It was quite a show the Rangers put on before the game to celebrate Henrik Lundqvist's franchise breaking accomplishments. Mike Richter's most wins and Eddie Giacomin's most shutouts. The two legends were both at the Garden along with The King's parents, his wife and his daughter.
However, it was nothing compared to the show the Rangers put on. They fell behind 2-0 in the first, tied it in the second, only to fall behind on a late Coyote goal and trailed 3-2 going into the third period. Then the defense took over, literally. With less than 3 and a half minutes left, Dan Girardi tied it and with less than 2 minutes gone in the OT Ryan McDonagh put in a rebound to pull of a 4-3 comeback win. So in 5 and a half minutes the Rangers snatched victory from the jaws of defeat.
The win, the Rangers fourth straight, was huge and vaulted the Rangers into second place, in the Metro, one point ahead of Philadelphia who will be at the Garden Wednesday, on NBCSN. The Rangers have nine games left, the Flyers have eleven. After the Flyer game the Rangers hit the road for four road games. They are at Calgary on Friday and then Edmonton on Sunday. Next week it's Vancouver on Tuesday and Colorado on Thursday. A huge test for a team that is in a dog fight for a playoff spot. Ninth place Washington is five points behind the Rangers and Columbus, in tenth, is six points behind the Rangers.
The coach pulled a big boo boo by playing flue stricken Stepan and St. Louis. Both were ailing and played poorly and sparingly. Stepan got 7:04 and St. Louis 11:04. Both missed the last half of the third period. The coach should have made the decision to sit them and not leave it to the players. I haven't seen a player yet that voluntarily pulls himself from the lineup. Fortunately the Rangers survived with a big comeback that made Lundqvist a winner for the 305th time.
Hail to The King! Hail to the Comeback Kids!
ICINGS: Despite the heavy voting from my wife and me, Sean Avery was eliminated from the Dancing With The Stars competition. Sean was good, but not good enough in the eyes of the judges and fans. We still love you Sean. Hang in there.
More bad news! The T/Birds were eliminated in the playoffs losing to top seeded Northport/Huntington 5-3. The T/Birds fell behind 2-0 and then matched goal for goal, but were never able to catch up.
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Mike, Sean might have one of the lowest Q-Scores of any celebrity asked to dance on DWTS. Not surprised the producers and him had a spat either. Avery being Avery.