Sports

[dmod nj]

Rangers play the Pens tonight in Pittsburgh. Fingers crossed they can have another game like the last time they played one another.

LET'S GO RANGERS!!

LET'S DO IT BLUESHIRTS!!

Tell us about your team!

John, thanks so much for your analysis. I so enjoy reading it. I'm very happy to hear the good news about your wife. Wishing her continued healing. Thanks for the update.

[Preds]

LET'S GO RANGERS!!!!!

[dmod nj]

Hi John,

I have a few questions about the Rangers/Pens game on Saturday.

Was Malkin's hit on Girardi clean?

Should Kreids have been awarded a penalty shot after the Pen's player took him out on the breakaway?

What do you think of the officiating in that game?

Rangers lose in a shootout.

Love the picture Preds. Thanks.

Monday, the Rangers play the Lightening.......and many former Rangers come back to the Garden, including former Captain Cally.

[hckynut]

On 11/15/2014 dmod nj said:

Hi John,

I have a few questions about the Rangers/Pens game on Saturday.

Was Malkin's hit on Girardi clean?

Should Kreids have been awarded a penalty shot after the Pen's player took him out on the breakaway?

What do you think of the officiating in that game?

Rangers lose in a shootout.

Love the picture Preds. Thanks.

Monday, the Rangers play the Lightening.......and many former Rangers come back to the Garden, including former Captain Cally.

Hi Donna,

Just finished watching the Pens game. Here is the best I can tell you about how I felt about what happened in this very strange game.

Q. Was Malkin's hit on Girardi clean?

A. To me it was a late hit and a head shot and it should have been a Major(5 min)& a game. Hopefully they will send this to the League Office for a review. Coincidental penalties on Malkin and Staal? That I don't understand in the least little bit. I doubt the Ref's were sure of it.

Q. Should Kreids have been awarded a penalty shot after the Pen's player took him out on the breakaway?

A. We could only get the Pens announcers and 1 of them didn't know up from down when it came to the rules. On that the Pens player did not get the puck first. He took Kreider's skate out from under him before he knocked the puck off of his stick. To me with Kreider behind him and only the goalie to beat? That is the requirement for a Penalty Shot. But this is up to the discretion of the Ref's.

Q. What do you think of the officiating in that game?

A. I thought they called a pretty good game except for the non Penalty Shot decision. In the Shootout I told Cindy right away that Boyle double hit the puck and that goal should not count. Each shooter only gets 1 chance at the puck and he got 2 and put the 2nd one in the net. It is the same as if the goalie would have had a rebound, the player cannot shoot the puck from a goalie rebound, thus it was the right call. It cost the Rangers a point but was the correct decision.

Now my bits and pieces.

You very seldom see 3 on 3 hockey and when that minor was called there is no such thing as a 3 on 2 advantage in the rule book, so the Rangers got to put a 4th player on the ice in lieu of a 3 on 2 advantage. The Rangers then had a 4 on 3 against the Pens for their Power Play.

Here is the irony of what happened. Letang and Hagelan had coincidental minor penalties and neither of them should have been able to come out of the Penalty Box until a stoppage of play. When they both came out, Carl went to the bench and that is how Letang got the breakaway on Hank.

Technically the Pens should have been assessed a "too many men on the ice" penalty because they were now playing 4 on 4 hockey, and the Rangers were still on the Power Play with Martin sitting in the Penalty Box. It should have still been 4 on 3 for the Rangers. Letang should have known better than to play that puck, thus another "too many men" minor penalty. It would have been maybe 10-12 seconds left in OT, but I've seen games won and lost with much in much less time than that. The faceoff should have been opposite Fleury the Pens goalie after Letang's shot, not next to Hank, and the Rangers should have still had a 4 on 3 advantage.

Had Letang scored on that the goal should/would have been disallowed for the Pens having "too many men" with having even strength 4 on 4 when their player, Martin, was still serving his minor penalty. It didn't end that way but I am concerned if the Ref's would have disallowed a the goal had Letang scored before the OT time had expired.

Now if you followed all of that? I was explaining this to Cindy and when I looked over after watching frame to frame of those calls? She was asleep and I don't know if she heard anything I was saying and I can't blame her. Way too complicated for sure. :-)

[Preds]

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -

After winning three of their last four games, the Nashville Predators are one of the hottest teams in the NHL. They continued that momentum Saturday night at Bridgestone with a 2-1 win over the Winnipeg Jets.

WOO HOO PREDS!!!!!

[dmod nj]

Thanks so much for answering John.

Depending on the camera angle, the hit looked like two different hits....one clean, one not. The Rangers announcers, after seeing all the angles, said it was clean.

I thought it should have been a penalty shot too, but I do understand it is up to the refs.

Thanks for the explanation about the 3 on 2 situation. I did follow it, I think, lol after a few readings, and watching the plays again on youtube.

It was a confusing, crazy game......one like I've never seen before.

My best to Cindy. Continued healing thoughts.

Take care of yourself too.

Preds, So exciting!!!

[dmod nj]

Rangers play the Bolts tonight. Former Captain Cally, Boyle and Stralman come back to MSG for the first time. St. Louis plays his former team. Emotions high for all.

I hope the Garden Faithful cheer them when they get on the ice. After that......cheer like hades for the NY Rangers.

Rangers need to play well for 60 minutes and come away with 2 points.

LET'S GO BLUESHIRTS!!

Good luck to your teams tonight.

[dmod nj]

OMG, what the #$%^&*()_????

They were awful!

Bolts win 5-1.

I am so disgusted with their play tonight.

[hckynut]

On 11/17/2014 dmod nj said:

OMG, what the #$%^&*()_????

They were awful!

Bolts win 5-1.

I am so disgusted with their play tonight.

Hi Donna,

I will make this very short and sweet. Our Rangers played well and they just got beat by a much superior team, on this night. It had more to do with how good the Lightening played and less to do with how badly the Rangers played. That is how I looked at this game.

What part(s) of the Rangers game was it that had you so "disgusted"?

[Preds]

The Nashville Predators turned an early three-goal lead into 9-2 blowout over the Toronto Maple Leafs Tuesday night.

The nine Predator goals ties a franchise record.

So very proud of our boys!!!!!!

OK Donna, time for you and John to have a few discussions with your boys!