R1, G6: One Was Enough

The Rangers succeeded in putting the puck past Braden Holtby once on Sunday afternoon and proceeded to cling to that lonely goal as the sun went down. The Blueshirts beat the Caps 1-0 to level the series at three games apiece, forcing Monday night's Game 7.

While the scrum broke out at the final buzzer, Henrik Lundqvist skated to the hash marks and proceeded to strike the iconic Ken Dryden pose. Hank perched his arms atop his stick as he watched the boys battle, resting after an hour of heroics. While Dryden rarely had to work even half as hard as Hank - playing behind the all-time greatest team - the two goaltenders are similar in that both were/are the best in the business. Sunday marked another simply stellar performance by our Swede and, if he can survive more onslaughts like this one, he'll be a shoo-in to join Dryden in the Hall of Fame.

Late Hits:

*What made Hank's performance even more impressive is how he made so many stops through screens, on shots he hardly saw and were redirected along the way to his paint. He definitely had some help at the end, as Cally, Boyle and Girardi were selfless throwing themselves in front of shots. Boyle clearly was exhausted and sore, struggling back to his skates, but that didn't stop him from trying. Kudos.

*It's a power play, morons, you're supposed to score on it. Sick of this nonsense, it's not funny anymore.

*That Caps fans are crying because they didn't get any man advantages is ridiculous. If you Washington whiners are out there, I'm not sure if you were watching but you spent most of regulation playing like you had a power play with free reign to skate into and around the Ranger end.

*How was Ovechkin not penalized for punching Anton Stralman - of all people - when he was being escorted off the ice after the final scrum? But, more importantly, it was clear that Ovie was frustrated and that can only be good for the Blueshirts.

*It is especially hard to label the lines (1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th) right now as Torts is changing them seemingly shift by shift. But, you figure Arron Asham is on the fourth line and that makes Brad Richard$ a $12 million fourth line center - $20 million if you include his bonus (credit to @mavanco for that stat). Nine and a half minutes of icetime, four of which came on the power play. What an incredible waste.

*Rick Nash spent 3:52 of his 17:46 on the power play. Nash attempted two shots in the game, just one made it on net ... and it was at even strength. He's paid to shoot, he's paid to score. At least he was able to contribute by evading the defense and sliding into the slot on what would be Brassard's goal but he is one expensive screen. The claims of injuries detracting from his play are ridiculous, as he's trying a lot of the same stuff as he did during the regular season (didja catch that dangle of his?) but they aren't working with all the pressure.

*Yelling "Shoot the Puck!" when the Rangers are not in the offensive zone is just stupid. Chanting it ... ugh.

*Four minutes and five seconds of ice time for Chris Kreider. Why bother?

*Also on ice time: John Moore 12 minutes, Del Zaster 21 and a half. No surprise at all that it was Moore who assisted on the lone goal and NOT DZ. Perhaps Moore should have gotten more than zero seconds of power play time. Zero. Torts didn't give him a single second of power play time. Not one. Not even by accident.

*Moore, Brassard, Dorsett ... Marian who?

*Really hope John Amirante is alright, three Ranger playoff games and no performances by the Ranger institution.

*On the other side of the coin is Dancing Larry. Enough already. It was 1-0 in a must-win game with just over three minutes remaining in the third period and we had to watch that clown spaz out to a terrible tune from 20 years ago? Are you kidding me?

*PHW Three Stars:
3-Derek Dorsett - no goals or assists.
2-Derick Brassard - one goal.
1-Henrik Lundqvist - 27 saves.

Scotty Hockey Three Stars:
3-Hank
2-Hank
1-Hank