Okay so Brent Johnson is not the best backup goalie in the world but you have to like the way the Rangers blitzed him and the Pens in the third period. The Rangers have now won two impressive victories over the two top teams in the Eastern Conference. Their third period outburst of four unanswered goals was their most productive period in ages.
The win was the second this year at the Pens new arena. And while the four goal period was unusual there was nothing unusual about the defensive play and Lundqvist's netminding. In two games against two explosive teams Lundqvist gave up one goal.
The bad news, and why must there always be bad news with the Rangers, was the loss of Ryan Callahan to a broken hand. Drury returns from a broken finger and Callahan goes out with a broken hand. Not a good trade. Callahan is one two in hits and blocked shots in the NHL. To say this guy will be missed is a vast understatement.
However, the dream and the belief that this team is a lot better than the sum of all its parts continues to live on. Grit and determination can overcome individual skill anytime and that is what is happening here. So it's the 'Yotes tonight and let's see if we can win a home game against a team not rated as highly as the Pens and the Caps.
You just gotta believe.
ICINGS:
Today is Vote Avery Day. Vote early and often.
The NY Rangers Blog:
Happy Vote for Avery Day!!!! --
With Avery 125,000 votes behind Steve Stamkos for the third and final spot, today's event is neccesary for getting him in. So please get your 100+ votes in then start spreading the word to family, friends and co-workers via Twitter, Facebook and e-mail.
As I said yesterday, we'll probably need 1,250 Rangers fans voting for Avery 100+ times to make a dent into the hole we're in.
"Vote for Avery Day" got off to a great start yesterday as Greg Wyshynski of Puck Daddy dedicated a five minute segment on today's event which you can listen to here (5:58 mark).
update note: If you want to cast your 100 Avery speed votes online, 1st type his name in as a write-in vote. His name and picture then appear on the forwards picture board. You can continue just voting for him and no one else to speed up your voting. Once you have written him in, he'll stay up on the board. Or you can send text msgs ("Avery" to 81812).
related:
NHL.com:
Letang, Avery, LaRose benefitting from text voting --
The New York Rangers' Sean Avery ranks 18th in voting among forwards thanks almost entirely to text voting. Of his 93,600 votes, almost half -- 45,812, second among all players -- have come from text voting. It's enabled Avery to rank ahead of Jeff Carter, Nicklas Backstrom, Patrick Sharp and Alexander Semin in the overall voting among forwards...
Thanks for the publicity on the Avery write-in campaign. Great job as always by the Pundit.
Kevin DeKury-Thanks. Avery is my man. Would have loved him playing for the 1940 Ranger Champs.