Now That Was Our Hank!

Now that – Boys and Girls – was the Henrik Lundqvist I have been waiting to see. The Road Rangers come up huge in Ottawa, grabbing a Shoot Out win – the first – I predict – of many from this team this year.

It was a classy move for Torts to start P. Parenteau in his home town so that Parenteau's Parent (his dad) was able to see him play. And the rookie left winger did nicely here – getting the Shoot Out winner to make dad proud and stop the Ranger's losing streak.

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If you believe in signs and wonders – we had one yesterday. Ottawa the team we beat to get our 7 game win streak going – and we have now beaten them again.

Here's how:

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The Goalies: Hank. Wow. In 65 minutes in goal (with the OT) Lundqvist faced 26 shots and turns away 35 of them for a save percentage of .972. Elliot, the Ottawa goalie saved .964, which is great – but not Hank great – at least not yesterday.

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Special Teams: We were 0 for 4 on the powerplay. But we held Ottawa to an 0-5 – including s few seconds of 5-on-3 and 2 minutes of 4-on-3 in OT. And best of all – our lone Ranger (sorry - I just like saying that) goal was shorthanded. So we won the special teams battle.

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The New Veteran Rangers: In regulation the single Ranger goal was scored by Vaclav Prospal (his name is not Vinnie) off an assist by – who else – Marian Gaborik. And in the Shoot Out we had goals by Prospal and Kotalik.

The Kid Rangers had the winning SO goal by P. A. Parenteau – with his dad watching (and wolfing down fist fulls of popcorn more or lest constantly).

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The Returning Rangers? Once again - Pointless. Sean? One shot in 16 minutes of ice time.

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Defense on Offense: 8 shots on goal. No goals. No Assists. But they're trying.

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In Conclusion: Well, after out-shooting our opponents twice in a row and losing – yesterday we were out-shot 36 to 28 and won. And, as usual, it is all about Hank. When he plays well, we win. Which is an improvement on last year – when Hank had to play well just to give us a chance to win. A nice road victory for the guys.

Next Up: Just 2 games in the next week. The fellows can rest until Tuesday night, when they are home to our arch nemesis – Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals Should be nice and loud at the Garden.
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Waking up Sunday morning, your New York Rangers find themselves in 5th place in the East at 11-8-1. They are two points up on the 6th place Flyers and 3 points back of the World Champion Pittsburgh Penguins.