The Acela Express Edition

The results have been mixed with the Caps and Rangers this season.  Two games @ the Garden (which on TV looks like shit – dark, dark in the daytime, ever darker in the nighttime), have seen a win for each team. 

Decked out in RED Photo - clydeorama.com

The December 12, 7-0 blowout while our boys were in that seeming death spiral is still a vivid memory, although we’re trying to repress it.  We’ve turned the page since then -As Seen On TV.

Recently, we’ve both dropped close ones to the Flyers and each throttled the Leafs.  On paper, the teams looks close to being evenly matched, but the wind may be at our backs. Hopefully we have our footing, aggressive play, and our lines squared away – a pattern that we hope will develop again this evening, and well into the out weeks.

You have no idea how much we miss you

What’s missing for us?  Sasha!  He was on the ice for the morning skate @ Kettler today. 

Good news indeed for one of our faves. Playing ahead of the ASG seems unlikely, however. 

Maybe a good idea to get him fully on the mend and launch him out of a canon in the first week of February.

The Rangers is not a team known for movie star looks. 

While there are some very capable players, Central Casting isn’t speed-dialing them for parts in anything other than SyFy Network shows – “Octo-Goons,” maybe.

Let’s spotlight some of the Ranger talent we might be facing this evening. 

London, Ontario native, LW Brandon Prust, came to NY from from the Flames this year. Prust has rugged looks and has racked up one goal and two assists in his last five games. 

The Not-So-Great 8 for the Rangers has an appetite for action and likes to fight.  Maybe we can fill his dance card tonight.  “Paging Matt Hendricks, Matt Hendricks – white courtesy phone.”

D-man Michael Sauer, of St. Cloud, Minnesota hasn’t been as productive as his teammate lately – just one lousy point in the last five games, an assist in Saturday night’s contest with the Thrashers.

He’s sitting on one goal in his 44 games this season? Why does this guy get so much ice time?  His numbers say he’s a flatliner instead of a blueliner.

What coach can say no to a smile like this?  Let’s wipe the smile of this guy’s face tonight and send him home weeping (or catatonic) from a sound and thorough thrashing we give these guys.

Odds and Ends: Hot B Braden Holtby, fresh of his killer, primetime  game against the Leafs gets the start again in the net tonight.