Rangers – Page 27 – Keefe To The City

Mar 10, 2015

The End of an Era for Rangers-Islanders

This is it. The last Rangers-Islanders game ever at Nassau Coliseum. Well, that is unless we get a Rangers-Islanders playoff series this spring.

This is it. The last Rangers-Islanders game ever at Nassau Coliseum. Well, that is unless we get a Rangers-Islanders playoff series this spring. But for now, this is the last time we will see the two rivals play on Long Island before the Islanders move at the end of the season.

With the Rangers and Islanders battling for first place in the Met and meeting for the fifth and final time this season, I did an email exchange with Dominik Jansky of Lighthouse Hockey to talk about the rivalry, what it’s like to have the Islanders relevant again, if Islanders fans want to see the Rangers in the playoffs and the sentimentality of the closing of the Nassau Coliseum.

Keefe: To anyone I know who is a real Islanders fan and didn’t just come out of the woodwork to rejoin rooting for a good team this season, I have compared being an Islanders fan to being a fan of a band that plays at bars and clubs and then all of a sudden they are playing arenas and stadiums and liking them is the cool thing to do. It seems like every hockey fan not already rooting for the Rangers is on the “I hope the Islanders win if my team doesn’t” bandwagon this season. And while I’m happy to have the New York hockey rivalry back, I’m not rooting for the Islanders if the Rangers are eliminated.

But what’s it like to have the Islanders back as a Cup contender after two decades of mediocre and bad hockey? Does it feel good to have attention on the Islanders once again?

Jansky: Of course it’s fantastic and long overdue to have the Islanders as contenders again. There is something poetic about it coinciding with the final season of the Coliseum, too, and to have the reassurance that they will hit the ground running in Brooklyn.

The “out of the woodwork” thing hasn’t been too much of an issue. One thing you find with a team that was so historically dominant during a certain era is there are a lot of fans who were kids or teenagers then who are absolutely loving the chance to relive even a taste of that success through the current team with their offspring.

Keefe: Two years ago when the Islanders nearly pulled off the upset of the Penguins in the first round of the playoffs before losing in six games, it was a glimpse into the future of the Islanders. Then injuries derailed last season and now we’re finally getting to see what took so long to build on Long Island.

Two years ago, you got the first playoff appearance since 2006-07, but the team still hasn’t won a playoff series since 1992-93 with six first-round exits since then.

What would you consider to be a successful season for the Islanders this season? Is it winning a series? Winning two? Reaching the Eastern Conference finals? Or are expectations even higher than that after their success in the regular season?

Jansky: Well, it’s already been a success based on the first three-quarters. Though it’s common for fans to write off the regular season, the fact is it consumes most of the season and, in some ways, is a bigger test than two months of playoffs.

Certainly winning a series would be nice, in terms of wiping that “not since 1992-93” factoid off the narrative, but they should do much more than that. They have as good a chance as any team in the East of becoming this year’s version of the sacrificial lamb offered at the altar of the West. However it plays out, they need to send the Coliseum off in style.

Keefe: Jaroslav Halak has been a major upgrade over Islanders goalies in recent years and will give them a better chance to win in the playoffs than they have had in some time. I have never been the biggest Halak fan and have never been worried when the Rangers have played them even though he has done a nice job against them this season outside of the Feb. 16 game.

Do you believe in Halak and are you worried about him for the playoffs?

Jansky: Halak has had his tougher moments, but his strength is in his steady calm amid the storm. He shakes off bad goals, he shakes off good goals, his movements are predictable and reassuring for the defense.

Considering Halak’s largest playoff sample was the year he carried the Habs over better opponents, I’m not worried about any of the traditional playoff narratives in his case.

Keefe: It’s the end of a chapter in the storied rivalry as Tuesday night will be the last time the Rangers and Islanders ever play at the Nassau Coliseum. Well, unless we get a playoff series between the two teams.

For a while I was against the Rangers and Islanders meeting in the playoffs, and it wasn’t because the Islanders beat up on the Rangers in their first three meetings this year. I said I didn’t want a Rangers-Islanders playoff series because from a Rangers fan standpoint, nothing good can come from it. If the Rangers win, they’re the Rangers and they’re supposed to win. And if the Islanders win, it’s basically the worst thing imaginable. It’s the same feeling I have about Yankees-Red Sox playoff series. If the Yankees win, they’re the Yankees and they’re supposed to win. And if they lose, well, it’s the worst thing imaginable. The aftermath of a series loss far outweighs the satisfaction of a series win, unless that series win eventually leads to a championship.

There’s nothing for the Rangers and Rangers fans to gain by playing the Islanders in the playoffs. Sure, it would be great for New York hockey and for the mainstream media around here to pretend like they care about hockey and it would be good fuel to rekindling the fire of a once-strong rivalry. But if the Rangers don’t win, it’s a disaster.

But after the last game between the teams on Feb. 16, which should be used a commercial for the NHL, I’m all for the teams meeting in April or May. Give me more Rangers-Islanders this season. Don’t make Tuesday’s game at the Coliseum the last between them.

Are you for or against a playoff series between them?

Jansky: I think what you’re describing is the fear that accompanies any rivalry: the bounty is incomparably sweet if your team prevails, but on some level you’d rather not risk the encounter if the flip-side is humiliation at the hands of your rivals and friends on the other side.

It’s not so much that the Rangers are “supposed” to win any more than they were “supposed” to beat the Capitals or Flyers or Penguins in years past, it’s that they haven’t faced that test in ages because the Isles haven’t been good enough to force them to.

I’d love for it to happen because of the great theater, even though it would be of the potentially torturous variety. Ultimately I know that, just like with the Penguins in 2013, even if it ends in a loss, history still favors the Islanders unparalleled accomplishments.

Keefe: With Tuesday’s game being the last Rangers-Islanders game at the Coliseum for now, has the sentimentality of the Coliseum closing start to set in? The Islanders only have nine home regular-season games left and then they’re only guaranteed two home playoff games as of now. So we’re looking at the real possibility of only nine more hockey games on Long Island.

Has it hit you yet that this is the end? What are your feelings on the move to Brooklyn?

Jansky: There was high sentimentality about the Coliseum in the preseason and opening months, but I feel like it’s taken somewhat of a backseat to marveling at just how good and consistent the Islanders have been this season. They were expected to improve and make the playoffs, maybe even contend for home ice in the first round. But to be in the division title conversation all season long, to avoid prolonged bad spells to this point, that has surprised even the biggest optimists and somewhat distracted from the Coliseum story. Now that we are in the stretch run, it is definitely on the mind though.

As for Brooklyn, it’s clear the political situation was too infested with incompetence to allow the Islanders to stay in Nassau, and Charles Wang certainly served his time trying to find a way. So with that ship sailed, I’m looking forward to the advantages Brooklyn will provide. It will be different, but also intriguing. As any fan who has watched both 19 playoff series victories in a row and a series drought of over 20 years knows, conditions change, nothing in sports last forever.

Podcasts • Rangers

Mar 5, 2015

Podcast: Ryan Brandell

The Rangers are now officially in the same class as the Blackhawks when it comes to being a Cup contender and being the hunted in the playoffs.

The Rangers are the team to the beat in the Eastern Conference. The Blackhawks are the team to beat in the Western Conference. That means we’re set up for the Rangers-Blackhawks Stanley Cup Final we nearly got last year, and if that had been the case, the Rangers would be defending champions. OK, so maybe we won’t get a Rangers-Blackhawks Final this year, but it’s a very real possibility and this Sunday’s game could be a preview of what’s to come this spring.

Ryan Brandell of Barstool Sports Chicago (known as “Chief” on that site), joined me to talk about the state of the Rangers and Blackhawks following the trade deadline, what it’s like to be the team to beat in the playoffs and how the playoffs will now be more business than fun after the Rangers’ run last year.

Blogs • Rangers

Mar 4, 2015

Only a Championship Is Good Enough for These Rangers

The Rangers’ trade for Keith Yandle was Glen Sather admitting that the Rangers’ chance to win the Stanley Cup is now and nothing else will be good enough for this team.

Usually at this time of the year, the Rangers are on the bubble for a playoff spot. Every game feels like a Game 7 and every night is spent scoreboard watching around the league and checking in on the other barely-above-.500 teams to see if they lost or to make sure none of them received a loser point. Since the full-season lockout in 2004-05, the Rangers have reached the playoffs in nine of the 10 years, but in nearly all of those years, they didn’t clinch until the final days of the season. Here is the game the Rangers clinched a playoff berth since 2004-05:

2013-14: Game 79
2012-13: Game 47 (48-game shortened season)
2011-12: Game 72
2010-11: Game 82
2009-10: Missed playoffs
2008-09: Game 81
2007-08: Game 80
2006-07: Game 81
2005-06: Game 75

The only season the Rangers missed the playoffs (2009-10) came down to a shootout against the Flyers in Game 82 with both teams battling for the 8-seed. The Flyers won. (Thanks, Olli Jokinen.) The 2011-12 season, in which they finished first in the Eastern Conference has been the one exception in the post-lockout/Henrik Lundqvist era. Until this year.

It feels weird to know on March 4 that the Rangers are going to the playoffs unless Willie Randolph takes over for Alain Vigneault. We have known for weeks that the Rangers are going to the playoffs and from now until Game 82 on April 11 in Washington is just about staying healthy, continuing to play well and seeding. But in this year’s Eastern Conference where all eight playoff teams could reach the Stanley Cup Final, seeding doesn’t matter and hoping to play one team over another is pointless. And that’s what makes Sunday’s Anthony Duclair-Keith Yandle trade even more stunning.

I was always worried that Glen Sather would waste Henrik Lundqvist’s prime and career by building mediocre teams around him and wasting the chance at having a Vezina-winning franchise goalie. I figured Lundqvist’s career would come and go and we would be stuck watching another Mike Dunham-esque era eventually, always waiting for another Lundqvist to come around. But over the last few years, as that young defensive core grew into reliable and stable veterans, Sather has turned over the forwards on the team to build a consistent source of offense. And magically, the Rangers made it to the Stanley Cup Final last year and have appeared in two of the last three Eastern Conference finals. But on Sunday, Glen Sather proved he is well aware of the situation he has in front of him. He knows that Lundqvist’s time as an all-world goalie isn’t going to last forever and that now is the time to capitalize on the primes of the core of Rangers to do what hasn’t been done in 21 years.

Three years ago at the trade deadline I was willing to walk to Columbus and carry Rick Nash back to New York. He was the missing piece to the 2011-12 Rangers and I would have given up Chris Kreider and the entire farm to have had him for the stretch run and playoffs. When I first heard about the Sather’s decision to trade Anthony Duclair for Keith Yandle I didn’t agree with the decision. You want to give up on your 19-year-old top and NHL-ready-now prospect for a couple months of Yandle this season and next season, but maybe not even all of next season because he will be an unrestricted free agent and a year from now he will be in trade rumors like Mats Zuccarello? You want to put all of your chips in the middle in a season in which the East has overtaken the West as the stronger conference and getting out of the first round isn’t even a guarantee? Basically you want to mortgage the future for right now? Then I thought back to three years ago when I was on Google Maps searching for walking directions from New York to Columbus and I joined Sather’s side.

The Rangers have a window right now to win the Stanley Cup. They came within a couple of blown two-goal leads and three overtime losses of doing it last year. But last year no one saw the Rangers reaching the Cup Final. Not when they needed seven games to eliminate the Flyers. Not when they trailed the Penguins 3-1. And not when they had to play the Canadiens, who have owned them in Montreal, in the Eastern Conference finals with the first two games in Montreal. Last year’s run was unexpected. The Cup Final loss to the Kings was painful because the Rangers had Games 1, 2 and 5 and lost them all, but the Cup Final loss to the Kings wasn’t viewed as a disappointment because it had been 20 years since the Rangers’ last Final appearance. But when you reach the Eastern Conference finals in two of three years and reach the Cup Final and prove you belonged there, there’s only one thing left to do: win the Cup.

A Stanley Cup Final this season won’t be good enough. Even in a year in which the Rangers would have had to eliminate three teams off a list that includes Montreal, Tampa Bay, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Boston, Washington and the Islanders it won’t be good enough. I don’t know how long this window will last and I don’t know when the next one will be. Look at the Bruins: they won the Cup in 2010-11, reached the Final in 2012-13 and were supposed to be back there in 2013-14. Now they are in a weird state where they don’t know if they should be trying to rebuild or trying to contend and they’re on the playoff bubble as the 8-seed. Ten months ago when they were leading the Canadiens 3-2 in the Eastern Conference semifinals, I thought we might be looking at a possible dynasty in Boston. Now they’re trying to fight off the Panthers for a playoff berth.

It’s a little uncomfortable having the Rangers be “the team to beat” in the Eastern Conference. Even when they were the 1-seed in 2011-12, it was still the defending champion Bruins’ and also the Penguins’ conference. The Rangers had earned the most points in the East, but they weren’t the best team. Right now the Rangers are the best team in the East and might be the best team in the league. A healthy Blackhawks team and a firing-on-all-cylinders Kings team would have a say in that, but the Rangers are in the conversation and that’s something that hasn’t been the case for 21 years.

The Rangers have never been good when they have had expectations and they haven’t had expectations like this since some of the numbers in the MSG rafters were still playing. But they also haven’t had a team like this and a team built to win it all since those numbers were still playing. Last year was fun, but this year is business and only a championship will be good enough for these Rangers.

Podcasts • Rangers

Mar 2, 2015

Podcast: Brian Monzo

Glen Sather went all in on this window of opportunity for the Rangers at the trade deadline and now the Rangers are the favorite to win the Eastern Conference.

On Saturday, it looked like Mats Zuccarello might be playing his last game as a Ranger. On Sunday, the Rangers re-sign Mats Zuccarello, traded Anthony Duclair, John Moore and Lee Stempniak and acquired Keith Yandle and James Sheppard. Despite losing to the Flyers on Saturday, the weekend and the trade deadline have certainly gone well for the Rangers.

WFAN Mike’s On: Francesa on the FAN producer Brian Monzo joined me to talk about the Rangers’ trade for Keith Yandle, trading prospects for proven players, the job Glen Sather has done at the trade deadline, the Mats Zuccarello extension and what teams Rangers fans should be worried about in the playoffs.

Blogs • Rangers

Feb 24, 2015

The Scared of the Rangers Playing Them in the Playoffs Power Rankings

The Rangers are going to the playoffs, so it’s time to figure out who they should and shouldn’t want to play this spring.

The Rangers are going to the playoffs. That feels good to say on Feb. 24 with 25 games left in the season. Aside from 2011-12 when the Rangers were the No. 1 overall seed in the Eastern Conference, they haven’t exactly locked up a playoff berth early on. Here is the game the Rangers clinched a playoff berth since the full-season lockout:

2013-14: Game 79
2012-13: Game 47 (48-game shortened season)
2011-12: Game 72
2010-11: Game 82
2009-10: Missed playoffs
2008-09: Game 81
2007-08: Game 80
2006-07: Game 81
2005-06: Game 75

So barring a Mets-like collapse between now and the season finale on April 11 in Washington, the Rangers are going to the playoffs. All that matters between now and then is staying healthy and seeding, and seeding doesn’t even really matter because home-ice in the NHL isn’t what it used to be and all eight Eastern Conference playoff teams will have a chance to make a run to the Stanley Cup Final.

With the remaining 25 games of the Rangers’ season seemingly a formality, it’s time for the first installment of the Scared of the Rangers Playing Them in the Playoffs Power Rankings and I will update it down the stretch as changes happen.

1. MONTREAL CANADIENS
Last year, everyone said whichever team won the Western Conference would win the Stanley Cup and it held true. (Granted, the Rangers blew two-goals leads in Games 1 and 2 and lost in overtime in Games 1, 2 and 5. Someday I will get over this. Actually, I probably won’t.) That’s no longer the case this year. The East is better than the West and the Canadiens are the best team in the NHL.

I’m not sure what happens in the Eastern Conference finals if Chris Kreider isn’t tripped on a breakaway before steamrolling Carey Price and knocking him out for the series. (I listened to Montreal sports radio the day after Game 1 and it was amazing. Canadiens fans were like Jets fans on steroids, if the Jets were ever good enough to be in a similar position.) The Rangers scored four of their seven goals in their 7-2 against Price, but it still took them six games to win the series, despite having a 2-0 series lead and despite not having to face Price for more than five of the six games.

Not only are the Canadiens the best team in the NHL, but they owe the Rangers something for what happened last year. The Canadiens scare me like no other team.

2. TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING
The Rangers went 0-3 against the Lightning this year. They lost 5-1 (Nov. 17), 4-3 (Nov. 26) and 6-3 (Dec. 1) and were outscored 15-7 in those three games, but those games did all come in a span of 14 days at a time when the Rangers were banged up. The Rangers were 11-9-4 after their last loss to the Lightning. Since then they have gone 25-7-2, so I would say they are a different team.

The problem with the Lightning is that I was the Trade Ryan Callahan for Martin St. Louis Club President and then I also served as the Don’t Overpay and Re-sign Brian Boyle, Benoit Pouliot and Anton Stralman Club President. (To my credit, I didn’t know Glen Sather was going to sign Tanner Glass or give a ridiculous extension to Marc Staal after having already given one to Dan Girardi.)

A series against the Lightning would be challenging without the idea of possibly having to watch Callahan, Boyle and Stralman advance with the Rangers going home. That would be too much to take. A little like watching Marian Gaborik carry the Kings to the Stanley Cup against the Rangers a little over a year after the Rangers traded him to Columbus because John Tortorella didn’t like him.

3. BOSTON BRUINS
The Bruins have always been a bad matchup for the Rangers. When the Bruins lost three straight to Toronto, Ottawa and Carolina, I thought it might be the beginning of the end for them. And they won five straight, including a 3-0 win over the Rangers on Jan. 15. Over the last two weeks, the Bruins lost six straight and once again I thought it was the end for them. But then they bounced back to salvage their five-game road trip with a 6-2 win over the Blackhawks on national TV.

While I would like to think the Bruins’ recent window has closed and that they will be sellers at the deadline, especially with the news that David Krejci will be out for 4-6 weeks. But I have a bad feeling that win over the Blackhawks will serve as their A-Rod/Varitek game and they will make the playoffs and then go on a run. If the Bruins can hold off the Panthers (and I guess the Flyers now too?) then I want no part of seeing what will have had to have been a hot team for at least six weeks.

4. DETROIT RED WINGS
There is a lot of mystery with the Red Wings because they only joined the East last year and are a much different and much healthier team now than they were when they made the playoffs as an 8-seed and lost in the first round a year ago.

The Rangers beat the Red Wings 4-3 in overtime in their first meeting (Nov. 5), but blew a 2-0 lead for a 3-2 loss in their second meeting (Dec. 6). I don’t know what to think about the Red Wings yet and that’s not a good thing because you don’t want to have any unknowns for a playoff series.

5. NEW YORK ISLANDERS
I didn’t want anything to do with the Isladners before last Monday’s game against them. I have said all along that I don’t want a Rangers-Islanders playoff series because from a Rangers fan standpoint, nothing good can come from it. If the Rangers win, they’re the Rangers and they’re supposed to win. And if the Islanders win, it’s basically the worst thing imaginable. It’s the same feeling I have about Yankees-Red Sox playoff series. If the Yankees win, they’re the Yankees and they’re supposed to win. And if they lose, well, you don’t want to know what life is like after that. There’s nothing for the Rangers and Rangers fans to gain by playing the Islanders in the playoffs. Sure, it would be great for New York hockey and for the mainstream media around here to pretend like they care about hockey and it would be good fuel to rekindling the fire of a once-strong rivalry, but if the Rangers don’t win, it’s a disaster. Even so, I have changed my mind.

After erasing the goose egg from the win column against the little brother and tasting how sweet victory against the Islanders this season and in this new era of New York hockey with both teams being relevant, I want Rangers-Islanders in the playoffs. I need Rangers-Islanders in the playoffs.

6. PITTSBURGH PENGUINS
After Game 4 of the Eastern Conference semifinals last year with the Rangers trailing 3-1, I thought the Rangers might never beat the Penguins in the playoffs. Then the Rangers won three straight, got Dan Bylsma fired and went on to reach their first Cup Final in 20 years. The series win was a lot like the Yankees finally overcoming the Angels in the 2009 ALCS (they still need to overcome the Tigers after the 2006, 2011 and 2012 playoffs).

I’m not scared of the Penguins anymore. I welcome a playoff series against them. (I need a video of Ron Swanson saying that.)

7. WASHINGTON CAPITALS
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.