Let’s Go... (uh, what was that name again?)

Remember, back in the Winter of 2009, when the Rangers played hockey games every day or two? And when - this being the Blueshirt Brothers Rangers Blog and all - Nugs and I would write stuff about those Ranger games?

Good times, my friends, good times. At least that's how I remember them.

That was, of course, last Winter. It's Spring now. We have today reached that Equinox where day and night are tied at exactly 12 hours each (pending OT and a shoot out). So Friday March 20th signals (1) a new calendar season, and (2) the third consecutive day since our last Ranger game.

Any chance our Rangers will play some ice hockey today? Uh, no. And, of course, they didn’t play yesterday. Or Wednesday. I seem to recall a game against Montreal before that - but time has blurred the details.

They do have a scheduled game tomorrow - so the team will probably get back together and re-introduce themselves to each other this weekend. (“Colton, this is Brandon – Fredrik, here’s Henrik”, and so on)

But today (as it snows on me and my Spring attire of authentic Blueshirt Brothers tee shirt and Rangers shorts) I am forced to once again review last night’s Scoreboard and dream of better days to come.

Last night the Canadians, who played us Tuesday but who seem to play every other day (like a normal hockey team) lost in regulation (NOOT!) to Ottawa. This dispenses with Montreal's "game at hand" and keeps them in the Rangers’ rear view mirror by a whole point.

One the other hand, 9th place Florida upended Toronto 3-1, getting themselves to 80 points - just one behind the 8th and final playoff spot.

This of course tightens up the already tight race in the Eastern Conference. Just 4 points separates 4th place (and home ice advantage for round 1 of the playoffs) from 9th (and no playoffs at all). The Rangers squat right in the middle of that pack – 2 points below 4th place and 2 points above the ominous Line-O-Death.

And that's how it looks right now on the first day of Spring. We'll punch back in later on to cover how the Magic Rat will be Rooting in tonight's games.

Keys To The Game

If you feel depressed, concerned, and not quite ready this morning for more of the Flyers in just a few hours - imagine how Hank and the fellas feel right now.

As we try to get our game faces on - lets review last night's other games:

You know - we had asked for NOOT (No OverTimes) in our scoreboard last night. But what we got was a collection of Shoot Outs. So most of our our division rivals lost (that's good!) but they all got a point anyway (that's the opposite of good)

Penguins Lost - but in a Shoot Out - so they climb to 2 points ahead of us in 6th
Sabres Lost - but again a SO - so they are just 2 back of us now
Carolina Lost - in a SO - so they move past us into 7th
Florida Lost - yes in a SO - so they tie us at 78 points

Canadians Lost - in Regulation - finally - so they stall just 2 points north of us.

So we now are in a tie for 8th (and 9th) with Florida right at the Line-O-Death. But Carolina is just one point ahead of us with 2 less games to play - so their hold on 7th is pretty shaky right now.

Dave Pucks Keys To The Game

1 - Hank be Hank. (Don't let 13% of all shots in your net like yesterday)
2 - Score goals. Three would be nice.

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

To The Scoreboard

Okay – trying to move past grief into scoreboard watching – despite today's sad result - as I sit hunched over my keyboard at this exact moment the Rangers still reside above the Line-O-Death and in the playoffs (which you can check out to the right)

So here's what we want from the Scoreboard deity this evening:

Senators already beat the Penguins (good) but in a SO so they get a point (less good)

Devils over Canadians (keep Habs within 2 of us)
Thrashers over Sabres (Buffalo only 3 back of us – and they scare me)
Capitals over Hurricanes (Let's keep Carolina tied with us)
Lighting over Panthers (this won't be easy – and Panthers only trail us by 1)
Flames over Leafs (but Toronto's 11 back of us anyway so less of a big deal)

And NOOT (No OverTimes) people!

3 Goals and Hank

We couldn't agree more with Nugman. A great night and a great win for the Rangers. Three goals and Hank and you've got another victory. (We got a 4th goal but 3 was all we needed.)

Suddenly I love the coaching. Torts rewards hustle (example: Avery promoted to the top line) and benches lack-of-hustle (example: Zherdev has a seat while Callahan steps in). This is that ACCOUNTABILITY thing that the Rangers have so long lacked. When you reward players that try hard you quickly get two things: (1) More ice time for the hustling players and (2) an obvious incentive for the other players to start hustling to get more ice time. Plus - Tortorella's loud 1st intermission "suggestions" seemed to light a fire under our heroes. They started the 2nd period like they were shot from a cannon.

And how about that Sean Avery? Have you ever seen a more immediate impact on a hockey club from the addition of one player (who was not a superstar or a goalie)? Sean was everywhere last night and he and his new line (Gomez & Callahan) played huge and generated a large part of our offense. And almost as important - he's helped make our team fun to watch again. The guys just seemed to have more speed, more offense and more power than usual. And they defended Lundqvist by keeping the puck far far away from him. Because the best Defense occurs when you're not defending at all - by making the other guy defend his goal.

The win leapfrogs us north of the Line-O-Death (which lurks just out of the playoffs between 8th and 9th place - see left). There's still a long way to go - but it's a heck of a lot more comfortable looking ahead when our boys are sitting with the cool kids - at least for the moment. And as Nugman pointed out - only two NOOT-failures and a generally good day for the scoreboard last night.

Tonight's two games have no impact on our playoff hopes - so eyes off the scoreboard this evening (perhaps Nugman's "drink heavily" advice would do nicely here) and start thinking about Saturday's big matinee verses the Philadelphia Cheese Steaks. If the ratings are good they'll go ahead and replay the game on Sunday afternoon as well.

And on tomorrow's scoreboard - here's how to root (Deb Kaufman please take note):

Senators over Penguins
Thrashers over Sabres
Devils over Canadians (not that we like rooting for those guys)
Capital over Hurricanes.

And please - NOOT - people - NOOT! Let's focus.

Nothing Could Be Finer...

...than a loss by Carolina.

They're underway in The Only Game Tonight That Matters - the match between the last team we beat (Chicago) and the last team that beat us (Carolina). What we need is a Blackhawk win - as Chicago is in the "other division", but the Hurricanes sit just above us and just above the Line-Of-Death one place and one point in front of the Rangers. So win, Chicago, win, and do it in regulation - don't forget to NOOT (that is - no OT wins).

"NOOT" so much

As our 9th Place Rangers rested and Lundvist battled his flu-like symptoms, your Blueshirt Brothers were on the job – eyes glued to that out-of-town scoreboard, looking for signs of (A) enlightenment, (B) salvation, and (C) redemption.

What we got instead was: (D) none of the above.

As we noted yesterday - Our first goal for the evening was: NOOT (which means NO OverTimes - when 2 division opponents play each other). It's bad enough that 2 points are awarded to somebody every time our division rivals clash. But when there's OT an additional 3rd point is awarded as well (to the loser!) – a point that could make the difference between the Rangers making the Playoffs or just watching them on TV.

So, did the Hockey Gods smile on our NOOT prayer last night? Well, “noot” so much:

Pittsburgh 4, Florida 3 OT (shoot out)
This is as bad as it gets. Both teams started the day tied with the Rangers at 76 points. But with the OT, not only do the Penguins jump 2 points up on us with the win, Florida jumps a point past us to 77 - gaining a point for losing the Shoot Out.

Montreal 4, Edmonton 3, OT
The OT is not the problem here - Edmonton is in that obscure conference out West. But the Canadians, celebrating their 100th season and brand new coach, respond with 2 big points that move them 3 ahead of our heroes.

Toronto 3, Islanders 2, OT
Not really a problem as both teams trail us by large margins, but the Leafs are closer and came away with the win.

Philadelphia 5, Buffalo 2.
I guess this is the best news of the night. A regulation win - so only the required minimum 2 points are disbursed. And the Sabre's are only 3 back of us - so the loss keeps them there. But the Cheese Steaks jump a full 6 points ahead of us now.

So here’s how things are looking:

Place and POINTS
1 Boston 95
2 New Jersey 89
3 Washington 88
4 Philadelphia 82
5 Montreal 79
6 Pittsburgh 78
7 Florida 77
8 Carolina 77

-----Line of Death-----------------------------

9 NY Rangers 76
10 Buffalo 73
11 Toronto 67
12 Ottawa 62
13 Atlanta 58
14 Tampa Bay 55
15 NY Islanders 52

And what was yesterday’s “tied for 6th” becomes this morning’s undisputed 9th place. That’s all I’ve got to say for now – I plan to spend the rest of the day squinting at our 76 points – trying to make the “6” look like an “8”.