Sunday, March 1, 2009

Pinch Me, Please! NYR 6, Colorado 1


Rangers 6, Colorado 1.

4 goals in the first period -- an outburst that led to a total domination of a game that has not been since last year when the Rangers scored 5 to open a Saturday afternoon game against the Sabres. It's been that long. The biggest scoring output of the season. A regulation win. Drury and Zherdev goals. That's 3 signs of the Apocalypse right there. The official recap is here.

Nothing further is needed today to discuss the game with so much else about to happen in the "background" as noted below. I exchanged several e-mails with my friends prior to last night's game and we all agreed that the Rangers were due to score some goals especially considering their feeble 4% shooting percentage. It was only a matter of time. Fortunately, it arrived. (Someone suggested that future games should be telecast on WPIX-11 as was last night's game.) But that's only one game -- there has to be a carryover effect to show that the Blueshirts are going to rebound. The first test will be Thursday against the Isles in Uniondale. That is now a big game.

Once again we learned that while you can question the talent level of the Rangers (and I have), you can never question their heart -- as evidenced by Sjostrom's recent stitch work (which reopened during Saturday's game) and Mara's pounding on Darcy Tucker without regard to the questionable health of his shoulder.

Tortorella's new system finally paid dividends against Colorado and rewarded him with his first victory as a coach. When Thursday's game at Uniondale starts, three things will have occurred.
  • First, the Rangers get to practice (and some players can rest) to enable them to get more comfortable with Tortorella's new system.
  • Second, the Dallas Stars are expected to put Sean Avery on waivers, and many are predicting that he will be available for the Rangers to pick up. Who knows whether he will be suiting up in white on Thursday for the Rangers.
  • Finally, the trading deadline expires on March 4. Who did we say goodbye to last night? We'll find out soon.
So even without a game for a few days, there will be plenty of action to report about.

---Tony

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