LindG1000

I got 5-1 odds that at some point he calls Charlie Lindgren Charles Lindbergh

Not to be overly technical, but you'd be coming in the handy at the cinema.

I don't fear any other EC team. I don't really care who's on the other side - we're favored no matter what and it's well deserved. Even against those Carolina Candycanes. The only team that would be, let's say less than ideal in round 1. is Tampa. To me, that's not because we should fear them excessively, but more that they're far more battle-tested and likely to get us into a series. I don't see Washington, Philly, Detroit. or even Toronto dragging us into a hard-fought series. Tampa has that self-discipline and wildcard in goal that they could drag us to 6 or 7, and I want the rest.

Last time we faced the Avs in Colorado in March, the league shut down the next day. Can we avoid that this time, please?

I don't think many teams have the supporting cast the Rangers do. We're a deep, diverse team that finds ways to win when it shouldn't happen. We can out-skill teams, we can out-work teams, we can out-defend teams, Igor can steal games, we can grind teams down, we can surprise them with transition play. We're not a one-trick pony anymore.

LFGGG

First ones in!

Miller looks like he spent the days off hanging out with Aaron Rodgers in a yurt.

This is by far the most stressful anything "gone wild" I've ever seen, Sam.

LAFFF

ITS FOR THE SHORTIESSSSS

That sequence was like....you're at the bar, you bring home the hottie, you get busy, and then one of you passes out on the couch before anything good happens.

Oh, I know that look, Torts. You found Erik Christensen again!

This team man, this team.

Winning the Presidents Trophy is meaningless in the grand scheme of things, especially when the "home ice advantage" we'd cede is to a team like Carolina. We know we can take over that barn. I'd like them to rest players that need it, maybe the ones nursing minor injuries. I do not want to see the Rangers try to galaxy-brain a matchup, though. I do not care if the first round opponents is the Flyers, the Caps, the Lightning, whomever else. I just want us to fuckin' truck that first round opponent and keep it moving.

12 games, 9 goals? Fuck it. Let's bake bread. Time for a classic Panarin heater - he's gonna get 10 in 12 here, and another 10 apples.

Yeah. In the playoffs.

I don't even think they played up. They played a really good 20 minutes in the middle frame where they kept us at bay and put pucks behind Igor on some very high danger chances. They defended that lead reasonably well. In the end, the difference in this game was Hellebuyck. And that's why he's Conor Hellebuyck.

Vally's data says we got both well-defended (look at all those low danger chances) and goalied (nearly 4xG, 2G). Both goalies excellent here

I mean this with all due respect - this feels dramatic, given the play of the team post-deadline. Over the last few games, we've seen the depth scoring activate in huge ways. Kakko looks, dare I say, excellent? He's been potting goals. Vesey's gotten a few. Cuylle's been well involved. Wennberg's been getting apples. Our third line looks like a matchup nightmare for most teams. Brodzinski got on the board. Hell, the only depth player not actively involved in the offense right now is Goodrow, and that poor bastard couldn't score in a whorehouse with a fistful of hundreds these days. Also, it ain't what we're paying for there. We give up rush chances. It's the risk we take, in part because we have guys like Panarin and Fox who can win that gamble more often than not, in part because guys like K'Andre Miller can skate well enough to mitigate that risk, and in part because we have two goalies who really know how to defend the rush. But none of this means that we're taking the night off or something. It's a feature, not a bug, and it's likely that against high-point forechecking teams, we'll need to mitigate the east-west play at the blue line. edit - I'll note that our second period was a little too passive for my liking. I wish they worked harder, but I'm also going to give the Jets a lot of credit for their defending in that time. At the end of the day? Winnipeg played well. They converted chances where they got them. Maybe they got lucky that their highest danger chances landed on Schiefele and Connor whereas ours landed on Cuylle and Vesey. Play that game again, and I bet we'd get at least a point. Sometimes, you gotta give the opponent some credit too.

Also, we really need to stop overreacting to every loss. We're a GREAT team. We've won nearly twice as many games as we've lost. We're right there with Florida, Carolina, Winnipeg, Colorado, and Vancouver (fuck off, Boston and your 29 losses and your 15 fugazi ass loser points). You can't not play the full 60 against these teams and expect to win, and Winnipeg played an excellent game. Hellebuyck was great, they had sticks in the lanes, and they defended brilliantly for most of the game. We did not play our best game last night, but it's nothing to overly concern ourselves with. Rest up, play a full 60 against Boston, and start gearing up for a long playoff run.

Picking your opponent by losing is a fools errand. We might like the round 1 opponent better, but you're getting the "easiest" R1 opponent by just winning games anyway. And that comes with the added benefit of more home games. I'll take that any day.

welp. can't win em all. that's a damn good team.