Blueshirt Boggle

Rangers Work Overtime to Overcome Sabres and Refs

The world wanted to anoint the Buffalo Sabres world champions after their Game 1 win over the Rangers. After Game 3, even though they still hold the upper hand with a 2-1 lead in the series, it has become clear that they are not (yet) the best team in this series let alone the best team in the league. Two mistakes (Malik and Mara in Game 2), two bad periods by Henrik Lundqvist (4:05 in the second period of Game 1 and the third period of Game 2), and two huge assists from the zebrae (most of Games 1 and 3) are all that stand between the Sabres and the Thrashers right now. The Rangers have been at their best in the last two games, and the Sabres are lucky -- blessed by the powers that be -- to have escaped with one win in Game 2 and something beyond lucky to have stayed close enough to weather most of double overtime before the Rangers took Game 3 by a 2-1 final score.

"We definitely deserved to win," said Brendan Shanahan. "We had the advantage. It would have been a tough one to lose. We played well enough to win last game and didn't get it -- it would have been a tough pill to swallow to have the same thing happen again today." "It was a must-win for us," said Lundqvist, who was impeccable, beaten only by a power play deflection off his own defenseman, not by any Sabres. "We dominated the game -- we deserved to win. The way we played up in Buffalo the last game was a tough one for us." "I'm mad about the second one where we lost in Buffalo," said Jaromir Jagr, who scored on one of his ten shots on goal in a monster performance. "I never felt like that before, down 2-0 -- I had a lot of good feelings about this game. The way we played in Buffalo, we just had a little bad luck. We gave them the victory. If we can keep playing the same way, we have a chance."

The Rangers had more bad luck in this game, if you can call it luck -- the Rangers can't call it anything else or else they'll be fined by the NHL. The NHL is lucky that the Rangers won this game, or else they would have faced Exhibit A on national TV in the US of why they are a Mickey Mouse league. The Rangers' dominance of this game was taken completely away from them by league officials in the "War Room" in Toronto and by the referees on the ice. An apparent second period goal by Karel Rachunek was negated by video review for having been kicked in. In making the ruling, the league failed to properly apply two stringent criteria -- the kicking motion had to be "distinct", which was not at all clear from any replay, and the evidence had to be "conclusive" to overturn the ruling on the ice of a goal, which again was not at all clear.

"We felt that second goal of ours should've counted," said Shanahan. "I've seen replays of it -- it absolutely should've been a goal in my opinion." "Our video coach made his way to the bench pretty animated," said Renney. "He wasn't happy. It was not a kicking motion. It has to be a distinct kicking motion. If that's distinct then we're all in trouble. Those kind of things have to be clarified."

From that point on, the officials tried everything they could to hand this game to Buffalo. They called six straight penalties on the Rangers while letting the Sabres get away with similar infractions. "Those were some tough calls," said Renney. "Usually through the course of the game they balance themselves off -- maybe that was not quite the case tonight." Jagr was called for tripping on a play where he was playing the puck and the opponent stepped on his stick. "I got a crosschecking penalty when I only had one hand on my stick," said Shanahan. "We're not going to be given anything," said Renney. "We're the type of team that's going to have to earn respect every single game we play. That's just because we're the New York Rangers. People just love to hate us."

When the Rangers did finally get a call late in the first overtime period, it took a rare Jagr dive to draw it -- Jagr doesn't like to dive, but apparently he felt he no longer had a choice. The power play was perhaps the only part of their game that failed to click -- otherwise, they were simply perfect against the vaunted Sabres. Defensively, they made every play, especially on the many penalty kills. Lundqvist backstopped them flawlessly when pucks did get through. The offense may not have scored much, but the pressure was there without sacrificing any defense.

And they finally got a break when Michal Rozsival's point shot late in the second overtime session found its way through a tangle of bodies (Jagr's screen, primarily) and rang in off the post. "We had a great view of the shot from the bench," said Shanahan. "It was perfect. If you draw a line straight from where the puck went back to our bench, we had a great view of it. There was traffic in front and there was probably only one place he could put the puck, and he put it there, off the post and in. We were getting to our feet before it even went into the net because we could see it was traveling there."

"I had my eyes closed, actually," Rozsival said. "It was a lucky shot. I was just trying to get it on the net and hopefully somebody’s going to tip it. Anything can happen when you put it on the net. This is the biggest goal of my career, definitely. It can’t get any better, scoring a game-winning goal in overtime."

If the Rangers' power play ever clicks, if the refs ever give them a fair shake, and if Lundqvist plays like he did today the rest of the way, the Sabres' Stanley Cup run is going be shaken to its foundation -- if their good fortune thus far ultimately proves to be enough to help them advance, they will move on as an exposed club. But even having been spotted the first two games, the Sabres are no lock to advance, not after the way the Rangers have exposed them in the past two games (and even a bit before that).

Local news coverage abounds -- game reports, stories on Jagr, Rozsival, Lundqvist, et.al. See the Daily News here, here, and here; the Journal News here and here; Newsday here, here, here, and here; the Post here, here, and here; the Star-Ledger here and here; the Record here and here; and also the Times, Advance, AP, SNY, and NY Sports Day, plus pre-game reports from Blueshirts Blog, Blue Notes, and Rangers Report. From out of town, the Buffalo News here, here, and here, the National Post, Globe and Mail, Toronto Star, SI.com, ESPN.com, USA Today here and here, and THN here and here. If you missed them yesterday, check out the Sunday columns in the Post, Times, Newsday, and Ledger. For reports on Hartford's playoff ouster, see the Courant the Wolf Pack web site.

Rangers Looking For Lift From Home Crowd

Ranger fans may have been disheartened by losing Game 2 despite a commanding performance by the team, but the Rangers themselves aren't. After the game, after the post-game interviews, Jaromir Jagr sat in the locker room in his suit, as loose as ever, reminding everyone of the times in his career when his teams have come back from 2-0 or 3-1 series deficits. Matt Cullen reminded everyone that his Hurricanes came back from a 2-0 deficit last season en route to the Stanley Cup despite losing those two games at home, a feat rarely achieved in NHL history. The Rangers haven't quit. And they surely hope their fans haven't quit either, because they're going to be relying on the "sixth man" to make a difference for them in the next two games at the Garden.

Meanwhile, you can talk about penalties, mistakes, whatever -- but the difference in the series has been that the hottest goalie in the league in 2007 has been trumped by his counterpart, who came into the series having been an ordinary netminder over that same span of time. Ryan Miller has made the saves, to the point where the Rangers are being chided for their lack of finish despite all their chances, while Henrik Lundqvist, after a stellar period and a half to start the series, has given up seven goals on the last 31 shots he has faced, not good no matter what the circumstances were that led to those goals.

OK, lots to read about today if you haven't gotten to it yet (sorry for the late post -- just flew back from Buffalo). First round, game reports from the New York media -- Daily News, Journal News, Newsday, Times, Post, Star-Ledger, SNY, and NY Sports Day. Second round, additional reports and columns from the same outlets -- Newsday, Times, Post, Star-Ledger, and SNY. Third round -- still more from the News's Blueshirts Blog, the Journal News's Rangers Report, Newsday, Newsday again, and Ledger, plus an update from today's practice from Rangers Report. And from MSG.com, Stan Fischler's take. And Hockey Rodent has some intersting video breakdowns from last night's game.

From out of town, start with the Buffalo News here, here, here, and here. The Toronto press here, here, here, here, here, here, and here. And ESPN.com. Lindy Ruff went ballistic at the end of the game, throwing things at the referee. Can't understand why -- the refs were the "sixth man" for the Sabres in their two wins, especially Game 1. He was fined for his actions. Can't find anything in the Buffalo News about it, even in an article devoted to the Sabres' coach. In prospect news, Hartford prepares for a potential clincher in Providence but expects the Baby Bruins to claw and scratch the whole way. And Jess has his report on CHL prospect action last night:

While the Rangers suffered another heartbreaking loss, three of their prospects looked to keep their own seasons alive. Marc Staal and Sudbury looked to finish off Belleville. The Bulls had a different idea, jumping out to a 2-0 lead before Staal helped get the Wolves going, setting up a power play goal to cut the score to 2-1. The teams went back and forth until Sudbury tied the score at 3-3 midway in the second period, the last of the scoring in regulation.

Staal did his best end the game on his own, playing close to fifteen minutes in the first OT period. In the second OT, one had to marvel at how he put his team on his shoulders, doing everything from blasting Bulls to playing on the power play and penalty kill. It seemed that Staal lived on the ice. 3:23 into the third OT, he sent a pass that started the play that set up a date for the sixth seeded Wolves in the OHL final. See game reports in the Sudbury Star and Belleville Intelligencer, as well as a look ahead at the final in the Star.

We want to let the folks in Sudbury know that we know the kind of job Staal has been doing for you folks and we do believe he will be with the Rangers next season. If anyone has any doubt at all about his pro potential, forget it -- he is a player and a half who is the Rangers' future captain. In a game that took 4 hours and 25 minutes to play, Staal's two assists clinches a win for him in the Ranger prospect playoff scoring race (5-12-17, which leads all OHL defensemen).

Meanwhile, Brodie Dupont's Calgary Hitmen looked to force a Game 6 in their series against Michael Sauer’s Medicine Hat Tigers. They jumped out to a 2-0 first period lead before MH responded with a goal of their own. At the start of the second period, the Tigers needed just 22 seconds to tie the game. In the third period, Dupont got his first point of the series setting up a power play goal. But the Tigers answered just 23 seconds later to send the game into OT, where it took just a few minutes for them to close out the Hitmen and clinch a Memorial Cup berth. Dupont finishes the playoffs 9-7-16. We hope that the Rangers waste little time in signing the Moose, as he too is going to be a big part of the Ranger future. See reports in the Calgary Sun and MH News.

Near-Perfect Performance Squandered By Two Costly Errors

The Rangers responded to the drubbing they took in Game 1 with a near-perfect performance in Game 2 that was undone by a pair of third period mistakes and an inability to finish some of their glorious scoring chances. In the end, the bad outweighed the good and they dropped a 3-2 decision, even though there were only a handful of errors amidst a sea of good play that had the Sabres completely bottled up and their fans booing them.

The Rangers drew first blood in the first period, but Buffalo responded on their own power play on what looked like a marginal call. Despite dominating the Sabres completely (with a 13-4 shot advantage), the Rangers allowed Buffalo to escape with a 1-1 tie. But the Rangers didn't let that get them down. They were even better in the second period, especially in killing off a four minute double minor to Fedor Tyutin that was improperly called (no injury on the play). The Rangers outshot the Sabres 1-0 during the double minor and outchanced them 2-0, but in a recurring theme, they were never able to build upon their solid team play by extending their lead. Sabre fans were booing their team's power play, but the Rangers let them off the hook for their poor play.

Still, they led after two on a Paul Mara power play goal, Mara paying off some of the debt on his maxed out credit card with the tally. Having held the Sabres to an almost unfathomable nine shots on goal through two periods, the Rangers had to know Buffalo would come out strong. Whatever plans they had to counter the expected attack were immediately blunted by an awful turnover by Marek Malik, a blind backhand pass up the middle that was intercepted by Toni Lydman, who fed Chris Drury down low for an easy redirection. Tom Renney suggested that there was another error on the play that was worse than Malik's, but we're hard-pressed to imagine what it might have been.

But that didn't do the Rangers in, not completely. They recovered one shift later and got six of the next seven shots on goal. Even the fourth line got into the act with a good shift, pressuring the Sabres in their end. But they got caught on the ice too long and paid the price. Karel Rachunek missed a check on Brian Campbell behind the net, a tired Blair Betts could not handle Drew Stafford when he got the puck out front, and Mara maxed out his credit again by letting the dangerous Thomas Vanek loose in the slot for a redirection of a pass from Stafford.

And still the Rangers had chances to tie it back up. Despite the refs doing their thing with a phantom interference call on Matt Cullen and no call for him the other way when he was interfered with (is this what the Islanders were complaining about?), the Rangers outshot the Sabres 11-3 over the remainder of the game (all shots, not just shots on goal). The net was just about completely open for Jaromir Jagr on his backhand off a nice pass by Ryan Callahan, but Jagr shot it right back into Ryan Miller. Cullen had an open net on the rebound, but his shot was deflected by Vanek (or was it Teppo Numminen?). The Rangers had one last power play with which to tie it up -- six on four with Lundqvist pulled. But Brendan Shanahan misfired on low percentage shots and the Rangers could not get back into the zone to set up.

So despite their near-perfect performance against the league's top team, the Rangers go home down 2-0 in games. They need to win four of five from a very good team, but that's not how they look at it of course -- the cliche is one game at a time. Jagr recalled a number of times that he was down 2-0 and came back to win the series, including 1992 against the Rangers when Adam Graves slashed Mario Lemieux and Ron Francis beat Mike Richter from center ice. Jagr was also extremely upset as Dainius Zubrus scratching Sean Avery in the face with no call from the refs. Avery did not have a stand-out game -- good news since he did not stand out by taking bad penalties, but bad news since he did not stand out by making plays or getting under anyone's skin.

The Rangers flew back to New York after the game, will practice tomorrow afternoon back at the MSG Training Center, and will return to the Garden for Game 3 Sunday afternoon hoping to hold serve in their two home games just as the Sabres did here.

Playing the Game on Paper

Pre-game update: Rozsival skated this morning and will play. Jagr on the Sabres: "Let’s just give them the Cup. If I had it with me, I’d hand it to them." Avery on whether he will behave with his mother in town to see the game: "She likes it when I’m behaving poorly. She’s used to it by now." To a reporter who asked if he will throttle back his game: "Next question, that's a stupid question. It's the playoffs -- we're gonna play hard."

We've had plenty of hockey talk here lately. Let's talk hockey journalism today. The Sabres and Rangers may share equal status on a sheet of ice as major league NHL franchises, but on a broadsheet of paper, the Buffalo News is decidedly minor league compared to the New York Daily News, as evidenced by the pair of reporters who cover the NHL beat in two cities at opposite ends of the spectrum as well as opposite ends of the state of New York.

On the one hand, you have John Vogl, the unassuming little guy who sat to my right during Tom Renney's press conference yesterday. Mr. Vogl didn't ask any questions of Renney, as far as I recall. Perhaps he was too busy figuring out ways to twist Renney's words, as he did when Renney first responded to the now infamous "cream of the crop" question. In today's Buffalo News, Vogl somehow turns Renney's admission that his team was disappointed with its Game 1 loss (how could they not be?) into a concession speech, even though Renney said flat out that it takes four to win a series, not one.

Vogl also has some fun in the News today with Jaromir Jagr, apparently unaware that Jagr was having some fun with him and the rest of the flock of seagulls who besieged him in the locker room yesterday. When Jagr, who was peeved at being asked the same question over and over again, said of the Sabres, “They are just too good, huh?”, Vogl figures "Jagr was walking a thin line between deadpan and defeatism." Right, and when I made an observation about the power play once to which Jagr responded, "Maybe you should coach the Rangers," was that a signal for me to run out and dust off my resume or slink into a corner and nurse my busted chops?

On the flip side, John Dellapina has been covering the Rangers for the Daily News, one of New York City's big four newspapers, since the Rangers won the Stanley Cup, and has an ability to put things in a perspective that his Buffalo News counterpart can only dream of. Dellapina takes Buffalo's bush league attitude that one game wins a playoff series (they even wanted the Rangers to mail it in before the series started) and slam dunks it in an even lower key than Jagr. "Just that quickly, the Buffalo Sabres were the champions-elect again -- a team so swift and skilled that the '84-85 Oilers wouldn't have been able to keep up with them. That quickly, the Rangers were overmatched underdogs again. And their inherently inferior game was in shambles -- a relentless two months of evidence to the contrary having been trumped by a series of second-period brain cramps."

Until the results are in tonight, we still will not know whether the Rangers beat themselves or the Sabres are unbeatable, whether Game 1 was an aberration or a bellwether. What we do know is that the Sabres did not go 82-0-0 this season (they did not even go 4-0 in their first round series), and that no one has ever won a series, let alone a Stanley Cup, after one win. One reporter is smart enough to understand that. The other isn't. Which is why the former has one of the top positions in his profession while the latter toils in a city named after an animal that was never even known to inhabit the area.

In addition to Dellapina's article in the News, he channels the ghost of Kevin Lowe in Blueshirts Blog. The rest of New York's ace media contingent continue their coverage too -- Journal News, Newsday, Times, Post, Star-Ledger, AP, and NY Sports Day, mostly on the situation on defense with Michal Rozsival's knee injury. The News and Newsday consider Chris Drury's impending free agency and a possible move to the big city. The Journal News, ESPN, and Toronto Sun take a look at Renney (Lindy Ruff too at ESPN). The Post has more too. Dan Girardi is the subject at NHL.com and the Toronto Star, Marcel Hossa in the Hamilton Spectator, Mark Messier at Slam! and Canada.com, the Hartford Courant on the contribution of the Wolf Pack to the Rangers. At MSG.com, David Kolb and Kenny Albert agree -- no more stupid penalties. There's more on the Sabres at various sites, but since they've already anointed themselves champions, we might as well skip it.

The NHL on Vs. comes under fire in Newsday -- if you don't get the network, the Rangers are holding a viewing party at the famed Ziegfeld Theater in Manhattan this evening. For those following Ranger prospects Marc Staal, Mike Sauer, and Brodie Dupont in the CHL playoffs, there was no action last night, but there are reports from the competing cities on the series -- Sudbury Star vs. Belleville Intelligencer and Calgary Sun vs. Medicine Hat News. The Wolf Pack took a 3-2 lead in their playoff series against Providence with a 1-0 win, Al Montoya getting the shutout and Nigel Dawes scoring the lone goal of the game.

No reports on Sean Avery today, but we have a funny feeling that he will do something tonight to get himself back into the news again. We met a couple of Red Wing fans last night who said they loved Avery when he was in Detroit. We told them that since they're in Buffalo, they have to subscribe to the Buffalo way of thinking and concede their second round series to San Jose after their 2-0 opening game loss last night. And was that Marian Hossa in net for the Devils?

Rangers Blame Themselves For Loss

This is their story, and they're sticking to it: The Rangers believe that they gave away Game 1 with their own mistakes. Granted Buffalo is a great team, but the Rangers, to a man, say they were happy with how they started the game and how they ended the game, but undid themselves in between with a series of bad penalties and the consequences thereof. As Matt Cullen said, it's not as if they played their best and were blown away. They made mistakes they believe are correctible, and that will be their goal for Game 2 tomorrow night. Time will tell if they are right or wrong.

Meanwhile, the team went through a practice session today that was not nearly as intense as their usual regimen at the MSG Training Center. But it was loose and fun. Henrik Lundqvist practiced his stickwork by flicking pucks across the ice, where Dan Girardi worked on his hand-eye coordination by trying to flick them out of mid-air into the seats. Jaromir Jagr practiced one-timers and stickhandling at top speed and while making tight turns. Jagr, Brendan Shanahan, and Tom Renney came together in pairs and once as a trio to talk things over. The team ran a cycling drill, something I haven't seen them do before -- Cullen said that cycling was the key to his line's success last night, that and not being afraid to forecheck without being trapped by counter attacks.

Afterwards, Renney and the Rangers met the press. It was somewhat comical to see a huge gaggle of local and Canadian reporters and cameramen cluster around Jagr's locker and wait for him, while he (unbeknownst to them) was lying on a trainer's table in an adjacent room, legs crossed in the air, talking to someone on his cell phone. They then migrated like a school of fish to Shanahan when he came out, then to Lundqvist, then to Jagr when he finally emerged after showering and dressing. Jagr got a little peeved with their repetitive questions -- how many times did they expect him to answer the same question, he asked them. The New York reporters, meanwhile, spoke to Cullen, Straka, Prucha, et.al., before getting their turn with the high profile players after the gaggle moved elsewhere.

Renney said that Michal Rozsival remains day to day and that Marek Malik was given the day to rest his sore body (everyone else practiced). Asked if any veterans had maxed out their credit (to follow up on his analogy from last week when he explained why Karel Rachunek was likely to replace Thomas Pock), he said he didn't think so (although we believe Mara is close). He refused to blame anyone other than his own players for the penalties that derailed his team last night, even though the initial call against Sean Avery was a marginal (or ever a phantom) call.

Outplayed or Outperformed?

Post-Game Report: The question that has to be running through the minds of fans after the Sabres' 5-2 opening salvo in the Eastern Conference semifinal series is whether the Rangers' bubble has been burst. Of course a team will always insist that it was just one game, but the Rangers' leaders and coach spoke convincingly about a one-game aberration. "We start pretty good," said Jaromir Jagr. "We give them the momentum on the power play. Some guys play too much, some guys don't play at all when you take penalties. And you're giving confidence and momentum to their skill players. I thought we played pretty good first fifteen minutes, [then] bad penalties -- that's all."

Coach Tom Renney's assessment was almost the same. "The first ten minutes we were fine, then we started having a problem with penalties," he said. "Coming out of that, they guys are out of rhythm, the thinking process seems to go south. We want to stay away from the track meet -- they're just too quick. We've got to be the more intelligent team and play a more thorough game. If you look at the type of penalties we took, they weren't the most intelligent. We stunted our growth with the penalties."

Brendan Shanahan said, "You have to play almost perfect hockey, and we were far from perfect. We weren't doing the little things correctly often enough. On the rush, they just seemed to walk through us a couple of times. I don't think they outplayed us, they outperformed us. They had good middle drive, good back door drive, they finished their chances. It was frustrating, because we didn't feel like we were being outplayed. But we fought back, we didn't roll over in the third period. We weren't playing to keep it close, to not be embarrassed -- we were playing to come back."

Dumb penalties notwithstanding (the team itself was not going to go where fans have gone, fans having noted that only one team was called for infractions that both teams were committing), the Rangers were in position to steal this one from the Sabres after killing off their first five power plays. One goal may have deflated Buffalo and allowed the Rangers to be the team to explode offensively. But that's what it would have taken -- an offensive explosion. One goal would not have done the trick. As Jagr noted when asked about his golden opportunity on his first shift, "This is a hockey game, not a soccer game. You're going to play 1-0 against them? Come on! Against Buffalo you think we're going to shut out them out for 60 minutes? I don't think so."

For this one game, Ryan Miller outplayed Henrik Lundqvist, although the Sabres certainly had the better scoring chances than the Rangers despite the nearly shot totals (37-34 Buffalo). But that's why they play seven game series. The Sabres went high on Henrik, believing that to be his weak point. He proved over the course of the season that that is not the case. Now he has to prove it over the remainder of this series against the NHL's best offense.

******************* Previous Updates:

Second Intermission: The Buffalo offense is unquestionably explosive. And explode they did in the final six minutes of the second period. They had a lot of help from the Ranger defense. A turnover (looked like Tyutin) led to yet another penalty that led to the power play goal that started things off. Paul Mara let Kotalik blow by him after Malik let Mair beat him with a pass for the second goal. And Mara flopped like a fish as Vanek walked in for his second goal, the Sabres' third, after Rachunek tried an ill-timed and poorly executed check at the blue line. It was easy to overlook during the raucous opening round sweep, but Mara has been a major liability even before this period. The shame of it is that the Rangers, playing well five on five through the middle part of the period, could have deflated the Sabres and their fans with a timely goal.

First Intermission: The dominant sound of the game in the first period was "Ohhh!" That's what the partisan Sabre crowd moaned fifteen times as Henrik Lundqvist held them at bay, mostly on routine saves, but on a couple of surefire scoring chances. The hometown crowd seemed to think the Sabres owned that period, but the Rangers were the ones to get off to a good start until derailed by a penalty call, and had another good stretch later when they had some five on five play. Hard to fathom how the Sabres could get away with what looked like infractions while the Rangers were called for every little thing. Michal Rozsival is out for the game with a leg injury sustained when checked in the corner.

Pre-Game: Reporting from the lower press box, high in the sky here at [paid advertisement] Arena -- so high that we have to lean as far forward as we can to see over the edge of the table to the ice. Just about hour before game time -- crowd starting to filter in slowly. Not much happening down in the locker room -- hometown boy Ryan Callahan donning his road white jersey over his shorts for a TV interview, Tom Renney ducking out of his usual pre-game press conference, having held a huge PC after the morning skate, and expectations that Hollweg and Rachunek will replace Orr and Pock. They have potato-leek tart on the menu here in the press room -- not bad at all, better than the inedible mystery meat. Wasn't sure I was going to make it -- sat on the runway at LGA for 90 minutes, half again as long a time as the flight itself.

********************** Links and Prospects:

There was a crush of media covering Game 1 last night, due mainly to Buffalo's proximity to Toronto. We're sure we missed a few (we purposely skipped a couple that were totally Sabre-centric), but here's what we have: first of all, Michal Rozsival calls his knee injury mild and Renney says he's day to day -- see the Dail News and Newsday. New York area game reports in the Daily News, Journal News, Newsday, Times, Post, Star-Ledger, SNY, and NY Sports Day. More from the Post and Newsday. Ranger game notes from the News, Ledger, and USA Today. Still more from Newsday. From the Buffalo News -- on Sean Avery here, and more here and here. From nearby Hamilton, game report here and article on Shanahan here. From Rochester, a brief report here. Elsewhere, CP, Toronto Sun here and here, Toronto Star, Globe & Mail here and here, National Post, SI.com, ESPN.com, and FoxSports.com. Hartford prepares for Game 5 of its first round series, and Jess has this report on the CHL playoffs:

While the Rangers were losing Game 1 of their series with Buffalo, three prospects were in action trying to help their teams in their own playoff dreams. Marc Staal and Sudbury looked to take a 3-2 series lead over Belleville but had to do so on the road. Sounds like a problem? Not if you have Staal in your lineup. Staal showed what happens when he decides to dominate a game, as his two power play assists in the first period helped give Sudbury a lead they would not give up. With Staal earning first star of the game honors for his overall play, Sudbury won 4-1 and head home with a chance to end the series on Friday. See reports in the Sudbury Star and Belleville Intelligencer.

Meanwhile in Calgary, Brodie Dupont and his Calgary Hitmen were looking to even up their series with Michael Sauer’s Medicine Hat Tigers. Dupont, scoreless so far in this series, has been a key to why the Tigers were leading in the series through his ineffectiveness. Sauer on the other hand has been playing the solid defense (+11) he is known for and has been a difference maker. As for the game itself, Sauer (+2) held keep Dupont scoreless again as the Tigers took a commanding 3-1 series lead back the Medicine Hat with a 3-1 win. See reports in the MH News and Calgary Sun here and here. A Memorial Cup match-up between Staal and Sauer is becoming a possibility and will help show what the future of the Rangers will look like on the blueline if these two dominant defenders go at it.

Pre Game Jitters

As gametime moves closer to the beginning of the conference semi-finals series with the Sabres, we invite you to stay with Blueshirt Bulletin as Dubi is going to be reporting from Buffalo on the game along with the postgame reaction to Game 1. We are hoping that Dubi will check in with a pregame report to help everyone get ready for what should be an exciting series. As the clock ticks closer and closer to the drop of the puck, we see that John Dellapina is reporting in his blog that Hollweg and Rachunek are in the lineup with Pock and Orr sitting for tonight. You can click the link on the side to read the rest of Dellapina's blog. Sam Weinman talks about Jagr and his possible mullet hairdo but we will let that one pass as you know where the link is for that one as well. The only other news at this time is that all three remaining Ranger prospects are in action tonight and we will have reports on them as well.

Preaching to the Choir

Jess Rubenstein participated in yesterday's league-wide conference call with Ranger coach Tom Renney and winger Brendan Shanahan, and was moved to pen the following sermon for the Ranger faithul:

First off, let me preface this by saying never have so many made so much about nothing. What I am talking about is the mountain being made out of a comment that Tom Renney gave an honest answer to. I thought honesty was supposed to be the best policy. This is exactly what the coach said: "I don't say they're the cream of the crop right now. I'm not suggesting that I don't want to give them credit, but we're where we are because we belong here, too."

OK, so this Ranger fan is viewing what the coach said as this: The Sabres are a good team but so are we and the other teams who have advanced to the second round. That is not mean-spirited or disrespectful. You would have thought that Coach Renney said something like, “The Sabres really stink -- that’s right, the Sabres they stink,” judging from the reaction of the media and the Sabres themselves.

Here is how Sabre center Daniel Briere responded: "That's always good for our room. But I'm not going to get into a war with the other guys, or at least not yet. We'll see after a few games." Goalie Ryan Miller: "He better have respect for some guys in here," goalie Ryan Miller said. "Because if they approach it that we're not that good, it's going to bite them."

I really felt bad for Tom Renney during his conference call because the media was trying to make more out of his statement than it was. I was waiting for someone to tar and feather the Ranger coach. He expanded on his original statement during the concall: “Well, when asked what I thought about the Sabres, I answered as, you know, ‘I'm not sure.’ I wasn't sure if they were the cream of the crop. But I do know one thing -- they're an awfully good hockey club and we've got a tiger by the tail. From my point of view at least, nobody will know who the best team in the National Hockey League is till sometime in mid June.”

Wow, that one is so tough, I mean if you cannot understand the point that Renney was trying to make then the problem is yours not his. I give Renney major props for being honest and realizing that there are eight teams alive in the chase for the cup. Is the coach supposed to say, “Why yes, the Sabres are the cream of the crop, the best of the best, and I will instruct my Rangers to roll over and play dead?”

That is not going to happen because what if Renney called the Sabres the cream of the crop and then the Rangers go out and beat them? If you beat the cream of the crop then doesn’t that make you the cream of the crop? Then what is Renney supposed to do when he has to lead the Rangers into first the conference finals and then the Cup finals? Renney did the right thing by saying what he did. Until someone raises the Cup in the air, there is no one team that can claim to be the best.

This is part of the frustration of being part of the Ranger organization or being a fan of the team. The guy who usually posts here tries to be diplomatic about things, but not me. I am tired of this constant crap that people dump on the Rangers and their fans. I am sick of being the bad guys of the NHL. Every place I look there is someone trying to make the Rangers into the bad guys. It has been going on since 1994 and I am sick of it. I am a proud Ranger fan for over forty years and ever since that Cup year it has been the world against the Rangers and their fans.

I am sick of this lame nonsense called Ranger hating. You want to talk about being disrespected, take a good look at how the world has been treating the Rangers and their fans. “The Rangers bought the Cup in 1994, the Rangers drove up the NHL salaries, the lockout was because of the Rangers.” None of this is true, but to the rest of the hockey world it is OK to be against the Rangers.

The Rangers have never been perfect -- we fans knew that all too well as we watched our team screw up left and right for seven seasons. Now that the team has righted the ship, they are the ones who are being disrespected, not the Sabres. They are the ones who are not being given any chance at beating mighty Buffalo.

Since 1997, Ranger fans have been fighting among themselves, as each has thought their way to fix the franchise was the right way. We have been fighting amongst ourselves for so long that we have forgotten that we all used to be one huge family. Well folks, it is time for all of us to come back together and unite for a crusade. It is time for all Ranger fans to believe in a dream, a dream called the Stanley Cup. So reach out to your fellow Ranger fan, tell him it is time for us to become one. It is time for us to say we are sick and tired of being the bad guys.

It is time for us to join together and support a team that has earned our support. For years we have wanted a blue collar team that busted its butt, and now we have one. We wanted a team that balanced skill with grit, and we now have one. We wanted a team that reached out to us, and we have that. So it is time to forget about all our differences and become one. The Rangers are our team and it is time we reached out to them as they have reached out to us.

We are going to embark on a crusade all right -- a crusade for a parade down the Canyon of Heroes comes June to honor a Ranger Stanley Cup. The one thing nobody wants to see is all of the Ranger world come together and unite as one. Our crusade starts with Game 1 against the Sabres, and we will spread the word. Spread the word that come Sunday we will turn New York City Broadway Blue. Reach out to those you have fought with and unite with them in our crusade and let us remember what a difference we, the extra attacker, can make for the Rangers.

Let us spread the word so that no corner in the New York City area is untouched. Let us send the message out, the message that other teams’ fans do not want to hear, that we Ranger fans are united in our crusade. We have seen other teams and their fans wearing the colors to turn their arenas the color of their team. Turn NYC BROADWAY BLUE. Come Sunday, let the Sabres, their fans, and the rest of the NHL see that when it comes to loyal support, there are no better fans than Ranger fans. Wear your Ranger blue. Show your signs of support throughout the city. Let us unite in one voice in one color so that the ground shakes and the city roars.

Guess what hockey world, the Rangers and their fans have a message for you: WE ARE BACK! And this time we are not leaving without the Stanley Cup.

Renney is the primary subject in most news reports today,along with the Sabres' response. Sean Avery, Brendan Shanahan, Jaromir Jagr, and Ryan Callahan also get some attention from here and there (Buffalo area). See the Daily News, Journal News, Newsday, Times here and here, Post, Record, Star-Ledger, Rochester's Democrat and Chronicle, Blueshirts Blog, and Blue Notes. Extensive coverage from the Buffalo News here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here. Series previews -- Post and SNY. Rangers only on Versus -- Times and Newsday. More from the Toronto Sun, Canadian Press, SI.com, ESPN.com here and here, and Sportsnet. Hartford was drubbed by the Baby Bruins 5-1 to even their series at 2-2.

Rangers Better Than Sabres This Year

The Rangers have relished the role of underdog since the lockout, seeming to always do better when expectations are lower. But going into their second round series as the only low seed to advance past the first round, and having to face the top seed in the league, the Rangers have served notice that they want to be viewed as a legitimate contender. And why not? The difference between the two teams all came in calendar year 2006 -- since the first of this year, the Sabres remained one of the best teams in the league with a 25-15-4 record (54 points), but the Rangers were right there with them, going 24-13-7 (55 points) over their last 44 games

That covers more than half the regular season, not just some late season hot streak. But over the last 17 games, the Rangers were 12-3-5 to the Sabres' 9-6-2. The interesting point of comparison over that stretch is Buffalo's goals vs. the Rangers' goals against -- while the Rangers scored just about as many goals (49) as the Sabres allowed (52), Buffalo scored 62 (3.65 per game), exactly twice the number the Rangers allowed. At one end of the ice, this series looks to be a match-up between an irresistable force (the Sabres' O) and an immovable object (Henrik Lundqvist). If Lundqvist does no worse than split the difference, the series may be decided at the other end of the ice, where a potentially explosive Ranger attack will be targeting a net that will bend, perhaps to the point of breaking.

Sean Avery leads the Ranger news today, as he is the only New Yorker to break the bulletin board code and give the Sabres some fodder. Then again, that's exactly what he wants, to distract the Sabres, which is why he said what he said -- "I've already decided I hate all of those guys. I'm going to hurt them, I'm going to hit them, I'm going to be in their face as much as I can." And more -- see the Daily News, Journal News, Newsday, Times, Post, Star-Ledger, and AP. Buffalo reaction from their News ("It’s pointless to get caught up in his little soap operas," said Ryan Miller, already caught up in it if that's what he's calling it). Also from the Buffalo News, good news for Jaromir Jagr -- Lindy Ruff rolls four lines, like the Rangers do, which means he will not face relentless match-ups against the Sabres' best defensive players. The guys at MSG.com weigh in -- Sam, Dave, and Joe. News and notes on each team from USA Today here and here. Series previews from ESPN.com and NHL.com. More from NHL.com on Michael Nylander. Mayor Bloomberg eschewed placing the traditional bet with the rival mayor. In the Courant, a look at Bryce Lampman. And Jess has this report on last night's CHL playoffs:

We have a double header for you, starting with Marc Staal and Sudbury as they try to tie up their OHL Eastern Conference final series with Belleville. As has been the pattern in this series, it was a scoreless first period before Belleville jumped off to a 1-0 lead in the second. Sudbury, as has been their pattern, tied the game six minutes later. Sudbury took the lead in the third, but Belleville answered with an unassisted shorthanded goal. Staal tried on several occasions to score, but goalie Kevin LaLande stopped him on each occasion, and for the third time in four games, the teams wound up going into overtime to decide a winner. This time, Sudbury was the one to knot the series at 2-2, Justin Donati scoring his second goal of the game at 6:17. The series goes back to Belleville for Game 5 Wednesday. Game reports in the Sudbury Star and Belleville Intelligencer.

In the battle of Ranger prospects, Brodie Dupont hoped home ice would change the luck of his Calgary Hitmen as they took on Michael Sauer and his Medicine Hat Tigers, the Hitmen trailing 2-0 in the series. Calgary jumped out to a 1-0 lead on a first period power play goal. In the second, the Hitmen did all the scoring with two goals for themselves and one for the Tigers -- goalie Dan Spence kicked the puck into his own net with just four seconds left in the period to give the Tigers some life going into the third with Calgary up 3-1. But Calgary was able to extend their lead to 4-1. However, Sauer’s Tigers did not quit, cutting the lead to 4-2 and then turning up the pressure big time. If not for Spence, the Tigers might have been able to come back, but he kept it to a 4-2 final that cut MH’s lead in the series to 2-1. Game 4 is in Calgary on Wednesday, and it should be a dandy. Game reports in the Calgary Sun and MH News.

Rangers May Be Able to Achieve Their Goals in Buffalo

Well, the bad news is, when you play Buffalo, no lead is safe. But the good news is, that applies to both teams -- in their four games this season, the Rangers twice blew two-goal leads, but so did the Sabres, although they ended up winning all four games (three in OT or by shootout). It's just about impossible for the Sabres to gauge much about the Rangers from the season series since it ended December 1st, long before the Rangers made themselves over in Sean Avery's image, and long before Henrik Lundqvist made himself over in Martin Brodeur's image -- indeed, Lundqvist only appeared in one of those four games.

The Rangers can on the other hand draw much from the Sabres' more recent experience to gauge why Buffalo leads may still not be so safe. While they remain explosuve offensively, netminder Ryan Miller is shakier today than he was back then. His regular season record since mid-February may have been an unassailable 13-5-3, but his goals against average was a pedestrian 2.75 and his save percentage was a less than mediocre .907 -- in fact, go back to a New Year's Day win, and since then he was 19-11-4 with a 2.74 GAA and .906 save percentage. He gave up three or more more goals 22 times in those 34 games, four or more goals eight times.

In the playoffs, Miller improved to a 2.20 GAA and .918 save percentage, but the Islanders played defensive hockey -- they took only 134 shots on him in five games, compared to the Rangers' 143 shots on goal in just four playoff games (Miller's GAA would be 3.00 against that many shots with a .918 save percentage). Meanwhile, we don't have reiterate Lundqvist's numbers -- he remains the NHL's best goalie statistically since the trade deadline, and possibly since Christmas. Yes, he will have his hands fuller than they've been in a long time handling the potent Buffalo attack, but he may also get more support than he's accustomed to.

The series is slated to start on Wednesday night in Buffalo and continue there Friday night before returning to New York for a Sunday matinee. We will once again try to go on the road to cover the games, but wouldn't you know, after a week of glorious weather, they're predicting rain for Wednesday, our travel day. For news reports from today, see the Journal News, Newsday, and Post. Newsday also has a nice feature on Tom Renney. The Buffalo News has a piece on the Sabres starting to prepare themselve to face the Rangers. Some team notes can be found there as well. The Record has a series preview, and Slam! Sports has the fantasy league lowdown on Brendan Shanahan. On the farm, the Courant looks at Dwight Helminen's contribution to the Wolf Pack in the playoffs, and Jess has this report on CHL playoff action:

Marc Staal and Sudbury took to their home ice for Game 3 against Belleville with Staal having led his Wolves to a 9-2 playoff record since returning from a minor injury. A scoreless first period saw Sudbury spending much of the time defending against the Bulls, who controlled play. The second period wound up scoreless too, but Sudbury started to find their offensive game. although they could not finish. Belleville finally got on the board early in the third period, but Sudbury got even a couple of minutes later, and that's how they went into overtime. Staal was robbed on an outstanding play in overtime by Belleville's goalie on what could have been the game winner. He then had his stick break on him during another shot. Evenutally, Belleville scored to win the game 2-1 and grab a 2-1 series lead. Game 4 will be tonight in Sudbury. See game reports in the Sudbury Star and the Belleville Intelligencer.