Mike Dunham made 30 saves last night and recorded a home opening shut out, earning the Rangers a point. Interestingly enough, while the Rangers received a point, no player on the team did. The Rangers non-scoring streak has now extended over 157 minutes. On the bright side, however, they are 0-15 on the power play. Oh wait, that's not the bright side.

Alexi Kovalev received the third star of the game last night because he, um... Because he took a shot on goal I guess.

Reading about a 0-0 ties is not terribly exciting so I'd recommend that you start your morning by reading Heather's far more interesting installment of On The Farm in which she takes a close look at the youth movement in Hartford.

Meanwhile, back to last night's game, the official Rangers site has a scoring summary for you.

The New York Times wonders, "What would the GAG line say?" Discussing the jeers that greeted most of the team, Diamos noted, "The biggest cheers were for Messier, Dunham, Petr Nedved and Richter..." I mention that because the crowd cheered Nedved, and deservedly so in my opinion. While he wasn't able to score last night, he certainly looked hungry, especially in the over-time period.

The Times also quotes Sather, regarding the 9 power plays the Rangers gave up last night: "Too many undisciplined calls. I wouldn't call it too many undisciplined penalties. It's hard to figure out what the officials are going to call these days." Eh. Sort of. Yes, the officials are cracking down on slashing, resulting in some marginal calls but, the hooking, high sticking and too many men on the ice penalties are not exactly what I would call discipline.

The Journal News helpfully points out the the Rangers have yet to win a game. This article is worth reading, if only for Joel Bouchard's quote referring to this as "a feel-good game." I think Bouchard has been spending too much time hanging out with Gene Shallot.

Newsday reports that the natives are getting restless. Those aren't boos you're hearing Arthur, they're cheering, "Boooooone...." (Sorry Jen.) Arthur closes on a positive note, however, by pointing out that, "You have to start somewhere."

Bridget Wentworth, at The Star Ledger continues this theme noting that we at least looked better defensively last night. And speaking of defense, The Ledger reminds us that it has now been 6 weeks since Leetch injured his ankle. It took him 11 weeks to recover from this same injury last season.

The Daily News also seeks the silver lining of the cloud hovering over the Rangers. As Nedved said, "Neither team wanted to give up the first goal and neither team wanted to open up — especially our team because we played so bad the first two games. We wanted to play a patient game, which we did." When you think about it, patience is not a bad thing. Indeed, it's something that has been sorely lacking these past few seasons. Patience wins games -- just ask Minnesota.

In the Post we read that Goalies Are Shiny. Brooks also notes that our 4th line of Simon-Messier-Barnaby has become the checking line while Holik's line has been relegated to 4th line status. Deservedly so, in my opinion. Messier's line has been working hard.

Ending on a positive note, we'll quote Dunham from that Post article stating, "In this one, we stuck to our game plan; what we wanted to do." While I'm sure that's not exactly what the Rangers wanted to do, (if the Rangers continue to play like they did last night, they will finish the season with 80 points but only 3 goals), his point is still well taken. Defensive responsibility and patience must come first. The scoring will follow.

-- Rightbug

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