So here we are folks. Tonight is THE night. The biggest game for the New York Rangers since that fabled night oh so long ago, June 14, 1994. The Broadway Blues have to win one of the two games in Buffalo, and in my eyes although nothing is impossible, winning a Game 7 on the road would be about as tough a game as possible. Here we have the Buffalo Sabres, winners of the President's Trophy with the most points in the league (113), and with the most potent offense in the league during the regular season (308 goals), being held to only a pair of goals in the two games at MSG.The New York Islanders won Game 2 of their series in Buffalo, mostly on adrenaline fueled by the inspirational return of their netminder Rick DiPietro. The Rangers have to feel a similar sense of desperation, because I'm sure they realize that if the Sabres' confidence is not shaky at this point, it would be severely rattled with a win tonight. But really it's more than that. Win tonight and the Rangers would have a raucous crowd on their side for the possible clincher at home Sunday afternoon. Although no guarantee - the Rangers have performed better on the road overall this year - again it's much better than winning a seventh game in Buffalo. Vets like Brendan Shanahan and Jaromir Jagr know that the number of opportunities for them to do something "special" is limited while they finish out the back nine of their illustrious careers.
When asked yesterday about the prospects of winning in Buffalo, Jagr jokingly said "Yeah, it's so easy even a caveman can do it." I don't know what the deal is for some of these guys in other cities, but Jagr has been a model professional athlete since coming to the Rangers, despite the bad rap he got in Pittsburgh. Same was true for Eric Lindros, target of a continual onslaught of Bobby Clarkism in Philly, but a model Ranger despite playing on some quite dismal teams. Jagr though has gotten the Rangers into the playoffs during both of his two full seasons spent in New York and he has helped to restore some of the magic to MSG.
This team may - and yes I did say may - have something here. It's a tremendous mix of older vets like Jagr, Shanahan, Michael Nylander, and Martin Straka, mixed in with a solid young nucleus led by Henrik Lundqvist, and filled out with Michal Rozsival, Fedor Tyutin, Dan Girardi, Ryan Callahan, and Sean Avery. Jagr's done things all year with a great sense of humor and yes he has played hard, even paying attention to defensive zone coverage. Now in the playoffs, Jagr has stepped things up a notch. He's ready to roll and so am I. The Rangers vs. the Sabres at HSBC Arena tonight at 7. Let's hook 'em up! But before we do that, let's all share a laugh with this video starring the Geico Cavemen, that I'm betting you haven't yet seen:
4 comments:
Sean, lots of great posts over the last couple of days. But it needs something...I've got a fever...and the fever is MORE COWBELL!!
Anyway, all funny stuff. Love the Geico spoof and the quickies.
And as for politics, do we think the country could handle a Mormon in the Oval Office?
Rob
Thanks very much. More cowbell on the way...I am actually a bit surprised about how big the whole Mormon issue is in regards to Romney. I've already seen quite a few books written about just that question.
SGK
Now onto baseball, I guess. We have approximately 28 million reasons to watch, right? and what can be better than listening to Chris Russo eat humble pie?
I actually had forgotten that Romney was a Mormon until the media starting bringing it up (I think it was Monica Crowley, to be exact).
We can talk about all of this on our talk show...oh yeah, that's right...never mind. They have real broadcasters there.
I still think that Richard Bey and Steve Malzberg would go over great at The Radio Station.
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