Rangers ELIMINATED from playoff contention… already!! Why this is exactly what this franchise deserves…

It's the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day.

In 2024, a truck crashed into Cannot Animal Rescue, where I work.

146 of our dogs needed homes fast.

We asked for help on Facebook.

Our story spread through WhatsApp messages and Instagram reposts.

Immediately, people stepped up.

And just six hours later, every dog was fostered.

I'll never forget how our community showed up for us.

Learn however, 3.5 billion people connect to what matters with meta at meta.com slash community.

In Belgium, on Saturday, March 28th, at 2.30 p.m. Eastern, USA vs. Portugal, Tuesday, March 31st, at 6 p.m. Eastern.

Live on TNT and HBO Max.

The New York greeners have already been eliminated from playoff contention, and we tell you why it's exactly what they deserve.

You're locked on the New York Ranger, your daily podcast on the New York Ranger, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day.

Welcome back Blue Shirts fans to episode number 1514 of the Lockdown New York Rainders podcast.

I'm your host John Chick.

So another day, another loss for the New York Rainders.

That's kind of just the way it goes.

And this miserable season is now down to just 10 games remaining, but Skype actually wasn't that bad.

We'll tell you why we're also going to discuss why Adam Sakura must remain in the lamp.

He had a really nice NHL debut for himself last night, also going to do our best to search for three positives from this game.

It's not always easy, but this one, as far as Ranger losses are concerned, like I said, not as bad as some of the others.

So I think we'll be able to find three positives.

But what did kick off today's episode by just kind of taking some inventory, taking a look at the big picture again.

The Rainders did lose four to three to the Toronto Maple Leafs last night, and that did result in the Rainders being officially eliminated from playoff contention.

I mean, it was basically just a formality we've known for quite a while.

There's no way this team was going to get anywhere near the postseason.

I would say by the middle of January, that's when it really became really got to be pretty evident.

I think to pretty much all of us, even the most optimistic of Ranger fans, couldn't have expected a whole lot for the rest of the season

in a way that everything was going at the time.

And honestly, it hasn't really gotten much better since.

You had that fun little four game winning streak, but that's about it.

Everything's basically been on par with where it's been from the middle of December all the way to right now.

And of course, it's all added up to the Rainders being eliminated from playoff contention quite early in the game.

Again, you know, when you go from the middle of December until the middle of March, without winning back to back games,

I think you pretty much seal your fate.

And yeah, you know, you had the free week Olympic break there in February.

But be that as it may, that's pretty indicative of how the Rainders are playing in that time.

And for the most part, I mean, again, when you look at that magic date, the middle of December until current day,

the Rainders have been just about as bad as their record.

I mean, they might occasionally have a nice game here and there.

And you can always pull out some pauses if you look closely enough.

But overall, it's just been a terrible season.

As far as how we got here and how did everything get so bad and, you know,

why does this future look so bleak for this Ranger team?

I mean, there's some young players that maybe get you a little bit excited, but it hasn't been good.

I mean, there's a lot of different reasons.

We'll do our best to kind of summarize it here as far as how this team got eliminated from contention.

So early in the game here, no scoring and no scoring depth.

I mean, the Rainders are seventh to last in the NHL in goal scored per game as of this recording.

You've got a shaky blue line.

That was a group that I think a lot of us were concerned about coming into the season.

But the Rainier defenseman early kind of overachieved.

And that was a fun early season storyline.

But it's certainly not an elite group in this league.

The injuries, they didn't help either.

You know, to be fair, I don't know how much better everything would have been.

Had everybody stayed healthy.

But obviously that did this team no favors.

Whether it's JT Miller being in the line up the entire season with an injury.

And I'm not convinced he's been 100% the entire year.

But there's obviously that.

There's Adam Fox getting injured.

And that obviously hurt the Rainders as well.

And Egor Shusterakin, I mean, Egor, even after the loss last night,

he's still right around 500 for the season.

We've talked about on here.

If he's able to somehow finish this season at 500 or better,

that's an unbelievable accomplishment for Egor Shusterakin.

And it's just unfortunate that one of his better seasons,

I mean, he wasn't very good last night at all.

Let's be honest.

But for the most part,

one of Egor's better seasons just being completely wasted

because everything else is bad or just bad.

Everything else.

There's also a lack of talent with this team.

You know, early in the season,

I remember some people kind of asking me or just,

you know, talking about it in general.

Like, you know, the Rainders,

they're such a talented team.

But like, what's going on?

Why can't they win?

The thing is, they weren't that talented of a team.

You know, as far as like coming into the season,

I mean, who would you say on this Rainder team,

you look at and you think high in talent?

You think Egor Shusterakin?

You think Adam Fox?

You think Artemi Pinaran?

Obviously, he's no longer here.

Um, you know, Miller and Trollcheck.

Miller's disappointed.

And maybe Laugh from here.

And that's about it.

I mean, in terms of again, scoring.

Like, who are you counting on to put the puck in the net?

Other than the people that I just mentioned,

you know, that that whole group there.

Um, was there any other high end talent?

I mean, Gabe Pro has been caught up since opening night.

And obviously, there's high hopes for him.

And he's played very well.

But the idea that this was like this ultra talented team.

I mean, I just never really saw it.

And it came to fruition, uh, you know, in the form of a lack

of goals being scored this season.

And there's too many, you look at this roster.

There's too many veterans that just have very low upside,

you know, sherry, radish, person,

Brutansky, Vaka Ninon.

Even somebody like Borgon, I mean, Borgon's okay,

but like him and Schneider had a really rough, uh, game last night.

I don't think Borgon is somebody that really moves the needle all that much.

You look at the effort from this New York ranger team.

I mean, it comes and it goes.

There's times where it's there.

I think it was there last night.

I think pretty much everybody on the roster gave you an honest effort for 60 minutes.

I think the star of the season effort was actually a strength of this team.

But it went away.

And when you have a team that's not that talented.

And they're also not putting in the effort on a consistent basis.

That's not a good formula.

And that's how you end up second to last in the NHL in terms of the standings.

And you're just the overall vibes.

You know, there's there's something that's just been off with this team for the last couple of years.

And we can obviously connect some dots and have an idea of why that's the case.

You know, Chris Jury upsetting everybody and these players taking things too personally.

And you know, it just feels like it's a group that maybe hasn't meshed together.

The way that other ranger teams have meshed in the past.

I mean, that's certainly what it looks like.

Now, granted, when a team is losing and losing and losing,

it's naturally going to look that way.

But again, I mean, you guys feel it too.

And I'm not the only person that has sensed this.

That just something feels off with this ranger team, with this group of players.

And I mean, there's other reasons too.

And we've talked about them off and on throughout the entire season.

I'm sure we'll discuss them more in the off season as well.

But all these things and more have led to where we are right now.

This team being hopelessly buried in the standings by the middle of January.

And being eliminated from playoff contention with 10 games to go.

And that's still shocking.

I mean, I know things have been bad.

We just laid out the reasons why.

But this is still for any team in the NHL, just shockingly early,

to be mathematically eliminated from contention.

I mean, the ranger still have 10 games left.

They could theoretically go 10-0, stop laughing.

They could theoretically go 10-0.

So there are 20 points still on the table to be had for the New Year craniors.

Now, obviously, they're not going to get all those points.

But even if they did, even if they went 10-0 and got 20 points,

the maximum amount in 10 games, there is still no path

for which this team can get into the postseason tournament.

And I mean, again, we just listed all the reasons.

I'll throw one more reason at you guys, though,

because this is something that I had to look up today.

And I didn't know it for sure, but I thought it was still the case.

The second leading scorer on this New Year craniors team right now

is still Artemi Panarin.

Artemi Panarin has not played a game for the New Year craniors

since January 26.

And what's really crazy, there's still 10 games left.

He still might be the second leading scorer on this team

when the season concludes.

Right now, Mika leads the way with 69 points.

He talked about him, great bounce back season for Mika's advantage added.

After Mika, though, it's Artemi Panarin with 57 points for the rangers.

After that, Lafranjaer is in third place with 50 points.

So it is certainly not out of the realm of possibility

that Artemi Panarin ends up as the second leading scorer for this ranger team.

When the season concludes, I mean, that is frightening.

Now, Lafranjaer could pass him.

He's got 10 games left and for Lafranjaer to pass Panarin,

he's got to get eight points in those 10 games.

It's certainly doable.

Trollcheck right now is fourth on the team with 48 points.

So Trollcheck would need 10 points and 10 games to pass Panarin.

And nobody else even has a chance.

And I know Panarin's Panarin, he's a very talented player

and he racks up a bunch of points.

But that's a pretty crazy stat to think about.

And overall, I think about this season.

And again, them being eliminated, it's just a formality.

We knew this was going to happen.

It was only a matter of time.

But this whole season just hasn't been fun.

It just hasn't been fun as a ranger fan.

It's about as little fun as I've had watching this team

in a very, very long time.

And we've compared this team to some other bad ranger teams.

You know, they had the letter that went out years ago

and they started to rebuild.

And we knew and we were somewhat accepting of this situation

where it was like, okay, well, they got to put the pieces back together.

This is going to take some time.

It's going to hurt for a while, but they've got this young roster.

There's guys with some upside.

They're going to hopefully let some of the younger players play

and things are on the up and up.

And they're moving in the right direction.

But now, I mean, it's hard to even know exactly

what the ranger's plan is and you couple that with the fact

that they collapsed from two years ago to last year

and collapse even further from last year to this year.

And it just hasn't been a very enjoyable season.

I know I'm not the only one that feels that way.

And that's in our point that I'll make real quick here is

compared this season to last season, right?

Last season was terrible.

And they collapsed and the effort was very much in question.

And they went from presidents, trophy winners

to missing the playoffs.

But even last season as bad as it was,

this ranger team was not eliminated from playoff contention

until only two games remained.

Before that, they were technically still in

and now they get knocked out of the race with 10 games ago.

So that'll give you an idea.

I mean, both these last two seasons have been bad

and we've kind of lumped them together.

But even from last season to this season,

how bad it's gotten and how much further this team has fallen.

It really is staggering when you think about it that way.

But in just a minute, it's not all bad.

Adam Sikora, I thought, had a really impressive debut for himself.

I really enjoyed watching him play last night.

I think the rangers also play him in a good spot to succeed.

I'll explain what I mean by that.

And we'll get into the highlights of Adam Sikora

and talk about why he needs to be on this team

and in the line up every single night moving forward.

All right, we just want to come in to layer by note.

Today's episode of Locked On New York Rangers

is brought to you by Robin Hood.

What is sports?

We're traded like markets.

Now you can put your sports IQ to work in real time

with Robin Hood prediction markets.

It's not you against the house.

It is you participating in a live market.

You can buy or sell your positions live all game long.

Use your sports knowledge in the moments that matter.

Robin Hood prediction markets changes the game.

It's people moving the action.

So in momentum shifts,

you can move along with it.

I always knew the game,

but I never had a dynamic way to apply that knowledge.

Now I can actually take part live

in a market powered by people.

You're no longer just a spectator.

Play by play, you decide.

Trade every play with Robin Hood.

Now available across the US,

download the Robin Hood app now to begin.

Futures and cleared swaps,

trading involves a significant risk

and is not appropriate for everyone.

Event contracts are offered by Robin Hood derivatives,

LLC, a registered futures commission

merchant and swap firm.

Soccer fans get ready.

TNT sports features the US men's national team

squaring off against top global competition

with high stakes and high drama.

What's a moment?

What's a strike?

See who makes their case to join the roster

to represent the stars and stripes.

USA is taking on Belgium on Saturday, March 28th

at 2.30 p.m. Eastern.

USA versus Portugal,

Tuesday, March 31st at 6 p.m. Eastern.

Live on TNT and HBO Max.

All right, let's go.

I keep everything rolling here

and locked on New York Raiders.

Huge shout to the everydayers.

It's always thank you guys so much

for obviously supporting this podcast

through all this losing that the Raiders have been doing.

And don't forget to check out

the new everydayer club for ad free episodes

and access to a group chat with me

and other listeners of this show.

Tap the link in the show notes

or go to locked on nyrangers.supercast.com.

And for the everydayers,

yeah, I mean, we've got a mailbag episode.

Sorry, teed up and ready to go for you guys tomorrow

on Friday.

And you guys definitely pull no punches

when it comes to Mike Sullivan

and JT Miller and Chris Jury and James Dolen

and just about everybody else involved

with this New York Rainier team.

It's good to vent sometimes

and everybody's getting the chance

to do that tomorrow.

But we shift our attention now

to Adam Sakura getting caught up

by the Raiders making his NHL debut.

And obviously he got the the pregame skate.

You know, he was out there on the ice

by himself for a couple of laps

before the rest of the Raiders joined him.

This was cool too.

Him and Yaroslav Himalosh.

They went up to each other during the pregame

and they did sort of like a chess bum pug kind of a deal

and they were asked about it afterwards

or at least at least Sakura was.

And he mentioned that that is kind of their

pregame routine.

Those two are apparently very close.

They've been roommates

as members of the Hartford Wolf back

and now they get to play together

as members of the New York Rainier.

So obviously a very cool moment for the two of them.

I was also happy to see this.

Even before the puck dropped,

the Adam Sakura would be playing in the top nine.

You add the top line obviously of pro

and Mika and La Franyaire.

Second line being Cartier JT Miller and Connor Shiri.

We've already said our piece about Connor Shiri

playing in the top six.

We're just going to have to live with it.

I suppose the third line was Cooley,

Cho-Jack and Sakura.

And so putting Sakura with a couple of,

you know, ball tests and veterans obviously

and some big name players for the rainers,

I like that approach by the rainers right away.

Not just bury him on the fourth fine.

And Sakura, I mean, he plays with a high enough motor

and he's physical enough and he'll mix it up enough

where he probably can play on the fourth fine.

But I'd like to see, you know,

some offense out of Sakura if possible as well.

So get into the top nine role,

get him some minutes in his NHL debut

and then of course the fourth fine,

Radish, Brodsensky and Himalosh.

But Sakura in this game ends up as a minus two.

He had 13 minutes, 33 seconds of ice time in this game.

That was the fourth fewest among ranger forwards.

The only three with fewer ice time than Sakura

were Himalosh, Radish and Brodsensky.

And that was obviously the fourth fine for the rainers.

But I'm not going to complain about 3333.

Or no, that would be a lot of ice time.

About 1333 in somebody's NHL debut.

In some ways, would you like to see more?

Maybe I don't think there's enough ice time

that you can possibly give to the kids right now.

I mean, I think that should be priority number one,

heading into the future,

giving the fact that this is a law season.

And now it's officially official.

The rainers are eliminated from playoff contention.

But that's a solid amount of ice time.

And I think I'd like to think at least

that he earned some of that.

You know, his line was playing very well.

And Sakura showed very well from self in this game

and produced a couple of scoring chances.

He was noticeable in a lot of different shifts in this game.

So I like to think that he earned that ice time

and that hopefully this will be the norm

for Sakura moving forward.

You might as well, again, get these kids some repsters.

Absolutely nothing to lose at this stage in the game.

Sakura also ended up with three shots on goal

and one block shots.

And there were just a lot of little plays

that I really appreciated from Sakura in this game as well.

You look at the first period.

Sakura's first shift.

He got to a loose puck

and wasn't quite able to finish a backhanded shot

on the doorstep.

I mean, he floored it just very briefly

with actually scoring a goal here in his first NHL shift

and what a moment that would have been.

But at least he got there.

He got to the front of the net.

Just couldn't quite get the shot away.

Later in this same shift though,

he was also in front of the net

and screening while Matthew Robertson took a shot.

The save was made, but very nice to see a nice first shift there.

He also helped the rainers hold the zone

and keep the puck in the offence of zone for a little while

during his first shift.

And then a little bit later in the first period,

he had Wilkouli sliding a short center in pass

to Sakura.

Sakura had crashed in that same deal here though.

Just wasn't quite able to get the shot away,

but at least willing and able to make a beeline

for the front of the net to get there

and to try to score a dirty goal for the rainers.

Then the second period, there was a situation

where we had a big scrum.

Cartier took a big hit.

There was a whistle.

JT Miller went after Joshua.

I get Sakura getting in the middle of all that as well.

And the rainers ended up getting a power play out of this deal.

And then not too much longer in the second period.

A nice job by Sakura winning a puck battle,

which allowed the rainers to keep possession

in the Toronto zone.

And the reason why this was important,

I mean, it's always important, right?

You want guys out there battling and fighting for loose pox

and winning some 50-50s.

But the reason this one in particular was important

is because it resulted later in this shift

in the Leafs taking a penalty.

Now it was cool that through the penalty, he got slashed,

but Sakura's the guy that won the puck battle

or at least helps win the puck battle,

kept the puck in the Toronto zone,

kept the pressure on Toronto,

and then not too much longer after that,

Toronto did take the penalty.

And if Sakura's not making this happen

and if the Leafs get away with the puck

and head up the ice on the rush,

then it's entirely possible this penalty doesn't get taken.

So Sakura definitely had a hand in that.

And then I like this too.

I mean, then the third period,

you're getting down to like two, 15 to go,

two minutes to go, 145 to go.

And Adam Sakura is still on the ice.

I mean, the rainers are down by a goal in this situation.

And you kind of just assume that Sullivan is going to go

with the same names that he always goes with.

And you know, he eventually did do that

and that's understandable.

But just the fact that Sakura was on the ice

and getting a shift with very little time left

in a game where the rainers are searching for the equalizer.

I mean, he was out there with his low

as 145 left on the clock.

Now, part of the reason for that might have been

that they couldn't get off the ice.

You know, Toronto got possession

and you can't just leave the ice

when the puck's in the defensive zone.

But still, I mean, he's getting looks

and getting opportunities late in a tight game

in which the rainers again,

have to score a goal to tie the game up.

So that was impressive as well.

And again, I'm just glad,

I mean, have to battle with this team sometimes

is just doing the common sense thing.

And I can appreciate the fact that Mike Sullivan

and the coaches did that

and they gave him some ice time

and they gave him some opportunities.

Again, no reason not to do that.

As far as Sullivan after the game,

this is what he had to say about Sakura.

I thought he was great.

I thought he played really well.

His speed was evident.

He made a couple of nice wall plays.

Yes, he did.

Didn't panic with the puck.

He made good decisions at the lines,

didn't force things that weren't there.

I thought he made an impact.

I thought he had a really good game.

So that's high praise for Mike Sullivan.

I mean, especially when he's talking about a rookie.

You know, that sounds like the kind of thing

that he would say about Connor Sherry.

But I mean, hey, he was very impressed.

And look, if we take him in his word here

and we believe that Sullivan really was as impressed

with Sakura as he appeared to be here,

then Sakura should remain in the lineup

and not just for the next game,

but for the final 10 games here.

I mean, give me a good reason why not.

Unless they're going to call up more prospects

and replace some of these veterans

and Sakura somehow gets squeezed out as a result of that.

But what sense would that make?

I mean, Adam and Sakura is somebody

that the rangers took in the second round.

And he hasn't had fantastic numbers with the heart

for Wolfpack, but there's no reason again,

not to get him some reps and see what he can do.

And I mean, look, Sullivan's impressed.

I think a lot of us were impressed.

Sakura had a strong first game.

That should very naturally lead to him staying in the lineup.

But we'll see what the rangers look to do.

They also, I got to mention this too,

they showed a clip from the heart for Wolfpack this season

where Sakura scores a goal against Providence

and that began the Teddy toss.

There were apparently 8,500 Teddy bears thrown

onto the heart for Wolfpack ice

after Sakura scored this goal.

And that was the plan.

That was obviously a promotion and a giveaway.

And the idea of being that those Teddy bears

would then be given to children in the area.

And then it sounds like Sakura and Himalosh

were two of the heart for Wolfpack players

that then delivered those Teddy bears

to children over the next couple of days.

But obviously a cool moment there.

What a visual, man.

Thousands upon thousands of Teddy bears

being fired onto the ring.

And they obviously cleaned them all up.

And great stuff there.

But I mean, look, you hear a story like that

for Sakura as well as Himalosh.

And the fact that they delivered these Teddy bears

that children in the area,

I mean, you already want to root for these kids.

I think a lot of us probably already

were pulling for guys like this

to get up on the New York Rangers

and make an impact and hopefully stick around

and stake their claim to some playing time.

But man, you hear about and you see things like this.

It just makes you want to pull for them even more.

At least for me and I would imagine

probably for a lot of you as well.

And so far, it's so good.

It's only one game but a promising start for Adam Sakura.

And one more thing that I'll say about this

before we shift our attention to some other things here,

there is going to be a fierce battle

for the bottom six spots on the New York Rangers.

You could honestly make the argument

and I think we have and some of you have as well

that this reindeer team probably has too many

bottom six type forwards.

There's just kind of a log jam right now.

But I mean, the one good thing about that

is they'll have options.

And competition is always a good thing

and there's gonna be a lot of guys

going to make this reindeer team in a bottom.

So we'll keep everything rolling.

In just a minute, I want to shift our attention

to a couple of good things from this game.

This is a segment that we debuted a while back

as we get toward the end of what's obviously

a lost season here.

The idea being, okay, can we find

three positive things that have occurred in this game

for the New York Rangers?

Three positives to pull out of this game.

We're gonna try our best to find three of those

in just a second.

All right, we just want to commence to let everybody know

that today's episode of Locked On New York Rangers

is brought to you by our very good friends

over at game time.

There's nothing like being in an NBA arena.

The crowd, the energy, the moment, getting tickets though,

that part hasn't always been so simple.

That's why game time has become the go-to app

for scoring tickets fast without the hassle.

It puts the advantage back where it belongs with the fans.

You gotta love seeing the all in price upfront

and none of those annoying surprise fees at checkout.

It's also awesome being able to see the view

from your seat before buying so you can make an easy decision.

There's great last-minute options too

with NBA tickets showing up at solid prices.

So take the guesswork out of buying NBA tickets

with game time, download the game time app,

create an account, use Code Locked On.

For $20 off your first purchase,

that's Code Locked On for $20 off,

download the game time app today.

And remember, it's gametime.co and not.com.

Instagram, Tina Counts default teens

into automatic protections for who can contact them

and the content they can see.

Explore teen accounts and all of our ongoing work

to protect teens online at Instagram.com slash teen accounts.

All right, let's go ahead and wrap up today's episode

of Locked On New York Raiders by looking for three positives,

three good things from this game.

Like we just mentioned,

we've kind of been doing this as a recurring segment

at the end of this wonderful season

that the Raiders are having.

I mean, I honestly didn't even try in the game

before this one because that was a miserable game

and obviously the Raiders were never really in it

and just played terribly.

But in this game, there were some positives.

And in a way, we already covered one of them,

the entire last segment about Adam Sakura.

Again, I thought that was a positive,

rock solid NHL debut for Sakura,

but we'll have to do three more in addition to that one.

Number one, I think you gotta go with that top line.

The New Look Raider top line,

or I guess not so new look now,

I think we're all getting used to this,

but Gabe Pro, because of Benajad,

Alexi LaFranier continue to excel.

Special shout out to Mika's a Benajad in this game

because he scored twice

and that also resulted in him breaking a tie

with Adam Graves, Mika's a Benajad,

now stands alone fourth place all time

with 282 goals as a member of the New York Raiders.

And up next is his BFF Chris Criter with 326 goals.

So Mika's a Benajad currently 44 behind Criter.

I don't know if he'll get there,

and we'll see how many more he gets this season.

It's possible he gets there next season.

That at least has a chance of happening.

Maybe the season after that would be the better bet,

but either way, if Mika plays out

his contract with the Raiders,

certainly he's gonna pass Criter.

But as far as this game is concerned,

and this line is concerned,

I mean, they had a hand in all three goals

at the Raiders scored to the surprise

of basically nobody at this point,

granted two of them were on the power play

and Gate Pearl wasn't out there for these goals,

but still some really pretty goals.

The one scored by LaFranjaer,

you know, some really good puck movement there.

You've got J.T. Miller fighting LaFranjaer

in front of the net.

LaFranjaer pulls the puck back, lifts his shot,

and is able to score great goal there by Alexi LaFranjaer.

And then another power play go a little bit later,

where it's a really nice tic-tac toe goal you've got.

And this is the power play by the way

that happened after Sakura and Cooley basically

combined forces to draw a penalty.

So the Raiders are able to score here.

Fox is able to keep a play alive with the blue line.

He fakes a shot, passes over LaFranjaer,

LaFranjaer then to the other side of the ice

to Mika's a banjada on the left side

and Mika hammers at home.

And now three to two in favor of Toronto.

And obviously the Raiders never did find the equalizer,

but Toronto went back up four to two,

and then the Raiders struck back immediately with a goal.

And this one was beautiful, even strength goal here.

LaFranjaer goes over the blue line,

passes to the left side to Gabe Pro.

Gabe Pro immediately moves it to Mika's a banjada

in front of the net, and there's the tippin goal.

And it's four to three with about seven minutes to go.

And unfortunately, like I said,

the Raiders never did find the equalizer,

but it certainly wasn't for a lack of effort,

which leads me into the second of our three positives.

The resiliency, the effort that the Raiders showed

in this game to begin with.

I thought the Raiders played better

in the first three minutes of this game

than they did for the first two periods

of the game before this one.

You know, they had four shots on goal

in the first three minutes did the Raiders in this game,

which is the same amount of shots on goal

that the Raiders had against Ottawa

in the first two periods of the game before this one.

Let that stat sink in for a second,

but despite the fast start,

what I thought was a positive start,

the Raiders fell into an early hole.

Again, EWR clearly did not have his A game in this one.

If EWR, if you could combine the way

that EWR played against Ottawa,

with the way that everybody else played

in this game against Toronto,

you'd probably be looking at a win.

Unfortunately, it just doesn't work that way in hockey.

But the bottom line is the Raiders fell into an early hole

and they didn't really let it discourage them.

They didn't slow down, they kept battling,

they kept fighting, they stay in the game,

didn't get dejected at all.

Couple of power play goals like we just mentioned.

And then I love the answer back by the Raiders.

Once Toronto went up four to two

because that looked like it could have been the backbreaker

and the Raiders struck right back.

You know, maybe about a minute later, whatever it was

and once again, cut the deficit to just one.

And that's something that I've kind of been noticing too

is that the Raiders for so long this season,

we've talked about this before,

but they would always give up goals early in periods,

late in periods, or in the shift that follows a goal.

And I feel like recently,

I mean, they've done a little bit of that still, unfortunately,

but they've also done some of that themselves

where they're the team that scores early in a period,

they're the team that scores late in the period,

they're the team that looks sharp in the shift following a goal.

We saw certainly an example or two of that in this game as well.

And again, I love the response here.

You know, that could have been the backbreaker,

but they got themselves right back into it.

And you know, they were battling.

They were battling for the equalizer down the stretch.

I don't know if the final minute or two ever really saw

that golden grade A scoring chance,

but it was not for a lack of effort.

They were trying to make things happen.

And the sequence that really impressed me was with 18 seconds left,

Rainders were on the power play,

but the face-off was in the neutral zone.

The Rainders, you know, they got the puck deep,

they went to work, they got it free from the boards.

I mean, you know, Toronto at that point is perfectly content

to just keep the puck pinned against the boards

and around the clock,

but the Rainders got it loose.

They worked it over to Fox, Fox to me,

because a bandhead for a one-timer did not go,

but at least they got a decent look

in those final seconds there.

And that's not easy to do.

I mean, only 18 seconds left,

and you've got a face-off in the neutral zone,

and the Rainders at least made it go of it,

and you know, got themselves a decent scoring chance

in the final seconds there.

Again, you know, this might all sound like faint praise

because, you know, the Rainders

just keep losing and losing and losing,

and it almost tricks you into believing

that this was a positive game last night.

Again, in some ways it was, but it's still a loss.

Like that's the bleep of it,

is they still lost another game,

despite us maybe feeling a little bit better

about this game than we have about some recent games.

And the third positive that I'll throw out there,

getting the puck at the net,

I don't know how any team goes

from 10 shots on goal in one game,

to 43 shots on goal in the next game,

but I'm not surprised that it involves the Rainders,

and specifically the 2025, 2026 Rainders.

And for anybody that might be a little bit confused

by that stat, they actually in the game before this one,

initially they had ruled that the Rainders

had nine shots on goal, they change it to 10.

So there you go, 10 shots on goal,

instead of nine shots on goal,

but that's the reason for the switch here.

And in this game specifically,

the Rainders out shoot the lease, 43 to 18.

I mean, that sounds like a win, but again,

they didn't, obviously you weren't in the A-game,

and they weren't able to finish as many of their opportunities

as I'm sure they would have liked,

but at least they had a better mindset,

at least they were competing harder,

and at least they went out there with the idea

of getting the puck toward the net.

And wouldn't you know it, they scored three goals.

So again, it's a small positive,

but a positive nonetheless.

And one more thing that I'll throw out there,

as an honorable mention, is the tank.

The Rainders now have 65 points that conducts only have 50,

they're not gonna fall behind the conducts,

so don't look for that.

But in further Rainders are the flames

and the black hops with 67 points each.

Both those teams have a game in hand on the Rainders,

which is actually a good thing

when we're talking about getting into a better draft position.

But we'll call it there.

If you guys like to get in touch with this podcast,

please send an email to Lockdown and why Rainders at gmo.com.

Once again, there's Lockdown and why Rainders at gmo.com.

Definitely give us a follow on Twitter as well,

at ggc17, and definitely subscribe

to Lockdown New York Rainders, YouTube channel.

Thanks again, guys.

I will see you next time.

Zepbound is approved as a 2.5, 5, 7.5, 10, 12.5,

or 15 milligram injection.

Zepbound contains tersepotide, and should not be used

with other tersepotide-containing products,

or any GLP-1 receptor agonist medicines.

It is not known if Zepbound is safe and effective

for use in children.

Do not share needles or pens, or reuse needles.

Don't take Zepbound if allergic to it,

or if you or someone in your family

had medullary thyroid cancer,

or multilayered cancer.

Zepbound can be used as a drug.

Zepbound contains tersepotide and should not be used

with other tersepotide-containing products,

or any GLP-1 receptor agonist medicines.

Don't take Zepbound if allergic to it,

or if you or someone in your family

had medullary thyroid cancer,

or multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2.

Tell your doctor if you get a lump or swelling in your neck.

Stop Zepbound and call your doctor

if you have severe stomach pain

or a serious allergic reaction.

severe side effects may include

inflamed pancreas or gallbladder problems.

Tell your doctor if you experience vision changes,

depression, or suicidal thoughts

before schedule procedures with anesthesia.

If you're nursing, pregnant,

plan to be, or taking birth control pills.

Taking Zepbound with a sulfonoluria

or insulin may cause a little blood sugar.

Side effects include nausea, diarrhea, and vomiting,

which can cause dehydration and worsen kidney problems.

Talk to your doctor, call 1-800-545-5979,

or visit zepbound.lily.com.

Zepbound and its delivery device base in QuickPin

are registered trademarks owned or licensed

by Eli Lilly and company.

It's subsidiaries or affiliates.

There's an SUV that turns the unthinkable

into the unforgettable.

The new Nissan Pathfinder,

built for big adventures in all that family chaos.

It's powered by a strong V6 engine

with a nine-speed automatic transmission.

Inside, it's rugged and capable,

but still premium and tech-forward,

with room for up to eight passengers.

It's also available with seven passenger seating

and second row captains chairs.

With massive hauling capability,

now you can bring all the gear you and your family need

for unforgettable adventures.

The new V6 Nissan Pathfinder.

Power your adventure.

Oh, Joey, another day, another bus delayed.

Look on the bright side.

You can finally catch up on podcasts.

You don't mind running late?

What's your deal?

What's my deal?

I saved up Metro with no activation fees.

I got one line 5G for just $25 a month,

kept the phone I love,

and a five-year price guarantee for my talk text and data.

Only $25?

I'm going to Metro when we hop off.

Get that mop air money feeling only a Metro by T-Mobile.

Just bring your number $30 first month and $25

after without a pay price guarantee exception supply.

See you side for details.