After a game like last night the world for the New York Rangers can seem pretty bleak, but a game like tonight goes a long way to erasing that memory. Early in the season there was a lot of discussion of the rollercoaster action that was this team and there is no greater swing in the rollercoaster of emotions than what has been the last 28 hours with this team. Tonight the Rangers would paste the frustrated Washington Capitals behind a total team effort that saw the Rangers dominate the Caps in every phase of the game. The full game story is in the link in terms of all the details of key plays in the game including each of the seven goals the team would net in the onslaught. The game was led by the Rangers homegrown talent which is always great to see and featured a Gordie Howe hat-trick for Brandon Dubinsky who has been the Rangers best player this season. There is also a note about the disgraceful actions of some fans during the game.
As many of you know the Gordie How hat-trick is a goal, an assist and a fight and for the fight Brandon Dubinsky would take on a very frustrated Alex Ovechkin during the second period with the Rangers already up 4-0. In the video you will see what led to the fight, and the fight itself which Dubinsky clearly won and Ovechkin deserved a couple of instigator penalties for in terms of starting the fight and then starting it while wearing a visor.
The other NHL story for the Rangers today was about a rumor that the Rangers are trying to trade Alex Frolov. I am not a big fan of the source, but I think most Rangers fans are hoping that it is true and that Frolov is moved. See exactly what the rumor says and my take on why it would be coming out now and if that reason only further diminishes the value the Rangers could get.
Finally most of the rest of the day was spent on the Connecticut Whale and Mats Zuccarello in particular. This morning coming off the awful offensive performance I revisited the calls for Zuccarello to be called up For the Whale itself I looked at Saturday’s game against the first place Manchester Monarchs and how Zuccarello, McDonagh and Grachev led the way in a Whale Feast. The recap details all the action, the significance of the plays for each guy involved and has the highlights of the game from the Whale organization. It is truly amazing to see how big a turnaround this team has made in the last three weeks and while I bashed the staff down there when they struggled I must give them their stick salute for the work going on right now. looking at what I had said before, what if anything had changed based both on the Rangers and his own situation.
