Sweep the leg. Do you have a problem with that Mr. Avery?
After a long five day layoff which saw The Rangers ousted out of the playoff bubble and a shiny new 6 year lucrative contract for goalie Henrik Lundqvist, The Rangers returned to action on home ice against the current 7th place Buffalo Sabres.
With only 23 games left to the season The Rangers maybe have finally found that sense of urgency that has been eluding them. The Rangers set the tone very early as they broke out down the ice right from opening face off creating a quick scoring chance which Sean Avery capitalized on in the first 10 seconds of the game, a new Madison Square Garden record.
The well rested Rangers continued to grind with crisp passing, smart play in the offensive zone and dominating the physical game. They would score 3 more goals in the first period as Buffalo goaltender Ryan Miller was chased from the net after only 12 minutes of play in the game.
Ryan Callahan scored the second goal of the game off a Martin Straka rebound at 4 minutes and 29 seconds into the game; with that assist Martin Straka slotted his 700th career NHL point. A mere 5 minutes later, Brandon Dubinsky would drive to the net off a feed from Jaromir Jagr and slide the puck past Ryan Miller, he would end the afternoon with that goal, two assists and the first star of the game.
The Shanahan, Gomez, Dawes line decided to get in on the action as well when a revitalized Brendan Shanahan ended Ryan Miller’s afternoon scoring off a high placed shot making the score 4-0, still in the 1st period.
Veteran net minder Jocelyn Thibault took over for Miller to stop the bleeding. But, almost halfway into the 2nd period, Sean Avery would strike again and put the Rangers up 5-0.
6.875 million dollar man, Henrik Lundqvist seemed to be his old self making 29 saves, but lost his potential shut out when Thomas Vanek scored for The Sabres on a 3rd period power play. The Rangers still controlled play and pressed that action but that’s how this one would end and a big 2 points for The Rangers after defeating The Sabres, 5-1.
Jaromir Jagr finally ended his 7 game point drought with two big assists on today’s game earning himself the third star of the game.
****
This game was absolutely critical as both Boston and Buffalo overtook The Rangers in the playoff race during their break. Both those teams still have games in hand over The Rangers as well, and with Washington and Atlanta right behind the pack, The Rangers will need to play games like today’s here on out.
With today's victory The Rangers slide back into the 7th spot. Tomorrow’s game against San Jose will be a very telling test as The Rangers have yet to beat a west coast team all season. Can the Rangers use this game to finally bounce back after a very lackluster inconsistent season? Routing The Sabres was a very good start, but The Rangers’ problem this season is building on that type of momentum.
Stay tuned.
Some Notes:
Marc Staal is still sidelined after being sick with flu like symptoms during the layoff.
Petr Prucha is still day to day with a shoulder injury.
As per John Dellapina of the Daily News, the same man that broke the Lundqvist contract back on Wednesday, The Rangers resigned Dan Girardi to a 3.1 million two year contract.
Article here.
Marcel Hossa was reassigned to Hartford for conditioning.
Join the Discussion:
»