Stunned to the very core, the Beleaguered Blueshirts have to wonder whether – s the fabled Chicken Little predicted.
You have to wonder – kidding, of course – whether the American Hockey League would allow an even-up trade, Hartford Wolfpack for the New York Rangers? (Just a joke Jim.)
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Losing all four games to the Islanders this season – last one on Thursday night had to be the utter humiliation.
Remember, The Hockey News Yearbook pegged the Blueshirts to finish fourth in the Metro and the Islanders seventh. (Doesn’t look like that scenario will happen, does it?)
Most compelling will be the Rangers latest passion play unfolding today in Pittsburgh. Let’s not forget The Hockey News Yearbook also had the Penguins in eighth place; ergo the cellar, where the Seventh Avenue Skaters happen to be shoveling coal. (Oops! It hit the goal post.)
Here’s the fact that blows up in the Blueshirts’ mug. Last summer the Pitt brass dumped Mike Sullivan and hired former Ranger aide Dan (Dan Who?) Muse to rule the Penguins’ bench.
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The result is that the musical Muse has his Pens hellbent for a playoff berth and while we know where Salad-Quote-Sully has his losers,
Even with Sidney Crosby, Geno Malkin and Kris Letang, Sully could do nothing. Zippo, nada playoffs for three straight years; four if you count this Sighted-Sub-Sank-Same imitation of a major league team.
Now, all of a sudden, the trio of future Hall of Fame Penguins are swimming up to a winning iceberg that almost resembles a Stanley Cup.
The Maven asked his favorite Pitt hockey guru Vince Comunale to compare Muse with New York’s Great Pretender, Sullivan.
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“Muse lets his guys play to their strengths – and not try to fit them into a style that Sullivan wanted to play,” says Comunale. “Dan has put his players in roles where they can thrive.”
Sully has put his players in a position where they don’t know Madison Square Garden from The Planet Mars.
And if you don’t believe me, check out the game today at PPG Paints Arena. WARNING: It may move you to tears!
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