"Rangers Eager to Rise to Moment Today"...

Yes, I completely ripped off that headline from the Rangers' official web site, but it sums up what I'm thinking.

It seems that no matter what happens with this team, some problems don't go away. I'm not talking about just this year or since the lockout, I'm talking about since 1997-98 and until today.

Examples, you say?

1) The power play features too much passing and not enough shooting. This was a problem with Brian Leetch. This was a problem with Petr Nedved. This was a problem with Tom Poti. Jaromir Jagr did the same thing. Marty "The Warrior" Straka (the nickname will stick) did it, mostly to Jagr, who would pass back. Michal Rozsival, Wade Redden, Scott Gomez, and Dan Girardi do it now.

2) The Cracker Jacks at MSG are awful. All of the peanuts settle to the bottom, and by the time you've eaten that much caramel popcorn, you feel ill and don't even want to look at a peanut. This has happened from the Gretyzky-Graves era up of yore until the Gomez-Girardi era today. (I'm a little young, but I would like to know if this awfulness happened during the Giacomin-Gilbert era of the 1970s.)

3) The play poorly against bad teams. How else do you explain a decimated Islanders squad beating them last year and nearly beating them again two-and-a-half weeks ago?

4) The Rangers rise to the occasion against good teams. Okay, okay, maybe this wasn't true in 2003-04, when lost points to bottom-feeders like Atlanta, Florida, Pittsburgh, and Washington solidified their place on the outside of the playoff race (and as big-time sellers at the trade deadline).

It's like they rarely ever crush an opponent. When's the last time they scored 7 goals in a game? Without searching for game results for the past years, I can name three games. There was Game 3 against Atlanta in 2007 when they won 7-0. Earlier that year, I think on St. Patrick's Day, they scored 7 against Boston, and in January of 2006 they beat the Penguins 7-1 and had 55 shots on net, which I believed tied a 1970s team record.

But they never just beat up on a real weak team. They don't beat the Islanders 5-0, 6-1. They lose 4-3 or squeak out a 2-1 win at home on a Matt Cullen shootout goal. They don't pulverize Tampa Bay. They outshoot them 41-21 and 39-19 and win 2-1 games. You get the point.

Yet, they often play very well against good teams. This year, they even almost beat Detroit, a very rare feat for them in the past decade.

They've only played Boston once this year, and it took a Nigel Dawes goal late in the third, a Markus Naslund goal in the last minute, a nice Chris Drury shootout move, and a patient Henrik Lundqvist in the shootout to get two points. Yet, they did technically win the game.

They seem to be playing Boston at the right time right now. They were 12-1 in December, but are "only" 7-3-2 this month. One of those wins was a shootout, one was a David Krejci overtime goal, one was against an awful Ottawa team, and one was a 2-1 win against the Islanders.

Boston might be looking pedestrian (a phrase I enjoy using but do not fully understand) right now, but don't be fooled. They are a scary team. They have a solid group of role players - Krejci, Blake Wheeler (who I heard the Rangers were in on, but he chose Boston in the off-season), Milan Lucic - who never take a shift off. They have a few superstars who've bought what Claude Julien is selling, including New York castoffs Marc Savard and Zdeno Chara, and a some guys on the brink like Phil Kessel, Patrice Bergeon, and Marco Sturm who chip in points every game. Add in a very Lundqvist-like goalie in Tim Thomas (and a 1A goalie in injured Manny Fernandez), and they are dangerous. Oh, and who could forget Aaron Ward?

By the way, that photo up top is Marc Savard, not Nigel Dawes.

It should be a real good game. I hope the Rangers "rise to the moment today" and play this like a playoff game, because it could win up being a playoff preview.

And I hope Tom Renney doesn't inform them that they have been outscored 7-0 in afternoon games this year.

A Tale Of Two Teams

Is this how the rest of the season is going to be?

If you're an Islanders fan, tonight's game was hell. First off, you're playing Atlanta, one of the teams you're "competing" with for the first overall pick. Then, before you know it, you're up 4-0 in the first period. You're happy to see the team playing so well... but at the same time, you're hoping you're not setting yourself up to miss out on the first overall pick. The third period comes around, and you let up three quick goals. You immediately think about November and the string of blown leads that led to two months of perpetual failure. You hope for a win... but you wouldn't exactly mind a loss, either. Okposo scores to make it 5-3 and you can breathe again. Kovalchuk scores the goal you knew was coming to make it 5-4. You secretly wish for overtime so that even if you win, you're only "gaining" a point on Atlanta. Finally, the game ends, and the Islanders are on top.

Do you rejoice over the end of a 14-game road losing streak? Are you thrilled at the play of your young stars? Do you piss and moan about the diminshed chance of winning the John Tavares sweepstakes?

Tough questions to answer. But here's what I'm thinking - yes, absolutely, and only a little.

I've done a lot of thinking lately about the second half of the Islanders season and what we can expect to see. And the parallel I keep coming back to is the 2005-06 Penguins. Those Penguins were full of young guys, and when Mario Lemieux called it quits, the team was ill-equipped for anything besides a lengthy stay at the bottom of the league. As the season progressed, the young guys got all the experience they needed; by season's end, they were not only a dangerous team, but they were a trendy pick to really take off the following season. And that's exactly what happened.

Now, I'm not saying the Islanders are going to be a playoff team next year and reach the Stanley Cup Final in two years. But thinking about the way this season has gone so far, it's hard to imagine them being this lousy for the whole year. Besides, the Isles' young players have had plenty of game experience and have played in many critical moments this year. And we saw tonight how all of that has paid off. This a lead they would have totally blown in November. Tonight, they won. And it was the young players - Nielsen, Gervais, Bailey, Okposo - that played the big minutes and held down the fort. Just because it was a game against the Atlanta Thrashers shouldn't devalue this victory.

Time will tell how this season will play out. But here's one I'd wager money on (if I actually had any) - the Islanders will win three straight games at one point in the second half. They'll still get their plush draft pick, don't worry about that. But I think we'll also see some real progress, the kind that will get us very excited about next year - for the right reasons.

Montreal Canadiens...

From the All-Star break until the start of Free Agency on July 1, the Montreal Canadiens have a big task ahead of them. The following players become unrestricted free agents at midnight on July 1...

Forwards: Alex Tanguay, Saku Koivu, Alex Kovalev, Robert Lang, Tom Kostopoulos, Steve Begin

Defensemen: Mike Komisarek, Francois Bouillion, Patrice Brisebois, Mathieu Dandenault

That doesn't include restricted free agents Tomas Plekanec, Chris Higgins, and Guillaume Latrendresse.

That's 10 UFAs and 3 big-time RFAs. 

How does this affect the Rangers and Islanders?

Notice on that list the two Long Island-born players, Komisarek and Higgins. I can't speculate on what the Habs will do, but there won't be room or money for all of these players. 

Higgins had 52 points last year and was on pace for around 40 this season, but he has been out of the lineup since early December with a shoulder injury. He isn't a great player and probably never will be first-line material, but he is a real solid third-line player who can float through the lineup (he can be a banger on the 4th line or a scorer on the 2nd). He's technically a left wing, but he played center at times last year. A comparison to Higgins would be Ryan Malone.

Komisarek is the type of defender you build your team around, the type of player that every team covets. You know the type of d-man the Rangers are missing? The kind they overpaid for and hoped Wade Redden would be? This is him. He is the real deal. He doesn't play the power play a lot, but he kills penalties and he shuts down the opponents' top lines, night after night. He crushed Jaromir Jagr every time they met last year, which at the time made me angry because a) I didn't want him to injure Jagr and b) the Rangers were sorely missing a player like him.

If the Canadiens don't re-sign Komisarek, they would be making a huge mistake. Obviously, they won't deal him at the trade deadline because they'll need a warrior like him in the playoffs, so they one way to get him would be through the checkbook in the summer. Whenever you hear someone say they need a "top 2 defenseman" who can "log minutes" and "play shut-down hockey," they are talking about him. 

Now, let's just hope he grew up a Rangers fan.

All-Star Stuff...

Let's be honest, the All-Star Game is a joke. From the ballot - where Sergei Gonchar was on it without playing a single game - to the voting process, to the suspensions, to Nicklas Backstrom refusing to take part in an 18-minute game so he can rest, it's all a bunch of crap. (The way to fix it is to make the entire ballot a write-in and not have boxes to check next to pictures of "super stars".)

That said, I do normally look forward to the Skills Competition. Last night, however, was not a shining moment in NHL history as Doc Emerick would have you believe.

There was so much down time during the broadcast that I felt like I was watching an NFL game (I'm pretty sure I could have cooked a steak in the time between the Young Stars game and the accuracy contest). The commercial breaks were so long I felt like I was watching an MTV show. The commercials themselves were so overplayed that I felt like I was watching a Rangers game, where I see the same Bud Light commercial 8 times in 150 minutes. Except last night, it was Chris Berman "going all the way!" and losing 41 pounds.

And if they show that unfunny chump who hosts "Sports Soup" one time during the All-Star Game, I'm going to turn it off. Okay, that's not true, mainly because I won't be watching the game fully (I'll be working so I will catch it in pieces).

They also dropped the ball terribly with the Young Stars game. There were 14 goals scored in it, but they might've shown 8 being scored. Every time a goal went in, they were showing some half-motion replay of a shot hitting the post or one of Carey Price's 4 saves in the game. They spoke in great length about Marc Staal - which I appreciate - but I would have rathered them show me the goal being scored while speaking instead of his babyface. They had Pat LaFontaine speaking throughout the whole third "period" at a low-volume so I couldn't hear half of what he said. The 2nd period started while I was still watching Chris Berman's diet, and when the broadcast returned, we were treated to the sight of a young girl enjoying some food with her little brothers instead of the game. By the time they showed the ice, we were 34 seconds in.

It was just a mess of a broadcast. If the NHL is going to such great lengths (as a one-game suspension!) to get all of it's stars there (look, it's Mike Modano and Stephane Robidas!), you think they wouldn't have hired a high school AV club to do the event and would've shelled out money for a real crew.

That Ovechkin Goal

OK, the Pond of Dreams short is still my favorite All-Star Game moment ever. But we've got a new one atop the list for best Skills Competition moments. Sorry, Pierre Turgeon and Adam Oates doing breakaways to "Rhythm Is A Dancer" in 1993.

Most of us have already seen this a million times. But the more you watch it, the more ridiculous the whole thing becomes. And one thing I just noticed that makes this even more impressive - Ovechkin shoots the puck in with Evgeni Malkin's stick. Malkin is lefty; Ovechkin, of course, is righty. So not only do you have a SportsCenter-friendly highlight, but it's also an extremely rare instance of a hockey player taking a shot with the opposite hand. And while ESPN will be too busy talking about the Dallas Cowboys to notice these little things, at least we can all marvel at the skills of one Alexander Ovechkin - a player who should definitely be the face of the NHL.

Bryan's Mid-Year Awards

The whole idea of mid-year awards is retarded. We don't know who's going to make the playoffs. We don't know who's going to crap out down the stretch, and we don't know who's going to make a second-half charge. All we know is that everyone else is doing year-end awards, and so will we. I'll submit my ballot, and perhaps Zach will do so later.

Hart Trophy

- Who Usually Wins: Best scorer on a good team, almost without exception. Either that or an extremely good goalie on an awful team.

- Consensus Pick: Alexander Ovechkin, Capitals.

- My Pick: Ovechkin. I hate to go with the masses, but this one's too easy to pass up. And not just because he's leading the league in goals. It's mostly because he had a crummy October and so did the Capitals. Once Ovechkin picked up his game, the Capitals became the force they were for the second half of last season. That is pretty much the definition of "valuable".

Art Ross Trophy

- Who Usually Wins: The leading point scorer in the league. Obviously.

- Consensus Pick: Evgeni Malkin, Penguins.

- My Pick: Malkin. He's got a 10-point lead, which is a lot to make up. But I think he'll taper off down the stretch. If Pittsburgh is going to be as good as they should be, one line can't do it all.

Calder Trophy

- Who Usually Wins: It's supposed to go to the "top rookie", but it's almost always the first-year player who nets the most points or becomes an above-average starting goalie.

- Consensus Pick: Steve Mason, Blue Jackets.

- My Pick: Bobby Ryan, Ducks. Everyone's high on Mason, and he's done a great job - but how do we know Mason isn't a creation of the Jackets' system? After all, Pascal Leclaire put up similar numbers just one year ago. Ryan, on the other hand, is averaging a point a game for the Ducks and is leading all rookies in goals despite only playing 31 games.

Vezina Trophy

- Who Usually Wins: Martin Brodeur The best goalie in the league - not just based on wins, but on the goalie's ability to carry his team and put that team in a position to win.

- Consensus Pick: Steve Mason, Blue Jackets.

- My Pick: Henrik Lundqvist, Rangers. This is a really tough year to pick a Vezina winner because so many top goalies have missed time and because more teams are rotating goalies. Ultimately, for me, it goes to Lundqvist. His GAA and save percentages aren't anything special, but he's easily the league's best shootout goalie, and since the Rangers have relied so heavily on shootout wins, he gets the nod over other goalies with similar stats.

Norris Trophy

- Who Usually Wins: The top point-getter among defensemen.

- Consensus Pick: Nicklas Lidstrom, Red Wings.

- My Pick: Mark Streit, Islanders. Call me a homer if you want... but consider the facts. Streit is tied for third in scoring among defensemen. He averages 25 minutes a game. He has 76 blocked shots, which is way more than most of the defensemen atop the scoring charts. And most tellingly, he's a minus-3 on a team that is absolutely atrocious; this minus-3 is the best plus-minus total out of players who have been with the Islanders all year.

Adams Trophy

- Who Usually Wins: The coach of a team who goes from being crappy to being good in one year.

- Consensus Pick: Claude Julien, Bruins.

- My Pick: Mike Keenan, Flames. Most people can't name three players on the Flames. And yet, the Flames lead the Northwest by nine points. Given the travel involved in playing in the same division as Minnesota and Colorado, that's pretty impressive.

Lady Byng Trophy

- Who Usually Wins: A high-scoring player on a good team who doesn't get many penalty minutes.

- Consensus Pick: Nobody really picks the Lady Byng trophy winner at mid-season.

- My Pick: Daniel Sedin, Vancouver. I'm not sure how much more "gentlemanly" you can get than 22 penalty minutes and a total of five hits thrown.

Selke Trophy

- Who Usually Wins: An offensively-inclined player who has a good plus-minus and, more importantly, a solid reputation as a two-way player, whether it's actually true or not.

- Consensus Pick: This is another one nobody really pays attention to until year-end. But the consensus is probably Pavel Datsyuk from Detroit. And since this is as much of a "reputation" award as the NHL offers, he'll probably win it again.

- My Pick: Mike Richards, Philadelphia.

So there you have it. Some prognostication that will, ultimately, mean nothing.

And since this is All-Star Weekend, we will take this opportunity to link to the greatest All-Star moment of my lifetime - the Pond of Dreams short, which was shown at the 2000 All-Star Game. Enjoy.

Possible UFAs...

After a horrendous bout of what might be either rabies or food poisoning, I was going through a list of players who might potentially be traded at the March 4 NHL Trade Deadline. Traditionally, unrestricted free agents (UFAs) are moved if a team knows they won't re-sign them (as in Marian Hossa and Ryan Smythe).

Yes, sometimes players still under contract are dealt, much like the Aaron Ward for Paul Mara deal the Rangers did in 2007. Ward, a loud-mouth who won 2 Stanley Cups not on ability but by simply being on the right teams at the right time (Detroit in '02, Carolina in '06), was a locker room cancer worse than Sean Avery, and it was high time he headed for other pastures. Both he and Mara had time left on their deals. Those are harder to predict, obviously, and therefore I won't mention them.

I think it's obvious what the Rangers need: a solid defenseman and possibly a top-6 forward capable of potting a clutch goal. Let's also say that Florida might make the playoffs and won't move Jay Bouwmeester (if he is an option, he clearly becomes the number one target of many, many teams, including the Blueshirts).

However, here is a list of 3 defensemen that interest me as a Ranger fan...

3) Ville Koistinen, Nashville Predators - a solid player who had a real good year last year (17 points, 48 games, but was better than the numbers say) and is having a decent year this year. He will be 27 come July 1, therefore a UFA, and the Predators, solid on the blueline even without him, might be looking to sell him cheap. His one drawback is that he was a healthy scratch most of December, but he seems to have found a spot back in the lineup.

2) Filip Kuba, Ottawa Senators - A good defenseman although he doesn't get a lot of power play time (25 points, 1 on the power play). His 24 assists are misleading, as he had 11 in the first 8 games of the season, then slowed down. However, he has only played 36 games. He's a good player, and the Rangers might take the bait on him. He can't hurt the team, as he is much better than Dmitri Kalinin (and on most nights, Wade Redden), but he won't help them exponentially.

1) Cory Murphy, Tampa Bay Lightning - Recently waived by the Panthers and snatched up by their statemates (I'm going to go ahead and coin that word), Murphy is the power play specialist the Rangers need. He will be 31 at the deadline, and is in his second year in the NHL. Similar to Tim Thomas, he entered the NHL late after playing in Finland for 5 years (and the Swiss League for one). He was grossly misused in Florida, where Bouwmeester and Bryan McCabe get huge PP minutes, but Murphy is better than both of them when used correctly. Last year, he was an Even rating on a team that was outscored by 10 goals. In comparison, Olli Jokinen was a -19 on the same team, and Bouwmeester was a -5. 

Yes, Bouwmeester is a more complete player than Murphy (better defensively; better first-pass), but Bouwmeester might not be available, and Murphy would definitely be cheaper. The Lightning have him probably to just fill holes created by injuries and poor play so they can finish out the season, and I would definitely look for him to be available come March 4.

I won't dwell on forwards, but Mike Comrie, Steve Sullivan, Vernon Fiddler, Kyle Calder, Nik Antropov (highly unlikely that Toronto would trade him and that the Rangers would get another center), Keith Tkachuk, and Andy McDonald (same as Antropov) might be available. 

I will dwell on this though. Of upcoming UFAs from non-playoff-bound teams, I assume these names ring a bell: Jay Ward (currently in the AHL via Tampa Bay), Marek Malik, Dominic Moore, Jed Ortmeyer (Orty is injured, however). They are all Rangers from the year after the lockout. Think Glen Sather would be interested in another dream season like 2005-06? Is Steve Rucchin available?

Two Amazing Returns

We have two excellent, wonderful returns to write about. One you know about, the other you probably don't.

Let's begin with the lesser known of the two. Those of us who watch the NHL Network religiously are very familiar with the wide variety of infomercials shown on the network. Furthermore, those of us who have watched the NHL Network from the network's American debut remember the day when they showed like five commercials. One of those five commercials was an ad for the Furi Ozitech knife sharpening tool. The ad, truly one of the cheesiest ever filmed, disappeared for a while after an initial run. But like any great commercial - and by great, I mean annoyingly catchy, like the Mighty Putty ad and the Darryl Sittler commercial - it made a comeback.

We here at The Rivalry celebrate the return of the Furi Ozitech commercial by wasting two paragraphs discussing it. Here's a link to a far less corny version of the commercial. So tell all your mates - the Furi Ozitech commercial is back! And the next time you think someone's got a sharp set of knives, put those knives to the ultimate test - the ripe tomato. Put that knife through the diamond-encrusted sharpeners at 20 degrees, the ideal angle for getting the perfect edge. Try getting THAT on a steel! (Sharpens knife, then cuts a cucumber) Now THAT'S a sharp knife!

With that out of the way, we move on to the real purpose of this post - to congratulate Claude Lemieux on his comeback.

You will not find two more staunch advocates of Lemieux's Hall of Fame candidacy than Zach and myself. Four Stanley Cups - on four different tours of duty, no less. The ninth-highest goal-scoring total in playoff history. 379 regular-season goals, which aren't too shabby for a player primarily known as a "pest". And if he manages to add a fifth Cup with San Jose? How on Earth could you keep him out of the Hall after that?

You know how these stuffy, pompous baseball writers love to make themselves seem more important than the Hall of Fame by doing things like sending in blank ballots to protest the steroid era and leaving deserving players off ballots because "nobody deserves to get in their first year"? Well, if I were a voter for the Hockey Hall of Fame, I'd send in a ballot with Claude Lemieux's name listed four times in a row. Antagonizers have just as important a place on championship teams as scorers, and if this is the only legacy Claude Lemieux leaves behind, it's more than sufficient evidence of his Hall worthiness. However, it seems as though the only numbers that matter to the Hall voters are goals. Then again, if you look at goals, Lemieux has more goals in the post-season than Jean Beliveau, and he's just two behind Rocket Richard. Again, how do you leave out a guy with this pedigree?

Now, most likely, all Lemieux will be able to bring to the Sharks is his experience and his feistiness. He's not going to score ten goals this playoff. Hell, he might not even play in the Finals, just like Chris Chelios last year. But the Sharks, perennial playoff chokers that they are, need something to get them over the hump and Lemieux could be just what they need. As a Lemieux fan and as a hockey fan in general, I hope these two parties can help each other achieve great things.

***

Isles are bumped to the channel guide yet again. So much for HD tonight. Enjoy the game.

Shots...

Phil Esposito, in his high-scoring career, always said that the more you shot, the more you scored. 

I don't disagree with Phil, but I also think that it's the quality of shots as opposed to the quantity. I do agree that if you get the puck to the net, your chances of scoring multiply greatly (and that is the most obvious statement I've ever said), but crappy shots from the goal line rarely go in (unless your team was playing the Rangers during last year's Western Canadian road trip, when shots by Vancouver and Calgary snuck by Henrik Lundqvist at the post).

Who has the most shots on goal for the Rangers this year? If you play fantasy hockey, you would already know the answer to this. Far and away, Scott Gomez has the most. His 146 shots are 10 more than Ryan Callahan, 15 more than Chris Drury, and 29 more than anybody else on the team. Keep in mind, Gomez also sat out 5 games to injury.

Of forwards who get regular ice time, Gomez is last in shooting percentage, clocking in at a very un-$7M/year 5.5%. (Colton Orr and Fred Sjostrom have lower percentages, as do 4 defensemen.) He has 8 goals on those shots, and two of those are empty netters. So the real math is as follows...

6 goals. 144 shots. 4.2% of his shots go past a goaltender.

Against Pittsburgh on Sunday, the Rangers had 33 shots on goal, technically. The Penguins had 23 shots.

The shot selection was the key to victory for the Penguins (as well as a listless effort by the Rangers, but that's another story altogether).

The Penguins were able to break through the defense of the Rangers and get odd-man rushes and breakaways on Lundqvist. Tyler Kennedy basically danced in all alone while Nigel Dawes did nothing to stop Kennedy's shot that beat Lundqvist. The Rangers take a multitude of hooking and holding penalties when they don't have to, yet to stop a goal, all Dawes had to do was slash his stick or yank his arm, and he didn't do it. 

The Rangers couldn't penetrate the injured defensive players of Pittsburgh, and wound up taking awful shots from the goal line and near the boards. ESPN Magazine had an interesting line about how Guy LaFleur and others used to shoot from the boards and it would go in, but thanks to the new stay-at-home goalies, that's a thing of the past. Someone should tell Gomez (and the rest of the team as well).

How many REAL chances did the Rangers get? Coach Tom Renney said maybe five. I know Dawes had a great one that beat Marc-Andre Fleury but rang off the crossbar. Nikolai Zherdev did some fancy moves and nearly deked around 3 enemy skaters but lost the puck at the end. Drury had a 4-on-3 shot that almost went in. Crossbar, nearly, almost. Story of the season.

I would rather the Rangers take 10 shots per game if they are all from in the slot. These half-hearted attempts at throwing the puck to the net in hopes of causing rebounds are atrocious. These rebounds aren't being picked up by Ranger players because they aren't in front of the net! They're playing perimeter hockey, and goals just don't get scored that way. 

If Renney is content winning 1-0 and 2-1 games, then by all means, play the perimeter and hope to get lucky. But to be honest, the defense isn't good enough to make one-goal leads hold up for more than a game or two at a time. Once the Rangers are exposed, they are exposed.

Yes, Phil Esposito scored a lot, and he shot a lot. But his shots were from in the slot, prime real estate, in front of a screened goalie. That's how you score goals, not when the goalie clearly sees the puck traveling in at a 180 degree angle.

Live Blog - New York Islanders vs. New Jersey Devils

We Got Screwed!

The feel-good story of Wade Dubielewicz returning to the Islanders has come to a crashing halt. TSN reports that Dubie has been claimed off waivers by the Columbus Blue Jackets. Yes, the same Columbus Blue Jackets that have Steve Mason and his 1.81 GAA, not to mention Pascal Leclaire, who finished 7th in GAA last year.

When Zach texted me to pass along the bad news (he heard it on XM), I didn't believe it and I still don't believe it. Dubielewicz is a guy that 30 teams passed on last year and lost his starting job in the KHL, of all places. That he couldn't pass through waivers is a little surprising. Not that Dubie isn't a good goalie or anything, but most Islanders fans thought it was a sure thing. Not so. What's most surprising, though, is that the Blue Jackets claimed Dubie. They've had great goaltending for the past two seasons. Mason is a legit Vezina candidate, and Leclaire, coming off a breakout year, is due back at the end of the month. Does Columbus really need a third goalie? Are they attempting to trade Leclaire? Will they end up dumping Dubie once Leclaire returns? These are questions that will be answered over time. And it at least gives us hope that Dubie could become available in the future.

For now, though, Islanders fans have to be disappointed. In a season that has been an unmitigated disaster in every way, this was something to make the Islanders faithful happy. It just figures that even something as simple as bringing in a former backup goalie could get screwed up in a season such as this one.

Rangers 3, Officials 2...

This post will NOT be about the "officiating" in tonight's Rangers game in Chicago, where Chicago had five 5-on-3 power plays. 

But, let's get it out of the way first. The NHL say there is no bias against the Rangers, and I agree. However, I think there IS a bias FOR certain teams, namely Pittsburgh and Chicago. The NHL (and former NBA shill Gary Bettman) love young teams in cities that had awful attendance in the early part of the decade, we know that. 

Let me take you to the final game of the Rangers-Penguins series last year. Ryan Malone's stick gave Chris Drury a blade-shaped cut on his face. He gushed blood. The game was stopped for a few minutes to clean the ice. No penalty called. At the end of the same period, Drury's stick hits Malone. Four-minute penalty going into overtime with the series on the line.

Let me take you to the Winter Classic this year, when Detroit was called for 4 penalties in the first period on what the NHL wants to be their biggest stage. Chicago scores 2 power play goals (and another even-strength).

So it should be no surprise when playing the Blackhawks or Penguins that your team is unfairly penalized while the opposition skates punishment-free.

What I want to write about is Tom Renney. A few games ago - to be honest, I forget after which game - he said that he should be more vocal in arguing with the referees in hopes to get some calls go his way. Makes sense, no? Remember how vocal Devils' GM Lou Lamoriello was to the referees? Then, magically, Michal Rozsival gets called for a high-sticking penalty. Not only was his stick on the ice, it never touched an opposing player. But apparently, referees make up calls when a playoff game is tied 2-2 after the GM rips you apart.

Well, after Chicago tied the score at 2 in tonight's contest, Renney got madder than I had ever seen him. Sure, we've seen him yell, and even question a referee before. But never had he John Tortorella-ed and completely flipped out on the refs. Okay, okay, he didn't do that today, but when he ran to the bench door and opened it, I thought he was going to go out and physically attack one of the referees. What Renney said was not fit for TV, and I'm surprised MSG wasn't ready with a pixelating device to cover his mouth up. 

What happens soon after he throws a hissy fit? Chicago is called for a penalty, which can definitely be seen as a make-up call.

And in overtime, a Ranger had their stick broken. The referees obviously missed it (after all, why would they be watching the puck carrier?), but the players reaction - stick thrown down, hands up while looking at the ref - made the referee blow the whistle even if he didn't see it. 

So, class, let's recap. Renney stays quiet, Drury gets his face cut open in the playoffs. No penalty. Renney attacks the refs verbally, a Rangers' stick gets slashed, 2 minute penalty. In overtime, no less.

Let's hope that Renney keeps this newfound passion. I'm not looking for make-up calls, all I'm looking for is fairness to both teams. But since that is few and far between, and since the refs genuinely blow a lot of calls on accident, it's nice to see him getting worked up about it. I hate watching him casually shake his head time after time on a bad call. It's nice to see him get angry.

Sometimes, You Just Have To Laugh

This morning, I heard a number of loathsome tunes dedicated to the Islanders. These numbers include, but are not limited to, the following titles:

- "Meet Me At The Sprint Center"
- "Meet Me At The Lighthouse... in Kansas City"

- "Meet Me At The Lighthouse... in Hartford"

- "Meet Me At The Lighthouse... in (insert city)"

I'll admit, these were pretty funny. But nothing topped this one I received in my inbox today. The creator of this genius logo is unknown, but whoever made it gets a hat tip for giving me a much-needed laugh today...

The moral of the story? Zach's comment on my last post was right. It's too early for this doom-and-gloom stuff. Before the roof caves in on us, let's at least have some fun with this. If the Isles do end up moving, we'll have plenty of time to write their epitaph. For now, though, it never hurts to have a sense of humor about the whole thing.

It's Starting

This is supposed to be a post about the Islanders bringing back Wade Dubielewicz. Or maybe it's supposed to be a series of thinly-veiled shots at the Islanders' training staff, the only people I can think to blame for the roughly 20,000 man games the Islanders have lost to injury over the past two seasons. Or maybe it's supposed to be about two consecutive 2-1 losses, two games in which the Islanders have played extremely well, but fell short to their biggest rivals and the league's best team. Any of these would work.

Instead, I'm stuck here fearing the worst.

By now, everyone's heard that the Islanders will be playing a pre-season game in Kansas City in September. Hell, even Howie Rose and Billy Jaffe speculated about the hidden meaning of the game on the air tonight. Of course, they spun it in as positive a manner as possible, but the fact remains that there's a lot of negative that can be gleaned from this story. And we, as hockey fans - forget about the rivalry for a second - need to pay attention to this sort of stuff.

If you've read this blog for a while, you may be aware that we were among the first to raise the possibility of the Islanders being moved. That's not bragging, just a little reading between the lines that is starting to come to fruition. This Lighthouse Project just isn't happening right now, and it's so key to the Islanders' future that Charles Wang is taking proactive measures to get it going. If that means playing an exhibition game in Kansas City, fine. That said, I think we all have reason to panic.

Football fans will remember the infamous "Proposed West Side Stadium" the Jets were championing a few years back. It was the cornerstone of New York City's 2012 Olympic bid. It was a pretty good plan - it would bring the Olympics to the City, it would give the Jets their own home (not to mention actually bringing a New York football team to New York), and would make it a whole lot easier for fans to attend games. So what happened? The stadium became a political issue and the whole thing died shortly thereafter.

The lesson to be learned from this? Nothing we don't already know; namely, once politicians get involved, you can forget about progress being made - ever.

Now, we here at The Rivalry prefer to keep our hockey and our politics separate. So we'll spare you the whole debate over whose fault it is that the Lighthouse Project isn't moving, how much good it will really do, so on and so forth. All we really care about is, will the Islanders be moving? I mean, I'd love a renovated Coliseum, but I'd sit in the crummiest seat in the house if it meant keeping the Islanders on Long Island.

After the announcement of the Islanders-Kings game in Kansas City, I did a lot of thinking. And the obvious facts, namely that the Kings' owner also owns the Sprint Center, were not included in those thoughts. I thought about the possibility that this team might not be here in just a handful of years. I thought about my dreams of taking my daughter to the Coliseum and explaining all the different banners, and the powerful memories behind them, to her. I thought about the virtual guarantee of this team suddenly becoming a powerhouse immediately after leaving Long Island, and I thought about how I might feel about it. I thought about the guy at the Prudential Center who asked me which team I'd root for if the Islanders ever moved and how I couldn't give him an answer. I thought and I thought, because that's all I could do.

This is going to be a time when thorough introspection outweighs fact, when preparing for the worst beats hoping for the best. I know I'll have a lot more moments like these as the Lighthouse Project gets debated for the next eternity or so. Will we end up like the Pittsburgh Penguins, who were all but packed for Kansas City, but ended up staying in Pittsburgh and making the Stanley Cup Final just two years later? Or will we end up like the Quebec Nordiques, a team that finally achieves its great promise upon leaving? Only time will tell, and for much of this time, we will be out of the loop. All we can do is hope and pray for a happy ending.

A Successful Night in Nassau...

Mark down January 13, 2009 as a success for me.

Awkward moment involving a young child and myself during the game: CHECK

Almost get into a fight in the bathroom: CHECK

A delicious pretzel twist: CHECK (although around the midway point of it, it magically turned from very hot to ice cold)

Two points for the Rangers: CHECK

An All-Star performance from Henrik Lundqvist: CHECK

Islanders coming hard at the Rangers: CHECK

An awful third period by the Islanders: CHECK (excluding the last 94 seconds)

An Islander getting injured: CHECK (be sure to note that I don't wish them injuries - far from it - but it seems that every game or every two games, someone is getting hurt)

Rangers shooting from the perimeter and making even 3rd-string goaltenders look like Jacques Plante: CHECK

Guy next to me commenting if Scott Gomez was still a Ranger: CHECK (hey, Gomez had one good shot today, that's a start)

A spirited effort by Petr Prucha: CHECK

An abundance of Nikolai Zherdev jerseys: CHECK

Me and the lady in front of me decreeing that Martin Straka was a warrior: CHECK

Guy behind me yelling "SUCKS" after we chanted "Hen-Rik!": CHECK

Me saying that he did not indeed suck, and that he was a top 3 goalie in the league: CHECK

On a different note, does anybody want to assist me in a letter writing campaign to Newsday? Now, I know that the print media is nearly a dead form because of the Internet, and to be honest, I don't read the hockey articles much because I know what they'll say. However, today's Newsday featured about 4 pages on the Knicks, 4 on the Giants, 2 on the Jets, and articles on the Mets and a full page devoted to Ricky Henderson and Mark McGwire. Uh, is this 1998?

The only mention of the Islander-Ranger game was an advertisement put in by the Islanders. Not one beat writer had a story published about the game. Not one. Yet, the Knicks, the laughingstock of a stupid, corrupt, boring league, get back AND front page mentions and multiple pages.

You KNOW that the well-fought rivalry game that happened tonight will not be back-cover-worthy tomorrow and instead it will be Eddy Curry thinking about suing the driver who claimed he was sexually harassed by Curry.

Despicable. We have a good sport here that is infinitely more entertaining that baseball and basketball. Ah, if only fantasy hockey was as fun as fantasy football. Imagine that?

Back to the original topic. A good night at the Coliseum, and the only thing missing was a vocalist during the National Anthem. That silent version was sort of awkward.

* * * 

If you click this link, you will see a picture of my friend Tom (in the blue Drury jersey) and me (in the white Girardi). For some reason, the Islander site wanted our picture, and some kid questioned it. We offered him to sit on my lap for a photo and smile, and he obliged. Quite happily, as well. (I'm pictures 19 and 20.)

I would've put the picture on this blog but I'm having trouble doing it.