The Rangers took on the Buffalo Sabres tonight in what was possibly the ugliest game I have seen them play all season. No team was able to score on each other until the shootout where Ryan Callahan won the game for the Rangers, beating Ryan Miller in the 5th round, his second game winner against the Sabres this season.This should be a nice rebound win after that tough bounce lead to a shootout loss yesterday night against the Devils, but make no mistake, the Rangers certainly have some issues to adjust. For one, the *&%$ing powerplay. I have't seen a more flaccid powerplay since the days of Tom Renney and the rag-tag group of misfits that infested those teams. John Tortorella's teams are well known for their potent offense on the powerplay, and for one of his teams to be playing like this while up a man is sad. Truly sad.
Two players I would like to point out for being less-than-stellar tonight are Michael Del Zotto and Anton Stralman. I know, the defense did very well shutting down, because they didn't allow a goal, but there were times I felt that they were just acting, and not thinking when they had the puck. That's how teams get disoriented and lose hockey games in the NHL, but not thinking. Slowly but surely, the rest of the team started performing like that, and they should all consider themselves lucky they did not get scored on tonight.
Now, the star players for the Rangers would have to be that shimmering man in the goalie pads, Henrik Lundqvist. His 41st shutout of his career, a few massive save, including one in the shootout, helped save the sorry asses of the forwards of the Rangers tonight. Had he not been between the pipes to make some very key saves for the Rangers, this game could have turned out much worse.
The next Rangers game is this Sunday against the Flyers, which I predict quite a few of you won't be tuning in to see it because of the Super Bowl, but if you do, I'll still have my pre-game post up for all who care to read it. Bobbaganoosh, everybody!
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