GAME OF THE NIGHT: New York Rangers at Washington Capitals, Friday, April 24, 2009 7pm ET

A Caps fan just dumped his beer on Torts. He was ejected.

The fan, I mean.

Was it an obvious non-accident?

A metaphor for tonight's putrid offering by the Blue Man Group.

Now the idiotic $hit like knee on knee and 'sending a message'...by both teams.

Setting the stage for a Broadway show, Sunday in New York.

I remember, somewhat wistfully, Sundays in New York...

Rangers stunk.

Ovie was excellent...and so was Comrade Varlamov.

Mr Theodore may be playing in Russia next year?

davetherave wrote:Rangers stunk.

Ovie was excellent...and so was Comrade Varlamov.

Mr Theodore may be playing in Russia next year?

You think they'd buy him out?

504Heater wrote:

davetherave wrote:Rangers stunk.

Ovie was excellent...and so was Comrade Varlamov.

Mr Theodore may be playing in Russia next year?

You think they'd buy him out?

No...just ship him in a FedEx box.

Well, I called that wrong. I think it was a mistake for Torts to scratch Avery. I bet he's back in the line-up next game.

shabbs wrote:Well, I called that wrong. I think it was a mistake for Torts to scratch Avery. I bet he's back in the line-up next game.

I think players can be a little superstitious -- not the best word, but you get the drift. They hear all the stats about how the team has a significantly better winning percentage with Sean in the lineup and somehow it affects their play when he's not in. Possibly in a similar way that Redden's presence affected the Sens.

On a more tangible level, with Avery in the lineup the other team's attention does shift. Maybe not in a hugely significant way, but there is a little less "we have to win" because some of that energy and focus is taken up by "I've got to keep an eye on what that clown's next act is going to be".

Torts is too smart a coach to just yank him out of the lineup when they are winning. However as a good coach he would have taken him aside and had a chat. For him to lower the boom like that I can only think that Avery's replies were not showing Torts the right attitude. I wouldn't put it past Avery to say "Screw you, old man, I do what I do and the team wins".

If that is really the case (and let's keep in mind that I'm speculating my Donkey off) then this may be very bad news for the Rags. Game 6 is hugely important for both teams, obviously. The Caps have come back from 1-3 to force a game 7, so they know they can do it. Except now game 7 would be on home ice.

For the Rangers, if Avery is back in then Torts will look like he's admitting a mistake. He's not going to do that. But if he's still out then the rest of the team may think they can't win.

Wow, glad I'm not Tortorella, but that's what the big bucks and attitude are for. Good luck Johnny.

davetherave wrote:Rangers stunk.

And most frighteningly for Torts, Lundqivst showed some chinks in his armour.

Lundqvist has made Torts look a lot better then he acually is. The Rangers have been outplayer in every game thus far. If Lundqvist cant shutdown that entire team, the Rangers are done.

Caps have to win 2 in a row, and now with soid goaltening it seems and Lundqvist looking human and tired, The Rangers are in real tough.

Of course, we thought that was the case when the series was 2-1, and then the Rags went on to win the next game.

Game 6'll be in New York, no?

Yup, and the Caps have already taken one there. Zherdev is showing he is exactly what I have said he is, Gomez is playing like he doesnt give a damn, Rangers entire core of D is awful aside from Staal who is 22, and Ludqvist looks tired.

The Caps will take this series IMO, you can only hold that team off the score sheet for so long.

Neely4Life wrote:Yup, and the Caps have already taken one there. Zherdev is showing he is exactly what I have said he is, Gomez is playing like he doesnt give a damn, Rangers entire core of D is awful aside from Staal who is 22, and Ludqvist looks tired.

The Caps will take this series IMO, you can only hold that team off the score sheet for so long.

We'll see soon enough.

This is what the drama of hockey is all about.

PS N4L...Henny wasn't tired...just tired of getting scored on while the rest of them were picking their noses LOL.

Except for Staal, Girardi, Callahan and Betts BTW.

Avery is in because they need his nasty a$$ shakin' it.

Rock And Roll at the Garden on Sunday!

:##:

torts may not be able to be at the game NY he may be gettign suspension after he threw a water bottle and hit a woman

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=276432

John Tortorella has been preaching discipline to his players but he didn't exactly lead by example on Friday night.
The New York Rangers head coach could be facing a possible
suspension from the National Hockey League for his actions in Game 5's
loss to the Washington Capitals.
With 13 minutes 27 seconds remaining in the game, Tortorella was
involved in a confrontation with a fan which led him to throw a plastic
drinking bottle into the stands, which according to the Washington
Post, struck a female fan in the head.
"He was losing and he was frustrated, I guess," said Claudette
Chandonia to the Post, the women he allegedly hit with the bottle. "I
couldn't believe it. I looked up, and he was throwing the water bottle
-- and then it hit me right here, right in the head, and it bounced off
me."
Following the incident, Tortorella grabbed a hockey stick and made
gestures that he was going to head into the stands until assistant
coach Jim Schoenfeld calmed him down.
League commissioner Gary Bettman and the National Hockey League are
gathering the facts of exactly what happened between Tortorella and the
fan(s) at the Verizon Center before making a ruling on whether the
action requires supplementary discipline.
The three options would appear to be suspending him, fining him, or
doing nothing. But with apparent video footage of the incident, it is
highly unlikely that the league would do the latter.

Holy $HIT.

i remeber seeing him flip out last night but i never noticed him hitting anyone withthe water bottle

Hockeyhero22000 wrote:i remeber seeing him flip out last night but i never noticed him hitting anyone withthe water bottle

The camera coverage of the incident wasn't clear at all...