Okay a Good Building Block

New York Rangers' Chris Drury, right, comes over to celebrate with teammate Martin Straka (82), of the Czech Republic, after Straka scored during the second period of hockey action Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2008 in New York.



It was a dominant game and it is something to build on for the next couple weeks. It all means nothing if the Rangers do not come out hard Thursday and win again and play well again. The lineup shifts worked and Avery added a little something to that Jagr/Gomez line. Overall not really much bad you can say about this game, I actually almost fast forwarded the DVR, but realized these types of performances have been few and far between so I better enjoy it.

Quick Notes:

Dubinsky, wow this kid can flat out play. That move on breakaway was a sick move and he can skate and carry the puck well. This kid is something to build on and him and Nigel Dawes are looking like a solid duo for years to come.

Team play was great last night; I mean not a single shot against until approximately 9 minutes left in the first period. They shut down there team and pretty much dominated the puck all night.

Joe Micelitti says about 1 minute after the face-off the Rangers will have to play .700 hockey to make the playoffs this year. Am I missing something? They are in a battle with 6 teams being 6 points apart and 3 of them are around the .500 mark. So in essence how I take it one and maybe 2 teams that finishe around a .500 will make the playoffs. Yes I want the Rangers to be better then just .500, but we are not in last place and have to catch 6 teams ahead of them. They are battling the Bruins and Islanders not the 1980 Oilers/Islander teams that win every night. They need to play better and get on a run but to say that like it is fact, is just bad color commentary.

Player of the game

I give this guy hell every time he looks flat or just not interested so he deserves props when he has a great game. Jaromir Jagr was the best player on the ice last night and dominated play with Avery and Gomez. He looked like he wanted to play and looked like he actually cared. We will need this type of effort the rest of the year from him.