Hello NY and everywhere else, welcome to the Birdcage.....I'm Bird and I'm happy to be alive and be in Florida. Man-O-Man did we have a hell of a hurricane. It hit on October 24 and we still have people without power, intersections without traffic lights and many people with roof damage. But the recovery process moves on and people are trying to return to a somewhat normal life. It's not been easy, I can tell you that. I have been out to see some damaged areas to the south and west of where I live and I'm amazed at all the damage.

Anyhow, I have tried to follow the Rangers as best as one without power and TV could. At one point I read a newspaper down here and was given the following recap:

Rangers 5 Montreal 2

Yep, that was it. So I have had to read old articles to try and figure out just where we stand. I was very pleased with what I was reading. In fact, I think it's OK to declare this team better than expected. Now don't get me wrong, I still have a low expectation. We're rebuilding. But when you combine good goaltending with effort and add in a world class player like Jagr, you're going to win a few.

Last night's game vs. the Ice Chickens was more like what I had expected from this Rangers team every game. I was disappointed with the effort early on and there was little offence to speak of. Even the power play was powerless. It wasn't until Palfy was stopped by Weekes on a penalty shot did the Rangers begin show any life. Well, that's not fair......a few Rangers were playing pretty hard like Holleweg and Moore.

I'm not sure what happened to Prucha but I didn't hear his name called throughout most of the game. In fact I'm not sure I heard Hossa's name until he was decked flat, got up and scored. I did hear the names Lemeiux and Crosby a lot. Those two both potted goals as part of the Pens overall good road game. The Pittsburgh defense and goaltending got the job done.

Even though the game last night was a poor effort I was pleased with the comeback. In fact, I'm quite pleased with the team up to this point. Sure, I could spend some time pointing out problems however I'd prefer not to nit pick. In reality this team is performing better than expected and I for one am not going to get greedy. The last thing we need is a bad trade to try and make a cup run. Stay the course. That's not to say I wouldn't be open to one of Slats' moves. Moving Tom Poti seems like a real possibility to me at some point and speaking of the point, we sure could use someone for our power play as no one has stepped up and filled that position to my satisfaction as of yet.

You have to admit, if I told you that we'd be in first place at this point in the year you'd have laughed at me. Well, we are......so let's just smile and enjoy the moment.

The Rangers will be in Florida, close to me on Wednesday vs. the Panthers. I might get to that game and I'd hope to see Lundqvist start vs. the Stanley Cup Champs on Thursday and I really look forward to the games he starts. Tampa Bay should be a good test for the Rangers as they have an energetic crowd and the building really rocks. There should be some Ranger fans in the house and even a few Hockeybird readers. If I didn't have to work I'd think about making the 280 mile drive.....and the 280 mile return trip.

Don't sweat the loss to the Pens......don't get too excited about some of the poor defensive work or the bad power play just yet. These guys and the coaching staff have earned some patience from us. They have worked hard in most of the games so far and achieved some pretty good results....so let's not kill 'em just yet.

----}- Bird

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