Not Your Last Year's Rangers!

Wow.

Now, in our heads we understand that:

One Game doesn't fix the hurt of last season's playoff loss to the Washington Capitals in seven games.

One Game doesn't conclusively prove that John Tortorella and Glen Sather have transformed the Rangers into a team that could beat Washington.

And One Game doesn't mean that the Rangers are now a Cup contender

But, in our hearts, we're thinking: Oh Baby - so far so good!

Last night the Rangers Struck Back -and in the process regained something the Caps had stolen from them last Spring. Your New York Rangers stormed into the lion's den last night - the site of last year's playoff dismantling and the blown 3-1 series lead. There's a lot to talk about:

First of all, your 3-1 Rangers have 6 points which ties them for the Eastern Conference Lead with Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. Take a picture of the standings and put it up on your wall. For one day at least - your Rangers are up at the top of the list.

Your Penalty Kill Unit held the potent Capitals power play to just 1 of 9, despite some 5 on 3 time. That raises our PK success rate this year to 85.7% - pretty close to last year's stats. So the loss of Sjostrom and Betts (a Flyer now, and out for a month with a shoulder injury) is not the catastrophe that many (Dave Pucks included) had predicted. And I'm thrilled to be dead wrong about this one.

Your Power Play struck again - hitting on 20% of their chances last night and raising our season's success rate to 15%, up from last year's totals.

Marian Gaborik demonstrated exactly why the Rangers went out and got him. In a stunning two and a half minute sequence, "The Gift Of Gab" (how's that for a nickname, Nugs?) shrugged off a slow start and snapped two shots past Caps Goalie Jose Theodore. The two goals instantly transformed what had been feeling like a crushing Ranger loss into a triumphant Blueshirt victory - validating Tortorella's system, justifying Sather's Roster moves, and vindicating us for last year's playoff shortfall. There's a lot to said for hard work, conditioning and a good system - but man it's great to score goals.

Hank shook off one of the worst goals you'll ever see the King ever make - a Red Line seeing-eye missile that somehow skipped by him - to play a strong game - rob Ovechkin and several others - and prove once again that if the Rangers get him (ahem) four goals - he's unbeatable.

Your Acquired-Veteran Rangers again outshone the returning ones on offense. Besides Gabby's pair of goals (and he nearly empty-netted a hat trick), there was more. Kotalik showed that besides his cannon shot he can be deadly in close as well - beating Theo from down low. And Lisin and Prospal each added an assist.

The Returning Rangers showed up as well. Callahan seemingly exhausted at the end of a long shift - went end-to-end to beat Theodore and get the Rangers on the board. Drury showed grit and determination in the PK, helping us survive some 5 on 3 time (the only time he gets to play with Gaborick - by the way)

The Kids came up big as well. Del Zotto (who was born in 1990 - for goodness sake) added another assist. He and Gilroy again did a great job. These new NHL-ers are proving they belong and can play. You can't hide your young defenseman on the road - where the opponent has the last line change - but they did just fine in what became a 5 man rotation after Torts apparently benched Michael Rozsival who saw just 6 minutes of ice time.

Speaking of the defense, that 5 man rotation shut out the best and hottest player in Hockey. For one night anyway, Alex Ovechkin was a Human Puck Vortex, launching 9 shots on goal and netting a minus one, zero goal, zero assist evening, despite playing nearly 25 minutes on the ice. And we love how Torts let Rozy sit there, humiliated, as he watched 5 defensemen get the job done.

Your offense is now getting three or four goals a night instead of one or two. And that, with Henrik Lundqvist in net, is going to win a lot of games this year. Even when Hank lets a bad one in, the offense can pick him up - something that happened last year exactly zero times.

It is official: This Year's Rangers are Not Last Year's Rangers. In fact, for today anyway, they are First Place Rangers.
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If you missed last night's in game bulletins from Nugman - take a look below - you're in for a treat.