POUGHKEEPSIE, NY – A Happy Movember is in order provided the rest of the next sports fortnight transpires for the Boston Bruins and Dallas Cowboys against New York denizen Rangers and Giants similarly to the 2-1 robbery of the Blueshirts by the Bruins on Tuesday night. Personally, these rivalries evolve as man’s answer to soap operas and reality television–my guys are the good guys and yours are the foil. 
Here’s the hockey storyline behind the aforementioned ice rivals to get you up to speed and the local fans blood boiling.
It was last spring when the Bruins and Rangers battled in the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals, the first playoff meeting between the two in forty years, and served as additional wood for the New York-Boston sports fire. The Rangers momentum off of a seventh game pasting of the Capitals was halted starting with Brad Marchand’s Game 1 OT winner. Things got worse when Torey Krug emerged like a Bucky Dent homer over the Green Monstah and just about used Henrik Lundqvist like a kid’s handshake in Games 2 through 4–“up high, down low, to the side, too slow”. There was no answer to the Bruins young defensive corps or the Bruins Merlot line of Shawn Thornton-Daniel Paille-Gregory Campbell who weren’t to be denied in Games 4 and 5 and continually took advantage of the slow-footed Roman Hamrlik. 
The five game Beantown Beatdown sharpened the blade for John Tortorella’s head and ended with the procession of two lines of players moving from opposite directions and meeting with ceremonial handshakes and reminded the Rangers why they lost the series–“up high, down low, to the side, too slow”.
Tuesday night was eerily like last spring even with the Bruins showing the fatigue of playing the dreaded second game of back-to-backs on the road. The B’s were forced to play five defensemen after Dennis Seidenberg was hurt on his first shift of the game but it didn’t matter. Far and away, Tuukka Rask was the best goaltender, and player for that matter, as the Rangers peppered him with 44 shots but were salted away by his stellar netminding behind the tired defense. Fourth-line left wing Shawn Thornton beat King Henrik up high for a 1-0 lead. Fourth-liner (sound familiar ?) and PK specialist Daniel Paille beat Lundqvist down low (five hole) as he moved Henrik to the left side. Too slow also was the Rangers offense in solving arguably the NHL’s best goaltender snubbed for the Vezina Trophy last year but unlikely to go unnoticed this year. Alain Vigneault absorbed the same type of defeat with his new lieges as that glorious June Vancouver night in 2011 when a shorthanded goal and the world’s hottest goalie sent him to the links and New York two years later.
The main intent of today’s post to get the Rangers fan in a lather will hopefully light up the comments section today and for the next Bruins-Rangers meeting set for a Black Friday matinee in Boston at 1:00. Sounds like a very informal staff meeting should happen around this game. What say you, Walking Boss?
Guys, get your yearly PSA screening. It can save a horrible fate if you don’t. And ladies, support our cause, please. And for god-sake, come back tomorrow for Junoir Blaber!
