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The Rangers won an outdoor game in epic fashion, while the Knicks hopefully iced their ailing bodies over the break.
In a direct violation of the Law of the Garden, both teams are undefeated since our last post in this series. Sure, the Knicks only played one game during that timeframe. But a win is a win!
New York Rangers
The Games
Sunday, February 18th | Win 6-5 (OT) at Islanders (MetLife Stadium)
I had the pleasure of attending this one, alongside 79,679 others. Because the NHL is super smart, sun glare delayed the start by 45 minutes and then made it impossible for the goalies to see. Anyway, the Rangers got down 4-1 early and trailed 5-3 with just over 4 minutes to play in the game. It seemed pretty hopeless until the Islanders took a penalty and Peter Laviolette pulled the goalie to set up a 6 on 4. Chris Kreider did what he does best, tipping in a nasty deflection to get the Blueshirts within in one. Then the Islanders, who seemed desperate to blow another lead, went back to the box and the Rangers pulled the goalie again. This time it was a vintage Mika Zibanejad slapper from the left circle (god, where has that been all season?) to tie the game with just 1:29 left on the clock. Somehow the Rangers had stormed back to force overtime, which didn't last long. Just 10 seconds into the extra frame, Panarin ended it for what has to be one of the craziest games I've ever attended in person. A fun Sunday all around!
Tuesday, February 20th | Win 3-1 vs. Stars
In what was probably his best start of the year, Igor Shesterkin put the Rangers on his back and made 40 saves against a really potent Stars team. This game also featured contributions from frequent Twitter punching bag Kaapo Kaako, who scored the ultimate game-winner. The Rangers held their own against a heavy, physical western conference opponent and showed that they won't be bullied by anybody, despite their often skill-first mentality. A really impressive performance and an example that Peter Laviolette should use to instruct his team on how to win in the postseason. This one really did have a playoff feel to it, with not too much open ice. The Rangers have often struggled in that type of game, but definitely rose to the occasion here.
Thursday, February 22nd | Win 5-1 vs. Devils
This one got off to a wild start when 6'8" Ranger rookie Matt Rempe absolutely destroyed Nathan Bastian with a huge body check, then punched Jonas Siegenthaler
right in the face. Rempe was ejected for an illegal check to the head, which will be hotly debated. He is just simply 5 inches taller than Bastian, so a normal body check just happened to catch him in the jaw. Either way, the Rangers had to kill off a 5-minute major early in the game. Which they did easily. Then they got a power play of their own and cashed in just 5 seconds into it! Talk about a difference in special teams. From there, they pretty much dominated, running the lead all the way up to 5-0. They dicked around at the end trying to set up Alexis Lafrenière for a hat trick and burped up a turnover that led to a meaningless late goal by Devils' superstar Jack Hughes. It would have been nice to get the shutout, but a convincing win nonetheless.
The News
Jonny Brodzinski signed a two-year contract extension, shoring up the bottom half of the lineup for the next couple of years. Which is good because the top hal took another blow. As expected, Blake Wheeler will not play again in the regular season. To fill the roster spot, the Rangers called up the 6'8" Matt Rempe from Hartford. He became the first player to make his NHL debut in an outdoor game, which is pretty cool. Also pretty cool is dropping the gloves with Matt Martin in a packed football stadium on your first shift as a pro.
The Good Signs
We have a 9-game win streak going, had an epic comeback in an outdoor game, saw Igor's best performance of the year, are getting production from Lafrenière and Kakko, and even saw some signs of life from Zibanejad. What's not to like?
The Red Flags
With the exception of the Stadium Series game, the power play continues to look a bit flat. Hopefully, they can adopt the same urgency they showed in that game where it was completely unstoppable. I think it was a weird game and so we shouldn't judge it too harshly, but they did get badly outworked for two-thirds of that game at MetLife. If they don't defend better in front of their net, and crash the opposing net harder, they aren't going far in the playoffs. Hard to complain about much else.
The Play of the Week
Rangers come back and Panarin wins it in overtime at the Stadium Series.
New York Knicks
The Games
Thursday, February 22nd | Win 110-96 at Sixers
In their first game since the All-Star Break, the Knicks, led by Jalen Brunson's 21 points and 12 assists, turned Kyle Lowry's 76ers debut into a backdrop for their own return to form, clinching a 110-96 victory in Philadelphia. Spike Lee, decked out in Knicks apparel, annoyed the shit out of the notoriously short-fused Philly fans, celebrating each Knicks basket with the enthusiasm of a much younger, drunker man. Villanova alums Brunson, Hart, and DiVincenzo put on a show in their old college town. Their sharpshooting from beyond the arc helped silence the 76ers' irritating home crowd and underscored the Knicks' resilience and ambition, which has been their trademark all year.
The News
Jalen Brunson went to the All-Star Game where he had a solid showing in the 3-Point Contest (and got trash talked by his own dad, apparently). Jacob Toppin also maybe got snubbed in the Dunk Contest? I'm not really sure how to judge these things and neither are the judges. The shipment of bubblewrap meant to be delivered to the team over the break never made it. Even after 8 days off, they were still missing OG Anunoby, Julius Randle, and Mitchell Robinson. Randle even alluded to considering surgery, which would definitely not be great. Let's hope they are at full-strength soon.
The Good Signs
We are 1-0 since the All-Star Break, and the injury report is a bit shorter than it was before the days off.
The Red Flags
The Anunoby and Randle injury saga continues...
The Play of the Week
Here's Brunson making some triples.
Garden Memory
I got free tickets to the 2010 Jingle Ball through work. Katy Perry's performance stood out for obvious reasons.
Sphere Watch
In a tremendous blow to absolutely no one, Kid Rock and Jason Aldean canceled their "You Can't Cancel America" tour dates in New York to protest the judicial rulings against bloated insurrectionist Donald Trump. Rock and Aldean have constructed their own sphere out of 160 rear-projection televisions welded to the back of an Airstream. They tried to park it outside of the real Sphere in Vegas, but The Edge got so upset when he heard the first few bars of "American Badass" that he put Miralax in Kid's bottle of Jack. The show was stopped by police after about 3 minutes of public defecation, which is approximately 30 seconds more than you can get away with on the Vegas Strip. Former friend of the site, Kid Rock, could not be reached for comment.