NY Rangers (15-13-1) vs STL Blues (14-14-3)
• 15 Dec 2024 18:00 EST
• Enterprise Center, St. Louis
• TV: MSG, TVAS, FDSNMW, SN •
Bettman just doing his best to make you chose between eating dinner at a normal hour or watching the NYR on a full or empty stomach. Recent events suggest waiting until after the game to eat – nothing too spicy or heavy probably best.
Can’t sugar coat it – the Rangers are in a spiral. Was last season a complete abberation? There were some who certainly thought they played a bit over their heads and caught some breaks. At the same time, I don’t think anyone expected this type of swoon. A run of bad luck? Perhaps. However, the level of play since mid-October has been the primary culprit. They haven’t been on the bad side of 50/50 outcomes or just really bad puck luck. Instead, what fans have seen from the majority of this team is slow, at times confused, disinterested hockey lacking in fundamentals that should be instinctive. As a result, the NY Metro area has had more and more sightings like these reported in da Post:
RR2 urges you not to jump, not yet. And please, don’t jump at night, you’ll just be confused with a drone. They’ll be 52 games left after tonight and the Rangers are not that far removed from playoff eligibility. Better to be the June cup winners than the Oct/Nov/Dec cup winners. Just ask the Icelander fans!
So on hand is a tilt between the 0.500 Blues and the 0.534 Rangers. Both teams traveling for the second game of back to backs, though in theory the Blues got to sleep at home last night. Personally, a nice hotel bed with crisp clean sheets isn’t that bad, bed bugs aside 😉 The Blues lost in OT 2-1 to Dallas, the Rangers as you know were smoked by the Kings at MSG. The Rangers are 3-7-0 in their last 10, the Blues 5-3-2 with two OT-L and one OT-W. The St. Louis specialty units enter the game in the bottom tier of the league.
Line-up wise: The Blues are expected to have Hofer in net after Binnington logged a lot of minutes last night against Dallas. Odds seem to favor Quick for the Rangers, likely the plan prior to Shesterkin being pulled yesterday. Quick put in 34 minutes so possible NYR go with the younger Shesterkin. Outside of that, NYR are expected to ice the same line-up. For St. Louis, Saad might play back in after being scratched yesterday.
As of 1:30 PM, the zebras are unknown and roaming freely across North America.
Keys to a Ranger victory tonight: Well, start by finding the keys. Then use the one that turns the engines back on and shift into drive, not reverse. And Chytil, check your mirrors before pulling into traffic, OK?
On this date in history: In 1925, professional ice hockey came to New York City as the NY Americans hosted the Montreal Canadiens in the first game ever played at Madison Square Garden.
Probable NYR lineup
Forwards
1st line ⊳ Panarin ⋄ Trocheck ⋄ Lafrenière
2nd line ⊳ Kreider ⋄ Zibanejad ⋄ Smith
3rd line ⊳ Cuylle ⋄ Chytil ⋄ Kakko
4th line ⊳ Edström ⋄ Carrick ⋄ Berard
Defensemen
1st pair ⊳ Lindgren ⋄ Fox
2nd pair ⊳ Mackey ⋄ Schneider
3rd pair ⊳ Jones ⋄ Mancini
Goalies
Starter ⊳ Quick
Backup ⊳ Shesterkin
Healthy scratch: D Ruhwedel F Vesey F Brodzinski
Injured: D Vaakanainen (upper body), D Miller (upper body)
In the Cooler: none
Long-term IR: none
272 responses to “It’s Go Time!”
Dammit, I can’t get msg to friggin load up
cant help yourself can you. now use it around 3 times per thread.
Brodude with the only goal this year off the forecheck
A little better? It wasn’t an embarrassment like some of the recent games. The Lindgren brain fart hurt and quick gave Thomas way too much of the short side on the third goal. They had 41 hits so they are being physical but they don’t block shots anymore. Is that another Housley thing? Carrick and Berard had more ice time than Mika so Lavy is watching the games. Vesey had 11:22 TOI which was the least among the forwards so he is rolling 4 lines. Cuylle should have been on at the end. Let’s see if they can start to build an identity.
That’s the first team I follow to win in the last 5 games I’ve watched. The blues. I was guaranteed a win. I 100% wanted it to not be them.
ORF, they were 41 Ranger hits. Can’t leave that out of the equation.
Lavi looked like lost in a fog in this presser, almost in tears. Pathetic and miserable in the same time…
I only favor firing Lavy because it’s the least destructive thing Drury could do. He will lose any trade he makes.
Make that two wins. Knicks finally won.
Lavi has scaled,back ice time but if he’s not,gonna put the young guys on during crunch time he needs to go
still annoyed they let Matchbox20 sccore!
One basis point ahead of the Filth, 9th P% in conference. Need to go 0.625 rest of way to get to 96 pts.
Round and round we go
Whoa oh oh oh oh oh oh
ORF. the most destructive thing drury will do is selling more picks. this time 1st because we have very little left. if he stays he’ll screw even more of the future than he already has
The Giants have 20 TDs this season, 8 passing. Mayfield, who they could have picked up in 2023 instead of extending Woody, had 4 TDs today and has 32 on season. Can we fire that GM along with Drury?
face facts
check the last post, left you a song!
is that why he can’t finish a check
Only encouraging thing about the game was that Mika (without those 2.5 unearned minutes with Quick pulled) would have had the least ice time by a good amount
I’ll defend Laffy don’t think he’s been nearly as bad as DJ Sadwhiner
Wow.. its bad now. Really bad. Even Mollie has the claws out:
“Comparing the 2023-24 Rangers to the 2024-25 Rangers has been impossible to avoid for a myriad of reasons, but mostly because of how astonishing the disparity is between the two despite having almost all of the same players.
That might not remain true for much longer. The Rangers’ deteriorating play is begging for more personnel changes. “
This song’s about growing up fast
Payin’ the consequences of a sometimes consumed lifestyle
This song’s called Prison Bound
One, two, three, four!
Social Distortion forever!
The Goodrow effect.
preach!!
one person keeps using that silly expression. i”ve said my peace regarding you and what you’re trying to do. granted you’re very good at getting under the skin. BUT thats is not a compliment to you.
Molly thinks, giggle giggle, some stars will be traded for other stars keeping the rangers filled with stars (giggle giggle)
I had the hits in there. Possession wasn’t that one sided so they made an effort to be more physical. If they had a game like this 2 weeks ago I would have been more optimistic. There have been lots of no shows since. TOI was better, but Cuylle should be on at the end.
first couple of weeks “people” like bobby o were so convinced that we needed to worry about getting past fla. that is beyond hilarious now.
first couple weeks you thought the DJ was a good hockey player ..I told you he was the 3c but I was wrong ..he’s frigging worse
hearing Mike Bab’s-Cock warming up in the bullpen. If true, Hitchcock-cock needs a HC position and once again the battle of the cocks is a reality.
he was good before this year
so was the guy you really hate
if you want the DJ to waive that no trade bring in Babcock
and go back to earlier in season when you were convinced we’d make third rd of playoffs. i said not so fast. didn’t think we’d get past devs or canes. now others have passed us. possibly even columbus by end of season
no move. not no trade.
They showed Hitch in attendance at the Blues-Rangers game last night. He wasn’t talking with Drury. Babcock would add to the drama which wouldn’t be helpful. I still wonder if an established guy would want to take the job given that Drury is on shaky ground and the coach will only last as long as he does. They may have to go with an interim pick.
They had a guy right in Hartford and let him go and he went to the Cup. Just like when Sully was right here and he was let go never to be brought back. The franchise’s dMO for hiring HCs is established vet who has won before.
he has mcdavid and draisaitl
what team is trading for that contract even if he waived the no move. unless we eat 1/2 and throw in a couple of 1’s
*NEW POST FOR YOUR MOURNING TEARS*
Yes, and *before* the season most everyone thought the NYR would be in the mix for a cup again.
And took over a team that was well in the hole just a month into the season. They went like 700 something after his arrival.
We have had lots of discussions about firing Drury, but he has an audience of one for keeping his job. We have no idea what his relationship with Dolan is like and that’s all that matters. Gordon’s and JD’s undoing was that they didn’t keep Dolan in the loop enough and he ultimately blew up and they were gone. If Drury manages him better he may be safe. Look how long Slats and Isiah Thomas hung around. He could be telling Dolan that the Goodrow and Trouba situations were messy but had to be done to free up cap space for future signings. Also no one anticipated that most of the top players on the team would massively underperform based on their past performances and it will take time to sort out if they will recover or are experiencing permanent decline. He needs to let Dolan know there is probably not a cup run left in this group and present a plan to retool. The Caps turned things around quickly. It’s not impossible. I don’t think Drury can do it, but only Dolan’s opinion matters.
That’s because we now have to start drinking before the game even starts, so we can numb the pain.
He doesn’t care since he won’t be here for the back half of that deal that will kill any chance of success in the future. We can only Hope Drury is gone by Saturday.
Not necessarily, getting to work could also mean tearing it down and bringing in prospects and draft picks for the next rebuild. IMHO that is the way to go, since you aren’t winning a Stanley Cup with this group.
Never any accountability for the top 6 forwards or top 4 Defense. That’s a big part of the problem and the culture with this team. Sign a big contract and then sit back and collect with no expectations that you actually care enough to give an honest effort each game.
Agreed, that is my biggest fear is that he mortgages even more of the future so the next rebuild will take 15 years, which is probably beyond my expiration. Clean house and rebuild the prospect pipeline. Start with a grade a center or two and someone who actually knows how to play defense and use the body in the defensive zone/crease.