About those rally sticks...

Guest Blogger: Sam Weinman

Gamer, Rangers-Penguins
Hi all. Been busy with football all day in the Carrier Dome. Sorry. Got to turn my focus to Mellon Arena, or the Igloo. So here’s a blank slate for you. Lundqvist is not expected to play tonight, and Brian Boyle might get prucha’d. Here are tonight’s pregame notes. Enjoy. See youse all later.

Back to back
Little time for whining about last night, not with the defending champs awaiting in a home-and-home. But … 1) You want positives. OK, the young guys are getting great experience. Del Zotto is even getting more physical every game. Sanguinetti didn’t look out of place. One of the goals was scored by his man in front, but Higgins made an ultra-soft play trying to fish the puck away with his stick before it was scored. ... 2) Speaking of which … The Rangers are a soft team overall, but last night they were astonishingly soft, especially around their own net. Although they did continue to stick up for one another.  3) If you counted the

Post-game notes
From the NYR: NEW YORK RANGERS POST-GAME NOTES November 27, 2009 – New York Rangers 1, Tampa Bay 5 (Game #25, Road #13) * The Blueshirts were defeated by the Tampa Bay Lightning, 5-1, tonight at St. Pete Times Forum. * The Rangers dropped to 13-11-1 overall, including a 6-6-1 mark on the road. * Rangers Alternate Captain Ryan Callahan notched a goal at 17:53 of the third period. * Arten Anisimov recorded one assist in 16:40 of icetime; he currently ranks ninth in the NHL among rookies with 12 points (five goals and seven assists). * Defenseman Ma

Gamer, Rangers-Lightning
Never liked those singular names. Ought to be Lightnings. Or Lightning Bolts. Or Lightning Strikes. Or just Bolts. Or whatever. Anyway, here was my checklist for today: Get up, blog, go to office, drive to Syracuse, survive that (despite rain and sleet and some snow), check into hotel before 7:30, find out if they have MSG. Well, check, check, check, check, check, check, check. Wait a minute! Panic! The Knicks are playing tonight. I’ll bet the hockey game is on one of those cheesy Plus-Deuce MSGs. Grab the paper. Find out your right. Grab the remote. Spin around  the dial. See Brad Park talking to Fran Healy. I guess this is MSG Plus. So I may have the game in my

Game day, at Tampa
The Rangers had their Thanksgiving dinner in Tampa. Tonight some of them go for a little revenge for desert. I’m not sure there’s really any motivation for coaches and players returning to play their old teams. But in this case, John Tortorella was fired by the Lightning after winning a Stanley Cup there, I don’t know the situation surrounding Mike Sullivan, but I do know the minute his contract expired he joined Tortorella here, and Vinny Prospal was bought out with three years left on a four-year contract. Told to get out, basically. Here’s Andrew Gross’s story on their re