Versus! Foiled Again

Another huge Ranger game tonight - as our heroes desperately try to hang on to one of the last 2 playoff spots in the Eastern Conference. We're hovering just 3 points up on Montreal and Florida with 9 to play.

And where is the game telecast?

• NBC? No.


• PIX? No again.


• Well, MSG for sure. No again!


• ESPN? ESPN 2? No and No.

The Rangers match up tonight against the Minnesota Wild will be broadcast proudly by (and I checked this 3 times) the Versus network. And as a result - many of us - yours truly Dave Pucks included - can't watch the freaking game!

I mean - why not on MSG? The game is actually being played at MSG. Doesn't that give them some sort of territorial rights? Isn't there some sort of business connection between MSG the venue and MSG the network - or are the identical names just some sort of odd coincidence?

I don't want to turn into Phil Mushnick here (whose biting editorials on sports media often slide into the " I hate sports and everything else" category) so I won't ponder why, in the name of Rod Gilbert, this is happening to us. Let me calm down and try to pivot gracefully into our next segment:

Dave Pucks Incredibly Obvious Keys To The Game

1 - Score goals. That's plural. As in more than one. Three really. We need three. (But we'd take four or more).

2 - Luck be with Lundqi tonight. Let our superstar goalie be who he really is this evening. And that includes the 3rd period - where he's allowed 3 goals on 9 shots over the last 2 games. Just keep them under 3 goals, Henke.

So - to review. (1) Score, and (2) don't get scored on.

This has been Dave Pucks Incredibly Obvious Keys To The Game. Thank you.

Magic Rat's Guide To Scoreboarding

Our mascot and medium - the Magic Rat - offers these tips on how to root in other games:

There is only one non-Ranger game today that the Rat has deep-seated emotional feelings for:

Thrashers over Canadians. The Habs are one of two teams that could potentially catch the Rangers and force us back below the playoff Line-O-Death. Montreal losing would be very very good. And NOOT (which means "lose in regulation" in French-Canadian)

Okay then - good luck watching the radio tonight.