Rangers WIN!!! 5 in a row

The Rangers destroy the Maple Leafs at the Garden, 7-2. I am not going to spend a ton of time talking about this game, because the Maple Leafs really aren't worth my time. The Rangers were supposed to destroy the Maple Leafs, and they did. They are a terrible team, with terrible goal tending, and I am really upset they even showed up tonight.

I am going to leave it to Dave Pucks to pick up the slack on his thoughts on the recap tomorrow, but here's what I got for ya....(besides the blood, sweat and tears I already poured out blogging this "competition")

Nugman's Stars of the Game:

# 3 - Hank: A win is a win, and Hank actually had to be a lot stronger then I thought he would. He made 27 saves on 29 shots (a couple of the spectacular variety), for an excellent 93.1% save percentage, and moves to 4-1-0 on the season. He stayed in there on a night where his team didn't give him much help in the second, and he got bowled over a few times by a very agressive Jason Blake.

# 2 - Everyone: Callahan was excellent on the penalty kill and picked up a goal. Drury got two assists. Gaborik got a goal and an assist, 2 assists for Prospal. 2 goals for both Sean Avery, AND Dan Girardi. Offensive explosion.

# 1 - WADE REDDEN: I may never say it again, so might as well enjoy it tonight. Redden with a goal, 2 assists, drew a penalty, and was only half responsible for a breakaway. Maybe his best night as a Ranger, the signing is totally starting to pay off.

3 Goals for Hank: 4-0-0 when scoring 3 or more for Hank (have scored 3 or more in 5 straight games, 5-0-0)

Rangers Can Score: 24 goals for the Rangers in 6 games this season (22 over the last 5), 3 or more in 5 straight games

Rangers don't allow goals: 12 goals allowed in 6 games (2 goals/game). Rangers only one of 4 teams in NHL to allow 2 or less per game (as of this post)

Rangers Defense is Offensive: 7 goals for the Rangers D in 6 games this season

Rangers own the third period: Rangers have outscored the bad guys 12-3 in the 3rd period this season...conditioning is important.

Finding meaning in a meaningless game: I didn't like the complete lack of physical presence the Rangers showed not pounding Blake through the ice for running Hank over (What is Brashear's job?), but what I did like was the final 30 seconds of the game. It was decided. The Rangers led 7-2, but Blake was in front of the net again, doing his best to try and score a meaningless goal, but there was Del Zotto, and every other ranger, diving to prevent Blake from tapping in a goal on Hank who had been out of position. The Rangers absolutely did not want Blake getting another goal on Hank, or any Toronto player for that matter. I enjoyed seeing that hustle and effort for what would have been a meaningless score.