Rangers v. Canes

Last night, I attended the Rangers v. Canes game at the Garden. A good time was had by all, except for maybe the Hurricanes fan that was sitting next to me and got shit on all night by everybody in Section 405.

Anyway. It was an important game for the Rangers seeing how they barely beat the bottom of the barrel Islanders on Sunday night (coming off a losing streak, but still) and Thursday night the Penguins come into town with Sidney Crosby poised to return as well as Kris Letang. Not only that, notably absent from the lineup are the teams captain Ryan Callahan and Michael DelZotto (both are listed as "day to day" which we all know is a softer way of saying...fucked for the remainder of the season) as well as Henrik Lundqvist.

So, I did have some misgivings about going to Garden last night because I knew Lenny wasn't going to be in the net. It would be up to Biron, who has had some bad games lately. But still, I had faith that the Rangers would turn a win out and they did.

The Rangers came out strong in the first period with a goal by Marian Gaborik to give us a 1-0 lead and Biron making some great saves in the net. I have to admit, I was able to let some of the breath I was holding when I saw how well Biron was doing in the net...not for nothing, the first period against Chicago when he let in 4 goals was still fresh in my mind. But as the first period came to a close, I felt confident. The Rangers looked alert and more importantly they had a lead going into the second, which is usually good news for us.

Second period, enter Bradley Glenn Richards. Brad Richards has made some clutch plays several times this season but I think as Ranger fans we're still waiting for him to show what he's capable of. Well, that's what he did scoring two goals in the second to give the Rangers a 3-0 lead. Granted, the hurricanes would come back and score 2 goals in the next 2 minutes, but the most important thing is that Brad Richards is scoring (he scored two on Sunday night as well), Marian Gaborik is scoring and the Hagelin-Gaborik-Richards line is coming together as one of the most important and well meshed lines the Blueshirts have going.

Despite the two goals Biron let in during the second period, he did seem to get himself together and more importantly the Rangers didn't panic. Midway through the third period, Carl Hagelin would secure the game for the Rangers with a wrap around goal, making it 4-2.  Again, that's a goal from the Hagelin-Gaborik-Richards line.

All in all, it was a good game for the Rangers. They won, which they should have and they did it with three important pieces of their puzzle missing. Henrik Lundqvist will be in net on Thursday against the Penguins, Ryan Callahan sounds hopeful about a return before the playoffs and god willing DelZotto comes back. But if they don't, Ranger fans can take comfort in the fact that other important players are stepping up to the plate with the playoffs just around the corner.