Can the Rangers win against the Stars and turn the page on this dark chapter?
No, it won't be a miracle; more like a revival. That's what tonight's clash with the Dallas Stars amounts to for the Beloved Blueshirts – if they somehow can win.
Capturing a second straight W would be a novelty the Blueshirts haven't tried for a while. Why not tonight?
My buddy Sean McCaffrey, who publishes Blue Collar Blueshirts. has one answer: "This team is a paper tiger." (He even said the same thing when they were winning big.)
Fair enough. Others also believe that winning two straight for these characters will be roughly equivalent to climbing the Empire State Building backwards – from the outside.
But not so fast. Adam Fox's fireside chat offers a smidgen of hope. "At some point, it must turn around," declares the once upon a time Norris Trophy-winner.
C'mon, already, it's about time that New York's second straight victory be over an elite team and not just the recent one over the Bozo Blackhawks.
Jonathan Quick figures to man New York's nets and Zac Jones figures not to be on defense because there are few doghouses bigger than the one in which Peter Laviolette has maintained for this promising blueliner.
"The best thing that could happen to Jones," says The Old Scout,. "is for him to be traded as far away from Lavvy as possible."
The best thing that could happen to Alexis Lafreniere is to take at least half a dozen wake-up cold showers so that he realizes why Chris Drury gifted him with a fat contract. TO PLAY – that's why.
For Lafreniere it means no more imitations of either "The Skater's Waltz" or "My Ten Days In A Quandary – And How They Grew."
If Big Al needs a couple of role models he should try Will Cuylle, who can't find enough walls to go through and Brett (Catch Me If You Can) Berard.
Notice, The Maven has yet to mention the illustrious, fatigable Mika (Don't Get Me Mad) Zibanejad. I wanted to keep the best surprise for last:
My prediction – it's as far as I can go – is that Magical (Only In Season) Mika won't have a bad game. (How's that for caution!)
Time to return to the most serious Ranger, Adjunct Professor Fox who audaciously insists, "We can play hockey."
C'mon, Foxy; don't tell us what we already know. How about WINNING hockeyI
(Shhhh, Foxy; keep this between us two fellas; win tonight and the gala revival will be on, at long last.)
