- I don't see as much of the Western Conference as I would like to, but from what I see, one of the only people in the NHL better at handling the puck than Nikolai Zherdev is Evgeni Malkin. Zherdev was a true magician out there tonight, and on no less than 3 occasions wowed the audience, but Malkin is incredible as well, causing the guy next to me to say "Wow" to himself for 65 seconds.
- Dmitri Kalinin should, once again, never have become a defenseman. He pinches more than an Asian businessman at a strip club, and would make a better 4th line winger than a crummy 6th defender.
- Jaromir Jagr shooting from the right faceoff circle in 2005 is much, much more intimidating that Chris Drury shooting from the left faceoff circle in 2008.
- In a stunning show of solidarity with the NHL and Gary Bettman, the referees were strongly rooting for the Penguins today. With no double-minor penalties to avoid (like Game 5 last year when Drury had a blade-shaped cut on his face and the ice had to be cleaned of his blood while no penalty was called), one of the zebrae actually ran into a Ranger during what would've been a breakaway. I'm interested in listening to the replay of the game to hear how Sam and Joe play off the "A**hole" chants.
- The Rangers should have blasted Danny Sabourin. When they pressured him in the 3rd, good things happened, and they could've had more than 1 goal if they knew how to finish. Once it went to a shootout, you knew the Rangers would win because Sabourin wouldn't be able to stop Markus Naslund, Zherdev, and Freddy Sjostrom.
- That said, the Rangers managed 5 shots in the 1st period. They were credited with 6, but the 6th was a dump as they were leaving the zone on a line change. Five shots, 20 minutes. That's a shot every 4 minutes. What was happening the other 3:59?
- Petr Prucha's emotional goal was an incredible moment that goes down as one of my favorite in-person hockey memories. His goal in his first game back after being scratched for 10 (and refusing a conditioning assignment) ranks up there with these post-lockout goals...
:: Jed Ortmeyer's shorthanded penalty shot against Boston, his first goal since returning to the lineup after being out for half a season with pulmonary embolism.
:: In the 14th round of a shootout against the Capitals, the Rangers were down 3-2, and Jason Strudwick had a beautiful wrist shot to keep the shootout going, setting up Marek Malik's between-the-leg game winner.
:: Brendan Shanahan's breakaway goal for his first goal in his first game as a Ranger, his second goal of the game that was his 600th career tally, and Jagr's goal :29 into the game during the 2006-07 season opener vs. the Capitals.
- If Wade Redden is known as a first pass defenseman, Michal Rozsival is a pass-first defenseman.
- Prucha was buzzing all night and the crowd was rooting for him. He missed a nearly-open net in the 2nd period, but had a good game otherwise. Tom Renney must've liked what he say, because he was getting double-shifted too, being put on the 4th line with Blair Betts and Sjostrom at times. Brandon Dubinsky played well too, and Renney had a lot of confidence in the Voros-Dubi-Prucha line.
- When Scott Gomez stole the puck with 11 seconds left in the 3rd period and rushed up ice with Naslund and Zherdev, the whole Garden thought they were going to put it in the net. They almost did.
- I've never seen a standing ovation from a check before, but when Marc Staal rocked Sidney Crosby (who should've had a penalty against Colton Orr as well when Brooks Orpik took his 4 minute penalty) in the extra frame, the crowd spontaneously stood up and cheered. I assume nobody chanted because his name doesn't sound good in a chant. (Try it.)
- Sign me up as someone who loves the shootout, if only because I hated ties with a passion. Nothing was worse than sititng through a game and having it be a 2-2 tie. Here, atleast someone gets an extra point. If it's your team, great, if not, well, you still get a point. They only time I hate shootouts is in March and April when everyone clamps down and we see 3-point games everywhere when the Rangers are fighting for a playoff spot and Boston and Pittsburgh each get points.
I know people hate on the shootout, but for me, it could be a shootout, it could be a game of Three Post (where you take out the goalie and have to hit both posts and the crossbar to win), it could be an accuracy contest like in the Skills Competition, whatever, as long as there are no ties.
- Great resiliency today by the Rangers. They went down 2-0, and while they didn't play incredibly well, they did fight back. Prucha had a great game and deserves his spot back instead of Dan Fritsche. They had no goats today in the lineup on offense. Everyone contributed, from Betts and Orr to Lauri Korpikoski and Ryan Callahan.
1) When the crowd chanted at the ref, Sam said something like, "The fans are getting on the ref," and that was it. Kind of lame. Oh well.
ReplyDelete2) The lower bowl did look quite packed, which was nice to see. It also got loud at the right points. Having said that, it always seems like the Garden is dead when the Rangers aren't doing well. Maybe it's the lighting or the way they capture the crowd noise, but that's the impression I always get.
3) 3-Bar is a great game. Of course, the most well-known game of 3-Bar was when Gordon Bombay took on the Iceland coach in D2 and only a cheapshot kept Bombay from winning it all. How sad.