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| Chris Kreider goal to make it 4-0 |
It was as well-played a hockey game as I've ever seen—if you're a Ranger fan. Carolina fans were stunned by the 6-2 loss and were leaving in droves before the game ended. A young boy was caught on camera crying, being consoled by his Dad. Don't worry kid, these defeats happen. I've seen plenty, but perhaps not as young as you. You'll live long enough to see better results.
Is Mika Zibanejad a Russian monk? Is he Rasputin with a helmet and a Ranger jersey? He's listed as being from Sweden, but I'm sure he fell off an Eastern Orthodox church icon with his sinister facial hair and long locks. As smooth a center as I've seen. A veteran player who is only 29 years old. They better keep him.
Watching all the Ranger games now I'm getting a little better at identifying their lineup. It's nothing new, but the N.H.L. is full of Scandinavian and Russian players. There was a time when everyone was from Canada, and only a few were from the U.S. As a fraud detection specialist I once had to program a search for Russian names out of Boca Raton, Florida, because there was a ton of Russian-centered health insurance fraud being committed in Southern Florida. I simply pulled out names of N.H.L. players and mimicked the spelling of Russian names.
It is interesting to hear that the phenomenal Ranger goaltender, Igor Shesterkin, from Russia, although in this country for three years, still gives interviews through an interpreter. Who cares? He stops nearly everything that comes his way in any language.
I have no idea what the face value of tickets are going for at the Garden. The prices increase as you get further into the playoffs. Who knows what they'll be if the Rangers make the final round. It takes an insane 16 victories to win the Cup, from a maximum of 28 games played. It's mind boggling.
No rest for the victors. The Rangers are set to have home ice advantage starting Wednesday against Tampa Bay Lightning, the back-to-back winners of the Stanley Cup the last two years, and a team that knocked the Rangers out at the same juncture in the 2015 playoffs. They are the Rangers bête-noire.
But this lineup is not 2015, and the coach is not the same. Gerard Gallant might just be the Mike Keenan who gets the Rangers into the finals and wins.
When my wife and I finished dinner last night a little after 7:00 I gave my talking head commentary: The Rangers have to score early, and often to throw Carolina off. They can't let them get the lead. The Rangers of course did this when they scored a pair of power play goals in the first period to give the Rangers a 2-0 by the end of it. Carolina was never in the game.
Carolina's power play was non-existent. And they took penalties, giving the Ranger power play a chance to be deadly, and of course took two minutes away from Carolina's offense. The Caroline coach Rod Brind'Amour looked panicked. The players looked sullen.
I've taken to subscribing to the New York Post because they have an actual sports section and not a section of magazine essays like the NYT's approach these days. There is of course no narrative in today's NYT of last night's game. As Mollie Walker of the Post rightly put it: "The Rangers braved a hurricane. Now they'll have to survive lightning."
Is this the year I get to see the Rangers win the Cup again before I shuffle off this mortal coil? The next round will tell. At least I'm not spending beaucoup bucks to be there. But I wish I were.
Let's Go Rangers.
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