Honey, they’re home.
The Rangers, that is, returning to Madison Square Garden following a six-day, two-game swing through California in which the team’s best qualities surfaced in Saturday night’s 3-2 shootout victory over the big, strong, fast and deep Sharks that followed Wednesday’s 5-2 spanking by the Ducks in Anaheim.
The Rangers were resilient in returning to their roots in San Jose, blocking shots, finishing their checks, absorbing punishment, doing whatever they could to win battles and support one another, even if outmanned, outsized and outgunned.
Now they’re home for a couple this week, beginning with tomorrow night’s match against the Islanders, who fancy themselves the NHL’s ultimate Dead End Kids who get no respect — maybe because they haven’t earned any with their persistent posturing as victims. They will ride into Manhattan with chips on their shoulders for a match that is likely to be nothing less than a gang fight.
You hear it all the time from the Rangers when they’re away, how this building (San Jose) or that building (Montreal) is such a tough place to play. You never hear that from tourists visiting Manhattan, how the World’s Most Famous Arena is a tough place for them to play.
A wild guess: That’s probably because it isn’t. The Rangers have a losing record at home this season, winning 15 of 34 (15-16-3) just as they had last year when they won 18 of 41 (18-17-6). They have the NHL’s sixth-worst record at home and eighth-best on the road at 21-14-1, a year after going 20-16-5 away from New York.
The Garden should be rocking tomorrow night, except that the Garden rarely rocks these days. The Rangers derive great energy from crowds on the road, the way they used to back in the day on Broadway before the gentrification of the building, before rabid crowds became polite audiences, before the fans who bleed blue and wear broken hearts on their sleeves began to dwindle to a precious few.
It’s only going to get worse for the Bluebloods and it’s only going to become more alien for the Blueshirts as the transformation of the once intimidating arena moves forward into a future in which only the swells will be able to afford the luxury of going to the games given the absolutely staggering ticket-price hikes the Garden will impose on its customers beginning next season.
Jim Dolan isn’t doing anything immoral here. He’s doing business. But the CEO should be prepared for the “lower bowl” (“downstairs” in my day) to be comparatively empty, the way that the preposterously priced seats on the privileged side of the moat are at Yankee Stadium.
The move across 161st Street came at the cost of the Stadium’s soul. The transformation between 31st and 33rd will have the very same effect. Customers who can afford the prices will largely be dilettantes, concierge fans who will be out on the town, not in on Henrik Lundqvist, Ryan Callahan and Marc Staal. Heaven help the diehards when the prices in the “upper bowl” are hiked in two years. Right; there’s going to be a bridge.
The Rangers are home this week for the first two of the seven remaining games at the Garden. Maybe the fans can gear up for this final run. Maybe the fans who will be priced out beginning next year will come with full throat.
For so many of them, it will be their final chance.