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Now everyone can take a deep breath and step back from the ledge. The New York Rangers did what they were
supposed to do tonight and beat a bad Ottawa team 4-1 in their building and got
back into the seventh spot I the Eastern Conference playoff race. It is a feel good win because they finally
finished off some of their chances, but in order for it to really mean
something they have to carry over the confidence and lessons to Sunday’s game
against Philadelphia. The best part of this win was that all four lines
contributed to the outcome with each on scoring a goal and for the first time
in a while, even though he didn’t steal the game, Henrik Lundqvist made some
brilliant saves at the key moments of the game. Everything that had been going
wrong over the last three games was reversed tonight, but one must also
consider the opponent. Enjoy it, but don’t
think things are fixed by beating Ottawa.
New
York would play another strong first period with much of the early action in
the Ottawa zone, and they would finally be rewarded just after the midway point
of the period. At 10:08 of the first
Vinny Prospal would score his fourth goal of the season with a patented Prospal
celebration. It was Prospal’s goal, but the
credit for it belongs to Sean Avery who did all the work behind the net to
create it. Avery would dominate
possession and then feed Prospal at the right circle for the shot and he beat
Anderson who appeared to fan with the glove.
The
difference between last night and tonight was the Rangers decided to carry over
that effort into the second period and while it was looking like they might
have the same story in being unable to get that elusive two goal lead, the damn
would break. At 6:26 of the period Mats Zuccarello would
score for the first time in 19 games with a backhand shot off the rebound of
Derek Stepan shot.
Just
12 seconds later Anisimov would make a beautiful drive to the net and went
right around Anderson to put the puck in the net. The play was made coming up the boards when
Dan Girardi played it up the boards and Callahan chipped the puck ahead and
Anisimov took over with the power move from the wall in. That move, as frustrating as the inconsistency can be, is exactly why you wait on a guy like Anisimov because that is a tremendous exhibition of his skill and potential.
The
Rangers would have some luck on their side tonight and the end of the second
was a good example of that when the Senators had two great chances in the last
30 seconds, hitting the side of the net with one and then the post in what
would have been a huge goal, but at the end of two it was 3-0 New York.
Stepan
would add to the Rangers lead early in the third with his 18th of the
season. The goal was created by a
beautiful feed from Wojtek Wolski and Stepan finished it with a beautiful goal
upstairs. Sergei Gonchar would tally for
Ottawa to make it 4-1 and that is how it would end.
- Dubinsky-Anisimov-Callahan played their best game as a line in a while as they were involved the entire game instead of just for certain shift.
- Wolski was very good tonight and his pass to Stepan was a thing of beauty
- Dan Girardi played his best game probably of the second half tonight. He made a couple of brilliant plays to cover for Staal early and continued all night.
- Michael Sauer continues to have a tremendous year and his willingness to step and stand up for himself and teammates is great.
- Can Stepan and Anisimov hit 20 before the year is over?
