Big Blue Huddle

Quote from: files58 on May 23, 2024, 11:13:42 AMFlorida believes they are a team of destiny. In hockey in order to defeat that the opponent has to play the game with the attitude that is just short of "we will kill you to win". I'm being dramatic to make a point. It's about will, and imposing it. I've said it before Mother Teresa before and after the game, Atilla the Hun during the game. What the Rangers need is an infusion of their die hard longtime fans' pissed off angst of one Cup in 83 years. A born, and raised New Yorker middle finger. Hockey is a beautiful, talent laden sport that has a violent element that's allowed, written into it's structure, and in its rulebook. Use that element to your advantage. To Florida, you want to block shots, well here it comes. Bing. Look at that stupid commercial with Stamkos, Hedman, and their young kids. What's the selling point? Stamkos' 3 year old slamming someone into the boards, and then Stamkos telling Hedman well I guess your infant isn't up to it, might as well save for college. HELLO! It won't happen because the real pursuit is $$$$$$$$. To this fan(and many others), and the late Great Vince Lombardi "Winning isn't everything, it's the only thing". It's not entertainment, for that I'll watch Edmonton vs Dallas. I never liked it, but I kinda understand why Billy Smith never shaked hands after a series. Ok, rant is over. It's one game. The Rangers know they haveto up their game. If they can't/don't kudos to Florida.

Your first sentence is everything you need to put on the Rangers' bulletin board today and make the font as large and as bold as the printer's capability. That's all that needs to be said and the rest is self-explanatory.

The rest, self-goals and all, mean nothing. You can't buy those back, so let's move on. It's Destiny's Darlings 1 - Blueshirts 0.

No matter how disappointed everyone is, including me, the Rangers hung with these guys for two and a half periods and had many opportunities to tie the game before it fell apart in the last ten minutes. That, in my assessment, is something to build on and make adjustments for tonight. To Boston's credit, they provided the Rangers some game film on how to get to their goalie and coach no doubt has checked it out.

As for the slugfest to come, you can almost guarantee Game Three in front of their fans will offer the Rangers up for sacrifice. So, tonight there is no reason why Rempe is not in the lineup to go out there and create friction with their goons. May as well start something tonight with their stars and finish it on their ice. Maybe their guys go off for a game misconduct as well. I think Mother Theresa would approve files58, no?

They'll be more revved up tonight but they have to be smart and not get into a shootout with these guys or, unless Igor's up for the challenge, they'll blow a chance to get back in this series.

Should be a hot one tonight!

Peace!

Florida's PRESSURE, SPEED and WINNING THE CHASE TO THE PUCK set them up to control the game last night. Brilliant display of shutting down a potent offensive attack like the Rangers and, despite all that, it was 0-1 for two and a half periods so consolation prize for the Rangers in that they can't get down on themselves and must make some more adjustments and they'll get some pucks past Bobrovsky.

The game played out every bit like we all expected it to be. Intense, physical (but generally clean) and fast track. The dynamics of this series haven't even begun yet. The heavy artillery has yet to be fired.

Florida drew first blood, but just remember the Rangers have a recently good history of success in their building so take notes from this game, adjust the plan and go out and win game two, then split in their building to make it a three game series. This one will likely have to go seven for the Rangers to win it; otherwise, Florida will end this one quickly and finish their own season of destiny.

Peace!

T-3 hours and counting!

Quote from: MightyGiants on May 22, 2024, 04:30:22 PMBut in terms of being a good person, an honorable man, Mara is tops in the NFL, in my opinion.


https://x.com/jfowlerespn/status/1793336685222084777?s=46&t=1vcQIN8GqF5J2oLdxEVEJQ

He has the blood and genetics of the man once termed "The Conscience of the NFL." His father was ridiculed as antiquated as well. But nobody who knew Wellington Mara, to a man, would dare suggest he didn't care about his Giants, or the welfare of the National Football League.

That legacy was passed to John following his father's passing in 2005. He may remain unpopular with the fans, but it is clear he is dedicated to live up to father's beliefs in doing what is best for the league and its players.

But it's a far different environment in today's NFL than the one Wellington left behind. What would Wellington, or George Halas, think about the league in its current state now?

For those reasons, Rich @MightyGiants , you are absolutely correct in your assessment of John Mara.

Peace!

P.S. Hoping things are getting a little better for you, day by day.

A man who literally gave his body for the game with no regrets at all. To fully appreciate this, I strongly encourage you to watch the NFL Documentary, "Disposable Heroes."


A true warrior, champion and Hall of Famer.

Rest in peace, aught-oh, and thank you for the great memories.

T-1 for the puck drop to start Game One of the much-anticipated NHL Easten Conference Final between the Panthers and Rangers.

In anticipation of tomorrow night, we've batted around some thoughts, but I thought this NY Post article would be a good share in terms of the big-picture perspective of the Rangers' opponent to add another level of intensity and excitement to this chapter in this season's NFL Playoff story.

Rangers haven't seen anything like the challenge Stanley Cup-hungry Panthers pose

Looking back to last night, an injured and short-handed Vancouver finally succumbed in the end to Edmonton, 3-2, after what had been a magnificent season with a most disappointing playoff run reminiscent of the Rangers in the late 1980s to early 1990s. But an Oilers - Stars Western Conference Final should be equally as entertaining as Cats - Blueshirts.

Let the countdown begin!

Peace!

These were before my time; however, I have the Chris Schenkel-narrated highlight films for both and they were tough games played in bone-chilling conditions.

If you can remember back in 1985, when the Giants made the playoffs, both games were featured in the introduction to the CBS Intro of the actual telecast narrated by the great, legendary CBS commentator, Pat Summerall.

Here is the Wild Card game:


Still miss Pat and John on CBS - the Gold Standard of football broadcasting.

Peace!

+1

I'll vouch for "The Front Porch" as well as even less used "Giants History" board which is an outstanding room for history buffs, or a great place to ask a question and let the historians, or folks who lived to see it live, tell you all about it!

Peace!

NOTHING comes easy once you get to the semifinals. This is the backbreaker and even the best of teams have fallen off the cliff in this round. You make it here because you DESERVE to be here. This is the "Final Four" of the NHL but in Best of Seven format. If you can survive this round, you've arrived on destiny's doorstep.

It's NOT for the feint of heart - period!

It's going to be tough for the Rangers every bit as tough as it's going to be for the Panthers.

In other words, this is going to be one damn exciting series to watch, with the Western Conference Finals being equally as exciting.

Edmonton vs. Vancouver tonight for the right to play Dallas, tonight! A great series overall and worth watching if you have insomnia on the East Coast!

Peace!

Quote from: DaveBrown74 on May 18, 2024, 02:01:55 PMThe Pats and Panthers look like the worst teams to me.

I'd struggle to keep the Giants out of the bottom four though. I thought we were worse than our 6-11 record last year, and I am not convinced the team improved in the offseason overall (yes we gained a couple of very talented players but we also lost three).

I'd probably go (in order of badness):

1. Pats
2. Panthers
3. Broncos
4. Giants

I think there is a bit of a gap between the two worst teams and the next group though. I don't put the Broncos in the same tier as the Panthers and Pats.

It's as good a guess as a raffle ticket at a school fund raiser.

Factor injuries into the equation, which will impact this list more likely than any other variable, what might it look like then?

Peace!

Quote from: MightyGiants on May 16, 2024, 11:37:55 AM1979

This was the first time the Giants had beaten the Rams, in LA, since 1959. Further, Phil Simms had won four games on the trot after this huge upset of the eventual NFC Champions.

Peace!

Quote from: DaveBrown74 on May 19, 2024, 12:14:29 AMFlorida is pretty stacked. They go four lines deep with talent, and Bobby is a great goalie... probably HOF material. I won't be surprised if this one goes to a game seven.

On the positive side, I think there might be more open ice in this series for Bread and Zibs.

They are already advertising this one as a battle of best goalies in the league. Wait! What happened to Vezina Trophy winning Hellebuyck, anyway?

Anyway, I agree that the Z-man and the Breadman will have chances but I also think that this could be the series where Jack Roslovic, and his blazing speed, kicks into full gear and creates open spaces for our scoring heroes. He's played very well this off-season, as well as Wennberg, but Jack just needs to clean up the accuracy of his passing, a bit more, and keep shooting the puck, and he'll make an impact.

I'm hoping Laviolette is telling Jones to stay ready because I have a feeling we might see him before all is said and done.

Wednesday is going to be a good one! Meanwhile, if you haven't watched the Vancouver-Edmonton war, you're missing a Western classic. Game Seven on Monday in Vancouver, BC for winner take all and Dallas, who has home ice advantage, is ready for the winner. Oilers look dangerous! Connor McDavid is a f^@#!#g machine!

Peace!

Quote from: files58 on May 18, 2024, 09:48:08 PMFlorida will try to do the same thing to Panarin/Fox that they did to Marchand. Bennet got away with it. Maurice is a very good coach who desperately wants his name on the chalice. The Rangers raised the level of their game in the 3rd, they will need to keep their game on the incline. I noticed during the Cane series Fox was not coming down the boards like usual until that third period. Maybe he's getting closer to healed. There will be a ton of hitting this series. I hope the refs are legitimate in their calls, and no cheapies. Here's where Goodrow's Cup experience comes in handy. Florida is a really really good team. It will be interesting to see how many Ranger fans travel to Sunrise for the game and to see their grandparents.

You wrote down what I was thinking. You get to the semifinals, having people who have been there AND know what it takes to win, i.e. Barclay Goodrow, are intangibles that can help a team in a pinch. He doesn't tilt the ice, since the entire Florida team took the broom to the Canes last year in this round. But Goodrow has something those guys do not ... a Stanley Cup with his name on it. They also have a former Florida player who was also a former Canes player who drove his former team batty out there in round two. I think Vinny Trocheck is someone else who can get underneath the skin of the Bennetts and other goons on Florida's roster to throw them off a step. That could have a huge impact on improving the Rangers' chances.

Peace!

Quote from: DaveBrown74 on May 19, 2024, 07:50:09 AMThat's really peculiar.

I would prefer that every single NFL game played every week always be on Sunday. I am sure plenty disagree with me on that including the league and its ratings experts, but it would make things better for the players and coaches, and in many respects for the fans too. I appreciate that it means fans are going to watch fewer games in real time, but serious fans can still watch their team play plus two other games on Sunday if they choose to. I also like having the anticipation build up all week and then getting flooded with information/stimuli on Sundays.

With all of the above said I understand why the league does what it does with spreading these games out more. I'm not going to condemn them for it, but I wish it were just Sundays personally.

I'm on board with your games on Sundays but I'd add that I used to like the Giants' schedule back in the 1980s when they would have early Saturday games at Giants Stadium on the last week, or next or last week, of the regular season.

But with today's world of information overload, and the schedule quirks you mentioned, I really don't mind as a "casual fan" when I watch the other games when I have nothing else to do. But I do enjoy the Giants' games most when kickoff is at 10 AM MST in Arizona during Daylight Savings Time for the rest of the country, and 11 AM when everyone else returns to standard time (i.e. the 1:00 PM kickoff).

Peace!

Quote from: coggs on May 18, 2024, 01:20:00 PMThey literally had ONE losing streak of more than 2 games.  It was a 4-gamer that started with a SO Loss.  Aside from that, only 5 times where they had back-to-back losses and in 2 of those cases there was a SO/OT loss.

I've got your back on the bigger picture, here, coggs. In fact, if you look at that losing streak, it came after that scorching October/November performance where they went into a collective funk of inconsistency and actually lost five of six. The Canadiens loss was not a bad one, by any means, as they played well, but the Habs were on fire that Saturday night. It wasn't until after the embarrassment in Vegas, and the team letting down Quickie in his return to LA, where they finally woke up, and the huge shootout win in Colorado against the Avs set them on their way (i.e. insert 10-game winning streak here) to where we are today, in my opinion.

Now that we know it's Florida that stands in between the Rangers and a Cup Final berth, we can to a man, honestly state that Florida's credentials, plus their wanting to get back to the Finals to finish the job, makes them a valid favorite in this series. They don't have the hardware, but they are no "Paper Champion" either. Of all the teams in the East, going into the playoffs, both Florida teams (i.e. Panthers and Bolts) represented the biggest challenges for the Rangers should they cross paths (NOTE: I respect the Canes, but I already knew the Rangers could account for them, which they did). So now it's Florida.

A brief (NOTE: good-ending) re-introduction:


There were two others that went to the Cats which ended up close on the scoreboard, but the Rangers chased them in both games.

The shootout win was also made possible by notable absences in Florida's lineup at the time.  They'll be coming into the Garden with a full deck, this time, and, even playing short in the March 23 game, their relentless attacking, which saw them jump ahead 3-2 with four minutes left, is representative of the same style play they put Boston away for good with last night. The defense cannot give them the space in front of Igor, nor the swath between there and the point or the Cats will eat them alive.

They're going to have to figure out how to rattle Bobrovsky and capitalize. This shootout win showed some opportunity on how to do it that, in the other two games, they hadn't quite figured it out. Again, their special teams will be the catalyst in solving that puzzle. For the short-handed goals they pulled off against Washington and Carolina, they're going to have a much harder time with Florida's power play who have the speed and physical brute force to shut down the breaks the Rangers capitalized on.

This will be the series where the Breadman can stamp himself into Ranger lore forever if he can make an impact.

My concerns with Foxy not being 100% may end up being the difference in this series, but whether or not they use Jones to spell him remains to be seen. Note that he played in the March 23 game and held his own, for the most part.

Again, I'm not making any predictions about the upcoming series. We're back to where we were, two years ago, against a tough, physical team who can skate, shoot the puck and score, along with intimidate with brute force. That Rangers' team literally ran out of gas. This one has a sense of purpose. These two teams finished first in their respective divisions and, as such, have earned the right to be here. So, let them play, starting Wednesday, and may it be a great battle of hockey that does the league, and its fans, proud, regardless of the winner.

Having said all that, LGR!

Peace!