Alrighty folks, sound the bell because ITSSSSSSSSSSSSS TIMEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE. People, the most wonderful time of the year is here and no I’m not talking about Christmas. Tuesday night at 7pm we’re going to war with our cross river rivals the New Jersey Devils and it’s going to a be battle for the ages. Before we dive into it though, we gotta hit the music

I want to get one thing out of the way and these are words that very well could bite me in the ass but I don’t think they will. The New Jersey Devils are a fraudulent team that does not scare me at all. You’ve heard me say this in my “Say Hello to the Bad Guy” blog and I’ve been marching to this beat since October. They’re young with a lot of talent, that’s undeniable, but as of right now it’s not their time. Jack Hughes had a career season for sure and I bet there’s more to come, but this is where the buck stops.

The young team aspect of things hurts them pretty bad IMO. Granted, you could’ve said the same about the Cinderella run from last year we got on Broadway, but we’re just built differently. The difference between them and us, and this is a big one, is goaltending. Vanecek is inconsistent and inexperienced. He’s fine sure, but the clear advantage goes to the Rangers in this department. And while you can’t only depend on your goalie as we learned in 2014 and hell even last year, goaltending oftentimes leads to being the difference maker in springtime hockey. His regular season records and stats certainly look great on paper, but all of that goes out the window come Tuesday night. Hence why Devil’s fans’ favorite go-to “We beat you 3/4 this year you stink!” holds no merit.

Speaking of 3/4 this year, all of those games with the exception of 1 were 1 goal games. Couple of different bounces and calls those are W’s for us and not them and we’d be home tomorrow. That didn’t happen and we can’t play what if, life goes on and puck don’t lie. But, I’d be lying if I didn’t say all those 1 goal games (and even the 2 goal loss since that was an open netter to win which might as well just be a 1 goal game) don’t get me jacked up for an all time battle. Anxious, but jacked up. Nothing beats sitting on your hands during playoff hockey, just as long as the puck bounces your way.

Back to Jack Hughes. Jacky boy had a very impressive season with 99 points and I’d be showing my journalistic bias if I didn’t at least say he’s developing the way I wanted my top draft picks to develop (more on them later). He’s playing in his first playoff series as an NHL’er and is definitely going to be putting on a showcase (or at least trying), but maybe just maybe the lights will be too bright. We’ve seen superstars lay eggs under the bright lights of the postseason too many times before, what’s stopping it from happening again? I hate to just rely on that being our saving grace because it’s a cop-out, but whatever. The Devils also picked up his kid brother Luke fresh off an NCAA Championship playing for the QU Bobcats so that storyline will be fun to watch. In all, and I really hate to put this evil out into the world but I demand payback for the Devils ruining the career of one of my favorites of all time Paul Kariya, I need the Trouba Train to make a stop at Hughes station, cleanly of course. That can very well end up being the difference maker in the series if something akin to Crosby last year was to happen.

On top of Hughes, the Devils also have some heavy hitters with the talents of Nico Hischier, Timo Meier, and Dougie Hamilton. While all eyes have been on the prize possession of Hughes, Hischier also had himself a hell of a season with 88 points also filling in his big shoes of a first-overall draft pick. Nico (I’m going to stop trying to spell his last name cause I’ve botched it already too many times) has been around the block and has some playoff experience from the Devil’s last appearance and will more than likely be a pretty big problem for the Rangers lackluster D. Timo Meier has been having a solid season, but since being acquired by the Devils at the deadline I don’t think he’s been the missing puzzle piece they were exactly looking for. Still definitely going to be someone we have to pay attention to, but not nearly as much as the top 2 lines from the Devils. Dougie Hamilton back on D is the spitting image of Adam Fox and is going to give him a run for his money with the Norris. A great 2-way player that needs to be shut down, especially on the PP. I think he has the power to give us the most grief out of everyone I’ve mentioned so far.

Ok, I’m tired of pretending I know about the Devils and skimming through other people’s previews to get facts and stats to point out. Let’s talk about our boys.

Starting with him, #31. I know I’ve had some choice words about Igor in the past and I’m really still not down with the “load management” play style the Rangers let him get by with, but there’s no denying he is among if not the best goalie in the league. We saw him return to form towards the end of the regular season despite dropping the final 2 (meaningless) games of the season. I have full faith that Igor will become the brick wall he was last year once that puck is dropped on Tuesday night. That being said, and I’m sure it will be the case, the load management shit needs to stop now. I need Igor to play every single game, not to take anything away from Halak cause he’s certainly earned my trust, but we need our number 1 every night.

Speaking of heating up at the right time, we got 2 of our guys ready to go. Both Mika and Bread had fantastic seasons finishing things up with 90+ points and I have no reason to believe they’re stopping any time soon. Granted, both of these gentlemen have been notably absent from postseasons before (going back to what I’m hoping we see with Hughes) but I definitely think they’ve learned from their mistakes. Last year we saw both of them deliver when we needed them most but now we need them firing on all cylinders from the start. There are talking heads calling Bread a fraud saying that he’ll never get his roses until he’s the anchor of a deep run and to that I say why not this year? The one thing I do want to say is that Bread needs to stop passing and start shooting and once that clicks so will the offense. Lead by example and be the catalyst we need Bread, we know you can.

You want to talk about clicking? Let’s talk about the kids. This is going to be a big-time prove-it series for Kakko. A huge talking point going into this, at least one I see Devil fans throwing in our faces on Twitter, is that Hughes > Kakko. Yeah no shit, that’s why you took him first and not Kakko. That being said, we’ve always kind of lied to ourselves justifying him as a top pick, and now is the time to put the money where the mouth is. I’ve personally always been a fan of his, I think he’s tough, but I’d be lying if I said I wouldn’t want to see him take the next step toward being elite. Chyitl is ready to go after a great season and I have no reason to believe we won’t see a repeat of last year’s playoff play of his. The same goes for Laf. Again, people love to give shit to Laf especially our own fanbase saying he’s not playing to what he should be as a first overall. Listen, Laf was never advertised as a generational talent like Mcdavid or Bedard, at least not to me. A solid player who dominated the QMJHL while playing there sure, but not one who looked like a man among boys like the two names I mentioned. His development got all messed with during the covid years but I think he’s coming along just fine. Would we love to see more production? Sure, but there’s no denying he’s in the shit night after night. He fights hard for the puck and isn’t afraid to get scrappy when the bell calls for it. I think the Kids can be an exciting difference-maker throughout the series with all the momentum they’ve garnered going into the playoffs.

Let’s talk about our prized deadline acquisitions, starting with Big Daddy Vlad. Vlad T has been nothing but a delight to have on Broadway ever since he got here. In the 22 games he’s played for us, he put up 5 goals, 9 assists, and ended the regular season at a +4. He’s been producing and it’s all we can ask for leading me to believe he’s hungry and ready to go. I know his future in NY is up in the air and I really hope he’s willing to resign because we’re a better team with him on the ice. He knows the playoffs after winning his cup in St Louis so I have no reason to believe he won’t rise to the occasion and give us what we need.

Now the other trophy that we hoped and prayed for and in the end, got. Patrick Kane. I would be lying if I said Patrick Kane has been everything we wanted, we all had the same vision for him. But, this is Patrick Fucking Kane we’re talking about here. You know my feelings that I wrote in my welcome blog, he is the greatest American-Born hockey player to ever lace them up, he is showtime. The media needs to cut the shit with the assumption he’s not going to perform. I don’t want to get ahead of myself here, but again this is a dude that’s been around the block and knows how to do the dance. He knows what it takes and what he has to do when he needs to do it. I think he is the reason we get over the hump in June and that is the exact reason why we brought him here.

The one thing that is worrying me going into this series is our defense. Its no secret that this has been our number one issue all season long, but we’re healthy now with the full 6 that we’re looking for. We got the war hero Lindgren ready to take some shots to the face just to shake it off and take the next shift. We got Adam Fox being a two-way mastermind quarterbacking one of the scariest PPs in the league. We got Miller ready to go like the young stud he is. And we got the big man Mikola doing what he does best. I don’t want to poo poo our D, I’m just going to hope and pray they show up ready to go knowing what’s on the line. I think the sneaky guy we gotta watch for here is going to be Ben Harpur. Ben Harpur is a gritty D-Man that I think is going to be a big-time difference maker, that unsung, gritty hero of the playoffs that’s always around.

I hate to beat a dead horse here, but I’ll say it one more time. I am not scared of the New Jersey Devils and they are a fraudulent franchise. That being said, while fraudulent, they are talented. And we can never have nice things, like ever. So I think that leads us to the only logical conclusion here, Rangers in 7, hit the music.