The Rangers clinched a playoff spot by beating the injury riddled Islanders at Nassau Coliseum last night 3-0 and it was the big guys that did it. Jaromir Jagr, slowly waking from his season scoring slumber, scored two power play goals giving him 23 on the season. Lundqvist recorded his tenth shutout of the season which leads all goalies in the NHL. The third party in the triumvirate that I have said was needed by the Rangers if they are to go deep in the playoffs did pretty good also. Sean Avery got 20:11 of ice time, including 4:22 of power play time and while he had no points he had six shots on goal, three missed shots and dished out three hits. No other Ranger had more hits though both Girardi and Dawes had three hits also.
The Ranger power play also seems to be waking up as both of Jagr's goals were on the power play. Five on five the game was fairly even as Straka scored the only even strength goal for the Rangers. As stated before the Islanders are basically crippled so the fact the game was only 3-0 was testament to their coach, Ted Nolan, and their work ethic that the Rangers so often fail to match. There was no Ricky DiPietro to give the Ranger shooters fits, there was no Mike Sillinger to harass our defenders into mistakes and there was no Brendan Witt to blanket Jagr as effectively as he does. But hey, a win is a win is a win. My friend Frank, the Islander fan was right though. The Islanders should have cleaned house at the trade deadline to get some younger talent and prospects. Neil Smith, where are you now that the Islanders need you?
The Rangers have bigger fish to fry right now. They need the Flyers to beat the Devils tonight and we must win our last two against the Isle's tonight and the Devils Sunday. Then we will have the Match of the Decade between the Rangers and Devils with the Rangers holding home ice advantage. The Pundit will be there Sunday with his two sons and Grandson. It should be priceless!
ICINGS:
Section 335 asks: "Why is this allowed?" Regarding the Mark Bell cheap shot on Daniel Alfredsson. Note that Bell conveniently wears a full face-shield.
I hate you, Mark Bell - Sens Army
Sens' Alfredsson, Fisher out for 'weeks' - TSN
----"the one thing that really caught my eye was the lineup card from Kyle Okposo’s debut, signed by both coaches. No bidders, bidding starts at $25."Didn't see any Rangers stuff. And Murph is also pulling for "Khabby" over Dubielewicz:
The NHL Tournament of Logos blog has graduated from logos and is moving onto determining the “best goalie mask” with a series of polls. Today’s matchup pits the Isles’ own Wade Dubielewicz vs. Nikolai Khabibulin. Sorry Doobie, but I H-A-T-E that stupid %$#^@&*! Gordon’s Fisherman logo with a passion…I had to vote for “The Bulin Wall”...
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