Philly Is All Fight But No Win, Rangers 2, Flyers 0

The New York Rangers have won 11 of its last 12 games at the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia, and is 6-0-1 there since a loss on April 15, 2006. The Flyers fans must really hate our Blueshirts (giggle giggle). Nigel Dawes and Scott Gomez scored power-play goals for the Rangers. Official recap here.

What a terrific game to be attending as the only highlights for the local crowd came with the fights - a time trip back to the Broad Street Bullies days of yore, as the Flyers attempted to raise their level of play by hitting as many rookie Rangers as possible. All was not lost for Philly as a major brawl ensued with three simultaneous fights filling the rink: Steve "Should Be In Jail" Downie exchanged blows with Ranger Fedor Tyutin, showing him the gates of heaven, but Flyer's Riley Cote was taught a huge lesson in 'talking fists' as Blueshirt primary enforcer Colton Orr pleasantly face-washed and pummeled his little head. Flyer's Jim Dowd and our Ryan Hollweg went at it balancing the fight scoring for both teams an even draw. With the Flyers down two at the end of the second period, we were treated to another embarrassing fighting effort by our amazing Ranger rookie/terrible brawler Brandon Dubinsky (who is 21 years old, and looks 10) versus experienced and top scoring Flyer Michael Richards - who absolutely 'showed him the money' - evident by even Ranger's Coach Tom Renney smiling with sorrow and pride at the bench. Poor little guy is trying.

On the scoring front, the Flyers didn't gain an inch and the New York Rangers completely dominated the game, mostly due to our backup goalkeeper Stephen "Valley" Valiquette - our more 'consistent than Lundqvist of recent' backup goalkeeper. Valley was exquisite in goal making 31 saves to record his second straight shutout this season - two consecutive shutouts against the Philadelpia Flyers - The Dark Ranger's wet dream (UPDATE - okay, that was pretty gross, but necessary).

The Rangers are 28-24-6 for the season sitting in 7th place in playoff contention. This afternoon we are looking for Capital gains as we take on Washington at 1pm this afternoon - followed by a subsequent five-day layoff, enough time for any Eastern Conference teams to make major gains on our Blueshirts. Today's two points could be a turning point for this unsolvable and inconsistent Rangers team.

Every game counts, folks. This is it. Ovechkin needs to be contained on a greater level than our defense our demonstrated all season. That Russian is a monster -- someone needs to stop him! The Dark Rangers lurks and will be sure to cast his promising 'concussion spell' to give our Blueshirts an advantage.

Here we go and hope for the best.

tdr

They Are Finn-ished!

June 12, 2007 -- They have gone from prospects to suspects and now it appears as if both Jarkko Immonen and Bryce Lampman will be leaving the Rangers organization to play next season in Finland.

The Dark Ranger has learned that Immonen, the 25-year-old restricted free agent who failed to grab the Blueshirts' second center-spot when presented with the opportunity last winter, is on the verge of returning to his native country for a guaranteed contract far more lucrative than the two-way qualifier he'll be presented by the Rangers.

At the same time, Lampman, the 24-year-old defenseman who has played only 10 games with the Rangers - one last season - since his fourth-round selection in the 2001 Entry Draft, has signed a contract with TPS of Finnish Elite that contains an out clause should he sign an NHL contract by July 10. The Blueshirts are not expected to extend a qualifying offer to Lampman, also a Group II free agent.

Immonen, who came to the Rangers on Mar. 3, 2004 from the Toronto organization as part of the Brian Leetch deal, played 14 games last season for the Blueshirts in which he recorded one goal and five assists. Though he spent most of the year with the Wolf Pack of the AHL, he did have a run of 11 straight games with the Rangers from Dec. 7-26, the first seven of which he skated between Brendan Shanahan and Matt Cullen (or, for one game, Martin Straka rather than Cullen). Immonen appeared intimidated playing with Shanahan. The line never clicked.

With coach Tom Renney regularly referring to doubts about Immonen's skating and his ability to prosper in an accelerated NHL pace, there is little chance he'd be able to earn a spot on next year's club, even with Michael Nylander's status in limbo. Immonen's ship has sailed.

Should a worst-case scenario develop prior to July 1 with Nylander (who has yet to hire an agent) choosing to go on the open market rather than re-signing with them, the Rangers would aggressively pursue both Scott Gomez and Chris Drury rather than choosing between the impending free agents.

tdr (thanks LB)