That’s all there is to it. Treat every game like its the most important game ever. Forget about what you have done in the past, forget about the daunting task ahead of you. Just win every game you can. Rangers did that today with a combination of fantastic play, and terrible goaltending in a game that was never in doubt after the first 10 seconds. Rangers have to keep playing like this. Hard, strong, aggressive, proactive, and most of all CONSISTENT. You can’t come out flat against one of the better teams in the NHL, the Sharks, tomorrow. You need to be even better than you were today, because their goalie isnt going to give up those kinds of softies.

The story of today, and really of the past month and a half now, has been the play of Brandon Dubinsky. I left an email for Steve Gelbs at the NYRangersCast a few weeks ago during one of our many losing streaks, saying how amazing Dubi has been, and really, nothing has changed since then. Hes going straight to the net, hes using his weird combination of size and speed to blow by opponents, but still fight off checks, and is making things happen. Really, I think this may be a case of Brandon Dubinsky being put with Jagr to elevate Jagrs game, as opposed to what usually happens where a vet is put with a kid to elevate his game instead.

I also thought Dawes played a very strong game. Though he only got an assist today, he was very active with the body, and very responsible defensively. Twice I caught him going back to cover for a pinching defenseman, those are the kinds of plays you need from your wingers.

But of course there were 2 negative in this game, and I would be remiss to not at least mention them. Henrik Lundqvist, despite making 29 saves on 30 shots, gave up a pretty soft goal. In the final analysis it is meaningless, but I would have felt a whole lot better about this game if he didn’t do that. I am one of his most ardent supporters, and definitely am in favor of the contract the Rangers gave to him, but his detractors are right about one thing now, he needs to get his ass on the ice and earn that money. While he did make a few difficult saves point blank, he should have had that goal, and it really bugs me that he didn’t. The other thing which is a negative, and which continues to be a negative since day 1, is our powerplay. We had a few chances, but we just couldn’t bury them. Shooting high, shooting wide, or just not playing shooting. Pucks need to start going into the net when you are a man up, or you will start to lose games you should have won just because of that. And while that excuse (we played well enough to win) was comforting to me early in the year, right now it means jack. Win, score, play defense.

Git

R

Dun!

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While the scoring in that period was only 1-0, the Rangers certainly kept their level of play at a very high level, except this time they did a lot of their best work in their own zone and in the neutral zone, keeping Buffalo to a few shots here and there, but nothing particularly difficult for Henrik that was actually on goal.

Just keep it going, how awesome would it be for Henrik to get a shutout in his first game since signing the huge contract?

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Yes, I realize that Ryan Miller was absolutely terrible in that period, giving up 2 rather soft goals. But the first 2 goals were legit goals. So you shouldn’t be surprised when after Callahan scored the Rangers 2nd goal of the period/game I stood up and screamed, quite angrily at the TV, “where the !*$? has that been before?!” Yeah, I wasn’t happy at our success…well, I think it would be more accurate to say our success in this game made me angry at our lack of success in previous games.

It’s a simple concept. Get the puck to the net, get men in front. How was Dubinskys goal scored? He took the puck right to the net. How was Averys goal scored? Dubinsky took the puck right to the net, and Avery netted him an easy rebounder. How was Callahans goal scored? Drury passes it to Straka right in front of the net, Straka shoots, there is a scramble in front, and Callahan scores in the crease. Gee, what a surprise. You do the fundamentals, you score goals, and when youre as talented as this team is, if you execute those fundamentals, your superior talent can win you games. If you don’t do the fundamentals, I don’t care how talented you are, you won’t win many games.

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I can watch this again, and again, and again, and it never gets old. I guess thats because I’m not exactly a fan of the Flyers…

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While my thoughts and prayers are with Richard Zednik for the horrifying incident a few days ago, I still love this sport, and the physicality and danger it represents. Hell, if I didn’t I wouldn’t be so freakishly obsessed with the game. With that said, let’s take a look at some of the better hits in the game. For the record, I did NOT make this video.

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As you can see, I snuck away from my guests to watch this game, and even liveblogged for the first, and likely last time. Ive got to get going, but some quick thoughts. 0 for 6 on the powerplay, and 2 or 3 OMFG saves by Olaf Kolzig makes the game. Rangers played well enough to win, but they didn’t. It happens, sadly, Rangers can’t afford for it to happen this late in the season.

Now we sit and wait for a week to see how the games in hand plays out. My guess, we’re in 9th this time next week.

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Going to be live blogging today. Posts at the top are older, at the bottom are newer..

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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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