The Good News...

Not going to dwell on the debauchery that was Game 6. I said all along that they wouldn't blow Game 6 at home up 3-2, and they made me look like fools.

However, there is good news.

The Rangers scored 3 goals on a backup goaltender!

Okay, so now Simeon Var-lah-mov is now the starter in Washington, but his goals against average was like 0.75 going into this game. He gave up 1 goal, 0 goals, 2 goals, and 0 goals. So they got 3 past him, albeit one of them when the game was a wash and it was 5-2.

Still, 3 goals is 3 goals, and if Henrik Lundqvist reads his own scouting report, they have a chance to win Game 7. Maybe not a strong chance, but a chance indeed. If they can score 3 goals and he can stop all but 2, well, you know how scoring works.

For the record, here is the scouting report on Lundqvist...

"Great goalie. Goes side to side better than any goaltender in NHL history. Flops down early in anticipation of a low shot, leaving the entire top of the net open."

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Here is a list of players who played every regular season game for the Rangers: Dan Girardi, Brandon Dubinsky, Marc Staal, Colton Orr, Markus Naslund, and Nik Zherdev.

Yes, Colton Orr played 87 games this season, coached by Tom Renney and John Tortorella. Does Jim Schoenfeld not like him that he would sit Orr in the playoffs when that goon Donald Brashear is out there?

Capitals fan or not, you can't agree with how Brashear went up and randomly attacked Blair Betts. He did it at MSG in 2007 also when he went up and sucker punched Aaron Ward in the mouth.

Today, he nails Betts for no reason other than he was angry about something that had nothing to do with Betts, and he gets a 2-minute penalty. You can guarantee that if someone did something like that against the Penguins, they would get a 10-game suspension.

And here is where Schoenfeld erred. Without Orr in the lineup, and without proper officiating, Brashear had the chance to do this. Nobody was going to make him pay. Paul Mara ran at him, pushed him a little, grappled with him, didn't drop the gloves, and got a 2-minute minor of his own.

No one was in the lineup to offer accountability. The Rangers had very little injuries this year (I believe they had the 2nd least man-games lost this season). Some of the credit has to go to Orr, a great fighter who isn't afraid to pummel someone into oblivion. No one like Dion Phaneuf or Chris Pronger is going to take a run at Scott Gomez (but really, why would you?) if Orr was there, because they have to answer to him.

(Do you think Shaone Morrison would've bitten Brandon Dubinsky if Orr was there to beat him down afterwards?)

When Gomez injured Ryan Miller a few months ago (on accident), no one made him pay. If Derek Roy or Maxim Afinogenov ran into Lundqvist, they, or someone on their team, would have to lose a fight to Orr.

Orr needs to be in the lineup. Maybe Schoenfeld wanted offense and saw Orr's 4 career goals. Maybe he doesn't know that he is there to keep the peace.

Someone should also show him Orr's scouting report before Game 7...

"Can't skate well. Has better accuracy with a left hook than a wrist shot. Will fight anyone on the other team. With him in the lineup, no one will take runs at your top penalty killer or star goaltender, and no one will bite your second-line center. Better than Aaron Voros. Don't sit him the playoffs in favor of aforementioned player, who should be a healthy scratch."

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And finally, let's give it up for Tom Poti, who apparently had his first power play point ever at MSG, and Wade Redden.

Here's to you, Wade Redden. You are stealing 39 million dollars from the fans of the Rangers over the next 6 years, and when your team is down 2-1 in a clinching game, and you get gifted power play time for some reason, what do you do? Lazily reach for a pass, miss it, and slowly chase the puck back into your own end.

Bravo. Bravo. Bravo.

You are hockey's version of Stephon Marbury, with one major difference. He hurt his team by stealing money and not suiting up; you steal money and you play.

Big Game...

I know you know this, and I don't mean to state the obvious, but this game tonight is huge.

Regardless of tonight's outcome, I think the Rangers will lose Game 5 Friday night. If the Rangers win, they take a 3-1 lead in the series and can afford to lose a game in Washington, knowing that the series comes back to the Garden for Game 6, where they can put it away.

If they lose, though, tonight, they might be in a bad spot. Of course, the same cliches will be said by Chris Drury, Scott Gomez, Henrik Lundqvist, and John Tortorella: "One game at a time, one period at a time, one shift at a time." "It's not a best-of-3 series." "We're tied, we're not out of this." "Anything can happen."

But you know they can't afford to lose this. Not only will momentum swing to Washington, but they'll be in an opposing building for Game 5. Yes, they are 2-0 this week in that city, but you don't want to go into a hostile environment NEEDING a victory. You want to go in there Friday thinking a victory is a luxury, but knowing you'll win on Sunday night if you lose Friday.

And due to a family situation, I sold my tickets to tonight's game and will be watching from my couch. Game 1 I watched when I got home from work that night not knowing the outcome; Game 2 I watched some at home, missed the second and most of the third period, and caught the last 4 minutes at Bryan's house; Game 3 I watched at work and didn't bother watching at home when I saw how it went.

So, the couch it is, and thankfully, the game won't be on Versus. I am also bursting with anticipation on which company will be advertised on the plexiglass behind Lundqvist and Simeon Varlamov.

Capitals Win, 4-0

After two very impressive road wins, the Rangers returned home. The Garden faithful (and their awesome glow-in-the-dark) ThunderStix welcomed their home team with open arms. Unfortunately, that's about where things peaked, as the good old Rangers showed up.

The announcers kept talking about how the near-goal by Ryan Callahan was the turning point of the game; after all, if that puck went in, Alexander Semin wouldn't have scored and the game would have been tied 1-1. However, the Caps finally brought their A-game to these playoffs. The Rangers, on the other hand, did not.

If you've read this blog for a while, you've probably read Zach's rants about the Tom Renney-led Rangers and how that team has occasionally shown up under the tutelage of John Tortorella. Tonight was one such night. How bad was it? I actually had to check the boxscore to see if Chris Drury played tonight. Turns out he got ten minutes of ice time. I would have checked to see if Scott Gomez play, but I happened to see him on the ice during the pre-game. Wade Redden managed a whopping one shot on goal in 4:30 of power play time. As a whole, the Rangers were 0-for-6 on the power play, even if some of those power plays didn't last for the full two minutes.

The reason for that, of course, is Sean Avery's 18 penalty minutes. By my estimation, at least two of his four minor penalties were unjustified. The truth is, Avery's repuation precedes him and referees will never give him the benefit of the doubt. This was evidenced when John Erskine cross-checked Avery into the goal right in front of the referee, who declined to call a penalty. It'll be interesting to see if Avery is called into Gary Bettman's office tomorrow after his cheap shot at Simeon Varlamov; the hit certainly fell into the category of a message-sending attack when the score was already decided.

This isn't to knock Avery at all. Avery, Callahan and Lundqvist were the only Rangers to act like they cared about winning. But even a great performance by Lundqvist wasn't enough to win. And make no mistake about it, Varlamov was great tonight. Varlamov, whose goalie mask still features the logo of the AHL's Hershey Bears, can confidently get a new paint job, because he's not going anywhere. One of the best parts of the playoffs is seeing young players emerge as legitimate contributors on the NHL level. Being an upgrade over Jose Theodore isn't saying much, but Varlamov has given the Capitals new life in a series that is suddenly looking like it could go the distance.

You'd like to hope the real Rangers show up on Wednesday night. As an unbiased observer, I sure hope they do. And with home-ice advantage on the line, the Rangers should pull out all the stops on Wednesday. So should the Capitals. We should be in store for a great game on Wednesday.

Which Series is This More Like?...

The Capitals won the Southeast Division this year, and are down 2-0. So, which series is this most like?

2005-06 - Southeast-winning Carolina Hurricanes lost the first 2 at home to Montreal, then replaced Martin Gerber in net with Cam Ward. Ward led the 'Canes to victories in the next 4 games, then they went on to win the Stanley Cup.

2006-07 - Southeast-winning Atlanta Thrashers lose the first 2 at home in the series against the Rangers. They lose Game 1 4-3, then replace goalie Kari Lehtonen with Johan Hedberg. Hedberg loses Game 2 by a score of 2-1 (on a freak bounce-shot by Sean Avery), and they go back to Lehtonen for Game 3. They lose that game 7-0, and Hedberg is back in net for the loss in the elimination game, Game 4.

Will Jose Theodore be back in net for Game 3? He accepted responsibility for the loss in Game 1 and wanted a chance to redeem himself, but Caps' coach Bruce Boudreau went with the rookie, Simeon Varlamov. Will he do a switch, even though Varlamov only let in one goal? Hedberg had a decent game in Game 2 but sat the next game.

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That was great defensive coverage by Tom Poti on the Ryan Callahan goal. Poti went to cover Markus Naslund on his right side, and with his left hand, motioned for the other Capitals defenseman to cover Callahan. Thing is, there wasn't another D-man there, Callahan easily accepted a good pass from Naslund, and scored the only goal of the game.

I don't care if you're reading this as a Ranger or Islander fan. Be happy Tom Poti is on neither of these teams anymore.