Cranking Away...

It's 7 in a row for theRangers after beating the Toronto Maple Leafs again last night, this time 4-1. They were outshot 14-8 in the sloppily played first but walked out of it with a 1-0 lead thanks to Brandon Dubinsky's 3-on-1 rocket off the short side post on Joey MacDonald. The Rangers played the best second period they have in a while and completely shut the Leafs down in the third dealing them their 6th loss in a row.

Unfortunately and maybe not coincidentally, Jamal Mayers was scratched in this one. Henrik Lundqvist was excellent again despite Leafs continuing to barrel into him led by human rat Jason Blake. Brian Boyle went after and warned Blake after he slashed Lundqvist. Blake was penalized but came right out of the box and skated into the King again. Lesson obviously not learned as Lee Stempniak followed right behind and bashed into Lundqvist (all comically not called).

John Tortorella addressed the issue saying . "I asked the refs, 'What do you want us to do?'". He continued, "Some of the hits that are coming on him right now, it's ridiculous. Something has to be done, or we have to do it our way." Not sure what you're waiting for there John. It has been 3 straight games where he's getting mauled and twice by the same team. NHL isn't helping you bud.

Blake may have gotten the message in the third though when he was absolutely drilled and laid out by Marc Staal. It was as hard as I've seen Staal hit anyone and it's the kind of leadership you love to see. Blake was shaken up, returned for a few shifts but didn't go anywhere near Lundqvist again. The pairing of Staal and Dan Girardi has been incredible and gets better each game. The Rangers defense now leads the league with 9 goals after Staal got his first and Michael Del Zotto added his 3rd on the power play in the second period.

Marian Gaborik assisted on both second period goals giving him the team lead with 12 points and at least 1 point in every game as a Ranger. Right behind him is Vinny Prospal who's scored (3-8-11) in every game but the first one and had an assist tonight.

Notes:
The things that happen to Sean Avery (Stempniak running him when he didn't have the puck) and don't get called are hysterical... Enver Lisin got his first of the season skating with the fourth line on the rebound of Wade Redden's partially blocked shot... Colton Orr tried several times for a rematch with Donald Brasheer but there was no point with the Leafs and their fans out of the game early... Michal Rozsival was solid but still took a lazy and moronic hooking penalty in the third period.