7:40 p.m.
It took a little longer than expected, 90 minutes from parking lot to parking garage thanks to horrendous crosstown traffic, but I made it to Madison Square Garden just in time to see the opening face-off between Nick Suzuki and Vincent Trocheck.
Trocheck won it, by the way.
I didn’t think I was going to make it inside in time to see my third opening face-off of the day, but I had two things going for me:
1) The Rangers had a pregame ceremony as part of their ongoing centennial celebration with Hall of Fame former broadcaster Sam Rosen. So that bought me some time.
2) It’s Montreal in town, so it’s a double anthem night at MSG, and that bought me some more time.
I got up to the 9th floor, press box level on the bridge, just in time to see Trocheck and Suzuki coming together for the face-off.
So now it’s officially seven teams in one day.
On my way from UBS Arena to Madison Square Garden, I was able to listen to Alan Fuehring on Islanders radio calling the third period with guest analyst Mick Vukota, who was in town as part of the Islanders’ alumni weekend.
I did miss a goal, as J.J. Moser scored at 3:20 of the third period to tie the game 2-2. And I heard Fuehring call the shootout, won on Emil Heineman‘s goal to give the Islanders a 3-2 win.
So, not counting the shootout, I have seen six out of a possible nine goals in person in the first two games.
The Rangers and Canadiens are scoreless through 10 minutes with Igor Shesterkin and Jacob Fowler in the nets. New York, by the way, is wearing its Centennial jerseys and hoping not to fall to 0-6 in those threads.