Bantering Points November 28: Thanksgiving Showdown Edition
The links leading up to this afternoon's battle between the New York Rangers and Philadelphia Flyers for the last turkey leg. McD is back. Glass has the flu. Hunwick>Moore. Talbot gets the nod.
I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I don't want to dig up too many bad memories from the brief trip south, but last time we saw each other... [Blueshirt Banter Game Recap] [Blueshirt Banter Game Notes]
Martin St. Louis got some boos, but he also got a classy video tribute and round of applause from his former fans. [Puck Daddy] [NY Post]
Forgotten in the Marty storyline was the fact that Dan Boyle also played in Tampa from 2001-2008, also winning a cup with the team. Boyle is just happy to be contributing to his new team now. And I expect his contributions to grow, hopefully soaking up some of the TOI that has been given to struggling lumberers Marc Staal and Dan Girardi. [Newsday]
Pat LaFontaine represented the Rangers on the NHL's Macy's Day Parade float. I don't know. [Too Many Men on the Site]
The NHL Thanksgiving Showdown features an old rivalry for NBC's crew to chatter about. I am sure there will be plenty of Thanksgiving, or rather post-Thanksgiving (Black Friday ugh), fanfare to go along with the presentation of the game. But really, this one is more about the start of a back-to-back home-and-home for two teams desperately seeking consistency and points. I expect a "warm" Philadelphia atmosphere at today's game. Maybe the hardcore fans were dragged out to do Christmas shopping. Game Preview Links: [Broad Street Hockey] [NHL.com] [NHL Weekes Blog] [Courier-Post] [Blue Line Station] [CBS Sports]
Consistency. Tossed around and discussed a lot these days. The fact that "not even Vigneault can identify the Rangers' consistency issues" is troubling, to say the least. [NY Post]
Doc Emrick, who will do today's game, has some thoughts on the consistency problem. [NY Post]
The return of captain Ryan McDonagh should be a massive boost for this team's defensive woes, which are at the core of their problems. The elite puck mover and playmaker will help in all three zones. But expect some rust as he builds up his TOI. All the same, this is our full lineup. No more excuses. [Newsday] [North Jersey] [NY Post]
Is Henrik Lundqvist beginning to find himself? I don't think he ever really lost himself, but this article discusses his play of late, which has been excellent. 7-3-3 with a .933 Sv% since October 16th. [Blue Line Station]
The Rangers can be thankful for two games against a middling opponent with similar or worse defensive woes than their own. [NY Daily News]
Projected lineups:
Cam Talbot gets the start for the first of the back-to-back. Hank gets to enjoy his turkey sandwich leftovers. McD is back and John Moore is the first to take a seat for him. This may come as a surprise to some, but Matt Hunwick has been the better player of the two.
Lee Stempniak is back from his healthy scratch because Tanner Glass is out with the flu. Yep, only injury or illness will remove him from the damn lineup. Therefore, by default, this is the best lineup the Rangers have iced all season.
Enjoy the game!
RANGERS
Chris Kreider - Derek Stepan - Martin St. Louis
Rick Nash - Derick Brassard - Mats Zuccarello
Carl Hagelin - Kevin Hayes - Anthony Duclair
Lee Stempniak- Dominic Moore - Jesper Fast
Scratched: John Moore
Injured: Tanner Glass (flu)
FLYERS
Brayden Schenn - Claude Giroux - Jakub Voracek
Michael Raffl - Scott Laughton - Wayne Simmonds
Matt Read - Sean Couturier - R.J. Umberger
Zac Rinaldo - Pierre-Edouard Bellemare - Vincent Lecavalier
Nicklas Grossmann - Mark Streit
Nick Schultz - Michael Del Zotto
Andrew MacDonald - Braydon Coburn
Scratched: Jason Akeson, Carlo Colaiacovo, Luke Schenn
Injured: Kimmo Timonen (blood clots), Chris VandeVelde (upper body)
Your Tanner Glass Moment of Zen
Tanner Glass is the only Penguin from 12-14 to play at least 100:00 with Sidney Crosby and have a GF% <50% in those minutes (2 GF, 3 GA).
— Tanner Glass Facts (@T_Glass_Facts) November 28, 2014 We like to jazz things up here at Blueshirt Banter. What should we name the Morning Notes? From the mundane to the ridiculous, my favorite suggestions are included below:
| Morning Notes | 4 |
| Bantering Points | 15 |
| Morning Cup of Corsi | 16 |
| Mercadante's Inferno | 3 |
| N.M. in the A.M. | 1 |
| Blue Prints | 7 |
| The Daily Banter | 9 |
| Banterlanche | 3 |
| Tony's Padded Cell | 1 |
| Shattered Glass | 6 |
| The Morning JAM | 3 |
| Random Words That You Should Read With Coffee | 5 |
| Breakfast Banter | 8 |
| Broadway Lights | 2 |
| The Morning Skate | 11 |
| Bagels and Banter | 5 |
