Today's noon number applies to two different players who impressed in the New York Rangers' two weekend games in which they beat the Philadelphia Flyers and Washington Capitals. During those two wins Ryan Callahan scored four goals (three against Philadelphia) and Brad Richards recorded four assists (three against Philadelphia).

Richards had a hand in two of Callahan's goals against the Flyers and he also assisted on Callahan's first goal against the Capitals.

Both plays have figured to play major roles in the Rangers' offense this season, and both have. Even though Richards isn't putting up the kind of numbers he wants, he still has 39 points (17 goals) in 54 games. Callahan, on the other hand, is having the year he was looking for. A whopping 22 goals and 41 points puts him second on the team in both categories.

Richards is the only other Rangers near 20 goals with 17, the fourth highest goal scorer for New York is Derek Stepan with 11.

Either way, both Callahan and Richards have been a big part of the Rangers' success the past two games, and figure to continue that trend against Boston on Tuesday.

It's no secret that Brad Richards isn't having the best season of his career. He's still getting used to the system, he hasn't really had a consistent line mate (something that brought him success in Dallas) and, quite frankly, the puck hasn't really been bouncing his was so far this season.

That was evident last night when a Richard's shot just glanced over Mathieu Garon's shoulder and skimmed by the post, a goal which would have tied the game at three. But Brian Boyle did tie the game, and that opened the door for Richards to score the game-winner in overtime, a goal that might finally get the puck to start bouncing his way this season.

Either way, the goal was a big one. And, despite his numbers not being where he wants them to be, Brad Richards is no stranger to big goals this year. The goal he scored Thursday night marked his seventh game-winning goal of the season. That's good for 2nd best in the NHL, and the 14 points he's helped the Rangers earn on those game winners have helped the Rangers remain among the elite in the NHL.

Maybe this is exactly what Richards needed to get back on track. Either way, no matter how his season finishes, he's still made a positive impact for this hockey team.

The New York Rangers are continuing the roll, despite some small bumps along the way. However, the Rangers have also surprised basically everyone around the league, and are well on their way to surpassing most of the expectations for this season.

Although, while it is only halfway through the season, there is still a very bright future ahead. Tonight they will face-off against the Winnipeg Jets, who are currently holding the tenth spot in the Eastern Conference. While this may seem like an easy game, the Rangers cannot overlook it as Joe states.

With all of that said, the Rangers are looking for their Conference leading 66th point tonight against the Jets. The Rangers are coming off of a huge 3-2 overtime victory against the Boston Bruins, and need to keep the train rolling. Currently the Blueshirts are deadlocked with the Bruins for first place. With a Bruins loss to the Capitals tonight, the Rangers can be up by themselves with 66 points.

It's no secret that Artem Anisimov has fallen out of favor after a blistering hot start to the season. With no points in his last 12 games he has been relegated to the fourth line by John Tortorella.

Tuesday night in a 3-0 victory against the Nashville Predators Anisimov played just 6:31. That's his lowest total of the season by a mile. In fact, there is only one other game in which Anisimov played in the single digits, and it was a nine-minute effort against the San Jose Sharks on Halloween night.

Anisimov has played well in spurts during this 12-game scoreless streak but he simply hasn't found the back of the net or even the scoresheet. Tortorella has been giving Anisimov chances -- he's played upwards of 12 minutes a night the past few games -- but had a hart time getting him minutes Tuesday night.

Hopefully that changes tonight, along with Anisimov's play.

The New York Rangers were the final team in the NHL to lose their 10th game this season, with the decisive loss coming from a 3-0 loss to the Ottawa Senators Thursday night.

The Rangers didn't come to play against a surging Senators team and suffered the price with a tough-to-swallow loss at Madison Square Garden.

The good news? These games have been far and few between. The Rangers are still two points ahead of the Philadelphia Flyers in the Atlantic Division, and also have a game in hand. John Tortorella is apt to be upset with the effort from his team, and will probably make some adjustments in practice.

Still, the way the Rangers have played can't be overlooked because of one bad loss. That's one of the best things about this team, they always seem to learn from their losses and rebound well. They'll have an opportunity to do that when they travel to Toronto.

Brad Richards hit a snag midway through this season in which he was playing well but couldn't find the back of the net.

The past four games, however, that hasn't been the case. Richards has three goals and two assists in those games, and two of those three goals have been game-winning goals -- increasing his season total to six.

Richards was expected to pair up with Marian Gaborik when he agreed to sign with the New York Rangers. After about four games, John Tortorella didn't like what he saw, and the two haven't been consistently paired since.

What that decision has done has allowed Tortorella to have two significantly dangerous offensive lines that are dangerous in different ways. But through it all Richards has remained consistent, and his balanced offensive output (15 goals and 16 assists) has helped the Rangers get goals from all over the ice.

When Richards is playing well, so are the Rangers. But when Richards isn't, he's not the only offensive player expected to put up points.

Sometimes balance is everything in hockey. Right now, the Rangers have balance.

This is a New York Rangers prospects noon number, but it's important nonetheless.

Michael St. Croix, the Rangers' fourth round pick in this summer's NHL Entry Draft, already has amassed 65 points in 40 games for his Edmonton Oil Kings of the WHL. To put that number into perspective, St. Croix scored 75 points last year, in 68 games.

So far this year, St. Croix has 25 goals and 40 assists. He's on pace for a career year, and is the leading scorer for all Rangers prospects at this point in the season. The Rangers didn't expect St. Croix to fall into their lap in the fourth round, and he has an opportunity to be a huge steal.

We still have a ways to go before we can make that assessment, however, but it's good to see his game grow in the right direction; especially after his relatively invisible showing in this year's Traverse City Tournament.

Thoughts?

(There were no photos of St. Croix, so enjoy this one of J.T. Miller.)

In the New York Rangers' victory over the Florida Panthers last night, Dan Girardi only accumulated 24:48 worth of ice time. When Marc Staal went down with an injury before the season started John Tortorella made Girardi the No. 1 defenseman on the team. Girardi answered the call brilliantly, and has been one of the driving forces for the Rangers' success this year.

Girardi has averaged over 27 minutes of ice time this year, and that number has only crept away from 30 minutes recently.

John Tortorella has been able to do that by trusting players like Michael Del Zotto and Anton Stralman with more minutes on the ice. Del Zotto is currently averaging 23 minutes a game while Stralman's ice time has skyrocketed up to 19 minutes a night.

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