I think it all comes down to that. Rangers did what they needed to do in order to win. Score on the power play, kill penalties, play solid in front of their goalie, and get the goaltending needed to win. Great, but where was that before? And, more importantly, will it be there as we move forward?

The funny thing is, the Rangers looked like a team that can beat any team they want, and a team that looked like any team in the world could beat them all in the span of 3 games. Wildly inconsistent would be the term to describe them best, wouldn’t you say?

I think the key is how the team plays when they are revved up. When they know they are in for a battle, against a team they friggin hate, and a team they want to bury. When they want it, they take it. When they are blasé, they get humiliated. Which leads me to my next point. The schedule makers may have inadvertently helped the Rangers with their schedule down the stretch. They play a lot of inter-divisional games from here on out, and the Rangers should put up a good fight in those, assuming they keep their “battle level” nice and high. So, without further ado, some charts…

So, with the Rangers currently having 62 points, the estimated 33-35 points we should win down the stretch will put us at 95-97 points. Which, according to my guesstimations puts them in either 6th or 7th in the conference, against the Canes or the Penguins. Both teams I think we can beat.

As I said during the first intermission, I will be missing tomorrows game with a family engagement which I mistakenly thought was today. I will watch it later on in the night though and will post my thoughts. Rangers need to win, end of story.

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Story of the game so far… Rangers get 2 power plays on some pretty marginal calls, score on both of them. Rangers go shorthanded 3 times, one on a very marginal call, and they kill all of them. Any other game, the Rangers go 0-for on the power play, and give up a power play goal or 2 themselves. It’s funny what a good power play can do.

Jaromir Jagr needs to get fewer power play minutes in my opinion. That 2nd unit has clearly been the best for a long while now. Give them a minute and a half, give Jagr 30 seconds.

Give credit to Dubinsky, the kind can’t fight worth a damn, but he has the heart to go in there and defend Chris Drury. Good for you kid, keep it up.

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Apologies for my post yesterday. I know I said I was going to miss todays game, but it turns out I had the days mixed up. I will actually be missing tomorrows game, not todays.

Anyway, as usual the Rangers seem to play their best hockey against the teams in their own division. Perhaps that bodes well for use since the last 10 or so games seem to be all interdivisional.

I think you are seeing why Henrik has been having some trouble letting the pucks in recently. Watch the way the Rangers are getting back against the teams when Vally is in net, versus when Henrik is in net. They take him for grated that if they screw up, he will bail them out all the time. Clearly nobody can do that. I like what I saw from the team as they didnt just outshoot the flyers, they definitely had more of those super high quality chances than the Flyers have. Biron has not been good at all, as Joe Micheletti has mentioned a few times. Hes having trouble stopping the pucks cleanly. This is when crashing the net will pay off, as seen by Dawes’ ugly goal. Pretty doesn’t add extra points to your score total. Get the pucks in the net any way you can.

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