The good news is that the Rangers will beat the worst team in the league tonight in San Jose and there will be joy in Wild Card Ville on Seventh Avenue.
The Maven assures you that it will be totally impossible for the New (Ugh!) Yorkers to lose two straight to a pair of the worst teams in California hockey history.
Having blown a two-goal lead with five minutes to go last night in Anaheim, the once-Beloved Blueshirts wrote a new chapter in the club's Book of Infamy by never touching the puck in overtime.
Then again, neither did Igor Shesterkin. Think that's bad, even MSG Networks Joe Micheletti put the rap on coach Peter Laviolette.
Meanwhile, MSG Networks' John Giannone opined: "There's just no making sense of what we just saw."
And if you Igor Shesterkin fans are waiting for Iggy to steal a game for a W, keep waiting, Ducks backup Lukas Dostal topped the soon-to-be-richest goalie in the world. Dostal of all people.
In case you're counting, Shesty The Great allowed five goals on 33 shots. Can't even steal one from a very-under .500 club.
"Shesty's defense isn't helping matters," says The Old Scout, "but in a game like this Igor giving up five goals to a team rated seventh in its division is unacceptable."
Jonathan Quick will be in goal tonight and The Maven sniffs a shutout against the toothless Sharks.
But after last night's miserable melodrama, talking about a Ranger win tonight is roughly equivalent to putting a gown on a chimpanzee.
Meanwhile, the fans who wear "Blueshirts" on their hearts have employed the following descriptions of their idols – or should I say former heroes – on the internet:
"Despicable." "Spineless." "Pathetic." "Detested."
My buddy Arthur Staple of The Athletic offers this: "In a season of embarrassing losses, they may have set the bar even lower tonight."
Yet despite blowing a two-goal lead late in the game, a win still was possible in OT. And to secure the two points, coach Peter Laviolette dispatched Vincent Trocheck, Breadman Panarin and Adam Fox.
"The Ducks sent out their young guys," asserts my favorite analyst Jess Rubenstein, "who outworked, outhustled and outplayed the Rangers best because they wanted it more."
It goes without saying that K'Andre Miller is playing defense as if he's on a slow boat to China and Will Borgen – he looked so good when he came East – may be a Borgen but he's no bargain.
Easily the most sensible comment that was tooth-pulled from the loser's dressing came by way of Adam Fox, the studious gentleman farmer from Harvard.
"We're still in this!"
If it wasn't for facing the shoddy Sharks tonight, Foxy might have added, "Yeah, we're still in deep Shinola" and left it at that!
