Apparently Sean Avery stopped talking to the press after the Kings game. That would mean hes played 7 games since going on his vocal embargo. His stats during that time? 5 goals, 2 assists. With the Rangers going 4-1-2 in those games and picking up 10 out of a possible 14 points (.714) and going from 9th in the division to hovering right around 6th despite most of the teams around us playing their games in hand over us.

Sean, some friendly advice, keep your mouth shut. It’s working. Whatever the hell this freaky thing he is pulling, whatever his reasons, I don’t care. All I know is it’s working. Of course part of the reason it could be working is hes been put on the line with the best player on the Rangers right now. Oh, I’m not talking about Jaromir, 5 points in 2 games Jagr, I’m talking about DoobZilla. The kid isn’t just developing into a monster…he IS a monster right now. Since January 12th, about 2 weeks before the All Star game, Brandon has played in 19 games. His stats during that time period? 8 goals, 9 assists, for 17 points. Thats a 21 year old point a game player folks. If you project those numbers out to 82 games, were talking 35 goals, 35 assists and 70 points. As a rookie!

Yowza.

There was a lot to like about this game, including Henrik Lundqvist hopefully getting some slack from the guys at the NYRangersCast with a game saving stop against Vanek. Know why it was a game saving stop? BECAUSE THE RANGERS SCORED ANOTHER GOAL!!! Oddly enough when he makes saves like that against the Habs, but the Rangers team in front of him continues to be inept, he becomes the goat.

Go figure.

Tomorrow isn’t just a big game, its a monstrous game. The Rangers are pretty predictable in their gameplay. Big game, they play great, game they should win, they play like crap. They need to stop playing up and down to their opponents and instead playing up to their own ability. Win tomorrow, and youre 5-1-2 in your last 8. Lose, and it undoes a lot of the good the team did these past 2 weeks.

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The Dubinsky monster strikes again, with a goal and an assist so far tonight. The kid has been a dominating force for about a month now, and I’m not sure what the limit is on what this kid can achieve. Still though, the credit on that goal has to go to Rozsival. I probably would have shot the puck there, but Rozsival did the thing he is annoyingly known for, passing up good shooting opportunities. This time though his pass was a picture perfect pass that just about anyone in the world could have scored on.

Want to know why this game is nothing like the one against Montreal? Even when the Sabres are pouring it on, the Rangers manage to have a shift or 2 in the oppositions end. It saves the D. Henrik so far beaten on a screened shot, a perfect roof job 3 feet out, and a one timer nobody would have had. I’m not sure what to think tonight. Could have had em? Should he have had em? I don’t even know anymore.

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With the way the goaltending has been in this one, I figure if you have the puck on your stick, put it on the net. No matter what zone you are in, no matter what kind of chance you have at even getting it on net, just throw it there and see what happens.

While I disagreed with Steve Gelbs vehemently on his blaming of Lundqvist for the loss in Montreal, I do think Henrik should have had that goal. Screen or not, 65 footers need to be saved. Same thing goes for Ryan Miller (for some reason equally maligned of late) who gave up 2 goals, one definitely a softie, the other a deflection, but deflected far enough out, and with not that much direction change that it could have been saved (not should have, but could have). So there you go Steve, I dont always baby our goalie, but I dont think you could blame him for the loss in Montreal.

Either way, it matters not. The Rangers offense seems to have waken up since the All Star break, and if they get good goaltending, and good defense, they should be a-ok as far as the playoffs go, games in hand or not.

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