This was one of those classic trap games where the New
York Rangers come in on a four game win streak, fighting for but gaining some
cushion in the playoff race taking on a Florida Panthers team with absolutely
nothing to lose. I could sit here and
try to dress this game up as a thrilling 1-0 game between the Florida Panthers
and New York Rangers, but if you saw it you would just be insulted. Instead what we saw was basically a snooze
fest that saw the Rangers dominate for portions of the game get absolutely no
reward thanks to the work of Tomas Vokoun.
The good news is that the Rangers in the end got the job done with a 1-0
win over Florida and extended the winning streak to five games.
The Rangers would finally strike in the third when
Brandon Dubinsky scored the lone goal of the game. The play was made in part by Artem Anisimov
making a great play in front with his skates to keep the pressure alive while
Ryan Callahan worked his way into the play.
Callahan would then feed Dubinsky in front for the tap in to the empty
net.
The rest of the action was for Henrik Lundqvist to
dispose of the twenty two shots the Panthers threw his way in order to collect
his league leading tenth shutout of the season.
It is the stretch run and once again Lundqvist is carrying this team to
the brink of the playoffs.
- Dubinsky-Anisimov-Callahan is the Rangers top line whether you want to call them that or not. They are the engine that runs this team and when they produce this team is hard to beat
- Wolski was awful tonight and I would expect Avery to get a chance to play either against Ottawa or Boston.
- Steve Eminger was excellent tonight in filling in for Marc Staal.
