Rangers Swim With Sharks, Emerge Unscathed // Garden Power-Play Wattage Outshines Lighthouse

With wins in 4 of our last 5 games I've been dying to jump into some analysis here at the Brigade so my apologies for lacking on the post-game coverage. Internet problems at my apartment have brought me to some coffeeshop to mooch wi-fi. Though I guess looking at the Duguay ad for a few extra days wasn't so bad.

First off, I'd like to welcome our first Google Follower: BeerMakesMePoop, our Ranger insider holding it down in Philly. If you have a google account you can follow Blueshirt Brigade and receive automatic site updates to your email address.

Now back to the issue at hand: back to back wins against the Sharks and Islanders. Coming off a timid performance in Disney World, the Rangers clearly had it in mind to grit up their game in NorCal. They dove right into the Shark Tank and matched their compete level against the ferocious Western Conference predators with Great Whites like Thornton, Heatley, Marleau, Pavelski and Couture lurking in front of Lundqvist. Bad bounce woes lingered though as Marc Staal was clearly high-sticked in the face and then while trying to recover a shot from Ryan Clowe bounced off the defenseman's arm and past Lundqvist. The Rangers refused to belly-up and a gutsy cycle from the Gaborik, Prospal Christensen line ended up with EC finding twine and tying the game. Coach Tortorella remarked earlier in the week that he didn't want to keep Christensen out of the lineup for too long because he was just heating up; the instinct to play him payed off.

The Rangers took a brief lead when Michael Sauer read between the lines on an offensive zone situation and slid in a free puck from the high slot, but the pinball wizardry working against the Rangers continued as Torrey Mitchell's shot deflected off 3 players on it's way towards tying the game at 2-2.

Overtime was a welcoming buzzer for the Blueshirts who salvaged the road trip with the point, but were hungry for more. Brandon Dubinsky, who seems to be getting stronger with each game since singing the Productivity Blues a few weeks ago provided the heroics late in the shootout, beating Antii Niemi and sending the Rangers back to the Garden with 76 points and an important banger against the Islanders on the horizon.

The Long Island Lighthouse was too far away to save the Islanders from drowning into yet another playoff-less postseason and last night at the Garden the Rangers made this point all too clear for their cross-town rivals. The Blueshirts flexed their muscles for 6 goals and despite a brief stint at the beginning of the 2nd period where the Islanders tied the game at 2-2, the home team controlled the tilt. Erik Christensen kept his hot hand going with a powerplay snipe after Heart N Soul Brandon Prust celebrated his early birthday and activated the Blueshirt scoring Visa with a hard shift and his League-Leading 5th shorthanded goal. Brian McCabe finally got in on some Garden love tallying his first as a Ranger on the power-play and Gaborik--who seemed to be playing with a necessary chip on his shoulder all night after missing a first shift breakaway--lit the lamp twice to continue his offensive dominance against the Islanders this year.

For me it was the goal by Ryan Callahan on a sneaky feed from Anisimov that propelled the Rangers, at the time breaking a tie game and halting the Islander surge.

The power-play has really been grooving lately and even when we don't score we are getting a lot of chances and shots on goal. I credit McCabe for changing the culture on the PP. The Rangers brought him in to anchor the man-up situations but it's been his willingness to shoot the puck at any moment that has transformed the atrocious and perfectionist (can they be one in the same? in hockey, yes they can) power-play into more of a force to be reckoned with.

Another aspect to the power-play is Vinny Prospal. The man known as High Octane, and Pure Offense has been not only pocketing points since his return from injury like Mario grabbing coins on a bonus level of Super Mario Brothers but his vision and play-making skills are lethal. Even on the McCabe goal, which seemed imminent on the 5 on 3, Prospal made a great play to handle the initial rebound from McCabe's dash to the net, control the puck away from Montoya who was scrambling to cover, spin and make a great feed out to his defenseman for the goal.

Despite my reflex to shout "Potvin Sucks" when anyone at a Ranger game whistles, it's hard to hate on Tavares. The youngster continues to impress with great hands and play-making ability including a nifty feather sauce to one time Blueshirt PA Parenteau who knocked it out of the air past Lundqvist for the Islanders second goal and an extra individual effort on their third. If the Islanders drop Gillies and that potato sack Konopka they could be a decent team with the German rookie Michael Groebner's anticipated maturation.

And that's all I'll ever say about that

The Rangers were able to get scoring and big games from all their lines last night and the chemistry and effort on the attack were both evident. However, the standings don't lie and even though the Islanders have been playing well lately, they still dwell in the cellar of the Eastern Conference. The Rangers have beaten them 4 times this year and each game was dubbed afterwards as a "Springboard" for the Rangers to get their act in gear, and each time they've failed to put a streak together. Coming up they face the Canadians, and if there's ever a team we owe a beating to it's the cocky Montreal Les Habitants.

Let's keep the surge to the playoffs moving forward.