Islanders Prove Bigger Isn’t Better

Over the past few seasons, the New York Rangers have tried to emulate the New York Yankees’ style of building a team, signing big-name free agents in the offseason and giving them enough cash to make [Warren Buffett] blush. Apparently, however, someone forgot to tell them that the [Yankees suck](http://www.nypress.com/blogx/display_blog.cfm?bid=69997076).

The Rangers [lost 2-1 last night] to the surging New York Islanders, thanks to Marc-Andre Bergeron’s goal and an assist, and Bryan Berard’s game-winning, 5-on-3 power-play lamplighter late in the second period. The defeat dropped the Rangers to 1-2-0 on the season, as the team has struggled out of the gate despite nabbing the two largest free-agent centers on the market this offseason. The Rangers shelled out a combined $87 million for Scott Gomez and Chris Drury this summer, but Gomez has a grand total of zero goals and zero assists through three games, and the team is a whopping 0-for-15 on power-play opportunities. I’m not good at math, but that’s not a very high success rate.

Luckily for them, no one in New York—or anywhere in America for that matter—watches or cares about hockey. I’m pretty sure “Almighty Amphibians,” a little-known TV show about salamanders and their sex lives on the Animal Network, outdrew the Rangers-Islanders game last night in terms of television viewers. Still, it’d be a nice boost for Manhattan if one of its teams actually won something at some point this millennium.

Photo courtesy of [Blueshirt Bulletin.]