The Rangers defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs tonight 3-2 in a shootout behind Stephen Valiquette's 32 save performance. Brendan Shanahan and Sean Avery both had a goal and an assist and Marian Hossa scored the shootout winner to improve the Rangers record to 9-7-1 and win their first game on the road (1-5-1). For a recap go to Yahoo! Sports.
...who knew we had Dominick Hasek sitting on the beanch these last 17 games? Obviously, the story of the game was Valiquette. I can't believe I'm saying this but he won the game for us tonight. His positioning and technique were outstanding. This performance definitely gives Renney some confidence to sit Lundqvist a little more often.
...besides Lundqvist, Sean Avery is the MVP of this team. This guy does it all goals, assists, agitates, fights. You name he does it. We need to lock this guy up long term. I love that he's starting fights with Tucker before the game and then during. I think this got Tucker, who is an agitator himself, off his game tonight.
...I can't believe that with the hands Hossa has this guy can't score more. The move he made in the shootout was ridiculous. I'll admit that I've said Hossa needs to sit when Straka and Callahan come back, but after tonight's game I might have to rethink that.
...one person who might be sitting if he doesn't pick it up is Drury. He seems lost out there. He's doing a nice job on the penalty kill, but we didn't pay him all that money to just play well on the pk. While we're starting to see some chemistry with Jagr-Dubinsky-Hossa and Avery-Gomez-Shnanahan, I haven't seen Drury have that offensive chemistry with anyone. I'm sure he'll pick it up eventually, but I'm starting to get worried.
1 comment:
Nice win. I think Valiquette played well tonight but to say he won the game for us tonight is a bit of a stretch. The Rangers were playing a tired team and for the most part they outplayed the Leafs. You gotta love Avery (Rust Never Sleeps)he really makes this team go. Just look at the Rangers' record when he's in the lineup. As far as Drury, I believe he's second on the the team in points. He does the little things for us. He wins face-offs, kills penalties, and plays a two way game. In fact, I think he's been our best all around forward. I think Prucha needs to step it up or he'll be watching from the blue seats.
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