2016-17 NHL season running thread

Everybody has it out for the Rangers


Caps, by the way, are honoring Holtby for his Vezina last season. And they're not planning to have him play vs. Colorado

 

I know! Why is that?

Not really related, but was just thinking about this. ... Ms. Ragu really loves her Rangers. We are spending so much time in Philadelphia, because of her work. We actually have a place there. Last season, I got tickets for an early season Rangers-Flyers game in Philly. Before the game, I warned her that Philly fans can be a little rough. I told her to be aware of her surroundings. I put us in decent seats, figuring that we'd be safer rooting for the enemy there than we would be in the cheap seats (are there cheap seats anymore?). But I had her so worried about us getting beat up for rooting against the home team and that our corpses would be drowned in the Schuylkill River, that she was a little anxious. She didn't know whether I was joking around or if they are animals. I was telling her stories of Philly fans pelting Santa Claus with snowballs, etc.

We got to the game and we found our seats, and there were a lot of Rangers fans -- maybe 30 to 40 percent of the arena. She relaxed. Then, two dweebie guys from NY in their Rangers jerseys came and sat down next to us. They looked harmless. Certainly no different than thousands of other of people filling the arena. But like clockwork, two security guards came right over, and said something like, "Look, we have trouble every time these two teams meet. We don't want any fights tonight. Don't egg anyone on. We have our eyes on you."

It was funny for two reasons. 1) Out of the Rangers fans coming in, those two guys did NOT look like the two who would be starting a brawl. They looked like accountants. And 2) The look on Ms. Ragu's face.

Nothing happened in the stands during the game that I could see. It was actually really tame.

But yeah, everyone has it out for the Rangers. Even the guys working security. It's not right!

 

I watched a bit of the Devils game last night against Anaheim. Taylor Hall had a really good game. He got his first two goals as a Devil. The second one was a beautiful tip on a high shot from the point on the power play. There is something about him that bothers me personally, and I can't put my finger on it, but that trade looked good, last night at least. He earns quite a bit, but he is going to have to carry that team if they do anything this season. He's a really good player.

 

I'm so old I remember when the Oilers didn't suck.