After a long weekend for the New York Rangers I wanted to
start the regular week off on a positive note so instead of focusing on Gabby
and his struggles I looked at what I saw as the highlight of the weekend; the
emergence of Derek
Stepan and Mats Zuccarello as a pair.
These two Rangers rookies have both shown great skill, poise and
maturity in their short NHL careers, but they took it to another level this
weekend when in both games they combined to lead the team charges back after
subpar efforts early in both games. The
Rangers and their fans had high hopes for both of these young players when they
signed their respective contracts this past summer, but I do not think anyone
honestly envisioned either or both of them being this integral to the Rangers
as they are right now this soon. In the
article I took a look at what makes them special individual and apparently as a
pair, along with what it means for the Rangers this season and in the future.
In team news that is certainly not officially Vinny
Prospal spoke at an event for season ticket holders about his future and to
say he was not optimistic would be an understatement. I took a look at the reports out of the event
and whether the Rangers have already accounted for Prospal’s feelings with
their moves.
With all the “controversy” that surrounded Sean
Avery breaking the code and fighting Carle last night it was lost for the
most part that Hartnell
and Briere punched Brandon Prust from the bench towards the end of the game
Sunday night. The idea was that this
move was a combination of Prust hitting Timmonen too hard and payback for Avery
taking liberties on Carle. Watch the video and see what happened, but the most
comical part of the whole scenario was Flyers fans talking about Prust was
afraid to fight Richards on the play. In
the end only Briere was fined a whopping one thousand dollars just like what
Dubinsky got for the Oilers incident where he got involved from the bench.
Finally there is video
from the Rangers pregame of Mats Zuccarello playing goal against Martin
Biron’s son Jacob. It is hilarious not
only to see Zuke play goal at his hobbit size, but the reaction of Jacob after
is the best part.
