Rangers withstand storm beat Hurricanes 3-1
Coming off their first 2 game winning streak since forever, the New York Rangers walked into North Carolina to take on the last place Carolina Hurricanes. Matt Gilroy was back in the line-up along with Ales Kotalik and Wade Redden who were surprise picks to play tonight to say the least. The Rangers were looking for their first three game winning streak since the 7-1 glory days of the beginning of the season, and they found it.
The Rangers obviously packed the same fire and flare that they brought to Philadelphia and brought it with them to North Carolina. The Rangers came out flying, in a very open, first period which saw the two teams trade odd-man rushes more times then you could count. Marian Gaborik and Brandon Dubinsky both had various chances that were snuffed out by Cam Ward. Chris Higgins also had a notable first period but couldn’t find the net—what a surprise. Henrik Lundqvist continued his magnificent play making some great saves early and often.
The Rangers and Hurricanes traded goals in the second period with Gaborik netting his 25th off a broken defensive play by the Hurricanes. By the way not is a great time to point out that Gaborik now has more goals in 34 games than any Ranger did all of last year. It’s in bold because it’s pretty important; the man is a God plain and simple. The Rangers got into penalty trouble—and incidentally got no help from the referees—but were able to kill them all off and walk into the third tied at 1.
In the third Brandon Dubinsky found the back of the net for his 4thgoal of the season, a beautiful one from Gaborik and Vaclav Prospal. Again the Rangers saw themselves trading scoring chances with the Hurricanes but Lundqvist stood on his head and continued keeping the Rangers in the game. Marc Staal accentuated his great game by scoring the empty netter to give the Rangers a 3-1 victory.
Empty Netters:
- Michael Rozsival is playing the best hockey of this season. He played a brilliant game and saved what would have been a tying goal for the Hurricanes late in the third.
- Marian Gaborik continued his brilliant play with a goal and an assists. I love him.
- Henrik Lundqvist has found his game again, and wow is he impressive.
- Artem Ansisimov continued his impressive play and like I said on my radio show, he shields the puck and makes space just like Jaromir Jagr.
- Like we have been talking about for the past few weeks if the Rangers want momentum now is the best time to get it. Let’s hope this continues.
- I think that Wade Redden bounced back from his benching with a solid game. Let's hope to see more of this.
- I also think that Matt Gilroy played a great game in his return to Ranger blue. It's nice to see since we all agree that he is a fan favorite.
Well let’s hear your praise in the comments boys!
By the way after Tuesday's radio show Jim won't be around much over the next few days so if you have any questions or concerns please e-mail me at Joe@blueshirtbanter.com. I will get back asap. Thanks guys!