Oh Nooooooooooooo!

Penguins 5 Rangers 3
guh.
It was a night of battling back last night at MSG, with the Blueshirts coming from 2 goals back to tie the game at 3-3. But a mindless check from behind by Ryan Hollweig resulted in a boarding penalty that gave the awesome Penguins a power play, and Evgeni Malkin blasted in the go-ahead goal.
The boys out shot Pittsburgh 39-17, and played with the kind of desperate effort that might usually result in a win. Not this time, sadly. *makes pitiful face*
Want more bad news? Sean Avery took a hit that lacerated his spleen, causing internal bleeding, and will miss whatever remains of the Rangers' playoff run.
Chris Drury missed much of the 2nd period with an 'undisclosed injury', and Blair Betts took a puck to the face, knocking him out of the game.
The Ranger scorers were Straka, Callahan, and Jagr. Jaromir Jagr has been mvp of the Rangers during these playoff series, his re-signing is a must.
Another must: win game 4, don't let Pittspuke eliminate you on your home ice. C'mon boys...
LET'S GO RANGERS!

NYR went to Pitt, now they're in a deep, deep hole.

Penguins 2 Rangers 0
guh.
The boys come out of Pittspuke with nothing to show for it. They held Sid the Kid without a point, but Marc Staal's brother Jordan scored the game-winner:

After Sidney Crosby drew yet another penalty against the Rangers in the 1st period, Ranger players yelled at him to 'Stand Up!' [He does seem to go down very easily, but I will say that the call at the end of game 1 was legit; Crosby embellished/dived, but it really was interference on Straka.]
Game 3 at The World's Most Famous Arena. I'd say it's a must win, wouldn't you?
LET'S GO RANGERS!

Pinball in Pittsburgh.

Penguins 5 Rangers 4
guh.
Oh man, it was looking so good there for awhile; the visiting Rangers had built a 3-0 lead on the strength of goals by Straka, (a pinball shot off a leg) Drury and Avery:

But then midway through period 2, the Pens scored goals 14 seconds apart: a pinball carom, followed by a more 'legit' scoring chance. Early in the 3rd, 2 more goals, this time 20 seconds apart. Same as before, a flukey ricochet off a Ranger defenseman, followed by a pretty passing play. So that's 4 unanswered goals to turn my happy happy into something I can't print here.
Oh well, that's hockey! The good news is, the boys did not pack it in; Scott Gomez tied the game with 10 minutes to go, and the score remained tied for 8 minutes. I was anticipating/dreading overtime until Evgeni Malkin put the game-winner past poor Henrik with less than 2 minutes to go. The Malkin goal (a Sidney Crosby slap shot that pinballed off Malkin's leg) was scored on the power-play; obviously, with as much freakish scoring as the Penguins possess, the Blueshirts would be smart to avoid the sin bin. guh. The Rangers nearly tied the game, but a Jaromir Jagr shot hit the goal post dead-on just before time ran out.
Game 2 tomorrow afternoon. I'll get to see most of the 1st period before I have to go to my gig. It's probably for the best that won't be able to watch...
LET'S GO RANGERS!

Next opponent: Pittsburgh Penguins

The blueshirts finally can prepare for a specific team; they'll be facing the Sid the kid and the rest of the Penguins in round 2. Game 1 is Friday night...
LET'S GO RANGERS!

Victory in Round One!

NY Rangers Goal Celebration Song

Rangers 5 Devils 3
YAY!
Series 1 is over, and the Rangers won all 3 games in New Jersey; unbelievable! Captain Jaromir Jagr was again so key for the boys, with a goal and and 2 assists. A great deal was made of the offseason free agent signings of Chris Drury and Scott Gomez. Well, obviously those acquisitions paid off in a huge way. Henrik Lundqvist and the entire Ranger defensive effort is also to be commended; they may bend, but they don't often break.
On the top right of this photo, you can see the puck slither through the tangle of players, where Scotty Gomez waits to flick it in to the net:

Does it still need to be said that Chris Drury is a clutch player? Here he is scoring another game-winning goal:

Hmm, I wonder why Brodeur wouldn't shake hands with Avery after the game?:

Late in the 3rd period, John Madden was awarded a penalty shot, with the chance to tie the game:


He is the King!

Now on to round 2...
LET'S GO RANGERS!

Game 4 WIN!!

NY Rangers Goal Celebration Song

Rangers 5 Devils 3
YAY!
Woah, talk about your see-saw, nail-biter games! 3 times the Blueshirts went ahead by a goal, and 3 times the Devils answered back. It was seriously looking like overtime, until Marc Staal took a brilliant pass from Martin Straka just inside the offensive zone and drilled a slap shot past Marty Brodeur with a little over 3 minutes left in the 3rd. (See above photo, yay!)
Scotty Gomez opened the scoring, redirecting a perfect pass from Daniel Girardi:

Gomez was flying all over the ice, the guy is just a bundle of energy. He would later add an empty net goal by pushing the puck directly forward off of a center ice face-off. Very tricky!
Nice set-ups were the rule last night, Brandon Dubinsky placed the puck for Martin Straka to snap in a shot from the slot. Fedor Tyutin's accurate shot made it possible for Chris Drury to tip-in a shot past a helpless Brodeur for the Rangers 3rd goal.
King Henrik wasn't perfect, but he was occasionally amazing; shown here greeting Gomez:


Game 5 Friday in Newark...
LET'S GO RANGERS!

Noooooooooooooo!

Devils 4 Rangers 3 (OT)
guh.
The Blueshirts battled back to tie the game twice and looked poised to go up by 3 games in the series. However, a fluke goal in overtime has made this a nailbiter of a series. Devils forward John Madden threw the puck to the front of the net where it went in off the skate of a Ranger defenseman. FRAK!
Other details: 3 assists for Captain Jaromir Jagr, 2 goals for Brandon Dubinsky, and another goal for Sean Avery. Sean has been doing every thing he can to get Martin Brodeur off of his game, including dancing and gesticulating with his stick during a Rangers power play. He's crazy, but crazy can pay off once in a while:

So the Devils won game 3. That's all right, that's okay, we're gonna beat them anyway. *he said hopefully* Game 4 Wednesday at MSG...
LET'S GO RANGERS!

Game 2... another WIN!

NY Rangers Goal Celebration Song

Rangers 2 Devils 1
YAY!
After stealing the home ice advantage with the win in game 1, the Rangers knew it was going to be that much tougher in game 2. Finally, after 2 scoreless periods, Jaromir Jagr lit the lamp with a tricky turnaround shot to beat Marty Brodeur to the short side. (see above photo for the Jagr happiness)
Less than a minute after the Jagr goal, Sean Avery drilled in the eventual game-winner from the high slot through a screen of defenders.
Says Avery to Martin Brodeur, 'I'm going to score on you':

Just a beautiful hockey photo:

King Henrik saves the day, late in the 3rd:


The Blueshirts are up 2-0. Can they keep it up? Game 3 tonight at The World's Most Famous Arena...
LET'S GO RANGERS!

Game 1 Win!!

NY Rangers Goal Celebration Song

Rangers 4 Devils 1
YAY!
Scott Gomez had 3 assists against his old team, King Henrik had a tremendous game in goal (26 saves), and the Rangers took advantage of some uncharacteristic sloppy play by the Devils to take game 1. Ryan Callahan caught Martin Brodeur napping to sneak out from behind the net and score the eventual game winning goal:

Ryan's ecstatic reaction (reverse angle to the top photo):

Brendan Shanahan, Sean Avery and Nigel Dawes (empty net) were the other Ranger scorers. Game 2 Friday night in New Jersey...
LET'S GO RANGERS!

The Stanley Cup Playoffs!

So I go away on vacation and, as usual, everything happens with my team!
On Thursday they went over to Uniondale and shut out the fishsticks: Rangers 3 Islanders 0
The Rangers cliched a playoff spot with the win
YAY!

On Friday the home & home concluded with the Blueshirts: Islanders 4 Rangers 3 OT/SO
The boys battled back to tie a couple of times, gained a point for the regulation tie, but lost in the shootout:

Finally, on Sunday the regular season concluded with the Rangers again losing in a shootout to New Jersey: Devils 3 Rangers 2 OT/SO
Once again, the NYR tied it up in the 3rd, and even pulled the goalie (while tied 2-2!!) to attempt to get the victory against the Devils. A victory would've meant home ice in the 1st round of the playoffs against these same Devils. Alas, same result as on Friday. Nice effort by Jaromir Jagr, who has finished the reg. season red hot:

The boys went 7-1 against Jersey in the regular season; let's hope that kind of domination continues for the next couple of weeks. Obviously the Rangers-Devils series outcome is gonna have a lot to do with the play of these 2 goalies:

Game 1 tonight in New Jersey...
LET'S GO RANGERS!