Maaaaaaarty

It’s been a while since I blogged, and I have a lot to say.  I’m breaking this up into two parts – Rangers for tonight, and Yankees for tomorrow.  And I’ll try to keep it short.

During Game 4 of the ECF, the Rangers and Devils series officially got chippy.  Point fingers wherever you want – it’s there.  These teams hate each other and it was bound to happen, regardless of who started it or who is to ‘blame’.

Here are the main issues that I have with the press that the Rangers have been getting over the penalties:

#1: I’m not condoning Prust’s elbow.  It was illegal and it was dangerous.  But the NHL needs to be consistent.  Are they going after intent or injury?? Because Volchenko was fine.  He sat there on all fours for a minute, then got up and he eventually came back into the game.  Meanwhile, several dirty hits on the Rangers have received no penalty (on or off the ice) and the reason given was that there was no injury, and intent is not penalized.

#2: Many people, mostly Devils fans and supporters, have claimed that Marty’s comment about going after the Rangers’ heads was a joke.  Fine.  But guess what?  It’s not funny.  He should have known not to make a comment like that because people are going to react to it.  And on the topic of Marty and his comments – Mike Rupp didn’t punch him.  If Rupp ‘punched’ him, we would all know it.  He gave him a little shove.  Get over it.  Next counterargument: “If the Devils went after Henrik, you’d be all over them”.  Yes, I would.  Because my goaltender is not an idiot.  He doesn’t make stupid comments.  He lets his play do the talking.  And by the way – he is a better goalie than Marty Brodeur.  Has he been playing as long? No.  And Marty is a great goalie- there is no denying that.  But Henrik is better.

From the Ranger perspective, this series is completely winnable.  The Rangers need to come out in the 1st the way they have been coming out in the third.  It shouldn’t take them 2 periods to get into a rhythm. Game 4 better give them the push they need to come out strong tomorrow night.  Otherwise, we’ll be ending the season a few weeks early.  We all know this team could be THE team.  They’re young.  They’re hungry.  They’ve got the talent, the coach, the work ethic, the guts and the drive.  They just have to be more consistent in their effort.

Let’s Go Rangers!!!