Rangers 3, Devils 0

Felt a little like April 2008 didn't it?

You have to admit, the most overrated goaltender in NHL history was looking sharp the first 24 minutes of the game. You had the feeling it was going to be one of those 0-0, 1-1 shootout affairs. However, the Devils unraveled and the Rangers scored 3, two of them in a span of two minutes.

Dubinsky and Callahan are getting hot at the right time. Hell, Callahan has been hot. He has 21 goals on the year now and has been one of the best, if not the best player since Torts arrived. Dubi, by the way, was 9-0 in the faceoff circle tonight.

Sean Avery was doing his thing. Whether it was making the overrated one take cheap crotch shots, or making the other two fools go after him, he was doing his job and playing hard. All that was missing from him was a goal. He did have an assist on the Cally goal which was set up by a beautiful look from Scott Gomez, who was effective as well. Was that actually him throwing around the body? OK, so Holik made him look awfully small a couple of times, but hey, Gomez was throwing the body!

Lundqvist owns Brodeur. Talk to me about his wins record when he gets another 25 without the shootout. Until then I don't want to hear it.

Penguins 4, Rangers 3

What'd you expect? The game was at Pittsburgh.

There was no chance in coming back thanks to an atrocious 5 minute major call that was a direct response to the GM meetings a few weeks back, where staged fights and head shots were discussed. The rules are put in place in the offseason, not midseason! This is the second call we've seen against the Rangers related to those meetings since. The last one was when Dan Girardi was given an instigator and a misconduct for starting a fight after a clean hit a few games ago. It's too bad the refs have to decide a game and not let the players play.

No one's beating the Penguins. It's very frustrating. Crosby, Malkin, pig-face, Orpik- I can't stand them.

The Rangers played soft the early in the game. Pittsburgh was running them all over the place. Is it legal to push a guy from behind without the puck? Apparently so, the Pens were doing it all game and getting away with it.

Normally I don't root for injury, but I was so hoping Brooks Orpik took out his own knees by going after Drury early in the third period. Too bad he's ok- would've served him right.

Screw Crosby for crying about wanting an empty net goal with 4 seconds left after he got interfered with. Screw Malkin for taking a slapshot on the ensuing faceoff. The game is over.

I hate the Penguins. More than the Devils and Flyers. Ask me again after Monday night's game when I have to stare at Parise's mug and watch him complain to the officials.

Things get a little too interesting if the Panthers beat the Stars tonight.

My Citifield Seats?

Credit to the folks over at baseball-fever. If you are looking for updates on Citifield construction and ticketing information, this is the place, period. Less than a week until the first exhibition game (unless you count the St. John's- Georgetown game that's happening tomorrow). Never have I looked forward to a baseball season more than this one. The Rangers usually hold off the anticipation, but unless they get hot and go on a nice little playoff run, I'll be happy with freezing my butt off at some April night games in the new place.

Thrashers 5, Rangers 4, SO

Uh, what was I saying about our shutdown pair after the last game? -4 apiece tonight. Ouch.

We got our first Torts rant of the season tonight and rightfully so.

0-for-6 in the shootout. Seems fitting they come away without a win after blowing a 4-1 late second period lead.

A win vs this non-playoff team would have set up an interesting game on Saturday afternoon between two teams with the exact same record. However, it is the Penguins now that have the one extra win, crucial for a tiebreaker. Watch the Rangers win in OT to even up the records again. Doubt it, the way the Pens are playing. Plus, it's the Igloo, and to top it off, an afternoon game. A recipe for disaster.

Rangers 2, Wild 1

This game was anything but Wild. It looked like a flashback to the Tom Renney era. The only thing entertaining about this one was the first period. With all the rough stuff, it did not seem like this was only the tenth ever meeting between these two teams. But what was Owen Nolan thinking?

You had to figure Avery was going to get involved with a guy by the name of Clutterbuck.

How about that Lauri Korpikowski? Had one shining moment on the PK that Korpikowski. It's actually a good thing Korpikowski did not play that much in the game, so we did not have to be subjected to more botching of his name.

Let's just accept the fact that we are scarred by that 5-goal game and Marian Gaborik will score at least one in every game he faces the Rangers. Pray he does not sign with an Eastern Conference team as a free agent over the summer.

Mike Sauer played a very solid game in his NHL debut. He was patient and looked like he knew what he was doing.

I'm loving Staal-Girardi as a shutdown pair.

The Rangers now have the exact same record as the Penguins in a tie for 5th. That will be a monster game this weekend in the house of horrors, the Igloo. Do you want to fall to 6th and face the Caps in the first round?

Post vacation recap: 4 wins, 2 losses

Not bad, considering the Mets collapse the last time I was on another continent.

A shitty first period. Then a line change. I swear, the rest of the Rangers in 60 program featured every shift by Avery-Gomez-Callahan. They were amazing.

On a call back home to my parents on Saturday night, the only thing I heard was my Dad in the background: "Rangers suck." That's all I needed to know about this one. Colton Orr threw some bombs on Riley Cote before getting taken down which was the only highlight from the Rangers in 60 broadcast.

Good thing the NHL Network replays the NBC game of the week on Monday, in a two hour format, with none of the intermission stuff. Makes recording easier and saves some DVR space. Avery scores again and the power play? Wow!

Lesson when recording Rangers in 60 if you know you will miss the action at least a day after the game: record the show the next morning, not the 11pm version following the night game. The first 30 minutes or so of my recording was "Ranger profiles: Drury 23" or whatever the program is called. I did not even bother watching. A bad goal that gave Montreal a point, which could be big. At least they won in the shootout, but remember that one point by the Canadiens.

I was back in the States to watch this game in its entirety. Very entertaining. Sweet breakaway goal by Cally. Buffalo is just about done.

There's no way they can lose another game, right? Wrong. Ottawa is on fire, but it is likely too little too late for them. Ruutu is still an ass, but I still would have signed him this past offseason once we lost out on Avery. Nice to see a local kid who was a Ranger fan growing up score the game winner. If you watched him on the postgame, you could really see his excitement. Must have been pretty cool.

Off to Spain

There will be no updates on the blog for over a week, as I am off for spring break to Spain. Four Ranger games that I will miss. That will still leave 11 when I return. It's not like I'm leaving with the Rangers having a 12 point lead over the 9th seed with 16 games left and I return with 3 games left in the season. Let me explain.

2007. September. Not much more you can say. A vacation in Croatia, along the coast, while the weather was still warm. A seven game lead with 17 to play. The Mets had a weekend series with the Phillies at Shea. They lose the Friday night game. My flight was on Saturday. The lead was down to 5 1/2. A two week vacation would bring me back in time to see the final weekend series vs the Florida Marlins. No sweat, but damn why couldn't they win that Friday night game?

Since I was going to a place that had zero interest in baseball I decided to completely forget about all things American, including baseball, and simply catch up when I return. A bunch of Mets FastForward's were set on the DVR, waiting for me. While I was away I could not help but think a week or so into the trip: have the Mets clinched the division?

Arriving back in the States on Friday, September 28th, I turned away from every newsstand I passed at JFK, avoiding headlines. Same on the buses- don't look at the newspaper the person across from you is reading. Made it home with no clue as to what transpired the past couple of weeks. Turned on the TV first thing and brought up the DVR menu. All the Mets FastForwards were there. Let's watch two weeks of baseball in a matter of a few hours leading right up to the first pitch of that Friday night Marlins series opener.

While I was away, I was expecting playoff tickets to arrive, with my mother-in-law, a converted pessimistic Mets fan since I came into the picture, on hand to receive the pickup. She was at work when we arrived. My wife calls her to let her know we made it back. I'm watching the Saturday 9/15 Phillies game, right where I left off two weeks ago, the Mets comfortably ahead 5 1/2 with two more games to put a nail in the Phillies coffin.

"Did the tickets arrive?" my wife says to her mother on the phone.

A pause. A gasp from my wife.

"Oh my God." That's all it took.

I watch now fully expecting the Mets to blow a 3-2 lead late in that Saturday game and they did. Then a Sunday loss to complete the sweep. I breeze through ever disaster against the Nationals and Marlins. Joel Pineiro absolutely shutting down the Mets in a makeup game vs the Cardinals. I returned to find the Mets in a tie with the Phillies for the division with three games to play.

The moral of the story is if you care about your team, don't go on vacation at the end of the season. For me I don't know what was worse- the absolute shock to go from 5 1/2 up to tied in the standings, or the slow torture that was Mets baseball those two weeks. Maybe I was better off.