My fellow readers although there is a lot to write about I am going to be short and to the point with this one. I want to list below the pros and cons of lasts night game.

Pros: 1. JT Miller and CK showed some serious strides and made even the pessimistic of rangers fans have some faith. JT controlled the puck, seemed like he fit in and deserved to get another look Thursday for sure. I felt the same about CK. 2. Well honestly I am trying to find something else and I can’t think o any from last’s nights game, well I guess its off to the Con’s side.

Cons: 1. Coach Tortorella it appears is not getting across to this team. I had communicated to my cousin, also a big fan last year during the taping of 24/7 that it looked like the players really could care less about what he said and I feared another Bruce Boudreau incident with this team in the coming tenure. I honestly thought it would happen last year, but they hit their stride and confidence was abundant, but with this start it appears to be going backwards. So the question is how long is his leash? 2. PP- one word Atrocious. You all can figure out the rest. 3. PK- Without Cally they seem lost and without Prust, Boyle seems lost and its taking its toll on the rest of his game as referenced by his sub 10 minute game last night. The overall squad performance is just simply not good enough.  4. Hank- He had a career year last year, his stats were significantly better then previous years an I knew that if he came back to earth a little bit, the team would have to step it up. The issue is this, he has come back to earth and is playing  below his career numbers and the Offense is producing on the same level it did last year.

For now that’s enough hammering on our beloved NYR. I will say this with 5, 4 of which are home games in the next 10 days against NYI twice, Boston, TBL, Washington, they have to come out of these five with at lease 6 points. If they come out of that set with less then six points I will really begin to worry and probably go on a hiatus for a while. Hopefully things will turn around on Thursday against the isles at MSG and we will all be on the bandwagon again. Only time will tell… Let’s Go Rangers..

Folks I am sorry for getting this up today rather then yesterday when I usually do so, but I will be short ad quick on this one. As the NYR prepare for a division with the NJD tomorrow at the Rock, they come in with their heads high off a pretty convincing W against a scorching hot team in the TBL. The Step-Hags-Pyatt line was sensational all night. Most of us and yours truly had bashed on them for well most of the season for their lack of production but they turned that around on us Saturday evening. By combining for 5 points and a +5 rating this line clearly had their best evening of the season to date. Now hopefully they can run with the momentum and keep up the fine work. The goal by Rick Nash was vintage and a thing of beauty and something he needs to do more of from here on out. His power and elusiveness getting to the net is quite impressive when he wants to use it. He has to want it more and be much more unselfish from here on forward. I have to say  I am a bit worried about Gabby’s shot as it just doesn’t seem to have the zip it had pre-shoulder issues, just food for thought.. Much props to Gilroy and Stralman as in their brief stints, they definitely made an impression on me. Can we stop playing Stu Bickel already? I know everyone loves his toughness, blah blah, but seriously the guy has little to zero talent and Kris Newbury would at least give us some potentially upside.  Overall it was a great win, the best team game of the season, stayed out of the box, minimized the stupid plays and got a much needed 2 points.

On the eve of the game against the Devil, I want to look back at the first 8  really quickly and give my take as to why the NYR are where they are. They start the season off with Back to back games, in Boston, then back to MSG, from there they had 2 days off and had a rematch against Boston at MSG. From there, straight off to Philly followed by a day off and home again to start a home-stand. After the first game of the home-stand, 2 days off, then one day off to complete the home-stand.  After the completion of the home-stand, there was one more day off and it was off to Tampa, and now we sit here where we are with another 2 days off and a game in NJ. With that stated, it looks like February is more consistent and will allow the players to gel a bit more. From here on out they play every Tuesday and Thursday, 2 Sunday games and a Saturday game thrown in there. Their is ample rest time in between, but it will be a fun month with 12 games in 28 games, well 11 more, how about we go 9-2 in the remaining 11, am I asking to much? Let’s Go Rangers, keep up the good play and take it to the NJD tomorrow night.

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