Wednesday Night Recap and Miscellany

Predators 2, Rangers 1

•  I trekked into the city last night to take in the game.  Why?  Because I'm a hockey fan and that's what we do...a little (or a lotta) snow wasn't gonna stop me.  Since the place was empty, I took a seat in section 102 instead of my usual perch in 403.
• The one thing about this that made an impression on me is that you can really appreciate how fast the game is when you're that close.  Otherwise I prefer my usual seat because I get to see the play develop a bit more.
• I thought the Rangers put forth a solid effort at both ends of the ice.  There were obviously some bumps in the road, but overall I thought they played well enough to win.
• As has been the norm of late, they couldn't finish on some top notch chances and let a bad penalty do them in.  The hooking call on Del Zotto was brutal, and the unsportsmanlike conduct add on was just adding insult to injury in my eyes.
• In an interesting twist, Tortorella dressed 7 D-men with Corey Potter up from Hartford.  Andrew Gross had reported that the Rangers had a blueliner who they thought might not have been able to play last night.  Judging on ice time and today's report from practice, my guess is that Marc Staal may be fighting the flu.  His 18:31 of ice time was one of his lowest totals of the season, with all of the other lows coming in blowouts.
• Potter looked decent, but seemed to have a tendency to hold onto the puck too long or attempt skating it out through non-existent holes.
• Henrik Lundvist was sharp again and was certainly deserving of the 3rd star honors he received.
• Chris Drury REALLY wants to win.  I could see it in his extra effort during the waning minutes of the third period.  This makes me wonder why the effort isn't consistent from him...
• The Rangers gave the reported 13,000 or so fans who weathered the snow 25% off all concessions last night.  Even though I didn't take advantage of this, it was a surprise to me and was appreciated.  I guess it's just odd to me that MSG is showing that they appreciate the fans.

Other News and Notes from the Rangers and around the NHL

• TSN's Bob McKenzie is reporting that the Rangers have placed Donald Brashear on waivers.  He'll clear waivers and I think that 2 things are possible:
• He'll report to Hartford and the Rangers will put him on re-entry waivers in hopes that a team will pick him up for half price (or what many would argue is market price).  This way, the Rangers are only on the hook for $700k of Brashear's contract next season.
• OR, they'll work out a situation where Brashear will play in the KHL on some sort of transfer agreement.  There were rumblings earlier in the season that he had considered playing in Russia, and his Russian teammates confirmed that he had CDs to teach himself Russian.
• The Washington Capitals finally lost a game last night when the Canadiens beat the 6-5 in OT.  They had won 14 straight, just 3 shy of the NHL record 17-game winning streak by the 1992-93 Penguins.  The last time the Caps lost in regulation was January 12th, when they fell 7-4 to the Tampa Bay Lightning.  Alex Ovechkin has had 15 goals and 17 assists, good for 32 points over that time.  TO illustrate how ridiculous that is, the Edmonton Oilers only scored 23 goals as a team over the same time frame.
• Random officiating tidbit from NHL.com:  Linseman Mike Galloway worked at MSG last night for the first time in his eight-year career.  Special because Galloway has now worked in every NHL arena, and 2 arenas that aren't in the league anymore.
• NBC is blowing hockey coverage...again.  You think it's a no brainer for them to broadcast the USA-Canada mens hockey game in the upcoming Vancouver Olympics.  Not only because it's a game with major implications, but because it would help promote hockey...you know, the sport that they have the national broadcast contract for.  Well, you're WRONG!  The game will not be broadcast live on NBC because there is a VERY important event on at the same time...ice dancing.  Not pairs skating, the one that SOME people care about...no, ice dancing, the one that approximately 38 people care about (there are 19 couples in the competition...thanks Wikipedia!).
• Today is the current Madison Square Garden's 42nd birthday.