They fought a war of attrition at the Garden this afternoon and when it was over the Rangers had outlasted the Bruins 4-3. The Bruins badly out shot the Rangers 33-17, but the heroics of Lundqvist gave the Rangers the edge. There were three fights in the first period with the Rangers Prust, Bickel and Rupp battling Lucic, Campbell and MacDermid. The Rangers did better playing hockey.
If this was a preview of what we could expect in the playoffs it is going to be a dandy. The two top teams in the East going at each other. Boston seemed to have more in the tank than the Rangers did but we have the great equalizer, Henrik Lundqvist. When the chips were down there was Henrik with the big save. With a shot to get his team into OT and a big point at stake, Tim Thomas fanned on Derek Stepan's game winning wrister.
The Rangers out hit the Bruins 33-15 and in a sign that some key Rangers are wearing down ice time was doled out a little more equitable. Marc Staal led all Rangers with 24:28, Girardi was down to 21:56. looked tired and was a minus two. Dubinsky, continued to sneak out from under the bus and record a game high of seven hits.
The Rangers are 12 points ahead of the Bruins in the Eastern Conference and ten points ahead of the Penguins in the Atlantic Division. The Pens right now look like a bigger obstacle to the Rangers reining supreme. More than ever the Ranger season is going to be a direct reflection of the performance of Henrik Lundqvist. Lundqvist will be a first time father this year. Let us hope that he also becomes the 'father' of the Rangers fifth Stanley Cup.
Sunday, March 04, 2012
Lundqvist Holds Off Bruins
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Maybe Torts will start balancing out the minutes in the rest of the games so some guys like Girardi won't stagger into the playoffs exhausted or injured.
Without a doubt Henrik was the backbone of that victory. Good thing he had his "Spidey Sense" well tuned this afternoon, we really needed it when it got very ugly there, in the outshot-by department.
... and, yes JB, with the extremely tough schedule ahead, I hope there's a lot more rotating in of little used forwards (even from the Whale) and from our Bench-warming Defensemen Department to give people like Girardi and gabs a rest.
If Lundqvist doesn't win the Vezina then something is wrong.
I have no problem if Boyle, Rupp or Scott get more minutes down the stretch. I don't think you could hurt them with a shovel.