Last night the New York Rangers started their 3-game stint in Western Canada and faced off against the Vancouver Canucks in what was quite the high-scoring affair. Let’s just get this out of the way now, West Coast time stinks. This might be me just thinking I’m the center of the universe but the world should operate on Eastern Standard Time. Time zones are a crock of shit but that’s another blog for another time. If you can’t tell by my anger I didn’t watch the whole game cause fuck West Coast games I gotta sleep, but I told myself that I’d watch at least the first period and a half, and I’m glad I did.

Out of the gate we were moving and shaking with the ‘Nucks striking first about 5 minutes into the period. If you saw the game the Canucks and Rangers played a few weeks back you were like me and not surprised. The Canucks are a hungry team that had some bad luck earlier in the season but now with Tocchet behind the bench and not on TNT I have a feeling that this team is getting some life. They played fast and hard at MSG a few weeks back, and they played fast and hard last night on home ice.

Everyone’s favorite Swedish DJ quickly answered back getting the boys from Broadway on the board and we had a hockey game. The Rangers have now won 6 in a row and have outscored their opponents 31-17 having played against some solid teams like Vegas and Carolina. This offense is not only clicking but firing on all cylinders, and adding Vladdy T only dumped a gallon of gasoline on the fire. Vlad was held to only one point last night but that’s perfectly fine by me. His best friend and NY’s favorite baker had 2 goals and an assist almost getting his second hat trick in a row. If Vlad is gonna produce quietly but be a driving force in the lineup while Bread just DOMINATES opponents I’m perfectly fine with that. We’ve seen the best of Bread we’ve seen the worst of bread but its undeniable that a beast has awoken here. Now we just need Patty Kane to complete the puzzle.

With the good comes the bad and there was plenty of that last night. I know we’re all still getting acquainted here, but one thing you’ll learn about me is I’m hard on my goaltenders. I hold them to the standard they should be held at, I did it with Hank I do it with Igor and I probably would’ve done it to Richter too if I wasn’t 8 when he retired. Everyone loves Igor but the fact of the matter is he has inconsistencies that everyone looks past and they’re just starting to see now. I’ve since calmed down a bit after what he did for us in the playoffs last year but in the back of my mind, I know what’s still there (I also love that people are starting to see it now too and I’m no longer the crazy guy). He let in some softies last night but some of them weren’t his fault. The first goal he was getting bombarded with sticks in the crease with a no-call and then on JT Miller’s tying goal got his stick caught in Captain Trouba’s skate and let that one get by him. GG also had some questionable calls behind the bench but unlike the rest of this fandom, I honestly have no problem with him.

West Coast trips always scare me because I feel as if with all the travel the team never plays up to snuff. And it makes sense, traveling is draining as hell. I will be honest, I have no idea how tomorrow night against the Oilers will go. Edmonton has some scary forwards, I’m not going to say team because until they find a goaltender they will always just be Leo and Mcdavid just being incredible with nothing else to show for it. That being said that, this is the one game that scares me and as I look into the crystal ball I see an OT loss, but we’ll talk about that over the weekend with hopefully 2 points in the back pocket.