Friday, March 30, 2012

Islanders Sweep Penguins - Rangers up 5 points with 5 to play

Can you believe this?

The Islanders. The much maligned out-of-the playoffs perennially no-good New York Islanders.

They beat the red hot Pittsburgh Penguins.

Twice. In a row. Really.

(Hard to believe, right? I know. But I saw it on TV and checked the box score just to make sure.)

And so, with 5 games to play - and the Rangers owning the tie-breaker - the magic number is just 5 points.

That is - any combination of 5 Ranger points and 5 Penguin lost points will clinch first place in the East for the New York Rangers.

Just a few games ago the Pens were just one point behind us - we were struggling and they were on a winning streak. But a few days later the Aquatic Fish are floundering and the BlueShirts are back on track.

And we owe it all to those guys from Long Island. So - to tip my cap to the other New York team - from this day forward I will never again call them the 'slanders. They are the Islanders - now and forever.

And you guys - please do the same. So - next time an Islander fan is tipping your car over or throwing eggs at you or yelling unspeakable things - take a moment to stop and say

"Thanks for beating Pittsburgh! You guys are alright"

Then duck. Just to be on the safe side.


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Thursday, March 29, 2012

Ranger's Win Pegs Jets 4-2 (sorry for the bad pun)

Can you believe this? 105 Points for your New York Rangers.

Henrik Lundqvist decided not to take a day of rest on a back-to-back night of a road trip. For the past few games, he wasn't feeling like the dominant goalie he had been for most of the season.

And against the Winnipeg J-E-T-S Jets last night it began to look like a bad idea in the second period when the Jets scored twice in 56 seconds to take a 2-0 lead.

The first goal was an unlucky one for Lundqvist. Spencer Machacek fired a shot from the right side that accidentally deflected off Del Zotto's stick and by Hank. And Brian Little was left alone in front and targeted with a great pass that he rifled by Hank for a 2-0 lead on the road.

Things were looking grim. But then – queue the dramatic music – the Rangers began mounting their comeback.

It was Ryan Callahan – the Captain - who raised his game and his teammates around him to set us on the road back. It was on the Penalty Kill. The Captain on the forecheck stole the puck in deep – came around the back of the net with it – and put it on net. Micheal Del Zotto got his stick on it and directed it past Pavelec to get the Rangers on the board. It was a short-handed momemntum shifting tally and the Rangers were back in the game.

And then – with 1:37 left in the period and the Rangers on the powerplay – Gaborik found Cally in front and Ryan zipped a quick forehand to tie it.

From there we went to the Third period. Bryan Boyle – who has been great as of late – just muscled the puck to the left corner of the goal and rammed it home. Derek Stepan added another powerplay goal and the Rangers went on to win 4-2.

Lundqvist was – (ONCE AGAIN) – the difference. His save percentage of .917 outclassed Pavelec's .857. The Rangers outshot the Jets 28-24 and out hit them 26-21.

Goal and assist for both Callahan and Del Zotto. 2 assists for Gaborik. Lone Ranger goals for Stepan and Boyle. Single assists for Fedotenko, McDonagh, and Richards.

So the Rangers now lead all NHL teams with 105 points and have opened up a 5 point lead on the Penguins (how have a game at hand).

Five games to go. Hang on.

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Rangers beat Wild 3-2

"I just tried to throw it in front"

That was Ryan McDonagh's statement about his game winning assist in the third period. The feed bounced off a defenseman's stick and found Fedetenko - who buried the puck and gave the Rangers a 3-2 victory against the Minnesota Wild.

Ryan is from Minnesota - and there were more than 80 friends and family in attendance according to the Ranger's top line defenseman. So it must have felt extra good to get the final assist in a close game.

It was also a homecoming for Marian Gaborik - who scored the first-ever goal for the Wild when that team first entered the NHL - and still holds most of their offensive all time records.

The Gifted Gab scored on a beautiful feed by Brad Richards - that found him in front of the net. Gabby had a fraction of time and a tiny piece of ice to work with - but he stopped the puck - switched from back- to fore-hand and netted the goal to temporarily give the Rangers a 2-1 lead.

The first Ranger goal was from Boyle - who must have read Hockey Rodent's negative comments about him recently (that he was slow and could not skate well enough to be on a cup champion) because Brian played hard and well all night.

The Rangers outshot and outhit their opponent yet again. But last night the Penatly Kill let them down - they surrendered both goals while a man short. In fact - on one sequence Callahan played stick-less - making it nearly a 2 man advantage.

Some very good signs from Henrik Lundqvist - who had a .923 save percentage that was the difference last night.

Besides the 2 assists for McDonagh, there were assists by Richards (as mentioned), Girardi, and Stralman.

It's a win and we'll take it. And to top it off - the Islanders of all people beat the Penguins 5-3. So with 6 to play the Rangers are up 3 points.

Tonight we play the Jets. I wonder if we'll see Tebow.

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Monday, March 26, 2012

777 and then the Thunder

As we enter the final 2 weeks of the regular season we find the rangers, penguins, and flyers all with 7 games remaining.  The talk around town is: Will the Rangers hold on or will Pittsburgh - yes - and even Philadelphia - be able to catch them?

I think this is most unlikely.  Pittsburgh has the best chance, but the rangers have shown themselves time and time again to be really strong in the tough situations.

This however is not the real story.  No matter how these teams line up - all 3 teams will run into each other when the thunder that is the Stanley Cup Playoffs begin on April 11th.   Make no mistake about it - none of these teams do not like each other, and I really feel whoever survives to become Eastern Conference champions, will be the team hoisting the Stanley Cup in june.

So sit back, fasten your seat belts, and enjoy the speed, the hitting, and general dislike all these teams have for each other.

In the famous words of Flounder from Animal House:

"Oh boy - is this gonna be great"!

Jack McFly.

Sunday, March 25, 2012

Finally! Rangers win - Penguins Lose

This was supposed to be the easy part of the season.

For the first time in years the Rangers are not scrambling for the last playoff spot. They've clinched. And we're in first place in the East. So why are we scrambling down the stretch just like always?

Because as Spiderman would say - with great power comes great responsibility. Or, in NHL terms – now that we have the top seed – we want to hold on to it. So we're expending maximum energy every night – exhausting ourselves in pursuit of a theoretical extra home ice playoff game if any of our series goes seven games. And the result of this is obvious – we're wearing down Lundqvist and grinding down our skaters.

Anyway – it is what it is – and last night was a very good night for the Rangers stretch run for the top spot in the East. The every surging Penguins were a point behind with a game at hand on Saturday afternoon – but by Sunday morning the Rangers had boosted their lead to 3 points.

How did this happen? The Aquatic Birds somehow lost to Ottawa. And you New York Rangers exit Toronto with an ugly but serviceable shoot out win, 4-3.

It looked like Ranger Hockey – we outshot the hapless “Make Believes” 33 to 25 and outhit them a brutal 55-45. This put the game in Lundqvist's hands and – eventually – he didn't let us down.

Rangers fought back to tie the score twice and finally surged to their first lead at 4:19 of the third period – a lead that lasted all of 18 seconds before Tim Connolly knotted the game up at 3.

The overtime featured something I can't recall ever seeing before – a lead change in the first 3 round of the shootout:

After an opening pair of misses – including Gaborik's (who keeps dekeing when he should be wrist-shooting), Tim Connolly (again) beak Hank to give the Leaf's a 1-0 lead in the shootout. But the next three shots went exactly the Ranger way.

Brad Richards – clearly sick and tired of not scoring on the shootout – did what everyone should do – he skated in and launched a wrist shot that Gustavsson had no chance on. And then after Hank stoned Nazem Kadri (who?), Ryan Callahan won it for the Blueshirts.

Another huge night for the GRH like (Gabby, Richards, Hags).

Two goals for Gaborik. Two assists for Richards. A goal for Dubinsky. Assists for Erixon and Mitchell.

Hank's save percentage was outdone by his countryman – Gustavsson was .909 to Henrik's .880. But one goal against the king appears to be a kick-in. Still, we managed a road win – barely – against a non-playoff team. At this point we'll take anything we can get.

And - for the first time in a long time - the Penguins lost and the Rangers won - on the same day!  And so - when the Zamboni exhaust smoke has cleared - the Penguins are 3 points behind with a game at hand. And the Rangers struggle on – through the “easy” part of the season.

Thursday, March 22, 2012

Let's go back to The Captain - Callahan gets game winner in OT

Bruised foot? (Or broken foot - as Dave Pucks believes is the real truth). Ryan Callahan seems to be all the way back now. And the Rangers have gone back to him as their go-to forward.

The Ranger Captain - on his 27th birthday - came through with the Over Time game winner on Wednesday night - breaking the tie against Ty Conklin - the Detroit fill-in goaltender - to snatch the Rangers a 2-1 victory.

The game started badly for New York. As my Blueshirt Brother Jack texted:

"Early goal gives Detroit 1-0 lead. It was a soft goal allowed by Lundqvist. But Rangers are finding their legs now as the first period continues."

But Lundqvist settled down nicely after the one bad goal. And then the tide turned.

As Jack said:

"Bad line change by Detroit results in first powerplay of the game . Bench minor at 14:30."

The Rangers first goal came in Brad Richards finest moment as a New York Ranger. Henrik Lundqvist got an unlikely powerplay assist - by leaving the puck for Richards BEHIND HIS OWN GOAL in the 15th minute of period 1.

Richards did the rest. Top line centers are supposed to be able to bull the puck up ice themselves - and Brad did exactly that - from behind his own net - out of the Ranger zone, across the red line - past the Red Wing blue line - and - splitting the defense - he bore down on Conklin and tied the game at 1 all.

Or as Jack put it:

"Goooaaalll! richards at 14:58 beautiful coast to coast - from Lundqvist. skated entire length of ice uncontested!"

The Rangers lost the faceoff battle by an amazing 37-17 (it was 32-10 at one point). We out hit the Wings 16-14 and outshot them 34-27 - our usual.

So it came down to goaltenders, Conklin saved .941, a great day for a guy just back in the big leagues. But Hank was better at .963. He seems to have shaken off the effects of the flu - good news for our stretch drive. Assists for Del Zotto and the surging Dublinsky (and Hank!). The Rangers gave up just one powerplay - which they killed off - and were 1 for 3 on their own man advantage tries.

A good night for the Blueshirts. Back on track and still ahead of the Pens.

At least for one more day....


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Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Rangers Beat Devils - as texted by Jack

My brother-in-law Jack, is a huge and long-time hockey fan. His in-game texts are a thing of beauty - better than most reporters and game announcers. Last night his text messages were so great i- well, I'll let him tell the story.

Here's Jack's first text of the night:

"There they go - they're all fighting before puck was even dropped. Carter busted up - face bleeding - crowd roaring. Three separate fights started with Ranger Coach John Torterella screaming at the Devils coach. What a brawl!"

And...

"Wow! One of the best fights i've seen in 10 years"

Jack again - on Dubi's early goal;

"Scorrrre! ranger goal scored at 1:28 by Dubinski. Beautiful break-in. They are howling at the garden. Never heard it so loud - I have the surround sound on!"

And later

"Omygod - Josephson just went to Devils bench and SPIT HIS TOOTH OUT. What a game!

And later on:

"The game is so fast right now doc Emmerick cant even keep up."

"Quiet period so far for Lunqvist. Everybody finishing checks very physical."

"End of one rangers 1 devils 0. Shots 13 to six in favor of NY"

The 2nd period started well for NY;

"Goalllll by rangers. 0:33 seconds in. Girardi his 5th of the year. 2-0 early second period"

But then:

"Jersey goal by elias from bad angle. Just got over top of lundqvist. 2-1. 13:00 left second period."

And then

"Zuccarella from callahan at 7:33 rangers lead 3 to 1."

"Callahan just steamrolled Brodeur - no call"

And in the third:

"It's getting chippy. I think the refs have put the whistles away in this one. 3-2 with 12:00 to go."

"2 big saves by marty! oh my!"

"Bad penalty by rangers. They had to call this one - McDonaugh for tripping. Devils power play"

"Rangers killed it off!"

"7:51 to go"

"Furious ,furious action at both ends. What a game! Marty just came up big twice on odd man rushes after Lundqvist came up big at the other end 3 times. "

And down the stretch:

"I'm out of breath. 5;30 left."

"3:13 to go. Rangers going on power play - high stick."

And the clincher:

"Scoorrrrrrre! just as the powerplay ended. Stephan scores at 18:50 to give rangers a 4-2 lead!"

To the finish:

"Icing on rangers. 30 seconds left. NJ net empty. Lets Go Rangers chant. 21.6 left."

And the final:

"AND THE GAME IS OVER! RANGERS WIN 4-2 IN A DANDY AT MADISON SQUARE GARDEN! BEST GAME I'VE SEEN IN A MONTH. JUST LIKE A PLAYOFF GAME."

Rangers outshot the Devils 27-22 and out hit them 41-23.

A goal and an assist for Dubinsky and Stepan. Goals for Girardi and Zuccarello. 2 assists each for Captain Callahan and Hagelin. Single assist for Richards.

And Lunqvist has 20 save and 2 goals allowed for a .909 save percentage. He bested Brodeur who saved .852 percent.

And there you have it. As Jack said - a great game - a huge win for the Rangers - and another day in first place.
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Monday, March 19, 2012

Avalanche send Rangers Tumbling

Avalanche - as in - a growing rapid descent of debris down a mountain side. That's who the Rangers lost to (3-1) on saturday and that's what happening to them as a hockey team.

We're tumbling down the standings. The Penguins can leap from 4th to 1st in the East by catching us. We can drop from 1st to 4trh by letting them. And the only reason we're not tied with Pittsburgh is that the Flyers won a rare day game on Sunday - giving Crosby and company their first loss in 12 games. The OT loss gave the Penguins 71 point, leaving them exactly 1 point behind us.

On the home front the Rangers managed to lose to the Avalanche 3-1, sending everyone into full scale panic mode.

We were outdone by our old nemesis -Simyon Varlemov - the former Capital's goaltender who we can't seem to score on. His save percentage against us was .975, while Henrik's was below .900. And so - even though we launched 42 shots at the Russian Goalkeeper, only Zuccarello found the twine. Hank let two go by - plus an empty netter to give us the final score.

The NHL is all about the playoffs - and the Rangers are not struggling to grab the 8th slot as they've done in recent years. Instead we're in the first slot - but the Penguins are charging and we're tumbling.

And as a result - we're pressing and exhausting ourselves down the sdtreigh even though we're comfortably in the playoffs. This is why first places teams tend to not win the Stanley Cup - it's too long a season with too much pressure and physical punishment to run wire-to-wire at full speed.

And with Anisimov out with a shoulder injury - with Callahan hobbled by what no one but me is calling a broken foot (wearing a special boot for a bruise?) and Hank feeing the after-effects of the flu - this team is hurting.

The good news is that we have time to get well. First place means nothing - its the playoffs that matter and that's what we need to be ready for.


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Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Rangers beat Hurricane with 4 goals by the top line

The Carolina Hurricane is not one of the NHL's better teams. They're not, in all probability - a playoff team. And to the New York Rangers - they were a team we needed to beat to try and hold off the. surging Penguins for first place in the East.

There were some dangerous signs. Henrik Lundqvist came down with a king-sized flu and the recently-unsteady backup Marty Biron was pressed into service. In the game itself we were outshot 29-28 and the hits (usually our advantage) were even at 20.

But in what could have been a classic trap game (with the Penguins next up on Thursday) the Rangers were 4-2 winners at home.

The best development is the sudden success of Tortorella's new top line Gaborik - Richards - and Hagelin. The trio has been on fire for the 3 games they've been together - combining last night for 4 goals and 9 points.

The first - in the first - came off a Girardi shot the was wide right (I still like hearing that phrase) and ricocheted to the left of the goal directly to an unguarded Gaborik. Marian had an impossible angle - but he quickly and easily roofed the puck to get the Rangers started.

In the 2nd it was Richards who scored a pair to give New York the dangerous 3 goal lead. And sure enough - the Hurricane came storming back (pun intended - and instantly regretted) with a pair of goals in 36 seconds to make it 3-2.

But Marty and the Rangers hung tough after that - shutting Carolina out the rest of the way. Carl Hagelin added the clincher to make it 4-2 - the eventual final score.

Richards notched 2 goals and an assist. And Gabs and Hags had a goal and 2 assists each. Additional assists for Girardi (whose bad shot became a great pass) and Mitchell.

Marty B had a rough minute in the 2nd - but finished with a .931 save percentage - the best goalie performance the Rangers have had - from Marty or Hank(!) In quite a while.

So the Rangers have a 6 point cushion as they wait for Pittsburgh - and the return of Concussion CryBaby Sidney Crosby's to the NHL on Thursday.

Can't wait.

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Monday, March 12, 2012

Rangers Rally to beat Islanders

For once - the Power Play did let the Rangers down - it saved them.

Three Power Play goals netted for the Rangers - and they needed them all in a thrilling - triple come-from-behind 4-3 win over the local rival New York Islanders.

Trailing 1-0, 2-1, and 3-2, the Rangers fought back to tie each time, with two of the tying tallies belonging to Brad Richards. - who is belatedly starting to look like the player the Rangers thought they were getting when they signed the free agent center.

With the red hot Pittsburgh Penguins cutting the Ranger's hold on first place to just 2 points - the pressure was on. And the Islanders were clearly psyched to have the chance to spoil things for the Blueshirts.

Hank let up some hard luck goals - one off a crazy bounce off the back glass that eventually bounced in off his skate - and a breakaway caused by the end of a islander penalty.

It was Brian Boyle who's 3rd period goal - the Rangers only even-strength tally of the night - sent the game into OT.

And it was the Ranger's scoring leader - Marian Gaborik - who pushed the game to the win column with the winning goal in the last 2 seconds of Overtime.

The Rangers did get back to their own style of hockey - outshooting the 'slanders 36 to 19 while outhitting them 24-13.

They needed that shot advantage because Henrik's save percentage was just .842. Granted, there were some bad luck and bad bounces, but - yikes - the King made only 16 saves in an OT contest.

Nabokov, in contrast, saved 32 and posted a .889 save percentage.

There were huge goals by Richards (2), Bolye, and Gaborik. Assists for Gabs, McDonaugh, Prust, Richards, Stepan. Stralmna, and Zuccarello

Our Penalty kill let us one goal in 4 tries. And out PowerPlay went 3 for 6, winning the game.

So we're 4 points up on the Pens as we both head down the backstretch. And the Rangers, thanks to their PowerPlay
have taken their first baby step towards righting the ship.



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Friday, March 9, 2012

Again! Rangers fall 4-1, this time to Ottawa

We're not pushing the panic button yet.

But - we are looking around to make sure we know where that button is just in case we need it.

The Rangers dropped their second straight - again by a 4-1 score. Earluy in the year I said this was a streaky team - and that's good when your winning. But now we've got a losing streak and we're got to ride it out.

This time the Rangers did out shoot (26-22) and out hit (37-35) Ottawa - by small margins. And this kind of game is set up for Henrik Lundqvist to take the victory by being the better goalie.

But last night it was Marty Biron - who has been mired is sub-par play for a while now. Marty saved 18 and let 3 ring the buzzer for a .857 save percentage. That's not good enough to win most games and it wasn't enough here.

On offense - Captain Callahan took a step forward from his foot injury - scoring the Lone Ranger goal in the losing effort. Assists for Richards and Stralman and ...

And that's it.

We're sill up 6 points on the Penquins. No need to panic yet...

...but you may want to check back after tonight's game...


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Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Turnovers cost the Rangers (Knicks?) in 4-1 loss to the Devils

Those damn Turnovers. You'd think we were talking basketball, where we're often lamenting turnovers by the New York Knickerbockers. Jeremy Lin turnovers. Team turnovers. They are killing the Knicks (don't get me started).

But last night - it was turnovers that hurt the New York Rangers. As coach John Torotrella put it:

"Turnovers that were just ridiculous cost us the game."

"Way too many mistakes," added Henrik Lindqvist, who posted an .893 save percentage despite a few Ranger give-aways that resulted in great chances that the Devils converted for goals. Hank let in 3. The 4th in the 4-1 loss was an empty-netter.

The Devils scored in the game's first minute (off a turnover) and never looked back.

The Lone Ranger score was Derek Stepan, who has scored in 2 straight games. Assists for Girardi and Hagelin. And that's it.

Some better news - Ranger stranger Ryan Callahan returned to the lineup - dispelling Dave Puck's fears that his foot was broken. He was minus 2 - but hey - he's back - and it will get better.

We were both outshot (29-26) and out hit (18-12). I honestly cannot remember that last time that happened this season.

So - we lost to a hated rival - and speaking of the Knicks - they lost too. Chalk it up to turnovers.

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Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Rangers: Three And a Half Men!

Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses - and I'll give you a Ranger win.

The Rangers were playing their 3rd game in 3 and a half days against a Boston Bruin team that was primed to take down the conference leaders.

Tired: We kept moving our feet - but we were clearly a tired team. We did out hit the Bruins 33-17. But more importantly - we were outshot 33-15.

That's a tough stat to overcome. The Rangers clearly miss Ryan Callahan and his (hopefully just) bruised foot. And it also wasn't a bad idea to sit the Captain against the team that put him out for the seasin last year (blocking a slapshot)

So, when you are badly outshot - you can only win when your goalie badly outplays the other guy.

Poor: Tim Thomas in goal (sort of) for the Bruins made just 9 saves on the night for a 0.765 save percentage. If you put an actual Grizzly bear in pads and set him up in the Boston Goal he might be able to block 0.765% of the shots just by beign a big body in net.

Thankfully, we have Hank! His .909 save percentage allowed us to overcome the shot differential and won the day for the Blueshirts.

The Bruins kept creeping back - overcoming 2-0 and 3-2 deficits to tie the game in the third period.

But in the end it was Stepan - breaking through for the Rangers fourth goal - at 12:21 of the third - just 49 seconds after Krejci tied it - that won the day and sent the (drunk) Boss-town Bruins fans on their sad way home up I-95.

Huddled Masses: there were plenty of fights out there - with (can't you guess?) Rupp, Prust, and Bickel participating. The game nearly ended in a large brawl - but in the end both sides just huddled together - clutching and grabbing until the refs sent them home. "Hug it out," was the helpful suggestion from someone in section 418.

Other than Stepan - there were goals by Feds, Hags, and Gabs (his 32nd - and who has been skating on a line with Richards as God - and Glen - originally intended).

Two big assists for Richards and two for Del Zotto. Singles A's for Stralman - Boyle - Richards - Girardi - and Bickel

In the end - your "3 games in 3 and a half days" Rangers proved themselves to be "Three and a Half" Men - standing tall and taking 5 of a possible 6 points as they sprint to the finish line.

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Sunday, March 4, 2012

Point (sort of) Well Taken - Rangers fall to TB in OT

We played like the second half of a back to back. Tired. I don't know about you - but I was plenty tired Friday night - and I didn't have to play hockey on Thursday. The Rangers did play hockey - rallying back but falling 4-3 in OT.

True - Henrik was rested - but he's not superman - or not every night anyway.

The most telling statistic was the shots on goal - something the Blueshirts have dominated all season long.

We were outshot 31-19. I think that's the worst we've been all year in that statistic. With the back-to-back (belly-to-belly) games and Captain Callahan off-lined with a bruised (no one is saying broken - but would they?) foot, you figured the Rangers could be in for a tought night. And they were.

The positives to take from this is that we fought back - got the game to OT and got a point.

The Goals were all good news. Number 31 for Gaborik who added an assist and a plus 2.

Also - goals for Anisimov, who has been back to his best the last week or so. And Dog-House Dubinsky notched one - let's hope it's the start of a little surge.

(Other) Assists for Stepan, Stralman, McDonaugh, and Richard. On the bad side: Minus 3 for Feds, Prust, and Boyle.

(.871 save percentage was very un-Hank-like. Let's pretend is didn't happen)

Still - we take the point and run home - where Boss-town comes to visit Sunday at 12:30. Pucks Junior and I will be there - in section 418 - yelling inappropriate things at the ice.

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Friday, March 2, 2012

Marty!

Ranger backup goalie Martin Biron had been going through a rough stretch.

Maybe Biron's play isn't a big deal. After all - it's Henrik Lundqvist who will start every playoff game.

But it's Marty B. who can get Hank the rest he needs down the stretch. When Biron plays well - it pushes and rests our number one goalie in just the right way. And it's essential if the Rangers are going to surge into the playoffs in the top seed in the East.

Biron did play well last night against the Carolina Hurricane. It was 0-0 late in the first when Brandon Dubinksy, who's morale was clearly impacted by being the trade bait in the failed Rick Nash transaction, committed a bone-headed penatly late in the first that led to a Carolina power play goal in the period's final minute.

When Dubie emerged from the penalty box - he was committed to the bench by coach John Tortorella the rest of the way.

Despite the deficit - Marty bounced back making some wonderful saves in the 2nd period with the Hurricane threatening to take a 2-0 lead. But thanks to Biron, the Rangers held on until our scorers could get us back in the game.

Marty did yield a 2nd goal in the game's final minute - but by then the Rangers had a 2 goal lead and hung on to win 3-2

We out hit the other guys 19-16 and out shot them 25-23. We were playing without Captain Callahan who was missing his first shot-block-injury game of the year.

Cam Ward used to have our number - but now we have his. Marty out-saved him .913 to .880.

The game included a remarkable 2:28 of no one in goal for Carolina - during which the Rangers did not score. (Are we sure we need goalies - the Knicks do fine without one)

We were 0 for 3 on the powerplay and 4-5 on the penalty kill (we won anyway).

Gaborik had his 30th goal and an assist.

Other goal scorers were Anisimov and the hard working Mr. Prust.

Addition assisters were: Bickel, Boyle, Feds, and 2 assists for Stepan.

Nice win for Marty - and the Rangers roll on.
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