Pre-Game Talk: Game 7

[Holocene]

I feel a shutout, for the wrong team, coming on.

Maybe if the game was in Philly. Mason has been average in our building all year.

 

[MGF0723]

All the suits will be there in full force tonight, casually taking in a game 7. Careful enough as not to get too crazy to the point where they may drop their sushi or spill their merlot in a cup on their Kenneth Cole three pieces. Tickets are up to $200 a pop.....in Philly they were around $80. Real fans are priced out. That place is gonna be a morgue.

 

[BarbaraAlphanse]

Cant believe this team finally has a decent PP and then goes 0-20 or whatever in the first round. This is exactly what prevented them from moving on last year and was the key difference going into this years playoff, with a deepr team to boot. So ******* frustrating.

They win tonight and everyone is excited and saying we can beat Pitt.

They lose tonight and people want heads to roll and changes to be made.

This is such a polarizing team. Nothing changes. This series should be over. I dont think any fair fan would honestly say that the Flyers have been the better team throughout the entire series. They just havent. But that doesnt mean **** apparently. I go down the line and i see the advantage going to the Rangers in almost all of the categories. But again, it means nothing unless the team/coach proves it.

So i am here, half passionate, half disenchanted, again. It's almost too difficult to watch tonight because ive shook my head enough in disgust, ive thrown too many water bottles at the wall. But I cant control anything. ITs just the way it is. Take solace in the fact that a great team in the Sharks coughed up a 3-0 lead to the Kings - albeit a very good team in their own right, but its a 3-0 lead with their own Game 7 to contend with.

I'm a fan and I love this team. And i hate the Flyers. So with that said:

Lets Go Rangers. Even if its not perfect. One game. In our barn. Beat these ****s. Knock them the **** out.

You've summed up how I feel perfectly.

 

[BarbaraAlphanse]

Maybe if the game was in Philly. Mason has been average in our building all year.

It's the lighting.

 

[MGF0723]

Several fights among orange and blueshirt fans reported last night, a Rangers fan ended up in hospital. Looks like we lost all the battles down there

As long as they sell alcohol this is bound to happen.

No, that's just typical Philly. Never had a problem in DC, Boston, Uniondale or Newark but have had a rough time at Wells Fargo Center every time I've been there.

 

[AHB*]

All the suits will be there in full force tonight, casually taking in a game 7. Careful enough as not to get too crazy to the point where they may drop their sushi or spill their merlot in a cup on their Kenneth Cole three pieces. Tickets are up to $200 a pop.....in Philly they were around $80. Real fans are priced out. That place is gonna be a morgue.

It has been fairly lively, even for the Sunday games. Much more so then I anticipated. '

Game 7, weekday, I Imagine will be raucous.

I think you're just mad, bro.

 

[Wolfy*]

When Zucc was on the 1st PP unit it worked very well. Why the heck did AV change that?

 

[BarbaraAlphanse]

It has been fairly lively, even for the Sunday games. Much more so then I anticipated. '

Game 7, weekday, I Imagine will be raucous.

I think you're just mad, bro.

There are many "suits" that are die hard rangers fans. Many "suits" use Ranger games to get piss drunk and forget about their work lives, even for just a few hours.

I think it'll be loud AF.

 

[AHB*]

There are many "suits" that are die hard rangers fans. Many "suits" use Ranger games to get piss drunk and forget about their work lives, even for just a few hours.

I think it'll be loud AF.

I wear my jersey to the game, but technically I'm a "suit" also. And I don't eat at the games. Especially not sushi.

 

[Bleed Ranger Blue]

Anyone else think the ice in Philly last night was particularly bad? Puck was bouncing all over the place.

...certainly favors the team willing to muck it up.

 

[Fitzy]

Don't know what paper you are looking at.

The one with a top 5 blueline, a top 3 goaltender, and a reigning Art Ross winner, with a 50+ point player on the 3rd line.

 

[BarbaraAlphanse]

I wear my jersey to the game, but technically I'm a "suit" also. And I don't eat at the games. Especially not sushi.

I've never seen anyone eat the sushi at the garden... or casually sip on merlot during a playoffs game.

And i've had to stop wearing my jersey to games. They've lost the last 4 times I've worn it there. Won the last 4 that I haven't. Go figure.

 

[Hi ImHFNYR]

Ok, you didn't want to be going tonight, you wanted to be talking about the Rangers-Penguins series. I get it. But like it or not game seven is upon us, and since the team worked hard to get home ice advantage, it's up to those of you who are going to the game to BE that home ice advantage!

I always laugh when a team comes in and wins game one on the road, and the announcer says - now so-and-so took away home ice advantage. NOT! By far the biggest part of home ice advantage is having game seven in your building, in front of your fans. And that's where we are now.

By many accounts from many different fronts, MSG has so far been amongst the quietest buildings in the playoffs. For a person who as a little girl started going to games in the 80's when the crowd was absolutely deafening BEFORE the game even started - and then ramped it up during the game, this is disappointing.

This is not a thread for excuses or rationalizations, please save it for now. The TV networks do not pick up crowd noise well - 12 noon starts - prices are too high - other buildings are quiet too - I have a tickle in my throat - I DONT' WANT TO HEAR IT!

It's time for you to be the fifth line, the seventh defenseman, the backup goalie. Time to pay our team off for finishing ahead of the Flyers and earning this home game. Time to pick up a team that was disheartened last night, but starts this game 0-0, with everything to play for. Time to help our team ride the adrenaline of crowd noise the same way the orange crud did last night. Time to NOT boo the power play early if it doesn't click, but to stay behind your team to the bitter end.

If we lose we have a long summer to commiserate the what-if's and apply blame to our least favorite players. But we are not there yet! It's still all in front of us!

It is your turn to contribute!!! Do your part!!!

LET'S GO RANGERS!!!!!!!!!!!

Philly embarrassed MSG last night. The crowd was frenzied and directed that frenzy into cheering the team every moment it could. MSG and the NYR fanbase has become a bit of a bad one. They are probably desensitized to being in the PO's at this point b/c we've done it so much. Having the huge MSG crowd made watching the Rangers an absolute blast so it sucks that the MSG crowd is so lame now

 

[Carl Swaglin]

I had to leave the GDT early yesterday due to everyone on here enraging me, but I'm back.

LGR, time to ride the HANK TANK

 

[BarbaraAlphanse]

Anyone else think the ice in Philly last night was particularly bad? Puck was bouncing all over the place.

...certainly favors the team willing to muck it up.

No I think the player's were the problem last night, not the ice.

 

[nevesis]

Larry sums it up perfectly.

http://nypost.com/2014/04/30/time-for-low-key-rangers-to-man-up-in-game-7/

PHILADELPHIA — One night on Broadway. One game that will in large measure define the Rangers and the Rangers’ season. Game 7 against the Flyers at the Garden on Wednesday.
Game 6 on Tuesday? You mean the game in which the Rangers could have wrapped up this opening round but instead fell on their faces after a collective pratfall in which even Henrik Lundqvist went down and out? You mean the 5-2 Flyers’ victory that was 4-0 by the end of the second?

That game? What game?

“What’s that called? ‘Amnesia?’ ” Martin St. Louis wanted to know, asking and answering his own rhetorical question. “That’s what we need for Game 7.”

The Rangers are going to need a whole lot more than amnesia in order to reverse the Game 6 horror show in which Philadelphia’s best players were miles and miles ahead of the Rangers’ signature athletes, from Wayne Simmonds recording a hat trick while Rick Nash remained scoreless to Steve Mason outplaying Lundqvist by a wide margin in nets.

“They did everything better than us,” said Lundqvist, yanked after allowing four goals in 40 minutes and thus pulled from a playoff game for the first time since Game 6 in the 2009 first-round series in which the Rangers blew a 3-1 lead to the Caps before losing Game 7 in D.C. “Even goaltending.”

 

[ReggieDunlop68]

I.

I've been overly confident about the Rangers before game 6. No more of that. I'll go full apocalypse mode with this post. Don't take it too seriously, I'm just trying to ban any negativity that could possibly surround this team into my posts. If anyone has a shot at this it's me. I'm from Vienna and we drink negativity with our tap water. Lets go.

The only hope I have left for this team is Mats Zuccarello staring his own teammates down one by one, so they'll accept him as their alpha-male and do exactly as he says.

First off, let's start with the elephant in the Room. Hank. He continues to get outplayed by goalies who make a fraction of his salary. Neuvirth. A back then scrubby version of Varlamov. Holtby. Anderson came damn close. Ancient Marty Brodeur. Now Steve Mason, who was out of the NHL with one and a half feet, if Holmgren hadn't been desperate. I'd rather start Talbot. He didn't give up a single goal last game.

Then our defense. No one can finish a hit, no one can contribute anything offensively. That's a department the Flyers are better, offensive defensemen. Timonen, Streit. That's a dimension of offnese the Rangers just don't have. We're also getting outmuscled by the Flyers' attackers. Say what you will about Stu Bickel, but his bench sitting skills took us to the ECF. McDonagh hasn't been playing well at all this series. Stralman had his weaknesses. Klein and Moore can't get the puck out of our end.

And now the biggest trainwreck, our forwards. First, there's Rick "I think I've played well in the playoffs" Nash. I can't wait for the day where we either trade this lazy bum or when his contract runs out. Then there's Marty "oh noes, so heartbreak with Stevie" St. Louis, who hasn't done much in blue. Then there's Brad Richards, who's basically a surefire buyout at this point, but is no doubt gonna get hurt badly in this game (which by the way will be the last this season for the Rangers). Then Derek "I'm bold enough to hold out here a little longer" Stepan. What a joke of a season he's had. Brassard is invisible in the playoffs, Miller isn't gonna sniff the NHL anytime soon, Carl Hagelin is a headless chicken and Benoit Pouliot is back to his early-season ways. Boyle can't skate, Fast isn't toff enoff, Dom Moore looks creepy, Derek Dorsett is an idiot and Carcillo is ugly. So there's that.

But it doens't stop here. Vigneault is too occupied with chewing gum to make any adjustmenst during the game, let alone the series. Arniel (along with Nash, Brassard and Moore) brought the Blue Jackets losing mentality with him, and Samuelsson focuses on being swedish.

Our GM is a joke, anyone knows that, so I won't discuss it here. Then there's our drafting, which sucks as well. We could've had Tarasenko people, TARASENKO! Dolan doesn't know **** about hockey either.

This franchise is doomed, the picks we traded to Tampa will turn into modern era Orr and modern era Gretzky. Book it.

The game ends 6-1 Flyers, btw. ZUccarello with our only goal, Hank gets pulled after 8 minutes. Philly is going to be up 4-0 at that point.

II.

I didn't watch the game last night but I find it almost comical that people around here are getting this bent out shape by blaming players via trades, Sather and the draft, FAs, etc.
I chalk it up to watching this team for so long that I've tempered my expectations, especially since Dolan took over but did anyone around here actually expect or still expect the Rangers to win the Stanley Cup this year?
Complain all you want about bad trades, bad drafting and bad signings. All of us that posted around here around the lockout knew this process would take 8-10 years to rebuild an organization from the ground up... which at the time was pretty much a laughing stock.
I remember people going bat ***** over a player like Josef Balej and ready to name Jed Ortmeyer as the next Captain.
People have to get a grip.
This off-season is probably one of the biggest in years in terms building around those core players who will be entering their primes. Very few personnel adjustments need to be made for this team to make some real noise. Take some solace in that Gorton is in the front office.

III.

On paper, it is far from a mediocre team.

It's just performing like one right now.

IV.

The median is 15th overall. The Rangers finished 12th, 2 points better than 13th. This series is tied 3-3.

Median= mediocre. They are slightly better than mediocre.

V.

0 for the last 18 on the power play.

I. The bolded portion of this post stood out to me. Every time the Rangers can't score, the apologists say that [insert goalie] stood on his head and [insert goalie] outplayed Lundqvist. There are three obvious inferences that could be drawn from that statement.

a. Unknown or aged goaltenders get psyched when they play the Rangers
b. Lundqvist is not a great goalie
c. The Rangers take bad shots due to limited offensive ability
d. 4get theze num3erz! I sees what I sees!

I chose C.

II. If it weren't for the cap. The Rangers would still be building "all-star teams." It is the cap that limited those moves, yet the Rangers still try to do it by having roster turnovers to accompany the new star. The Rangers still don't have a system. The only comparison is that it's not the dark ages. This organization has not built an environment where they are a few pieces away. There will be new pieces, but there will be the same result. There isn't an effective core.

III. I'm not sure this team looks like the proverbial contender even on paper. On paper many possibilities may be inferred, but now this team has been on the ice since September, and it's showing that it is in the high end of the average range.

IV. Bingo! The introduction to this is in note III.

V. It's Groundhog's Day!

 

[Jim Morrison]

One of Hanks biggest supporters, but seeing him get chased in a playoff game with one win to go....

Yeah, getting tiresome now.

 

[Holocene]

Anyone else think the ice in Philly last night was particularly bad? Puck was bouncing all over the place.

...certainly favors the team willing to muck it up.

MSG ice is always crappy though so can't really complain about the WFC ice. It looked fine in the other games.

 

[The Beezer]

Rockin?? Yeah in the 3rd when the pp clicked... Otherwise the crowd was TERRBILE!!! There was ONE let's go rangers chant until the 3rd per!! Come on...tell it like it is!

I don't get a chance to go a lot (just can't afford the tickets). I don't count LGR or Potvin chants either. I'm focused on my team and the game. To me the place sounded loud. Everyone seemed to be into the game and more importantly, everyone seemed to be in their seat when the puck dropped. That drives me nuts when I watch the games on TV, how everyone is still in their suite and 90% of the seats from blueline to blueline are empty. Was it rockin compared to old standards, no not even close. But unfortunately the old Garden is dead and this is the new corporate joint.

 

[Bleed Ranger Blue]

One of Hanks biggest supporters, but seeing him get chased in a playoff game with one win to go....

Yeah, getting tiresome now.

I was much more upset at his team leaving him out to dry

 

[BarbaraAlphanse]

One of Hanks biggest supporters, but seeing him get chased in a playoff game with one win to go....

Yeah, getting tiresome now.

He has a .910 save percentage over 6 games and a 2.32 GA during the same time span.

This is the worst he has been since the 08-09 series, when we lost in 7 games in the first round.

 

[BarbaraAlphanse]

I was much more upset at his team leaving him out to dry

This has been consistent throughout the duration of his career though, no? What's changed now?

 

[Bleed Ranger Blue]

This has been consistent throughout the duration of his career though, no? What's changed now?

Hes always had a team that has trouble scoring goals.

But, in the past, hes had a team that shows an interest/willingness to protect the front of the net. That wasn't there last night -- but I know, I know, Lundqvist should be expected to stop tap-ins because of his paycheck.

 

[McRanger]

Anyone else think the ice in Philly last night was particularly bad? Puck was bouncing all over the place.

...certainly favors the team willing to muck it up.

I thought that myself, both teams were having issues with the puck. Not just choppiness but the puck dying. Ice must have been soft.

Of course, the Rangers should be used to playing on crap ice by now.