The Prince And The Detriment

Number two son will be happy this morning. The Ranger are only four points behind the first place Penguins and Canadiens and we have a game in hand on the Pens. More importantly, the Rangers are six points ahead of ninth place Buffalo. The Rangers jumped over Boston which got destroyed by Toronto, who are trying to make a late season playoff run with all those guys who refused to be traded. This is as bizarre a hockey season as I have seen. Abbott and Costello would have loved this rendition of "Who Is In First" in the Eastern Conference.

The Prince returned to normal last night and would have had a shutout except for that old bugaboo, the deflected shot. Only this was a good one a double carom, off of Malik and off of Rozsival, or was it the other way around? Regardless, it really wasn't either ones fault. It's the way the Islanders score goals. They have to bank them in or deflect off someone. The win put the series at 4-2 Islanders so there is still much work for the Rangers to do. The Islanders have won the four games by one goal and the Rangers have scored four goals in each of their wins. They have two more to play, a back to back on April 3rd and 4th to conclude the series.

Lundqvist's win was his 30th of the season. It is his third straight 30 win season and he ties Bryan Hextall as the only two goalies with that accomplishment. Hopefully this win will get the Prince back in stride for the stretch run. His play in the second period when he made 14 saves was outstanding. Also the Rangers had to kill off a 50 second five on three and Chris Drury was on for the entire five on three and was brilliant in breaking up rush after rush.

Then there was The Detriment, Sean Avery, who seemed to control the tempo of the game. The two goals were his 12th and 13th of the season and his eight in the last ten games. He had four shots on goal, two hits and numerous 'meetings' during the game. I have always said that the Rangers big success relied on three players performing well. Since his return Avery has been exceptional. Look up the record of the Rangers with and without him, Its unbelievable. The other two are Lundqvist and Jagr. Was this a return to form for Lundqvist? I hope so. We need the Prince down the stretch not the pauper. Even though he failed to score, Jagr's game was crisp and free flowing. He did everything but score. We need some goals from the Big Guy.

One more thing. The young guys are beginning to take over this team. Dawes, two assists, Staal, an assist, Dubinsky, an assist, Tyutin, an assist all played well. Callahan had three hits. The duo of Girardi and Tyutin were strong and Marc Staal came back with a great all around game. So the future looks good. The present? The Rangers are 8-0-3 and 13-3-3, so they are on a roll. Can they continue? Can they win the East? Will the Maven's prediction come true and the Rangers win the Cup? Are we getting carried away? Can we dream? Yes, Dark Ranger, we can. Stay tuned and let the games continue.

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