finally some heart and guts take that pitt and that damn mellon arena go rangers

Good game, by the way it was Marc-Andre Fleury’s left shoulder Jokinen scored over. Johnson left late in the second- groin problems I think. Good to see the Rangers win without Gaborik.

I’m a big Ranger fan living in Pittsburgh. My buds are huge Pens fans, so I’ve had to eat so much crap after every game this year (especially Valli starting in Pittsburgh after Thanksgiving—slick move, Torts). Who knows why, but I felt great being the only Ranger fan in a bar full of Pens fans tonite.
I thought they played incredibly hard, especially considering the injuries they’ve sustained and could have folded easily. Hank played great (especially that first period after Cyndy’s goal) After that, I really thought they controlled play, which was impressive, considering Pittsburgh is more talented. I dunno how everyone else feels about the Rangers’ future, but when everyone is always picking on your team…well, its just nice to win one like this.

i just realized we drafted sergei zubov in the 5th round in 1990

Michael Del Zotto was sliced on his lower left side just above the hockey pants where there is no protection. It’s a laceration (Spelling) that was easily stitched up, but still that is a scary thing as these new Reebok hockey jerseys are thin as hell. The NHL and Reebok has to re-assess the material and they have to bring back the older ones that were used the first two seasons after the lockout. They should be lucky Del Zotto didn’t bleed out on the ice.

To the Rangers fan in Pittsburgh. Tell your buddies from me that Sidney Crosby gets every single F’en call and the on-ice officials protect him when he does cause a penalty. The two times that Crosby slashed Brandon Dubinsky with the linesman right there at the end of the second period, not a single minor was given to him. At least a double minor for slashing Dubinsky twice & the Rangers never had a four minute PP for that crap. Crosby deserved two penalties and if it was Dubi who slashed Crosby he would’ve gotten a minor to start the 3rd period. It goes to show you that the NHL wants to protect Crosby at all costs & that is complete bulls***. Great job by Dubi to keep his cool and everyone sees what Crosby really is. A little whiney bitch who is over hyped and breaks the rules.

Great job by the Rangers for answering the call when both Gaborik & Del Zotto couldn’t finish the game. Great goals by Dubinsky & Prospal in regulation and what a hell of a shot by Jokinen to win it in OT. I have to admit, Olli is winning me over. I don’t know if he will resign here or the Rangers let him go, but right now I’m enjoying his play.

Let’s talk about the instagater rule here. Matt Cooke should’ve earned it when he intentionally shoves Drury while Chris is down on the ice. Why didn’t Andrew Peters get an instagator when he wanted Round 2 with Prust? But Prust got it in LA against the Kings. Either call it right, or kill the rule off. This is disgusting & I’m glad Rozsival got the 10 minute misconduct. Because he was trying to help out Captain Drury.

Fabulous win, nice to get the extra point in Pittsburgh & I pray the igloo burns to the ground.

This is the best i’ve seen the rangers perform all season. i’m going to come right out and say it: no matter what you think of some of Sather’s mistakes in the past, he’s done an excellent job recently. The Shelly trade is a minor adjustment but may prove out to be very, very wise. We’re not giving up that much of anything to insure that this club stays tough no matter what. We are now shored up to put grit on the ice and tangle up and rattle the opposition’s wonder boys…and every team who looks destined to challenge for the cup this year is structured around those kind of players: pittsburgh, washington, ottawa, San Jose. It is not only a smart strategy at this point, it is the only viable one strategically. Remember how Keenen picked up matteau, i think it was, during the push for the cup? Lots of people thought he was tampering with a good thing by adding gritty crease and in the corner players who may not have had high numbers or else were nearing their sunset (mctavish, anderson) in the pros. Firing Sather would be a terrible mistake. He’s given the Rangers something we haven’t had for years, a network, a team, of good scouts who are wise drafters. The move to snag Olly, and the terms we got him on…the time we have to commit to his contract and the packaging of Kot was the result of very, very good and patient GM’ing. He hasn’t panicked despite a lot of pressure from fans and the threat of not earning the Dough-lans playoff money. Also, Prust and Avery looked spectacular together tonight. If someone had proposed that line combo, and I’m sure, in fact, I remember someone proposing that line combo in a thread, I would have vetoed it. But they bring out the best in each other and the team…they are on the same gritty wavelength. Even if they don’t score, their pressure wears down and destabilizes the other team. In order for our top scorers to connect, the first step is for the whole team to throw the opposition off its game. We did this very effectively tonight. If we can keep playing this physically we have a good chance of getting into the playoffs and if we don’t, at least we’ll do it with integrity.

Whatever the outcome of this season, and as a ranger fan I still dream of the cup in blue — and as someone whose earliest sports memory was the ‘69 Mets, I will never relent on this goal — at this point I’m realistically looking at signs for how this club might re-group for next season. I’m not capable of listing specific examples right now, but I do know that there are lots of cases where lower pack teams kept their core elements and shocked everyone…not just because they drafted some top one phenomenal 19 year old stud, but because losing taught the club something. We’ll see.

Not saying that I know as much about this as other people here, but from what I can tell, the club has a future. Messier loves this team and he is very intelligent. I trust him to take the reigns when he is ready and he is studying under Sather and his team. This is NOT to defend the Dough-lans. They have distracted the Rangers and Knicks from the building process as much as they have helped…but from the perspective of a GM, its hard not to reach out and grab a guy like Redden who had a solid history with a good club. Sometimes its just a roll of the dice.

I actually think Sather would agree with a lot of the criticisms made on this blog. Doing something about it is a very different matter. The fact that he didn’t attempt to snag Kovi tells us a lot. Clearly the deal that came down in the end is a sign that he, at least theoretically, could have closed in on something. But he knows, just like we do, that this isn’t the year to be making those sacrifices, even minor ones to do so. Instead, he’s focused on his cap and made great moves that still leave us positioned, with a little more juggling after the break, over the summer or in the early part of next season to snag the right wheel for this cart. Gabby, Olly, and player X. Ok, now we’re in the contest…and it isn’t as far away as these dark hours may make it seem.

Don’t Fire Sather!

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I was totally SHOCKED by this outcome. It had all the earmarks of so many brutal losses this year, to much worse teams a lot of the time. This team is so hard to predict. In the middle of some horrible losses the last couple weeks we beat Kovy and the Devils, make it very interesting against Washington, and beat the Pens in Pittsburgh.
And thank Dubinsky for saying what every Ranger fan has been saying for years: “Crosby is such a little baby.”
Great job guys. Shock us some more and actually follow this up with another gritty win on Sunday.

The more I see of this guy the more I’m impressed, he has grit and he has worked hard…gets in position etc. He also plays a decent defense from what I’ve seen, anyway. I guess what I’m trying to say is, wow what a breath of fresh air compared to Higgins and Kotalik!

Maybe I’m wrong but Ollie should be resigned, and I really didn’t like letting go of Nik Antropov, whom I thought also played well as a ranger when he was here.

so whats up with the 10 minute misconduct for Rosi? I mean if you watch what happened again, there is a ref standing a foot away when they fell to the ice and didn’t do anything while drury’s face was pummelled in. All Rosi did was pull the guy off. He didn’t throw punches.
This amazes me when games like us vs. the devils where Peters drops the gloves early, throws punches and gets the same 10 min misconduct. how is that equatable for the same minutes as rosi?

Best quote since “fatso didn’t shake my hand.”

I guess so, but if Sather could waste that kind of dough on Kotalik, Brashear and…oh well, never mind. I hope they just resign OJoki.