Jacob Trouba’s unique physical gift is back for Rangers — at just the right time
NY Post
Regarding the Rangers, who indeed get the Panthers for Game 7 at the Garden on Thursday:
1. Oh, Game 7 of the 2024-25 regular season and not Game 7 of the 2024 Eastern final. The Blueshirts have beaten up on suspect teams through this 5-0-1 getaway in which they have flaunted their talent while still relying too often on Igor Shesterkin’s brilliance.
This one should carry some emotion with it. This is a challenge whose significance should not be overstated on either side of the ledger.
Remember, after losing in six to Tampa Bay in the 2022 conference final, the Blueshirts opened the 2022-23 season with a bravura performance in defeating the Lightning at the Garden. Its significance became null and void when the club spun into months of mediocrity following this one shining moment.
2. But Jacob Trouba’s anachronistic hit that destroyed Justin Barron as the Habs winger came carefree into the zone 7:11 into the third period of the Blueshirts’ 7-2 victory in Montreal on Tuesday — and raised temperatures to a fever pitch across the Internet universe — served as a reminder to the Cup champ Puddy Tats that there is always menace lurking on the Rangers blue line.
And this time not operating on a damaged ankle.
It won’t take long for everyone to reacclimate. Fifteen years may seem like an eternity when discussing Yankees appearances in the World Series, but when you have muscle memory this strong, it all comes back pretty quickly. The sights. The sounds — especially the sounds. The energy.
The first person Karl-Anthony Towns brought up on Sunday when asked about his first home game as a Knick was his father, and that is nothing new.
PITTSBURGH — Those who have been around might not think this way, precisely because they have been around and realize, sadly, that it does not always get any better.
JJ Redick was discovered working overtime.
With Davante Adams, Amari Cooper and DeAndre Hopkins off the board, two other receivers are getting league-wide intrigue.
LOS ANGELES — Juan Soto was practically a one-man show for the Yankees on Saturday, with his solo shot off Yoshinobu Yamamoto the lone hit off the Dodgers starter.
It didn’t take long for Karl-Anthony Towns to impact his regular-season debut at the Garden, for Towns — the preseason blockbuster acquisition — to elevate toward the rim, slam the ball through the net, hang on for an extra second and then let out a roar.
FOXBOROUGH, Mass — From the day he walked into their lives, there wasn’t a soul among the Jets, from top to bottom, who couldn’t stop telling the world how Aaron Rodgers raised the standard of everyone in the building, and how he elevated everyone with his football wisdom and the kind of magical right arm none of them had ever seen.
The Rangers saw two ends to the NHL’s spectrum in three days, beginning with the defending Stanley Cup champions and ending with the third-to-last team in the league last season.
Aaron Boone blew it.
Evan Neal might have angered the football gods somewhere along the line.