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The Rangers are still looking solid despite their win streak ending. Rempe-mania is in full swing. The Knicks continue to look banged up and pretty concerning.
On Garden ice, the Rangers are still looking like a formidable contender in the east, having won 11 of their last 12 games. The Knicks, on the other hand, are a pretty uninspiring 4-8 in their last dozen. Let's dive in.
New York Rangers
The Games
Saturday, February 24th | Win 2-1 at Flyers
The Flyers continue to outperform expectations this season, with former Rangers head coach John Tortorella really getting the most out of his group. As such, this wasn't a cakewalk by any means. Shesterkin had to be really sharp at times to lock down this win. But the bigger story was that of Matt Rempe, who continued his storybook narrative since his call up prior to the Stadium Series game. Three minutes into this one, he dropped the gloves against Nick Deslauriers in probably the best hockey fight in the last five years. Then he ended up scoring the game-winning goal midway through the third by crashing hard to the net to create a screen and getting a pretty lucky bounce when the puck just kind of hit him and rolled in. What a story for the big man.
Sunday, February 25th | Loss 4-2 at Blue Jackets
It could have been a franchise-record 11th win in a row, but instead it was a pretty lackluster letdown game against the last place Blue Jackets. I'm not sure why, but Columbus just seems to always play well against the Rangers. Anyway, this game had the weirdos on Twitter ready to write off the Rangers completely and trade the entire team away at the deadline. Seems like a bit of an overreaction. I'm not reading too much into this one. It was their 5th game in 8 days and they had just played the prior afternoon in a hard-effort rivalry game. They just didn't have it in this one, which was pretty clear from the start. It didn't help that Matt Rempe continued his streak of fighting in every game and got absolutely smoked by Mathieu Olivier.
Wednesday, February 28th | Won 4-1 vs. Blue Jackets
I started to get a bit nervous when the Rangers came out flying, almost scored about 100 times, but got goalied pretty hard by Elvis Merzlikins and went to the room tied 0-0. But we stuck with it and took care of business in the revenge game against Columbus. Panarin, who scored twice, seemed pissed off at his old team. He was absolutely everywhere in this one and extremely noticeable all night. The exact opposite was true for the anemic (maybe literally?) Mika Zibanejad. Shesterkin looked great in this one. The only goal he let in was when he tried to get cute with his passing up the ice and turned it over directly to the Blue Jackets for basically an empty-netter. It was a rare brain fart, but one that comes from Igor getting his confidence back and trying to make aggressive plays. I'll take it.
The News
Not much actual news, but lots of speculation as the trade deadline looms on March 8th. The GM of the Anaheim Ducks was apparently at MSG during Wednesday's game, signaling that there might be some legs to Frank Vatrano's return to New York? I'd expect that in this space next week, we should have a lot more clarity about what the Rangers' playoff roster is going to look like.
The Good Signs
We only lost one game in the entire month of February. That's pretty damn good. And we did it in spite of some glaring holes in the roster that will likely be plugged up next week. Igor Shesterkin has looked awesome in net, with a 1.16 GAA in his (indoor) games this month.
The Red Flags
Matt Rempe has more 5-on-5 goals in 2024 than Mika Zibanejad. The guy honestly looks lost offensively. He's still working hard and shutting down the other team's top lines on defense, but that line is just not doing anything on the score sheet. It's pretty rough. Hopefully they will get energized when/if the Rangers add a right wing at the deadline.
The Play of the Week
Rempe-mania continues as the big man nets the game winner in Philly.
New York Knicks
The Games
Saturday, February 24th | Loss 116-102 vs. Celtics
In a matchup that about a month ago looked like it could be an Eastern Conference Finals preview, the Celtics pretty much cruised to a victory to sweep the Knicks for the season. Seems to bode well for the playoffs. Of course Porzingis had a big game with 22 points, including a few run-killing threes. The Knicks trailed by just 4 at the half, but then had an awful 3rd quarter. After making a small run midway through the 4th quarter, they then missed six straight baskets and turned it over three times to take themselves out of it for good. Not what you want.
Monday, February 26th | Win 113-111 vs. Pistons
The Pistons have won just 9 games all year and set a new NBA record for longest losing streak. The Knicks beat them by 2. At home. In one of the most chaotic and controversial endings to a game we've seen in a while. Seems to bode well for the playoffs. The crazy ending started on a missed three from Jalen Bruson, followed by 3 turnovers, a missed foul call, and then Brunson finally getting the ball back, and finding Josh Hart for the go-ahead layup with 2 seconds left on the clock. A win is a win, but man this one was ugly.
Tuesday, February 27th | Loss 115-92 vs. Pelicans
In another game that really seems to bode well for the playoffs, the Knicks managed to make a basketball game look like Mitch McConnell at a comedy show, losing at home to the Pelicans by 23. Trey Murphy and Brandon Ingram racked up more buckets than a Mar-a-Lago KFC. Meanwhile, the Knicks' injury list is longer than Phil's balls in twenty years, missing key players like they're avoiding jury duty. They led for a hot minute before remembering that they aren't supposed to do that anymore (see: Law of the Garden) and promptly fell behind, never to lead again. Coach Thibodeau's strategy of "let's just chuck threes and hope for the best" was, unsurprisingly, not a game-winner. But hey, at least they're consistent at something, right?
Thursday, February 29th | Loss 110-99 vs. Warriors
Uhh... I'm kind of out of analogies or anything humorous to say. Four games in six nights and none of them particularly fun. The Warriors jumped out to a 14-0 lead, Curry had a double-double by halftime, and finished with 31 points overall. Seems to really bode well for the playoffs. I guess maybe the one saving grace is that Brunson, who missed the previous game with neck spasms, came back for this one and put up a modest 27 points. Oh, and I guess another saving grace is that February is now over. What a lousy month for basketball in Manhattan.
The News
OG Anunoby seems to be getting closer to returning, being cleared for on-court workouts beginning in March. If all goes well, we should see him back in the lineup by the middle of the month. The Knicks' protest of their loss against the Rockets earlier in the month was officially denied by the NBA (shocker)! They were also fined a whopping $10,000 for whining. For a franchise valued at $6.6 billion, this should be a pretty tough one to swallow. Owner James Dolan has raised the price of popcorn at the Garden to compensate for the lost revenue. Finally, rest in peace to MSG court side fixture and Curb Your Enthusiasm regular Richard Lewis. Thanks for the laughs!
The Good Signs
Umm... I'm not really sure. Haha. Is eeking out a last-second win against the 9-49 Detroit Pistons a good sign? Because that's pretty much the only good thing that's happened for the Knicks this week.
The Red Flags
There has been no good news on Julius Randle, who remains sidelined with a dislocated shoulder that has caused him to miss the last 14 games. Meanwhile, the team continues to tailspin. It was all good vibes heading into the trade deadline and now it's been a 2-7 run since then. It's not panic time yet as the team still sits in fourth place and should be getting healthier, but they really need to bank some wins soon.
The Play of the Week
As mentioned, there was basically only one positive thing that happened all week and it wasn't even that positive.
Garden Memory
In honor of Rempe's fights, here's one of the best fights I saw live. This was exactly 1 second into the game. I was sitting in a corporate box for work and when I saw who came out to take the opening draw for the Rangers, I started screaming to all my co-workers like a mad man that there was going to be a huge fight. They looked on in horror as this happened...
Sphere Watch
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. held a polarizing campaign rally at The Sphere this week. On one hand, his supporters were pleased when The Sphere was transformed to look like a giant RNA molecule eating a small child and defecating on an elderly woman. The two-dozen spectators in the crowd chanted "my body, my choice" at max volume, which slightly disrupted The Edge's soundcheck. But things took a turn when RFK began to talk about globalism and a spherical map of the planet was projected on the ultra-high definition screens. Over 80% of the crowd dispersed at this point, asserting that a spherical earth is just a myth perpetrated by the Chinese in order to distract from the real problem with today's society — in vitro fertilization.