The change in venue should be huge. Wish we had better success at home this year, but at least we get out of that hell hole in Philly. That guy Hart is unbeatable there. He's now 18-2-2 there. Insane. Most likely we won't face him Sunday. He is 3-10 on the road. No Philly's road goalie is Brian Elliot. He's 11-5 on the road. But is GAA and Save % is not nearly as daunting as Hart's home stats. 3.10 and .894.
This is our game to win or lose. There are no excuses. Plus Hank will most certainly have something to prove.
I hear a lot of talk of ,.. if we don't win or make the playoffs, I'm proud of our boys. I don't agree totally. If they fold like a cheap suit, what was the point? What did they learn? No,... they need to have a good month, put in a solid effort and win their share of games even if they don't make the postseason. With 18 games remaining, they most likely will need 13 wins for a playoff spot. That's a tough hill to climb. So if they fall short with only 10 or 11 wins, well then you have to give them an A for effort. They gave it everything they had,.. when it counted most. I would be happy with that. Plus it will make the group a bit hungrier next year.
Let me say that even 6 weeks ago I was saying often that all I was hoping for was for the Rangers to hang around the playoff periphery and maybe play some important March hockey games.
I thought it would be fantastic experience for the kiddies and even for some veterans on the team who haven’t played in “playoff type feel” games in a long time. It would help tremendously in the development of the team so that when we actually became a playoff team which I felt as if the rebuild trajectory pointed towards next year, the kids especially would be much more prepared for what was to come.
Well a funny thing has happened...the team has played a lot better than anticipated and has gotten itself more than on the periphery of the playoffs but in fact firmly in the hunt with a fairly decent shot which is amazing just in itself.
So yeah I’m one of those who has said repeatedly whatever we do going forward is “gravy” and part of the “bonus plan”. And if that means we don’t get a playoff spot, I’m more than OK with that seeing we’ll be accomplishing the goal I at least hoped for which was play important March games.
Whether or not we win the majority of the final 18 games is neither here nor there at this point. This season has been a wild success no matter what happens rest of the way.
The way this teams season has gone I doubt very very much we are going to collapse which from the sounds of it means they win just 4-5 games the rest of the way. Even if that did occur which is very unlikely, yes the season would still be a wild success IMO.
That said, I’m thinking we likely will go .500 rest of the way without Kreider and miss out as his loss will be too much too bear.
But who knows with this team as they are a very resilient bunch and maybe they prove me wrong again and figure out a way to get in to the dance. I have never wanted to be wrong more...lol