So who didn’t see yesterdays shoot-out loss to the Flyers coming from a mile away?  Shame on us who gave this team a chance to come up in a big spot when they needed to make the playoffs.  We should have known better.

The tumultuous 2009-2010 Rangers season came to a fitting conclusion yesterday in the form of 2-1 SO loss to Philly.  It was a game where we saw the Rangers get dominated in every facet of the game, except goaltending.  The Blueshirts were out shot 47-25 in a game that was a win or go home scenario.  The Rangers are now home.

On our last podcast, Erik and I talked about how even though the Rangers were on a hot streak, you could never put it past this team to fold like a cheap suit.  They did it all year.  Everytime it looked like the team was on the brink of turning things around, they reminded us harshly that they didn’t have the fortitude to do so.   Yesterdays game was another one of those instances.  Needing a miracle with 10 games remaining on the schedule, the Rangers did well enough to put their fate in their own hands.  Yet, they come out against a far inferior goaltender and lay and gargantuan egg.

Now, the team gets to play golf (or intern at fashion magazines), while the rest of us sit here and wonder if this is the beginning of the end.  This team took a drastic dip this season under new coach John Tortorella and GM Glen Sather.  Will they be the two leading this club in 2010-2011?  Will it be The Captain taking over the reigns?  Only time will tell.

What we know right now is this team needs A LOT of work.  Henrik and Marian are a good start, but they need much more help than that.  In a conference as week as the East, you should be canned if your team doesn’t make the playoffs.    I can’t say my hopes were ever that high with this team (I picked them to finish 8th at the start of the season), but with the way the conference shaped out, its truly embarrassing that the Rangers could find themselves in the top half.

Erik and I will have more on our season wrap up show.  Erik is out of town until Wednesday, so expect more ranting after that.

Okay, so a lot of people thought the Rangers were done a long, long time ago. I didn’t really completely give up on the season until last week. And then what do they do? Continue to be the enigma they’ve been all season long.

Nine out a possible 10 points in the last five games. The Rangers haven’t really beaten any top tier teams in that stretch, but they’ve been doing something they hadn’t for most of the season – win games they’re supposed to win.

With a game on hand and only two points behind a miserable Philly team right now, the playoffs…yes playoffs, actually look a whole lot better than they did after an atrocious loss in Boston a couple Sundays ago. Again, I don’t want to go too nuts over this long-awaited spurt of good play, but it’s hard not to get a little excited to finally see something coming together.

I want to reserve my optimism a little at this point, but the Rangers are clearly in the driver’s seat for a playoff berth. If they win, they will be in because of those final two games against the Flyers. Games against Philadelphia are always more of a brawl than a hockey game, but can you imagine the intensity that there will be in both contests if the final playoff spot is on the line?

Say what you want about hating this team, not even wanting this team to make the playoffs, them being bad, etc. I want to see those games mean something and I want the Rangers to make it into the postseason. Do I think the Rangers will make noise in the playoffs if they get there? No. But I love playoff hockey, especially when my favorite team is still in it.

Call me crazy, naive, whatever. Let’s just hope this wasn’t the ultimate jinx and the Rangers don’t go out and lay an egg against Florida tonight.

I would be a fool to start talking about how the Rangers could make a late push and make the playoffs, right? I think so too. Although, desperation can be dangerous and their final two games are against Philadelphia. I’m just saying…

Anyway, should the Rangers not make that unexpected late push and actually make the playoffs, they should seriously consider doing some spring cleaning. Unfortunately, we know what they should do and what they actually do are generally two very distant and different things. I obviously want to see Sather gone just like everyone else does, but I’m by no means sold on the idea that the Rangers missing the playoffs means Sather’s gone. I don’t buy into the notion that Dolan hasn’t fired him in year’s past because they made the playoffs and he made his money. If he gets fired and that’s the said reason, then great. But I don’t think anyone could say they would be shocked if the Rangers don’t make the playoffs and Sather is still smoking a cigar in his private box. Why? Because it’s the Rangers.

As for Torts, I’m ready to say so long regardless of what the Rangers do. I will be surprised if he keeps his job. He really seems to have no control of this team whatsoever. At some point, enough’s enough with all the line changes. The players just flat out haven’t responded. You can blame the players if you want, but ultimately it will be Torts who is held accountable, and I have no problem with that.

This season has been one of the toughest ones for me to swallow in recent memory, especially if (when) the Rangers don’t make the playoffs. Inconsistency has plagued this team all year and that’s why it has brought us on such a rollercoaster.

The Rangers take on the Islanders tonight. Should they win? Yes. In fact, they should win the rest of their games except against Buffalo and two against the Flyers. If they were to somehow manage to do that then those two games to close out the season against Philly could be pretty interesting. I’ll hold off any talk on that until it comes, because right now there’s just too many prayers the Rangers need to have answered.

Unfortunately, the best thing to look forward to at this point is probably the end of the season…

…+5 in the last 10.   That’s what it’s going to take for the Rangers to make it into the playoffs after losing to the Bruins on Sunday.  The Blueshirts sit in 10th place in the East, 4 points out of 9th, and 5 points out of 8th.  The Thrashers have picked up back-to-back wins to make it that much harder for New York.

The season isn’t technically over…but it’s over.  Show me a point in time this season where the Rangers have been able to muster a substantial amount of wins in a row when it counted.  Sure, they started off 7-1 this season, but that’s so far away from where the team is now.  The team will go up against the Islanders a couple more times, Flyers as well, and have a mixed bag of games with the Devils, Sabers, Maple Leafs, etc.  It’s not looking good.

I know many of you threw in the towel a long time ago.  I’m throwing mine in today.  Call me overly optimistic for waiting this long.

I’m also throwing in my towel on John Tortorella.  I was a huge proponent of Torts coming to the Rangers after Tom Renney was fired.  But, it has become clear that with the current personnel on the Rangers, Tortorella cannot be successful as a head coach.  And it is much easier to change the coach than it is to change the team.

Make no mistake, I still like Torts.  I think he is a good coach.  But this just isn’t his team and it would take years to restructure the roster in such a way that would make his brand of hockey successful in MSG.  Obviously the blame falls on him as well as GM Glen Sather.  And we all know how the NYRangerscast feels about Slats.

Is it time for Messier to take over the club?  I don’t know if that’s the best solution either, but something has got to happen up top.  This is a train going in the wrong direction.  Bloated contracts, aging leaders, lack of scoring…it’s not a recipe for success.  It’s time for a change.  And hopefully missing out on the playoffs will usher in that change.

Hopefully.

Alright, alright. Sorry for the lack of action lately. Eric is without internet and I have had it sparingly. All excuses aside, let’s talk hockey.

As it stands now, I think it’s pretty much a race for the 8th and final playoff spot. Barring a collapse by Philly or Montreal, the top seven teams seem pretty well set. That leaves the last spot the only one left, with the Rangers three points behind the Bruins. I would be surprised if that eight seed goes to anyone other than the Bruins or Rangers based on the current standings and remaining schedules.

Atlanta: 5 points back, 13 games remaining, remaining schedule includes @ Philly, 2 @ Washington, @ Pittsburgh, vs. Pittsburgh…that’s enough for me to say goodnight.

Tampa Bay: 6 points back, 13 games remaining, next two games vs. Buffalo, vs. Washington, also have a four game road trip @ Boston, @ Buffalo, @ Columbus, @ Pittsburgh…see ya next year.

Islanders: 7 points back, 12 games remaining, impressive 3-game win streak but too little too late…still two more games out west (@ Anaheim, @ LA) plus Philly, Ottawa, Montreal, @ Pittsburgh, @ NJ, Pittsburgh to finish out the season…they’re coutin’ on a miracle.

So that leaves the Rangers and Bruins. At this point you can’t expect anything from this team except inconsistency. I saw the game against the Thrashers and was very impressed with how they played. I didn’t see the Flyers game but was pleasantly surprised to see they put together two solid performances. Then we see the team completely not show up against Montreal and get outshot 35-20. In other words, same old, same old.

At this point, the Rangers have a lot of ground to make up. Boston has a game in hand plus three points. There is only one head to head meeting between the two remaining and that comes on NBC this Sunday. If the Rangers don’t come to play in that game, they don’t deserve to play in the playoffs. They have to treat that game like a play-in game. If they lose a game plus two more points on the B’s, you can probably kiss New York goodnight.

We could sit here and compare schedules, but all it comes down to is the Rangers need to win every time they step on the ice. They need to show some sort of consistency in the final 12 games.

Keep running your thoughts through here. Eric and I will get a podcast in once we get back and we’ll try to get some live blogs going down the stretch.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day…cheers to a 12-game win streak…or something like that.