BRUINS PICK-POCKETTED @ MSG
(Photo Credit: NY Daily News)
Chris Drury beats Tim Thomas for the lone SO goal to complete the come-from-behind win
NY Rangers (13-5-2) over the Boston Bruins (10-3-4) 3-2 (SO)
In a battle for surpremacy in the Eastern Conference, the Rangers woke up just in time to retain their throne for now. The Bruins scored 2nd period goals from defensemen Zdeno Chara and Dennis Wideman. The Rangers would look flat for most of the night until about 6 minutes to go when Nigel Dawes would get the Blueshirts on the board. The Garden Faithful would have to sweat it out until 54 seconds remaining when Markus Naslund would tie things up to force OT.
The Rangers would get some pressure on early in the OT but both teams would sit back cautiously the rest of the way. For the 4th time in the last 5 meetings, the Rangers and Bruins were going to meet in the shootout. Both Henrik Lundqvist and Tim Thomas would blank the first three shooters they faced. Chris Drury beat Thomas through the 5-hole in the 4th round of the shootout. Patrice Bergeron would try to answer right back and would come close, but the puck would slide through Lundqvist's pads and catch the post instead of crossing the goal-line.
These teams match-up extremly well against one another and this would be a fantastic playoff series (it would also result in many fans going in to cardiac arrest). While nobody expected Boston to be THIS good, they had playoff expectations coming in to the season. As long as they can get consistent goaltending from Tim Thomas and Manny Fernandez, they will be in the running for the Northeast Divison title all year long. Montreal isn't hammering teams the way they were expected to (what San Jose is doing is what Montreal SHOULD be doing) and Buffalo is beginning to ccome back down to earth.
As for the Rangers, as well as they are playing, they need to step it up a notch. The Rangers have a tendance to sleepwalk through most of the game and then turn it on just in time to pull out the win. Granted, Boston is a very good team and you're probably not going to mop the floor with a team like that, but the Rangers have been doing that to lesser opponents, too. They need to stop playing up or down to their opponent's level and play for 3 periods. The Blueshirts look like they are close to busting out a 5 game winning streak, but need to do it soon with their schedule favoring them for the rest of November.
For more on this, Link: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iYnZep5rKk0sCPMlvVZAkOEsjojgD94FP3K02
OTHER HEADLINES
-The Dallas Stars and Pittsburgh Penguins have swapped veteran D, with the Stars dealing Philippe Boucher to the Pittsburgh Penguins in exchange for Darryl Sydor. In the final year of a contract that pays him $2.5-million this season, Boucher is a 35-year-old who has three points and a minus-4 rating in 16 games with the Stars this season. He has 91 goals and 294 points in 723 career games. Sydor, 36, has seen limited duty with the Penguins this year, tallying one goal and one assist with a plus-5 rating, in eight games. Like Boucher, Sydor is in the final year of his contract, which pays $2.5-million. Sydor had a no-trade clause that he needed to waive in order for the deal to go through. Sydor has 486 points career points in 1179 games, including stints with the Stars from 1996 to 2003 as well as the 2006-2007 season.
-Barry Melrose comments about his firing:
http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=392625
RUMOR MILL
-Tomorrow's rumor mill will be chockful of interesting ones
LAST NIGHT'S RECAP
-Scottie Upshall and Jeff Carter scored second-period goals to lead the Flyers over the Canadiens in Montreal to end a seven-game losing streak against the Canadiens in the regular season.
New Jersey Devils (8-7-2) over the Washington Capitals (10-4-3) 6-5 (SO)
-Zach Parise scored the only goal in the shootout, Scott Clemmensen stopped all three Washington shooters and the Devils beat the visiting Capitals to end a four-game losing streak.
Vancouver Canucks (10-6-1) over the Toronto Maple Leafs (7-7-4) 4-2
-Pavol Demitra had three assists after missing 10 games because of broken rib cartilage and Roberto Luongo made 28 saves in the Canucks' victory over the Maple Leafs.
Pittsburgh Penguins (11-4-2) over the Buffalo Sabres (9-5-3) 5-2
-Jordan Staal had two goals, including the tiebreaker late in the third period, and the host Penguins scored four third-period goals to rally past the Sabres for their sixth victory in a row.
Minnesota Wild (10-4-1) over the Columbus Blue Jackets (8-7-3) 3-2 (SO)
-Marek Zidlicky and Antti Miettinen scored in a shootout for host Minnesota. Zidlicky slid his shot under Steve Mason’s glove, and Miettinen sent the puck between his legs to seal the victory.
-Bruins D Andrew Ference, who hobbled off the ice after being hit by a slapshot from Andrei Markov during the second period on Thursday night will miss 6-8 weeks. He is officially out of the lineup due to a broken tibia. Ference will have surgery to place a pin in his leg on Monday and begin the healing process.
GAME OF THE NIGHT
San Jose Sharks (14-3-1) @ Chicago Blackhawks (7-3-5) - 7PM
After the Sharks had a couple of tight games, they rebounded with a big 6-1 win over the Flames on Thursday night. The Blackhawks are coming off a tough shootout loss to the Blues. For San Jose, this gives them a chance to play against a team that has a good balance of youth and speed. For Chicago, it's a great test to see where they are as a team as we near the 1/4 point of the season.
Tampa Bay (5-7-4) @ Carolina (8-7-2) - 3PM
Montreal (9-4-2) @ St. Louis (6-8-1) - 6PM
Atlanta (7-7-2) @ Philadelphia (6-6-4) - 7PM
Los Angeles (7-7-2) @ Anaheim (9-7-2) - 8PM
^ALL TIMES EASTERN
*My weekly power rankings, "PLUS/MINUS", comes out on Monday evenings
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