I was going to do a goal breakdown for this game. I actually DVR’d the right channel this time around. I didn’t get home until the beginning of the third period, so I caught that, the overtime, and the shootout. And honestly, a goal breakdown won’t do this game justice. The 25 minutes of actual hockey I watched were entertaining, then the shootout made me headdesk a lot. Let’s get to bullet points, because my brain is about to explode:

  • First things first: The Rangers never even should have got to the shootout. Henrik Lundqvist was unreal, making 36 saves before the shootout.
  • The Dan Boyle non-shootout goal was the right call. Yes, it sucked, but it was the right call. The puck hit the post, that was the end of the attempt. The puck wound up going off the post, off Boyle’s stick, then back in the net. It is what it is. Toronto actually had to call the arena and get the teams back on the ice. The refs missed it. Somewhere, Brett Hull is laughing hysterically.
  • I think the Rangers invented a new way to lose with that one. I honestly thought I’d seen it all.

  • Once the teams were called back on the ice, you knew the game wouldn’t last much longer. Then Brandon Sutter scored right away and Rick Nash was stoned by Marc-Andre Fleury. The Rangers went from getting two points in a game they didn’t even deserve one point, to settling for that one Bettman point.
  • Don’t see how you can say Fleury didn’t throw his stick on this one. But, like everything else in this game, the refs missed it.
  • The Evgeni Malkin hit on Dan Girardi was clean. Malkin is a truck, and it looked like Girardi’s head hit off the ice. That was as clean as they come.
  • Also: Not a penalty shot. Chris Kreider didn’t have a clear step.
  • Also, Girardi is a cyborg. There. I said it.
  • But this is a penalty. Sidney Crosby basically swan dived on Hank, but no call. Sigh.
  • That powerplay in overtime was atrocious. Derek Stepan really hesitates too much on the off-wing. It hurts them too much.
  • Tanner Glass and Jesper Fast didn’t touch the ice with eight minutes left in regulation. Lee Stempniak, Kevin Hayes, and John Moore didn’t get a shift in overtime. Just worth noting.

They got a point and have points in seven of their last nine. Yea, this one was a bit weird. But you take the point.

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