Br4d

Just now, Ranger Lothbrok said:

When was the last time MSG had a cult hero that reached Rempe levels of phenomenon? Jeremy Lin?

Jack Dempsey?

Probably fought in the second Madison Square Garden.

He owned a restaurant opposite the third one.

1 minute ago, siddious said:

Let’s be honest they got Tom Wilson’d tonight’. Rangers play a harder game. Your time is up old man. It’s come full circle. 
 

 

Line 4, Laf, Cuylle.  These are not our dad's Rangers.

Caps weren't particularly chippy for a team that is going to have to live on the edge if they want to beat the Rangers.

That's a Rempe effect.

7 hours ago, JJ in VA said:

Oh, but back to Laffy:

 

Today starts the day he re-writes his chapter in this revisionist thread.   Laffy 2+ points today.   

 

 

 

 

 

Laf looked really good tonight.  One of the fastest guys on the ice and throwing hits all over the place.

I love seeing Rempe out there on the last shift.  That's the easiest way to tell the Rangers had their way with the Caps today.

Better they target Rempe than Panarin.

Laviolette knew what he was doing when he dressed Rempe.

Laf is really throwing the body today.  Playoff hockey.

Either this is a 3:30 start or my stream is plooged.

Everybody fires GG because you can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink.

That and he apparently is willing to bitch to management when things don't go right.

Never bitch to management because you're replaceable and often it is easier to fire you than to fix the things that are systemically wrong in the situation.

The only way this Ranger team gets beat by the Caps is if they play down to the Caps level and let this become a gritty defensive series.

Goals early will put the Caps away all series long. 

Early goal plz.  The playoffs are not a time for sitting back and sussing out the game.

5 minutes ago, BrooksBurner said:

Then why were the Rangers not a playoff team before he got here? And why did a drafted group of players who never played together in Vegas make the Finals with him?

Because podcasts...

Just now, Abe Froman said:

Let's Go Canes. I'll never root for the Islanders.

'Canes are due.  I'd rather the Isles knocked them off so we can stomp them in round 2.

First time in my life I'm rooting for the Isles to win a playoff series.  Makes me feel all slimy.

33 minutes ago, Pete said:

So your argument is that 7 or 8 of the best players on the team happened to go dark at the same time, and the coach was powerless?

 

It's just a giant coincidence that they all got bad? 

 

It couldn't possibly be any type of systemic problem? 

 

Frankly my man, that's just absurd. 

It was a seven game series.  The Rangers best players mostly went blank after game two.

There was no system you could hand players like Panarin, Zibanejad and Fox on the fly to fix what was wrong.

"They knew what they had to do.  They just didn't do it."

To his credit Panarin took a long look at what went wrong in that series and decided to be part of the solution.  More shots, taking responsibility for driving his line by scoring goals, working in the slot much more often than he had previously.

You're misunderstanding my position.  It has nothing to do with the current team.  It has everything to do with a coach who got 217 points in back-to-back seasons being the scapegoat for a GM who was in a rush to nowhere and a few vets who definitely thought they were better than they were and played like it.

Was GG a great coach?

Definitely not.

But you can't fire your stars.  You can fire your coach.

How do you adjust to your best players taking the series off?

Do you really think that suddenly making changes to the Rangers plays and play pattern would have done anything when the same guys who starred during the regular season for the Rangers went missing?

I think you can make an argument that the Rangers weren't playing all that well despite their record.  They lost the season series to the Devils and then they lost a playoff series to the Devils and they did this based on the talent on the team and how they showed during those games.

3 hours ago, RangersIn7 said:

That was one issue of many with the Devils.

Almost the entire roster played awful hockey.

Do you really think that was coaching, given how the Rangers had played during the regular season?

I think it was 4 or 5 key players not playing well and the Rangers having no chance to win as a result.

5 hours ago, siddious said:

Gallant was a terrible coach. Why are we still debating this? 
 

 

Chris Kreider and Mika Zibanejad both had career years under GG.  Igor had one of the best years a goalie has had recently also.

Not to push on the point, because I don't think it's going to happen, but if the Rangers are out early this season that would make Laviolette just as bad a coach as GG and we all know Laviolette is not a bad coach.

1 hour ago, RangersIn7 said:

 

Every team in the NHL, no matter how deep or talented, is heavily driven by the play they get from their top 4 or 5 forwards, top couple of D, and their starting goalie.

 

If those guys struggle, you get beat.

 

That is every team. 

I totally get that.  I bring it up in the current context only because last year we didn't get the production at 5v5 against the Devils and we went home as a result.

If either of the Bread Line or the Bros Line is off we're going home early.  They both need to be bringing their top game to get around the Caps.

Why?

Because the Caps are a clog it up defensive team and if the top two lines aren't bringing it every game is going to be a struggle to score against them.

1 hour ago, Pete said:

It's two seasons away so there's no way to say what will happen, but you can't count on it. He might not even want to play here. He might want to go to Florida.

Greenwich, CT.  No place like it in Florida.

Also, Manhattan and Brooklyn have some of the best Russian restaurants in the USA.  Not going to find those in Tampa.

37 minutes ago, Long live the King said:

Perreault should play with Zib to handle the puck carrying and distributing so Zib can get back to shooting.

Ain't no rookie getting to carry the puck on Zib's line.  We've been through this at least once before.

36 minutes ago, Pete said:

Panarin's deal ends in the 25/26 season, or this summer—depending on his playoff.

If Panarin is still scoring goals at an accelerated pace he's going to get re-signed.

The problem with putting Chytil on Zib's line is that Kreider will be opposite him.

Who's going to do the dirty work of digging the pucks off the boards?