"Just reloading my weapon, you know?"
That was just one of the many golden moments from last night's premiere episode of HBO's Rangers/Flyers 24/7: Road to the NHL Winter Classic. As the cameras took us behind-the-scenes with both clubs, we witnessed different personalities, how each group deals with adversity, and we got a whole lot of insight as to how each coaching staff runs their team. Despite both the Flyers and Rangers being among the Eastern Conference's top teams, HBO did a fantastic job of picking out storylines with New York losing two straight and Philadelphia suffering the loss of their top player to a concussion. Even if you aren't a hockey fan, it was still a captivating story to follow.
Most hockey sites are focusing on the episode from a bi-team perspective, so I am going to focus on just the Rangers' half of the highlights. But, of course, I can't possibly not mention Flyers goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov. But that's for later.
The first golden quote of the night from a member of the Rangers came from, of course, Sean Avery, when he referred to a Philadelphia player as a "f------ loser" in the introduction of the show.
We then were treated to two gems from head coach John Tortorella during the first intermission of the Rangers' loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs.
The first was in reference to Leafs forward Phil Kessel: "If you have a chance, finish him. He's a good player. But don't sh-- your pants on him."
And the next was in the direction of Brian Boyle in front of the entire locker room: "Brian Boyle, we've done that f------ coverage all f------ year long. You got that f------ mic on you and can't f------ think straight."
And at that point you could've officially said that you have witnessed John Tortorella accountability first hand. And give the coach credit, because he did the exact same thing to sniper Marian Gaborik on the bench during the game in Buffalo, when he exclaimed "are you going to stomp on a f------ puck tonight? For f---'s sake!"
Gaborik then scored on his next shift.
And then we got an inside look at the incident between Artem Anisimov and the Tampa Bay Lightning. Yes, I'm talking about his 'shooting the rifle' celebration after he scored, which then resulted in a melee that saw him tossed for 16 minutes.
First Artie quote occurred when the official was grappling with him: (in Russian accent) "What the f---- are you doing!?"
And then when he was told he was being given a penalty: "No, what I do?"
But the best part of that entire segment was when Sean Avery and Marian Gaborik walked into the locker room between periods, where Anisimov was already sitting undressed, looked at him and started chuckling. I nearly wet myself during that scene.
I also got a kick out of how the players decide who pays for dinner. The ol' credit cards in a hat trick, which left Henrik Lundqvist and Jeff Woywitka footing the $2,500 bill at the end of the night. To which rookie Carl Hagelin remarked "thanks for dinner, losers."
Bold kid.
But the very best part of the show had to be Ryan Callahan's moment with his 95-year-old grandmother. I won't even recap this one, I'll just show you video:
As for Flyer quotes, these were my two favorites....
Scott Hartnell to Matt Cooke of the Penguins: "You're the dirtiest player in the league, bud."
And Ilya Bryzgalov on the.... Universe?: "The solar system is so humongous big."
I know I didn't cover it all, so anything else you'd like to share or comment on, be sure to leave it in the comments.
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