Full Effort For Full 60 + In Philly

by Rich Baiocco

Bryan McCabe is a gamer. When the Rangers obtained him from Florida back at the trade deadline our Power-Play was in dire need of a quarterback and Caber moved onto the blue line with a ready-to-implement Advanced Directive to shoot the puck, hard and often. His willingness to throw rubber at the net has been infectious, and shooters like Gaborik, Christensen and Wolski have seen the productivity upside of guys working the pucks out of the corners and towards the points for shots to be fired. McCabe walks the line as well as anyone in the NHL and when a Gaborik or Christensen is also open for a shot, defending penalty-killers must take pause.

The Rangers have tried a veteran PowerPlayer in the past, but productivity was slight. Derek Morris came on board from Phoenix with a hard shot, but no luck. However, when Bryan McCabe hammered in a 5 on 3 slapshot with less than a second remaining in the first period to tie yesterdays high intensity Rangers Flyers game at one, Blueshirt fans rejoiced at how much of a gamer quarterback they indeed now had. And if the goal didn't spark his club, or save it's bacon, then the celebration certainly did: a high octane expletive that could only be matched in enthusiasm by someone like Vinny Prospal who raced out to celebrate with McCabe at the blueline.

The goal gave the Rangers momentum into the second period where a bench minor for too-many-men sent Tortorella into fits on the bench. He seemed to be yelling at Prospal and the sorrowful veteran served the minor which the Rangers fortunately killed off. Out of the box Mr High Octane was determined to right his wrong and hounded the offensive zone below the blueline, jabbing for loose pucks before some nifty handwork freed a pass out to Fedotenko crashing the slot to put the Rangers up 2-1.

In an almost must-win situation the Blueshirts played with the vigor and tenacity that they lacked the last 2 games, but Philadelphia still tied up the game in the 3rd on a pass from Claude Giroux to ex-Ranger Nikolai Zherdev--the duo were the Flyers best players the whole afternoon. The Rangers stayed strong, winning battles and continuing to pepper shots throughout the game. Marc Staal played through a mid-game nose-break and though guys were hurt they gave 100%. When the final OT buzzer sounded to announce shootouts, everyone flashed back to the shootout that sent Philly to the playoffs last year and the Rangers to a long summer--but this time Lundqvist shut the door, stoning the two shooters he faced while Eric Christensen and Wojtek Wolski calmly dismantled netminder Sergei Bobrovsky on consecutive dekes for the win.

Things get no easier from here on out for the Rangers who return to the Garden tonight for a 3 game closeout of the regular season. Bruins, Thrashers, Devils. Both Buffalo and Carolina are winning and won't give us any help, but fortunately our destiny is in our own hands. With 89 points I figure we need 3 more to make the playoffs. Starts tonight with a grindhouse against the Bruins

Lets Go Blue!