The Rangers have a lot on the line going into St. Louis.
The Rangers are in St. Louis tonight but their heads seem up the creek. (Pick your favorite creek.)
Diehard fans don't know whether to laugh at the Rangers' Looney Tunes attitude about hockey or cry in abject despair over their richest goalie in the world getting yanked for the second time in a month.
"This has to be the end," demands longtime fan Lloyd Mackay of Manhattan. "Peter Laviolette has lost control of the team. Where's the grit? Toughness? Bang the Rangers around and they fold."
Laviolette's players regard first periods as an afterthought. Or, as Pistol Pete put it, "horrendous." How about the middle one where – after 21 shots – Iggy was shown the EXIT sign.
Or, as my buddy George Wrage puts it, "Everytime the Rangers hit bottom, they find the trap door. YEESH!"
It's easy to finger culprits beyond the very guilty general staff. You have to start with Mika Zibanejad whose post-game comments could win a "Dumb and Dumber" contest.
"We're just chasing." (If you didn't know better you'd guess he meant "chasing the coach out of a job.")
But let's get serious. The story (angle) of this game is that Piggy Iggy stunk out the joint – again! We're talking about the richest goalie in history who demanded the crazy dough – got it and opened the second period allowing three goals on four shots.
Igor has a permanent press pass; meaning the press pass on this non-saint as if he is one.
For the sake of sanity, Laviolette should START Shesterkin tonight in St. Louis. Yes, START The Man. Let him be his own personal Slumpbuster.
Let Igor demonstrate that we're not dreaming that he's the same guy who once won a Vezina! He is that guy; go out and prove it, already.
Nobody is gonna get this guy out of Nightmare Alley but Iggy himself!