All of the papers and news reports are heaping praise upon the New York Rangers, and I would say it is well deserved today. Last night they played pretty much a complete game. Penalty kills, power plays, forechecking, goaltending . . . you name it, they did it. The only negatives to come out of the game were Darius Kasparaitis' elbow which earned him a game misconduct, and the faceoffs. The Rangers lost 37 faceoffs and only won 16. Without Blair Betts in the lineup, the Blueshirts have no one they can send to the circle with confidence. I just hope it doesn't hurt them in the future.
Usually after a game I can pick out one or two players who were lazy or just not playing well. Not last night. Everyone did their job (some better than others), and everyone contributed in a positive way. I thought Tom Poti could have been more aggressive on the Gomez goal, but he made so many other good defensive plays last night (and has been so good lately), he gets a pass on that one.
Lundqvist.......ah Lundqvist. He became the first Ranger rookie goaltender since Mike Richter to win 20 games. Larry Brooks sums up my opinion quite nicely: Henrik Lundqvist is special enough that no dream is impossible for these Rangers, this season.
The fans adore him, his teammates believe in him, his coaches trust him, and his opponents respect him. Crosby? Ovechkin? Great players, no doubt, but where are their teams in the standings? Last and next-to-last in the Eastern Conference, while Lundqvist is leading this team towards home ice advantage in the playoffs. Rookie. Of. The. Year. No doubt.
NY Daily News: Riding another scintillating performance from Henrik Lundqvist, a resurgent penalty-killing performance and opportunistic offense from Petr Prucha and Michael Nylander, the Rangers defeated the Devils, 3-1, at the charged-up Garden.
The Journal News: The Devils had a two-man advantage and a two-goal deficit in the final seconds of the second period as Patrik Elias skated around defenseman Marek Malik and straight toward the Rangers' net. But goalie Henrik Lundqvist deflected the shot with his left arm, then pumped his fists as the buzzer sounded.
NY Newsday: "The way we worked today was unbelievable," said Lundqvist, who became the first Rangers rookie goaltender to win 20 games in a season since Mike Richter. "[Our guys] were in the right place all the time. You want to play even better when you see the guys working so hard for you, blocking shots, really working hard."
NY Times: Over their last 12 games, the Rangers are 7-2-3. And they put more distance between themselves and the Devils (25-19-5). The Devils lost for the first time in 2006 and trail the Rangers by 8 points in the Atlantic Division.
The Rodent is contrite about his pre-game idea that Renney should have started Kevin Weekes last night.
The Rangers have one more game tomorrow before they take a three day break. Tomorrow night is important, as the Blueshirts can put some space between themselves and the Sabres, who have a couple of games at hand. Who starts in net? With three days off this week, it very well may be Henrik again.
HDH
Posted by Jim at January 23, 2006 12:02 PMeMail this entry!
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