Flyers/Rangers Recap

I only got to watch the first and third periods of this game. But if one bounce would have gone our way, the game would have been completely different. Ugh. We should have won that one.

Rangers 4 Flyers 3.

Game 1 Preview: Flyers vs. Rangers

Happy Rosh a hockey everyone! The new season is upon us, and tomorrow the Philadelphia Flyers and the New York Rangers face off at the Wachovia Center in Philly. It's gonna be a good season, so I'm going to try my hardest to blog everything I can this year.

The Game: New York Rangers (2-0-0) @ Philadelphia Flyers (0-0-0)

The Good:
The Flyers will pick up where they left off last season. New captain Mike Richards has (according to Kristen) looked great this preseason and the team is following his lead. Simon Gagne is back and hopefully his chemistry with Daniel Briere and Mike Knuble will still be there. The Flyers can roll three good lines and will have a dangerous fourth line that teams won't want to mess with.

The Bad:
The defense is still a big question mark. While Braydon Coburn and Kimo Timonen will be solid all year, the jury is out on how newly acquired defensemen Steve Eminger, Ossi Vaananen, Danny Syvret and Patrick Hersley will need to step up early. The loss of Sami Kapenen and R.J. Umberger may hurt the Flyers more than expected.

What to Expect:
The Flyers get a win in their first game, it will take them a little while to get started, but they will pull it out in the end.

The Prediction:
Flyers 4 Rangers 2

Gary Bettman vs. New York Rangers

So the New York Rangers and Gary Bettman are butting heads over the Rangers' website. The group that owns the Rangers, Madison Square Garden L.P. does not like that the NHL wants to take full control of their website, and I don't blame them. Bettman and the NHL have responded with a threat to remove them from ownership if they don't comply with the NHL on this issue. Bettman has asked a judge to declare that the ownership has breached their contract by challenging the rules of the NHL, while the Garden has said that they will not put up with Bettman's "bullying tactics". MSG ownership took the case to court the day before the NHL began pressing $100,000 a day fines for the Rangers' lack of compliance.

On one hand, I'd love to see the Rangers' ownership forced out because I personally can't stand the Rangers and it's always nice to see a rival go down in flames. On the other hand, I operate under the belief that Bettman knows nothing about managing the NHL and needs to go move to some remote island so the sport can be fixed. So I have to side with the Rangers on this one, Bettman needs to back off. Besides, if Bettman and the NHL win this battle and removes the Rangers ownership, it sets a scary precedent: Comply with all of the NHL's wishes or you're gone. It gives too much power to the NHL to enact new rules and get rid of the people that cross them. Today the Rangers... tomorrow the Flyers? You never know, so I hope Bettman gets his hand slapped by a judge and the Rangers are allowed to continue as normal.

Read the article here.