Big Blue Huddle

The worst part is I think that was probably the best game they've played this entire series as a whole. And that's with rempe playing something like 5 total mins. Which at that point why even dress the guy?

Quote from: Messiah717 on May 30, 2024, 10:58:28 PMSoft team that will be soundly eliminated in Florida.  Mika should be told to lift his NTC and be sent out of here.  Completely invisible and useless out there.  Panarin went from MVP like play during the season to just wanting to skate around the perimeter.  You can't win when your top line produces absolutely nothing.  Very stubborn by this coach to not move Lafreniere up to top PP line.  No adjustments and stubbornness from a HOF coach.

The Rangers have been soft since the Emile Francis days, except for one year. Why do you think my posts have an aggressive, even violent lean to them? Why do you think I've wished for an infusion of Ranger fan frustration into the personna of this team ala Young Frankenstein? (AB Normal) If that were the case then Tkachuk's mouthguard would need to be surgically removed from his chin. Panarin has opportunity to shoot from the high slot on the PP but doesn't. They are doing a good job of screening Kreider. So instead of looking for Kreid's stick/body for a deflection do the same with the screening Dman. If it goes in off a Panther it's still a goal. Create some chaos in front of their net by aiming for deflections off Panthers, from the sides, and from behind the net. They can win two games in a row. We're down, and frustrated. We want to WIN. Winning for us is The Cup, winning for the league(Bettman) is $$$$$$, and fan interest. A fundamental difference. That's a discussion for another time. If Florida wins then I hope Dallas wins the West. A ho-hum series in June that won't draw large viewership except for die hard hockey fans, and the 12 people in Toronto that will still care since Edmonton will be out. Dallas will be consumed with the Mavs.

5 games that all could have gone either way.  Last night was tough.  When he pulled Igor, I said it was too early.  I know the trend in the league now is to pull with 2:30-3 minutes to go, but I have always thought that was too early when you are down 1 unless you are on a PP.  1:00-1:30 is the time.  Oh well.  Win saturday and force game 7.

Florida is a bad match up for the Rangers, that simple. Too much grit and  stamina every game it seems. Still, their power play is overdue to get going. Let's hope so. Go Rangeerz.

Obviously I share your disappointment.

But it's one win in Florida, with no pressure - nobody is picking us here. It's all on Florida to close it out. It's not like they'll lose to some mugs.

However, they've won in Florida, by hook or by crook, do it again.

6 to go.

For those of a superstitious nature, I watched this one on delay this morning. I was simply dead, however on Saturday - I'll be back live.

LGR - two big efforts and let's wait and see. A lot of people thought it'll be 7, let's get it.

Quote from: spiderblue43 on May 31, 2024, 11:18:23 AMFlorida is a bad match up for the Rangers, that simple. Too much grit and  stamina every game it seems. Still, their power play is overdue to get going. Let's hope so. Go Rangeerz.

This is what it feels like. The Rangers are not a team designed to win board battles and races to the puck. Most of the game is 5v5 and they are mediocre at that. If the power play isn't humming, they're going to struggle. That said, they have, arguably, the best goalie in the world who has managed to keep them in every one of these games so far. The Rangers have a very weird formula for success and it's a formula that makes them really good against the bottom half of the league but will create problems when you're consistently going up against better opponents.

Quote from: jgrangers2 on May 31, 2024, 11:35:59 AMThis is what it feels like. The Rangers are not a team designed to win board battles and races to the puck. Most of the game is 5v5 and they are mediocre at that. If the power play isn't humming, they're going to struggle. That said, they have, arguably, the best goalie in the world who has managed to keep them in every one of these games so far. The Rangers have a very weird formula for success and it's a formula that makes them really good against the bottom half of the league but will create problems when you're consistently going up against better opponents.

I don't disagree but they knocked off the analytic darlings in six and are taking last SC runner up to at least 6.

I don't think the rangers get enough credit for their ability to absorb shots and then counter punch.

But Jess, I'm not digging your viewpoint out and respect it. They just aren't built to play the others do.

Florida is definitely a terrible matchup.  Eight games this season and they have yet to beat them in regulation. 

Quote from: EDjohnst1981 on May 31, 2024, 11:42:03 AMI don't disagree but they knocked off the analytic darlings in six and are taking last SC runner up to at least 6.

I don't think the rangers get enough credit for their ability to absorb shots and then counter punch.

But Jess, I'm not digging your viewpoint out and respect it. They just aren't built to play the others do.

To your point, as well as Jess', there are a handful of teams the Rangers needed to stay away from in order to have a reasonably good crack at winning it all. Carolina was never on that list because the Rangers have their number when it counts; two playoff series in three seasons have validated that claim.

The two Florida teams have always been the top two teams on that handful. Tampa whipping the Rangers late in the season, en route to their march to the post-season, is a clear reminder what that team did two years ago, and what they would be doing to them if they took the place of Florida in this third round. In the Western Conference, Dallas would be tough but they can play with those guys. I'd rather play them than Edmonton, and sure glad neither Winnipeg, Nashville nor Vegas advanced because all three are Ranger headaches.

Though they didn't get in, Columbus, Philly and Pittsburgh and the Isles, who did make it, would all have caused problems for the Rangers; however, you would think they'd account for them, but you never know.

But here's the thing we know but don't give Florida their just due on. They are a hungry team who is in the process of writing a wrong which was falling short in the Cup Finals last year. They're going for broke right now and their game clearly shows that. The Rangers aren't at that level right now. It's clear that luck might buy them a win tomorrow, but the reality is that they're going to have to produce something different, in terms of countering Florida's all-out attacking, in order to have a chance. Nobody in the NHL has done that this season. That's the task at hand.

Blaming players at this point is futile. The Rangers have gotten this far, for better or worse, with the group we've followed since early October last year. No matter what happens tomorrow, they've taken this Ranger fan on one of the most memorable rides in the 45 years I've followed this team (less the era after the canceled season when I turned my back on the sport).

For those of you who lived and experienced the highs and lows of the 1993-94 season, honestly, respond to my message here with how you felt after the Devils crushed the Rangers at the Garden in Game Five and took a 2-0 lead in Game Six at the Brendan Byrne Arena. I will account for how I felt which was grave disappointment and why the hell was Messier running his mouth about a guaranteed win? At the end of that game, I sat wide-eyed, mouth open, jaw to the floor, stunned! Every time I watch the highlights of that game, and the subsequent Game Seven at the Garden, back in the days when we were dealing with The Curse on top of the opponent, you realized that something just happened from heaven above.

Again, not suggesting that they need one of those heaven-sent interventions, though that would be pretty cool if it happened, but if they have to succumb to defeat, do it fighting to the very end. If that's how it plays out, I'll be a little sad and disappointed; however, they certainly didn't embarrass themselves out there either. In the end, the matchup was bad, they fought the good fight with their capabilities.

Now, let's see how it plays out.

Peace!

P.S. Sorry for rambling today. Mixed reaction after the game but, in the end, I agree with files58 that the Rangers need to give #19 a  and make him swallow his mouthpiece.

Zibanejad, who is well paid, is under contract with a no-trade clause (which you can bet your bottom dollar he won't wave) through the 2029-30 season. He won't be a UFA until he's 37.

Wild.

Coincidence in the Western Conference, that Edmonton undoing Dallas to put the Western Conference one win away from the Oilers advancing. No disrespect to Edmonton, but that wasn't supposed to happen. Two power play goals, though, killed the Stars in the end.

Which brings us to what could be the final game of the season for the Rangers or, with a shocking response, the right to fight another day.

There are no newspaper headlines guaranteeing "WE WILL WIN TONIGHT!" Larry Brooks of the NY Post could only conjure up "Rangers' season of belief has built up to this moment of truth." In a nutshell when the chips were down, they responded this season. So, here we are again.

With that, here we are again.

Talk to you all after the game and will have the Messier jersey on tonight for good luck (NOTE: in 103 degrees, that's dedication, my friends!).

Peace!

Bunch of disgusting gutless losers.  No reason to invest as much time or money in these clowns anymore.

Five shots in the third period facing elimination.  Says it all about this loser franchise. 

Lost to a better team. Simple as that.

Quote from: DaveBrown74 on June 01, 2024, 10:54:26 PMLost to a better team. Simple as that.

I'm sorry but enough of the nonsense.  Jersey last year.  Tampa the year before.  Tampa in 2015.  Jersey in 2012. Rinse and repeat.