Quick Start for the Rangers
New York Rangers 3 Carolina Hurricanes 2
By Robert Holt
New York City–After a long layoff from the All-Star break, the New York Rangers were back in action Tuesday night when they faced the Carolina Hurricanes at Madison Square Garden. It was extremely important to establish the tempo of the game early especially after such a long period of time between games which is exactly what the Rangers did. New York put a lot of time and effort into remaining focused during the break, this is how Rangers’ goalie Stephen Valiquette described it: “Everybody is very serious about the way they carry themselves. That showed tonight because we came back and were ready to play.” New York started the game hot with numerous odd-man rushes but just could not put the puck past Hurricane’s goalie Cam Ward. However, at 4:21 of the first, Lauri Korpikoski changed that when he slide the puck between Ward’s legs. The play was started by Ryan Callahan who made a perfect pass to send Markus Naslund and Scott Gomez on a two-on-one rush. Naslund passed the puck to Gomez who took a partially blocked shot that was stopped by Ward. However, Korpikoski followed up the play and put the rebound in the net. About six minutes later, Scott Gomez added another goal to the Rangers’ lead and his 10th of the season. Once again, the Rangers found themselves on a two-on-one with Gomez and Naslund leading the way. Gomez took Naslund’s pass and put it top corner, glove side. At this moment, it appeared as though the game was going to be a blow out. However, to the Hurricanes credit they did not give up. With 13:04 remaining in the first, Ryan Bayda cut the lead in half with his 4th goal of the season. After the goal by Bayda, it seemed as though it settled down Carolina and made the game tighter. Stephen Valiquette, who was given the nod to start in place of Lundqvist, was absolutely stellar, stopping 33 of 35 shots. Throughout the second period both teams had many scoring chances but could not convert. Both Valiquette and Ward played spectacular and did not allow a single goal. Brandon Dubinsky scored the game winner at 12:35 of the third when Nikolai Zherdev made a beautiful play sliding the puck between two defenders, drawing the goalie out of position and then passing the puck to a wide open Dubinsky for his 8th of the season. However, a mere 25 seconds later, Tuomo Ruutu scored for the Hurricanes to once again cut the lead to one goal. Ruutu made a great play when he scored on his own rebound that showed remarkable hustle and totally surprised Valiquette. This is what he said after allowing the quick goal. “It’s so important to stay in the moment and not get too caught up in the fact that we just gave a goal up, Everyone stayed focused from that point on, and it seems like that’s the style of play we’re going to have to play the rest of the season - just be able to bury a team in the third period.” The next ten minutes were extremely nerve-racking as the Hurricanes peppered Valiquette with shots from all over the ice. Luckily, he was equal to the task and earned his 5th win of the season. Valiquette has been a great asset to New York, not only giving Lundqvist a chance to rest, but has also kept them in many games. His two goals against average ranks him on par with many top goaltenders in the league. The Rangers are now 30-15-3 and play the rival Penguins at 7:30pm tonight. The Hurricanes are 23-21-5 and have the night off before heading home to face the Tampa Lightning on Thursday. Quotes attributed to NHL.com
Bobby Holt Jan 28, 2009 at 4:28 PM
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