Crosby Gets #40, 41, Pens Lose 3-2 In OT

Sidney Crosby didn't disappoint in Friday's game against the Rangers, just hours after signing my jersey outside the Mellon Arena.

I was still pretty jacked up after that while watching the game and I'm fairly certain that Sid needs to sign some more of my items if he's going to get production like that.

Anyway, the Pens looked very good in the first period and I honestly think that had they gotten more pucks behind Henrik Lundqvist in the opening frame that the result would have differed greatly.

In the first period, Lundqvist looked shakier than a teenage boy getting intimate with a girl for the first time.

Watch The Highlights From NHL.com Below



Despite all that, he somehow only allowed one goal on a rocket through the wickets from Crosby.

Everything looked to be going well for the Pens after the first. The energy was there, the commitment level was there and the Rangers looked lost.

Then, as has happened countless times this season, the Pens came out in the second and it was like watching a train wreck.

Pucks weren't getting to the net. Brent Johnson was digging pucks out his own net and then tweaked something forcing Marc-Andre Fleury to come in for the rest of the game.

After two periods, the Pens trailed 2-1.

In the third, it took a little coaxing but the Pens finally started to get back to their game.

On the power plan, a loose puck squirted back to Sergei Gonchar at the point. Gonch surveyed the situation and fired a slap-pass right onto Crosby's blade.

Sid did the rest as he redirected the puck past Lundqvist to tie the game at 2-2.

Neither team was able to light the lamp for the rest of regulation and so we head to overtime.

About a minute in, Olli Jokinen carries the puck over the Pens' line and launched a wrister over Fleury's shoulder to win the game.

I'm going to send an e-mail to PETA about Jokinen because he's an absolute Penguin killer and he needs to be stopped.

I knew my anger in reading the news that the Rangers had traded for him was justified from going back to his Florida Panther days. The Pens always struggled against the Panthers and it was mainly because of him.

As soon as he leaves, the Pens start getting wins over them. The worst part is that he's in the division now.

Great. Awesome. Splendid.

Anyway, at least the Pens got a point for their roughly 28 minute effort against the Rags last night.

Up next are the Nashville Predators at 1 p.m. Sunday. Look for the preview story on KDKA.com by me tomorrow morning.

Back To The Point Is Gearing Up For A Return

It's true.

After nearly a year absence, we are gearing up for a return. Many life-altering things happened to the authors, including myself, over the last year and now that things have calmed down we are planning to start updating this site again.

That being said, let's get right into it shall we?

The Pittsburgh Penguins are the defending Stanley Cup Champions and I couldn't be happier.

The Pens winning the Cup last season was the turning point of my year. I had just gotten laid off, bills were piling up and I had to take a job as a waiter at a Chili’s just to make ends meet.

On top of it all, my fiancée and I were planning our wedding.

The Pens were one of the only things that kept my mind of the tornado of suck that was draining me.

The longer the playoff run went, the more absorbed I became in it and the hope grew that things might turn around for me too.

After dispatching the Flyers (again), the Capitals (who didn't like seeing Alex Ovechkin cry?), and then sweeping the Canes under the rug, the rematch of the century was set.

Pens Vs. Wings Volume 2

Part of me felt all along that things would be different this time around and after the first two games, I still believed.

Games 3 and 4 went to the Pens and I was riding high.

Then, my hopes were nearly crushed when the Wings took a 3-2 lead in the series with a 5-0 drubbing.

I had to work at Chili’s during Game 6.

My shift ended right after the second period and there was no way I was driving home and missing any part of it.

I'm fairly certain there's still nail marks in the bar as I and the Pens held on for dear life in the final seconds.

Rob Scuderi made a couple saves while on his knees in the crease to preserve the 2-1 decision and to force a Game 7.

Around that time, I got a call from WBZ in Boston to come up and fill in part-time for a woman going out on maternity leave.

Why is that important?

My first day was the day of Game 7.

I left the office at 5 p.m. and got into my car in the middle of rush hour traffic in Beantown.

Of course that was probably dumb on my part, but I needed to get up to go visit my parents in Maine.

After I cleared the city limits, I floored it and made it to my parents' house with just enough time to change and turn on the game.

As stated before somewhere on this blog, my dad hates the Penguins and the rest of the family are all Bruins fans, so watching Game 7 at home was like being the road team.

Just like the Pens.

I'll never forget watching Talbot bury two goals and jumping off the couch fighting back tears after Marc-Andre Fleury robbed Nick Lidstrom as time expired.

A couple weeks later, I get a call from KDKA in Pittsburgh with a job offer.

Now I'm actually living in the same general area as the hockey team I have spent my entire life following.

It's beyond surreal to drive into the city every day and see the Igloo and know I work just blocks from the arena.

Even today, I froze my twins off outside the arena on the off-chance that Sidney Crosby would come out and sign the jersey I have been trying to get him to sign for 2 years.

He did too. Now I've got that to go along with my Marc-Andre Fleury signed jersey, also obtained outside the Igloo last year.



In any event, this season has been nuts so far and some of you may have seen me blogging on KDKA.com.

I'll still be making cameo appearances on there while I work on carving out a niche over there, but I write a majority of the previews of Pens games. Just go to www.kdka.com/penguins and look for any of the previews.

But tonight is a game-night and the Pens have a chance to get back into first place in the Atlantic Division with a win over the New York Rangers.

The Penguins have won all four previous meetings this season and have won seven straight games against the Rags overall.

Stay tuned for more on the Pens as we begin to get Back To The Point.

You can follow me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/CaseySheaPens

Rangers vs Isles tonight in the Colisseum: LIVE

"We won our last game. If we win again today, that's 2 in a row. If we win again tomorrow, that's what they call a winning streak..... It has happened before."
- Lou Brown, Major League II

I think this was the pregame pep talk Tort gave they boys.

1st Period
Rangers goal- Rangers dump the puck deep into the Isles zone, and both Gomez and Naslund forecheck from opposite sides. The Isle's defender makes a panic pass behind him up the boards right to Nikolai Zherdev. Zherdev coasts in and fires one by Danis through a Gomez screen.

2 guys forechecking= increased pressure = Tortorella goal.

Observations
- There is a clear energy in the crowd and on the ice whenever Avery is out there. The pace is much faster and the inexperienced Isles are visibly scared. Apparently Bruno Gervais never got the memo that Avery was in the lineup tonight. YOU DON'T SKATE WITH YOUR HEAD DOWN BRUNO. Avery gave him a powerful reminder.

- The Rangers now have 3 good defensive pairings. 3 lefties and 3 righties. 3 Offensive d-men paired with 3 defensive D-men. Mara and Rozsival never have to be on the ice together. This pleases me.

- The team has Avery's back. Blake Comeau gives a couple cheap shots to Avery and the other 4 Rangers jump in and start a scrum. Great way to make the vagabond winger feel like he has a home.

- End of the first. 1-0 Rangers

2nd Period

Isle's Goal: McAmmond gets the puck in his own end and moves it through the neutral zone. Both Rangers defensemen collapse on McAmmond and he hits Blake Comeau streaking down the left wing. Comeau gets behind the D and slips one through Hank. Game tied at 1-1.

-Antropov with a golden opportunity to answer quickly and retake the lead and he demostrates great patience by waiting and gets Danis to the ground. He then procedes to hit the crossbar. I think this is a microcosm of Antropov's skill set. Shows some promise but in the end frustrating.

Ranger's POWER PLAY Goal: With the Rangers on the power play because of a Trent Hunter trip, the Rangers capitalize. Tortorella has a power play philosophy called weak side shooting. Basically its hold the puck on one side and once the defense shifts, get it quickly to the other and blast away before the D can get back into position. After a couple weak side rockets on net, Antropov gets the puck on the wing and gives it the Drury at the point. Drury rockets one through a Dubinsky and Redden screen and Danis never had a chance. Rangers now have 5 power play goals over their last 7 games.

Forward and defenseman screening in front of the net = Tortorella goal. Two thus far on the night.

- Callahan, Dubinksy, and Korpikoski are all very much Tortorella type players. Lost of hustle, lots of crashing the net, lots of solid passing. I wouldn't be surprised if Tortorella told Sather that those three weren't allowed to be moved yesterday.

- I've never seen Hank use his stick so much in a game to chip pucks away. He's cleared like 5-6 pucks already that were trickling out front.

-The Rangers have been sacrificing their bodies a ton this game. Tons of shot blocking and diving to get into the passing lanes.

End of 2 and Rangers up 2-1

3rd Period
Rangers Goal: Andy Hilbert collides with Dean McAmmond in the offensive end and both fall down. Zherdev picks up the puck and streaks down ice with Gomez next to him and Naslund trailing. Zherdev peaks back over his shoulder to Naslund and Martinek takes the bait. Zherdev hits Gomez in stride and flicks it into the back of the net.

Isle's collision (Freaking Hilarious) + 3 on 1 = No Tort goal. 3-1 Rangers.

- On the power play I don't want my 6'6" 230 forward on the wing. I want him camped out in front on the net screening like a sumo wrestler. Tort needs to tell Antropov to get himself out front.

Isle's Goal: Jack Hillen and Blake Comeau play give and go up and down the ice. Hillen uses his speed to cut to the net and sneaks one through Hank's pads for his first NHL goal. 3-2 Rangers.

- Blake Comeau looks like he wants to claim that C on his chest that Guerin left behind. He has been vocal all game and has stepped his game up. And remember this, in the land of the blind, the one eyed man is king.

- Every time Rozsival gets the puck at the point, he takes longer than Russ Tyler in the Mighty Ducks shooting the knuckle puck to get a shot off. BLAST AWAY MICHAL.

- The Rangers are not playing scared hockey like they did over the last month and sitting on the 1 goal lead. It's refreshing to see them still attacking the net and not taking the proverbial knee.

- Is there anything more nerve racking than the puck staying in your zone for more than 1 minute? It felt like the Rangers couldn't clear the zone forever and I was ready for a goal against or a stupid penalty. Luckily we averted disaster.

Ranger's POWER PLAY Goal: Thank you Radek Martinek. Isle's turn it over behind the net and Drury gets the puck out to Naslund. Naslund winds up to fire and breaks his stick. Radek Martinek goes to deflect it to the side and instead deflects it over the shoulder of Danis. I'll take it. To be fair, Duby was in the front screening and Danis had no chance to react to a soft deflection.

Power play + broken stick + dumb luck+ a screen out front: These things never happened under Renney, hence: Tort goal. 4-2 Rangers. 3 Tort goals on the night.

- Kyle Okposo is going to be that pain in the ass player that always seems to be around the puck in the years to come. Experience will help him get to the right place at the right time. Right now he's just about half a step away from being potent.

- I'm willing to bet Tort has some sort of rule that each defenseman needs to wind up and let one fire at least once a game. Tons of shooting from the point from the Rangers blueliners.

GAME OVER: RANGERS WIN 4-2...
- Hank with 28 saves in a very solid effort
- 1st Rangers road win since January 16th at Chicago
- Rangers record with Avery in the lineup: 51-23-13
- Rangers 10 goals over the last 2 games... Woohoo

Tort Goal Update Total
Tort Goals -7
Non Tort Goals- 3

And to take this full circle... If we win on Sunday, that's what they call a winning streak... It has happened before.

Trade Deadline Breakdown

For your reading pleasure, we will be breaking down each trade from today, noting what each trade means for each team and what this tells us about the direction they are going. For the record there were 22 trades today, 41 players getting new addresses, and 21 picks changing hands in the upcoming draft.

Columbus trades Pascal Leclaire and a 2nd round pick to Ottawa for Antoine Vermette

Goph's Take: This was one of the few trades today where both sides come out winners. Ottawa has been searching for a goalie for the past couple of years, and with Steve Mason doing wonders in Columbus, Pascal Leclaire was readily available. As for Columbus, they are looking to make a push to get into the playoffs and Antoine Vermette is a solid role player that has the ability to put the puck in the net every now and then. Solid move for both teams.

Casey's Take: I tend to think that Columbus gave up a bit much to get Vermette here. Leclaire isn't a terrible goalie, but the Senators need something in net to stop pucks. I'm all for them putting up the shooter tutor and playing with the normal five guys on the ice. Columbus gets a good solid gritty veteran to help out in their playoff push. I can't believe I'm putting playoff push and Columbus in the same sentence. Wow.

Calgary trades Lawrence Nycholat, Ryan Wilson, and a 2nd rounder to the Avs for Jordan Leopold.

Casey's Take: The Flames are obviously trying to close the gap between them and the Sharks and Red Wings. This may be a bit much to give up for Leopold, but he will be a solid addition to the team.

Pittsburgh trades Danny Richmond to the Blues for Andy Wozniewski

Casey's Take: Just a minor deal here. Might mean that Ray Shero is not planning on re-signing Hal Gill or Philippe Boucher this summer and thinks Wozniewski and Alex Goligoski will be full-time ready for next season.

Phoenix trades Mikael Tellqvist to the Sabres for a 4th round pick

Casey's Take: This is the best the Sabres could do to bring in a goalie to get them to the playoffs? Or at the very least keep them in the playoff hunt? Color me not impressed.

Justin's Take: Well, I guess Tellqvist beats the crippled goalies the Sabres have over here in Portland, Maine. Not by much though.

Toronto claims Martin Gerber off of waivers from the Senators

Casey's Take: Gerber's fallen off the map of quality goaltenders over the last couple seasons, but maybe without the pressure of making the playoffs in Toronto things will change. With Vesa Toskala on the IR now, I could see a platoon of CuJo and Gerber in Vesa's absence.

Goph's Take: I don't think it hurts the Leafs, and if anything, rolling the dice on Gerber can pay dividends if all he needed was to get out of that toxic fog up in Ottawa. With that said, I don't expect much out of this signing.

Dallas claims Brendan Morrison off of waivers from the Ducks

Casey's Take: Very solid pickup for the Stars. If they have any hope of making the playoffs in the log-jammed Western Conference they need people to get healthy. Morrison could very bridge the gap and provide some help for a team missing big players like Brad Richards and Brendan Morrow.

Goph's Take: I like Morrison, but not as much as some of my fellow bloggers. I think he does better with oodle's of talent around him rather than making others around him look better. He will be much better with this team next year with Morrow back.

Anaheim trades Steve Montador to the Bruins for Petteri Nokelainen

Casey's Take: I'm not surprised the Bruins were pretty quiet on deadline day, but Montador brings a physical presence to the backline and some added depth. Bruins win this trade considering Anaheim has waved the white flag on this season.

Justin's Take: I like the deal for the Bruins in the sense that they get more physical in defense and a little stronger in depth. I want to see what it means for a couple rearguards on the team, Hunwick especially.

Goph's Take: I would actually put the Bruins as one of my winners on the day. They simply solidified their depth chart today which is all they really needed to do. Sometimes less is more, and that is the case here.

Calgary trades Matthew Lombardi, Brandon Prust, and 1st round pick for to the Coyotes for Olli Jokinen and a 3rd rounder.

Goph's Take: By far the trade of the day in the NHL. Calgary, who has been holding their cards tightly to their vest, nabs what could be the best offensive player that was on the market. Jerome Iginla must be doing backflips right now. A line of Iginla, Olli, and Cammelari may be the most potent line in the league behind the Spezza, Alfredsson, Heatley line.

Casey's Take: Steep price to pay for Jokinen, but the return could pay huge dividends for the Flames. Before this trade, I don't think the Flames could have knocked off the Red Wings or Sharks. I'm still not so sure right now, but they have a good defense, a more potent offense now and let's not forget that they have one of the elite goaltenders in the league in Miikka Kiprusoff. Watch out for the Flames in the playoffs now.

Justin's Take: Olli Olli Olli! Oi! Oi! Oi!

Boston trades Matt Lashoff and Martins Karsums to Tampa Bay for Mark Recchi and a 2010 2nd rounder

Casey's Take: I honestly don't know what the Lightning are thinking here. It's no surprise that they dealt Recchi, but throwing in a 2nd rounder to get Lashoff and Karsums is a waste to me. Just my two cents.

Justin's Take: Casey's right, it is a waste. Lashoff has some potential, but he's limited. Karsums is a high energy, hard player type, but he's a fringe NHL player at best. Boston does well to get a 2nd rounder and 3 months of Mark Recchi.

Goph's Take: How many more years will Tampa Bay be simply cutting salary and acquiring prospects at the deadline, especially with St. Louis having his contract up in 2 years? I don't see them being buyers next year, and if St. Louis jumps ship in two years, this team is going to turn into the Oakland Raiders of hockey.

The Islanders traded Bill Guerin to the Penguins for a conditional draft pick (5th rounder, that turns into a 4th if the Pens make the playoffs and a 3rd if they win 1 round)

Casey's Take: Love it, love it love it. If you go back and look at my previous posts about this saga you'll see that this is exactly what I was prepared to give up for a guy like Guerin. He'll go to the net and bang home rebounds for sure. He'll be the guy camping out in front of the net on the powerplay allowing our skill players to do what they do best. This is a very good move for the Pens.

Justin's Take: So they wanted Billy two years ago and settled for Gary Roberts. Now they need Billy for the playoff push. I like the move because he should do a lot for the Pens power play and it never hurts to have a great leader like Guerin on the team.

Goph's Take: Another trade where I disagree with my fellow bloggers. Satan, Fedotenko, and now Guerin. How many more Islanders cast offs are the Pens going to acquire from a team that perpetually disappoints? I think Kunitz was a great trade, but on this one, I don't see Guerin contributing like Kunitz has over his first 3 games in Pittsburgh.

Phoenix trades Daniel Carcillo to the Flyers for Scottie Upshall and a 2nd rounder

Goph's Take: I saw this and it looked like Philly was gearing to make a big deal by clearing Upshall's cap space. And then nothing happened but cricket noises and Kyle (hahahahaha) Mc (hohohohoho) Laren (hehehehehe). They already have enough guys taking penalty minutes, Carcillo wasn't needed.

Casey's Take: I'll be interested to see how Carcillo and Riley Cote get along. If Carcillo has his head in the game, he can be a lot more effective than just pounding people's faces in. If he loses his head however....

Toronto trades Nik Antropov to the Rangers for a 2nd rounder and a conditional pick

Casey's Take: How bad did Toronto fans want Antropuff off the roster? I got a text from a die-hard Leafs fan right after the announcement that said "Antropuff gone. Thank God!" Enjoy Rangers.

Phoenix trades Derek Morris to the Rangers for Dmitri Kalinin, Petr Prucha, and Nigel Dawes

Goph's Take: At first when the Antropov (Antropuff because he's a big dude who plays about as physical as the Staypuft Marshmallow man from Ghostbusters) trade went down, I was concerned because it gave the Rangers a surplus of wingers and I knew something else big was coming. With that said, there were only 5 forwards on the Rangers who would be pursued by other teams: Dubinsky, Korpikoski, Callahan, Prucha, and Dawes. Personally, I like all 5 of these wingers but I would be most willing to part with the last two.

Then the Rangers sent Dawes, Prucha, and the underachieving Kalinin to Phoenix for Derek Morris, a defenseman who believes in playing... hold it... wait for it... DEFENSE!. This is something the rest of Rangers blue liners don't do too well. Over the last 3 days, the Rangers got Avery, Antropov, and Morris for Prucha, Dawes, Kalinin, and a pick. Not bad at all Sather.

Casey's Take: Morris will help a much maligned defensive corps on Broadway, but did the Rangers sacrifice a part of their future to get him? Time will tell, but I'm sure Lundqvist is excited to see someone play some defense in front of him for once.

Toronto trades Dominic Moore to Buffalo for a 2nd rounder

Goph's Take: Has a 15 game hot streak ever been more influential at the trade deadline then now? In December Dominic Moore was not on anyone's radar. Now he's getting dealt for a 2nd rounders? Don't get me wrong hes a good player and hustles as much as anyone on the ice, but a 2nd rounder? Kudos to you Brian Burke.

Casey's Take: Toronto is going to be wheeling and dealing at the NHL Draft this year with how much they cleaned up on deadline day. Picking up a second round pick for Dominic Moore is near highway robbery. Nice job Brian Burke. Well played today.

Anaheim trades Eric O'Dell to Atlanta for Erik Christensen

Casey's Take: Poor Christensen. Once again he thinks he's made it through the deadline unscathed only to see his name pop up in a post-deadline deal. Last season he got dealt for Judas Hossa and now this yawn-fest of a deal. Hope you at least have a frequent flyer card Erik.

Tampa Bay trades Steve Eminger to Florida for Noah Welch and a 3rd rounder

Casey's Take: Intra-divisional trades bother me a lot. Just doesn't seem natural. It's like sleeping with your step-sister. You grow up hating each other and fighting and such only to reconcile in a dirty unmentionable way.

Justin's Take: A least the draft pick is clean.

Goph's Take: Draft pick is tainted by association.

Calgary trades Kevin Lalande to Columbus for a 4th rounder

Casey's Take: For a day that was supposed to be about big names moving this one deal sure take the cake.

San Jose sends Kyle McLaren to Philadelphia for a 6th rounder

Casey's Take: Oh do I wish I could have seen the look on Derek's face when this trade got announced. The winner of the "nearly peed my pants laughing" trade of the day goes to Philadelphia.

Justin's Take: Hey remember that shift back in 1998 in the second period where Kyle McLaren did that really awesome thing and seemed like a great player? Yeah, me neither.

Goph's Take: Great move for Philly. The Phantoms are in 8th in the AHL and could really use the veteran presence in the playoffs.

Anaheim trades Sami Pahlsson to Chicago for James Wisniewski and a pick

Casey's Take: I like this trade for both teams. Pahlsson is a very scrappy player who gives 110% all the time. He'll be a good fit in Chicago. The Ducks are bolstering their defensive corps for 2009-2010 already with Whitney and Wisniewski. Good deal.

Anaheim trades Travis Moen and Ken Huskins to San Jose for Nick Bonino, Tim Pielmeier, and a pick

Goph's Take: This trade is a clear microcosm of where each of these two teams is headed this season. San Jose is playing for the now, and adding playoff veterans Moen and Huskins will give the Sharks much needed toughness down the stretch. On the other hand, didn't it seem like every move today that the Ducks made was just to clear cap space? This team looks as if its throwing in the towel with 17 games left and tied for the 7th spot.

Casey's Take: See Eminger Trade. Advantage Sharks in this one, Hands down, though Anaheim gets a solid young return.

3 WAY DEAL:

Carolina gets back Erik Cole

Los Angeles gets Justin Williams and a 2nd rounder

Edmonton gets Patrick O'Sullivan and a 2nd rounder

Casey's Take: About time this whole Cole saga gets put to bed. Way to ruin the suspense by going back to the team you just left this summer. Golf clap anyone?

Anyway, I think the Kings make out quite well here with Justin Williams coming over. Add him to the mix with Frolov/Kopitar/Brown and you have yourself a couple potentially fantastic lines. The question is do you break up that aforementioned trio that's tearing it up?

Justin's Take: Wait... Cole didn't get traded to Boston!? Justin 1, Eklund 0.

Casey's Take #2: Yeah, count me in on this too. Cole not coming to Pittsburgh thankfully. Casey 1, Eklund 0.

Goph's Take: Just for the record, outside of Erik Cole and Pascal Leclaire being moved, Eklund (the man of 1000 guessed) did not predict 1 other player moving today who moved. Let that sink in. The last 6 months of guesswork is all for naught. Guerin's pick doesn't count because one he was yanked from the ice Saturday, everybody knew he was on the move. Same goes with Morris who hasn't played in a week. Now he takes a much deserved (cough cough) vacation.

Buffalo trades Ales Kotalik to the Oilers for a 2nd rounder

Casey's Pick: Nice pickup by Edmonton and Buffalo gets the second rounder they dealt to Toronto for Moore back.

Goph's Pick: BUFFALO BASICALLY TRADED ALES KOTALIK FOR DOMINIC MOORE... FAIL!

Tampa Bay trades Olaf Kolzig, Jamie Heward, Andy Rogers, and a 4th rounder to Toronto for Richard Petiot

Casey's Take: Apparently it's bargain buyer day in Tampa Bay. Buy 1 get the whole team free. Good Lord.

Justin's Take: And the Leafs continue to stockpile draft picks and has-beens.

Casey's Take #2: Hey now, Kolzig was the man in Portland and you know it. Show some respect.

Rangers land Antropov, Morris

The New York Rangers and the Toronto Maple Leafs agreed to swap a player for picks. Nik Antropov will be coming to the Blueshirts for a 2nd round pick and a conditional draft pick. Antropov this year has 21 goals and 25 assists and immediately becomes the Rangers leading goal scorer.

This gives the Rangers a surplus of wingers meaning another deal may be on the way for a bigger name. Stay tuned.

UPDATE:
Well the surplus of wingers is now no longer there. The Rangers shipped out underachiever Dmitri Kalinin, and young guns Petr Prucha and Nigel Dawes to the Phoenix Coyotes for Derek Morris. Morris brings a veteran presence to the Rangers blue line and will bolster a shaky defensive core that has underachieved all year. We needed a defender who's specialty was defense rather than offense, and I believe Morris can be that guy.

BREAKING: Avery Already a Ranger?

TSN.ca is reporting that the NY Rangers have demoted recently claimed forward Mark Bell to the Hartford Wolfpack, the Ranger's AHL team. Certainly this could be construed to be pre-emptive to claiming Sean Avery off re-entry waivers from the Stars. This move ought to take up most of what was left of the Rangers salary cap, and will cause Glen Sather to be creative at the trade deadline.

My Take

I have very mixed feelings about this move, if in fact it happens. While Avery is the gritty player that I yearned for a few weeks ago, that was under the Tom Renney regime. Certainly he was the spark that the Rangers needed then, but will his spark be needed now?

Since Tortorella took over, Voros has been scratched a couple of times and Colton Orr is basically invisible. The tough guys that Renney used to try and jump start a stagnant Rangers team have been put onto the back burner over the last three games. Plus, what line is Avery going to fit on?

The last two seasons, he bounced around a bit but was effective on the Jagr line protecting the Rangers star player. Jagr would invariably circle to the right dot and shoot and Avery was in front causing havoc. Jagr is long gone to Siberia and Avery really doesn't fit on any line.

The obvious candidates to be dropped to the 4th line (assuming Avery isn't stuck down there) from an overall talent point of view are Dawes, Prucha, Korpikoski, and Callahan. The problem here is that these are the grinders that are truly excelling under Tortorella's strategy. All of these guys ooze fundamentals and gritty play. It would be hard to rationalize scratching them or dropping them for Avery.

Where he likely ends up: On the Gomez and Naslund line. (Sorry Nigel) I think that this could be his best fit, digging pucks out of the corner and getting them to the front of the net.

Overall Rangers fans will be happy with this move, and while one 6 goal game is nothing to say the turnaround has happened, will Tortorella really mess with the chemistry of the top 3 lines? Time will tell.

Rangers Rout Avs 6-1, The Advent of the Tortorella Goal

Tortorella was the the opposite of Tom Renney in multiple ways. Tort is American, Renney is Canadian. Their demeanors are night and day. Tortorella is the lion whereas Renney was the lamb. The other main difference comes in their coaching philosophies. Renney was a finesse coach who enjoyed lots of passing and the fancy goal. He ran the Princeton offense of the NHL, lots of backdoor cuts and a slower controlled pace of the game. Tortorella runs the Mike DiAntoni/ Mike Martz offense. This includes a face paced offense, an avid forecheck (even while short handed), bombing shots from anywhere in the offensive zone, and most importantly in my book, crashing the net. These are the types of goals the Rangers never scored under Renney and that they are now starting to score under Tort. So I now introduce you to the newest member of the Back to the Point Blog... The Tortorella Goal.

The Tortorella Goal is any goal that involves crashing the net, bombing from the point, anything generated from an aggressive forecheck, and anything else that I see that I determine would never happen under Renney. This is very scientific, I promise.

28 seconds into last night's game and the Rangers brought the Madison Square Garden crowd to their feet with a great 2-1 break leading to a Ryan Callahan goal from Brandon Dubinsky. 40 seconds later and the Rangers scored their first Tortorella goal of the night. The Rangers worked the puck behind the net and Lauri Korpikoski, who was forechecking deep, simply threw the puck in front of the net where Nikolai Zherdev was waiting for it. Zherdev got his stick on the puck in the crease and threw it off of an Avs defenseman and in. It was a lucky bounce, but that is what happens you generate pressure in front of the crease. Good things happen. 1 minute and 8 seconds into the game and the Rangers already had two goals.

Throughout the rest of the first, the Rangers fed off of the early momentum generated and simply out hustled and out skated the Avalanche. This was most apparent on the 2nd Tortorella goal of the night and 3rd in the first period. Off of the draw in the Avs zone, the puck was drawn back to the point and Mara unloaded a blast. Korpikoski started to crash the net but saw the puck was going wide of the goal and instead changed direction and outhustled the Avs defense behind the net. He got the puck and threw it in front to also crashing Petr Prucha. Prucha smashes it home on a picture perfect hustle play. This was Peter Budaj's early exit point.

The last goal of the 1st came from another Tortorella type play. Zherdev with his fancy skating gained the zone and circled back to the wing. As he circled back he saw Marc Staal just gaining the zone with his stick raised well above his head asking, no, begging Zherdev to feed him for a slapshot. Tortorella has gotten on his d-men over the past week to get more involved with the offense and jump into the plays. This was a perfect example of it as Zherdev hit Staal in stride, and Staal uncorked a rocket towards the net. Waiting in front was a lone Scott Gomez who deflected it past Raycroft and in.

4 First period goals
3 Tortorella goals
19,800 ecstatic Rangers fans in the Garden and thousands more around the nation.

The last time the Rangers scored 4 goals TOTAL in a game was back on February 11 vs the Capitals. This was only the 4th time they scored 4 goals in 2009.

Full game highlights:


The large first period lead allowed the Rangers to coast through the rest of the game. Early in the second they scored a power play goal while the Avs were down 2 men. After a scrap in front of the net, Naslund caused a turnover before the Avs could clear the zone. This lead to the puck bouncing over to Gomez who after one pass attempt failed, threaded a needle through the other side to Drury who had as open of a net as you could get. Had this been 5-5 hockey, I may have given it a Tortorella Goal, but 5-3 and the Rangers should have had the clear advantage there.

The lone blemish of the Rangers night came off of a Dmitri Kalinin gaffe where he had the puck bounce over his stick and through his legs on a Milan Hejduk dump in. Ryan Smith picked up the puck and had open ice between him and Lundqvist. After a little Shake & Bake (I'm in the middle of Talledega Nights while writing this), the shutout was gone.

The last Rangers goal came off of pure hustle and caught the Avalanche off guard. Naslund started with the puck in his own end and fed Kalinin on the breakout. Kalinin hit Gomez going up the wing, and then did something that he must have learned over the last week of practices... he bum rushed the net. Not only did he do it, but so did Nigel Dawes. Gomez then dropped the pass back to Naslund and headed straight for Raycroft as well. It was like a jail break blitz on the goalie, and Naslund took advantage, scoring his 20th of the season and giving him 10 straight seasons of 20 or more goals. Razor never had a chance. This was the Ranger's first 6 goal game of the season and their first 6 goal game since 2007. Thank you John Tortorella.

Tort Goals: 4
Others: 2

The Rangers now have four well deserved days off as they face the Fighting Ricky 5 Holes on Long Island on Thursday. Whether or not this was the switch that turned all of the lights on, Saturday night's 6 goal outburst was fun too watch and hopefully a sign of things to come.

Rangers: Not for the weak of heart or stomach

We have all seen it in the bar. You are in the hanging with your friends, consuming some adult beverages, and off in the distance, you see "That guy." Not the jerk who thinks he's the coolest guy in the bar, but rather the one who has a snowball's chance in hell at landing the hot chick in the mini skirt. The music is too loud to talk and you don't dance, so what else is there to do but watch this guy? Why not get a good laugh out of it?

So first he goes over and starts a conversation with her. She doesn't turn him away. Who knows, maybe she is just being polite. Next he buys her a drink. She takes it, but who is really going to turn down a free drink? He then gestures and asks her to dance. She goes out there and starts off with a good foot of open space between them. Five songs and two drinks later, and you couldn't slip a piece of paper between them. You start to get your hopes up for this guy. You root for him to pull this off, for all of the average guys out there who have been in that position. Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things. (Thank you Andy Dufresne) Then there is flirtatious touching and grabbing and groping and you think this is gonna be it. This is gonna be the guy's triumph of the night. And then tragedy strikes and she walks away. What do this guy and the New York Rangers have in common? THEY CAN'T FREAKING SCORE.

Each game you watch and they have multiple scoring chances. Each game you hop out of your seat thinking that the puck had to find twine and yet no red light goes on. The last two nights, Ryan Miller and Vesa Toskala have been sprawling, diving, and using the Force to stop the puck from getting into the net. For those with the weak of heart, do not watch this team until they get off the schneid, because multiple heart attacks in a two and a half hour period cannot be good for one's health. For those with the weak stomach, do not bother eating anytime before the game, because there is not enough carpet cleaner out there to get the puke stains out.

The Rangers have dropped the last two 4-2 and 3-2. During the Sabres game, they thought there was a 8:00 start time rather than 7:00 and didn't show up until the 2nd period, which is a common occurrence and a sign of bad coaching. During the Leafs game tonight, they outplayed Toronto for a good 50 of 62 minutes. Alas, stupid penalties and lucky bounces lead to the demise of the Broadway Blueshirts.

The first goal allowed was on a failed deflection attempt by John Mitchell. Instead of deflecting a Pavel Kubina low slapper, Mitchell accidentally trapped it. Hank played the puck and was ready for the deflection. When the puck was stopped dead, half of the net was left open. A quick backhand and the first goal was on the board.

The second Leafs goal came during a 4-4 about 30 seconds after Gomez tied it up on a nice backhander through Toskala's wickets. In any 4-4 situation, the basic defense is forwards on d-men and d-men on forwards. Drury took a gamble on a Kubina cross ice pass and the puck snuck under his stick. This allowed Ian White to walk into the slot uncontested and rip one by Hank. Not one Ranger moved towards White in what was either a lack of effort or a collective defensive lapse. Either way the Leafs took the lead 2-1.

A period and a half later and the Rangers have an empty net. Zherdev gains the zone and throws it cross ice to a cutting Dubinsky. Dubinsky puts it on net but is blocked. The puck deflects off of Callahan and back to Rozsival who throws it on net and deflects it off of a Leaf in front and sneaks it by Vesa to tie things at 2-2. This would be the reason the game was salvaged because the Rangers earned the automatic 1 point in OT.

Doomed seemed imminent 2 minutes into overtime when the Rangers best penalty killer, Blair Betts, came off the bench and hooked Kubina skating through the neutral zone. This lead to the dreaded 4-3 power play, also known in the Garden tonight as the Pavel Kubina firing squad. Kubina blasted 2-3 shots from the point, all which bounced off of the boards and right back to a Leaf forward and then back to Kubina. After a couple deja vus, Kubina put one on net that Hagman deflected in.

Despite the loss, things are turning around for the Rangers. Their passing was crisp, their defense solid, and they ended up putting 41 shots on net. There is hope looking into the future and if they can put out this effort nightly, things will turn around. Until then, they will just be "That Guy" in the bar watching the hot girl walk away.

Flyers, Rangers Running Diary

The reeling Rangers take on their Atlantic Division foe, the Philadelphia Flyers. These two teams are separate by 1 point in the standings and a Rangers win can jump them from 6th to 4th in the standings while the Flyers still have 2 games in hand.

1st Period
20:00
Prucha in today over Aaron Voros. Renney looking to jump start the offense a little with the move and also likely trying to show off Prucha before the trade deadline.

19:30
Scramble out in front of the Rangers net and Hank is already sprawled out onto the ice. It's never a good sign when your goalie is on his stomach with 30 seconds into the game.

16:00
Hartnell picks Betts' pocket behind the net and feeds Lupul out front. Hank stones him.

15:00
Rangers still have yet to put a puck on net. The Flyers look like a team who all went to bed early last night and were well rested. The Rangers look like they were all drinking until 3:00am and didn't get up until about 45 minutes ago.

13:00
1st break of a pretty calm/sluggish/boring game. Doc Emrick's voice has yet to raise to its normal excitable level. The fan's don't even seem that into the game. We need Colton Orr to just start fighting people to get a pulse back into MSG.

12:00 (GOAL)
Hank allows a weak rebound to the side and tries to dive onto the puck. Powe gets to the puck first and Powe feeds Claude Giroux in front with ho goalie in net. Helen Keller could've scored on that one.

9:30 PP
Rangers have the first man advantage of the period off of a trip by Gagne. This is the opportunity the Rangers need to capitalize on in order to get the crowd back into it and to tie up the game. Rangers 1-26 on the pp since the All Star break.

One minute into the PP and the Rangers are having trouble establishing possession in the Flyers zone. The crowd is booing them, and rightfully so. Philly has a shorty opportunity on a slapshot from the blueline. The PP is over and each team has registered one shot on goal.

7:00 PP
Cluade Giroux outhustles Michal "If I play bad enough they can't trade me" Rozsival and draws an interference penalty. Flyers are playing Tic- Tac- Toe with their passes with Hank making a great save on Richards from Knuble. Penalty killed.

Do people really think that Pizza Hut lasagna is that good that it can fool actual Italians? Are there Pizza Hut's in Italy where Italians go when they don't feel like making good food? There is no way those commercials are filmed with hidden cameras.

Also, the NBC heads up Poker championship is coming soon. I only mention that because they showed Vanessa Rousso in the commercial and she is quite hot.

Return from the commercial and NBC shows that the Flyers lead shots 9-7. There is no way the Rangers have 7 shots on goal.

1:30 (PP)
Naslund draws a penalty for boarding where parent trips and goes into the boards with Naslund behind him. Bad call in my opinion but from the ref's point of view, he has to make that call.

0:10
Hartnell erases the Flyers PP by knocking the stick out of Daniel Girardi's hand. Dumb penalty. This will give the Ranger's a power play about 40 seconds into the period for 1:20. No need to worry for the Flyers fans though, because if the Rangers can't score with 2:00 of power play time, taking away 40% of that will be a near impossibility.

The NBC studio crew just ripped http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/players/1844 and Drury a new one for having no heart or fire since donning the Broadway Blueshirt. I couldn't agree more. Someone has to light a fire under these guys and mild mannered Tom Renney doesn't seem like the one who can do it. I think Renney is a good coach, but these guys need someone like Keenan to strike the fear of God into them, rather than someone to coddle their feelings.

2nd Period
19:30 PP
Jeff Carter trips Staal going through the neutral zone. Now a 5-3 PP. Paul Mara actually puts a shot on goal. Glove save by Biron due to the lack of traffic in front.

SHORTY GOAL
Mike Richards feed from Coburn off of a blocked shot and Richards flies by the entire Rangers defense and beats Hank top shelf. 2-0 Flyers.

Gagne breakaway where he is hauled down from behind with inexplicably no call. The Flyers have had more scoring opportunities down 2 men than the Rangers up 2 men. The crowd vociferously lets the know how they all collectively feel. I waiting for some sarcastic Ranger's fans to start bringing white towels to the game just to throw them in.

15:00
Renney does his normal "Lets ruin any chemistry we could possibly have" tactic by changing up the lines. While I understand he needs to do something to try and find a line combo that works, there is no cohesion on this team at all. Haven't heard Doc mention Gomez or Zherdev yet this game. Are they even playing?

13:00 Goal 3-0
Mark Staal leave his defensive post to try and help out on a double team out in front. Puck trickles to where Staal should have been and Matt Carle roofs it.

12:00 Goal 4-0
Cue Valiquette. Hank allows a weak wrap around by Glen Metropolit where the puck is thrown across the red line and ricochets off of Hank into the net.

11:00 Goal 5-0
That was quick. Let me just say its rough to keep a running diary of a game where 3 goals are scored only a 2 minute span. Claude Giroux flies by the entire Rangers team and feeds a somehow wide open Mike Richards in the slot. The Flyers have scored 3 goals on 3 shots and I'm waiting for Mirimax to cast Hank in the next Friday the 13th movie. He already has the hockey mask and will kill people by bludgeoning them with his stick. The entire Rangers defense will be the first to be killed.

9:00
I wonder what will happen first, the firing of Renney or the signing of Avery. I think Sather has to give Renney the rest of the season with Avery, but if Sather doesn't pull that trigger, a change has to be made on the coaching staff.

7:00 Goal 5-1
Rangers show some signs of life. Callahan hustles into the corner on the forecheck and beats the rest of the Flyers to the puck. He feeds Korpikoski out front and Lauri sneaks one by Biron down low through traffic. (Note: this traffic was created by the Flyers defensemen rather than the Rangers screening)

6:59 PP
Colton Orr immediately challenges Riley Cote off the faceoff and Cote doesn't take the bait. Orr gets a 2 minute crosschecking penalty and a 10 minute unsportsmanlike conduct. Way to kill the life in the building Colton.

5:00 PP
After a successful penalty kill, the Rangers have an energy boost. This energy leads to a little hustle with the puck and a Claude Giroux trip. Good to see some life in what's left of the crowd in Morgue Square Garden but in all likelihood, this is too little too late.

4:00 Penalty
Mark Staal erases the PP with boarding Powe. Rangers are now 1-30 on the PP, a stellar 3%

3:00 Penalty
During the 4-4, Scott Hartnell trucks Valiquette from behind leading to a goalie interference. Rangers have 20 seconds of 4-3. With Biron on his back and the puck trickling out into the slot, Naslund lets the puck jump over his stick and misses and opportunity to make this 5-2.

1:00
Dubinsky and Hartnell drop their gloves and go at it after shoving around the net. A couple good punches thrown but none really landed. They hug each other and Duby wrestles Hartnell to the ground. Bascially a stalemate. Personal side note: I was tied in PIM going into today in fantasy, and Hartnell has 9 thus far. Other side note. Rangers now 1-32 on the PP.

3rd Period
Seeing how this is a blowout, the 3rd period will more be musings than a running diary.

After Prucha making a nice move off of the faceoff and creating a great scoring chance, why doesn't he play every game and leave Voros on the bench? Voros is a wannabe tough guy and scorer (a la Ryan Getzlaf) but is really neither. He adds little value if he isn't parked out in front of the net and even then the contribution is minimal. Prucha at least gives the illusion of a threat.

The Rangers either don't practice at game speed or have players that tire easily because often their passes are just one step out in front of the intended target. This leads to way too many turnovers.

When fighting, there is no point punching the other guy's helmet repeatedly (Paul Mara). These helmets are made to withstand slapshots from frozen pucks. Now Mara is getting X-rays in the locker room.

The Rangers next two games are against the Blues and Islanders. If those two teams can't jumpstart the Rangers offense, their season may be over.

Allegedly the Rangers have put up 30 shots with 10 minutes left. What the NHL needs to do is come up with a stat for the percentage of shots that are actual scroing chances. While I realize that technically all shots are chances to score, the Rangers have relatively few scoring chances considering they have 30 shots.

Prucha to Redden to Zherdev for the goal. Zherdev great job on the redirect. 5-2 Flyers.

The Prucha Duby Zherdev line is flying around the ice and wreaking havoc. Let's start with this line on the ice tomorrow night and see what happens.

Yet again another disappointment for the NYR. The stars of the game has to be Mike Richards for his back breaking goal, Biron for saving 35 shots, and Claude Giroux for simply single handedly outhustling the entire Rangers roster.

Rangers fall to Panthers in Shootout

It has been well documented that the Rangers have trouble scoring goals. Tonight they made Thomas Vokoun look like Patrick Roy. Their lone goal came from the 4th line when Blair Betts threw the puck into the crease and Colton Orr and Fredrik Sjostrom did something crazy.... they crashed the net. After looking at the replay 7-8 times, it is hard to tell which of them actually got their stick onto the puck, but they kept whacking away and the puck squeaked through Vokoun's legs and just over the red line. The rest of the team thought the large panther face on Vokoun's chest was a target and kept shooting at it and hitting it dead on. With that accuracy, if they aimed for the four corners, who knows how great the results could be. The sky is the limits.

On the Panthers goal in the beginning of the 2nd, I blame Michal Rozsival and only Michal Rozsival. The puck is thrown behind the net and Rozsival goes to track it down. Stillman pressures him from behind and Rozsival gets more nervous than a virgin on his prom night. Stillman picks his pocket like a New York City thief and doubles back the other way behind the net. The damage is not fully done though. Stillman hits Frolick cutting down the middle and Rozsival dashes out in front and screens Hank. While it can be seen as a noble attempt to block a shot, Hank doesn't flinch and in the blink of an eye, the red light is flashing and the crowd is going nuts.
Outside of that blip on the radar, the Rangers played stellar defense and Lundqvist was brilliant in the net with 42 saves, including the first three in the shootout until Richard Zednik got one by him for the game winner.

The Rangers will be facing Philly on NBC in the Game of the Week on Sunday. Stay tuned for a special blog where you get both the perspectives of a Rangers and Flyers fan on the game recap. Also coming soon, a proposed roster for the US Olympic team with the theme of "Out with the old, In with the new."

Rangers/Caps Recap 2/11

Tonight the Rangers take on the Capitals who are currently sitting at 2nd place in the Eastern conference. When looking at the Rangers roster, the team should be broken down into 3 tiers.

Tier 1: Players that are getting paid the big bucks to score and defend.
Gomez, Drury, Zherdev, Naslund, Redden, Rozsival, Mara
Tier 2: Role players that need to do the grunt work and the fundamentals.
Dubinsky, Dawes, Korpikoski, Staal, Girardi, Callahan
Tier 3: Don't expect much but are happy with whatever you get. Just hope they don't kill you.
Betts, Orr, Sjostrom, Voros, Reitz

Rangers fans have to be ecstatic about what they see night in and night out from Tier 2. They hustle their butts off, shoot the puck, slash down the middle, crash the net, block shots, and do all of the little things to keep plays alive. These are the types of players that every team loves to have, and unfortunately, when Glenn Sather is answering the phones over the next week, they are the players that will get moved to bring in better talent. Due to the small amount of cap space and the inability to move most from Tier 1 because of their enormous contracts, Sather will in all likelihood have to trade multiple 2 tier guys, and when this happens, Rangers fans will be depressed. Clearly the blame of the season must be put onto the Tier 1 guys for not producing. With that said, onto the game.

1st Period

Nothing like 2 fights within the first three minutes to get both the crowd and the Rangers into the game. Poor job by Washington. They must know that the Rangers are down trodden and two fights would only give them and the home crowd a boost.

7:00 in Ryan Callahan takes a Lauri Korpikoski pass, shoots, and squeaks one just past Jose to take the lead 1-0. The Rangers are a team that play exponentially better with a lead rather than behind. Granted, this is a statement that can be made for most teams, but it especially rings true for the Rangers. They have a trouble coming from behind more than most. This opening goal bodes well.

Four minutes later and Fleischmann ties it up. I blame the Rangers front line for this. They never got back to back check and help out the defense allowing cross ice passing and gave Fleischmann time to put one home. Lack luster effort gave the Caps a tied score at 1-1.

Two minutes to go in the period and the Caps take the lead off of an Eric Fehr goal. Nothing irritates me more than allowing a goal in the first two or last two minutes of the period. In the first two, minutes, a goal sets the tone for the period and establishes some negative momentum. In the last two minutes, it deflates a team heading into the locker room and makes the team stew over it all throughout the intermission. The Rangers give up way too many goals in those last two minutes of the period. The Garden is deflated. 2-1 Caps

2nd Period

Nine minutes go by with relatively little action until Lauri Korpikoski lights the lamp off of a feed from Callahan. Korpikoski uses the fundamentals here and crashes the net when Callahan threw the puck on it. Great fundamental goal. Game tied at 2-2.

Washington answer right back. Note to all NHL teams... you cannot allow Mike Green and his howitzer to walk into the slot with no pressure, you will be fishing the puck out of the back of the net. Green ties the NHL record of 7 straight games with a goal for a defenseman tonight tying the 25 year old record of Mark McConnell and passing the likes of a few guys named Orr and Bourque. Great look by Ovechkin across ice. No idea where the Rangers defense was but noone was on the right side of the ice. Green goes top shelf and realistically, Hank had no chance. 3-2 Caps.

One minute goes by and the Rangers answer back to tie it up at 3-3. Dawes hits Naslund streaking and Naslund does a great job of getting his stick down on the ice to deflect it in while crashing into the net. Amazing play all around. This never happens. The Rangers never fight back. They get hit in the mouth and run home to mommy. They are simply not a comeback team. Can this be the turnaround we have all been hoping for?

Paul Mara does his best Mike Green impression and blasts on from the left point, through a screen (more fundamentals?) and over Theodores left shoulder. I am in complete shock. He gets the shot on net maybe 30% of the time. This actually looked like he knew what he was doing. Rangers take the 4-3 lead and it looks like the slump is being busted.

ONE MINUTE TO GO IN THE PERIOD AND WE FREAKING DO IT AGAIN. Mike Green takes a slap shot, which basically looks like a replay of his first goal. Once again Hank has little to no chance and the defense is nowhere to be found. Rangers increase their league lead in depressing intermissions.

3rd Period

3:00 in and Tom Poti returns to Broadway with a little acting job of his own, taking a dive and giving the Rangers a PP. Someone must have forwarded my suggestions article onto the Rangers because they have unleashed 5 shots, 3 reaching Theodore. No goal but a good effort.

6:00 in and Paul Mara gets into the head of Ovechkin. Ovechkin retaliates to some pushing with a cross check and Rangers right back on the PP. Rangers have trouble gaining the zone and a couple bad passes lead to a relatively easy kill. Rangers now 1-20 over the last 7 games with the man advantage.

9:00 in and Mike Green shows off his hand eye coordination by batting a puck out of mid air. Unfortunately for the Caps, he did this in his own end and sent the puck into the stands for a delay of game penalty. Three power plays thus far this period. The nice thing here is that the entire period thus far has been played in the Caps end. The bad aspect is that the more scoreless power plays, the more restless the crowd is getting.

10:00 in and Naslund gets whacked in the face with a high stick. The Rangers waste 30 seconds putzing around instead of driving to the net and forcing the Caps to touch up. Now instead of a minute with the 5 on 3, its only 30 seconds. Luckily, Naslund is bleeding and the Rangers get 4:00. Here is the defining 4:00 of the game.

Roszival gets the puck about 20 feet out in the middle with a screen in front of Jose. Decides not to shoot. GET HIM OFF THE PP! The crowd starts the "Shoot the Puck!" chant. 8:00 of power play tick away, nothing to show for it, Washington has the clear momentum advantage. Also because Ovechkin hasn't been on the ice in the last 6 minutes, he is fully rested and clearly has an extra burst compared to everyone else on the ice. For a game that witnessed 8 goals in the first 40 minutes, this 3rd period has slowed greatly. Both teams look as if they are playing for the 1 guaranteed point.

OT

Ovechkin has given out 13 hits thus far in the game. The Rangers defenders are basically bouncing off of him. All of that rest in the 3rd is showing in OT because he is absolutely blowing by Rangers defensemen. If it wasn't for a nice Mark Staal play, Alex would've coasted into the slot untouched and the game would've been over.

Hank makes the save of the game as Brooks Laich threads a needle to Eric Fehr. Fehr dekes and takes a wrister that King Henrik kicks aside. We are heading to a shootout. Rangers this season in shootouts 8-3; Caps 2-2.

Rangers Shooters: Naslund, Dawes, Zherdev
Caps Shooters: Nylander (revenge anyone?) Ovechkin, Federov

Naslund: Naslund out dekes himself and falls off balance, and tries to stuff it in with the backhand. Great patience by Theodore
Nylander: 12 seconds and 38 dekes later, Nylander gets to the net. Hank stonewalls him on the forehand
Dawes: GOAL: Dawes dips the shoulder and freezes Jose, snaps one low glove side just over the mitt
Federov: Winds up, fires a rocket, and Hank saves it with the glove
Zherdev: Tries to go 5 hole as he always does. Jose must have read the scouting report and was ready for it.
Ovechkin: GOAL: Do or die, wicked wrister 5 hole
Callahan: GOAL: Callahan banks one off the crossbar, off of Theodore's back, puck drops to the ice, Jose backs up and kicks it into his own net. Luckiest goal ever but we'll take it.
Laich: Starts forehand, goes quickly to the backhand. HANK KICK SAVE. If Laich gets it up we go to round 5, but he doesn't.

Solid game for the Rangers, any time your team puts up 4+ goals it's a solid offensive game. Much needed 2 points in the standings and a confidence booster over a top team in the conference.

If the season ended today

We are at this current moment 25-30 games away from the end of the regular season. This season has been exciting with some great story lines and is setting up to have two of the best conference finals in a long time should the standings hold true throughout the playoffs. With that said though, we may be in line for the most boring first round of the playoffs ever. I cannot realistically see any 6, 7, or 8 seeds challenging and of the top 3 seeds in either conference.

East

1 Boston Bruins vs 8 Florida Panthers

Boston is currently the best team in the league and outside of it's hiccup last night vs the Fighting Nabokovs, has rarely been beaten badly this season. They score on 23% of their power plays and kill 82% of their penalties. Tim Thomas hasn't woken up yet from his dream season and is playing out of its mind. Florida does not possess an offensive line that scares anybody nor have they picked a goaltender to lead them into the playoffs. Is it Vokoun or Andersen? Who gets the nod to start game one? After either gets shelled in game 1, how long until you see the other in the series? And with all signs to them trading Bouwmeester, the odds of them even making the playoffs are slim at best. But seeing how we are looking at today's standings only, the Panthers are in the playoffs, but won't last long.

Prediction: Bruins 4-0

2 Washington Capitals vs 7 Buffalo Sabres

The most important player in this series will be none other than Alexander....... Semin. Please use the next 20 seconds to throw something against the wall, calm down because I didn't say Ovechkin, and regroup. We good? Great. Alexander Ovechkin in my eyes is the best player in the league. He can score at will, is physical, and creates absolute havoc when on the ice. I have no doubt he will light it up in the playoffs. I am not saying he is not important to the sucess of the Caps. But here is my fun fact of the day. Alexander Semin and Alexander Ovechkin EACH score on average 1.3 points per game. Each averages .7 goals and .6 assists. But the difference is that teams will key on Ovie and try not to let him beat them in the series. This will leave opportunities for Semin. If he can capitalize on those opportunities, these team will go far.

Prediction: Caps 4-1

3 New Jersey Devils vs 6 New York Rangers

It pains me to say this being a Rangers fan, but short of a miracle, they have no chance in the playoffs this year. Let's look at the best case scenario here for the Rangers. Hank plays out of his mind, stands on his head, and allows no more than 2 goals a game. A Devils team who decided the last 15 years of boring hockey wasn't going to cut it decided to go out and get some offense because Brodeur was getting up there in years and was due for and injury letdown (which happened). Marty comes back for the playoffs, with trememdous rest, and the Devils revert back to boring hockey. In that scenario, do the Rangers win 4 games vs. their arch rival. No chance. The Rangers have trouble finding the back of the net and their defense is just bad enough that other teams get multiple scoring chances and cash in on 2-3 a game. Hank does his best to stop them all but he's also human. With Parise, Elias, Zajac, Langenbrunner, Rolston, and Shanny, the Devils are finally poised to take the load off of Marty's back and score more than 2 goals a game. The Garden may give the Rangers a game or 2, but no more.

Prediction: Devils 4-1

West

1 San Jose Sharks vs 8 Minnesota Wild

The Wild are the Rangers of the west. They play great defense, but can't find the back of the net against regular goalies. Evgeni Nabokov is no regular goalie. Nabby has the ability to play at 75% and shut out inferior teams. He will be able to yawn his way through the first round. The only chance the Wild has is if Backstrom matches Nabby and forces games into OT, where suddenly tensions run high, heart rates rise, and every shot could be the last of the game. That, or if the Sharks overlook the Wild and ready for a 2nd round matchup. In my opinion though, both things are highly unlikely and in this bout, Goliath beats David.

Sharks 4-0

2 Detroit Red Wings vs 7 Vancouver Canucks

Outside of Roberto Luongo (who hasn't looked at all himself since returning from the injury) and the Sedin boys, how are the Canucks ever going to match the offensive fire power of the mighty Red Wings. The Wings boast the top PP in the league (over 27%) and have the most goals in the league by a large margin. The 2nd place scoring team can put up a Dallas-esque 10 in the next game and still be trailing Wings in goals scored. If you are facing Detroit, which guy do you target the most to stop? Datsyuk or Zetterberg? Or Hossa? Or Lidstrom? What about on the PP? Because when you are watching those 4, Samuelsson and Hudler and Holmstrom wreak havoc and light the lamp. This team is simply a matchup nightmare, and Vancouver doesn't have the power to do anything about it.

Prediction: Detroit 4-1

3 Calgary Flames vs 6 Anaheim Ducks

This is by far the most intruging matchup of the 1st round and I strategically left it for last. Somehow after losing two of their top scorers from last year in Tanguay and Huselius, the Flames filled in the cracks and are sitting atop their division and in third in the conference. (Michael Cammalleri take a bow) Each year the Flames are the ugly ducklings of the playoffs. They rely on basically two guys to carry the load on their backs (Iginla and Kipper) and use role players the rest of the way to keep the ship going. With that said though, those role players all take turns stepping up and being the heroes of any given game. The Flames win ugly, but the key is Mike Keenan has found a way to keep them winning.

The Ducks on the other hand don't have "it" this year. They look almost bored out there. This team used to be fun to watch. They hit, they fought, they scored, and they looked like they were having fun out there. Now, they look like they are simply going through the motions until the end of April roles around. There is no sense of urgency or want with this team. While I am not saying that is the end all and be all when it comes playoff time, it is something. On top of that, who is getting the nod game 1? Is it Hiller or Giggy? Easily you can make cases for each, but Giggy hasn't been himself since his father passed away and Hiller is inexperienced. Also, whichever one does start will be looking over his shoulder the entire time, especially once one or two losses happen. I think this will be the closest series that isn't a 4-5 in the playoffs, but for some reason I think the Flames want it more and therefore will take it.

Prediction: Calgary 4-2

There you have it, what may be one of the most boring first rounds of the Stanley Cup Playoffs in recent memory.