Rangers keep things rolling

1 GOAL GAME NETS 2 MORE POINTS.

Emerging from the see saw battle with Florida with 2 points was crucial this time of year. More so because it keeps our momentum going for the final 8 games. 5 points up on Buffalo, 5 under Montreal, All is not safe. There were both signs of life and danger in last nights game.

Read the official recap here.

If there were lessons to take away from the scratch and claw win last night, they were these:

- our hard nose grinding style is not unique. In fact the Panther team we played did a pretty good job of emulating our style and matching our effort. Vokoun included, backstopped his team and gave them a chance to win by 1 goal also. Lots of other teams develop this kind of hard nosed play this time of year for when they're weapon of choice is not getting the job done.

-Our offensive weapon of choice seems to be trying to get into his groove, firing pucks and gaining back his scoring touch. But Gaborik is going to need alot of help. The lunch pail guys like callahan, dubi and prust and even Prospal can chip in goals, but they must channel their focus and refrain from getting too wild. Theres nothing that says they should forgo shots or look from Gabby every time he's on the ice, but keep in mind that this is player that once he started, he's very hard to stop. Having him fired up and shooting and passing with consistency could be the difference between the first and second rounds.

- Injury wise and for guys with a lot of wear and tear, the biggest favor we can do for ourselves is to secure a spot as early as possible and try to rest our hard workers.

- Everyone knows our playoff chances rest with Henrik. After a securing a spot, it might not be too bad to Let Chad Johnson get in a game or two. Sitting on the bench and playing doorman is doing nothing for the kids development. If it turns out we need him later.. it might be better to get the butterflies out of the way early.

-For consistency's sake, Leave the lines assembled and ride it out. Chemistry is not such a horrible concept. Last night it didn't prove to be too effective, but the random benchings have to stop... and the substitutions should be direct and not turn the whole line up over.

Till next time Ranger Fans,

J_Undisputed

LETS GO RANGERS!!!

NYR 3 / Dallas Stars 2 (SO)

Mats Zuccarello scored in the second round of the shootout and Henrik Lundqvist was perfect in the tiebreaker to lift the New York Rangers over the Dallas Stars 3-2 on Friday night. Zuccarello, playing in his seventh NHL game, beat Kari Lehtonen with a nifty hesitation move to help the Rangers improve to 7-2-2 in their last 11    The Rangers are currently 24-15-3, sitting 6th in the Eastern Conference with 51 points. They remain a solid third in the Atlantic behind 1st place Pittsburgh (56 points) and 2nd place Philadelphia (55 points). Back to back (away) games continue tonight against the St. Louis Blues. 

Official recap here.

Even without sniper Gaborik putting pucks in net and Ryan Callahan & Prospal still on injured reserve, our Blueshirts continue to never give up and win games.  Apparently, Glen Sather has accompanied the team for this two-game road trip, most likely to meet with Brad Richards and his agents as the February trade deadline soon approaches.  I'd say it's 50/50 that Richards wears Blue going into the playoffs.

More thoughts to come...

tdr

Who Won During Oscar Night?

NYR 1,  Sabres 2  OT

Things are hurting at The Garden. 

The playoffs are looking further away from reality, with ridiculous inflated ticket prices in bad times, our star player has a cliched' groin injury, the Olli Jokinen experiment is a bust, the Fire Sather rally had only 100 or so passionate fans bitching about bad trades and an unsavory future, Sean Avery is invisible and doesn't win us games when he's on the ice anymore, Chris Drury left it all on the table in Vancouver and we lost another winnable game making it three losses in a row. 

In dropping to the Buffalo Sabres last night, they looked like the Rangers of two seasons ago - a team that doesn't consistently score and perform under pressure, a team that is so scared to take risks that they spend the majority of the time defending their own zone, at times unable to even clear the puck.  In other words, nail-biter hockey.

Official recap here.

Marian Gaborik was back on the ice last night against the Buffalo Sabres, having slashed his thigh before the Olympic break and during the Games supposedly played despite the injury and further damaging his stereotypical groin (the much known, much-joked-about groin injury while playing for the Minnesota Wild season-after-season).  For whatever reason, Gaborik - much like Jagr in the later years - seemed to have some strange non-scoring effect on his teammates.  While hurt, The Blueshirts managed 16 goals over the two-games prior to the Olympic break and two-games after without Gaborik on the ice.  A strange phenomenon.  Coach Torts attempted to shake-up-the-lines (familiar Renney tactic) to realign the chemistry to no-avail.  Gaborik is obviously in no condition to play as of yet, so it shouldn't take a Don Cherry to tell you to rest and bench the guy.  'Hurt History' is a telling thing.

The scoreless first and second periods were business as usual for Blueshirts fans -- many opportunities on both ends, good hockey followed by horrible hockey (especially the droopy dog second period), until Sabres' Adam Mair gave Buffalo a 1-0 lead with 5:57 left in regulation.  The teams played fairly even, Buffalo trailed 22-21 in shots during the scoreless 40 minutes and had the only two power plays.

Dubinsky rescued the Rangers from a second shutout in two days when he crashed the net and scored his 16th goal to make it 1-1 with 1:23 remaining. New York had gone 149 minutes 30 seconds without a goal, dating to the second period of a 5-4 home loss in overtime to Pittsburgh on Thursday night.

'Team In a Box' Henrik Lundqvist was out-dueled by rental-USA Team and full time Buffalo goalkeeper Ryan Miller, Henrik 30 saves to Miller's 35 saves. 

The Rangers (29-28-9) are sitting in 9th place in the Eastern Conference - 2 critical points away from playoff eligibility, with about 4-5 teams all fighting for the 6th, 7th & 8th slots.  The odds are stacked against us as Philadelphia, Montreal and Boston seem to be getting stronger in the league, while we continue to 'change up the lines' and further seek for passion & chemistry.   John Tortorella is beginning to show the hopelessness in his post-game comments, frustration overcoming strategy, but an honesty of how his veteran players are not coming through for the organization.  Sorry Torts, the supernatural Garden curse will always win.

So with a little hope, the Rangers will entertain THE ROCK in Newark on Wednesday and light up the place as we have historically done against the NJ Devils.  DARK will be there hovering over M-ARRRRR-TTTYYYY with two-dozen ribs dangling over the net --- if Avery is no longer willing to go there, I'll do my part.

tdr