Friday, February 1, 2008

Flyin' High

Last night the New York Rangers (25-22-6) defeated the Philadelphia Flyers (28-17-5) by a score of 4-0. Steve Valiquette made 20 saves in his first career shutout and Nigel Dawes, Petr Prucha, Chris Drury and Brendan Shanahan scored for the Rangers, their 10th win in the last 11 games in Philadelphia. The Rangers snapped a winless road skid that stretched back to a 6-1 win at Toronto on Dec. 29 -- Valiquettte's last victory. They were 0-4-2 on the road since the win over the Maple Leafs and only 1-6-4 since the start of December. The Rangers entered the game in last place in the Atlantic, but the win moved them only five points behind the division-leading Flyers (61). For a full recap go to Yahoo! Sports.

...last night's win just underscores every Ranger fans' frustration with this team. Why can't these guys put forth that type of effort every night? We've seen complete games like these periodically throughout the season, but never on a consistent basis. I've got to see how the Rangers play tonight and Sunday before I get too excited about how they played last night.

...with all the negativity surrounding this team lately, they've actually won three out of four and are only five points out of first place in the Atlantic.

...now to the game. Congrats to Valiquette on his first career shutout. He didn't have to be great last night, but he weathered early Flyer pressure and cruised the rest of the way. I'd actually like to see Renney give Valiquette the start tonight for two reasons: 1) ride the hot hand 2) light a fire under Lundqvist. I doubt Renney will do that especially with Lundqvist's success against the Devils.

...if I'm going to criticize him when he's bad, I've got to praise him when he's good, Malik actually had a real solid game last night. If the Rangers don't trade him and he can play that way for the rest of the year, I think he has a chance of winning the fans back. While New York fans can get on you real quick they can also forget just as quick.

...great game from the third line of Dawes-Drury-Prucha. Three goals and an assist combined. Dawes' goal hopefully showed the Rangers organization that this kid has to stay for the rest of the year. Not too many of our current players can make that play. Props to Drury on an all-around solid game. Like the entire Ranger team, great games from Drury have been far and few in between.

...another big game tonight against the Devils. I'll have preview and updates later.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I dont think Malik can win the fans back unless he has another highlight reel shootout goal.
The only thing Dawes did on his goal that the rest of the team hasnt been doing is hit the net. He deserves to stay and maybe he show these Vets home to shoot on net.
What an underrated play on the Prucha goal was Giradi taking his time, and taking a little something off his shot to get it on net a cause a rebound.

Lets see if we can get the same effort 2 games in a row.

bpette02 said...

You'd have to be pretty "high" yourself to get excited about last night's game. I really enjoy watching the game for a change but let's see if we can do it 2 in a row.

With that being said they have won 3 out of 4, and 2 of those games the Rangers dominated.

Anonymous said...

New York Rangers are looking forward to return to glory of the Stanley cup finals. For this aim they’ve brought new players such as Chris Drury and Scott Gomez. In their early games of this season, the guys have proved that they have strength and ability to do well in this season. However, there's a long way still waiting for them to reach their goal. But day after day Rangers' fans are increasing due to the remarkable improvement in their results.
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Anyway, I wish the new comers will bring good luck to Rangers!!!