The Ballad Of The Fake Dodgers Bear Mascot

Barry Petchesky

furries

10/15/13 8:45am 10/15/13 8:45am

8

Fucking glorious.

BobbyHoying

Karl-Hungus

Proof that Dustin Hoffman is not the Dodger Bear.

Karl-Hungus

The great thing about baseball is that even after 150 years, you can watch a game and see something you’ve never seen before. Last night was one of those games. The renegade fan dancing atop the Cardinals dugout may have been wearing a bear suit, but this was a unique instance of guerilla mascoting.

Rally Bear only made his national debut in the eighth, as L.A. was taking on an insurance run in its 3-0 win over St. Louis. But he had been prowling Dodger Stadium all evening:

I love the proof for why this guy in a ratty, depressing bear costume and surgical gloves isn’t an official Dodgers mascot: The Dodgers don’t have a mascot. But the right to bear arms is a protected one, so Rally Bear was allowed to roam the concourses unmolested. Until he took to the dugout, and entertained the crap out of Dustin Hoffman.

The complications of A-Rod’s appeal

October, 28, 2013

Oct 28

12:41

PM ET

By Andrew Marchand | ESPNNewYork.com

In an ideal Yankees world, Alex Rodriguez‘s appeal of his 211-games would have concluded five days after the regular season with a decision coming shortly before or after the World Series. This would have allowed the Yankees to head into November with a clear understanding of how much, if any, of A-Rod’s salary would be counted toward next season’s payroll.
If A-Rod’s suspension, or at least 162 games of it, is upheld, the Yankees would not owe A-Rod $25 million in 2014. Plus he would not be able to hit the six homers he needs to tie Willie Mays with 660 on the all-time list, which would earn him a $6 million bonus.

 There is a lunatic in every bunch!

Anthony Gruppuso-USA TODAY Sports Will we see A-Rod on the field in 2014?

If the the suspension is overturned, the Yankees will need to budget in $31 million ($25M for the base, $6M for the bonus) as they try to fall beneath Hal Steinbrenner’s “serious goal” of a payroll under $189M.
The problem for the Yankees, even after concluding their organizational meetings, is that the Rodriguez appeal doesn’t resume until Nov. 18 — another three weeks from today. If it goes the full week — and A-Rod lawyer Joe Tacopina said he expects at least five days — then it will end on Nov. 22.
The arbitrator has 25 days from that point to render a decision, meaning it could come after the Winter Meetings (Dec. 9-12) and possibly as late as a week before Christmas, which is usually when the baseball shopping season is wrapping up.
But if A-Rod’s side needs more than five days, then the timing will again come down to arbitrator Frederic Horowitz’s schedule and there is no telling when the hearing would resume, let alone finish. This could guarantee the Yankees don’t find out the answer until late December or even January.
Brian Cashman says that he is going about his business as if A-Rod will be an eligible player because he is not ineligible yet. Still, everyone around the Yankees know it will be much easier to figure out the $189M puzzle the sooner they know if A-Rod’s money will be on the books or not.

Carlton Fisk, Luis Tiant to throw out the first pitch for Game 6

Craig Calcaterra

Oct 30, 2013, 2:52 PM EDT

BOSTON — The last time there was a World Series Game 6 at Fenway Park, this happened:

That man is back again. As is Luis Tiant, who went 2-0 in the 1975 World Series. Tonight they will throw out ceremonial first pitches. Very cool. And, for Boston fans anyway, maybe a Game 6 good luck charm. The less we talk about Game 7 of 1975 the better they’ll like it.

In news of somewhat less-historic stature: Quincy, Massachusetts’ own Dropkick Murphys will perform the National Anthem. They will also play “I’m Shipping Up To Boston” as part of the pre-game ceremonies.  I’ve found people’s mileage varies wildly on the merits of the Murphys, but you can’t say they aren’t a part of recent Boston Red Sox lore.

Still: the Pixies are from Boston too. Just sayin’.

Under Pressure: for World Series umpires failure is seized upon, success is ignored

Craig Calcaterra

Oct 30, 2013, 11:41 AM EDT

Getty Images

BOSTON — An early morning direct flight from St. Louis to Boston the day after Game 5 of the World Series is bound to be full of folks with baseball connections. The lineup for this Southwest Airlines flight is certainly no exception. As I take my place in line to board I notice at least a dozen baseball writers, television personalities and no shortage whatsoever of fans clad in Red Sox and Cardinals gear.

But one person in particular catches my eye in this boarding queue. A balding man with a walrus-like mustache. Indeed, he has an absolutely unmistakable face. Which is sort of a problem. Because, in his line of work, people knowing who you are is generally considered a sign that you’ve done something wrong. The man is a major league umpire, and major league umpires are usually only recognized when they’re on the field clad in blue. And even at that, no one should know their name as easily and readily as people know this man’s name. But this man is the most famous major league umpire of them all. This man is Jim Joyce.

Joyce is famous, of course, for one of the most monumental screw-ups in umpiring history: the blown call of what would have and should have been the 27th and final out of Armando Galarraga’s perfect game back on June 2, 2010. The baserunner was out, Joyce called him safe and from that day forward any chance of Joyce walking through an airport anonymously was gone for good.

And even if there was a chance that the Galarraga call had faded from some people’s memories in the past three years, on this day, in this city, Joyce’s face is back in everyone’s mind due to a much-discussed call less than three days earlier: the obstruction call on Red Sox third baseman Will Middlebrooks which ended Game 3 of the World Series.  That call Joyce got right. But given the rarity of such calls and the spotlight it was given due to when and where it occurred, it brought intense scrutiny down on Joyce once again.

It wasn’t the first time in this World Series that an umpire’s call was a big part of the story. In Game 1 second base umpire Dana DeMuth ruled that Cardinals shortstop Pete Kozma made a putout at second on a potential double play ball. It was a clearly the wrong call — Kozma never had possession of the ball to begin with — and if it wasn’t for DeMuth’s colleagues converging on him and conferring to overturn it, it might have changed the complexion of the game and certainly would have stood as one of the worst calls in World Series history.

The hard truth about being an umpire is that no one remembers the best calls you’ve made. The hundreds if not thousands of calls — tough ones too — that you got right. It’s not even that they’re merely expected and thus go unremarked upon. They’re simply ignored as umpire calls altogether and the plays are remembered, if they are remembered, for the players involved, not the call itself. Indeed, I can think of no other job where one’s failure is so thoroughly cataloged and one’s competence or even excellence is so thoroughly ignored.

But that’s how it is. Tell me: which good calls stuck out to you in Game 5, which ended less than 48 hours ago? Give up? Me too, and I was there watching the thing. Now, tell me if you remember a 12-year-old Jeffrey Maier reaching over the fence and pulling a Derek Jeter ball into the bleachers for a home run which umpire Rich Garcia should have called fan interference. Or how about Phil Cuzzi calling Joe Mauer’s double down the left field line foul when it clearly was fair, costing the Minnesota Twins runs and, maybe, the 2009 AL Division Series. Or — and you either remember this vividly or have been told about it so much that you feel like you do — how about Don Denkinger’s calling Jorge Orta safe when he should have been out, more or less giving the 1985 World Series to the Kansas City Royals? Indeed, bad calls from umpires, in the World Series or otherwise, are both memorable and legion.

As the 2013 season comes to a close, there is much talk about Major League Baseball’s intent and desire to institute instant replay. If and when it does that — and there are still a lot of “ifs” about it — the most egregiously blown calls will, hopefully, become a thing of the past. But of course not all calls will be subject to instant replay. Balls and strikes won’t be, and while no one ball or strike call draws the intense ire of fans like a blown call on the bases, the low-level ire of each one does make up for it in volume. And even if bad calls are corrected, fans of teams on the short end of those calls will still boo and jeer because, well, they’re fans and rationality is not an essential or even common part of fandom. And when they do, the umpires will feel the heat.

But if Jim Joyce feels the heat, he’s certainly not withering under it.  Back in the St. Louis airport, Joyce is recognized by more people than just a baseball writer.  Fans call him by name. One compliments him on correctly calling obstruction on Middlebrooks in Game 3. Another praises him for that time he saved a woman’s life by performing CPR at Chase Field. Another — wearing a Boston Red Sox sweatshirt — correctly notes that Joyce is working home plate for tonight’s Game 6 and jokingly tells Joyce that, “for the good of the game, your strike zone needs to be toes to eyeballs — for the Cardinals only!”  Joyce smiles, nods and says “no comment.”

Another fan brings up a more difficult subject. He compliments Joyce on the way he handled the aftermath of the Galarraga call. Though the fan focuses on the positives of the incident — Joyce was widely praised for his grace and humility in the days following that game —  it unavoidably serves as an obvious reminder of Joyce’s biggest professional failure.

My eyes immediately go to Joyce’s face, as I want to see if the comment registers with him negatively. If there are any tells that the comment or the memory it no doubt inspires hit Joyce hard.

“Thank you,” Joyce says, again giving a small nod in the direction of the man talking to him.

He says it immediately and effortlessly. There is no trace of a negative emotional reaction on Joyce’s part. There isn’t even a suggestion that his reply was studied or practiced by virtue of having to respond to such things for the past three years. His comment was no different than if you told him you liked his shoes. Everything about Joyce, from the way he stands to the way he holds his carry-on bag to the way he talks to the people around him evinces calm confidence.

Between the crowd at Fenway Park and the people watching Game 6 on television, there will be upwards of twenty million pairs of eyes focusing on everything Joyce does tonight. If something goes sideways with the umpiring in this game, those eyes and millions more will narrow and look askance at Joyce and his colleagues. There will be no one in the world of sports under more pressure given the size of the stage.

But as geology tells us, if you don’t have pressure, you don’t get diamonds. Jim Joyce has felt the pressure before and it has never, ever crushed him. And as such, it’s hard to imagine Major League Baseball wanting anyone other than Jim Joyce on its diamond tonight.

Rafael Soriano, first lieutenant in the Dominican Air Force

Aaron Gleeman

Oct 30, 2013, 12:16 PM EDT

James Wagner of the Washington Post has a good article about Nationals closer Rafael Soriano, who enlists in the Dominican Republic’s Air Force when he goes home during the offseason:

Soriano was brought into the Dominican Air Force, an honorary placement, a distinction also bestowed upon other major leaguers from the Dominican. But Soriano took it a step further. He began coaching the Air Force’s baseball team, serving as an unofficial pitching coach during the offseason.

Soriano, 33, is back at home in the Dominican now with his family and soon he will begin stopping by the nearby military base to coach this year’s baseball team. He donates gloves, bats and uniforms. He has risen all the way to first lieutenant, with a promotion to captain coming perhaps this winter, he said.

Why would a 25-year-old quit baseball after his MLB debut?

Aaron Gleeman

Oct 30, 2013, 1:20 PM EDT

Getty Images

Adrian Cardenas was a Phillies first-round pick in 2006 and established himself as a solid second base prospect, getting traded to the A’s for Joe Blanton in mid-2008.

He hit .292 at Triple-A and got a cup of coffee with the Cubs last season, appearing in 45 games as a 24-year-old, but decided not to play this season and is now retired.

And he wrote a really interesting essay for The New Yorker about why he called it quits so young, including this excerpt:

I quit because baseball was sacred to me until I started getting paid for it. The more that “baseball” became synonymous with “business,” the less it meant to me, and I saw less of myself in the game every time I got a check from the Philadelphia Phillies Organization, the Oakland Athletic Company, or the Chicago Cubs, L.L.C. To put it simply, other players were much better than I was at separating the game of baseball from the job of baseball. They could enjoy the thrill of a win—as it should be enjoyed—without thinking of what it meant to the owners’ bottom lines. These players, at once the objects of my envy and my admiration, are the resilient ones, still in the game. I am no longer one of them.

You should definitely read the whole thing, because it’s a fascinating glimpse into something most of us could never understand and Cardenas might have a future as a writer.

Cardinals-Red Sox Preview

By RONALD BLUM (AP Sports Writer)                                 6 hours ago                             AP – Sports

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                                        BOSTON (AP) — Ted Williams never did it. Not Carl Yastrzemski. Not Carlton Fisk. Not even Pedro Martinez and Curt Schilling, who ended The Curse nearly a decade ago but did it on the road.

Wed, Oct 30

Team	Score	Links
(1) St. Louis	8:07 PM EDT FOXTixAdd to Calendar
(1) Boston
Red Sox lead series 3-2

Practically no one alive can remember seeing such an event unfold: The Boston Red Sox could win a World Series title on the celebrated green grass at Fenway Park.

When the Red Sox last won a World Series at home, Babe Ruth, Carl Mays and Harry Hooper were the stars in September 1918, a season cut short by World War I. Ahead of the St. Louis Cardinals 3-2, this year’s Red Sox have two chances to reward their faithful.

”It would be awesome,” said John Lackey, who starts Game 6 on Wednesday night against Cardinals rookie Michael Wacha.

Fenway was just a kid the last time the Red Sox took the title there, a modern 6-year-old ballpark. A crowd of 15,238 watched the Red Sox defeat the Chicago Cubs 2-1 to win the Series in six games.

”It was a ball game that nobody who was present will forget. It left too many lasting impressions,” Edward F. Martin wrote the following day in the Boston Globe.

Picks & Odds

StL

45%

244

Bos

55%

297

• STL
• +114
• BOS
• -124

That was so long ago that Woodrow Wilson was president of the United States, television hadn’t been invented and the designated hitter didn’t exist. There were 16 major league teams – none west of St. Louis – all games were played in the daytime and the NFL was 23 months from formation.

Now, Fenway Park is a centenarian, the oldest home in the majors and listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The last time a World Series Game 6 was played between Lansdowne and Van Ness Streets was in 1975, the night Fisk sent Pat Darcy’s second pitch of the 12th inning high down the left-field line and waved his arms three times, urging the ball fair, before it clanked off the yellow foul pole atop the Green Monster.

”I was just wishing and hoping,” Fisk recalled in 2005. ”Maybe by doing it, you know, you ask something of somebody with a higher power. I like to think that if I didn’t wave, it would have gone foul.”

Boston needed that 7-6 win to force a seventh game against Cincinnati, and the Red Sox went on to lose the following night.

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Boston Red Sox manager John Farrell speaks during a news conference before a workout at Fenway Park  …

Now, they are one win from setting off a Boston Glee Party.

”With no disrespect to history or to Carlton, you know, it’s an iconic video and a highlight that is shown repeatedly, and one of the more memorable swings that probably has taken place in this ballpark,” Red Sox manager John Farrell said Tuesday, ”but hopefully there’s somebody tomorrow night that can wave their arms just the same.”

Boston swept the Series in 2004 and ’07, starting at home and winning titles at St. Louis and Colorado. Given the length of time since the last championship clincher at Fenway, there is a seemingly insatiable demand for the just over 38,000 tickets.

As of early Wednesday, the cheapest of 1,200 or so ducats for sale on Stubhub.com was for standing room on the third-base side at $997.50. A dugout box seat was available for $12,322.

”I don’t know what happened in 1918, but tomorrow we’re going to try and make it happen, make people proud and happy in the city of Boston and New England,” David Ortiz said. ”I guarantee it’s going to be wild.”

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Championship banners hang on the facade of Fenway Park in Boston on Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2013, includin …

Ortiz’s performance in the World Series has been better than Ruthian. He’s batting .733 (11 for 15) with two homers, six RBIs, four walks and a sacrifice fly, and has one-third of Boston’s hits.

”That’s why we call him ‘Cooperstown,”’ Game 5 star David Ross said, ”because he does Hall of Fame stuff.”

While the Red Sox went through a light workout at Fenway Park on a cool autumn afternoon, the Cardinals tried to maintain their cool as they got stuck in St. Louis, joined by their families on a charter flight delayed several hours by mechanical difficulties.

”Fortunately we have plenty of food, snacks for the kids, lots of entertainment with on-board movies, and everybody travels with all their high-tech stuff,” manager Mike Matheny said. ”Most of these kids are pretty happy that they’re not in school right now, and it’s a great way to spend a day.”

The plane took off about 9:10 p.m. EDT after a delay that appeared to last around 6 hours and landed shortly after 11 p.m.

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Boston Red Sox pitchers Clay Buchholz, left, and John Lackey stand together during a workout at Fenw …

Farrell made a bit of news, saying Ross will get his fourth Series start behind the plate in place of slumping Jarrod Saltalamacchia.

”David has given us a spark offensively out of the position,” the manager said.

Shane Victorino is expected to return to right field after missing two games due to a bad back, and Game 4 star Jonny Gomes will start in left over Daniel Nava. With the shift back to the American League ballpark, Mike Napoli returns to first base and Ortiz to designated hitter.

Playing with a foot injury, Allen Craig will be the DH for St. Louis. Trying for their second title in three seasons, the Cardinals have high confidence in Wacha, a 22-year-old rookie who has won all four of his postseason starts, allowing three earned runs in 27 innings.

”I imagine it’s going to be crazy, but I’m not going to pay any attention to it,” Wacha said.

Boston doesn’t want the Series to reach a seventh game on Halloween night, which likely would be started by Jake Peavy, who has a 7.11 ERA in this postseason. St. Louis would start Joe Kelly, who pitched well in Game 3 but didn’t get a decision.

Ortiz, the last remaining veteran from the 2004 title, wants to make sure fans can start the hullabaloo.

”Hopefully this will get over tomorrow, and they’ll get to enjoy it like they always do,” he said. ”Party time.”

NOTES: Forty-one of 62 previous teams with 3-2 World Series leads won the title, including 24 in Game 6. … Since the 1979 Pittsburgh Pirates won Games 6 and 7 in Baltimore, six straight teams have failed to overcome 3-2 deficits on the road.

Nine ways the Yankees can undermine Boston’s celebration

 

Posted by el duque at 7:05 AM

1.       Buy off Neil Diamond. Twenty million clams would take him home. From there, we refuse to let him ever play again in Boston. We’d own his vast library of hits. We can prohibit the Redsocks from ever again playing “Sweet Caroline.” Once a game, the fans will feel sad. Their empty silence will bring us sheer pleasure. 2. Shave and waive. One by one, we sign the Redsock beards. Shave them, as per the Yankee facial hair ban, and then waive them, citing some obscure physical condition that turned up in our mandatory MRI. Make something up. A strained claviticus. They’ll be damaged goods. They’ll believe something’s wrong. They’ll have no beards. And we’ll put something in the shaving cream that keeps them from ever growing facial hair again.

In 2007, we gave Manny Ramirez the shrinking potion.

3. Arrange for some quack to get busted with a backpack full of HGH and a notepad full of Redsock names.  In big, bold letters, scribble “David Ortiz.” 4. Ben Affleck and Matt Damon. Kidnap them. Force them to fight each other to the death with bare hands. Broadcast it on all Boston TV stations simultaneously, so everybody must watch. Run it at 4 p.m., so the children will be getting home from school.
5. Buy the Boston Globe. We can get it for a song. (BTW, the Yankees should have done this last year.) With editorial control over the Globe, our reporters  can plant stories, misquote players, brew trouble, sew the seeds of mutiny, suggest bad trades and, most of all, slip roofies into Shaughnessy’s coffee and bust him down to Gammons’ driver.

In 2004, we hooked up Curt Schilling.

6. New pie. A massive, $100 million public campaign changes Boston Cream Pie to “New York Cream Pie.” Also, from now on, Columbia beets. Will think of something for the clam chowder. 7. Invite Dustin Pedroia to the NYC Winter Prom. Pair him with the Homecoming Queen and name him “King of the Ball.” At his sexual-coming-of-age moment, as he is being crowned, pour buckets of pigs blood onto him. (Note: We will have to hang the buckets in the rafters beforehand.) Have everyone point at him and laugh. When Pedroia goes into a rage, blame Redsock fan Stephen King. Then, quickly… get out! 8. Bill Belichick. He’s gotta be allergic to something. Cat dander, maybe? 9. Cape Cod. Looking for ideas here. I’m thinking… beaches full of carnivorous giant oarfish!

NHL clarifies ‘kick’ rule that keeps costing Rangers

By Larry Brooks

October 29, 2013 | 3:02pm

It was ruled J.T. Miller kicked the puck in and his goal against the Flyers was disallowed.

Photo: AP

MORE ON:

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Lundqvist ‘frustrated’ over controversial goal

The Rangers believe they have been victimized twice within their last three games on video-review calls from Toronto regarding “kicked-in” goals allowed or disallowed.

There was nullification of the J.T. Miller “goal” off his right skate Thursday night in Philadelphia at 5:36 of the third period that would have brought the Blueshirts into a 2-2 draw in the game they lost 2-1.

And on Monday, there was verification of the Alex Galchenyuk goal at 17:09 of the third period at the Garden that gave Montreal an insurance goal in the Habs’ 2-0 victory.

Indeed, following the defeat to the Canadiens, Henrik Lundqvist said: “If that’s not a kick, I don’t know what a kick is. Seriously, there needs to be some sort of consistency in the call. I think that’s a kick. That’s my opinion.

“It would be very interesting to hear their explanation for it just to know, moving forward, what the rule really is.”

Ask and ye shall receive, King, for The Post has heard the NHL’s explanation of the rulings on Miller and Galchenyuk in addition to the basis for all decisions on such calls via an email correspondence with NHL Senior VP of Hockey Operations Mike Murphy.

The league uses five criteria developed in consultation with general managers as a basis for the decisions, which Murphy stressed, are not finalized until the play “is watched in real speed two or three times …this is most important to get a true feel for the play.”

The criteria are provided by Murphy are as follow: “1. Was there a distinct kicking motion? 2. Did the distinct kicking motion propel the puck into the net? 3. What direction was the skate/ player facing? 4. Did the puck have enough inertia/ force to go into the net on its own and the skate just changed the direction of the puck? 5. Did the skate just change the direction of the puck?”

Regarding the call on Miller, who had the puck carom in off his skate as he attempted to get his stick on a rebound while driving to the net with speed from the left side, Murphy wrote: “Miller’s review was: distinct kicking motion, propelled the puck, skate was facing the net, the puck had no inertia in the direction of the net; the skate provide the inertia.”

Regarding the call on Galchenyuk, who was also driving to the net but appeared to slow down/stop in attempting to handle a two-on-one pass, Murphy wrote: “We felt the puck hit his skate and went in the net. There was no distinct kicking motion, the puck had force/inertia of its own, Galchenyuk was attempting to control the pass.”

Murphy also added the league sends difficult reviews to a group of eight or nine GM’s, “to get their feedback to be sure we are clear in the direction they are giving us.”

Perhaps Lundqvist should be included next time on the email chain.

Rangers ice Islanders in frantic finish

Sports

By Brett Cygralis

October 29, 2013 | 9:56pm

The Rangers’ Benoit Pouliot (right)  celebrates his game winning goal as Blueshirts iced the Islanders Tuesday.

Photo: Getty

Maybe this is exactly what the Rangers needed, a hard push in an environment where they didn’t have an option but to push back.

It was Rangers-Islanders in the Coliseum, and by the end of the Blueshirts’ 3-2 win Tuesday night, it seemed the whole place was a frothy mess.

“There was a lot of atmosphere in the stands, and there was a lot of atmosphere on the ice,” said Rangers coach Alain Vigneault, his first taste of this rivalry in front of an announced crowd of 16,170, the first home sellout of the Islanders season. “Just what I expected.”

The same can probably be said about Vigneault’s club, as well, which has fallen substantially short of expectations early in the season, yet finally managed to put together a complete game.

Coming of Monday night’s disheartening 2-0 loss to the Canadiens — the Rangers home-opener at the revamped Garden, no less, after a season-opening, nine-game road trip — this was a game in which both teams knew the intensity was going to be ratcheted up.

The Rangers (4-7-0) got the best of it, as Benoit Pouliot scored the game-winning goal with 6:12 remaining in the third period, a rising wrist shot from the high slot which buried the Islanders (4-5-3) and perpetuated their own defensive funk.

“It feels great, man, I don’t know what to say,” Pouliot said with a gargantuan smile, drawing a laugh as this was the belated follow-up to his best performance as a Ranger on Saturday in Detroit, when he scored a goal and made a desperate diving play to set up the overtime winner. “It’s good for everyone. After [Monday night’s] loss, we came in here ready to play, and I think that’s what we did.”

The Rangers came into the game as the worst offensive team in the league, averaging just 1.50 goals per game. It seemed all hard luck; good saves and wide posts living in the psyches of all those forwards with all those zeros in the goal column next to their names on the stat sheet.

So it was with great enthusiasm that Chris Kreider turned and celebrated the game-opening tally, his first of the season, a spin-around sweep-in that beat Evgeni Nabokov from in front of the net on a power play, 12:30 into the first.

“It’s nice to know that we’ve beaten him at least once,” said Kreider, who was an absolute force with his speed and power for the fourth straight game since being recalled from AHL Hartford. “When you execute on something you’ve talked about and worked on, it’s that much more rewarding.”

The Islanders were not about to go quietly, especially not in their barn of a building, no matter how many of the patrons were in the Rangers red, white and blue. Cal Clutterbuck tied the game early in the second with his first as an Islander, and with under a minute left in the period, a fluttering puck hit Isles forward Peter Regin in the face and got behind Rangers backup goalie Cam Talbot for a 2-1 advantage.

“I don’t think too much went wrong,” said Islanders center John Tavares, whose line with new addition Thomas Vanek was held in check by the Rangers shutdown defensive pair of Dan Girardi and Ryan McDonagh. “Just a couple mistakes, and when we got our chances, we didn’t finish enough. Not a lot of difference, but that’s what these games are like.”

McDonagh tied the game, 2-2, early in the third, when his seeing-eye power-play slap shot took advantage of an awful too-many-men-on-the-ice penalty, one that enraged Isles coach Jack Capuano.

It set the table for Pouliot’s game-winner, and set the table for the Rangers to now start moving forward.

“This is a very intense building every time we play here,” McDonagh said. “It’s a game that’s always hard fought, and you always want to come out on top.”