It's the day after one of the worst hockey games I've ever been to. The only game that could possibly eclipse that one would be the 5-0 loss the Rangers suffered at the hands of the New Jersey Devils in November. Uggh, that was a stinker. But anyway, I'm going to write this road journal up as if it were a game story. So here...
Fans at Madison Square Garden chanted "Fire Layden," and it worked. Knicks GM Scott Layden was replaced by Isiah Thomas. Then, when head coach Don Chaney fell out of favor with Knick fans, they chanted, "Fire Chaney." And that worked too, with Chaney being succeeded by Hall of Famer Lenny Wilkens. But it remains to be seen if the fans will be successful this time, as chants of "Fire Sather" could be heard in the late stages of a Rangers 4-1 loss to Boston on Tuesday night. Rangers GM and Head Coach Glen Sather has come under fire lately for his inability to bring a winner back to Madison Square Garden, but the Rangers performance last night showed that it might not entirely be his fault. The Rangers could only muster one goal against Calder Trophy candidate Andrew Raycroft and the team just didn't play well in front of Mike Dunham, who allowed all four Bruins goals in the second and third periods after stopping all 15 shots he faced in the first. Carl Corazzini scored his first NHL goal on a two on 0 with Ted Donato after Rangers rookie defenseman Lawrence Nycholat fell down trying to control the puck at the point. Corazzini would later add a second goal, with teammates Jiri Slegr and Brian Rolston joining him on the scoresheet. The lone Ranger goal was scored by Brian Leetch, a powerplay goal early in the third period that closed the gap to 2-1.
The teams were wearing vintage jerseys from the 1970's as part of a program the league is testing this year. Several celebrities from that era were in attendance, including Garrett Morris from SNL, three of the Village People and Ranger legends Dave Maloney and Ron Duguay.
Nycholat finished his first NHL game with no points and a -2 rating...This was the third time this season that Andrew Raycroft played in back to back games...Doug Doull was suspended one game after his hit on Petr Nedved in yesterday's game...Darius Kasparaitis will be out 10-12 weeks following a knee-on-knee collision with Dan McGillis in the same game.
Ok, so there you go. As for my personal experiences at the game...I got there around 4PM to get my ticket, anticipating that the game would quickly sellout, which it eventually did. I also bought my ticket to see Chris Rock on the 31st, so that should be a pretty fun night as well. I met a few people before the game, including Boris Mironov, Joel Bouchard, Stan Fischler and Glen Sather. I didn't get Fischler to sign anything, because well...it's Stan Fischler. But I did get everyone else to sign something for me. But anyway, as far as the game goes, I managed to sit in the lower section the entire time and had a pretty good view of things as long as those damn club waiters didn't stand right in front of you for no apparent reason. The Barnaby and Boynton fight took place right in front of where I was sitting, so I was able to get a few good shots and some video of that. Hopefully the next time I see the Rangers play, Mike Dunham won't be in net and they might actually win...but those two things might go hand-in-hand.