It was apparent to anyone who watched this game that the Rangers either don't care or or are just plain lazy. Or, conceivably, they really are trying to get their coach fired.
I mentioned to a couple people that I'd rather watch a team with heart battle for every puck on every shift than watch a more talented team that isn't playing hard. I watched a few Rangers games at the strat of the season and that team was wildly different than the team I watched tonight.
They don't battle for loose pucks. They don't take the hit to make the play. They just got out-gritted by the Blues tonight. If I was a Rangers' fan, I'd be quite frustrated with this group.
- Nikolai Zherdev played much like he did in his days with Columbus; he clearly has the talent to take games over, he just doesn't show that talent as much as you'd hope.
- Scott Gomez and Chris Drury were basically invisible tonight, which is not good considering their combined $15 million paychecks this year. That has got to make Ranger fans want to vomit.
- For his part, Henrik Lundqvist looked really good, but there were giant chunks of game time where he was fighting off chances seemingly by himself.
In the end, whether it's sabotage by the players or not, the Rangers need to fire their coach and sooner would be better than later. They simply shouldn't play this poorly considering the talent they have at their disposal. And that is a coaching issue. If he can't motivate them, find someone who can.
Here are your post-game interviews with Chris Mason and BJ Crombeen. And if you're waiting for me to make a joke about the fact that Mason's shaved head and beard makes him look like a penis and that the other guy getting interviewed is named BJ, well, maybe this time I just won't do it.
Now, on to the fellatio: