Garnet: January's birthstone. Also a RW on Calgary.

The Rangers lost an ugly one Sunday night, losing to the Calgary Flames and their backup goalie. Though not for lack of effort (or shot attempts), the Rangers couldn’t figure out David Rittich or how to contain Garnet Hathaway, who scored his sixth and seventh NHL goals against Henrik Lundqvist tonight. Worth noting: Hathaway is not a rookie, nor is he a defenseman.Since this game mostly just stunk, here’s some bullets:

  • Arguably the most important part of the whole broadcast was when we found out that David Quinn takes Brett Howden and Filip Chytil for breakfast on game days. Is there anything more pure in this world?
  • Expanding on the Breakfast Club, do you think they go to a diner to get an array of food or are they more of an IHOP crew?
  • The first goal was a goal you can’t get too angry about, and that was really the only one like that. Monahan stole the puck from Brendan Smith, and got the puck to Johnny Gaudreau for a half spin-o-rama slap in to the net. There are some goals that don’t upset you, for me, this was one.
  • The number one goal that didn’t upset me was Vladimir Tarasenko undressing Dylan McIlrath in 2014. Fun fact: McIlrath was on the PK with Tanner Glass, Rick Nash, and Michael Kostka. Ew.
  • Getting back to tonight’s game.. the Rangers had a ton of opportunities throughout the game, but especially in the second period before the Flames scored their second goal. That goal took all the air out of the building.
  • The second goal had shades of seasons past written all over it. Marc Staal’s inability to clear the zone was the main contributor to the Flames doubling their lead. That being said, Staal did not have the most ice time – that was left for Neal Pionk, who seems to be growing more and more each game.
  • Quinn is certainly still finding his way around this team, and that’s part of a rebuild with a new coach. Looking at his player utilization from tonight, I feel fairly optimistic. People are irked about Cody McLeod’s existence, but he only played 8:31. Adam McQuaid was only out there for 15:44.
  • Stastically speaking, the Rangers dominated this game. They had 28 high danger scoring chances vs. Calgary’s 10. They took 43 shots on goal compared to Calgary’s 24. It’s frustrating, but when it comes down to it, this is a situation where you need to accept a crap loss and move on to the next game.

I understand that we expect to have a good Rangers team each year, but particularly with a new coach and a bunch of kids, you really need to let the team work it out. The Rangers will have the chance to bounce back on Tuesday night at 7pm when an underperforming Florida Panthers team comes to the Garden.

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