Sod16

Islanders take it to triple OT in Game 7 before losing, leaving Carolina spent and Lou thinking he ought to stand pat again. I'll take that.

It will be interesting to see whether the Caps are more interested in winning the game or chasing Rempe around. This could get ugly if we're up by more than a goal in the third period.

He's doing some good things for us, but I worry that the playoffs are not the best time for education. Some of those lame penalties being called on him are going to result in PPGs against Carolina.

In Game 3 I came to see why the rest of the league is suffering from Rempe Derangement Syndrome and challenging him to fight on every shift. It's because operating at one-third speed and gliding, he packs more wallop than most anyone else at full speed. He unnerves them, probably with good reason. I just want him to learn how to line someone up in open ice, like Trouba, because he's exponentially more likely to get called for penalties along the walls.

Lou has stood pat more than he should have. More recently, I think he's made a couple of good moves in the Horvat and Romanov trades. Looking at their roster, the problem is that moving on from the older players doesn't do much good if you don't have good younger ones in the pipeline, and Brock Nelson is probably the only one of their older players who would bring a good young player in a trade.

Somehow I doubt you were talking about him being the softest power forward ever when he scored with speed in OT against Boston in 2013, or when his one man effort broke the Rangers 30 PP funk and turned Game 5 of the Pitts series in 2014 in our favor when we were down 3 games to 1, or when his 6 on 5 goal in the last minutes of Game 5 of 2015 Wash series staved off elimination setting up a great comeback, or when his game winner with less than 90 seconds left in Game 6 against Pitts in 2022 got us to Game 7 so we could come back, or even his 6 goals in 7 games against NJ last year. Guess he's just soft, except moments like those.

Just called up again. But as goalie or next RW to play with 93 and 20?

I am genetically predisposed against ever rooting for the Islanders under any circumstances. The only times I can recall rooting for them were when they upset our then arch rival Bruins 9-7 in Boston in their first season and in 1975 when they played the Soviet Wings. Now, I suppose I have to root for them to win three games. NHL Network's oddsmakers gave the Caps a better chance against the Rangers (30%) than the Islanders against the Canes (24%). That's nonsense. My gut tells me that Carolina is a bit jinxed by all the love they are getting from the pundits and oddsmakers.

It's known as "The Trouba Factor."

Rosen points out that the Rangers are ranked even higher on the PK than the PP. With all the gumbling that some do about 93 and 20, the fact that they are perphaps the best PK combo in the league is just as important as their prowess on the PP.

Yeah, it was not as dramatic as the whole Lindros trade saga in 1991, and at the time I fully expected the Avs to match. Neil sure wasn't hesitant to swing for the fences. It is not widely known that Francis offered Bill Torrey about half the team for the pick that was to be Potvin in 1973 and was turned down. Anyway, Neil made many bad moves after 1994, starting with installing Campbell as coach, but this was not one of them.

Being an insufferable homer was bad enought, but he was not even a good announcer.

We've played Washington nine times in the playoffs since 1986. Enough already. Bring on the Wings, who we haven't played since 1950.

If ever there was a case of a team having to move due to bad ownership as opposed to a bad market, this is it.

Trivia: Less than full capacity (what Rangers-Senators playoff games were played before in 2017).