The Devils don't usually blow third period leads. Just don't
.
They trap, they check, and Martin Brodeur stands on his head.
But the Rangers overcame all that last night.
Nigel Dawes ended up on his back in the net, along with Brodeur and the puck, after being pulled down by Travis Zajac with 3:07 left in the third period last night for an improbable game-winner that Dawes described as the "craziest goal" of his career.
None of it would have been possible without two assists from Scott Gomez, who played after resting his bruised ribs on Tuesday.
Or a season-high three assists from Chris Drury.
Or two power play goals from the beleaguered 1-for-30 unit---including a redeemer from D Christian Backman, whose turnover to Zach Parise while backskating in his own zone in the second period handed the Devils a 2-1 lead.
Brendan Shanahan's PP goal in the first period gave him 23 goals for the season, tied with Drury for the team lead in goals and PP goals (11).
The Rangers are in sixth place, three points ahead of Boston and Philly, tied in points with 91, but behind in wins to the fifth-place Devils, and one point behind fourth-place Ottawa with a game in hand. They cannot clinch a playoff spot on Sunday in Pittsburgh, because ninth-place Washington won.
"We want to win in New York," said Gomez. "That's why me and Dru wanted to come here and feel a part of it."
Some assorted stats:
Lundqvist has an 0.98 GAA against Jersye this season....Dawes had seven hits, Ryan Callahan seven.
Rangers are off tomorrow, but I'll have more on this and the playoff hunt. Stop by....
Comments (31)
It doesn't get bigger than this win tonight, particularly because nobody behind us loses anymore.
There was a moment when we were down 2-1 early in the third where I looked at the other games and felt a little scar-ed about things.
This was the biggest clutch win of the year.
Give Backman credit, he overcame his horrid play and made up for it big time.
Chris Drury comes up big when the games are the biggest, 3 assists.
Guts, Gomez, they really are the same word.
Dawes, clutch, they really are the same word.
Henrik, king, they really are the same word.
i been calling for gomez to win the "extra effort" trophy...can you all please vote @nyrangers.com for him if you havent already, after tonight he deserves a badge of courage for the amount of times they we're gunning for him
his speed is so apparent when he isnt playing, its scary to think what we'd be w/o him..helluva signing by slats on that one, he's worth EVERY penny of it...
..zipay, next time you gotta post the nickname mentioned for dawes by gomez on the post-game somewhere in your end of game reaction, its pure comedy: BLACK MAGIC!!!
BREAK OUT THE BROOMS!!!!!! LETS GO RANGERS!!!!!!!!!!!!
Prucha scratched again, this is hilarious. Renney sure isn't biased. Hope we go 0-5-0 and miss the playoffs.
bob- how can you even say renney is doing anything wrong with the way this team has turned around again.
straka needs to play with a little more passion and get to the net a little harder, he couldve had 2 last night off jags.
gomez- blood and guts for sure, he went after that devil early on cause gomer got poked in the ribs with his stick
Dude, flamer, they really are the same word.
good one, you wrote that 7 minutes ago, I bet you are still chuckling like Beavis
You know what my first reaction was when I heard Prucha was scratched last night?
I said GOOD
After watching this game once gain on Rangers in 60 last night and being able to digest it without having a heart attack every 2 minutes, I saw the Backman play again, and that was an incredible play by Parise.
He swiped the puck out of mid air and somehow kept it on his stick like there was a magnet in there, tremendous play.
Just glad that Backman had the chance to redeem himself right at the moment the boo birds started chirping.
Wow! What a game!
Dude,
I was right there with you. 2-1 I am thinking 'they lose this i might get a refund on my playoff tickets'.
I loved it when Backman scored that goal. The guy skates up the ice getting booed and 15 secs later buries the tying goal with a beautiful shot. "keep booing him @ssholes!" is what came out of my mouth. You took the words out of my mouth because I was sure that Backman would get bashed here today. That was a routine play by Backman that was negated by a BRILLIANT play by Parise, as soon as he knocked that puck down I knew he was scoring. That kid is good!
Is it safe to say as Gomez goes so do the Rangers? I think it is...
How about that shift where Callahan got on the ice threw about 5 big checks and got off the ice. Like a human pinball machine on the fore check.
Who cares if Prucha played. See you next time their is an injury Petr maybe even next year. Bias has got nothing to do with it.
131 Wins last night, Tom Renney ties Herb Brooks for 5th on the all time Rangers Coach Win list. MAN HE IS HORRIBLE!!!! LMAO!
Thats all I got for now,
Up in the Blues
-MSG Employee
-Apologist
The insane thing about this time of the year is choosing who to "root" for in other games. For instance, Philly is playing Jersey tonight and the Islanders tomorrow. If they win both, the Rangers are in 7th place when they step on the ice on Sunday. By the same token, if Jersey wins tonight, they're a full 3 points (2 points + tiebreaker for wins) ahead of the Rangers.
The Prucha lovers are really amazing, according to them you would think Renney was scratching a HOFer. Prucha played a pretty predestrian game the other night and truly adds nothing to the equation. He did not even have a shot on net. If he is the answer to the offensive needs of the Rangers he should get some shots on net. Again Prucha is a mediocre player who there is no room for. He is not better than Cally or Dawes so who exactly should he replace? He is not strong enough and is usually used like a rag doll by the opponents, he gets E for effort, plays hard and can occassionally score, other than that there is no place for him in the lineup, this love affair with a mediocre player is stupifying. And NO he can't play center, as soon as Betts come back Hollweg is out with Prucha eating hot dogs and watching. Renney has finally reduced the 4th line minutes as it will be in the playoffs. The Rangers are now playing as they will in the playoffs.
The Prucha lovers are really amazing, according to them you would think Renney was scratching a HOFer. Prucha played a pretty predestrian game the other night and truly adds nothing to the equation. He did not even have a shot on net. If he is the answer to the offensive needs of the Rangers he should get some shots on net. Again Prucha is a mediocre player who there is no room for. He is not better than Cally or Dawes so who exactly should he replace? He is not strong enough and is usually used like a rag doll by the opponents, he gets E for effort, plays hard and can occassionally score, other than that there is no place for him in the lineup, this love affair with a mediocre player is stupifying. And NO he can't play center, as soon as Betts come back Hollweg is out with Prucha eating hot dogs and watching. Renney has finally reduced the 4th line minutes as it will be in the playoffs. The Rangers are now playing as they will in the playoffs.
Callahan was awesome last night, Brodeur completely robbed him on his breakaway, but Callahan was all over the ice, as usual, Dawes and Callahan two of the best players on the game.
Yeah, I have no idea who to root for tonight in the Flyers - Devils game, I guess I just root for no 3 point game.
I don't really like getting into the Prucha conversations too much because I don't really like to bash him.
Hopefully over the summer he works a little harder building up some strength. He is signed next year at decent money, if a lot of the older UFA's leave, Prucha could be very important next season.
But, Prucha is not part of the equation the rest of this season and I do not care about next season right now.
Pruchas can, and has, played center for the Rangers. He's not that bad on draws either. Who would you rather have out there: Hollweg or Prucha ?
Did anyone else notice that the Devils should have had about 3-4 penalties in the last 3 minutes of the game ? The too many men on the ice that wasnt called was pathetic.
As for the 4th line.... anyone else think the Sjostrom is better than 4th line material ?
Sjostrom, yeah I agree, he may find himself on a higher line next year.
But, at this point, who is he going to replace on one of the top 3 lines?
Th 4th line is playing less and less every game as we get closer to the playoffs.
There is WAY too much time on this blog spent on dissecting who should and shouldn't be on the 4th line, it's becoming more and more irrelevant who is on it anyway.
i thought hank was magnificent, save for a great screen by clarkson, and a brilliant play by parise....i thought shanny played a terrible first period, but more then redeemed himself...did anyone else want to tell the fans to shut up when they started chanting "you cant beat us" with about 3 and change to go? or was that just me being superstitious?
Sjostrom's explosive speed is essential and a solid 4th line guy - he could be a 2nd / 3rd line guy, but i think he fits in well as a 4th line guy, especially alongside Betts.
with hollweg in and prucha out, its adds a sense of toughness, in which i think the devils realized last night. with prucha in the lineup, i fell as though the devisl (in particular brookbank, clarkson, white) might have had more iniciative to line guys up.
backman looked awful for first half of game, but looked solid 2nd half. you could say the same about staal and girardi last night, too. ironically, rosen and michelletti comend staal and backman on their improved chemistry together, then immmediately after staal misses backman on pass behind the net, elias gives it to langenbrunner in slot and thankfully henrik was there to glove save it. backman should know that when skating backwards, its extrmemly tough to pass a puck forwards. he should have at least ripped it off the boards and out, instead of trying to go to the middle and catch NJ on a change. then again, parise made a nice play. and certainly, thats is why those two above mentioned are in the NHL and im not!
dawes, callahan and dubinsky are really earning their stripes, and have been all year. a solid testiment to the organization for their desire to keep them in lineup.
the two games vs. PIT will be very, very tough. seemingly, PIT has our number. question is, do we rest henrik at all from here on out?
also, whenever a player is called out on this blog (stratka, shanny), they have a good game that night. whos next?
no, we havent clinched a playoff spot yet...and the division is still within reach...albeit, a far reach.
I think Valiquette gets one of the back to back Islander games, that's it.
Henrik will be playing both of these Penguin games.
I don't see how Pitt has our number
we are 4-2 vs them this season, including a pretty dominating 5-2 win on March 18th where we held Malkin pointless.
It's gonna be a great two games.
I hate off days.
Can someone check my math, but is the Rangers magic # to clinch 4 points?
The most points Buffalo can get is 93 and the most points Washington can get is 94, so 3 points gained by us or lost by Buffalo means Buffalo cannot catch us and 4 points gained by us or lost by Washington means Washington cannot catch us. There should be no need for tie breakers either.
Agreed Valiquette gets one of the Isles back to back games.........more importantly they should clinched a playoff spot by then and it's important having Henrik rested
Betts will be in for Hollweg in the playoffs
Only reason it's not Prucha is cause he doesnt play Centre.....if a winger was hurt Petr is very much in the plans............they are just stacked right now which is not a bad thing
How about Malik being sat down for Backman/Mara..........he is gonna snap............hope he doesnt cause problems like earlier.........next yr he is a goner and everyone will make fun of Backman instead cause well someone has to be made fun of apparently
Also Sjostrom has alot of talent..........he should have a bigger role next yr
I know this yr is the focus but next yr they will have alot of older players likely leaving in Shanny, Straka,Jagr..........I know some may be back but if not they fill the hole with a Hartford player and Prucha and Sjostrom................1 big FA Forward and 1 FA D man if Rozi goes..............we all know they will let Mara and Malik walk and Sanguinetti will be next yrs Staal
Gomer played great last night it didn't look like he was hurt at all. Add Calli,Dawes Dubi and Drury to the list of players who were flying last night. Finally 2 pp goals and did you notice it was which should be called the #1 pp unit. I'm sorry but jagr's unit is bad and all they do is skate and pass on the outside. Renney should sit that unit and give Cali,Dawes and avery a shot with some pp time.Straka was a machine on the penalty kill along with Drury.The defense played a good game and was glad to see BTO score after his mistake. Jagr looked good in the opening period but declined as the game went on, he has to stop with the same old move of going one handed around the back of the net because everyone knows he will be doing it and they are waiting for him and take the puck and headman it up.Then Straka and Dubi have to bust a hump getting back while he glide back.Yes it is obvious I am not a jagr fan but even the jagr lovers have to admit I am right. By renny putting Straka on the first line which has to be for jagr's comfort which is still a problem with 6 games remaining is taking away from dubi. It seems that Jagr and straka leave dubi out sometimes and the team is hurt because Dubi has been one of the best on the team most of the year. Please don't start with why can't i just be happy with a win, well it's because i am looking towards the playoffs and these things will be very important. One more thing Marty Brodeaur is a whiney cry baby and can't just give a small compliment to the Rangers for winning all seven games so far this year. He should try and act like that weird goalie Hank on the rangers and have some dignity and class with his responses.
Dude, in case you didnt see, the 4th line was out there for the Devils 1st goal. I think it does matter, I sure dont see Hollweg as a defensive-type player.
Hollweg and Orr played 3 minutes last night.
I don't know how you can blame anyw=one really on that Devils first goal, it was just a great deflection.
Betts will be ready to come back soon and that will be the last you see of Hollweg unless there are other injuries.
Dubinsky won 11 faceoffs and lost 3 last night.
That is very sweet
the reason they only played 3 minutes is cause they suck !
at least Orr can scrap.
Actually I think the real reason that the 4th line guys played so little is because the top 3 lines are going to get the majority of the minutes from here on out.
All year you guys wanted Renney to stop using the 4th line so much, now he has.
I don't see why Valiquette should play one of the Islanders games. This time of year, you simply have to go with your best players if they're physically able to play (ex. Gomez last night). Lundqvist would have 2 days off after the Pittsburgh home & home. And then after Jersey on Sunday, another 2 days off before Round 1.
I don't understand the bashing of Backman. He has been our best D since he arrived......and give Freddie Shoestring more time on ice!