2-2: Rangers Beat Caps

For this week's Slap Shot movie quote, as you can see above, I picked "You guys gotta stop losin'. Get the power play together." And you know what? Last night the Rangers did. Three first period power play goals, wow.

How did they do it? They shot the f-ing puck and went to the net! Jagr was on the ice and assisted on all three goals playing entirely unlike Jagr. Instead of burying his head and skating in circles in the corner, he picked his head up, cycled a bit and got the play moving. The power play last night was the perfect combination of Jagr's puck possession and Shanny's just shoot the damn thing mentality. It was impressive. It also helped that the referees continued their inconsistent, lousy work this season and it actually went in the Rangers favour.

Some other quick notes before I get ready to head in to stop at the NHL store and go to tonight's game vs the Sens (which promises to be a real battle):

*Colton Orr refrained from fighting Garbage, I mean Brashear, several times in the third period last night. Even as an advocate of fighting in the game, it was the right move. There was no reason to fight and it could only result in hurting the team.

*Ollie the Goalie is still a helluva goaltender, even at 73, I mean 37 years old. The Caps have been so bad lately that they forget that he carried them to the Stanley Cup final. He won't end up in the Hall of Fame, but he has had a helluva solid career. And he is a real good guy.

*Alex Ovechkin is in-f-ing-credible. He scored a great goal and was a threat every shift. Probably my favourite nonRanger (who isn't a former Ranger; still much love for Manny and Jed).

*Dubinsky got five more minutes than he did on the Island and did pretty well, even though he was playing with Hollweg and Orr. Again, he wasn't great defensively but that is youth working its way out of his body. Besides, he needed to be all over the ice to cover for the slower Orr and Hollweg, who is fast as hell but pulls himself out of position with late hits.

*Marc Staal looked pretty good even though they took his tutor away and replaced him with Paul Mara, who looked a little rusty.

*Tom Poti still sucks.

*So does Marek Malik. BOOOOOOOOOOOO!

*Blair Betts would be one of the top 10 centers in the league if he could buy himself a pair of hands. Fantastic in the faceoff dot, responsible defensively, great shot blocker, incredible speed ... no hands. He gets these awesome breakaways and then shoots the puck into the logo on the goalie's jersey.

*And finally for now:
PHW Three Stars
3-Kolzig - 38 saves
2-Gomez - first goal
1-Jagr - assisted on all three goals

Scotty Hockey Three Stars
3-Hank - 24 solid saves and the one goal he allowed was the beaut by Ovie.
2-Jagr - He gets a star not for the three saves, but for swallowing his ego and playing a team game.
1-Ollie The Goalie - He kept the Caps in the game and could not be faulted for at least two, if not all three power play goals against him. The guy is a rock.

Let's Go Rangers!