and interesting information. And he makes far fewer mistakes, but that goes without saying.

*On the MSG talent topic, they announced that Mike Keenan will be guesting as a studio analyst for the first two regular season games. Let's hope he doesn't pull any punches ... I still think he is a greedy traitor though. He doesn't leave for St. Louis and the Rangers had a chance at another Cup; he bounces to the Blues and Colin Campbell sticks the knife in that results in the slow, bleeding death that lasts for the next 10 years.

*My distaste for the Potvin Sucks whistle is well documented in this space - against anyone other than the Islanders it is ridiculous - but I have to admit that hearing it sound with six minutes left in the second period of a preseason game in Detroit brought a smile to my face. We Ranger fans travel well.

The Rangers travel to Boston Saturday. My report may be delayed, but there will be one so stay tuned!

Stanley Cup Final Game 3

"We're not going to get too down about one loss and not too excited about one win that's the way it is. It's just going to be good to come back on Thursday night." --Brad Stuart

Well, sadly I won't be back to see it but I am happy to have seen three great games in the Stanley Cup Final. Should they go seven, perhaps I'll hit it up but as of now, my experience at the pinnacle of pucks is over. It has been a wild season and one that I will sum up once the Cup is raised but that is another day. Here are some thoughts on tonight's action as the Penguins held serve, winning at home 4-2 to cut their series deficit to 2-1:

*The music director in the Igloo is a metalhead and it is awesome. White Zombie, Motorhead, Ozzy and opening with Slayer ... I rocked out. It was sooooo much better than the typical techno fare that the Garden provides. However, the Pens used the annoying old Gary Glitter "Rock and Roll Part II" as their goal song, which is pathetic. I guess that is one thing that the Garden has that can't be beat.

*Like you guys are going to feel bad for me, but the auxiliary seating they had for some of the media, myself included, was terrible. Obstructed view, ridiculously tight seats with a makeshift desk pinned into the same row and virtually no wifi signal. Detroit was much more accommodating and comfortable - they put the desk on the row in front. Perhaps the Pens didn't want to give up three rows worth of revenue, what with the new building on the way.

*Disappointingly, there were just a few old jerseys spotted in the building, aside from Lemieux. I caught just a Zarley Zalapski (awesome) and a Tom Barrasso (booooo). There were numerous Rimouski Oceanic jerseys though. Can you say "bandwagon" boys and girls?

*On the same note, the fans here really dislike Marian Hossa. But, frankly, I am not sure many know who or maybe which one he is. When Hossa touched the puck it wasn't like the whole place boos - some people started and then it grew louder each time, usually around the same time Hossa gave up the puck. He was underwhelming thus far and it is only a matter of time before Where's Marian? signs start popping up in this place.

*And I understand why they had Super Mario drop the ceremonial first puck, but c'mon - how corny. Yes he is the only legend the franchise really has who is recognizable to the fans but still, the guy owns part of the team! Roethlisberger would have been better and maybe even Jagr - could you imagine that?

*Verizon sponsored a tee shirt giveaway in addition to the rally towels. It was the first time I saw a white out in person and I have to say that it looks kinda ridiculous. Is this a way to sell more jerseys? Who do they think they are? Winnipeg? It is annoying to look at and I wonder why they continue to do it.

*Chris Osgood had his stick get stuck in the door coming out for the start of the game and I had a terrible deja vu feeling it was a Legace moment. Luckily, it wasn't. He played a pretty good game and couldn't be held accountable for two of the three goals he allowed.

*Ericsson looked fantastic while playing alongside Nik Lidstrom. When he was back with Brett Lebda, not so good. Either he feels more comfortable with Nik (who wouldn't be) or he just isn't that good. Mike Babcock seemed to juggle his defensive pairings a bit as he constantly played catch-up to the Pens' line changes. As we learned all to well watching Tom Renney's Rangers this season, messing with personnel during the action rarely works out and it ultimately cost Detroit the game.

*In the first period when Orpik was called for interference the play continued and, after puck came out of corner, Zetterberg was still along the boards and was hammered with cross check to lower back. The Penguins absolutely hammered the Wings with cross checks all night and the deciding call of the game - the Ericsson interference - was a dubious call (given the standard of officiating set thus far in the series).

*For the statheads out there, the Wings were outhit 36-17 with Chris Kunitz providing 11 of Pittsburgh's pushes. The Penguins blocked 18 shots while the Wings had just five ...

*During the first intermission I caught was a mid-20s blond lady walking the concourse with her boyfriend. Why is this notable? Well, she was rooting for the Red Wings with a Datsyuk jersey tied up beneath her ample boobage, she was wearing a jeans microskirt with a red thong intentionally sticking out above it and bright red five inch heels. Damn. Guys were going 'Booooo!! Oh, wow' left and right as they first saw the jersey, then noticed who was wearing it. She was quite the show stopper - sorry I don't have a better pic.

*Did I see it right? Versus dumped out of their post-game coverage to go to that awful Sports Soup, just to go back to do a post show after it was over? Is that ridiculous or what?

Well, that's about that from Pittsburgh. Thanks for tuning in folks. Don't tune out as I will continue to do some coverage of the rest of the series from afar while keeping my eye on the Blueshirts as they head into the draft and free agency.

SCF Game 3 Pregame

Welcome to the Igloo.

So this is where the Penguins play, huh? I thought the place was blown up in Sudden Death. Alas, it remains and really is quite the nice arena. As I mentioned back in Detroit, Joe Louis seemed like a warehouse crossed with the Nassau Coliseum. Mellon Arena just feels like a 70s-era arena - and there isn't anything wrong with that. It has that unique hockey atmosphere that I remember lingering in the old Commack Arena (even though it was a flea market when I was growing up). The seats are old and worn here, the place sucks from a tv and luxury point of view but the best way I can sum it up is that it is just a hockey arena. Then again, with all of the hundreds of steel cables hanging down from the roof, it may also host American Gladiators or the sequel to Beyond Thunderdome. But tonight it is the venue for Game 3 of the Cup finals and fans are already sitting outside tailgating. How cool. That is the one bad thing about the Garden - you have to hit some overpriced bar to pregame.

As for some other pregame notes from the Red Wings - I like them better than the Pens:

*Kris Draper feels well enough to play but leaves the decision to Mike Babcock. I know this because I went into the locker room with my trusty recorder and played reporter. it has been a long time since I did that and I forgot the unique smell of hockey locker room plus reporter sweat. Not pleasant.

*Draper, however, and Kirk Maltby are the consummate professionals. They both took a lot of time to make sure they answered everyone's questions, no matter how many times they had to answer the same basic query.

*Draper's daughter did these cute drawings for many of the players, and they had them taped to the wall in each of their lockers. The pic is the one hanging in Johan Franzen's spot. Very sweet.

*Maltby made a great point about trash talking - the Wings didn't really play the Pens this season and are only two games into the series so they don't have much ammunition yet but it will get ramped up as it goes along. But he was also quick to note that the Wings don't have any one guy who really is a talker - no Sean Avery or Steve Ott (he mentioned both by name) - and that Nik Lidstrom doesn't do that kind of thing.

*And I was correct yesterday - I did see Victor Hedman. The top five prospects for the draft are in the house. I stepped into a scrum around Hedman and asked him what he thought of his visit to Long Island: "It was nice, it was nothing what I expected. It was much nicer, I mean, it reminds me a little of back home with all the trees and the beach houses so I really liked it." Amazing how he didn't mention the Coliseum. Maybe Garth Snow is smarter than he looks and kept the kid away from the black hole of Hempstead.

Early Observations From Pittsburgh

After two delayed flights and a lousy layover in Chicago, I made it to Pittsburgh. Driving through the hills of PA to get to the city left me with a pang of nostalgia for my college years in upstate NY but really, you don't care about that. So here are a few odds and ends that you might be interested in:

*Every public bus in Pittsburgh has Let's Go Pens on the electric readouts on the front above the windshield and many of the gates at the airport were plastered with Pens paraphernalia. Local talk radio was only talking Pens hockey. This is borderline city obsession - rivaling the playoff madness for the Sabres up in Buffalo, back when they made the playoffs (haha).

*I'm pretty sure I saw Victor Hedman checking into the same hotel as me. The oversized Swede and future Tampa defenseman is hard to miss but I was just checking in as well and, after all the travel, very easily could have been seeing things.

*The hotel here in Pittsburgh that the NHL is using as it's headquarters is quite the contrast to that in Detroit. In Detroit it was a modern architectural masterpiece of glass and concrete; here the place feels like it dates back 100 years (I wouldn't be surprised if my mattress was that old, ugh!).

*Former Daily News writer John Dellapina is here, of course. Working in his role as Director of Media Relations, he is kept quite busy. I managed to grab a second with him and let him know that Dolan raised prices again. He was less than surprised to say the least. I have to say that I really miss his writings - him and Sam Weinman really seemed to humanize the team and the game while relating with us fans (likely because they were fans as well). Their replacements have done the job, but it just isn't the same.

*For the baseball fans out there - and I don't know why anyone would be - you gotta come here. PNC Park is simply an amazing place to watch a game. As you could see from the pics I caught Mets/Bucs tonight and, thanks to baseball being such a slow, boring sport, was able to explore the park and sit in numerous sections to get a feel for it. The view is spectacular with the bridge and city backdrop. Behind the ballpark are some train tracks, and the squeal of the steel wheels was the only reminder that you were watching the game in a rust belt burgh. The park is tremendously clean with almost a minor league feel to it that is very fan friendly. I highly recommend it for baseball people - a smart August swing would be Citizen's Park in Philly, Lamade Stadium in Williamsport for the Little League World Series and here. There's no hockey in August, so what else will you do?

But there is hockey tomorrow so I'll catch y'all then!

Stanley Cup Final Game 2

Don't start talkin' sweep just yet. As Scotty Bowman pointed out, it isn't a series until the home team loses and Detroit didn't lose. Getting good minutes from young, fresh legs, the Wings handled back-to-back games quite well and took a 2-0 lead in the series with a 3-1 win. It also helped that the Penguins hit a couple of posts, got frustrated, stopped forechecking and rarely were able to force Chris Osgood to give up a rebound. Some more notes but no pics, sorry:

*Colin Campbell rescinded the mandatory suspension for Malkin, despite him clearly instigating a fight after a whistle in the final five minutes. Soupy said that "Suspensions are applied under this rule when a team attempts to send a message in the last five minutes by having a player instigate a fight. A suspension could also be applied when a player seeks retribution for a prior incident. neither was the case here and therefore the one game suspension is rescinded." And thus the NHL avoids the likelihood of a second Richard Riot as the series heads to Pittsburgh. Can't have that happen.

*If Osgood keeps playing this well, you can just start engraving his name in the Hall of Fame. Aside from his 389 regular season wins, Ozzy is 10-2 in the Cup Final and holds a 1.47 gaa and .937 save percentage. The OZZY, OZZY chants were ridiculous and rivaled those that I have heard for the other Ozzy, the one that's the Prince of Darkness, who I have seen live about 10 times (and won't go see again, dude is losing it, it's painful to see).

*The roar in the building was remarkable as Michigan's own Justin Abdelkader scored for the second straight game. His first was a fluke fluttering puck on a rebound and this one was a great shot breaking in 1-on-2. While he clearly holds the hometown hero role, Darren Helm is heading for fan favourite with his dogged play. The guy has been a beast all over the ice and in all situations. He also went 22-10 in the faceoff circle with 15 hits over the two wins. Damn.

*There were certainly less Pens fans for this game than there were for two. The building was quite quiet through much of the first period and a half, something that could be tied to the fact that it is Sunday. As my buddy Tom said, beer sales were probably down too.

*No Pens players were brought into the main interview room; coach Bylsma was the only rep to the media. I'm sure they were less than pleased to be heading home in this manner. But, keep in mind, this was how it was last year too. Babcock said that he thinks that this year is "way different" from last and was quick to give his opponents credit - "every inch of ice is a battle out there with them." He also clarified a comment he made earlier that the Canadian press ran with: he said the series has been a battle of two stars (Zetterberg and Malkin) and wanted to make sure that everyone knew he respected Crosby, who is a "classy player who plays hard." No way in the world is this coach going to give the other guys bulletin board material.

*Gordie Howe was signing his book and the fans went wild. He even had his own police bodyguard helping control the crowd in between periods. Sadly, it was quite the contrast to Ted Lindsay, who was very accessible during Game 1.

And that is about that from Detroit. I head to Pittsburgh in the morning! How cool is that?!?

SCF Game 2 Pregame

It was a truly gorgeous day in Detroit today and I spent a good amount of it outside at the riverwalk. Say what you want about how decrepit much of the city is, they invested good money to make that area look nice and it is.

I didn't make it to the Wings morning skate - 10:30a? Waaaay too early. Considering that these guys didn't get out of the building until 11:30 or so last night, its no wonder they take afternoon naps. I did make it over in time for the Pens, which wasn't fully attended. There were some (much needed) faceoff drills, suicides for the black aces and one really cool tic-tac-toe passing drill that originated at their blue line with several players swirling back before a long pass to the far blue with a player cutting down the wing. It was quite impressive but the players had issues getting good shots off.

Also with issues was Terminator: Salvation, which I went to after the skates. As a fan of the Terminator franchise, I have to say I was a bit disappointed, even after having lowered my expectations beforehand (McG? really?).

Expectations for tonight are high but with the cast of characters involved in Game 2, they should be met and perhaps even surpassed. Well, we shall see ...

Stanley Cup Final Game 1

Seeing as the Rangers weren't playing, and the game itself was covered by most everyone, I will limit this to some firsthand stuff I saw and experienced. I gotta say, it was one helluva game/night.

*For the first time in my life, I was outright star struck as Stevie Y walked past me after the game. Presidents, mayors, athletes, rock stars ... first time ever. He just has a presence, it was impressive. He had been perched in the press box but no fans were able to get autos or even speak to him before being ushered away. No, I wasn't one of them.

*On the Red Wing legends note, Gordie Howe and Ted Lindsay dropped the ceremonial puck. While I didn't see Gordie again until after the game, Terrible Ted was just sitting in the concourse signing copies of his book talking away and taking pictures. A very nice gentleman. I didn't approach Gordie as he was surrounded by people.

*While the fans did get into the game - and released a massive roar when that hometown Abdelkader kid scored - there is no place like the Garden. We were just as loud for our first round game and we chanted more throughout the game. There were many more "Let's Go Pens" chants through the first two periods than there were "Let's Go Red Wings."

*Then again, the in-house entertainment people didn't do all that well to help. And I thought the Garden was bad with the Chelsea club music! It was almost all techno all the time with the rare appearance of Kiss or Kid Rock. That was, until the end of the game when they busted out the 80s mix.

*As for the arena itself, Joe Louis isn't that impressive once you get past the banners. Inside the arena itself, it looks like a red Nassau Coliseum with the same layout and types of seats. Outside of the bowl proper it is like a warehouse. The concourse was dimly lit and the building looks like any of the other thousand of industrial buildings in the area, just with big steps and an octopus on one side.

*Evgeni Malkin's parents were rock stars. They weren't sitting too far from me and during the first intermission they were mobbed by Pens fans. And they entertained every one of them, which was impressive.

*Even more impressive was a jersey I saw - Joel Kwiatkowski. Dude played one game for Pittsburgh. One! I wish I got a pic, dammit.

*A quick game note, which I gotta mention, is that I now officially heart Darren Helm. He is just like Blair Betts, just with more offense. All he does is hustle and play rock solid defensively. And he is probably the fastest skater I've ever seen, even quicker than Rico Fata (remember him?).

*His teammates are just so smooth that it is sickening. Even with Pittbsurgh pestering them, the Wings never seemed to get flustered. They just moved the puck and moved the puck and were quite remarkable as they took Game 1 - and they didn't even play their best!!

*The icing on the cake that was the night was not the result (nyeh nyeh Cindy lost) but with eight minutes left in the game during a break they played the now iconic Stanley Cup commercial on the big board. Total awesomeness.

One down, three to go!

Early Observations From The Finals

Just some quick thoughts - pics and more tonight after the game.

*Barry Melrose is around wearing a spiffy blue suit. Walking along the waterfront, he was pointed out by two overly excited Wings fans who went to take a picture. As they repeated his name again and again, a homeless fellow heard it and just started yelling "Mel-Rose! MELLLLLLL-ROSE! MEL! ROSE! MELROSEEEEEE!" And no, it wasn't Kevin Schultz.

*The Wings are selling merch with a great tag line - 'Shave The Best Last.' Brilliant. Even the giant octopus perched up on Joe Louis is adorned with a playoff beard. I miss mine. Damned Rangers.

*Joe Louis, by the way, is incredible. So much red, so many banners. I got chills.

*There were a half dozen Pens fans lurking about by the team bus as the players slowly trickled out from their morning skate. One guy even had a Matt Cooke shirt on. I don't get it.

*This city may be surrounded by decaying industry, with lines and lines of container trains lying idle on tracks lining the highways but the official NHL hotel, the Marriot, is gorgeous. Located in the same complex as GM's headquarters, this is a wonderful swirl of glass and concrete with stores, a movie theater and more.

*One last day left to vote on the poll on the right! Do it! Who is more loathsome? Cindy Crosby or Glen Sather? I didn't even bother to put Gary Bettman on the board, as that answer would be clear. He looks even more diabolical in person, I can ensure you.

More to come!

Intent?

Did anyone see the end of the Detroit game last night? If so, what the hell was that? The Red Wings had a clear goal waived off - one that went into the net after the whistle. The excuse was the relatively-new allowance that the ref 'intended' to blow the play dead before the puck went in. Are you kidding me?

I know they are making new rules in terms of penalties because the players are bigger, stronger and faster, but now they are making one because the refs are oversized? 'I was going to blow the whistle but my damned arm is too long and I couldn't get it to my mouth fast enough.' This is ridiculous! If you really want to open a can of worms with this one, this intent crap can easily be used by the refs to help fix matches. I'm not saying that they do or that Brad Watson did in this case, but this certainly should open the avenue of discussion.

And what the hell were those post-final buzzer muggings that were going on? Several Wings were jumped with clear body blows thrown in an attempt to send a message - something this league has decided is verboden this postseason. But let me guess, there will be no supplemental discipline because Colin Campbell 'intended' to go to bed before the game ended ...

Capping The Winter Classic

Where to start, where to start? Today the NHL rang in the New Year with their second January 1st outdoor game, the Winter Classic in Chicago. But you probably know that. And you know that the Wings blew the Hawks out of the open sky 6-4. So, I will only quickly address the game itself, before adding some of the fun stuff I saw from Section 231 of Wrigley Field. A warning, this may get long and I have yet to peruse other blogs so I donno what is already out there (it keeps things pure that way).

Chicago stepped on the ice a motivated team and played a stellar, physical game for a period and a half. Then they either got cold or they became wrapped up in the moment or something, because they stopped playing. Detroit, meanwhile, recovered from their early frustrations (after that horrible missed boarding call on Lilja that somehow resulted in a Chicago power play, I'd be pissed too) and then started playing Red Wing hockey - something few teams in the NHL can handle. The Hawks are not one of those teams.

But, let's face it, this is a Ranger blog so I am not going to expound on the Second City's deficiencies ... at least those on the ice ...

When I was in Switzerland to watch the Rangers play, I spoke to Rod Gilbert and asked him what he thought of the atmosphere and the people there. His response was that he hated it because the people weren't hockey fans, they were just folks out to watch a spectacle and have a night out of the house. I wasn't so sure I understood what he meant until today, after seeing the Blackhawk fans around Wrigley.

I guess that is the kind of thing when teams get a buzz and the bandwagon gets rolling, but many of the Chicago folks seemed utterly clueless and were just there to see the show - not that there is anything wrong with that, but it certainly took something away from the atmosphere. The stunning thing about the Winter Classic last year was that you could feel the adoration for the sport in the air - it was tangible throughout Ralph Wilson and throughout Buffalo. Here? Notsomuch. Sure they were some hardcore fans there, but there were thousands upon thousands of brand new jerseys and seemingly brand new fans.

At the same time, there was a huuuuuge contingent of Detroit fans. In Buffalo, I was in the clear minority of those in Penguin sweaters (to never be worn again, I assure you) but here I didn't feel the least bit out of place in my Joey Kocur Wings jersey.

The bandwagoners spent most of the game chanting "Detroit Sucks" rather than "Let's Go Hawks" or, well, anything positive towards their team. And when the fans went back and forth at each other individually, the Chicago folks seemed to attack the Lions more than anything - seemingly not knowing that it was a hockey game. It was kinda sad. A few folks went off on the bailouts, unemployment and crime in Detroit (funny) but were quickly silenced by mention of the Illinois senator. Good times.

Reebok gave out handy little binoculars to help promote the 'missing logo' contest but not a single person in my area did any looking for patches, they were all wrapped up in the experience. The other promotion - a 'stunt' - proved to be hilarious. I don't know if it made the broadcast but they had us put signs up so the stadium would spell out two things (one for each side of the sign). The first was Happy New Year (aww) while the other was the Winter Classic title with the team names. When the folks wearing Hawks jerseys realized that they were part of the "Red Wings" they threw their signs away - it was quite hilarious.

On the other side of the coin, I have to say it was quite disappointing that the teams did not salute the fans after the game. They seemed to grudgingly lineup for postgame handshakes and then beat a quick path back into the locker rooms. The Wings waved individually and a few guys even threw out some pucks and their toques, which was nice. I could not see if the Hawks did the same but, judging from the way they left the ice, they did not.

Some other quick parting shots from Chicago:

*The weather was quite nice, just a little chilly. Most people were dressed properly and/or had handwarmers so there were few complaints.

*The league brought out the sparklers to flank the players' runway. It wasn't the towers of flame from last year, but it still looked kinda neat.

*The folks in the rooftop bleachers had better views of the ice than the people who spent $225 to be in the building proper. Not only were the field level seats incredibly obscured, they did not have video boards right in front of them as the folks in Buffalo did. There were just two boards suspended in either outfield. But those screens proved to be the only way some people could watch the game at all as the NHL sold every seat - including those with a post obstructing the entire view of the ice. My buddy got a pic of it and I will try to up it so you can see how bad it was. And that seat cost $225. Insanity.

*To the right is a pic of something crazy ... crazy cool! That is a couple of Blues Brothers impersonators who drove around the stadium in a Bluesmobile before the game singing classic songs from the movie and rooting for the Hawks. Now THAT is 'sweet home Chicago.'

*They did this whole Chicago Sports Legends announcement before the game introducing Ryne Sandberg, Ferguson Jenkins, Bobby Hull, Tony Esposito and two others I don't remember or care enough to look up. Each player had a long-winded video intro before stepping on these small round stages by the batters boxes. Few people listened and fewer cheered but then the organizers decided to re-introduce them again for the ceremonial puck drop. NO ONE CARED. Here is this amazing spectacle of hockey outside and you are telling me about Jenkins winning the Cy Young nearly 40 years ago? Ugh!

*The Spectator Plaza that they talked about so much opened up late and was nothing more than a trap for sponsors to shamelessly promote their crap. But they had guys on stilts!! How could that not be fun? Actually, quite easily.


*There were a lotta jersey fouls present. Some were ok - the Hawks Griswald jersey is iconic, but others were not - an Obama Cubs jersey?? Not only doesn't the politician PLAY but he is a proud White Sox fan.

*And talking about shamelessness: the merch on-site at Wrigley was incredibly marked up. I guess that is to be expected but you could buy the same $72 hooded sweatshirt that they had at the ballpark at NHL.com or at any of the licensed FansEdge stores around Chicago for $40. By my math, that is a 80% increase. The scary thing? The bandwagoners appeared to be buying up everything no matter the extreme gouging. (I managed to wait on buying the hoodie there but found myself lured in for a hat and a official game puck.)

So I guess when it comes down to it, the friendly confines were friendly - if expensive. A good buddy of mine just asked if I would go to the next Winter Classic or if the appeal has waned ... my response is absolutely; there is still something special about seeing the best sport in the world played outside of its normal confines and just, well, outside. Perhaps next year it will be in New York so I can root for my own team? Let's Go Rangers!!!!!

So Long Shanny ...

Wednesday afternoon Larry Brooks reported that Brendan Shanahan has decided to open his options to teams other than the Rangers, since Glen Sather hasn't tendered an offer. Shanahan was proud to wear the Blueshirt and wanted to keep it on so he showed incredible patience and it simply didn't pay off. Hopefully it will pay off for him as he has one less month of wear and tear to start the season. I've looked at the pros and cons of re-signing him, I've sent him to court, I suggested he be player/coach ... I guess there is nothing left to do but wish him the best wherever he ends up.

With New York out of the picture, Puck Daddy and I share the same hope that Shanny returns to Detroit. I can't speak to Wysh's wishes but I want him to head to the Wings for several reasons:

1 - The Detroit fans appreciate Shanny as much as we did in New York and a classy veteran such as himself should be properly revered.

2 - The Red Wings are almost assured a playoff spot and are a likely contender for the Cup. It would be great to see Shanny get a chance to go out on top.

3 - Another Stanley Cup with the Wings may just be enough to get his #14 raised to the rafters of the Joe. The Hall of Fame is waiting for him but he has bounced around too much to cement a legacy with any one franchise. A fourth Cup in Motown could certainly help that cause. Few players in the history of hockey have had as much of an impact as Shanahan (he did help rewrite the rules to revive the game after the lockout) and most every one of them has had their numbers go up - Plante, Orr, Mikita, Howe, Gretzky, et. al.

4 - What could make the Winter Classic more special than having two of the game's elder statesmen in Shanny and Chelios out on the Wrigley Field ice having fun like they're kids again?

5 - And could you imagine Shanny skating on the Garden ice one last time ... in the Stanley Cup Finals?

Hey, a man can dream.

Hopefully Shanny's dream of playing in the NHL keeps coming true and he ends up on his feet, even if it isn't in New York or the Motor City. Best wishes Brendan and good luck ...

6-1-1: They Aren't Thaaaaat Good

For the first time this season the Rangers faced the test of a team that will actually contend for the Stanley Cup and they came so very close to passing it with flying colours. They lost 5-4 in overtime to the Detroit Red Wings on a one-timer by Marian Hossa in the slot.

I have been yelling "Six million dollars for what?!?!" in the Garden every time Wade Redden would screw up defensively - which has unfortunately been at least twice a game. I apologize. According to NHLnumbers, Redden is making six-point-five million dollars. Sorry for shorting you Wade. My bad. For comparison, Redden makes a quarter of a mil less than Scott Niedermayer and a quarter more than Chris Pronger. It would really be nice if he started earning it. Redden was beaten twice on the last play alone as he poorly chased Pavel Datsyuk into the Ranger zone. It was embarrassing and infuriating. And don't get me started on Michal Rozsival, who I am pretty sure has no idea of how to play defense at all. Five million dollars.

But for all of the negativity, the Rangers did battle back after an embarrassing start to steal a point in a game against the reigning Stanley Cup champions which really is quite incredible. After looking waaaaaaaaay out of their league early, it was just a pleasure to watch the Blueshirts pick things up and run with the Red Wings.

*On a night where the other team featured Tomas Holmstrom - the best player in the NHL with his back to the net, who did score in this one - it was Aaron Voros who starred down low. Voros showed up for the first time in three games, getting a great second period chance off of a feed from Dubi. Voros got off a shot despite being clobbered from behind but Chris Osgood, being Chris Osgood, made the great save. He seemed to pick up his play from there and was involved throughout the third period. First he screened Ozzy on the equalizer and then he banked in the go-ahead tally off of the goaltender for his fourth goal of the season. Some blame does go to Voros for the too-many-men penalty, but most should go to Lauri Korpikoski for jumping on early.

*A finger needs to be pointed at captain Chris Drury for getting caught watching the puck in the first minute. His man, former Ranger Mikael Samuelsson, was left wide open to make a perfect deflection to score the opening goal. The five Rangers on the ice minutes later - Drury included - were following the puck and, after Henrik gave up a terrible rebound, none of them were near enough to stop Johan Franzen from banging in the puck.

*Much like with the first Detroit goal, the third Wings one came off of a shot that was redirected. This time Redden and Rozy couldn't clear the slot and the traffic made it virtually impossible for Hank to see. Three of the five goals against Lundqvist came from former Team Sweden teammates, which is pretty funny/sad/understandable. Lundqvist can hardly be blamed for this loss after making 40 saves. Two of the goals came on bad rebounds that he allowed but even then the defence could/should have bailed him out.

*Were there any fans there? Seriously, the Joe appeared to be half empty on tv and that is sad considering they honoured NHL great Ted Lindsay with a statue. From all that I have read, and all of the clips that I have seen, Lindsay was an incredible, incredible player and is definitely a Scotty Hockey Hero.

*Ryan Callahan finally got himself a real goal this season. Left alone in the circle, Scott Gomez finally made a good pass and Callahan snapped it past Chris Osgood to get the Rangers on the scoreboard late in the first period. The second Ranger goal was much like the first with a good pass setting up a good wrister from a good position. This time it was Nigel Dawes finishing it off with a goal he desperately needed.

*Apparently Markus Naslund is indeed still on the Rangers as he did a first intermission interview with Rob Simpson. Naslund, who is also desperately needs to score, had Simpson making excuses for Naslund's lack of production so far. Quite professional. The same goes for my buddy Joe Micheletti, who also stepped out and defended the past-his-prime Swede several times over the course of the game. There is still something left in the tank, but Naslund hasn't showed it since Prague.

*I have called for the firing of Perry Pearn since last season and feel the need to reiterate it yet again. His joke of a power play had no power (going 0-2) and nearly allowed their third shorthanded goal of this young season in the third period. There is simply no excuse for that.

*Redden and Rozy made Malik Kalinin look solid in this one but seriously, Paul Mara was a physical defensive force yet again. He has been the rock of the defence this season and I have to admit that I was wrong to send him away after last season. He was quite good in this one, but he wasn't three stars good ...

*PHW Three Stars
3-Scott Gomez - two assists.
2-Pavel Datsyuk - one assist.
1-Marian Hossa - one goal and one assist.

Scotty Hockey Three Stars
3-Lundqvist - It is hard for me to give a star to a goaltender who gave up five goals but when you look at the defense in front of him (or lack thereof) and the battering that the super-talented Detroit offence gave him, you can see that he kept this one close.
2-Voros - How great is it to see a Ranger battling down low? Pretty f-in great, I have to tell you. I've dreamt of this day. Great work by the big man, let's hope he can/will keep doing it over the grind of the season.
1-HO-SSAAAAAAAAA - What a contrast between him and his brother, you know? Both Kostitsyns in Montreal are awesome, why was our Hossa so much worse than this one?? Marian has incredible timing, a great shot and a tendency to come through in the clutch - all of which he showed off tonight.