4 Straight Wins into the Xmas Break

Tonight, the Rangers played their first game of a 3 game home stand where they faced off against the Panthers and came away with a solid 4-1 win which now gives them a 4 game winning streak going into the 2 day Christmas break.  For the fourth straight game, there were lots of good, solid game play and they got clutch scoring and some more top notch goaltending by Lundqvist which once again helped the cause.  With this win, Lundqvist is now 5^th all time in wins by a NYR goalie.   

The bright spots tonight were that there were goals from Gaborik (SH), Prospal with 2 goals (broke a 14 game drought), and Drury who scored his 3^rd goal in 4 games and looks like he has come out of his funk.  This also was their first home win in a month, which shows you how bad it’s been at the Garden lately, maybe this will help them to play better at home going forward.

It’s also nice to see the Rangers show some edge to their game this evening as well as Avery having returned to his annoying style of play and Callahan showed a ton of hustle all over the ice.  In addition, they played as a team again defensively and limited the Panthers for a lot of the night despite them having 4 power plays to work with.

I now believe that whatever Torts is preaching in the locker room and practices is beginning to sink in during games as I haven’t seen them play this well since early October.  This is the time to pick up points as they are playing teams that are behind them in the standings and they should not throw away these potential points as they have over the long slump that looks like they are now out of.

Anyway, their next game is at MSG on Saturday evening where they will face the Islanders and the reeling Flyers on the 30th before they head back out on the road on New Year’s Eve to face the Hurricanes after which they come home for another 3 game home stand to begin the 2010 portion of the schedule in which they have 17 games in January due to the Olympics.

Merry Christmas to everyone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well folks, that’s it till Saturday night.

Your NYR blogger,

Howie

Tags: Avery, Callahan, Drury, Gaborik, Lundqvist, NHL, Prospal, Rangers, Tortorella