Just Make Him Stop!

As the Rangers prepare to play the Isles, the beat writers have decided to pick up on the story that RFA-to-be Nik Zherdev and the Blueshirts have begun negotiations for a new contract.

Unfortunately the "him" in my headline is not Nik Zherdev. It's Glen Sather.

Giving Glen the ability to negotiate contracts, especially long-term deals, is like giving the keys to a 95 year old man who can't see over the steering wheel. He may have once had the ability to drive, but that day has long past and now he can't even see the road.

Talking to Z is a lot more reasonable than, say, handing a six year deal to an underachieving 31 year old defenseman who was ran out of his last city. But the only thing that mercurial Zherdev has proven thus far in his tenure as a Ranger is that he is unreliable. To hand a player like that a long term deal is simply dangerous. Yes, Z could turn into a game-breaking skill forward like Ilya Kovalchuk. He could also get bored of the NHL in a year or two and run home like Alexei Morozov. Or he could simply turn into an albatross around the neck of the Rangers like ... I donno, Scott Gomez.

Big money, long-term contracts should be reserved home grown products who have bright futures. They should not be handed to players heading into the downside of their careers (Redden), players who have never averaged a point per game (Chris Drury), players who have no heart (Gomez) or players who were other teams' problems (Z).

While the thought of allowing a player with Z's talent slip away is a little saddening, as an RFA the Rangers would get draft picks in return. Then again, if he would be so inclined to come back on a one or two year stint at a reasonable rate then, sure, bring him back. But to just throw cash blindly at players of dubious talent/character/motivation is just foolish.

Glen, please, put the pen down and step away from the desk. Slowly, slowly, slowly ...

Peepin' Foes: New York Islanders

The Rangers will return to the Mausoleum tomorrow to take on Gordon's Fishermen. Zipay is already reporting that DP will be out for the Isles, while Hank will get another start for the Blueshirts.

Where We Are: The Rangers played back-to-back games on the road Friday and Saturday and came away with three points. That's pretty good. They played boring, defensive we-can-win-in-regulation-but-if-it-goes-to-an-OT-or-a-shootout-we-are-fine-with-that-too hockey which the Rodent believes will be the start of a trend.

Where They Are: The Isles are limping in after losing four straight road games. Had they not put five shots on net in the second period of the opener against Phoenix, perhaps they wouldn't have lost there, and they probably got screwed out of at least point in Edmonton on a kicked goal, But it couldn't have happened to a better team ...

Who To Watch For: Richard Park is always dangerous against the Rangers, especially with their tendency to give the puck up in bad spots on the power play. Kyle Okposo has also been on a tear with eight points in his last eight games.

What To Watch For: See if the Rangers can keep this up-tempo, low-risk hockey up against a team that is desperate for a win, especially one against their rivals. Also see which Hank shows up - the one who stopped 60 of 60 shots against the Pens and Sens, or the one who missed five of 24 against Montreal. He gave up four to the Isles at the Garden last time, making it waaay too close for comfort.

What We'll (Hopefully) See: In a word? Domination.

Also Check Out: Islesblogger, Dee's 7th Woman and of course Chris Botta's Point Blank.

As always, I recommend people check out Sam Weinman's Ranger Report and Steve Zipay's Blue Notes for up-to-the-minute updates on the Blueshirts. And, if you didn't grab it last time, I definitely think that that you should hit up iTunes and pick up the classic Zambonis track, "Johnny Got Suspended."

A long time ago
my friend Johnny got suspended for wearing
an 'Islanders Sucks' t-shirt.The teacher said to him,
'Young man, you will report to the office
and talk to the principal there.'

The principal said to Johnny,
'I'm ashamed.
Where's your brain
to wear such a slogan in a public place?
I called your mom.
There she is right now. She said,

'Johnny...
What can I say?
I'm in a state
of disarray.
You will be punished,
that's for sure.
But your father says he's proud
and the Rangers rule!'

Johnny
got suspended
for wearing
an 'Islanders Sucks' t-shirt.
Oh yes he did. (x4)

Johnny
got suspended
for wearing
an 'Islanders Sucks' t-shirt.
Oh yes he did. (x8)

My Art Collection > Yours

A painting I commissioned from the stellar 8-bit Artist:

Blades Of Steel!
New York scores!
Acrylic on canvas, 14x11

25-15-4: How The Mighty Have Fallen

Wow, to think that this Ottawa Senator squad made it to the Stanley Cup Finals in the not-too-distant past is utterly shocking. They were unorganized, unmotivated and had trouble even completing simple passes while constantly sitting on their heels as the Rangers attacked. However, that isn't to take anything away from the 2-0 Ranger victory, as the Blueshirts played a pretty solid game, but it was just very, very surprising. You see the Sens low in the standings, but to actually see them is something else ...

Whatever, we won:

*It was quite heartening to see Brandon Dubinsky get off of the shnide. He has been battling hard to get into good positions for weeks and it finally paid off in this one, as he banged home a bouncing puck for the first goal of the night.

*Lauri Korpikoski also got his first goal in a long while, a nice tally thanks to the stellar stickhandling of Nik Zherdev. Big Z played his most motivated game in weeks and seemed to have a magnet on his stick, drawing the puck to him every shift. He has always seemed better as a playmaker rather than a sniper and perhaps this will boost his confidence so he can get back in the boxscores more often.

*Don Cherry moment of the night: Chris Neil runs Marc Staal in the second period. Brandon Dubinsky comes right over to challenge Neil as the play is blown dead. Neil doesn't bite. Tom Renney, to his credit, puts Colton Orr out on the ice across from Neil. Neil doesn't bite. If there was no instigator rule, than the idiot goon would have faced the ramifications of his actions. Instead? He is allowed to keep playing chickensh-t hockey and runs Staal again in the third. As Cherry said in this evening's Coach's Corner, there is a Code. Neil isn't man enough to live by it and he should be forced to live with the consequences.

*Priceless MSG moment - after the third period scrum when Staal got sucker punched by Neil, MSG rolls in a 'Elmo Makes Music' Sesame Street Live commercial. You just can't make that stuff up.

*Don't go thinking that this win is a cure-all; the major faults in the team still exist. Despite playing against such a poor defensive team who had a goaltender making his second career start, the Rangers "big guns" couldn't get on the scoreboard and went 0-3 on the power play (even though the third was just the final 22 seconds of the game). The Mexican'ts inability to do anything worthwhile (5-11 in faceoffs?? ugh) is consistently infuriating, while Markus Naslund keeps putting on his invisibility cloak. At least Chris Drury is contributing defensively, but for seven million dollars a year you would expect a little bit of offense.

*Colton Orr was somehow limited to less than nine minutes of ice time - one night after playing a big role in the shootout loss against Buffalo.

*Dmitri Kalinin played one of his best games as a Ranger; he looked solid and strong while chipping in an assist.

*Petr Prucha continues to play motivated hockey, shaming Gomez and most of his teammates. Hopefully they don't wear off on him and he can keep up his stellar work.

*Nigel Dawes and Ryan Callahan were consistently dangerous by being proactive, they just need to figure out how to translate that into points consistently. Cally seems to be right on the doorstep time after time but isn't finishing.

*Michal Rozsival looked good considering he got his brains scrambled in Buffalo. To be honest, I was glad to see him go instead of Bobby Sanguinetti. Marc Staal spent a full season in Hartford (EDIT: I suck) is a lot stronger positionally than Bobby, so let Bobby ride buses and learn the ways of the world from former defenseman J.J. Daigneault for a full season. There is no reason to rush him up - especially when Corey Potter has proven capable of playing with the big boys when needed.

*PHW Three Stars
3-Brian Elliot - 25 saves.
2-Henrik Lundqvist - 33 saves.
1-Lauri Korpikoski - one goal and one assist.

Scotty Hockey Three Stars
3-Hank - A shutout is a shutout, even if it is against a sad team that hardly challenged him.
2-Rozy - The blueliner skated a team-high 23:27, had a coupla blocked shots, a hit and all of it just a day after a scary hit that sent him head-first into the edge of the bench door. And baseball players take games off for hang nails and sleeping funny.
1-Pru - The way he singlehandedly pressured the Sens, gained possession, held off a defender and fed the puck right to the Kor-pedo was amazing. I can't stress it enough - HARD WORK PAYS OFF!!

Hey Glen!

Thanks for nothing.

Glen Sather has failed the Ranger franchise yet again, allowing future Hall of Famer Brendan Shanahan to go to New Jersey. Sather's squad, led by his two huge free agent failures, can't score goals and now a guaranteed goal scorer is going to the team's biggest rival.

Can you say EPIC FAIL?

On the other side of the coin, best of luck to Shanny. He gets one more kick at the can before riding off into the sunset. Mark March 30th on your calendar, it is the last time the Devils come to the Garden. We took him to court, weighed his pros and cons and at the end of the day, Ranger fans still have much love for the cagey vet. Hopefully we can give Shanny the warm ovation that he deserves (before kicking the crap out of his team).

24-15-4: Lotta Shots, Notsomany Goals

First off I want to apologize for the lack of a Peepin' Foes on this one (and for Ottawa today) - an unfortunate case of food poisoning has been taking quite the toll on me. I managed to catch most of the match last night but due to obvious reasons, I will keep this short.

Despite putting 44 shots on goal, the Rangers rarely got good scoring opportunities and Ryan Miller was easily able to handle the barrage due to his his solid positioning. The Blueshirts didn't make him move laterally all that much and rarely tested the upper reaches of the net, allowing for a whole lotta easy stops for the former Michigan State Spartan. At times it seemed like they were aiming for that classic logo on his chest - speaking of which, how long until the Sabres ditch the Buffaslug entirely and go back to those classic jerseys full time?

But back to the game and the Ranger power play luckily didn't give up a single shorthanded goal, which is something we have to be thankful for nowadays. I mean, if this was a real special team, then we would be disappointed that they didn't score on either opportunity, but we have to take what we can get from these guys. On the other side of trhe coin, the Rangers weren't called for a single penalty. It isn't that they played a penalty-free game, but that the refs gave the teams some leeway and only called the blatantly obvious puck off the rink and a clear trip.

So all in all, despite a pretty dominating performance, the Rangers left Buffalo with a point. Something more than nothing ...

Some randomness:

*Paul Gaustad plays some old time hockey, I can appreciate that.

*There is nothing about how Mexican't Scott Gomez plays that I can appreciate. He is boring and predictable and is far from a top flight center.

*Can I show my love for the Ranger fourth liners now? While you may disagree that they were the best Ranger line out there, but everyone could see their worth to the team. And not using Sjostrom in the shootout was a huge mistake by Tom Renney.

*I mean, I can understand that he felt obligated to give Chris Drury a shot in front of his old team, but this player's coach should feel obligated to win games.

*While the Ranger broadcasters were so very impressed with the way that the Ranger defense played after Michal Rozsival went down, Buffalo was essentially playing with five guys all game - Toni Lydman skated for a game-high 27:46. At one point it seemed like he was there to clear the puck out on every Ranger rush.

*Joe Micheletti ... listening to him almost made me as sick as the food poisoning.

*PHW Three Stars
3-Scott Gomez - no goals, no assists, nine shots (four that missed the net), 7-9 in the faceoff dot ... I have no idea why these "Professional Hockey Writers" selected him.
2-Derek Roy - one goal in regulation.
1-Ryan Miller - 43 saves.

Scotty Hockey Three Stars
3-Miller - While I do think he wasn't particularly tested, some credit is due.
2-Paul Mara - Mara was the steadiest of the Ranger blueliners and he chipped in a goal (thank you Colton Orr). I guess that without Patrick Kaleta playing, it was easier for him to focus on actually playing.
1-Stephen Valiquette - Valley was cool as a cucumber and gave the Rangers with the steady goaltending that Henrik Lundqvist has been unable to provide of late.

24-15-3: Collapsing Before The Canadiens

The first two periods of hockey at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday night weren't particularly pretty. In fact, there were stretches of outright boredom. But those doldrums came due to two pretty evenly matched teams keeping their cards close to their chests. When the third period started the Rangers started showing off their hand and fell apart, leaving Robert Lang and the Canadiens to pick up the pieces and put together a 6-3 victory.

I am just going to get right into it:

*You have to start in net, where Henrik Lundqvist was a sieve. I overheard someone float the idea that the Rangers should platoon Hank with Valley the way they did with Beezer and Richter and I can't say it is a bad idea. Hank is not playing all-world hockey right now, that simple. His first period gaffe behind the net that gave the Habs their first goal said it all. His confidence isn't where it should be right now and he hasn't shown the ability to play out of it. At least three of the five goals scored on him were stoppable.

*And he has no one to blame but himself. For the first two periods, the Ranger defense played the best they have as a unit all season long. They moved the puck well, they were in good positions and - while not a physical lot - they didn't allow the Habs to crash the crease. Of course, in the third period that changed. Marc Staal decided to remind everyone that he is a second-season player and allowed Robert Lang to walk around him for the nail in the coffin. Bad, bad, bad timing. But the good stuff is that Dmitri Kalinin's great play in the second period set up the equalizer by Callahan and Rozy's third period tally came as a result of good work. I am loathe to give Wade Redden credit, but if he hadn't cheated and cross checked a player into the Montreal crease in the first period, the Rangers wouldn't have scored to tie the game at one. A real referee woulda called it back, but whatever.

*The officiating was a little iffy, making five straight calls on the Blueshirts but what can you do? The zebras have been inconsistent to the point of idiocy since the lockout.

*Some of those calls were quite justified. There was no grey area with Callahan's high stick and none with Scott Gomez's holding. Cally's infraction came on the follow-through of a play, Gomez's was just laziness and stupidity. Just when you thought the Mexican't couldn't soil that A on his chest any more ...

*Can we end the Aaron Voros experiment now and bring back someone who will actually try? I don't necessarily think that the hooking call on Voros was a clear-cut call, but that was the only time he was visible the entire night. You couldn't help but notice Lauri Korpikoski every time that kid was on the ice prior to this benching. How the oversized Voros could play so small is startling and unnerving.

*But if you are to bench Voros, then it is also time to give Markus Naslund and Nik Zherdev a taste of the pine. Nazzy made a few plays but his scoring touch, what little there is left of it, has disappeared. And we knew Z was enigmatic, but he hasn't shown up in a few weeks. Perhaps he can find himself up in the press box while PA Parenteau finally gets a shot at the NHL.

*Of course, a decision like that would fall to Tom Renney and he is proving more and more incapable of making this team win. Of all of the dubious moves - and there are so many every single minute of the game - I wonder what took him so long to pull Hank tonight. Down two goals with a power play, he waited until Roman Hamrlik's penalty was more than half over to call time out and remove his netminder. Last night the Devile scored two goals with their goaltender on the bench - the first coming on a power play with almost eight minutes left. That takes cajones and our fair leader doesn't have any. He won't bench players who play poorly, he juggles the lines incessantly and he can't make tactic changes on the fly.

*The Canadiens seemed primed to be intimidated and Renney had Colton Orr on the ice for all of 5:39. And it isn't like Orr was a step behind or was useless out there. He had a few good hits and nearly scored. His linemate Blair Betts, the best centerman on the team, played six minutes at even strength. Two words: bad coaching.

*Perhaps a better coach would be able to find the switch on Brandon Dubinsky and turn it back on. Dubi is skating hard but things just aren't clicking. A friend suggested that putting him on the shelf for Artem Anisimov, who is looking good in Hartford and I can't disagree. But at this point, with this team playing the way it is, I have no problem with most any personnel move if it gets a hungry young player into the roster.

*Just look at Nigel Dawes and Petr Prucha. For the third straight game they were by far the best Rangers on the ice. And the reason? They played like they cared, they played like they wanted to play in the NHL. It is amazing how that works.

*It was amazing to see the sheer number of Montreal fans in the Garden. An interesting moment came when the in-house camera found Ranger great Brad Park in the crowd. Most of the Montreal fans I saw clapped for him while a large number of Ranger fans didn't. For shame. And the fact that the idiots were back doing the "Potvin Sucks" whistle every five minutes was just as disgraceful. Stuff like that makes me sad to call myself a Ranger fan. And on that depressing note (only appropriate after this game):

*PHW Three Stars
3-Jaroslav Halak - 36 saves.
2-Andrei Markov - one goal and one assist.
1-Robert Lang - hat trick.

Scotty Hockey Three Stars
3-Prucha/Dawes - They get a co-star because it is almost impossible to distinguish between them. Both hustled, both threw what little body weight they have around and both initiated action.
2-Roman Hamrlik - Sure he took a bad penalty late that could have cost the Habs but with the Ranger power play being what it is, it really wasn't that egregious of an error. The rest of the night Hamrlik was all over the ice and he collected three assists for his effort.
1-Lang - It is always great to see a hat trick, even if it is against you. Sure some cred is lost with one of the tallies being an empty netter, but it was shorthanded so more power to him. And, while I took Staal to task before, Lang's goal around him was quite purty. Not only did he take the kid's jock strap away, he stashed it in the upper corner of the Ranger net, along with the puck.

Almost Forgot ...

Tonight is one of the just four promotional giveaway nights at the Garden. After getting a Jana Water magnetic schedule at the home opener, tonight the Rangers have their "New York Rangers 2009 Calendar Giveaway, presented by Capital One Bank." Unlike on the island or frankly many other NHL markets, giveaways at the Garden are rare events so we have to treasure them. Prior to the lockout there were the occasional hat or shirt nights but since then? Virtually nothing. Sure they give those paper thin towels during the playoffs (which are kinda useful to wash your car with) but that shouldn't count as they jack up the ticket prices so badly for those games that the least they could do is give away a rag.

To be fair, it is hard to judge if it is the Ranger management, their sales staff or the sponsors themselves who are failing us fans. Well, the management is failing us for so many reasons, but is this another one of them? Are they refusing to have more giveaways? Why giveaway a hat when they can sell one for $25? Kinda like those 'I AM SECTION XXX' t-shirts that they selling for $30 - something that clearly should be given away to season ticket holders gratis considering the ever-increasing investment we are making.

But what if it isn't them? Is the sales staff just incapable of getting companies to sign on and promote their brand names? Or are those companies just not interested in selling their wares to 18,200 hockey fans? Both are feasible, if unlikely, explanations.

I did mention that this was one of four promo games, with the thought being that they are certain to give replica banners at the two February retirement nights (Graves and Howell/Bathgate). But then again, with the economy and how cheap Dolan is when it comes to the fans, who knows??

Peepin' Foes: Montreal Canadiens

The Habs will be back at the Garden to face the Rangers for the second of four games between the Original Six rivals this season. The game will at 7:30 rather than at 7. Don't as me why, I donno. Neither TSN, nor RDS (the Canadian broadcasters) have anything special leading into the match ...

Historically: These two teams with the best jerseys in the NHL have faced each other 593 times. Despite having won five straight against the Habs at the Garden, there is still some ground to make up as the Blueshirts are 185-312-94-2 in the all-time series. The first meeting between them came on November 27th, 1926 and the Rangers won 2-0 in what was the fourth game in franchise history. Amazingly, despite 86 years of history, the teams played each other with a Cup on the line just once - the John Davidson-led Studio 54ers who lost in five games in 1979.

Where We Are Now: The last time these teams met, the Rangers lost 6-2 on the heels of of a good win against the Penguins. That was a month ago but back then Scott Gomez was terrible, Aaron Voros was useless and Petr Prucha was the hardest working Ranger on the ice. The more things change, the more they stay the same ...

Where They Are Now: The Canadiens are 6-1-1 in their last eight games but the last two weren't so great. First they had troubles solving Scott Clemmensen and the Devils, then they were taken to a shootout by the Florida Putty Tats after blowing a 4-2 lead heading into the third period. The Habs are one banged up team right now, missing Saku Koivu, Alex Tanguay, Chris Higgins, Carey Price and Georges Laraque. And yet they are just one point behind us in the East with three games in hand; if they get healthy? Watch out.

Who To Watch For: Even though Higgins is hurt, fellow Long Island native Mike Komisarek is finally back in game shape. It is a pleasure to watch the big defenseman work, even if he physically dominates the Blueshirts every time (and he has fallen for Sean Avery's sloppy seconds in the past). The Kostitsyn brothers are starting to fire on all cylinders and can play some pretty hockey while Scotty Hockey favourite Steve Begin (right, looking like a hockey player) is always dangerous against the Rangers.

What To Watch For: Begin has the tendency to set the tempo and temperature of a game with his physical play. If he comes out of the gate hard and plays more than 11 or 12 minutes, it will cost the Rangers. Also watch the Ranger power play - did they learn that shooting on the power play can actually lead to success or were the two goals against the Pens flukes?

What We'll (Hopefully) See: The Ranger youth continue to go wild. Nigel Dawes, Petr Prucha and Ryan Callahan have been the best skaters on the Rangers and sooner or later, Brandon Dubinsky is going to break through and join them. Hopefully it is sooner rather than later. Also it would be nice to see the Ranger defense play a second straight game without making major mistakes. Sure there were still gaffes against Pittsburgh, but there weren't many that coulda cost the Blueshirts the game.

Also Check Out: Top Shelf Habs, Habs Blog and a thorough MSM blog in Habs Inside/Out.

And, as always, head over to Weinman's Ranger Report. He seems to have as little faith in Tom Renney's genius as the rest of us Ranger fans of late ...

24-14-3: Picking On The Passionless Pens

A couple of weeks ago a friend reminded me that over the course of a season there are teams that you are supposed to beat and you have to be happy when you do, no matter how you went about doing it. I guess that means that we are supposed to be happy after tonight's 4-0 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins ... he never said it would be easy.

The game was a choppy battle between two teams to see who cared less and Pittsburgh won. The Penguins were horrifically bad, and it is of little wonder that Cole Harbour Crybaby Cindy Crosby is in a frustrated funk. His team sucked. While we were celebrating the two Ranger power play goals, Penguin fans had to be regretting the decision to let Ty Conklin go in the offseason. Both shots - one that was deflected and the other through a smattering of traffic - were intensely savable. Where Marc-Andre Fleury couldn't make the big stop, Henrik Lundqvist made the key save early on - a beautiful kick save on Cindy. After that, the Pens barely challenged him and let him get away with his first shutout of the season. As my buddy Mr. X from the Blue Seats said, it was a terrible game but at least it was entertaining.

What it comes down to is that this Ranger win was a small-but-positive step towards regaining some credibility and some momentum heading into the stretch run. Wednesday's match-up against the Canadiens will be the true test ... but before then, some ice chips from tonight:

*Isn't hockey a wonderful game of inches? I counted five saves by the iron tonight, two of which were behind Hank early in the first period. If either one went in?? Different game.

*If Cindy Crosby had some decent linemates? Different game. He was so much fun to watch - getting kicked out of faceoff circles, making bad passes, crying to the refs, taking bad penalties, diving, getting marginalized by Dmitri Kalinin ... and the Ranger crowd chanting "Crosby Sucks" and "Croooooooossssssssbbbbbbbbyyyyy, Croooooooossssssssbbbbbbbbyyyyy?" Priceless!

*Quick Off Topic Question: Why didn't the linesmen jump in on Crosby's "fight" against Florida's Brett McLean? McLean clearly didn't want to fight and was instantly disadvantaged with the jersey over his head. Oh yeah, that's right, because Cindy gets the benefit of the doubt when it comes to officiating.

*But back to the chants at the Garden on this evening, there were fans near me chanting "MVP" for Nigel Dawes by the end of the game. While I think that was mostly partially drunken exuberance, Dawsie did put together another strong game, as did Petr Prucha. Pru threw his body around with abandon as per usual and made a beautiful play to catch the Pittsburgh defense taking a Gatorade break and found Chris Drury so alone in the slot that even the Ranger captain couldn't miss making it a 3-0 game. The kids are alright.

*Sadly that doesn't include Lauri Koprikoski, who was seemingly scratched for no reason. His replacement Aaron Voros didn't do much bad, but he didn't do much good. Where Prucha came out of the gates after his scratches like a bat outta hell, Voros stepped back on the ice and lumbered around, missed some hits and was generally invisible.

*Also wearing the invisibility cloak was Markus Naslund. The only time that I noticed the former Swedish superstar was in the third period when Max Talbot attempted to provoke him with a few cross checks and jabs. Nazzy is a guy who was supposed to be a key cog in the offense and he seems to be spinning off on his own of late.

*Nik Zherdev on the other hand, seems to be playing himself into oblivion. Every game he makes some move - a quick burst of speed, a sidestep around a defender, a pretty deke, something - that proves that he has the talent. He is just proving the Columbus folks right by showing he doesn't have the desire ...

*Interesting sequence late in the third period: Colton Orr hits Cindy, Brooks Orpik chases after him and gives him a big open ice elbow that Orr shakes off. No call and the play continues so when they came back down the ice again, Orr gives Orpik an elbow and the Penguin defenseman snaps his head back like he was shot. Orr gets a penalty. Then, to top it off, Michal Therrien has nothing better to do than to time the end of the penalty so his goon, Eric Goddard, can be at the door to challenge Orr. Orr then proceeds to go all Joey Kocur on him, delivering haymaker after haymaker to Goddard's helmet. His poor knuckles.

*While Orrsie was in the box, Therrien gambled by pulling Fleury to get a 6-on-4 as his team was down by three goals with three and a half minutes left. It was a ballsie move that backfired as Scott Gomez was finally able to use his speed (and tendency to cherry pick and not play defense) for good to beat everyone down ice and pot the charity shot. Gomez, who got an assist by winning the faceoff to Paul Mara earlier in the game, had a nice effort on paper but in reality was little better than he has been of late. It is so frustrating to see him skate into traffic only to dump the puck into the corner or make a pass that puts his linemate (whoever it is on that given shift) in a poor position. While we can't give up on him, here is a suggestion: the power play would be better served having him as the distributor working from the point rather than on the midboards. He doesn't have Jagr's strength (or vision) and he gets caught in coverage there, dragging down his whole unit.

*It is hard to get a good gauge as to how the Ranger blueline played when their opponents were so bad. The Pens had trouble connecting on passes, passed up on good shooting positions and rarely went hard to the net. I mean, Rozy looked like he continued his slow improvement back into a NHL defender, Marc Staal and Dan Girardi both looked ok, Mara scored, Redden didn't do anything to screw up and Dmitri Kalinin hit the crossbar with a shot.

*And, while Freddie Sjostrom and Blair Betts will never be mistaken for Detroit's Kirk Maltby and Kris Draper, they are proving to be a fantastic penalty killing tandem. If only they could generate a little more offense at regular strength ...

*PHW Three Stars
3-Nigel Dawes - one goal and one assist.
2-Paul Mara - one goal and one assist.
1-Henrik Lundqvist - 27 save shutout.

Scotty Hockey Three Stars
3-Hank - A shutout is a shutout and kudos to the King, even if he ruled over a decimated, punchless foe.
2-Pru - I would say that the way he is playing, Tom Renney couldn't possibly put him back on the bench but the clueless coach has done dumber things so anything goes.
1-Dawsie - Yes, the shot he took on the power play was deflected but his game was so much more than his early goal. He seems to have taken a page from Cally's book and started physically forechecking and it has served him quite well. That, combined with a new willingness to shoot, has resulted in the player we were hoping for last season.