Rangers win again...make it 7 straight

Graig Abel/NHLI via Getty Images)

Another great performance by Henrik and the Blueshirts tonight in Toronto.  They pick up their 7th straight win and are now 7-1 on the season. Their win also continued Toronto's dismal winless streak, who actually didn't look too bad at times in this game.
In  much of the first period and part of the second, Henrik kept the Rangers in it stopping the flurry of shots coming from the Maple Leafs.  Through the first 15 minutes, the Leafs outshot the Rangers 11-4. The turning point of the game, in my opinion, came when the Leafs had a 5 on 3 after Del Zotto and Boyle picked up penalties. Killing the 5 on 3, Ryan Callahan chased a puck in the neutral zone after clearing the zone and was slashed by Ponikarovsky. This ended the 5 on 3 and just thirty seconds later,  Brandon Dubinsky scored to make it 1-0.
From this point on, it seemed that the Rangers picked up their game. They showed more control in their offensive zone and were better defensively. Not to say that the Leafs didnt keep the shots coming, they did. But King Henrik stood tall, only allowing one goal on 35 total shots which came during the second period after making the initial two saves on the play. Cant fault him on that one, he made the stops he needed to make but the Leafs were able to pick up a rebound a put it in the back of the net.
In the third it was all Blueshirts after Enver Lisin scored his first goal as a New York Ranger and seemed to take the life out of the Maple Leafs. Both the crowd and the Leafs seemed out of it at that point and the Rangers controlled for the rest of the third.

A few thoughts from tonight:

**Nice to see Dubinsky continuing to rack up points. I know we saw his hot start dwindle last season, but something tells me that being on the line with Gabby and Prospal will keep his scoring up for quite a while.

**Congrats to Enver Lisin for picking up his first goal as a Ranger. Hoping for more to come.

**Redden seemed to have turned his game around drastically from last season, nice to see that money put to good use somewhat. Rozy is also improving slowly, key word there, slowly.

**Interesting stat: The oldest goal scorer tonight for the Rangers was just 23. Enver Lisin, beating out Duby in age by just 7 days.  Its nice to see that the future of this team is in good hands.

            

A Few Thoughts from Rangers 3-2 Win over Capitals...

Just a few thoughts from tonights 3-2 win over the Capitals...

First of all, Marian Gaborik is that good! The Slovak really has shown his stuff these past two games. Tonight's two goal, one assist effort was truly exciting to watch and even more exciting to hope for this season. I know this has been harped on numerous times, but barring any injuries, we have a 50 goal scorer on our hands...

Chris Drury seemed to be invisible this game. Apart from that penalty kill where he stole the puck from Ovechkin, sprinted for a breakaway and drew a penalty, I didn't notice much from him tonight. He is either doing all the little things that don't get notice, or he is just not the same Drury from a few years ago that we desperately need this year. I was hoping for a turnaround year for Drury this year, but it just doesnt look like he has any spark in his step. I hope i'm wrong...

Did anyone else wonder what was with the Third Star selection at the conclusion of the game...Wade Redden??? Just in case I missed some of his stats, I checked the box score and saw 0 goals, 0 assists, 1 shot and a +2 rating. The only thing impressive on his stats for the night was his ice time, 23:50, the most out of both squads (yes, even more than #8). Is that enough to claim 3rd Star selection? I guess so. What about Chris Higgins and his 2 point night, assisting on Gaborik's second goal and netting the game winning goal with just over a minute to go in the game? Either i'm not familiar with the criteria for 3 Stars and ice time precedes game winning goals, or something else was going on. Maybe there was some sympathy for Redden and his not so favorable popularity with the fans, that there was an effort to use the excitement from the win to trick the fans into not booing Redden. If so, it partially worked..I heard some boos from the crowd, but definitely less than usual.  Who knows...