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Win Is A Win Is A Win Is A Win

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The New York Rangers managed not to ruin Johnny’s taco night, and for that, I say thank you. The Rangers did not play to their capabilities, again. They didn’t give a full sixty (five) minutes. They didn’t come out flying trying to avenge a loss that happened to the same Toronto Maple Leaf team on Monday. But they won. It was a talent win. It was a win that the best player for the Rangers tonight may have been former Toronto General Manger, (and basically the architect of this year’s Maple Leafs) Brian Burke.

The game itself started off terribly. It was downright boring watching two teams playing coy with their offensive games. If you had to nitpick at anything in the first period, it would be pointing out Ryan Callahan taking another bad angle shot (he does this a lot), and the shocking sight of Colton Orr elevating his game to that of a fourth line forward. For those who never had the pleasure of watching him do things besides fight, he wasn’t very good at the other aspects of hockey before this. A real credit to Orr and Maple Leaf coach Randy Carlyle, for developing Colton.

I thought the second period would be the period where the Rangers showed a little spark. I was wrong, luckily Henrik Lundqvist was posting the Ranger’s bail for their criminally lackluster play. The Maple Leafs opened their scoring off a bad play by Ryan Callahan. Fellow American Phil Kessel stole the puck from Callahan in the Rangers zone and caught the entire team by surprise. Then, the reason the Rangers draft this year is the least exciting one in years (and it has nothing to do with the fear of taking Hugh Jessiman, the team has no picks through the first three roundss), Ryane Clowe, dropped his gloves. Debate all you want about fighting and its effect on a game, but the Rangers went ahead and scored the next two goals. And finally, the Rangers got secondary scoring. Carl Hagelin dunked in the rebound of a Ryan McDonagh shot for his first goal in a really long time (11 games if you wanted to feel worse). Then McDonagh got his own goal which came off a really pretty play by who else? Ryan McDonagh, he dangled at the middle point, and then took a blast from the ladies tee that Toronto goalie James Reimer probably didn’t see. Unfortutnately, Dan Girardi had a bad turnover in the Maple Leaf’s zone that lead to a two-on-one goal which resulted in Phil Kessel scoring a pretty (hard to admit) game-tying goal.

The highlight of the third period was Brian Boyle looking great. The Rangers didn’t lack chances at all. All it took for this game to not go to overtime was the puck hitting a different nick in the ice and taking a Ranger bounce.

In overtime, James Reimer made some saves, but Henry made the saves. At one point, he made three saves in a row, including a blocker save on Nazem Kadri that was all sixth sense. In the shootout, Mats Zuccarello took a pretty shot, and it was the only goal. Rangers Win.

Now that this game is out of the way, ISLANDERS.

Notes:

  • Nash trying to beat five guys can get frustrating, but five guys being able to collapse on Nash because nobody is even near the net or sometimes in the offensive zone is even more frustrating.
  • The team got desperate and tried for those home run passes. This team hay too many good skaters and good puck handlers to use the puck to speed the game up.
  • The Rangers prevented the Maple Leafs from getting a shot on goal for over twenty minutes. Keep this defense up, and the rest of the season, and possibly playoffs maybe be really fun. (Result wise, not stylistically)
  • Ryan McDonagh had a great game. Big games from his can help compensate for the loss of Marc Staal.
  • Boyle really skating well is going to be key. In the playoffs, a lot of teams have two top lines that cancel out. Ever notice a lot of third line guys turn out to be playoff heroes? Third line production matters, and for the Rangers to have that production, it rest on Brian Boyle’s massive shoulders.
  • Mats Zuccarello needs to come back next year.

UPDATE: Henrik Lundqvist claims he saw Kadri shooting between the defenseman’s legs.


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