With Derek Stepan back in the lineup - the New York Rangers remembered how to put the puck in the net and beat those wannabe foes - the Columbus Blue Jackets 2-1 on the road - to right the ship and get back in the win column.
Marc Staal (who is reportedly on the verge of signing a six year deal to extend his Ranger career) netted the first goal - through traffic in the second period. And less than five minutes mutes later Kreider scored on the breakaway- and that's all we needed.
Derek Stepan assisted on both goals.
And the rest was all Hank. Lundqvist has been on a mission - raising his level of play ever since his notable omission from being named to the all star team. The proud Swede appears to have taken this personally - and this may be exactly what we needed.
In all he stopped 35 of the 36 Columbus shots that came his way- and the Rangers held on for the 2-1 win.
Did special teams determine the outcome of this game? Yes and no. The Rangers were 0-1 on the power play but killed off all 3 of their PK situations - against a good Columbus power play - so I'd say yes - special teams was a big factor here.
Where do we stand? 25-13-4 puts us in the 7th spot - the wild card - tied with the Bruins with 3 games at hand and 5 points above the line-of-death.
And what in the world will happen now? With the NFL sliding their first playoff game to 3pm - the NHL is slotting the Rangers-Penguins game to 12:30 Sunday. Should be a nice nasty afternoon game. Looking forward to it.
Non Sequitur of the day: Go Colts and Packers.
Dave Pucks out. Thanks!
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