Taps

My evenings have just been freed up. It is very hard to beat a hockey team that is always one goal ahead of you.

And that's how the Rangers found themselves, skating uphill against the Tampa Bay Lightning in their Eastern Conference Finals (semi-finals for the Cup round). A 1-0 game is the most difficult game to win, but when you make it 2-1 21 seconds after a 1-1 power play goal with little time left in the third period, it becomes a little easier.

The two Russian polar bear goaltenders stood 200' apart, each stretching their 6'+ frames to fill out an opening that measures 4' high and 6' wide. Of the two, Igor Shesterkin was the busiest last night, turning away so many shots that if even half of the great shots were goals, the Rangers would have been routed. Andrei Vasilevskiy is a giraffe on skates.

But it was an overtime game right from the first seconds of the first period. Few penalties; few power plays. Lots of checking; lots of hits, but the Rangers never got unglued and to penetrate Tampa's defense. There's a reason the Tampa coach Jon Cooper has been in four Cup finals in the past six years, winning two consecutive Cups. Teams that win two consecutive Cups do not suddenly become bad clubs when the personnel remains the same. They stay winners.

The Rangers had their chance after going 2-0 in the series after the games at MSG. And they had Tampa down by a score of 2-0 in the third game, until they didn't, with Tampa scoring two power play goals, then a very late third period goal in what became in effect an overtime game.

The hammer to nail the coffin against Tampa fell from the Ranger hands with that game. They lost the next three, letting Tampa beat them four games in a row. You can't win the series if you let the other team win four games. 

If the Rangers have John Brancy belting the Anthem, then Tampa has Sonya Bryson-Kirksey, with her blue lips, blue eye shadow, blue nails and blue-streaked hair. Sonya is a retired Air Force Tech Sergeant who can sing. She won't be going anywhere else soon.

Last night I just finished watching my 20th Ranger game, more games than I've watched in a decade. That's 20 games on top of an 82 game season. nearly 25%. And the Rangers only reached the semi-finals for the Cup.

I'll be heading to bed earlier now, not staying up for a three-hour hockey telecast that starts at 8:00  P.M. I may poke the remote at the Cup finals once they start against the Colorado Avalanche, but I won't linger long, just long enough to absorb the score and see how the teams are doing. I have no dog in the fight coming up.

Will Tampa hang a third consecutive, and fourth Stanley Cup banner from the rafters of Amalie arena? I had to look up what Amalie is: motor oil. They must sell a lot of it in Florida to sponsor a 19,000 seat arena that looks like it has three tiers. The Chavez Ravine of hockey arenas. I wonder how microscopic the players look from that back row. And how much will the fans be paying for those tickets?

What are some of my takeaways from watching all those games and pre-game shows? 

Henrik Lundqvist, former Ranger goaltender, has GREAT hair. His tailored suits and matinee idol looks insure he'll be around from a while to comment on games.

Lightning is spelled lightning, not Lightening.

TV coverage of hockey games has advanced greatly. There is of course the HD resolution, but there is also no "prissy" eye that Roger Angell referred to in his seminal mid-'60s New Yorker piece on Ranger hockey. Fights, scuffles, checks into boards and their sounds are nicely captured these days. TV is better than most arena seats. And of course cheaper.

Much will be made of the youth of The Rangers, 26.7 average age, the youngest collection of players since 1993. But that's just a number. Injuries, attitudes and other intangible factors will all play into the factors to determine if the Rangers can be at least in this position again next year. There are a lot more teams, and there are three rounds before the Cup finals. The road is long.

Tampa is poised to hang a fourth Stanley Cup banner from their rafters (all in the 21st-century) if they get past the Colorado Avalanche, a team I know little of, but one that is described as a "juggernaut."

My hockey season is over, having been thankfully extended by the Rangers this season. The rest of the year will be devoted to going to bed earlier, peeks at the Cup finals, and watching parts of Met and Yankee games where the fastest thing that happens is when the pitcher throws the ball and someone hits it. What do they call it, "exit velo?" God help us.

In the mid '60s when it was announced that there would be a new Garden built above Penn Station, there was model of the proposed arena in the lobby of the Old Garden as you entered from Eighth Avenue. It was one of those architectural models, under a glass or plastic dome. I can still see it in my eyes with its multi-colored seats as my father and I looked at it, looking forward to an arena that could be reached by the LIRR from our Port Washington line Murray Hill stop that didn't require you to even go outside. Nearby was a sign that rightly proclaimed hockey as "the world's fastest game."

It still is.  Any my favorite team sport.

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