LW's NHL Road Trip 2011 (Final Part)

Final game of the trip.  Looking for a four-game winning streak.  Here was Part Six.

Game #7: Winnipeg Jets 0-3 New York Rangers

• Predictably, far fewer Jets jerseys in the crowd than there were Canadiens jerseys last night.  The fans must have opted to spend all their ticket money to sit under a leaking ceiling on Long Island.  Understandable choice.
• During the anthems, somebody unfurls a banner reading: "2012 END FED RON PAUL".  I'm not heavily into U.S. politics, but it seems odd that Ruslan Fedotenko's contract status would be such a prominent issue for Republicans.
• After the excitement of last night's game, it seems back-to-back games for both teams is showing.  The first period is unremarkable, notable only for one crazy sequence in Marty Biron's goalmouth in which the puck is stopped on the goal-line two or three times and ends up with every player on the ice bar Jets goalie Ondřej Pavelec either in or right around the crease.  Dustin Byfuglien does a passable impression of an NFL fullback leaping over the pile at the goal-line, but cannot force the football to break the plane.
• The second period is almost equally unremarkable, notable only for Derek Stepan's PP goal to open the scoring.
• A bit more interesting in the third.  Three quick Jets penalties, give the Rangers the opportunity to get booed for failing to score on an extended 5-on-3 PP.  (Actually not that bad a PP - Pavelec mostly responsible for the lack of scoring.)  Then Marián Gáborik converts on a 2-on-1 rush led by the recently excellent Derek Stepan.
• Late Jets pressure is pretty sporadic and Gáborik seals the game in the last seconds with a lob wedge backhand empty netter.  Biron earns his first shutout as a Ranger and continues his strong start to the season.
• Signs of the tenuous strength of the financial support provided by Winnipeg fans are revealed when two of them duck the fare barriers at the crowded subway station rather than face the outrageous $2.50 cost.

So, another winning record for the Rangers during my trip.  They look a far better team than the one that struggled throughout the majority of the seven-game international road trip that preceded the homestand, if still a bit fortunate to earn as many points as they did.

Still a few questions to be answered too, such as:

• When will Marc Staal recover and return to the line-up?
• Will Dan Girardi die of exhaustion if that doesn't happen soon?
• When will "Sausage Boss by Andrew Carmellini" finally open at MSG?

LW's NHL Road Trip 2011 (Part Six)

Enjoy the penultimateness. Here was Part Five.

Game #6: Montréal Canadiens 3-5 New York Rangers

• Beaucoup trop de partisans des Habitants ici.
• I'm surprised to see that somebody actually purchased one of these monstrosities:
  
  
  (Meaning the style of jersey.  Nobody would be stupid enough to pay lots of money for an actual Gomez, right?)
• Bad news for the Canadiens Rangers is that Gomez is still injured and will not play.  The Rangers do ice the best two players involved in the Gomez trade: Ryan McDonagh and No Gomez.
• An interesting start, as Mike Blunden flattens a speeding Brandon Dubinsky by the Habs' bench, sparking a huge get-together.  "Clean" hit from Blunden, had it not been for the fact that he jumped off the bench early to make the hit.
• After Ryan Callahan and Blunden fight and a separate one between Mike Sauer and Petteri Nokelainen (the latter two receiving game misconducts), we emerge with a 5-on-3 PP for two minutes to the Rangers, on which Erik Christensen capitalises.
• Well into the game, we finally see a shift for returning hero, Sean Avery.  First time I've heard grown men squeal with excitement at MSG.
• The first period ends 3-0 Rangers, the third goal a particularly good one, a shot block by Dan Girardi leading to a rush the other way, capped by a great pass from Derek Stepan to a streaking Michael Del Zotto to beat Carey Price.
• As expected, the Habs score early in the second period and pull to within a goal midway through the period on a 5-on-3 PP of their own, courtesy of Brian Gionta's wonky sense of balance as much as anything worth penalising.
• After surviving more than one shot off the post and some dangerous rushes from the apparently not-dead-yet Erik Cole, things become more comfortable for the Rangers as Brad Richards wires one past Price late in the second.
• The game tightens up considerably in the final frame, but a frantic finish is ensured once Gionta get his customary goal against the Rangers with two minutes to go.
• Captain Callahan eases nerves with the empty-netter, the puck amusingly being followed into the goal by Garden crowd favourite, P.K. Subban, spinning on his derrière.

Next up: The homestand and my trip ends with the visit of Dystugien Bufflin and the Jetlanta Thrasherpegs.

LW's NHL Road Trip 2011 (Part Five)

Recalled back to the NHL grind. Here was the AHL experience of Part Four.

Game #5: Anaheim Ducks 1-2(SO) New York Rangers

• Back in the cheap moderately less obscenely expensive seats for this one.  Hence, not surrounded by corporate no-shows / BlackBerry idiots.
• Instead, I'm sat next to somebody who talks loudly non-stop for the entire game, none of which is about the game or hockey generally, except for: "I ****ing hate the ****ing Montréal Canadiens.  Not only are they from Montréal, but they are ****ing Canadians."
• After a pretty poor game between the two teams in Stockholm four weeks ago, much of this one is similarly uneventful, the Ducks mustering only two shots in the first period.
• The Rangers open the scoring through the increasingly Paul Coffey-like Jeff Woywitka, before the moustache-free George Parros is again engaged in a not-at-all-staged fight on the restart, the Bahama Bomber, Andre Deveaux taking the place that Mike Rupp filled in Stockholm and proving less like a Parros punchbag.
• It's tied after 40 minutes thanks to Bobby Ryan wiring a screened wrister high past Henrik Lundqvist.
• A more eventful third period sees the Ducks carry most of the play, Ryan Callahan missing a shorthanded breakaway with no Duck skater within 60 feet of him (his only breakaway/shootout move failing him), and both goalies playing well.
• A fairly crazy OT session somehow ends without a winner, before the completely unexpected sight of Marián Gáborik (2-for-19 career record coming in) scoring in the shootout and Bobby Ryan this time not fanning the final attempt past Lundqvist.

Next up: Having not played a Canadian team for an incredible stretch of two games, the Rangers face the ****ing Montréal ****ing Canadiens.  Will the MSG crowd get the chance to shower the usual acclaim on returning hero, Scott Gomez?

LW's NHL* Road Trip 2011 (Part Four)

*Apart from this bit, which is an AHL Road Trip. Here was Part Three.

A travel snafu prevented my planned attendance at the Devils-Leafs game in the evening.  I hope Marty Brodeur's return performance was as amusing for those in person as it appeared to be on TV.

Game #4: Connecticut Whale 3-4 (OT) Bridgeport Sound Tigers

• A 90-minute train journey from Manhattan for an 11am faceoff.  Not my usual kind of trip.
• The reason for the early start: Some sort of schoolkids promotion.  So, a few thousand kids in the stands make the atmosphere one part hockey game, nine parts Justin Bieber concert.
• A completely indecipherable P.A. system and unfamiliarity with many of the players will make it tougher than normal to keep up.  And to know when the building is being evacuated.
• Line-up news:
  
  • The Whale are now Avery-less (must've been publicised somewhere), but still feature recent Ranger demotions Tim Erixon, Kris Newbury and Mats Zuccarello-Aasen.  The mini-Fishsticks include Nino Niederreiter and the overwhelmingly talented Trevor Gillies.
  • Kevin Poulin versus Cam Talbot in net - no start for Chad "Dos Nueve" Johnson (apparently "Tres Cero" in the minors)
• Why does the typeface on Calvin de Haan's nameplate say: dE HAAN?
• The Whale's first goal (Jonathan Audy-Marchessault from Mats Zuccarello-Aasen and Tim Erixon) smashes the record for most letters combining on a goal I've seen.
• Gillies (who doesn't appear to even get a regular shift at this level) takes an appropriately dumb penalty, leading to the stuff of nightmares: Wade Redden as the PP quarterback.
• The between period T-shirt toss produces a painfully shrill noise.
• A fight between Micheal (sic) Haley and Stu Bickel is broken up almost as soon as it starts, while doing so, the linesman presumably screaming "Won't somebody please think of the children?!"
• The Whale take a 3-1 lead early in the third, the goal (Jonathan Audy-Marchessault from Mats Zuccarello-Aasen and John Mitchell) smashing the record for most letters combining on a goal I've seen, if falling just short on the syllables equivalent.
• Showing impressive dedication to becoming Rangers, the Whale then blow their lead over the last 11 minutes and lose in OT, the Tigers' Tim Wallace completing his hat-trick on the winner.

Next up: Back to MSG for yet another intense clash for the Rangers against a hated divisional rival, the Anaheim Ducks.