One might look at the final score and think the Rangers played well last night. They would be wrong. After the first period, the team went into that "we have a lead and we can sit back on it because we have Hank" style of play and almost got burned. Henrik Lundqvist was the main - and possibly only reason - why the Rangers won last night. Yes, I know Cally scored on what has become the set PP play - sort for double use of the word play there -, McDonagh got a fluky bounce for a goal and AA had a beautiful shot for a 2-on-1, but Hank was brilliant last night. Forty-two saves, including 32 the last two periods, only reflect just how dominant he was. I will admit as we all will that the soccer-style save with his head was lucky but his stoning of Seguin among others was a display of goaltending that we Rangers fans have gotten used to and spoiled by, especially this year.

The only true bad news from yesterday was that Ruslan Fedotenko is still not himself, all but ruling him out for tomorrow's game. Even though they have another day in their two-week conditioning stint, Wojtek Wolski and Jeff Woywitka were called back up. If Feds does not go, as expected, I could see Wolski slotting on to the fourth line in place of Stu Bickel as while the Blackhawks can be physical, it's not the same as if you were facing the Bruins or Flyers.

Lines today were the same as last night:

Artem Anisimov-Derek Stepan-Marian Gaborik
Carl Hagelin-Brad Richards-Ryan Callahan
Brandon Dubinsky-Brian Boyle-Brandon Prust
Mike Rupp-John Mitchell-Stu Bickel

(For all the talk about needing another top-six forward, the six that are there now have been pretty damn good lately while the third line, driven by Dubinsky, has really stepped up as well)

The defense pairs remained the same as well:
Ryan McDonagh-Dan Girardi,
Michael Del Zotto-Anton Stralman,
Marc Staal-Steve Eminger

(Staal still is not there yet. The good news is that with a nine-point lead, the Ranges could opt to start to play him more and/or use him in different situations to hopefully scrape off the remaining rust and get Staal back to where he was last year. I still could see the team looking for a PP QB, though 5-for-13 lately might mitigate that a bit, or depth on the blue line).

No word yet on who will start against Chicago on Thursday, but I could see Biron getting the nod as Hank saw a lot of work these past three games.

Now on to the 64k question, what to do at the trade deadline. We have spoken ad nauseum and ad infinitum on this the past several months and will continue to do so until after Feb. 27. Then we will talk some more about if if the Rangers struggle and either bitch who we got or didn't get. I like Rick Nash a lot, that said, his salary, contract length and cost to acquire makes it very difficult to see or back a deal for him. As Steve Zipay and a host of others have said, Nash added to Gaborik, Richards, Hank would be almost half of the cap for four guys. In addition, as I wrote yesterday, raises will be due to Prust, MDZ and McDonagh in the next two years, adding to the lack of available space. I know Dubinsky takes a beating, and deservedly so based on production versus contract, but he is a heart and soul player and does so many of the little things that we have a tendency to overlook that makes the team a winner. The name prominently mentioned has been Kreider. Maybe he is playing it close to the vest, but as others said, a little more interest and passion out of him towards the Rangers, and mention on his twitter account about being a Rangers pick, might be nice, but could see him not opting to come to the team. If the team has any fear of that, trade him and getting something now rather than getting burned. I still think he could play a role on this team down the stretch if they don't make an acquisition, or at worse, step in like Stepan did last season. Depth at forward and defense are paramount, even if it's a third/fourth line and sixth d-man given the injuries to Feds and Sauer, just to be safe.

In my opinion, it's way too early to worry about who the team might play. Pittsburgh, given how well Malkin and Neal have played coupled with return of Staal, makes them dangerous. Same with NJ as Broduer has looked solid lately while Ilya has been a lat out beast. But there is two months to go until then, so to project forward, while time consuming, is a somewhat pointless exercise as injuries etc., can happen in the intervening period.

While there are two months to go, in my humble opinion, Hank is the MVP of this team, frontrunner for the Vezina and should get Hart Trophy consideration. I hope and fully expect to be able to write this two months down the road.

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