R2, G4: The Gift Of Life

On Thursday night Tuukka Rask gave the (allegedly) greatest gift one can give: the gift of life. The Bruins goaltender fell on his ass and revived a dead Ranger squad, starting them off on a comeback that was completed as an 4-3 overtime win.

The series is not over, rigor mortis is not yet setting in. Rask's stumble set up a Game 5 on Saturday afternoon, the Rangers' season extended at least another two days.

Seeing as those two days are almost up, onto the Late Hits:

*Spectacular feed from Nash to Kreider. Best thing the former Blue Jacket has done in weeks, too bad it likely came a few games too late.

*Quite a contrast between the Stepan who started this season and the Stepan who has been the anchor of the offense. Once he shook off the bad habits that crept in while playing in Finland, Step has really seized a top line spot. Any surprise he, Cally and McDonagh have been the best Blueshirts this year (not named Henrik)?? USA! USA! USA!

*Of course, that theory is shattered by Brian Boyle. Boyle broke a drought of 181 regular season and playoff games without a power play goal, a lone highlight in another horrid performance by the oversized Blueshirt. He did his usual cruise through the slot - because he'll never stop and take the abuse the way Cally does - and Step successfully fed him the puck. It was the same play that had failed on the previous rush, but Rask was somehow caught unawares. Hopefully someone this summer is caught unawares and Sather can unload this waste of space.

*It's nice when things are put into perspective: compared to Roman Hamrlik, Del Zaster is Doug Harvey. DZ is atrocious and clueless but at least he isn't slow and weak. But both are sloppy, and both hurt the Blueshirts.

*Brad Richard$ was scratched in favour of Kris Newbury, who took a typical Kris Newbury penalty that, of course, Boston scored on. Richard$ wasn't missed but the fact that the organization is so thin that Kris Newbury got the call in the Eastern Conference semifinals shows a major issue that has to be addressed.

*It was amusing and sad to see the Ranger 'tough guys' chasing after Boston's bruisers, trying (unsuccessfully) to provoke them into fighting with their team up 1-0. There is a reason why those same Bruins have Cup rings and those same Rangers are AHLers.

*If Brassard could improve his defensive game, he could turn into Patrice Bergeron.

*Surprising how old and tired Jagr looked by the third period.

*Miss you John Amirante, this just hasn't been the same ...

*PHW Three Stars:
3-Chris Kreider - one goal.
2-Derick Brassard - two assists.
1-Derek Stepan - one goal and one assist.

Scotty Hockey Three Stars:
3-Tyler Seguin - Hate you Kessel, clap-clap-clapclapclap, hate you Kessel ...
2-Hank - Hard to fault him for the goals against, easy to credit him for keeping the Rangers in it until Rask fell apart.
1-Step - He stole the puck from the best defenseman in the NHL and scored. Just think about that.