One Day Miracle On 33rd Street

No, Santa didn't show up but the Rangers did for a change. While they made it more than interesting by giving the Canadiens eight power plays including two five on threes, the Rangers prevailed last night to stop their five game losing streak. The Rangers won, 4-1, but the game never seemed in doubt even when it was only 2-0 and we were taking terrible penalties. So what went right?

Did coach clueless give a Knute Rockne win one for the Gipper speech? Did the Captain stand up in the middle of the room and exhort his team mates to give their all for Ranger Blue? I don't think so. Getting two goals from their third line, Prucha and Dawes, the Rangers parlayed great penalty killing and Henrik Lundqvist's return to form to beat an outstanding power play road team. The Canadiens have the second best road record in the Eastern Conference and the number one power play in the NHL. Holding them to one goal in eight PP chances was quite an accomplishment. The Rangers had a 4-0 lead when the Canadiens scored their PP goal. Montreal had over two minutes of five on three PP time on the two penalties and didn't come close.

Can the Rangers turn it around with this win? Not if they continue to take stupid penalties. They took three tripping and two hooking penalties, the laziest of all penalties, last night. Also the power play continues to falter. It was 0-3 last night and 0-7 against the Flyers. They have fallen to the 18th spot in the rankings for PP%. They play a hot Penguin team in Pittsburgh tomorrow so let's see if we can continue the fine play we showed last night. And lets stay out of the penalty box and let's start lighting up the power play. However, if I have said it once I have said it over a hundred times, as Lundqvist goes so go the Rangers. I used to say it was the one-two punch of Lundqvist and Jagr but I don't see anything in Jagr's performance that will make that happen. So its Lundqvist and anybody, Drury, Prucha, Dawes, whomever.

ICINGS: A large contingent of Canadien fans were there to cheer on their heroes. They didn't get much to cheer about, but I do believe that they had quite a few cheers before coming to the game. Spent the morning at an ice rink in Port Washington as my Grandson Nicholas's team the Mako defeated Superior 5-1 in the first round of the New York Islanders Lighthouse Tournament. There are four age divisions that will be playing at local sites across LI with the two top teams in each group meeting in the finals at Nassau Coliseum on Sunday January 20th starting at 7:00 AM. Steve Webb, the former Islander, is coordinating the entire event and from what I have seen it is first class. Had a chance to meet and talk to Steve and just maybe the Rangers could use his toughness. Good luck Steve on a great tournament.

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