The John Moore Suspension and Other Off Day Notes

A big storyline that surfaced late in the Rangers' Game 5 loss to the Canadiens was John Moore's match penalty on Montreal's Dale Weise which drew immediate parallels to Brandon Prust's late hit on New York's Derek Stepan two games earlier, in which there was no penalty called. Exactly like the day following Prust's hit, Moore received a two game suspension.

Based on the number of Rangers fans I've spoken to personally and what I've seen posted to Twitter, this last left a sour taste in the mouth of the Blueshirt Faithful. I seem to be in the minority as I believe Moore's ensuing penalty and suspension were deemed the right calls.

Many Rangers fans note how nothing on the ice was called regarding Prust's hit and Stepan's broken jaw should have led to a power play and lengthier suspension accordingly and that's a fair argument. As much as you want to compare the two, right now, you can't.

The officials, who haven't had a very memorable series, are absolutely looking for any hint of a dirty play ever since Prust laid the blindside hit on Stepan. What do you expect them to do, turn their heads the other way when Moore made a very illegal play?

Officials miss calls....it happens every game. It's unfortunate they failed to have their eyes on Prust's flying elbow in Game 3, but there's nothing you can do about it. It's not the first time the officials have missed a severely illegal hit and a player was issued a suspension in the days following. The only thing we can do is hope we see Moore in the Stanley Cup Final and Raphael Diaz fills his spot well.

Other things that caught my attention today:

• A co-worker told me today he believes this Rangers team is "destined" to win the Stanley Cup this year and it took me by surprise, because I haven't heard something like that in 20 years. I thought about that line all day and think he may be on to something. This team has bounced back extremely well from adversity throughout the regular and postseason. It also helps they're a win away from the Cup Final.
• As a fan, it's not good karma to look ahead to potential opponents in the next round until the current round is over, but as I sit here and watch Game 5 of the Western Conference Final between the Kings and Blackhawks with the Rangers a win away, it's hard not to. I travel to Chicago next weekend so part of me wants the Hawks and part of me doesn't simply because they're so, so loaded, but so are the Kings. Corey Crawford has made it evident that he can be very average and while the Kings may lack the incredible star power the Blackhawks possess, they're deep. I don't know who I'd rather see the Rangers battle for the Cup, but at this point it wouldn't matter because this run has been so great so far.
• I believe Henrik Lundqvist has a huge bounce-back game in Game 6 after a sub-par performance in Game 5. Hank's hard on himself when he struggles and he had a tremendous Game 7 in the first round against Philadelphia just a day after getting abused by the Flyers.
• The crowd at Madison Square Garden better blow the roof off the building tomorrow night. For the most part in these playoffs, the MSG has been nothing short of a morgue. I've seen pictures of guys in suits at the games watching the NBA playoffs on monitors in front of them instead of the action on the ice. Hey moron, I've never been to a Rangers home playoff game and here you go with a free ticket not even paying attention to the best postseason tournament that exists. That is such a pet peeve.
• Speaking of tickets, as of pm the night before Game 6, the cheapest ticket on StubHub is $326.50 which is way too rich for a guy with Hoboken, New Jersey rent to pay among other bills and weddings to attend. Barring a miracle, I still will not get to a Rangers home playoff game (the one Rangers playoff game I've been to was in Jersey in 2006 -- the John Madden hat trick game).
• Prediction: Rangers win Game 6 and we all celebrate.

Penguins Fire GM Ray Shero, Retain Coach Dan Bylsma - Wait, What?

Before I get into the Ray Shero firing -- I know this is a New York related site, but I've been wanting to branch out to other big news that happens in sports (I've been suggested to do so as well) but I haven't found a story compelling enough for me to write about until this one.

In a shocking move, to me at least, the Pittsburgh Penguins relieved general manager Ray Shero of his duties Friday afternoon, while keeping head coach Dan Bylsma on board.

Shero put together a seemingly super-team over the last seven years winning the division three times, appearing in the Stanley Cup Final twice and winning the Cup in 2009.

With that said, the Penguins have underachieved in the playoffs the last few seasons as they were eliminated before reaching the Cup Final, most recently blowing a 3-1 lead in the Eastern Conference Semifinals to the division-rival New York Rangers.

When Shero took over in Pittsburgh in 2006, he had come into a team with top draft picks in the three previous seasons in Marc-Andre Fleury, Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby on the roster already. But Shero made a number of tremendous moves while general manager in Pittsburgh:

• At the 2008 NHL trade deadline, the Penguins acquired Pascal Dupuis (still on the roster) and superstar Marian Hossa from Atlanta, who helped Pittsburgh reach its first Stanley Cup Final since 1992.
• At the 2009 trade deadline, Pittsburgh traded Ryan Whitney to Anaheim for Chris Kunitz (still on the roster). Kunitz exploded for 35 goals this season and has a cap hit under $4M through the 2016-17 season.
• Also at the 2009 trade deadline, Shero claimed Craig Adams (still on the roster) off waivers from Carolina. Both Adams and Kunitz had won Stanley Cups in their previous two seasons (Adams with Carolina in 2006 and Kunitz with the Ducks in 2007). The Penguins lacked that experience and it paid off as the brought the Stanley Cup back to Pittsburgh for the first time since '92.
• When the 2011 trade deadline drew near, Shero traded young defenseman Alex Goligoski to the Dallas Stars in exchange for James Neal and Matt Niskanen (Niskanen is an unrestricted free agent at the end of this season). The following season, Neal posted his first, and only, 40 goal season and Shero locked him up to a contract with a $5M cap hit through the 2017-18 season.
• During the lockout-shortened 2013 season, Shero acquired Jussi Jokinen from the Hurricanes for an unconditional draft pick. Jokinen had his best season in four years putting up 57 points and had a monster playoff performance scoring seven goals in 13 games (unrestricted free agent at the end of this season).

Shero added major key pieces to an already star-studded core and the Pens were seldom a first-round exit in the postseason.

One other move Shero made in his tenure was hiring coach Dan Bylsma early during the 2008-09 season. Michel Therien was fired less than a calendar year after leading the Pens to the Stanley Cup Final a season earlier. Bylsma was an immediate fit with the team, obviously winning the Cup with Pittsburgh that season.

After the Penguins were ousted from the playoffs earlier this week, reports surfaced that there were problems between Bylsma and Crosby but Crosby has denied those reports. Earlier this week, Rob Rossi of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reported the Penguins ownership leaned toward firing Bylsma while undecided on Shero's future. Rossi also notes the Pittsburgh front office believed Bylsma had lost the locker room.

So why keep Bylsma over mastermind Shero? Shero compiled a deep, star-studded roster and multiple times throughout the series against the Rangers, I wondered just how the Rangers could come out on top. On paper the Penguins were better, and perhaps they still are, but they're sitting at home watching the remainder of the Stanley Cup Playoffs while the Rangers are battling Montreal in the Eastern Conference Final.

Shero wasn't responsible for the lack of production and leadership from Crosby this postseason, which is another whole story. Shero wasn't responsible for the Penguins' lack of killer instinct up 3-1 in a series to a seemingly dead Rangers team after four games.

If you ask me, this all falls on Bylsma. It goes all the way back to the opening round in the 2011-12 season when the Philadelphia Flyers completely took the Penguins off their game mentally. In one of the most bizarre playoff series you'll ever see, Pittsburgh allowed 20 goals in the first three games, all losses. That was not the general manager's fault, that is a coaching issue.

A new general manager will be hired and he will most likely want his own coach in place, so I still expect Bylsma to be fired in the near future. But it shouldn't have cost Shero his job.

*Shero image courtesy of Matt Freed/Post-Gazette

Rangers Overcome 3-1 Series Deficit; Easily My Favorite Moment in 20 Years

Admit it, you didn't think a comeback was possible. Now tell yourself it's OK to admit when you're wrong.

For the first time in the history of the franchise, the New York Rangers overcame a series deficit of 3-1 to defeat the Pittsburgh Penguins in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals.

After the Rangers scored twice in overtime to beat the Penguins in Game 1, the series spiraled out of control in favor of Pittsburgh. The Penguins rattled off three straight wins in dominating fashion, outscoring the Rangers 9-2 in those games and posting shutouts in Games 2 and 3. The Rangers power play unit was something like 0-for-the-century, Rick Nash still hadn't scored (and still hasn't). It was bad. Really bad.

The Rangers looked dead. Hell, I even thought the season was over based on what I witnessed in those three losses and so did many others. It even led to Ken Campbell of THN to declaring them dead and suggesting the front office blows the team up (Mr. Campbell faced a severe amount of backlash from Ranger fans on Twitter Tuesday night).

But one thing you can never hang your hat on in the Stanley Cup Playoffs: declaring a team dead. Just in the opening round of this season's Playoffs, the Los Angeles Kings overcame a 3-0 deficit to the San Jose Sharks and won the series 4-3.

After the Game 4 loss, the Rangers held a closed-door meeting before the team addressed the media. We don't know exactly what was said, but Joe Micheletti said on WFAN on Tuesday that it was led by Brad Richards and Martin St. Louis, who know what it takes to win a Stanley Cup.

On the following day, St. Louis' mother unfortunately passed away. Perhaps the team used that as a rallying point (after Game 7, Brian Boyle told NBCSN's Pierre McGuire that it brought the team closer). At any rate, the Rangers came out with their hair on fire in Game 5 matching their series total in goals scored to that point with a 5-1 beatdown of the Penguins (and actually scored not once, but twice, on the power play). They followed that up with close victories in Games 6 and 7 to complete the comeback.

The team MVP by far and away throughout the comeback was Henrik Lundqvist who held the star-loaded Penguins to just one goal per game in the final three games of the series, including stopping 35 of 36 shots in the deciding Game 7.

This Game 7 victory was easily my favorite moment as a Ranger fan in the last 20 years. Now, the Rangers haven't had exactly a lot of success since winning their first Stanley Cup in 54 years in 1994. In fact, my favorite night as a Ranger fan up to this point since that magical Cup run was Game 5 of the 2012 Eastern Conference Semifinals against the Washington Capitals when Richards tied the game with 6.6 seconds left and Marc Staal winning it in overtime.

To rattle off three straight wins against that Penguins team after looking so, so terrible in three straight losses could not have been predicted by the most optimistic of optimists. I'm still trying to fathom how this team was able to turn on the switch and do what they did. Again, the franchise had never come back from a series when trailing 3-1.

As to who I wish the Rangers face in the Eastern Conference Final (can't believe I'm saying that)....it's difficult to say. They'll be facing a team that's been through the ringer just like they have as the Montreal Canadiens and Boston Bruins face off in a deciding Game 7 of their own tonight. The Bruins ousted the Rangers in five games last season in the Eastern Conference Semifinals and are 3-0-0 against New York this season. The Canadiens are 2-1-0 against the Rangers this season and beat them on the final day of the season winning 1-0 in overtime and seemingly own the Rangers at the Bell Centre.

I don't want to eat my words, so I'll take whoever comes out on top in tonight's Game 7 in Boston. The Rangers are playing with house money and are half way home to a Stanley Cup. They'll start on the road regardless this weekend. LGR.

*Rangers photo by Gregory Shamus/NHLI via Getty Images

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UPDATE - 5/14/14 @ 12:00 PM - new, exclusive video of the Penguins collapse:

Rangers Lose Another Game 2; Related: The Sun is Hot

In an expected effort Sunday night, New York Rangers lost their eighth consecutive Game 2 in a playoff series as they were blanked 3-0 by the Pittsburgh Penguins.

The Blueshirts continued beautifully playing the role of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde as they looked flat for the full 60 minutes after a thrilling overtime win in Game 1. For some reason that seemingly cannot be explained, the Rangers cannot put up a full effort in consecutive games in a series, let alone come out on top.

In Game 1, the Rangers got out to an early 2-0 lead and fell flat on their face in the second period and the lead vanished (eventually winning in OT), which is exactly how they've gone about holding their leads in a series. The Rangers have now played nine postseason games and have given up a lead in the series four times.

Just like in the previous series against the Flyers, the Rangers can't put their foot on the throat of the opponent and take control. They had three power plays in the first 10 minutes and couldn't capitalize on any of them. They've now had more consecutive scoreless power plays than the New York Yankees have World Series championships, so just don't bother counting anymore.

It's getting way too predictable with this team: get a big win in a playoff series, give a lame duck effort in the next game, lather, rinse, repeat. No message is getting through to these skaters. Henrik Lundqvist played outstanding, stopping 32 of 34 shots, but had nothing to show for it. He had a highlight reel of his own in this game but the offense couldn't generate any goal support.

Marc-Andre Fleury was barely tested the whole night. The Rangers put 22 shots on goal but maybe one or two of them were quality shots.

Also, Derek Dorsett took a terrible, terrible boarding penalty with under five minutes to go, in a one-goal game, which led to Pittsburgh's second goal and put the game away. Dorsett better not see the ice in Game 3. If Dan Carcillo is in the lineup, there is no reason to dress Dorsett. Give J.T. Miller a shot....he made his presence felt in Game 5 against Philadelphia.

Rangers come right back Monday night with Game 3 at The Garden at 7:30 and if things go the way they have been, and there's no reason to believe they won't, they'll win it and most likely relinquish control of the series in Game 4. LGR.