Obey The King! Rangers 2, Capitals 0

The Dark Ranger snoozed through the game at MSG this evening and after the game had the pleasure of sharing a moment with Henrik Lundqvist, the World Olympic Gold-Medalist New York Ranger Goalkeeper, who shutout The Washington Capitals tonight at MSG bringing New York's record to a neutral 5-6-1.

After tonight's 31 saves and third shutout of the season, I asked him what he thought of winning two in a row and the team's defensive dependency on him, he stated, "I see all of this as a great challenge. There were a lot of people in front of me tonight. Tonight I had to challenge myself and work harder and it paid off. Cover as much as possible, puck kept hitting me, it's fun. Great team, great players, fun to be around them all the time. We have to keep winning. Everything is so much easier when you're winning, everyone shows up to practice. Don't over think and get lucky."

Though I didn't quite understand his broken English, I sure was happy to meet The King, take the win and take off this friggin cape for the night.

Chris Drury took his second goal of the season in the second period, the next and final goal went to Rozsival in the third period.

On my way out, I ran into Capitals goalie Olie Kolzig, who made 26 saves, but when questioned about Henrik's game tonight he actually (and honestly) responded, "He's definitely on his game. He's the reason the Rangers have won five games. They'll be scary (the Rangers) if they ever get their offense together."


So from Washington's losing goaltender's point of view, he let up two goals and ultimately lost the game to our shitty offense. Nice Olie - keep up the good work. Though, point taken, if we can forget about the Ranger's performance in the first period, our offense and defense was even paced, controlled and a team that appeared more confident. They looked 'winning' tonight.

The Blueshirts take on the New Joisey Devils of Newark this Saturday at 7pm, EST at MSG. See you then and go have a beer.
Strange little mascot....we need to kick his ass!

tdr

Gomez Scores First Goal, Rangers Control Caps 3-1 (UPDATED)

"It was just a matter of time, and we just stuck with the game plan. Jags sets you all up, you get a little lucky and just play good old hockey," stated Scott Gomez immediately after tonight's game, having just scored his first goal as a New York Ranger tonight against the Washington Capitols, demonstrating to the home crowd just what NJ Devils have been cheering about for years. Not to mention the pressure that was just lifted off his shoulders as Gomez was undoubtedly one of the most expensive free agents in the NHL this off-season (who hasn't scored yet - giving NJ Devils delight).

This was a solid game tonight: up-tempo, going to the net, shots on goal, effective power playing and this all had a controlling effect on the Caps, as the Rangers owned most of the game. It felt like the first truly balanced hockey performance of the season - a small foreshadowing of what could become of our Blueshirts in the season ahead. I almost felt bad for former Ranger Michael Nylander as he appeared defeated, disappointed and ineffective playing the first line with Ovechkin. His close friend Jagr was not at all feeling bad as he had three assists, one leading to a goal won by Martin Straka, the other setting up a goal by Michal Rozsival.

In discussing this week's rematch against the Ottawa Senators at MSG Scott Gomez added, "Tomorrow is the one that we really want. We made some mistakes in our loss last week and we're ready to take them. We can definitely take this team."

Famous last words by Mr. Gomez. Until tomorrow. The Rangers replay the Senators tomorrow night, Sat., 7PM EST.

tdr

UPDATE: Still thinking about the game tonight and special kudos and a Blueshirt Salute to Marcel Hossa, Dan Girardi and Staal who all played spectacular hockey -- they supported the team better than most, so this idea of bringing in tired, Islander veterans and new prospects from other teams right now could be a grave error. We have the young talent already playing the AHL ready to play the big leagues, some of those were recently sent back up to Hartford - so Sather and Renney should WAKE THE F&*k UP!