Destiny's Road, Inlaid With flecks of Gold
Never Runs The Course You'd Been Told.
A path by all math, unseen
Amidst nature's wild green:
It's Only Tracks Are The Boots of the Bold


by Rich Baiocco




If this wasn't clear before, it's crystal clear now: nothing will be gifted to you in the NHL come playoff time. Buffalo pulls out a win against Tampa Bay to leapfrog into 7th place. Montreal beats the playoff hungry Blackhawks to clinch a seed. Carolina shuts out the Red Wings--a team poised to overtake San Jose for 2nd overall in the West. Amidst arguably the most emotional comeback win of the season Monday night Ryan Callahan suffers a season-ending broken ankle. Versus pundits and pud-heads like Mike Milbury and Keith Jones already pinned the Rangers as first-round losers if they got to the playoffs with Callahan healthy or not. Every Ranger analyst with access to a microphone is flashfire-quick to announce the Blueshirts are in the same predicament as they were last year: down-to-the-wire, counting their lucky stars to get into the post-season and ultimately coming up one shootout goal short.

Well guess what Brigade? There are no gifts. There is no magic, easy route to Glory. Buffalo, Montreal and Carolina want a shot at it as bad as any Ranger does. Ryan Callahan broke his ankle and it's unfortunate as ever and terrible timing but we are not the only team to deal with injuries. Look at Pittsburgh. Mike Milbury and Keith Jones and any one else that thinks this team will fold doesn't know shit about us. We've built an entire season on resolve and resiliency and we've dealt with injured stars ALL YEAR. The beauty of this Ranger team is that we don't have one guy carrying the load--we're a team and a family and we pick each other up. We signed up for 82 games and we're going to compete in each and every one of them and earn our way in.

And in case anyone is having trouble differentiating games 81 and 82 this year from games 81 and 82 last year let me jog your memory. We were in MUST win situations in back to back games against the Flyers, on the outside looking in and looking around us for help from other teams. This year we control our own destiny. It may come down to the last game, it may come down to a shootout, but we are not the same team as we were last year--the coaching staff believe this and true fans believe this and most importantly the players believe this. We need to execute.

And nobody's saying it will be easy. Tension mounted in practice when Sean Avery crashed the net on Michael Sauer and some punches were thrown. Analysts have criticized the move to convert Matt Gilroy to forward, despite his obvious offensive-minded talents, skating ability and rover-like positioning he demonstrates while playing 'Defense'. Post reporter Larry Brooks even went so far as to question the shot-blocking philosophy of the Rangers against the mounting evidence of excessive man-game injuries, stating blocked shots don't equate success. Statistically he may have a point, though hypothetical and out of context, but in reality the key to the Rangers' success has been having the puck and hounding after it until we get it again. We've all witnessed the games--few and far between--when the Blueshirts have been on a bubble watching the other team, unable to dig their spurs into the contest. It happened in Buffalo. It happened on Long Island. Blocking shots and throwing the body engage the players mentally and physically, summoning the intensity it takes us to win. We don't overpower teams with offense and we're not the biggest team out there. Our aggressive Defense (and I mean Defense with a capital D, as in Defending) has cost us players in the short term yet forged who we are as a team. Lundqvist leads the league in Shutouts and the Rangers block more shots than almost any team in the NHL. What do you expect the guys to do? Back off? Not this year. To quote Brooks--and I do agree with him here--The Rangers "are all in."

So Big Game Tonight! Gotta Earn It! Lets Go Rangers!