[niss]

[ QUOTE ]
i know nothing of odds - but the rangers are in trouble if they play the sens or the sabres. they blew out a team that had been playing .500 hockey since november and hadn't really gelled at all. it wouldn't surprise me to see the rangers flame out of the playoffs exactly the same way the devils did last year - by beating up on a downtrodden opponent and getting steamrolled by a real team.



[/ QUOTE ]

Going into yesterday's games, the Rangers and Ottawa were 20-4-6 in their last 30, and Buffalo was something like 19-8-3.

Against Ottawa this year, the Rangers were 1-3 in 4 highly-competitive games, including a 1-0 loss on the road and a 3-2 loss at home where they blew a 2-0 lead (and were in a dreadful streak of blowing two-goal leads). Only one of these games was after the Rangers got Avery, who most acknowledge has made a huge difference in the team, and in that last game Shanahan was out. Against Buffalo they were 0-1-3, with the last game being played in December, when the Rangers were a much different team and Buffalo was unstoppable.

Are you familiar with the "hot goalie" playoff hockey theory? Do you honestly think, with the way the Rangers have played over their last now 31 games they are going to get swept into the gutter, by anyone? Do you think anyone would do that to Buffalo or Ottawa, teams that have not played any better? Why do you feel comfortable saying that the Rangers may "flame out" to a team that has struggled -- yes, struggled -- with the Islanders? A team that supposedly would not put up much of a fight, being happy just to make it into the tournament? When the Rangers dispatched an Atlanta team that you yourself said they'd have trouble stopping? An Atlanta team, that finished 12-5-1, and was 32-26-8 since November (contrary to your statement that they were a .500 team since November).

In sum, to say that the Rangers are "in trouble" and may "flame out" if they play either BUF or OTT proves that you don't know what you're talking about.