Cheating?...

RANGERS POST by ZACH

Once again, don't want to usurp Bryan's 2 worth-the-read posts below, but 3 quick hits about tonight before I forget.

1) The Devils had 4 goals, yet only really scored 1 goal. The first goal hit off of a Rangers stick because Sergei Brylin charged hard to the net and they got lucky. The second goal hit off of Shanahan and somehow dribbled past Lundqvist's shorts and into the net and they got lucky. The third was a good shot by Patrick Elias (by the way, what's 6 million divided by 20 goals?). The overtime winner hit off of a Rangers' skate and into the net because John Madden threw it at goal and they got lucky.

Moral of the Paragraph: Charge to the net, throw the puck at the net, and maybe you can score more than 2 goals a game.

2) Lou Lamoriello has been around the league a long time. He has complained a long time. He tore into the officials and their boss(es) two nights ago after Blair Betts held a red jersey. (He also thought that going even strength with 15 seconds left would have guaranteed a goal if they pulled the goalie.) He also, understandably, got mad at the icing call while they were shorthanded. 

Moral of the Paragraph: If you are Lou Lamoriello, you can get the officials to blow the whistle in your favor if you complain enough.

I know, I know, you shouldn't blame to referees for a loss, and the Rangers didn't put forth a real effort in overtime. But...

3) I have watched the "high sticking call" on Michal Rozsival about 10 times, and I cannot come up with where this penalty happened. His stick didn't go much more than waist high, and he didn't touch anybody with it. Yet, with the score tied at 2 in a playoff game, the officials whistled him for a phantom penalty, thus directly leading to a power play goal that turned out to be huge in the end.

Moral of the Paragraph: If you are trying to appease a General Manager named Lou L., please don't be so obvious. It was apparent that the assholes he ripped them the other night were still hurting and they didn't want that to happen again, so they blew phantom calls.

I understand the "reputation penalty" Avery got when Brodeur tripped him. I touched on that in my last post. But just blowing the whistle and making up a call? That's blatant cheating. To be honest, I'm shocked that Ryan Callahan didn't get a penalty when Colin White tripped him into Brodeur.

By the way, no blowjobs or burritos today (although I ate my body weight in lasagna, sausage, meatballs, and chicken parm), but Sean Avery scoring on Marty Brodeur for the third straight game is heaven.