Rangers – Page 21 – Keefe To The City

Feb 17, 2016

Podcast: Ryan Brandell

The Barstool Sports Blackhawks blogger joined me to talk about the defending champs, as well as the Cubs and The Bachelor.

The last time the Rangers and Blackhawks met was way back on Oct. 7 on Opening Night in the NHL. The Rangers won that game 3-2 in Chicago in what was a look at what could have been last June in the Stanley Cup Final if the Rangers had won Game 7 at home against the Lightning. After back-to-back seasons of nearly missing out on a Rangers-Blackhawks Final, maybe this is the year we finally get it.

Ryan Brandell of Barstool Sports Chicago (known as “Chief” on that site), joined me to talk about if the regular season is boring for Blackhawks fans, ex-Rangers winning the Cup in Chicago, which teams Blackhawks fans should be scared of in the playoffs and the teams that have no chance of reaching the conference finals. We also talked about the state of the Cubs and The Bachelor.

Blogs • Rangers

Feb 16, 2016

The 2015-16 Scared of the Rangers Playing Them in the Playoffs Power Rankings

All I care about is that the Rangers get in the playoffs and it doesn’t matter how. Now that it looks like the Rangers are going to the playoffs, it’s time to figure out which teams to root for them to play.

The Rangers are 32-18-6. Last year, after 56 games, they were 34-16-6. That team went on to win the Presidents’ Trophy, finishing with 113 points. So for as bad as the Rangers were from Nov. 25 through Jan. 17, going 8-13-3, they aren’t really much different than they were at this time last year.

The only real difference, even though it’s not necessarily a difference yet, is that the 2014-15 Rangers got to 113 points and earned the No. 1 overall seed in the playoffs with a 16-2-2 record over a 20-game stretch from Feb. 10 to March 22. I don’t know if the 2015-16 Rangers are capable of that kind of run, especially without Ryan McDonagh and Rick Nash, and they most likely aren’t, but it’s still possible.

In reality, the Rangers don’t need to go on that kind of run. As we saw last season and have in most seasons, aside from actually receiving the Presidents’ Trophy, possibly hanging a non-Stanley Cup Champions banner and potentially hosting a Game (which doesn’t guarantee anything), being the overall 1-seed or the 1-seed in the Eastern Conference doesn’t necessarily get you to where you want to go. All I care about is that the Rangers get in the playoffs and it doesn’t matter how. But it does matter who they play.

Last season, starting with 25 games left in the season, I wrote the Scared of the Rangers Playing Them in the Playoffs Power Rankings and I updated it with 12 games left. Now that it looks like the Rangers are going to the playoffs, it’s time to figure out which teams to root for them to play.

1. WASHINGTON CAPITALS
Last season, I wanted the Rangers to play the Capitals, and I said:

After the Rangers blew a 3-1 series lead to the Capitals in the 2008-09 playoffs and then were embarrassed in five games in the 2010-11 playoffs, I didn’t think they would ever beat the Capitals in the playoffs, much like the Penguins. But those were different teams and a different time and the way the Rangers overcame the Penguins in the playoffs last year, they overcame the Capitals in the 2011-12 playoffs. Since then the Rangers have won two series against the Capitals and two Game 7s.

A series against the Capitals means the Rangers will play another series after it.

The Rangers did end up playing the Capitals, saved their season with 1:41 left in Game 5, overcame a 3-1 series deficit and won another Game 7 against the Capitals. But the way things changed from 2010-11 to 2011-12, they could easily change in 2015-16, and I don’t want to have to find out.

In all likelihood, the Rangers will be the 2- or 3-seed in the Met and if they win their first-round series, they will have to play the Capitals in the second round. That is, unless the Capitals are upset by a wild-card team. Let’s hope whichever team gets the second wild-card seed does so by being the hottest team in the league down the stretch and carrying that momentum into the first round against the Capitals. It would make things a lot easier for the Rangers.

2. NEW YORK ISLANDERS
Last season, I didn’t want anything to do with the Islanders in the playoffs even if for two weeks it would be the most intense non-conference finals or non-Final series the Rangers have ever played. Then I changed my mind and wanted a Rangers-Islanders series, but we didn’t get it. Now I’m against it again.

The Islanders play the Rangers harder than anyone in the league, outside of maybe the Devils, and there’s no question a potential Rangers-Islanders series would go the distance. The Rangers would have everything to lose in a series against the Islanders since they’re supposed to win and if they were to lose, it would be much like the Yankees losing a playoff series to the Red Sox: a disaster.

Not only am I scared of the Rangers losing to the Islanders and having to listen to their insufferable fans, but I’m scared that a Rangers-Islanders series would take everything out of the Rangers and leave them exhausted for a second-round series against the Capitals, much like what the 2003 ALCS did to the Yankees.

3. TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING
It was painful to watch Ryan Callahan, Brian Boyle and Anton Stralman be on the winning side of a post-Game 7 handshake in last year’s Eastern Conference finals, and it would have been unbearable to watch those three hoist the Cup in the year following their departure from the Rangers. While I’m over the devastation that comes with watching the team’s former captain and my former whipping boy beat the Rangers in Game 7 at home for the first time in franchise history, I’m not about to watch it happen again.

4. PITTSBURGH PENGUINS
The Rangers easily handled the Penguins in five games last postseason, a year after overcoming a 3-1 series deficit to get Dan Bylsma fired. Since then, the Penguins hired and fired Mike Johnston and made former Rangers assistant coach Mike Sullivan their head coach. The trade of Phil Kessel hasn’t done what many thought it would, and after going missing for the first half of the season, Sidney Crosby has return to his old self playing for Sullivan.

Like I always say when it comes to the Penguins, it’s hard to say you want to play a team that has the best player in the world and at times the second-best player in the world on the same team. But in recent years, the Rangers have owned the Penguins, both in the regular season and postseason and once again this past week, the Rangers displayed that dominance again with a 3-0 win without their best offensive player and best all-around defenseman.

5. NEW JERSEY DEVILS
I think all Rangers fans are hoping the Devils start to play the way a team with their roster should play down the stretch here. The Devils seem to have the Rangers’ number and with an elite goalie in Cory Schneider and the Devils’ ability to score garbage goal after garbage goal against Henrik Lundqvist, it’s not a matchup I welcome. I should be jumping at the chance for the Rangers to play a team led in scoring by Lee Stempniak, but I’m not. I want no part of the Devils.

6. DETROIT RED WINGS
The Rangers haven’t played the Red Wings this season, so it’s hard to say the current version of the teams match up. I know last year I wasn’t scared of playing the Red Wings and I’m still not. I’m actually very anti-Red Wings because of the way they blew their first-round series against the Lightning in the playoffs last year.

The Red Wings held a 3-2 series lead over the Lightning before losing 5-2 in Game 6 and 2-0 in Game 7. The Lightning went on to beat the Canadiens in six games and then played the Rangers and beat them in Game 7 at MSG. If the Red Wings finish the job at home in Game 6 against the Lightning, the Rangers end up playing the Red Wings or Canadiens in the Eastern Conference finals and most likely (obviously there is no way of knowing, so I’m going to side with the Rangers here) would have reached the Stanley Cup Final. Eff you, Detroit.

7. BOSTON BRUINS
In 2010-11, the Bruins won the Cup. In 2011-12, they lost a first-round Game 7. In 2012-13, they went to the Final and lost in six games. In 2013-14, they were the 1-seed in the East and the best team in the league, and blew a 3-2 series lead to the Canadiens in the second round. In 2014-15, they lost their last three games and missed the playoffs by two points, and then fired their general manager and traded Milan Lucic, Doug Hamilton, Carl Soderberg and Reilly Smith. The Bruins have rebuilt on the fly and done a decent job at it.

The Bruins still aren’t very good, but could sneak into the playoffs and finish as high as first in the Atlantic or as a wild-card team. They’re not the force they were two and three years ago, but they still scare me and appear to be a bad matchup for the Rangers.

8. FLORIDA PANTHERS
The Panthers find themselves in this spot only because they are somewhat of an unknown when it comes to playing the Rangers. It’s hard to get a real read on how the Rangers play against the Panthers because their games against them are so wildly inconsistent. In November, the Rangers won 5-4 in overtime at MSG. In January, the Panthers won 3-0 in Florida. Last season, the Rangers swept the season series, winning 5-2, 6-3 and 2-1. Since this is the first good season this Panthers group has had together with the team’s last playoff appearance coming in 2011-12, it’s hard to get a feel for how good this team is if they’re even good at all and how they play in the postseason. Their abundance of former Blackhawks and presence of Dale Tallon scares me a little, but not enough to not want to play them in the playoffs.

Podcasts • Rangers

Feb 16, 2016

Podcast: 610 Barstool Sports New York

The Barstool Sports New York blogger joined me to talk about everything Rangers and the Henrik Lundqvist era.

Henrik Lundqvist is back. After a rough stretch that made it look like the 76 playoff games over the last four seasons were starting to catch up with the King. After missing out on the All-Star Game, Lundqvist has returned to his old self with wins in eight of his last 10 starts and just 18 goals against in those 10 games. For the 11th straight season, the Rangers go as Henrik Lundqvist go, and right now, everything is going well.

610 of Barstool Sports New York joined me to talk about Dylan McIlrath avenging Wayne Simmonds’ punch to Ryan McDonagh’s jaw, the slumps of Chris Kreider, Kevin Hayes and Derek Stepan, the odd use of Keith Yandle by Alain Vigneault, the play of Dan Girardi and Marc Staal, the Henrik Lundqvist era in its 11th season and which teams should scare Rangers fans for the playoffs.

Blogs • Rangers

Feb 15, 2016

The Return of the 2015-16 Rangers

Every Rangers-Flyers game feels big, but Sunday’s Rangers-Flyers game felt a little bigger. It felt a little different than normal and a little more important than usual.

Every Rangers-Flyers game feels big, but Sunday’s Rangers-Flyers game felt a little bigger. It felt a little different than normal and a little more important than usual. The moments leading up to the start of the game felt like something out of April or May and the first minutes after the puck dropped felt like something out of the ’90s.

NBC Sports built up the storyline of Wayne Simmonds dropping Ryan McDonagh and putting the Rangers’ captain in the press box for the foreseeable future and used a conversation between Dylan McIlrath and Simmonds during warmups like a movie trailer. Outside of watching Matt Damon return as Jason Bourne during Super Bowl 50, I can’t recall the last trailer that made me feel the way I did as I watched the red line serve as the linesman for McIlrath and Simmonds during warmups.

Tanner Glass had made the comments earlier in the week defending his captain when he said, “You just have to let [Simmonds] know that that’s not going to be tolerated. [McDonagh’s] our captain, he’s our best player, [Simmonds] can’t do that. He’ll know. He’ll know.” But here was the 23-year-old defenseman, who would still be in the press box watching games if not for Simmonds connecting with McDonagh’s jaw, taking it upon himself to act in a way Alain Vigneault’s teams haven’t acted in the past.

With the Madison Square Garden crowd booing Simmonds’ first shift of the night and Alain Vigneault and Ulf Samuelsson giving McIlrath the green light to hit the ice and challenge Simmonds, it only took 39 seconds for McIlrath to make Simmonds atone for his punch. It took 17 seconds from the time McIlrath and Simmonds dropped their gloves until the first punch was thrown, and 50 seconds after that, the linesmen broke them up.

McIlrath had a job to do and he did it, and even Simmonds, for as hated as he is by Rangers fans, had a job to do and he did it. He didn’t back down from McIlrath’s pregame challenge, knowing if not McIlrath, then Glass would be after him, and if he didn’t agree to go, one of the two would make him go. Simmonds answered the bell for putting McDonagh on the shelf, and as a hockey fan, you have to respect Simmonds’ respect for the situation. He’s still the perfect Flyer, but if he were a Ranger, he’d be the fan favorite in New York that he is in Philadelphia.

Seconds after Simmonds going to the box, screaming and shouting like a maniac, which is pretty much what one has to be to stand toe-to-toe with no visor against the half-shielded protected McIlrath and his three-inch and 30-pound advantage, Glass hit the ice with pent-up adrenaline and his chance to make goods on his comments. Glass went with the next best thing, running down Radko Gudas in the far corner and then immediately turning to drop the gloves with a more-than-willing Ryan White. Twenty seconds after the game stopped for McIlrath-Simmonds, it stopped once again for Glass and White to go. With 19:01 left in the first, and McIlrath, Glass, Simmonds and White in the box, and everything from eight days ago seemingly taken care of, the actual game could begin.

It was nearly a full game of domination from the Rangers. Whether it be from the energy created by McIlrath or Glass in the opening minute, or the simple fact that the Rangers are just a vastly superior team to the Flyers, or a combination of both, the Rangers not getting two points was never in question. For nearly a month now, the Rangers have looked like one of the best teams in the league, the same way they looked like a contender when they ripped off nine-straight wins in October and November and started the season 16-3-2. And to think, they’re doing it without their best offensive weapon and best defensive defenseman.

Derick Brassard was able to pull off the extra-long wraparound attempt on Steve Mason, who seemed to be the only person in the Garden and watching on TV, who didn’t anticipate Brassard’s eventual move with a full head of steam and no real passing lane. It was Brassard’s 19th of the season, tying a career high he set last season, as he continues to be the Rangers’ best scoring option not named Rick Nash.

Derek Stepan, who you would think would be the Rangers’ best scoring option not named Rick Nash, did what he does best, scoring a pair of a goals on wide-open nets, which seem to the be the only way he can score, for his 11th and 12th on the season. With eight goals needed and only 26 games to play, it’s going to take a Nash-like hot streak for Stepan to have just his second 20-goal season in six years, in what will unfortunately be another disappointing offensive season for the center.

And the man who helped save the Rangers’ season when it looked like it might unravel and when certain New York hockey writers called the team “done” played like his usual self. After having his first game off in nearly a month on Friday against the Kings, and just his second game off since Dec. 12, Henrik Lundqvist held the Flyers scoreless for 59 minutes and 50 seconds before a 6-on-4 garbage-time goal denied him of his second straight shutout.

Henrik Lundqvist has been the New York Rangers since 2007-08. (You could make the case for him being the team in 2005-06 and 2006-07 as well, but those were still Jaromir Jagr’s teams. At worst, he and Jagr were the co-New York Rangers for those two years.) And once again, he still is. During the Rangers’ recent resurgence, which started on Jan. 19 against Vancouver, the Rangers have gone 8-2-0 with Lundqvist in net, and he has allowed 18 goals in those 10 games. Lundqvist’s return to Vezina-esque status and him turning on his postseason switch a little early, stopped a nightmarish collapse as the Rangers have started to create separation between them and the rest of the non-Capitals Met teams and wild-card contenders.

The highly-coveted two points available on Sunday might have been an afterthought during the opening 59 seconds of the game, but after that, the Rangers did what they have done nearly every game for the last month: win. With Sunday night’s win, their second-place cushion in the Met got a little bigger and their lead to avoid the wild card and a potential matchup with the Capitals grew a little larger.

Watching McIlrath make Simmonds answer for his Feb. 8 punch was enjoyable, but earning those two points, helping keep the Flyers out of the postseason again and having the Rangers increase their own chances of making it is what really matters.

Podcasts • Rangers

Feb 10, 2016

Podcast: Brian Monzo

Mike Francesa’s producer joined me to talk about the Rangers and Wayne Simmonds’ punch of Ryan McDonagh.

Wayne Simmonds punched Ryan McDonagh in the face on Saturday, gave him a concussion, and got away with it. Aside from the game misconduct he received at the time, Simmonds avoided a suspension despite his punch to the jaw of an NHL All-Star and Alain Vigneault was right to speak out and question if the same result would have happened if a superstar in Pittsburgh who wears No. 87 were concussed.

WFAN Mike’s On: Francesa on the FAN producer Brian Monzo joined me to talk about Wayne Simmonds punching Ryan McDonagh and the NHL Department of Player Safety’s lack of involvement, the John Scott story and publicizing it with Mike Francesa, Alain Vigneault’s misuse of Keith Yandle, the albatross contracts for Dan Girardi and Marc Staal and Chris Kreider and Kevin Hayes being busts.