OT again? ugh. ShootOut again? ughhhh. All of these non-regulation wins for the Rangers are killing my blood pressure. Regardless, our New York Rangers took another two points out of a game, giving them a point streak of 13 games. I’m gonna go wire to wire here on the game, so hopefully you don’t have much work planned.

All it took was 16 seconds to make this Empire State matchup really, really interesting. Buffalo gained the zone first right off the faceoff and a battle insued in the far corner. Both Rozival and Staal chase into the corner, trouble already. This leaves Dubinsky alone, who is just below and right of the slot. Pominville is fighting for the puck in the corner. The puck ends up on Hecht’s stick, who throws a blind backhander into the slot. Pominville streaks for the net while Staal is busy sightseeing in the corner with Rozival. Pominville for Buffalo, 1-0. A rare mishap by Staal, but I’ve noticed NYR defensman making coverage mistakes more often lately. I guess thats ok, because that means that physical mistakes aren’t our problem right now, just mental, which can be fixed with coaching.

What was best is how the Rangers managed to strike back ASAP. Jagr jumped off the faceoff and got a good shot. Line change and we have Shanny-Gomez-Dawes. Shanny works it deep to Dawes who looks trapped by two Sabres. He threads a needle to a cutting Tyutin who almost mis-handles it. To Tyutins credit though, he setteled it quickly and snapped it, not holding onto it long. Miller mis-plays it and it sneaks through his blocker. A soft goal, but credit Tyutin for a quick shot and not letting Miller set-up longer. And another showing of why Dawes is a playmaker and a great passer, and easily outplays Prucha.

Past the two goals the first was filled with good action, but nothing really notable besides a couple of “routine” Henrik Lundqvist saves. It was a game the NHL must have loved. Close game, fast paced, with great scoring oppurtunities along with a little rivalry. One thing the Rangers did was spend too much time in the box. This was evident as 4 minutes in the Rangers were down 2. Henrik stole the show again with a great right pad to absolutely stuff a Sabre on the back door.

This eventually led to a huge hit in the close corner by Avery, who sent Dmitiri Kalinin flying into the boards hard. He then aquired the puck behind the net and sent a pass to the slot, where a lone Jaromir Jagr stood and fired to make it 2-1 half way through the game.

5 minutes later on another Buffalo PP the puck was being worked around. Vanek set up in front as the puck got to the left point. He deflected a waist-high shot past Hank to tie it at 2. There wasn’t much the Rangers could do here besides to not take the penalty in the first place. Later on Dawes fought for the puck behind the Buffalo net and succesfully took it. He then found Gomez streaking down the far side while cutting to the net, who couldn’t finish the point-blank oppurtunity. If Gomez had the same touch with his shots as he does with his passes, he would be an even more lethal player.

Gomez would eventually redeem himself in the shootout later after another Shanahan snipe high glove side. Someone will eventually figure him out haha. I feel like im summarizing so here are some things I would like to see as the Rangers go on a mini-spring break down in Florida this week before they visit the Panthers and Lightning on Friday and Saturday night.

- As stated yesterday, our king Henrik is back. He put up another great showing in Buffalo last night. The two goals were good plays and finishes, and nothing short of a mircale such as the one he pulled on Boston Sunday would have stopped those. I have a hunch Vally will see ice in the weekend dates with Florida and Tampa Bay, bet on Florida for me.

- Penalties. I would like to see them clean up the box. I don’t mind the fighting by Orr or some of the roughings, but the trippings, hookings, and interference’s need to stop before we run into a team such as Montreal, who can kill you with their PP. I have a feeling this will be looked at by the coaches. Maybe the Rangers were just a little slow after the Sunday game. Who knows.

- The Rangers Penalty Killers need to lay off the points. We dont have a crease-clearing defensman like Chara who can handle two guys at once. I see this when a winger pinches out and a D man has to cover on the wing for one of the wingers. This leaves the lone D in front along with usually two opposing attackers. The Rags seem to have a habit for blocking shots and clearing the net when they have the bodies in their, so keep doing it.

Thats all I have for now, expect one before the weekend. - Rob