RodrigueGabriel

Laf was cowboy #1.

Wasn't pretty, but after all those super disciplined games against top teams they could get away with a little cowboy.

He was going to be gone by Xmas.

Yay! Laf deserves it in spades.

Heads up play by Kakko.

Ok. Stop fuckin' around y'all.

Somebody here had Gaborik.

2 it is! Worth every penny.

Alrighty then. Zac Jones making his case. And what a night for the Laf riot!

Gilles Villemure, sulky driver!

Quick is in. Let's get him the record, boys!

Yeah, the local NIMBYs got on it pretty quickly. My community Next Door was inundated with exhortations to outrage. In the end it was just blackmail. The only loser is Gov. Youngkin, who was probably deluded enough to think Leonsis was dealing in good faith. He may just have to give out more $$ to stay popular and I'm good with that.

Watched Michigan-North Dakota last night and was impressed at the speed and talent of both teams. It seemed like higher quality play than you would have found 4-5 years ago, which is probably the last time I focused on the Frozen Four. Is there a general sense that the top end of NCAA D1 play has gotten higher or is it just a geezer's distorted perception? And how about Perrault going headhunting? He's not exactly 6'8", 240. I dare say he's lucky it's a single elimination tourney.

We also know that at some vague level of parity the Playoffs become much more about faith in self and sheer will than about fancy stats. I am encouraged in that context by the fact that, so far, the Rangers have been better at winning games than anyone else in the NHL despite being bad analytically - particularly in light of the scheduling and injury challenges they've faced. This is where I think Dom fails. He thinks of teams as compilations of statistics rather than emotional, functioning organisms that rise and fall in different environments and situations. We saw last year that a move that looked to be a no-brainer analytically (Kane) actually undermined the confidence and cohesion of the team. I have not looked in depth, but I would guess that their underlying stats aren't too much different than last year at this point. But I get a noticeably different sense from them about their focus, confidence, faith in each other and will to win.

But I'm not sure it's actually relevant to anything. The best team going into the Playoffs doesn't necessarily win. We know that not wasting games, avoiding injuries, and outright luck can be material factors in what team is left standing at the end. With parity as it is, the talent differential is less concerning to me than, for instance, not getting too exhausted and beat up in a FLA ECF (God willing they make it that far). And I think Slewdog is wrong about relative depth.

Man, I hate winning on a shootout, mostly because COL gets an asswipe point. But it goes in the W column and the Rangers have more of those than anybody else. What a regular season.

Damn, Foxy! Welcome to 100 points.

WTF? This is the worst Igor performance since January.

That was one fine assed Mika pass.

Absolutely don't GAF whether they win the President's Trophy or even the division as long as they keep practicing this kind of game.

Oh yeah, oh yeah. No sweep. Pushed straight back on the "best team in the East." Fuck all y'all. Edit: Um, not you all. You know what I mean.

Holy shit! LGR!

WTFFFFFFFFFF? Come on.

Man, Rodrigues is one ugly sombitch.

This period will send the message for any potential playoff match-up to come.