Hail, Marek Malik!

Now that I have your attention, prepare for the oncoming 'hail storm' now that Malik is back in the lineup. The first couple of minutes of the New York Rangers vs. Ottawa Senators this afternoon were scary, the 'tall-one' turned over one play to Jason Spezza and a bad pass three minutes into the first period. A foreshadow of what was ahead.

Wrong. New York beat Ottawa 5-2. With the win, the Rangers moved a game behind Ottawa for the conference lead & first place in the Atlantic Division.

Henrik Lundqvist made 32 saves for his league-leading 14th win; he has held opponents to two or fewer goals in 17 of 24 games this season. Brendan Shanahan placed two goals on the board, with Jaromir Jagr, Dan Girardi and Blair Betts also scoring for New York, before Joe Corvo and Dany Heatley scored for Ottawa in the last period.

This afternoon we saw the repeat performance of the New York Rangers that we expect to see -- offensive muscle that shoots the puck often & the Renney defense system that has worked most of the time (and never forget, The King). The combo of both is a winning team model, which is what the Rangers demonstrated today against Ottawa and the Islanders on Thursday. The Senators were stunned the entire game and never had controlled possession. The Ottawaiin' Corvo & Heatley goals were let in by a team that was up 4-0 through the second period - 'let 'em have them' goals, we will call them.

If we can expect this level of game for half of the season, all Rangers fans will be pleased - the playoffs will be a 'shoe-in' and the Men in Blue will be feared.

It is no surprise that the next three to four games are tough ones (Carolina, Toronto, Atlanta & Jersey), but it is thrilling to see Carolina dropped eight goals to Buffalo ending with a 1-8 final score tonight. May their humiliation bleed over this weekend to Monday against The Blueshirts.

See you at The Garden at 7pm on Monday - NY Rangers vs Carolina Hurricanes.

I feel like I'm "Al-Renney' there!

tdr