Though we’re often told, “There’s more than one way to skin a cat,” I’m not interested in knowing any of them. What catches my attention, especially at Stanley Cup playoffs time, is how there is more than one way to watch a hockey game, especially as provided for decades by Sam Rosen and Mike “Doc” […]
Read MoreOTTAWA — Rangers coach Alain Vigneault was not trying to make an excuse for his team’s 2-1 loss to the Senators in Game 1 Thursday night at Canadian Tire Centre. Instead, he was just stating what he thought were the facts. In this instance, that meant he thought the Senators should have been called for […]
Read MoreOTTAWA — There was a truck positioned in the arena as a promotional vehicle, and row upon row of empty seats in the upper bowl plus a fair number of prime unoccupied locations in the lower stands, as well. Who knew the playoffs were in Brooklyn this year? Actually, more to the point, who knew […]
Read MoreJosh Schonbrun stands about 6 feet from the goal, eyes Rangers star Henrik Lundqvist guarding against a score and volleys the puck around with the tip of his stick. Then he arches back and swats the disk toward a crouching Lundqvist. Bang! It slams past No. 30 and lodges into the net. No, Schonbrun is […]
Read MoreOTTAWA — Chris Drury isn’t going anywhere — for now. In his first year as the Rangers’ assistant general manager after one year as the director of player development, Drury seemingly has become a very valuable part of their front office under President Glen Sather and GM Jeff Gorton. So much so that when the […]
Read MoreOTTAWA — It is one game, but it is also seven. Though Alain Vigneault won’t overreact to the Rangers’ sleepy and sloppy performance in Thursday’s 2-1 defeat to the Senators in Game 1 of Round 2 because that is simply not his way, it is incumbent upon the coach to find the way to jump-start […]
Read MoreOTTAWA — In some inexplicable way, it seems that one loss, and the way it happened, has made the opportunity in front of the Rangers all the more tangible. There is no longer any reason to beat around the bush with this team that might have started the season with uncertainty but now has nothing […]
Read MoreOTTAWA — Lose one game in dramatic fashion, and it is hard to swallow. Lose two in a row, and suddenly the Rangers’ season is on the verge of asphyxiation. Three utterly jarring moments in succession from Senators center Jean-Gabriel Pageau handed the Rangers a gruesome defeat, a 6-5 loss in double-overtime in Game 2 […]
Read MoreOTTAWA — The game was a mess, but what a glorious, unpredictable, entertaining playoff mess it was. Unless, of course, you are Henrik Lundqvist, one of his teammates or one of the citizens of Rangerstown. Then it was a disaster. Give Lundqvist and the Rangers a two-goal lead in the third period of a playoff […]
Read MoreOTTAWA — Alain Vigneault has often preached about the importance of depth in the playoffs, but he surely didn’t live that way in Game 2. The Rangers coach shortened his bench at the start of the third period, and kept it that way until his team lost to the Senators, 6-5, in double-overtime on Saturday […]
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