Rangers Strike Lightning in OT, Win 4-3

Last night the Rangers finally got their grinding forecheck going in the 3rd period after seeing the brutal Dominic Moore headshot on Ruslan Fedotenko. That fired them up. They then managed to eke out a 3-3 tie in regulation off a Brian Boyle, blind squirrel finds an acorn goal. Brad Richards won the game in overtime on very nice feed from the sometimes squirrely Russian, Artem Anismov. It was a stirring 4-3 overtime victory for our heroes. The blind squirrel ended up getting charity first star honors, it was only his fifth acorn of the season.

Speaking of finding acorns, the powerplay also found one in the 2nd period. But, it took some wicked hops off wood to get there.

The squirrels, or our lesser lights, we hope are sleeping giants. Moore's cheapshot woke them up. They were also playing before real giants. The NY Giants offensive line was at the game, and they know something about pushing back against an opponent. That's when this Rangers team is at their finest, when they bring some serious push back.

The secret sauce to the Rangers offense is the defense. Rangers defensemen recorded four assists, one on each goal: Del Zotto (2), Girardi (1), Stralman (1). Del Zotto for all his defensive flaws is the fifth leading scored on the team with 7G, and 21A.

You can't complain about Richards' goal scoring. He's ahead of the pace he had the last two years at Dallas, when averaging 26 goals a season. It's his assists that are way down.

The next three games are a murderer's row, with Philly (Sat), Washington (Sun), and Boston (Tues). This stretch will be a very interesting test for our heroes, who have had a remarkable ability to comeback after a loss. I can't wait.

The Scoring Summary:

G	Per	Time	Str	Team	Goal Scorer	Assist	Assist
1	1	18:56	EV	T.B.	Stamkos(36)	Connolly(5)	Wyman(4)
2	2	04:33	PP	NYR	Callahan(18)	Del Zotto(20)	Stepan(24)
3	2	05:27	EV	NYR	Stepan(11)	Girardi(15)	Gaborik(18)
4	2	05:48	EV	T.B.	Lecavalier(21)	Purcell(17)	Gilroy(14)
5	2	12:26	PP	T.B.	Gervais(4)	Stamkos(24)	St Louis(34)
6	3	10:13	EV	NYR	Boyle(5)	Hagelin(12)	Stralman(7)
7	OT	02:37	EV	NYR	Richards(17)	Anisimov(18)	Del Zotto(21)

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ICINGS:

Another Brad Hat

Blueshirt United:

Brad Richards is making a habit of scoring huge goals for the Rangers this season. His overtime tally Thursday against his former club, the Tampa Bay Lightning, was the seventh game-winner among his 17 goal scored so far this season. And it was an extra sweet one, too, coming against his ex-mates while he was battling through a bit of a dry spell offensively.

Deservedly, the Broadway Hat ended up on Brad's head following the victory...