Rangers top Thrashers 4-1 in Traverse City

The second game for the New York Rangers prospects was much better than the first. The Rangers prospects played a great game, beating the Thrashers 4-1. The Ranger goal scorers were Grachev, Weise, Kundratek and Klassen.

Again we will be running with what we know from what the New York Rangers official website had to say about the game, and writer Jim Cerny raved about Grachev:

Evgeny Grachev, the 2008-09 OHL Rookie of the Year, gave the Rangers a commanding 3-1 lead at 3:19 of the third period. Grachev scored his goal from the slot on a turnaround wrist shot in which he completely outmuscled Atlanta's Drew Paris. Ryan Bourque and prospects captain Dale Weise assisted on the play.

Weise then scored a goal of his own at 6:45 of the third, when he deflected defenseman Daniel Maggio'sblast into the net on the Rangers' 31st shot of the game.

Grachev's goal -- his first point of the tournament -- was well-earned. He has been a dominant presence on the ice throughout the first two games.

 

Read more about the game after the jump!

 

Just a note here on Grachev but it is a really good sign that he has been so dominant in this tournament thus far. Many people argued that Grachev should have dominated in the OHL because of his age but him dominating against other teams top prospects proves those doubters are wrong. I hope it continues but to be honest seeing the wording "outmuscled" makes me very happy.

The official stats from the game (stick salute to Pointstreak.com for the results) look like this:

New York Rangers - Samuel Klassen (Roman Horak, Luke Walker) 17:06

Period 2

New York Rangers - Tomas Kundratek (Ethan Werek) 7:48

Period 3

New York Rangers - Evgeny Grachev (Ryan Bourque, Dale Weise) 3:19 New York Rangers - Dale Weise (Daniel Maggio) 6:45

New York Rangers - Samuel Klassen (Roman Horak, Luke Walker) 17:06
New York Rangers - Tomas Kundratek (Ethan Werek) 7:48
New York Rangers - Evgeny Grachev (Ryan Bourque, Dale Weise) 3:19
New York Rangers - Dale Weise (Daniel Maggio) 6:45

There have been some pretty big preformers for the Rangers thus far in these two games. Horak has a goal and an assist, so does Bourque and Weise. Werek has two assists and Grachev has a goal but has been dominating. Overall the Rangers played a great game and it is really good to see Horak, Grachev, Werek and Bouruqe continuing their great play. We will also be keeping our eyes on Walker who was the un-drafted kid out of the WHL who notched 29 goals.

Here is another highlight from the official story:

After falling behind at 15:25 of the first, the Rangers got on the board at the 17:06 mark when Klassen, who recently signed with the team as an undrafted free agent, scored off assists from Roman Horak and Walker. Klassen's screened shot from the point caught the corner and beat Unice.

Horak, a 2009 Rangers fith-round pick, got his assist on the heels of a goal scored Sunday against the Hurricanes. The 18-year-old Czech player will be playing in the WHL with Chilliwack this season.

With his third-period assist, Bourque also scored a second point of the tournament after netting a goal on Sunday.

The goalie for the game was Chad Johnson the Hobey Baker Award finalist last year with the University of Alaska at Fairbanks. I didn't hear anything about Del Zotto so I will assume he had a pretty bland game. Kind of dissapointing that he does not have a point yet in this series.

More later guys! Keep coming to the Banter for you're Traverse City updates and analysis!