- 6 hours ago
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00The comments after the Columbus game surprised me a little bit.
00:04There was a lot of grind in that game.
00:06There was a lot of physicality in that game.
00:08That is great to see if you're a Ranger fan.
00:11I want them to be more confident as a whole,
00:13being like we should have ran them over.
00:15It was a physical game.
00:17They did battle.
00:18The penalty kill was outstanding.
00:19The power play wasn't.
00:20The goaltender was good, again.
00:21I would be like, give away a point.
00:24I guess have higher expectations of yourself
00:27because you're a good hockey team.
00:30It's time for another episode of Up in the Blue Seats,
00:33your favorite Rangers podcast from the New York Post.
00:36Rangers beat writer Molly Walker and former Ranger Brian Boyle here as always.
00:42Still the early days of the season,
00:44but the Rangers are second in the Metropolitan Division
00:47and fifth in the entire NHL entering Wednesday's slate of games.
00:52Still undefeated on home ice.
00:54But coming off probably their first dud of the season in Newark
00:59and a frustrating overtime loss in Columbus.
01:02Full transparency, I wasn't at the 7-1 loss to the Devils
01:06or the 1-0 overtime loss to the Blue Jackets.
01:09So, Brian, I throw it to you.
01:11What was your overview of the Rangers' week?
01:16Okay, so swing and a miss in Newark at the Rock, obviously.
01:20And, you know, those games are funny because, obviously, it's been a good start.
01:27You'd like to get going on the road if you're the Rangers.
01:31Can't fault where they're at at home.
01:33Clearly, it's been just a totally flipped script at home this year, which is awesome.
01:40But, you know, the Devils team is talented.
01:43They have holes.
01:44I don't know.
01:46I don't really know exactly how they're going to pan out long term
01:49until they learn how to, I guess, win in different ways.
01:51But they didn't have to on this night because they were feeling it.
01:55And, look, the Rangers' structure has been even, I mean, people might fight me on this,
02:01but points last season, even when they weren't winning, you know,
02:04you match up their goals for and against.
02:08And, obviously, the goals for weren't there last year.
02:10But against, they were doing a little bit better through, I think, like seven games last year.
02:16So, when they get chasing against a team like New Jersey, who has Hughes, Bratt,
02:24you know, all the skill he's here.
02:25Mercer looked good.
02:26Gritsuk is, I think, an emerging star.
02:30They have a lot of players that can take advantage of that when you just lose your structure.
02:35And, like, I look at the fourth goal against.
02:38It was a Mercer goal, and it came off a turnover.
02:41Like, the Rangers just didn't quite get it in all the way in New Jersey's end.
02:46And it was a four-on-two coming back.
02:50And four-on-twos, I guess the D have to give something.
02:53They gave Gritsuk, or Mercer maybe, sort of a grade A.
02:58They let, you know, Dursey just let him kind of go in on a breakaway.
03:01And, you know, you get the big save on a breakaway.
03:03And you don't remember that save on the breakaway.
03:06And Garand eventually gets pulled anyway.
03:08But because there's a fire drill in your own zone for the next 20 seconds,
03:12where it looked like the Devils were the globe charters.
03:15And so, it brings me to my, ultimately, my point was, like, on that shift,
03:20Lafreniere's out there, and Dursey's out there, Pedersen.
03:22And there's a couple guys, and Lafreniere's trying extremely hard to kill a play.
03:30And by doing that, he was sort of confused JT Miller because he was on a guy.
03:35He went to another guy.
03:35The whole point is just that they were trying.
03:38There was certainly the effort, energy level was there.
03:42The structure, some of the patience just calming down
03:45and having a patient game maybe wasn't.
03:46It was, like, trying to be down 3-0, trying to get it all back in one shift.
03:52And then, you know, Jersey goes the other way, grade A, grade A.
03:56Then there's a shot that hits a foot of Jersey, goes right to a Devils player
04:01for a tough angle one-timer in the net.
04:03It's 4-0, and that's the end of the night for Dylan Grant.
04:05Yeah.
04:06I mean, so, that's why when you say chalk, you can chalk a few up.
04:11As players, you can chalk it up and just flush it down the toilet
04:14and just be like, we're done, we're moving on, because nothing went right.
04:18The effort was there.
04:20The energy was probably there.
04:21You can realize what you did if you're the coaching staff and be like,
04:26look, I know we're down.
04:26I know the situation.
04:27It's, you know, in the second period, and we're getting kind of bombarded.
04:34But the game was fine.
04:36There's a bad turnover at the end of the first from the captain.
04:41So it's 1-0.
04:42Like, reset, go into the second with a game plan,
04:47but, like, 20 seconds into the second period, it's 2-0.
04:49And you're like, oh, no.
04:51And that's kind of like, that just snowballs.
04:53Then you're in an avalanche.
04:55So that was my takeaway from the Jersey game.
04:59Columbus, the comments after the Columbus game surprised me a little bit.
05:06Because, yes, there was a lot of grind in that game.
05:09There was a lot of physicality in that game.
05:11That is great to see if you're a Ranger fan.
05:15I just thought, I thought, it's funny.
05:20Like, if they were more disappointed or were, I don't know.
05:25No, I think, like, if they just, I want them to be, like, more confident as a whole, being like,
05:31we should have ran them over after the 7-1.
05:34Because they did do, they did defend well.
05:36They didn't have their A game again.
05:37They were, it was a physical game.
05:41They did battle.
05:41The penalty kill was outstanding.
05:43The power play wasn't.
05:44Neither was Columbus's.
05:45But, you know, they did things well, obviously.
05:48The goaltender was good, again.
05:51I just think, like, I don't know.
05:54On the road, your goalie plays that well.
05:55I would be like, we just give away a point.
05:59Expect, I guess, have higher expectations of yourself because you're a good hockey team.
06:04So that was, I was like, are they, are they all right with, like, no, we're improving, we're improving.
06:09That's just why I was a little surprised.
06:10I was a little surprised.
06:11Just, uh, Sully's comments.
06:13Not like, I didn't disagree with much of it.
06:17I just thought the tone would be like, maybe they're just keeping it even keeled.
06:23And bring expectations.
06:25Yeah.
06:25Yeah.
06:25Like, all right.
06:26Maybe internally they're like, we should have had that, but like, we're not going to go on.
06:29Like, we should have had that.
06:30You know?
06:30So like, that's, that's me not being there, not really talking to anyone there.
06:35I was working the game from the studio in New York and probably just reading too much into it
06:40because then, you know, they, they, they bounced back again and, and at home and took care of business.
06:47Mm-hmm.
06:47Yeah.
06:48And we can go more in depth on those games later, but first some housekeeping.
06:53Veteran center, Luke Glenn Denning signed a PTO with the Rangers.
06:58Uh, now this is kind of new, the mid-season PTO under the CB, CBA.
07:04It lasts a maximum of 10 days and players aren't allowed to play in games.
07:08And if another NHL team makes a contract offer during the PTO, the Rangers have a right of first refusal
07:15to match the contracts within 48 hours.
07:17Um, so that's interesting if you weren't aware of the way that the mid-season PTOs work, but Luke is
07:2437.
07:25He played a combined 70 games last season between the Devils and the Flyers.
07:30And he turned a PTO into a one-year deal in Newark, uh, last season, but the Devils waived him
07:35in March.
07:36He's a PK guy.
07:38That's what he was known for during his eight seasons in Detroit.
07:41But I got to say, in my research, Brian, the most interesting thing that popped up was a viral moment
07:48of yours that Glenn Denning commented on in his post-game scrum first round of the 2016 playoffs.
07:55Does that ring any bells to you?
07:58That was the last time Dylan Larkin's been in the playoffs, I'll tell you that.
08:02That's where your mind goes?
08:04No, I mean, yeah, I remember that.
08:06That was, uh, look, I haven't played against him.
08:10Just talk about the player really quick.
08:12Uh, just not fun.
08:14Like, no, that's, you know, he's 37 now, but he's, uh, really, he's not huge, but he's physical.
08:22He's hard to play against good on draws and he can kill penalties.
08:25He lost Joe Valeno for an extended period of time.
08:29I think that's plain and simple cut and dried.
08:32That's sort of maybe his replacement.
08:34Yeah.
08:35What you're referencing, Molly, uh, actually.
08:39I had no idea that this happened, by the way, guys, like this was a whole new lore of Brian's
08:44career that I unlocked in my research.
08:47And I was like, wait a second, like, like roll the clip.
08:51Like you have to see it.
08:52And Boyle and Abdicator are sitting right out in the slot in front of Peter Mrazek.
08:56Yeah, well, big Boyle.
08:58And that's, is that Abdicator?
09:01That's what they're looking for.
09:03They got him.
09:03He had a big, uh, scrap going at the end of the second game.
09:08You remember in Tampa Bay and Brian Boyle is holding him off now.
09:14They're all zeros on the clock.
09:16No, I was not happy.
09:17I was angry.
09:18We were losing, we were losing a game in, in Detroit.
09:22And it was the second year in a row we played him in the first round.
09:26We ended up taking care of him in five games.
09:27But, uh, yeah, the second game, they sort of did to us what I was trying to do to them.
09:36And game, this was game three, I believe.
09:39So, uh, yeah, one of their players got on top of Michael Blunden, who was on our team and was
09:45kind of feeding him lefts and rights while our player was down in a, in a scrum at the end
09:51of the game.
09:51And, uh, it was Justin Abdelkater did it.
09:55And, uh, so he was all over this kid and bloodied him up pretty good.
10:00And the game was out of hand.
10:02It was, I was out of reach.
10:03Anyway, we had the game one.
10:04And if my memory serves, I think, yeah, we were, that was, yeah, game two.
10:08So then game three goes in, they actually played a good game and they were, I was trying to find
10:14my moment just to kind of grab Abdelkater.
10:17Um, yeah, I had him for, I don't know, a minute and a half at the end of the game,
10:23just kind of grabbing him.
10:23There was some stuff going on at our bench.
10:25I wasn't really concerned with it.
10:26I got the guy I wanted, but he wouldn't.
10:28Yeah.
10:29He didn't want to, didn't want to fight me.
10:32So I holding onto his gloves for dear life.
10:35Yeah.
10:36Well, we, and we had taught, we actually played world championships together and, uh, got to know Justin a lot
10:40better and really, really nice kid and a great guy to be on your team.
10:43I really, I wanted to, uh, yeah, I wanted to inflict some pain a little bit.
10:49And that's something that, you know, it was tough, tough to get that mad.
10:54So you'd have fights in the NHL where you're, you're supposed to fight or you have to fight.
10:58And then there's fights when you're mad and when you get in a fight, when you're mad in the NHL,
11:02it's kind of fun.
11:03It's that you don't really feel anything.
11:04It's, I always did well in those fights.
11:07There weren't a lot of them, but the fights where you just had to go in and was, they weren't
11:12fun.
11:12And this one, I, this one wasn't fun.
11:15I was really mad and it wasn't fun.
11:16Cause I didn't get to do the thing I wanted to do.
11:19Uh, he wasn't having it at all.
11:23He's looking at the ref, like, help me, please.
11:27No, I was like, he had a bandaid and I was, I, I was worried if I hit him with
11:32his gloves
11:32on and just started pounding him, it wasn't just a simple, like a instigator thing.
11:37It was at the end of a game, less than five minutes left.
11:40There's a fire suspensions.
11:42It's the playoffs.
11:43I didn't really want to get suspended.
11:45You can't be doing that.
11:47Uh, I, I still think maybe I should have, but who knows?
11:51Um, I tried to use restraint.
11:54Um, no, at this point it's fine, but yeah, we won the series.
11:59It was good.
11:59Um, took care of him the next two and the way we went, but yeah, that was a fun, no,
12:04give
12:05him a little, I showed because he was far away.
12:08He couldn't hear me.
12:09I showed him what I thought of that moment and then I yelled at the fans a little bit.
12:15Sorry, Detroit.
12:17Um, and then the way that Glenn Denning is involved here is he was asked about the exchange
12:24afterward and he said he totally downplayed it, but then like snuck in a little bit of
12:29a jab at the end.
12:30He said, I think it's being blown out of proportion a little bit.
12:33I really don't think it's that big of a deal.
12:34You could do whatever you want.
12:36It's a hockey game.
12:36But then he says, it's not a dance off.
12:41Yeah.
12:41Well, he could have come and fought me too.
12:42I would have fought anyone at that point.
12:44You guys can say whatever you want in the post game scrum.
12:47No one was, uh, that is just brilliant.
12:51Truly.
12:52That's hilarious.
12:53Yeah.
12:54But yeah, I mean, the fact that it's a PTO says the Rangers aren't a hundred percent
12:58sure yet.
12:59I guess they want to get a look at him in practice.
13:02Um, he had a PTO with the lightning at the start of the season that did not turn into
13:09a real contract.
13:11But listen, that's so that's, that's not a terrible thing.
13:15Cause he got some training camp in, right?
13:17Like, it's not like he's just been, which is hard.
13:20Um, that's October.
13:22It's the middle October.
13:23If you haven't done anything, it's, it's hard.
13:25I know it's, he's had a little time off, but at least he's had a little camp and some
13:30competition.
13:30Yeah, no, for sure.
13:32It means he's been involved.
13:33So that's a good thing for, in terms of his fitness at this moment, but obviously Joe
13:40Valino is out three and three and a half months with a lower body injury.
13:45They doesn't really feel like they think Cole Baudouin is ready.
13:49Justin Dowling isn't the most inspiring choice either.
13:52So not many other options in Hartford at center.
13:56So they clearly went looking elsewhere.
13:58Um, so we'll see how that pans out, but it does kind of feel like a, a contract will
14:04be coming down the pipeline soon.
14:06So he can get into some games here and Yaroslav Himelos was returned to Hartford and Taylor
14:13Radish has played the last two games for the Rangers.
14:17Radish scored three goals and had two assists and five games for the Wolfpack before his
14:23recall.
14:24Um, Brian, how do you see that switch there?
14:27Yeah, it's not easy if you're Radish, so good on him for going down and doing what he
14:32had to do to hopefully earn a recall.
14:35He did.
14:35Um, it's much like with Baudouin and Hamelos.
14:43Yeah, it's not like apples to apples where if this guy gives us these many good minutes
14:51and, and, you know, but a Glenn Denning can come in and he might be at par with them.
14:55It might be better for those players longterm to have more minutes, more responsibility and
15:03hard for build up reps and confidence and whatnot to have what, you know, England Denning, if
15:11he can get to his level, even if it's, you know, you're not, you're not getting goals
15:16from Luke London and he's never scored, but that's not what they're asking for him.
15:21So these other guys, maybe they want some offense.
15:24They want some creativity.
15:26They want them to blossom into something more than what they're being used for right now.
15:31That's I mean, it's pretty basic.
15:33I think it's the right move.
15:35It's a smart move short term and long term.
15:38Yeah.
15:40Yeah.
15:41I feel like Yara just wasn't making the impact that I think that, that they were looking for.
15:49I think Sullivan has, has specifically cited that, um, in recent weeks, so it wasn't surprising
15:57and, and Radish was, was playing well down there too.
16:01So kind of makes, makes sense there, but getting back to the nitty gritty of the games this week,
16:08we touched on the devil's game.
16:10I mean, that was really their first egg of the season.
16:13You mentioned Dylan grand getting pulled after four goals.
16:16They give up the seven season high seven door.
16:19Fav was the only one to score in that game on the power play.
16:22His second of the season, you kind of touched on it a little bit, but do you chalk it up
16:26as just an off night that every NHL team has, or is the disparity between teams that large?
16:33No.
16:34I mean, look at the standings.
16:35I don't, the matchup can pose problems.
16:39If you get behind, if you're the Rangers, if you're chasing the game against the devils,
16:42they have enough offensive firepower to make you pay.
16:48And there's, you know, whatever the holes you think the devils have, you think it's maybe
16:52goaltending or their D is not perfect yet, or they don't, if you play 140 foot game against
16:59them, they're going to, they're going to feast.
17:01If you can't get it down, like the Rangers success, they've been so good as five man
17:06units, whether it's in the D zone or they've transitioned really well.
17:11I think the new D have helped that or in the offensive zone where they get to grinding.
17:17That's, that's where they're finding success.
17:19And, and if you try to go with a track meet against the team that's built for speed like
17:25that, you're right.
17:27Yeah.
17:27I mean, it's just a dangerous game.
17:29If they get ahead, it could, I mean, I wouldn't be shocked if you saw lopsided scores between
17:34these two teams the rest of the year, one way or the other.
17:37So it's not, you know what I mean?
17:39In, in learning how, learning how to get, to be mature, even after the second goal early
17:45in the second, like reset.
17:47I think, I don't know when Mike Sullivan called his timeout after the second or the third.
17:53He did, he tried and they just need to, that's another piece that, you know, really, really
17:59good teams, they can claw back and they can win ugly.
18:03And it's like, that's not the start.
18:04But I, I like, I didn't, I didn't mind their start.
18:06It was a pretty uneventful first period, which on the road against the high octane team is
18:14that's, that's kind of the game plan.
18:16But no, you don't want to give the devil's life.
18:19They at that point had three wins, two were in overtime, both Jack Hughes goals, one against
18:24Philly, I believe, and one against Detroit.
18:27So it's like, go in there and be like, they're wounded, but they're still a good team.
18:32They're fine in their game and they're, they'll be, they'll be a decent team, I think, in the
18:37Metro.
18:39Yeah, I think so too.
18:40I think for me, the most concerning part of this week and really all of the Rangers losses
18:46so far this season is the fact that they have just two goals through those four losses,
18:53half of which they were shut out.
18:55Um, it's something that I feel like this team has struggled with the last few years.
19:00It's these absolutely barren stretches without offense.
19:05The offense just goes so cold.
19:08And obviously the last couple of seasons have felt more dire with fewer shots on goal, barely
19:14any offensive zone time.
19:15And we're definitely not in that territory right now because their effort has been so consistent
19:20and they have been able to sustain zone time and, and at least threaten, but to go so cold
19:28offensively, it's something that I feel like the team needs to learn to break itself out
19:32of in the moment.
19:34Um, and I feel like Sullivan had a really great quote that I agreed with where he was talking
19:39about the team needing to be more willing to create off the shot more.
19:45And he said, he said, we're passing up opportunities to shoot more pucks.
19:51In other words, we're not getting rewarded for the offensive zone time that we're establishing.
19:55We're not getting rewarded as much as we think we can be.
19:58I think that's the next level to our offensive zone play is creating off the shot more.
20:03It's a hard play to defend.
20:05We call it a broken play.
20:07It's a sifter from either the top of the, or the perimeter on the flanks.
20:11You get two on the inside in some capacity that shot comes in and hits something or someone.
20:15Or the rebound, these greasy goals, you know, like the, the ugly ones that you were talking
20:20about.
20:20It's never been this Rangers team's way at all.
20:24Um, and I think that that is something they need to start incorporating it to their game
20:30because without it, if their regular offensive game isn't going where they're connecting on
20:36passes and, you know, showing off the skill that they have in their lineup.
20:42Uh, it just, it's, it's so hard to overcome.
20:47Obviously, if you have no goals on the board, you're not going to win, you know, not providing
20:51your goaltender goal support, as they say, like run support for baseball.
20:56But, um, but they are taking care of business against the teams that they're supposed to.
21:02Um, they've absolutely pummeled the Red Wings, the Canucks, and then they beat the Ducks
21:07five to Monday night back at MSG to improve to six and O on home ice and match the second
21:14longest season opening home win streak in franchise history, operating in extremes.
21:19Like I said, um, they've beaten those teams by a combined margin of, I think it's 13 to
21:27four.
21:28Um, so you really can't be asking for more on home ice right now.
21:32A Jersey scores 118 into the first period and the Rangers have now scored in the opening
21:37two minutes in three consecutive home games for just the second time in franchise history.
21:42Last time was in 1989.
21:45Um, yeah, not too shabby, not too shabby.
21:51Yeah, we can, yeah, we could cherry pick, uh, stats will look good on winning streaks and
21:57stats look bad on when you take into consideration and their losses.
22:01This is what's happened, but it's, it's, it's not like it's two, two goals in four games.
22:07It's yeah.
22:08You're not going to win.
22:09Uh, yeah.
22:09And one of them came when you're down six, nothing exactly right.
22:14That's yeah.
22:14Yeah.
22:14Like it's, you can, you can barely even call it door fam second goal of the season.
22:18It barely mattered.
22:19Well, you have to, he has to, that counts for him.
22:22So it's like, yes, yes, not all, not all goals in a six, one or seven, one massacre created
22:30equal, but for him to get one, that's actually important.
22:33Um, sticking with door fam though, we should talk about the power play switch.
22:39That's all been talked about.
22:40Yeah.
22:41Uh, yeah, go ahead.
22:43Yeah.
22:43I mean, like that, I, I mean, I, I felt like that was one of the more interesting tidbits
22:47to come out of any coaches press conference that I've covered since covering the Rangers,
22:53but his explanation for briefly taking Durafeyev off the first power play unit, he said,
22:59I've been asking the power play for a number of games now that the first unit, they have
23:05to change smarter.
23:06And when the puck gets dumped down two or three times and they've got to go 200 feet to get
23:11it and then work back into the office and zone, they should change.
23:16And Pab didn't at some point there needs to be some accountability around it.
23:21But unfortunately for Pab, he was the guy I told the power play guys that we have to
23:26be smart.
23:27We've got another unit.
23:28That's pretty good.
23:29Also.
23:31Thoughts and feelings about that.
23:34That's accountability.
23:35That's what you want.
23:38It's plain and simple.
23:40Probably gave a couple of warning shots.
23:42Maybe it was the first time Durafeyev did it, but that it was, there was no more warnings
23:48left to give.
23:50It's like, it's funny.
23:52It's like parenting children.
23:55You don't give warnings.
23:57You just, I mean.
23:58You do.
23:59It's, it's consequences and learned consequences and you don't have to yell.
24:03You don't have to do anything.
24:03You just like, and the greatest thing a coach has the power of is ice time and you can get
24:09people to buy in pretty quick when you take some ice time away.
24:12So, and, and it's, I'm sure there's conversations.
24:16I'm sure he's, he's communicated cause that's what Sully does best.
24:20Um, he's, you know, his job's not in jeopardy.
24:24The guy signed long-term for a lot of money.
24:26They're going to need him, but it's, it's a good message to send saying, Hey, look, man,
24:31we're all pulling on the same rope.
24:34No one's above anybody else here.
24:36Even if you play more and get more money and we expect more out of the people that are
24:41given more.
24:44So yeah, that's, that's a good thing.
24:46And it's, it doesn't mean Dorfeb's a bad guy.
24:50It doesn't mean anything.
24:50He's competitive, probably wants to get something going.
24:53Uh, it's yeah, that's just all, that's all things that happen in a season.
24:58Sully was asked the question.
24:59I'm sure if he wasn't, he wouldn't have mentioned it.
25:01Uh, that's, and he's going to give you an honest answer.
25:04I like it.
25:05I like it.
25:05I like it a lot.
25:06I think, you know, going back to what you said about creating more from the shot, I
25:11saw New Jersey do it a few times and you know, all the skill that they have, they created
25:16from the shot a little bit.
25:17I think the league in general, like if we go and look at shots on net, I don't know if
25:22it's because of gambling and shot totals and prop bets and stuff, or if players are way
25:29more selective or, or both.
25:31I I'm thinking it's both players are much more selective in how they shoot now.
25:38I don't know if it's, and that's probably through analytics, but anytime you're in the
25:44offensive zone and you get, you know, one goal at it.
25:48So say it's like a rush chance and then you keep possession.
25:53I think that's when being in the corners or below the goal line and you get it out to
25:59the point and you shoot it right away, that's when you can put a team on their heels.
26:04Cause from a defensive standpoint, when you're defending that, you can't get a stop after
26:09that rush.
26:10And now you're in structure and the D zone, you don't know when you're getting out and
26:14it is much harder on your body to defend than it is to go play offense.
26:18So I agree with it.
26:20I think it's, it's worked for Mike Sullivan in the past.
26:25It's what's gotten him two cups.
26:27It's probably worked for the U S Olympic team.
26:30It is.
26:30People think it's overly simple.
26:33Look at all the goal scores, the high end goal scores at the end of every year.
26:36Like you can look at a Matthews coffee, even Ovechkin, like those guys, yeah, they score
26:42those highlight reel goals, but not, not even half of them are those highlight reel goals.
26:48They do score a bunch of them, but if you're getting 50 goals, 30 of them are those ugly,
26:53greasy around the net from a sifter, a tip and a rebound.
26:56That's that's, you got to score in ugly ways.
26:58If you're going to score 40, they need to add that.
27:01Yeah.
27:02And even if you want to get 10 or 12 or 50, I remember like Jim Schoenfeld, he's like,
27:08you're not a 10 goal guy.
27:09Even you think you're a 20 goal guy.
27:11You're not even a 10 goal guy.
27:12My first year in New York.
27:13So I was just learned as many different things as I could to get around the net more.
27:18And yeah.
27:20And you gain confidence when you get a couple of those greasy ones, you can score some goals
27:24from distance or make some nice plays, which ended up happening in my game as my second
27:30year, third year in New York, all those.
27:32But nothing happens if you're not around the net in the offensive zone.
27:36Yeah.
27:37Number one, you won't, you won't play, you're not going to be, you're not going to be in
27:41those spots.
27:42You're not going to get an offensive zone start.
27:44So if there's buy in there, which I think there will be quickly, he'll, you know, he'll
27:51all four lines could create something.
27:54I also feel like there's still room to implement that into their game because from my, what I've
28:01felt in speaking with people, guys in the room, there is a lot more comfort in Sullivan's
28:07system the second year around, like there's a lot more familiarity there.
28:12And I think that's also a part of why the Rangers structure has been so strong to start
28:19the season because they're the familiarity is, is definitely factoring into it for sure.
28:24Um, and going back to the power play stuff, um, with Dorofaev and the ice time Sullivan
28:33had said at the start of the season, I had specifically asked him because they added so many new guys
28:40that were power play second power play guys.
28:43Was he going to do more of a balanced, you know, he did, he did, he, which like that, that's
28:53what I was looking for.
28:54I was looking for him to make a, you know, to assert one way or another, no, this is
28:59how it's still going to be, how it's, how we've been and how it's always been.
29:03We're going to, and they haven't been good.
29:04His answer wasn't.
29:05Yeah.
29:06Yeah.
29:06And, and, and I, exactly.
29:08And I don't think that I do think that that's still applies, but I think he's saying, no,
29:13we are, we have to give them their 30 to 40 seconds though.
29:17At the end of the power play.
29:18Yeah.
29:18If it's not going, if it's not working yet, then they, they're, and they,
29:23they, that unit has, I think one or two goals already this season.
29:27So on that unit, it's been good.
29:28I mean, he's gone back and forth.
29:30Yeah.
29:31Yeah.
29:32Which I like, I like that.
29:33I like what he's been doing there when Perot is going or if somebody is not going and he
29:38just sticks them on the first power play unit and he's been involved a couple of times
29:43for them.
29:44Um, um, so I found that to be interesting that like, no, he's fighting for the 40 to
29:5030 seconds that that unit gets because that's, that's just the way that it should be.
29:56And yeah, if it's not working out for that first group, you got to give it something different.
30:00And, and so I, yeah, I, I found that to be quite interesting because he's not saying that
30:05it's going to be equal and that he wants it to be equal.
30:07That first unit is still getting most of the time, but he's saying you do have to come
30:15back and change when it's not working.
30:18And when the opportunity presents itself, you can't just stay out there.
30:21So yeah, the accountability, love to hear that from, from a head coach and definitely
30:26different, uh, for a Rangers coach.
30:29Haven't heard something like that in a minute, I would say.
30:33So that's, that's encouraging, um, pretty big week for the Rangers coming up.
30:41They've got a couple of games in Canada, which I'll be heading for after this podcast, they
30:48play the Maple Leafs and the Senators, and then they face the Kings, Artemi Panarin and
30:55the Kings at Madison Square Garden when they return.
30:59What kind of week is this for the Rangers, Brian?
31:04Well, you can't worry about the other teams.
31:07You just have to keep building your game.
31:10It's tough to, uh, Austin Matthews is fully back.
31:14He is a problem.
31:15Correct.
31:16He's a superstar again.
31:18Yeah.
31:18We'll see what you'll get from McKenna.
31:21I think Nylander, like there's a little bit like New Jersey.
31:25If they pose a threat, if you get behind and start chasing the game, I think you can go up
31:31to Toronto, it's a little bit of a sleepy building at times.
31:36And yes, just very corporate.
31:38Yeah.
31:39Put your work boots on and go to work.
31:41I don't even like the, the, the seats in there, like the color they picked.
31:48It's just not, it's just not, there's no character.
31:52There's no, not your favorite.
31:53And I mean, for those people out there that love hockey as much as they do, I just, uh,
31:59they have a right to be angry all the time, I guess.
32:02Um, so, you know, and I'm sure Rangers fans can commiserate on some level, but at least you
32:08get the garden and when it's rocking, it is rocking and it's been rocking and it's been
32:14rocking.
32:15I mean, wait, first of all, I just have to give Sean Jersey a shout out too, because I
32:20asked him, my question had nothing to do really with the fans or the garden.
32:25It was mostly about their motivation.
32:28Now that they've gotten off to this, such a great start at home, like how much motivation
32:34is it coming onto the ice every night to continue that, to keep defending home as hard as they
32:39are.
32:40And he just looks at me, he's like, it is such an exciting time.
32:43He was like, we heard what was going on here tomorrow night with the Knicks championship
32:48banner raising.
32:49And he's like, and it feels so good to give them back to back good nights at Madison Square
32:54garden.
32:54And I was like, man, he's putting in for a fan favorite early.
32:58And I was like, the fans are going to live for this.
33:01Like you just loved it.
33:02He's no dumb.
33:03No, not at all.
33:04He knows exactly what he's doing, but talk about embracing being a ranger and just knowing,
33:10you know, what to say in that moment.
33:13I mean, it was awesome.
33:15I used it as my leading quote for my story.
33:17I was like, any way we can intersect the Knicks championship.
33:22Well, I mean, it's like you go to work and your most recent past experiences at work are
33:31awesome days where you get excited.
33:34Yeah.
33:34You know what that is.
33:36It's like, let's get, let's get that again.
33:37Let's get that again.
33:38Yeah.
33:38You go to work and you're like, you walk, the elevator opens and you know, your boss and
33:45coworkers just start going like, boo.
33:47You know, like, I don't want to be here today.
33:50You know, you have an opportunity every day to make it go one way or the other as players,
33:54but it's when it's going good, you keep that feeling going.
33:57It's just like the morning skate, the vibe going to the rink, walking in the rink.
34:01It's just like, all right, we're vibing.
34:03It's great.
34:03Um, but now Ottawa, they have an emotional one, I think, well, this week, we'll keep
34:12this ever going, I guess they have an emotional one this week playing against, you know, Brady
34:17Kachuck, he's going back there.
34:18So I guess you can hope to catch them, see if you can catch them.
34:24Uh, not a trap, you can't, you can't assume any other teams on a trap game, but you'd take
34:29advantage and then the Kings, maybe they're excited for their, after their first win
34:34of this season, Panarin and Labby coming back.
34:39Um, yeah.
34:41Reunited.
34:42Reunited.
34:43It feels so good.
34:44Yeah.
34:45You want four points out of these three games at minimum, at minimum.
34:48Expect that for yourselves.
34:49It's a good hockey team.
34:50So expect that.
34:52Love it.
34:53Love it.
34:54Well, we'll see what happens.
34:56Give us a thumbs up, like, and subscribe.
34:59Comment down below.
35:00What do you think about the Rangers last week, their PTO signing and what this upcoming week
35:09against the Maple Leafs and Ottawa Senators is going to look like.
35:13And we'll chat again next week.
35:15See ya.
35:17See ya.