Even Number Game Woes Continue - Rangers Drop Game 2

If you like trends and data mining - the 2012 Rangers Playoffs have been full of goodies for you.

Three times now the Rangers have lost game two after winning game one. For the 6th time in 7 tries the Rangers have lost an even-numbered game.

Of course - the trend has been that we win the series - so let's hope that keeps up as well.

So - again - we've lost home ice advantage and a lot is riding on game three.

And again - we can't do things the easy way.

Kovalchuk scored first in the first - on the powerplay - to put the Devils in front. But then in the 2nd the Rangers scored a pair to take the lead. Staal and then Kreider on the powerplay and the Rangers led 2-1

But the tide turned (I hate when tides do that). Carter - off a deflection at 18:09 of the 2nd sent the Devils into the locjer room tied 2-2. And so - for the 2nd straight contest we entered the third period tied,

This time - unfortunately - it was Clarkson - who broke the tie with one of the best deflections I have ever witnessed. He held the stick at shoulder level - parallel to the ice - and redirected the puck down - off the post - and in past a helpless Lundqvist.

And with that the Devils clamped down and stopped the scoring right there - with the referees helping by basically not calling any more penalties - motivated in part by the incredible occurrence of the Devil penalty box being broken and unusable earlier in the contest.

Marian Gaborik was involved in two memorable if unfortunate sequences. He failed to try and block a shot with his body which led to the Kovalchuk goal. Tortorella benched the Ranger sharpshooter until midway through the third for that omission.

And Gabby was the unwilling cause of one of the best saves the old fat Brodeur has made in years. With the bloated geezer flailing on his stomach, Gaborick got a Richards feed at point blank range and lifted the puck toward the Devil net. From his stomach - Brodeur bent his right knee - lifting the back of his leg in perfect time to make a massively lucky and unlikely save.

With everything that went wrong in Ranger town - we still scored twice and had a lead and a chance to win.

As mentioned - goals for Staal and Kreider. Assists for Richards, Girardi, Stralmann and Anisimov.

Rangers out hit the Devils 39-34, but were outshot 27-25

So we go to game 3 - still just 7 wins from Lord Stanley's cup - but fighting to regain our lost home ice advantage.

Let's go Rangers

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