Who Knew?

I'll be honest... I gave up on this team, this coach and this General Manager a long time ago. The first two are making me believe again. This team is starting to come together. The fourth line of Brandon Prust, Jody Shelley and Artem Anisimov has been amazing. They've brought excitement back. Coincidence that Sean Avery hasn't been playing for most of this 7-1-1 run?

The game and the team became very boring to me and I was actually rooting for them to lose so they could either get a good draft pick or get Glen Sather fired. I have since realized as Joe Benigno of SNY and WFAN says, Sather will be fired 5 years after he dies.

The Blueshirts battled last night, got the lead, lost the lead, but prevailed. They started down :40 in after a Marc Staal turnover (pretty much the only one I remember him making this year) was converted by Mike Richards. Chris Drury ($2 million per goal this season now) responded on the power play off a beautiful feed from Eric Christensen (Sather makes great moves... just has no concept of contracts). The fourth line then struck again off a faceoff with under 7 minutes left in the first. Brandon Prust battled through a check to feed Jody Shelley who scored his first of the season and first as a Ranger, igniting the Garden.

Marian Gaborik got the second period going with a brilliant rush and feed to Brandon Dubinsky for his 20th of the season and a career high 44 points. But you know it couldn't be easy. Danny Briere and Mike Richards then sucked the life out of the building with goals to tie it. It didn't look good... but then again... the Rangers have Gaborik. 2:13 after Richards tied it, Gaborik stole the puck in center and walked in on a semi-breakaway. His wrist shot deflected off Matt Carle and over Brian Boucher giving the Rangers the lead... the win... and life.

Sunday at 3 in Philadelphia... it's win and in.

Notes:
Marian Gaborik has hit his career high in goals, assists and points in his first year as a Ranger... Brandon Dubinsky also has set new career highs in goals and points...

A Garden win?

Somehow the Rangers won a game at MSG tonight beating the Boston Bruins 3-2. They did what they could to lose it though, including another 5-on-3 featuring Marian Gaborik and Ales Kotalik lined up incorrectly. The Blueshirts entered the third with a 2-0 lead but it unraveled quickly as Matt Hunwick and Blake Wheeler scored 1:26 apart to tie it.

A first period blast on the power play by Ales Kotalik put the Blueshirts up 1-0. It was Kotalik's first since November 5th which is not a bad stretch. Erik Christensen doubled the lead in the second on a beautiful backhand through the legs of Tuuka Rask off a brilliant breakout. Brandon Dubinsky assisted on both goals.

With 1:29 left, the last guy on the ice you thought would score did. Christopher Higgins caught Rask leaning and put the puck in on the backhand from the side of the net. It was Higgins' first goal at the Garden all year and proved to be the winner. This had all the makings of another home loss and you were just waiting for it to happen. Maybe a win like this can turn the tide at home.

Notes:
Watching Donald Brashear tonight in his 5:51 of ice time I realized he hasn't made one productive play all year. I could do what he does for $1.4 million a year. This guy even had the nerve to turn down Dan Carcillo who was challenging him in the 6-0 blowout to the Flyers last week. Brashear skated away as if he NEEDS to be on the ice for offense or something other than fighting, which he's also not very good at any more. I never thought I'd say this but Aaron Voros deserves to be out there more. What a joke... Rangers outshot the Bruins 35-28... Eric Christensen has 2 goals and 2 assists in his last 3 games.

Prospal out

Vinny Prospal had arthroscopic surgery this morning on his right knee, which was injured in Saturday night's loss to the Islanders. The Ranger's second leading scorer will be gone for 2-3 weeks. Just what a team struggling with scoring needs.

Christopher Higgins will get a shot with Brandon Dubinsky and Marian Gaborik. Ales Kotalik will move up to one of the top 3 lines and Eric Christensen will probably play. He's shown enough to make you want to see more of him but he hasn't gotten a chance to play. Not sure why you'd sign a guy like this if you won't even look at him for more than 5 minutes a game. The power play has been struggling and Christensen has a good shot... why not give him a try? Maybe he gets a chance now in the absence of Prospal.

We'll see where the scoring will come from but it wasn't exactly coming in droves with Prospal out there.