Rangers Make Philly Fly'Less, 4-0

(Friday morning 1am) - After a brief hiatus, both The Dark Ranger (2 games w/o posting) and The New York Rangers (25-22-6) are back to make the fans proud with a shutout over our 'black and orange-ade' rival Philadelphia Flyers! Four Rangers goals tonight were scored by Nigel Dawes, Petr Prucha, Chris Drury & Brendan Shanahan. The division first place Flyers scored zip. The most delicious part is the Flyers have now lost 6 in a row at home against the Blueshirts (and I will be at the Wachovia Center in Philly next week for the 7th home loss to our Rangers!!!!! Ha!).

Official recap here.

With last night's performance, a display of restored confidence was evident shimmying the Blueshirts to eighth in the Eastern Conference - stepping out of the Atlantic Division last place slot and inserting the NY Islanders instead. This was the first Rangers win in seven road games and an exciting win at that. They showed signs of 'want' and 'team' - two words not used in this year's vocabulary.

Chris Drury undeniably stole the game from Philly on the Rangers third goal, a beautifully unobstructed slap shot and terrific assist on the second goal to Petr Prucha. Defensively he was there every step of the way. He played the post, freeing up space for Jaromir Jagr to play to his potential (now there you go, 'ole Captain), and selflessly set up his teammates for the win. I hate to admit that Marek Malik actually played a solid game of hockey, so I will reluctantly give him that - as earlier in the week our Czech veteran (a.k.a. Lurch or 'Skating Two-by-Four') was benched for disrespecting Rangers Coach Tom Renney (I must give Malik another one for that) which led to the removal of his locker room jersey, belongings and, most evident, an appearance on ice last week. Obviously, he was back in the lineup last night - now with increasing February trade value. Sean Avery was clearly in good hockey form -- motivating, not instigating, and contributed most by hustling to the puck. "Hurrah" to goaltender Stephen Valiquette who earned his first shutout playing in the NHL. He is a solid backup goaltender and Coach Renney should be playing 'Vally' more often, as it may give our 'Prince' Henrik Lundqvist more time to rest to channel the 'King'.

The second half of the season is upon us and The Dark Ranger feels that Chris Drury may be that sole player that reinvigorates the team, even though he has been disappointing thus far. Just as Sean Avery has given us an aggressive front line and newly found team spirit, Chris Drury will round out the team and find those clutch dirty goals and make the 'paper-Rangers' a true NHL threat. His performance tonight is what is needed for the Rangers to be competitive on the playoff push.

We have been here before. I know. We know. Perhaps I have the voice of an overly enthusiastic Blueshirts blogger who happens to hate the Philadelphia Flyers? Maybe last night was only a facade? Can we repeat last season? Probably not. Maybe so. There is one thing my dear readers of Dark that you can count on throughout the remainder of the season. We can hope and pray, perhaps for another day, but The Dark Ranger will never disappoint you again. I welcome me back.

Flyers suck. Rangers rule! Until next Saturday Briere lovers! But for now, we see another arch-enemy, The Newark Devils tonight. Stay tuned and keep your friggin fingers crossed.

tdr