Rangers hang on over Candy Canes

January 28, 2009   ·   Derek Felix   ·   Jump to comments

At the end of the day, the most important thing was the ‘W’ the Rangers got to keep pace with the red hot Devils remaining a point behind with one extra game played.

That they had to hang on to do it winning 3-2 over the pesky Hurricanes is nothing to brag about. It was an evenly played game with each team taking turns attacking with the emphasis on that final word. When the Rangers were allowed to, they more than held their own scoring some nice goals on Cam Ward with Scott Gomez (goal, assist) the best player on the ice.

Hopefully, this is a good sign moving forward because he didn’t come close to earning his paycheck the first half. Early on, a flying Gomer along with Markus Naslund (2 assists) setup rookie Lauri Korpikoski’s third which the improving former No.1 pick tapped home.

A streaking Gomez doubled the lead on another odd-man rush one-timing a Naslund cross ice feed past Ward upstairs for his 10th. Game over, right? Not with this team coached by Tom Renney as if scoring twice is enough to win nightly. Loose Translation: It wasn’t surprising that scrub Ryan Bayda cut it in half just 3:01 later due to the club sitting back.

If not for the heady play of backup Stephen Valiquette (33 saves) they easily could’ve lost. Asked to give returning All-Star Henrik Lundqvist the night off so he could prepare for a rematch at Pittsburgh later tonight, the man they call “Vally” didn’t disappoint possessing great rebound control making timely stops giving the home club the spark they needed for a fifth win in six.

“It’s so important to stay in the moment and not get too caught up in the fact that we just gave a goal up,” the always analytical Valiquette noted alluding to Tuomu Ruutu’s goal which cut it to 3-2 an alarming 25 seconds after MIA Russian enigma Nikolai Zherdev showed setting up Brandon Dubinsky with less than eight minutes left in the contest.

“Everyone stayed focused from that point on, and it seems like that’s the style of play we’re going to have to play the rest of the season—just be able to bury a team in the third period.”

Perhaps if Valiquette who won his fifth proving again how valuable he is was doing the coaching behind the bench, the Blueshirts might attack more instead of not utilizing their team speed.

Playing the dreaded 1-4 allows opponents a free out and easy access to attacking. So, it wasn’t startling that the more desperate Canes were all over the Rangers late able to pull Ward for an extra attacker.

Despite a couple of decent shifts defensively by the home club led by real Selke candidate Blair Betts, they still had to sweat it out when Carolina got the puck in and were able to setup a last second shot from Joe Corvo which went wide before the puck was cleared out.

At least they held on. I just want to know if Renney’s noticed the big difference with the Devils’ play of late. They don’t win games 2-1 anymore. That style isn’t conducive to winning when the real season begins.

Maybe it’s time for him to wake up and smell the coffee. Oh. And pet project Aaron Voros (Greasy-coach’s description) was back in despite undisciplined penalties while exiled Petr Prucha was the lone healthy scratch with Dan Fritsche finally put on waivers to clear cap space.

Well, at least Voros didn’t take any foolish penalties. Sadly, he was more engaged than Zherdev until No.13 setup Dubinsky for the deciding marker.

There are just too many shifts where you don’t notice the former Jacket who has immense talent but a la Alex Kovalev, would rather skate around with the puck avoiding contact like the plague. And this is coming from a big Kovy fan. He couldn’t play here. Luckily, he got out and flourished in both Pittsburgh and now Montreal even garnering All-Star Game MVP honors in that 12-11 skill competition with two breakaway tallies and the winning shootout one followed by Alex Ovechkin.

If Zherdev just shot the puck more and was more involved physically like his first two months, there wouldn’t be much to worry about.

I just get the idea that other Rangers bring it every shift a lot more than him. That needs to change and soon. Especially with what’s coming up in the Pens and tops in the conference Bruins.

Three Stars:

3rd Star-Stephen Valiquette, NYR (33 saves for 5th victory of season)

2nd Star-Tuomu Ruutu, Car (goal, assist)

1st Star-Scott Gomez, NYR (goal, helper)