Rangers Recap: Jokinen lifts Rangers over Penguins in OT 3-2

The stage was set for yet another New York Ranger meltdown against the Penguins. They had a lead going into the third, they blew the lead to a Sidney Crosby goal, and it seemed like they were going for a "L" in the standings. But Olli Jokinen (who said before the game that he was going to have a great game) skated down the ice in over-time and rifled a shot over Marc-Andre Fleury's glove and lit the lamp.

The Rangers started out the game pretty well, although they did go down 1-0 on Crosby's 40th goal of the year. But not long after Brandon Dubinsky would put home his 13th on a beautiful feed from Chris Drury, who had a brilliant game as well. The Rangers would continue to play well and in the second Vaclav Prospal would snipe the corner and give the Rangers a 2-1 lead. A lead that would last until the third period, when Crosby would score his second of the game and give Pittsburgh tons of momentum.

There is no denying that this is a huge win for the Rangers, especially if they think they are a playoff team (and they do). Henrik Lundqvistwas simply spectacular, no he didn't "blow your eyes out" with any jaw dropping saves, at least ten of the saves he made could have easily been goals. He kept the Rangers in it when the game looked to be lost, so hats off to him.

Also give huge props to this defense that took over the time that Michael Del Zotto missed after getting his side sliced open by Evgeny Malkin's skate. You also need to give huge props to this offense, and while they didn't score a plethora of goals, they sure as hell fought their hearts off out there. And while we are giving props lets give major props to all of you who decked out the open game thread, we had over 600 comments, good job guys!

So while this was a huge win for the Rangers, it's the first step of a long journey if the Rangers expect to make the playoffs, a journey which continues Sunday against Tampa Bay.

Also it should be noted that Marian Gaborik shouldn't have even played tonight, but it shows his heart and guts that he tried to anyway. He know this team has scoring problems and he is enough of a leader to try go out there with an injury and try to do it.

So go ahead boys, have at it!