Holiday Heroes - Rangers win 4-1

The Rangers rallied Tuesday from a 1-0 deficit after 1 period to come back and defeat their hated rivals the New Jersey Devils by a holiday feel-good score of 4-1.

The Devils had won four straight – and dominated the Rangers in the first period. Outshot 12 to 4, only the mighty play of Henrik Lundqvist kept the Rangers from falling behind by more than a one goal deficit.

After withstanding the Devils onslaught, the Rangers fought back in the 2nd period as the red hot GAS line evened the score. A perfect pass by Marian Gaborik found Artem Anisimov in front of Martin Brodeur and the surging Russian buried an 8 footer to knot the game at one. Having learned an important lesson from the Lightning game, Anisimov's after-goal celebration did NOT include a pretend rifle shot this time.

In the third period – King Henrik increasingly frustrated the rival Devils and the ice began tilting in the Rangers favor. 2 Gaborik goals – including an empty netter - book-ending a shorthanded back-breaker by Rookie Hagelin and the Rangers had their 4-1 victory.

A big night for the Gas Line as The Gifted One had 2 goals and an assist and was a back-checking force as well. Anisimov had his goal plus an assist. And Stepan had 3 assists on the night.

Hagelin had the huge short-hander. And there was an assist for Steve Bickel as well.

Girardi once again led the team in minutes with 29:09. Captain Callahan had 4 hits and Dubinsky had 3.

Man Up – Man Down: The Rangers were 0-1 on the powerplay – but shut the Devil's down in 3 PK situations and got the shorty besides.

In end we were outshot 31-21, outhit 15-14 and lost 27 of 47 faceoffs, but came away with the victory.

Between the Pipes: It was another great example of Henrik Lundqvist out playing the fading Brodeur and making all the difference. Our star goaltender had a .968 save percentage, repelling 30 shots, while the rapidly aging Devils netminder saved an ordinary .850 with only 17 saves.

Avery-o-meter: Not good. The Rangers had an impressive win without our favorite player – providing absolutely no reason to activate our hero. Still – we're hoping for a Christmas Miracle (on ice).

Festive Fisticuffs: The returning Mike Rupp started fighting at the opening gun – netting a 5 minute major that stopped play after only 3 seconds in the first.

A great holiday win and the Ranger appear to be back on track. Next up - the Islanders!