http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/33/NY_Rangers.gif

Rangers fans (like myself and jmanc) and non-fans (like those Sabres and Flyers fans out there) discuss the New York Rangers' 06-07 NHL season, and your take on how their season will go.

Their record is 10-7-1, with a very impressive comeback win tonight against the Devils. Next game @ Carolina 11/15
:cheers:

Jagr with 28, Shanahan with 24, and Nylander with 25 are all top 10 in NHL points leaders.

I think they have a legitimate shot at the division, with their only obstacles being Pittsburgh and New Jersey. Theyre also my pick for the Cup of course, when they get their act together.

damn straight.

How much time was left when they scored the three goals in 90 sec.

they did it in the first 4 minutes of the third period. held off the Devils pressure for the rest of the game to win.

Does Utica get Rangers, Islanders or Sabres games on TV?

Rangers, decent team, fairly impressive record.

NHL is tough, the level of playing this year alone is wonderful.

Rangers should have no probs making the playoffs.

Does Utica get Rangers, Islanders or Sabres games on TV?

all 3, although the fanbase is hardcore Rangers, sprinkle a fair amount of Devils, Islanders and Sabres in there as well. It is upstate, but is not Buffalo market, which is only Buffalo and Rochester.

Growing up as a kid in Utica, watching the Rangers was a pastime on MSG, from the 94 Stanley Cup, to Gretzkys last game as a Ranger, which I remember watching to this day. Devils and Islanders are on FSNY. Buffalo used to be on Empire until it shut down so now theyre on MSG too. The Sabres need their own damn network, the Rangers and Sabres, two good teams on the same network, not gonna work. Wikipedia has an article on how there was an uproar when the Sabres were put on MSG and shown to the Utica/Albany market. Especially Albany, which is 4 hours away from Buffalo, and only 2 from NYC, i mean just because its upstate doesnt mean its automatically Buffalo. :ohno: I HATED that.

Oh yeah, they lost tonight 2-1, the story of this year is inconsistency.

all 3, although the fanbase is hardcore Rangers, sprinkle a fair amount of Devils, Islanders and Sabres in there as well. It is upstate, but is not Buffalo market, which is only Buffalo and Rochester.

Growing up as a kid in Utica, watching the Rangers was a pastime on MSG, from the 94 Stanley Cup, to Gretzkys last game as a Ranger, which I remember watching to this day. Devils and Islanders are on FSNY. Buffalo used to be on Empire until it shut down so now theyre on MSG too. The Sabres need their own damn network, the Rangers and Sabres, two good teams on the same network, not gonna work. Wikipedia has an article on how there was an uproar when the Sabres were put on MSG and shown to the Utica/Albany market. Especially Albany, which is 4 hours away from Buffalo, and only 2 from NYC, i mean just because its upstate doesnt mean its automatically Buffalo. :ohno: I HATED that.

I think people would be VERY suprised to know that the Sabres have fan bases (due to the expatriot issue) all over...Carolina, Florida and even California...Toronto and even NYC has a large number of Sabres fans. MSG has been an interesting issue up here, I dunno if I like it...depending how the Sabres do this year...it might mean we could get our own network, Empire was owned by Adelphis and the Rigas family (dirty bunch) and that went sour. I dunno, the Islanders are an odd team, I dont really like them so much myself...Hockey is Hockey. lol

Empire went out of business thanks to Adelphia's issues. Another bit of the legacy. Too bad, I always thought that they actually offered better programming than both MSG and NESN. I can only take so many fishing shows and infomercials that last into the afternoon. That aside, I don't think Buffalo has enough of a market sporting-wise to sustain a RSN; I don't know if they ever did. We have a shitload of "lesser" league teams, but I can't imagine you'd find much of a market to watch those even in a much larger city. I can't even guarantee that I would watch it.

I don't know what the difference is with cable vs. satellite in Utica, but in Buffalo you get the Sabres feed exclusively on Time Warner. So I suppose that extends through much of Upstate from what I'm hearing? With DirecTV, there's MSG (621) and two alternates (627 & 662) for the different feeds. I can only get the Sabres game and postgame (typically 627) and the base "standard" MSG (which happens to be Knicks games). Last night the Rangers vs. Hurricanes game was on 662, but I couldn't get it (because it's not "local", I'd assume). Now the next game on 662 is the Islanders evidently, I would imagine I can't get that one either (not that I'd want it). But I can only speak for immediate Buffalo on this one, I don't even know if it's the same in Rochester, let alone Utica?

Sounds like the NYS dichotomy lives on though. If it's not in NYC, it's not in NYS. Or in the rare instance it is, it's in Buffalo.

yeah, from what i remember, the sabres really don't have that big of a following as the rangers in the utica area.

Syracuse isn't part of the Buffalo market???

not really although they have tons of bills fans.

Syracuse isn't part of the Buffalo market???

Not really, why would it be? You have to remember, Just because its upstate does not automatically mean the market is dominated by Buffalo, only immediate WNY (Buffalo and Rochester). Im gonna be the devils advocate for a second and say if Albany gets Sabres games, why not Bruins games? Albanys 4 hours from Buffalo, and 2:30 from Boston. Hell, why not Montreal games too?

I wouldnt even say Syracuse University is that dominate throughout upstate, only mainly around Syracuse. Upstate is not very homogenous, although when it comes to sports teams, we do stick to our NY teams. Or even Boston, Montreal, Toronto, NJ and Philly.

Heres the NHL following. Although Syracuse is dominated by the Sabres, its not really in the Buffalo market.

http://www.commoncensus.org/maps/nhl_1280.gif

I lol'd at "Islanders are a weird team". They're probably only called the "New York" Islanders because "Long Island Islanders" is redundant.

I don't expect them to stick around too much longer... LI is on the road for a massive demographic shift (more 50% of the population of Nassau between 25 and 29 is non-white, so it's only a matter of time before the rest of the age groups catch up)... and let's face it... hispanics and asians aren't terribly big on hockey. And because they're literally cut off from the rest of the rest of the region by NYC proper (not big on hockey at all, unlike its suburbs), the fanbase can't do anything but dwindle.

The metro has too many damn hockey teams, haha.

Utica is all Giants, Yankees, Rangers, and Knicks baby.

Looks like Elmira is Sabres while Binghamton is Rangers.

Syracuse, while it's own market, is going to gravitate more towards the Buffalo teams for major leagues. You have a choice between traveling 140 miles West, or 280 miles Southeast. Yeah, the 140 miles makes a little more sense.

Being down here in Philly, I'm not paying too much attention to the NHL these days...lol. Except for keeping track of how the Sabres are doing.

Utica's 3 hours both ways, and leans NY teams. Ive said before, we dont identify ourselves with 'Buffalo', but with 'New York'. We live in New York. It could stand for city and state.

Rangers fans (like myself and jmanc) and non-fans (like those Sabres and Flyers fans out there) discuss the New York Rangers' 06-07 NHL season, and your take on how their season will go.


Despite the fact that im a Jersey guy im a Rangers (because my dad passed it on). They have a good team again this year they just need to get a good run together. Its hard to watch the Rangers play here in Boston but im definitely gonna watch them play Pittsburgh when i go home for thanksgiving.

I like Brendan Shanahan, a former Red Wing!

^^ I met him 2 weeks ago outside the garden after the OT loss to Buffalo. He asked me for directions, haaaa. The story of the year for the Rangers is inconsistency. They definitely got the skills to be top 5 in the league.

I know, lucky you, makes me so jealous. :) Congrats, though!

Utica is all Giants, Yankees, Rangers, and Knicks baby.

the bills are pretty strong there as well. and remember oh gaints fan...new york truly only has one football team. and ain't in new york city either! :banana:





...until the jets get their billion dollar stadium

hahahahah

Why do the Jets get a new stadium, and the Giants don't?

Seems like a waste. Move them back to Shea, that's about all they deserve.

^^ its not gonna happen they are staying in jersey :)

What about them?






























:tongue2:

Big wins against Tampa and Carolina!!!!!!! :cheers:

Jagr, Shanny and Lundqvist are completely on fire.

Decent victory for the Rangers over the mighty 'Canes last night! 4-0! Jagr's on a hot tear, like you said! Shanny's doing good, too, I like seeing that, even though he's not with the Wings anymore, I still like him as a player. Just hope he doesn't score a Cup-winning goal over the Red Wings.

Another great comeback win 2-1 over Pittsburgh. 13-9-1 27pts. Jagr and Lundy are on fire. 3 game win streak is perfect to face Buffalo.

Grrrr, Straka and Jagr came back to haunt their former team, the Penguins.

that OT effort by Straka to win the game is the best ive seen all season by a single player.

Three OT losses in a row. At least we know we can play against the best teams. 3/6 possible points.

rack up 3 more wins, against Pittsburgh, Ottawa and Florida. Next game @ Philly tomorrow night.

http://us.i1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/sp/getty/f9/full.getty-71799116jm010_florida_panth_10_16_09_pm.jpg

dood! i so wanna catch a game in the garden!

i havent gone in 3 years. i need to go sorely. you know many times in the past couple months ive been outside the garden before a game, seeing everyone in the jersies, especially on the train into penn. im comin close. they need to sell straka and nylander player tee's. prucha isnt doing shit.

Screw the map. Fans are all over the country. :)

The Rangers realy need a new arena

Rangers win 4th straight tonight @ Philadelphia, 3-1.


17-10-4 38pts. 1st in the Atlantic.


Next game @ Dallas Thursday night.

The Rangers realy need a new arena

They play in Madison square garden, how would you top that?

5 game win streak baby.

NY Rangers 5, Dallas 2

December 15, 2006


AP - Dec 14, 11:59 pm EST
More Photos

DALLAS (AP) -- Oh brother, the New York Rangers are on a roll.

Henrik Lundqvist, matched up against his twin brother, made a career-high 43 saves for the Rangers and Matt Cullen and Karel Rachunek scored two goals each, in New York's 5-2 victory over the Dallas Stars on Thursday night.

"That's MVP goaltending, that's Stanley Cup goaltending," Rangers coach Tom Renney said. "He was all-everything."

New York committed too many penalties and allowed too many shots, but they got an excellent performance from Lundqvist to stretch their winning streak to a season-high five games.

And he might've had a little extra motivation seeing a family member in an opposing jersey.


Lundqvist's brother Joel was in the Dallas lineup, making it the third matchup of twins in NHL history. Rich and Ron Sutter were the last set to meet up on March 14, 1994. Patrik and Peter Sundstrom played against each other 18 times.

Joel Lundqvist was called up from Iowa of the AHL earlier Thursday after Stars center Mike Modano was placed on injured reserve (hip flextor/groin), retroactive to Dec. 4. Joel Lundqvist played only 5:44 and didn't take a shot in his fifth NHL game -- all this season.

"I never see players out there but I noticed every time he was on the ice," Henrik said. "I was nervous every time he was out there. Getting the chance to play against him in the NHL is a special feeling."

Rachunek scored one short-handed goal and another tally on a power play for the Rangers, who were outshot 45-20 and had to defend Dallas' season-high 11 power plays.

"We spent too much time in the penalty box, so sometimes the defense gets stretched," Renney said.

Fedor Tyutin added a short-handed, empty-net goal for the Rangers with 1:03 remaining.

Cullen gave the Rangers a 2-1 lead 57 seconds into the second period when his centering pass bounced off the leg of Stars rookie goaltender Mike Smith and into the net. Smith made 15 saves in his sixth NHL start.


Cullen made it 3-1 at 1:44 of the third period when his shot from the slot got through Smith's pads, but Philippe Boucher notched a power-play goal a minute later to pull the Stars within a goal.

"Their goalie was excellent and (Smith) gave up two goals he'd probably like to have back," Stars coach Dave Tippett said.

Rachunek's power-play one-timer with 4:03 left extended the Rangers' lead to 4-2.

Sergei Zubov had a first-period, power-play goal for Dallas, which lost for the third time in four games.

The Rangers couldn't stay out of the penalty box in the first period, leading to five Stars power plays and Dallas' 16-4 edge in shots.

Dallas broke through at 16:24 of the first period when Zubov cashed in on a 5-on-3 advantage with a one-timer from between the circles.

Less than a minute later, Dallas' Eric Lindros was checked into the boards and his stick became lodged between panes of glass. While Lindros tried in vain to work the stick loose, the Rangers took off on a 2-on-1, short-handed break that Rachunek finished off at 17:11 after a setup by Adam Hall.

The Stars continue to be frustrated over their inability to finish around the net.

"We had plenty of shots and plenty power plays, but we don't seem to be getting the timely goals we got at the start of the season," Dallas captain Brenden Morrow said. "We outplayed them for a while but we couldn't capitalize. It looks good on paper to have 45 shots, but you've got to bear down in front of the net."

Notes

Rachunek scored his first two goals of the season and first since March 25, 2004, finding the net on the Rangers' third shot. ... Modano missed his fifth straight game. The earliest he could return is Saturday at Los Angeles. ... Henrik Lundqvist's previous career high for saves was 38, twice last season as a rookie. ... The Rangers won in Dallas for the first time since 1996. New York had been winless in its five previous visits.

They play in Madison square garden, how would you top that?

Wait. I got confuesd with the Islanders. Madison Square Garden looked realy smalle in that pic.

Wait. I got confuesd with the Islanders.
If I were a Rangers fan, I think I'd deck you for that. :D

Seriously, the day the Rangers leave MSG, well, it won't be right.

No but, in this day and age, it wouldnt hurt to have a new place to play, especially since its the second oldest NHL arena, and in the largest market, youd expect to have a state of the art facility.

Yeah, I agree that there's a balance that must be struck.

It can be done right, too. For example, I like the Yankees' new stadium plans. I used to think it would be sacrilege to tear down the Stadium, but I like the new design. Maybe because it's arguably truer to the original stadium than the current one is (having been wrecked in the 70s). Speaking of which I have to get down there for a game this upcoming season.

Someday, I will see a game at Madison Square Garden, preferably against the Sabres. I've seen WWE Wrestlemania XX two years ago there, so I know a bit what the arena is like. It's a nice arena. :)

Nothing lasts forever, were NY, we need a state of the art pro arena.

rough weekend for the Rangers :(

yyyyyyyyyyyyyep, might hit up the game tonight.

:ohno:

How can you go from a fuckin 5 game win streak outscoring opponents 16-7 to a 3 game losing streak getting outscored 19-6?

..and this Sabres bullshit being on MSG upstate is pissin me off. My old man told me the Sabres were on tonight again. How can you go from having the Rangers on for years and years and years on MSG and suddenly put the Sabres on because they dont have a network? What the fuck gives? Fuck the Sabres, that pisses me off to no end. This is in UTICA mind you. This is not immediate Buffalo sports market, and far from it. There was also an uproar in Albany about the Sabres being on as well. You go from the Rangers since the dawn of time to the fuckin Sabres?

give Buffalo their sports channel back so all of upstate doesnt have to suffer.

They honestly put on a team 4 hours away over a team 2 hours away. I hate this sports market business bullshit.

Ill always remember and miss this poster. I dont know what I did with it.

http://imagecache2.allposters.com/images/pic/41/031_9123~Wayne-Gretzky-Posters.jpg

:ohno:

How can you go from a fuckin 5 game win streak outscoring opponents 16-7 to a 3 game losing streak getting outscored 19-6?

..and this Sabres bullshit being on MSG upstate is pissin me off. My old man told me the Sabres were on tonight again. How can you go from having the Rangers on for years and years and years on MSG and suddenly put the Sabres on because they dont have a network? What the fuck gives? Fuck the Sabres, that pisses me off to no end. This is in UTICA mind you. This is not immediate Buffalo sports market, and far from it. There was also an uproar in Albany about the Sabres being on as well. You go from the Rangers since the dawn of time to the fuckin Sabres?

Um yeah, MSG sucks for the Sabres too.

give Buffalo their sports channel back so all of upstate doesnt have to suffer...

..from having to deal with downstate teams. I agree.

F*ckin' Adelphia, rot in hell Rigas family.

ok that was a little harsh, sorry. I thought u guys were sh@tting on the Sabres. My bad

:ohno:

How can you go from a fuckin 5 game win streak outscoring opponents 16-7 to a 3 game losing streak getting outscored 19-6?

..and this Sabres bullshit being on MSG upstate is pissin me off. My old man told me the Sabres were on tonight again. How can you go from having the Rangers on for years and years and years on MSG and suddenly put the Sabres on because they dont have a network? What the fuck gives? Fuck the Sabres, that pisses me off to no end. This is in UTICA mind you. This is not immediate Buffalo sports market, and far from it. There was also an uproar in Albany about the Sabres being on as well. You go from the Rangers since the dawn of time to the fuckin Sabres?

who the hell watches sabres games in utica? i don't of very many people who are sabres fans up there...mostly rangers.

Yeah, thats what im sayin, there are only a handful of them around here, honestly. This Sabres being broadcasted all over upstate has caused an uproar, because for years and years MSG was Rangers, and now the only time theyre on is when the Sabres either arent playing or are away. How can they change that all the sudden? I know its all business but still, theres hardly a Sabres fanbase, you will find more Islanders and especially Devils fans. :|

I got into Utica last night, and thank god, the Rangers were on.

I got into Utica last night

i am so sorry. :( how long is your sentence? :crazy:

i will be up in jan. for 10 days.

5 game losing streak. last two fucking games, both Florida and Tampa rallied completely in the third period to win the game. ridiculous.

FINALLY!!!!!

NY Rangers 4, Washington 1

December 30, 2006

http://us.i1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/sp/getty/8c/full.getty-71799200bb024_ny_washington_11_59_07_pm.jpg



NEW YORK (AP) -- The New York Rangers not only found their offense against the illness-ravaged Washington Capitals, they also found a bit of a mean streak in a fight-filled, 4-1 victory on Saturday night.

Snapping a season-long, seven-game losing streak, the Rangers came out hard in the first period and went out fighting in the third against a chippy Capitals team that has lost four in a row.

Petr Prucha scored two goals, his first coming 1:55 into the opening period to halt a 153:38 scoreless streak by the Rangers. Michael Nylander and Darius Kasparaitis also scored for the Blueshirts, while Ben Clymer erased Henrik Lundqvist's shutout bid late in the third period.

While the Rangers ended their worst skid since they dropped eight in a row in March 2004, Brendan Shanahan made a statement when he fought Capitals enforcer Donald Brashear in the third period of an extremely physical game. In response to several liberties taken against captain Jaromir Jagr, Shanahan challenged Brashear at 7:29 of the third.

"I thought this was just a game where our team needed a little extra in different areas, and I think the opportunity presented itself with some of the things he did to Jaromir throughout the game," Shanahan said. "I went to the faceoff and I asked him to fight and he did.


"I don't think he thought I was serious. In the beginning he kind of gave me a chance to back out of it and I told him, 'No."'

The pair fought at center ice to chants of "Shanny! Shanny!" When Brashear motioned as if he was dusting off his hands following the tussle, Aaron Ward said something that caused Brashear to punch him in the face twice. Brashear was slapped with a game misconduct for intent to injure, while Ward was called for unsportsmanlike conduct.

"I just asked him a question," Ward said.

Brashear did not comment after the game.

"It's great to see," Jagr said of Shanahan's actions. "He is not only about big goals, he protects his players."

The game featured two of the more fatigued squads in the NHL with the Rangers playing their eighth game in 15 days and the illness-ravaged Capitals playing for the fourth time in five nights. Washington, with several players in uniform despite a stomach virus that has swept their locker room, has lost four in a row and failed to generate much of an attack for most of the game.

With 4:20 left to play, the Rangers' Colton Orr leveled Alex Ovechkin with a high, open-ice hit that earned a charging penalty and a fight with Shaone Morrissonn.


"If they want to play physical, we're going to play physical," Morrissonn said. "Its a physical game out there."

The Rangers scored for the first time since before Christmas less than 2 minutes into the game when Prucha scored his seventh goal of the season on a rebound at the left post. The goal was the Rangers' first since the second period of a 4-3 loss at Tampa on Dec. 23.

Prucha, on a line with Shanahan and Matt Cullen, made it 4-0 late in the third period before Clymer ended Lundqvist's shutout bid with less than 3 minutes to play. Lundqvist made 22 saves, staying in the net after being shaken up in a third-period collision.

Nylander, who helped to set up Prucha's first goal by getting the puck to the point as he was leveled by Ovechkin, made it 2-0. His 13th of the season and third in the last 11 games came off a quick pass from Martin Straka from behind the Washington cage at 13:25 of the first.

Kasparaitis made it 3-0 when he snapped Jagr's centering pass past Olaf Kolzig's blocker from between the circles with less than a minute left in the second. The goal was the defenseman's second of the year.

"You can only hold Darius Kasparaitis down for so long before he lets loose," Shanahan said.

Notes

Kolzig (31 saves) made a pad save on Karel Rachunek after the Rangers' defenseman was awarded a penalty shot when he was fouled from behind on a short-handed breakaway at 13:15 of the second period by an Ovechkin stick check. ... Rangers have won five straight against Washington at the Garden. ... Ovechkin, in his second season, finished the 2006 calendar year as NHL's top goal-scorer with 54.

http://us.i1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/sp/getty/70/full.getty-71799200bb028_ny_washington_12_13_16_am.jpg

LOL, thats an awesome picture of Shanny and Brashear fighting.Who won the fight? A couple of games ago, the Sabres played the Caps and Brashear got beat up by Peters. It seems this guys fights every friggin game! Its cool to Shanahan still fighting and standing up for his teammates.

Flyers 2 @ Rangers 3.

3 game win streak.

alright so i entered a contest on newyorkrangers.com and won. monday night against the red wings i got two free tix and a shot to win $10,000. oh yeah, i won a $400 GvOne cell phone too.

:nuts: wish me luck.

alright so i entered a contest on newyorkrangers.com and won. monday night against the red wings i got two free tix and a shot to win $10,000. oh yeah, i won a $400 GvOne cell phone too.

:nuts: wish me luck.


Good luck and lucky you. But not to the Rangers, though. RED WINGS all the way! That's like Shanny to protect his players like that, while he is offensive, he can be very aggressive sometimes, which is good!

tonights the night, ut oh. its the only fucking NHL game tonight, and its nationally televised on Versus. WATCH IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ill be therrrrrrre

You betcha I watched it, watched the Red Wings make a big comeback against the Rangers by winning 4-3. Good for me, but bad for you and the Rangers.

Maybe that will come back to haunt Shanny for leaving Hockeytown like that! :) LET'S GO RED WINGS! I have may to pick the Red Wings over the Sabres now, as the Red Wings can actually come back from a deficit to win.

What do you guys think of Chris Simon's cheapshot?

Youtube clip (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ht6RyAI9370)

hes a fuck. tel him to leave his tomahawk at home.


Rangers are up 6-0 against Boston right now. WOOOOOOOOOO

make that 7.

Man, F the rangers . Watch out or Ill go chris simon on yall yawkers lol

pfft...boston....

were in 8th.

Holy shit, the Rangers were on a RAMPAGE!

Lets not have the Sabres get all the talk around here!

Hey you're the one that's been away nearly 2 months....

Yeah its pathetic, im gone for 2 months and im the only one thats still talking in the thread.

why are the sabres even being mentioned here anyway? there is a thread for them already.

That game 4 was intense, the Rangers have the momentum now!

http://us.news2.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/ap/20070506/capt.fb90ece4d80f4d61a1b841b1ff31c15a.sabres_rangers_hockey_nyjj114.jpg

"In Buffalo, as a team, we saw a team that had the resolve to withstand a team coming at them hard and perhaps in a way that they did not expect, I'm not going to put words in their mouths though. It really boils down to us being a lot closer than people gave us credit for in the first place. As Lindy (Ruff) mentioned to me in the post-game, "we scared the hell out of them." - Tom Renney

http://us.i1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/sp/getty/30/fullj.getty-74061454ms041_buffalo_sabre_6_03_10_pm.jpg

That's a true statement and remember Lindy Ruff mentioning that the Rangers gave the Sabres a hell of a scare. I mean how and why do you think the Rangers SWEPT the Atlanta Thrashers in the first round? They on a roll in the last 1/4 of the year, too, I was paying attention. Much like the Islanders, the Rangers were a very worthy opponent and could have won, Buffalo got lucky and this was a very close series, other than the first game.

They gave us a hell of a run for our money, yes. Not to take anything away, but I'm wondering if they didn't initially (based on the talk) get a little too high on themselves by beating Atlanta. I just thought (as did many others) that Atlanta was a flawed team not to mention being their first foray into the postseason.

That's a true statement and remember Lindy Ruff mentioning that the Rangers gave the Sabres a hell of a scare. I mean how and why do you think the Rangers SWEPT the Atlanta Thrashers in the first round? They on a roll in the last 1/4 of the year, too, I was paying attention. Much like the Islanders, the Rangers were a very worthy opponent and could have won, Buffalo got lucky and this was a very close series, other than the first game.

Game 1 was tight until Buffalo came out with 3 in like 4 minutes I believe, or something like that.

They gave us a hell of a run for our money, yes. Not to take anything away, but I'm wondering if they didn't initially (based on the talk) get a little too high on themselves by beating Atlanta. I just thought (as did many others) that Atlanta was a flawed team not to mention being their first foray into the postseason.

As a Ranger fan, I thought Atlanta would have given us a harder time. They got Hossa, Kovalchuk, Kozlov, etc. They were all leading the NHL in scoring all season, and the Thrashers were a pretty dangerous club. What most fans dont know was that the Rangers had the second best GA in the East, behind the Devils of course. The Rangers D played very solid and as a fan was very proud and impressed with the Defense, and PK especially. Most give all the credit to Lundqvist, but lets remember that the total shots leading up to Game 6 were 164 apiece ironically. Credit both defenses for that. The Rangers blocked an average of around 20-30 shots a game in the playoffs, and especially the last half of the season. Just as Lundqvist was the difference for the Rangers, the difference for the Sabres was Miller. I think most forget that Miller was the difference especially in the first half of the series.

All it took was 7.7 seconds to make it a totally different series. The impossible was happening then and some friends of mine that are Sabres fans told me they almost shit themselves because we came seconds from stealing one in Buffalo.

That 7.7 seconds will haunt me forever.

After seeing how God-awful the Sabres have played in the Eastern Conference finals, I now think the Rangers SHOULD have won the series against Buffalo, they would have been a better opponent for Ottawa, now I think Buffalo just got plain LUCKY in all the games, because the Rangers were indeed that good. Now I feel sorry more for the Rangers than I do for the Sabres.

The Sabres couldve been done in 5 games against the Rangers, because if the Rangers had won Game 2 which most will say was theirs, they were 7.7 seconds from eliminating Buffalo in Game 5.

rangers' season ended :( :( so this thread is closed...go to NHL playoffs thread to talk hockey.