I wouldn’t even be posting if the Rangers had lost, but I’m here because of Steve Valiquette, Brendan Shanahan, and Nigel Dawes. That game did wonders for my blood pressure, and it was a great game to watch. I’m eager to see the ratings it got on NBC. It had playoff intensity sans the playoff quality hockey. But anyways, here are some post-game points and opinions.

- Happy 26th bday to Henrik Lundqvist; 8 shots, 5 saves. Too much fun last night? I’m just kidding. I’m gonna go over his 3 goals and why the three he gave up wasn’t really his fault.

1. Goal 1: Umberger was carrying the puck up the left boards with Dawes and Girardi traling. He passed Prospal and dropped the puck to him. Girardi decided that Dawes couldn’t handle Umberger, who is now puckless, and chases with Dawes. This sets up Prospal for a wide open pass to Briere, who gets absolutely STUFFED by Hank, but an unlucky rebound allows Prospal, who just hops around a statue standing next to the crease named Fedor Tyutin, to poke it in to make it 1-0 early. Verdict: Girardi mental mis-hap.
2. Goal 2: Backman gives Briere a mouthful of his nice Synergy, PP Philly. Crazy PP allows Timonen to get a soft wrister off from the point, with Knuble crossing in front. The shot hits Knubles right skate and karams to the left to a wide open Coburn, who roofs it with no problems. Verdict: Defensive mis-hap. why? If you watch the highlight Tyutin chases into the corner leaving the front wideeeee open. 3 guys on one side of the zone during a PK is asking for a rebound goal.
3. Goal 3: 4 on 4 hockey. If you watch the highlight at the bottom of your screen you see Malik check-up on Carter to shorten his gap on him. Timonen throws a cross-ice pass to Upshall and Girardi pinches. Girardi gets his stick lifted by Upshall who then leads Carter, who swung cross-ice and easily beats Malik with his speed, who closed the gap on him and can’t touch him now without a penalty. Carter puts in a short-side backhand without a fake. Verdict: Half Defense, Half Henrik. Girardi had a brutal first period, I’m gonna leave it at that. Malik had a good idea closing the gap, but obviously he isn’t a speedster and would have been better off laying back. Now this goal probobly led to Renney’s pulling of Hank, because it looked soft, but I’m not in goal either.

So I don’t really feel that Hank should have been pulled, but Vally played fine. He made a clutch save in the shoot-out on Timmonen and didn’t give up great rebounds the rest of the game. I’m not worried about Hank, he just struggles against Philly.

- Sjostrom and Backman get their first Blueshirt goals, congrats! Sjostrom looks good. If you noticed the 4th line was not called upon as much as previous games by Renney, but they did a good job when they were out there. Look for Sjostrom to stay in the lineup against the Isles. His goal was a showing of speed and determination, which is what I love. Backman’s goal lifted a huge monkey off his back in my opinion. He started to receive boo’s only after being in a NYR uniform for 70 minutes. After his goal he played fine, including a nice open-ice hit on one Flyer at the NYR blueline in the third. Overall, the pickups are starting to gel alright.

- Straka and Callahan had the other two NYR goals. Glad to see Straka get one, a PP goal. He made great use of his space getting an absolute beauty of a shot off using the post for help. He then set up Cally nicely out front, who headed straight for the net and stood his ground for an easy chip-in. Malik also had two assists, making him an absolute fan-favorite right? haha.

- Orr v. Boulerice. I see the fight in 3 parts. First part was all Boulerice. He landed some good ones that Orr just shrugged off. This allowed Orr to get some really good ones in and win part 2. He kept the momentum going trying to win the end of the fight, but Boulerice made some nice comeback haymakers and took Orr down. Slight edge to Boulerice but a nice fight for the fans on national TV.

- I hate the shootout. I always have. Ties are better than the SO. Shananhan needs to start working on a deke. If any team was smart they would have their goalies sit down and watch the endless attempts by Shanny to pump-fake and shoot high. Dawes had a nice fake and a nice finish with the backhand, but going 5-hole while the goalie is moving side to side is always risky because its just a bit easier for him to trap it. But hey, 2 points right?

- My final thoughts on this game relates to the title, burn the game tape. Take the two points that we just absolutely STOLE and get ready for Tuesday at the Garden against the Islanders.

Until then, stay classy. - Rob