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| AP Photo/Tom Gannam |
If the goal of this two game trip was to prove the one
last weekend was just a blip on the screen the Rangers certainly did that with
their effort the last two nights against two very good Western Conference
foes. Another game, another comeback,
another second game of a back-to-back win, and another road win to bring their
league leading total to 15 wins road victories.
With the victory the Rangers have now won three straight Tonight the
story was Martin Biron who got the start in place of Henrik Lundqvist and he
was brilliant with 24 stops, especially in the second period where he stopped
14 of 15 shots, including multiple point blank chances.
On the offensive side the Rangers would get the game
winner from Sean Avery at 15:26 of the second period, but the story was not the
goal itself but the battle along the wall in which Avery and Dubinsky combined
to win the puck which allowed Dubinsky to come off the wall like a man
possessed drive the net and make a beautiful pass to Marian Gaborik who was all
alone. Unfortunately Gaborik would flub
it and hit the post, but luckily Avery stayed with the play and was there to
clean up the scraps. The play by
Dubinsky on this goal was special and likely the result of not wanting to go
back to the bench and face Tortorella empty-handed after taking a bad penalty.
The Rangers other goal came at 9:12 of the period on a
tremendous passing play, but before that the play of rookie Ryan McDonagh must
be talked about. McDonagh blocks a shot
early in the play and appears to be hurt but cannot get off the ice and
eventually is the one who makes the clearing play to get out of the zone where
it ends up with Dubinsky feeding Zuccarello and Zuccarello making an absolutely
gorgeous no look pass to Stepan who was wide open and he snuck it by Jaroslav
Halak to get the Rangers on the board and tie the game at 1-1.
The Blues goal came early in the second when a point
shot from Eric Brewer where Marc Staal made a rare mistake in not taking the
stick away from Brad Winchester who makes an excellent deflection that gets
through Biron at 2:13 of the second.
In terms of period play the first was boring, the
second was action packed and the third was more like the first until towards
the end. The Rangers got lucky in some
respects tonight to get away with numerous bad penalties including two from
Brandon Dubinsky and a huge double minor from Sean Avery for a high stick in
the middle of the third period. The
penalty kill was phenomenal when it had to be and Biron was the best penalty
killer on the night.
- Dubinsky other than his two bad penalties played an excellent game again beyond just another two assists with his toughness on the puck, penalty killing were outstanding.
- Derek Stepan played a phenomenal game on both sides of the puck with the goal and multiple excellent defensive plays
- Mats Zuccarello’s pass on the Stepan was exactly the kind of thing I was talking about this morning when I wrote about Zuccarello bringing his magic touch to the Rangers.
- Artem Anisimov played with an aggression that makes him so dangerous in this game.
- Gaborik had some chances tonight and he was robbed a couple times by Halak but also failed to convert some he really has to with his skill level. He has absolutely no confidence at the moment.
- Prust and Boyle were tremendous as usual on the PK
- Michael Sauer played his ever steady game and is developing into a shutdown defender of his own
- Ryan McDonagh for me proved that he can play at the NHL as he played his normal poised game with great positioning and physicality.
- Crazy Stats: Rangers 15-7-1 on road; Rangers 10-1 in second of back-to-backs; 16 different Rangers have scored GWG's
