New York Rangers Pregame

Rangers Pregame: Thoughts on Drury and Lundqvist Comments, Blues-Rangers Preview

I know a lot of you weighed in on Chris Drury's comments on the Rangers maturity, but I wanted to give my thoughts as well. In case you missed it, here is what Drury had to say about the Rangers inconsistent play:

"It's immaturity, that's what it's been all year. Simple answer." Drury also said the Rangers better "Grow up fast or you're gonna be watching a lot of playoff hockey in 12 or 13 games, or whatever the hell we have left."

Now despite the 39 years experience I have at acting like a child, I equivocate the word "immaturity" with "young", and while I applaud Drury speaking out about his team's poor play, by saying they are "immature", it almost sounds like he is pointing the finger at the young players, and while a few of them have not played well, I would look more towards the veteran players who are underperforming first.

A few adjectives Drury might have used instead would be "dumb", "moronic", "ridiculous", and "ulcer inducing".

Now I thought Henrik Lundqvist also had an interesting quote that got passed over in the wake of the Drury comments:

"I don’t know, it’s hard to put my finger on it, why we’re not consistent enough," Lundqvist added. "It’s a tough thing. The top teams are not that much better, they’re just more consistent. A big part of it is mental preparation and how much you want it."

We've all questioned the work ethic of this team for most of the season, it's interesting to hear the star of the team do it. Sounds to me like a bit of a rift may be developing in the locker room as the season winds down.

Game Preview after the hump.......

Blues-Rangers Head to Head: (courtesy of NHL.com)

	STATS
69	GP	70
32	W	31
28	L	30
9	OT	9
73	P	71
0.529	P%	0.507
2.64	G/G	2.57
2.74	GA/G	2.69
16.8	PP%	18.5
85.8	PK%	83.5
29.9	S/G	29.6
30.3	SA/G	30.0
48.9	FO%	49.7

Season series -- This is the second and final meeting of the season between the teams. The Blues used three third-period goals on Jan. 16 to pick up a 4-1 victory. Goaltender Henrik Lundqvist had the night off, as rookie Chad Johnson took the loss.

Big story -- If the Blues were in the East, their 73 points would have them just one point out of the playoffs. But in the West, that total is good for 11th place and seven points out of the postseason. The Rangers, meanwhile, have two fewer points than St. Louis and a lot more riding on this game. They need a win to close the gap on the Boston Bruins, their next opponent.

Stat pack -- The Blues are 10-45 with 6 ties all-time at Madison Square Garden, but that mark was a lot worse before they went 4-0-1 in their last five visits. They won four in a row before losing 3-2 in a shootout on March 3, 2007. The last time they left the Garden without a point was a 3-1 loss on Jan. 20, 1998.

Blues Leading Scorer: