P.J Stock
12-07-2002, 02:46 PM
Richter, Leetch, Barnaby, and now Bure injured. I have come to the conclusion that either there is no god, or he just hates the Rangers. They were finally looking like a team that was playoff bound. And now I feel like punching a hole in something.:(
PAVEL COULD MISS SEASON
By JAY GREENBERG
Sabres 4 - Rangers 1
December 7, 2002 -- As if to confirm the Rangers' 8-4-2-1 surge seemed too good to be true, a Garden filled with jaundiced eyes watched Pavel Bure limp to the locker room last night with a left knee that could no longer support him or, likely, his team's hopes for a first playoff appearance in six years.
A Ranger source said Bure was out for the year, and if it's slightly possible that was an immediate overreaction, it is also surely an indication that Bure and the medical staff will be surprised to read any good news in today's MRI.
Asked how bad it looked, Eric Lindros shook his head.
"We've got an uphill battle now," he said, and one that with 52 contests to play dwarfs a bad 4-1 loss to the 6-14-1 Sabres, a game that turned quickly after the Sabres' Curtis Brown turned trying to put a legal hip into The Russian Rocket and struck knee-on-knee instead.
The hit drew no retaliation from the Rangers, who largely didn't see it, but the video indicated there was nothing dirty about it, other than it being a dirty shame for a team as thin on the wing as the tissues with which they will now have to dry their tears.
There obviously is no replacement for a player who has had five 50-goal plus seasons; never mind he has played this season in sporadic fits, sort of like the Rangers did last night after jumping up 1-0 on a late first-period power-play goal by Lindros.
Within two minutes, Holik took a tripping penalty, Ronald Petrovicky a silly cross-check and Tom Poti a brainless retaliation for what should have been a pressure-relieving slash by the Sabres' J.P. Dumont, thirty-four seconds before Holik was due to come off.
Miroslav Satan's point drive, off a clean faceoff win by Stu Barnes over Mark Messier, beat a screened Dan Blackburn to tie the game only 22 seconds before the end of the period.
"The penalties took a lot of energy out of us," said Blackburn.
Presumably, fatigue causes brainlock. Mikael Samuelsson, skating through center, was marginally taken down by Jay McKee, who relayed to Satan in a one-on-one mismatch with Dave Karpa. The Sabres' sniper went around the defenseman and roofed an impressive backhander under the crossbar to put Buffalo ahead.
Less than a minute later, Radek Dvorak lost the puck on a double-team along the left-wing boards to a dogged Jochen Hecht, enabling Dmitri Kalinin to drop the puck to Vaclav Varada, spin off Vladimir Malakhov, and go to the net on a pretty give-and-go.
Suddenly down 3-1, with only the newly-minted pairing of Holik and Lindros effective for any sustained stretches, the Rangers wandered aimlessly in Buffalo's trap before Satan hit a net that was as empty as some of his opponents' heads most of the night.
Certainly, there was little left in the tank of Messier, who, playing back-to-back games at age 41, had more ice time than Lindros, and managed a minus-three.
Coach Bryan Trottier, who made that call, talked too much about the officials' calls without a word about the coverage and puck-handling mistakes that cost his team the game.
"The guys are giving everything they've got," he said. "We're not making excuses."
It's going to take an extraordinary effort, now that they have the saddest and greatest alibi a team can offer. The Rangers just lost an indispensable player.
PAVEL COULD MISS SEASON
By JAY GREENBERG
Sabres 4 - Rangers 1
December 7, 2002 -- As if to confirm the Rangers' 8-4-2-1 surge seemed too good to be true, a Garden filled with jaundiced eyes watched Pavel Bure limp to the locker room last night with a left knee that could no longer support him or, likely, his team's hopes for a first playoff appearance in six years.
A Ranger source said Bure was out for the year, and if it's slightly possible that was an immediate overreaction, it is also surely an indication that Bure and the medical staff will be surprised to read any good news in today's MRI.
Asked how bad it looked, Eric Lindros shook his head.
"We've got an uphill battle now," he said, and one that with 52 contests to play dwarfs a bad 4-1 loss to the 6-14-1 Sabres, a game that turned quickly after the Sabres' Curtis Brown turned trying to put a legal hip into The Russian Rocket and struck knee-on-knee instead.
The hit drew no retaliation from the Rangers, who largely didn't see it, but the video indicated there was nothing dirty about it, other than it being a dirty shame for a team as thin on the wing as the tissues with which they will now have to dry their tears.
There obviously is no replacement for a player who has had five 50-goal plus seasons; never mind he has played this season in sporadic fits, sort of like the Rangers did last night after jumping up 1-0 on a late first-period power-play goal by Lindros.
Within two minutes, Holik took a tripping penalty, Ronald Petrovicky a silly cross-check and Tom Poti a brainless retaliation for what should have been a pressure-relieving slash by the Sabres' J.P. Dumont, thirty-four seconds before Holik was due to come off.
Miroslav Satan's point drive, off a clean faceoff win by Stu Barnes over Mark Messier, beat a screened Dan Blackburn to tie the game only 22 seconds before the end of the period.
"The penalties took a lot of energy out of us," said Blackburn.
Presumably, fatigue causes brainlock. Mikael Samuelsson, skating through center, was marginally taken down by Jay McKee, who relayed to Satan in a one-on-one mismatch with Dave Karpa. The Sabres' sniper went around the defenseman and roofed an impressive backhander under the crossbar to put Buffalo ahead.
Less than a minute later, Radek Dvorak lost the puck on a double-team along the left-wing boards to a dogged Jochen Hecht, enabling Dmitri Kalinin to drop the puck to Vaclav Varada, spin off Vladimir Malakhov, and go to the net on a pretty give-and-go.
Suddenly down 3-1, with only the newly-minted pairing of Holik and Lindros effective for any sustained stretches, the Rangers wandered aimlessly in Buffalo's trap before Satan hit a net that was as empty as some of his opponents' heads most of the night.
Certainly, there was little left in the tank of Messier, who, playing back-to-back games at age 41, had more ice time than Lindros, and managed a minus-three.
Coach Bryan Trottier, who made that call, talked too much about the officials' calls without a word about the coverage and puck-handling mistakes that cost his team the game.
"The guys are giving everything they've got," he said. "We're not making excuses."
It's going to take an extraordinary effort, now that they have the saddest and greatest alibi a team can offer. The Rangers just lost an indispensable player.