In that first period you couldn't have a bigger night and day situation than the one between Poti and Malakhov. Poti was the best player on the ice for either team, Malakhov easily the worst. That first goal against was 100% Malakhov's fault for leaving his man wide open, who had an easy tap in. But get this, not only did Malakhov leave his man wide open, he went to the other side of the ice with no purpose at all! It's not like he went there to grab a loose puck or make a hit, he just left his man wide open and went to the other side of the ice to STAND THERE! Argh! Now add his two terrible minor penalties in the period on top of that and I almost busted a vein watching it. Poti, on the other hand, seemed to be refreshed by his game off and made several impressive stands at his blueline, and of course scored on a beautiful, post-ringing one timer from about 20 feet out.

Note #1a on the above; yes, I know Malakhov is a left defenseman, but Mironov was already on the left side, Malakhov on the right, so you STAY with the open man, Vlad!

Note #1b on the above; big credit to Barnaby on the Poti goal with a perfect, no-look pass right in Poti's "wheelhouse".

If you didn't hear during the game, Josh Green is gone, claimed off waivers by the Caps. Smooth, real smooth, Glen. Send Ted Donato down! No one would take him off waivers if he was dipped in ice cream! Granted, Green wasn't exactly impressive in his few games with the Rangers, but he's what, 22 or 23? He has po-tential compared to Donato, who's a nice penalty killer, but is also at the end of his career.

Credit to the old man for sliding chest-first on a 2nd period PK to block a shot from a wide open Nylander. He played a pretty good game.

Just as I was saying to myself, "Jeez, that big oaf Brendan Witt has been quiet tonight", in the span of about 10 minutes he takes two bad minor penalties for interference (hitting away from the play).

Dunham, what else can you say? Other than the clunker against Pittsburgh he's been almost perfect, especially lately with his 4-0 streak. His save on Grier's breakaway at the end of the 2nd was enormous - a game saver.

Dave Karpa, two good games in a row. I know, I don't know what to say, either, other than Hartford must be a really lousy place to be, because it seems like every veteran sent to the Insurance Capital of the World comes back with the fear of God in their eyes and plays their best hockey in years. 

It's got to be hard to take Bouchard out of the lineup right now, so who sits when Purinton comes back? Poti, Bobo, Malakhov, Kaspar and Cross all deserve to be there (most of the time). So is it Purinton or Bouchard? Some people are going to pick Cross as the odd man out, and I disagree. He's been good.

A very impressive win overall. They held... the Capitals... to one goal... on their home ice! Me, who was campaigning for Hitchcock or Burns, who's been yelling for the Rangers to play a trap-like game all season... ONE GOAL! It may be the half-dozen Moslon Ice's I drank in the last few hours, but I'm near-tickled. Pardon me if I let off some steam for a minute here: YOU SEE?! 2-1 WINS HOCKEY GAMES IN THIS DAY AND AGE OF THE NHL! DEFENSE FIRST! ALWAYS! DEFENSE FIRST GIVES YOU A CHANCE TO WIN EVERY NIGHT, EVERYWHERE YOU PLAY! The big shame is, they're still three below .500, and still a decent way off the pace with two tough games coming up. And it's not really so much the next two that will tell us if this Ranger team has turned a corner, it's the games AFTER these next two. Of course they'll be up for it and play a good game against the Flyers and Isles, win or lose. But I can totally see them winning these next two then losing three straight to drop back to four under .500 and back to their paddle-less creek.

And now, what you've really come here for, a recap of tonight's FOX show, Man vs. Beast...

Man vs. Bear, Hot Dog Eating Contest: This was the most intriguing contest going in. I had no idea how to handicap it. Of course you'd assume a 1000lb. bear can eat more than a 135lb. Japanese fellow, but will the bear know he's in a contest? Will the bear keep eating after he's full? What if he gets distracted? Hell's bells, maybe the bear doesn't even like hot dogs! A "pick 'em" in every sense of the word, I thought. Completely unpredictable, I thought. Easier to know how many grains of sand are on the beach, I thought. And that's why I don't bet on man vs. bear hot dog eating contests in offshore casinos, I obviously have no sense for the game. The bear killed him! I don't mean killed him dead, literally, but won by a mile. I believe they each had 100 hot dogs in front of them, and it looked like the bear won by 25 or more. Landslide. And the bear wasn't even eating quickly, but when he did lower his mouth to the dish, it was 10 hot dogs down the hatch every time. Wow. I have a new-found respect for bears, and less for the Japanese.

Sumo Wrestler vs. Chimpanzee, Tug-of-War: Here's where they tried to pull the wool over your eyes. 360lb. sumo wrestler, 160lb. chimp, tug of war, c'mon! It's a cinch! Sumo wins! But think about it. Not taking anything away from their sport nor the effort the sumo's put into it, but sumo wrestlers aren't really athletes in the Western sense. They're just enormously fat blobs. Their arms and chest have no definition, they just hang there like cookie dough. Chimpanzee's, however, these mothers spend their time swinging from tree to tree! So while it was a bit of a struggle at first, the sumo was sweating his ass off while the chimp seemed to be barely interested, and after about 30 seconds the sumo takes a big belly flop into the mud.

Sprinter vs. Giraffe: This was no contest. I thought those giraffes could haul some ass, but this one couldn't. I guess they need a lot of ground to build up speed, and seeing how this was a 100m dash, the giraffe had no chance.
Sprinter vs. Zebra, Round 1: The zebra trotted, the sprinter tried as hard as he could and the zebra won by a mile. But, wait! There's a controversy! Zzzz. Total setup, they say the zebra got out of the gate early, and he did, but was it really necessary to run the race again? Did they really think we at home would be on the edge of our seats, yelling that the sprinter got a raw deal? C'mon. You could shoot that zebra full of tranquilizers and he'd still win. But, regardless...
Sprinter vs. Zebra, Round 2: A fair start this time... and the zebra won by a mile again. Sigh.

Navy Seal vs. Chimpanzee, Obstacle Course: This was another joke. The obstacle course they used, the kind you'll see in military traning clips (you know, climb a rope, climb a wall, crawl under a gate, swing over water, etc.) had to be incredibly difficult for a chimpanzee to understand, even though I'm sure he was trained on what to do. So, the Navy Seal won easily because half the time the chimp seemed to have no idea what to do next. After the event followed a comment something like, "of course our military wins", from the ultra-right wing FOX network, leading me to believe this was all a set up. "You see? Look at how strong our military is, the chimp didn't have a chance! Now let's bomb Iraq!" (Special note to those ultra-right wingers, especially those with rifles: It's a joke, man! A joke!)

"Little People" vs. Elephant, Pulling an Airplane: This was definitely the main event. Not just because it's a wacky idea, but think of the PC ramifications! No one will be happy! Both the little people defenders and the animal rights activists will say their groups were exploited, and the loser's team will be doubly pissed! Fannnnnn-tastic! Let's get it on then! I said, let's get it on, then! Hello? Let's get it on! On! Uhh... well, like the rest of the events, this was a letdown, too. Unless the drama of of a jumbo jet moving at 0.1mph towards the finish line somehow excites you. The whole problem here, and why the elephant won is because there were WAY too many slackers on the little people team! Too many of them were just walking like they were in the mall, while the other half were blowing veins in their neck trying to pull a jumbo jet! Damnit! This can't happen! It was like a Super Bowl or Oscar Night for little people, and half of them didn't show up! Inexcusable.