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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.

…points that is. The Rangers are in the midst of a three game losing streak, but have managed to pick up two points in two of those losses. While salvaging a point is nice, especially last night against Buffalo, it’s not enough. New York has one big thing, among a lot of other things, not going for itself — time. As it stands this afternoon the Rangers have played 66 games, leaving 16 remaining, and stand in 9th place in the conference, two points behind Boston. Just about every team in the conference, including Boston in front and Atlanta behind, have at least two games in hand on the Blueshirts. The only team to have played more games than the Rangers is Montreal, which has played 67. What does this all mean? Time is running out — and more importantly, the Rangers need to start winning, not salvaging one point.

Having said that, the loser’s mentality says the Rangers managed to get four points in four games since the Olympic break against four clearly superior teams. Not great, but not terrible. Does this make me feel great about things? Not a chance.

One thing I will say, and you can criticize me for being overly optimistic all you want but I’m just laying it out there, is that the Rangers have made it through the toughest part of their schedule. They will earn their way either in or out of the playoffs come April. The Rangers only play three games the rest of the way against any of the top five seeds in the conference, two against a struggling New Jersey team and one against Buffalo. No more Washington, Pittsburgh, or Ottawa, so that’s not too shabby. What’s left are a bunch of games against teams just ahead or behind New York in the standings.

Even better? 10 of the 16 remaining games are on the road, and yes, that’s a good thing.

Now I would be naive to say that this means we should expect the Rangers to rip through the remaining schedule and easily clinch a playoff berth. Post-season hockey at MSG is still very much in doubt.

A couple of thoughts to finish up: does this team actually play differently with Gaborik in the lineup? In four games without Gabby, New York has scored 14 goals. In the two games since he’s been back, the Rangers have only scored two goals. This makes absolutely no sense. To think an NHL team could actually take the foot off the pedal a little bit because its star player is back on the ice is absurd. However, numbers don’t lie…and I don’t know what else those numbers are trying to tell us.

Wade Redden. Why? Why is he even in the NHL anymore? He stinks. He’s on the ice for a limited time until his atrocious play gets him benched. Then he just gets in the way of a fan or two who have front row seats behind the Rangers bench. If someone can give me a rational explanation I’m all ears.

Consistency. It doesn’t exist, nor does it appear it ever will with this team. The Rangers are a broken record playing the same tune over and over and over again. One period with flashes of excitement and brilliance, four periods without a goal. Let’s not hold our breaths in expecting this to change.

Lots of negative to talk about once again, but still only two points out of the playoffs with 16 games remaining. That means the torture will continue, but hey, maybe something will give. Would sure be better late than never…

On a side note, did anyone attend the “Fire Sather” rally yesterday? I would love to hear about it. Also, be sure to check out our post-Olympic break podcast. As always get your comments/questions in at hosts@nyrangerscast.com.

Seen any good hockey games lately?

Seriously, if you’re a player in gold medal game, how do you go back to the NHL?  There is no question that the game on Sunday will be the peak of those players seasons, maybe even careers.  Has to be tough getting motivated to finish out a lackluster NHL season if you’re Chris Drury or Ryan Callahan. But they must, and they will.

Rangers get back to work this week, still trying to make the post-season.  They will be doing so with an actual backup goaltender. The team claimed goalie Alex Auld off waivers from the Stars.  Auld has a record of 9-6-3 this season with a 3.00 GAA. Not great numbers, but he provides experience in the net that Chad Johnson could not offer.

The Blueshirts have 20 games in the next 41 days, beginning with Ottawa tomorrow night.   They are still hurting a bit. Michael Del Zotto, with 50 stitches in his side, is questionable for the game.   Corey Potter was called up just in case. With the Swedish team not making it to the medal round, Henrik Lundqvist has had a couple days to rest.  Although I’m not sure if he knew what to do with himself during that time.

If you want to predict how the Rangers will do IF they make the playoffs?  Tune into the four games after Ottawa to find out.  Penguins, Capitals, Sabres, and Devils all in a row. Talk about coming back to a rough schedule. No time to readjust after the layoff.  Should be a fun 41 days.

…then take a seat on the couch and enjoy. Today boasts the most exciting slate of matchups of the Olympic games. Russia vs. Czech Republic, Canada vs. USA and Sweden vs. Finland, in that order. All six teams are medal contenders and could be playing for gold a week from today. The only potential contender left out of that bunch is Gabby’s Slovak team, but let’s not get too caught up in that.

I’ve been fortunate enough to see a couple games so far this Olympics, including Canada’s shootout win over Switzerland. Being at a Canadian game reminded me of a college hockey atmosphere. As much as I love the Garden and its environment, it’s still a professional arena. You have your businessmen after a day’s work, your die-hard fans, your families, etc. Here a Canadian hockey game feels like you’re in an arena with a bunch of rowdy college students at a Cornell hockey game — and that’s only having seen a game against Switzerland. Needless to say, today’s crowd will be electric and bragging rights are on the line. My shifts should allow me to make it to Russia/Czech and Canada/USA, so that’s what I’m hoping for.

While much of the spotlight is on the Canada/USA game, and rightfully so, don’t lose sight of the other two games. The early game boasts the arguably the world’s greatest player in Alexander Ovechkin and a hungry Russian team after getting upset by Gabby’s Slovak team. It’s also another chance to check out the ageless Jaromir Jagr, who hasn’t seemed to lose much pep in his step even at the ripe old (almost) age of 38. Ranger fans, and any fan of hockey for that matter, can appreciate what he has done over his career and this is (or should be) his final Olympic hoorah.

After the Canada/USA game, it’s a rematch of the 2006 gold medal match with Lundqvist and Sweden against Jokinen and Finland. Both teams are 2-0 and looking for a top seed heading into the elimination round. I got a chance to see Sweden against Germany and I wasn’t overly impressed. Hank got the 21 save shutout, but the Germans missed a couple of great chances to score. With that said, the Swedes still managed to win and not yield a goal even while not playing their best game. Definitely don’t sleep on them because the team is absolutely loaded. Finland looks like it’s also for real.

I know there has been some talk about stopping the NHL season to have the players in the Olympics, and that Gary Bettman hasn’t yet committed to Sochi. I love the idea of it though. I’ll take this over an all-star weekend any day. I know it creates a longer break and can make it difficult with scheduling, but it only happens once every four years. Today’s games are enough to make me want to see it again in Sochi. Every single team playing today could win the whole tournament. The fans are certainly into it, and the city is going nuts over it. If the only medal Canada won this Olympic games was gold in men’s hockey then I’m pretty sure this city, and country, would still be beside themselves with pride and excitement.

Whether you like the Olympic break or not, enjoy the three games today. It’s going to be fun.

Just wanted to let everyone know that the latest episode from the NYRangerscast is available. We talk about the latest trades, playoff positioning, and whether we want this team to even compete for a playoff berth coming down the stretch.

As a side note, Henrik looks like he has a new backup. Stephen Valliquette has cleared re-entry waivers.

That’s all that’s left before the two-week Olympic Break. Predators, Penguins, and Lightning still on the table for the inconsistent Rangers. The team currently sits tied for ninth in the Eastern Conference, two points out of a playoff position. That position is currently held by Tampa Bay. The Blueshirts are a dismal 3-7-0 in their last ten games.

To be quite honest, you’d think with this recent ten game stretch, and the fact that the Rangers struggle so mightily to get points to begin with, that this team would be much further out of contention. But they’re not. Is the East really that bad? Well, if the Rangers are only two points out of the playoffs, than yes.

You look at the teams the Rangers are competing with to get into the playoffs. Atlanta, Tampa Bay, Boston, Florida, Philadelphia…not exactly murderers row. There has been talk about the Rangers tanking the rest of the way out because they haven’t done anything to prove that they can compete in the playoffs, if they do in fact make it in. My question is, why?

To me, once the playoffs start anything can happen. Am I conceding that the Rangers have the ability to beat the Caps, Devils, Pens or Sabers in a 7-game series? No. Not even close. But why wouldn’t you want your team to at least have a shot. You’re telling me that you wouldn’t at least be excited if this team got the seventh seed and got to go up against the Devils? You’re telling me that if this team got the eighth seed, you wouldn’t be excited to see Hank go up against Jose Theodore in a seven game set?

I know this team isn’t very good. But to say you want them to tank, come on. If they get in and they get swept, they get swept. Not like anyone would expect much better. At least if they get in, they have a punchers chance.

In other news, Rangers superstar Marian Gaborik suffered a laceration on his right knee during practice today. According to Andrew Gross, the media has been told that the injury occurred during a breakaway drill when Gaborik got cut by Hanks skate. Gaborik was not taken to the hospital and it is unclear if he will play tomorrow night.