Stuck On 52

One of these days Jagr will get his 53rd goal. The last time the Rangers faced the Islanders; it had appeared that Jagr had scored, only to see the goal credited to Martin Straka. Last night the exact same thing happened in the Rangers’ 3-1 victory over the Islanders. To his credit, Jagr didn’t seem at all interested in the record stating after the game, “The record you might remember two weeks after that. But if you win the Cup, you can remember forever. It means a lot more to me."

While it was nice to see if Jagr could set the record, the Rangers almost gave away a game they had to have. With Kevin Weekes in goal again, New York came out flat and the Islanders controlled most of the first period. Weekes was sharp again and was only beaten by Miroslav Satan who benefited from a bad turnover by Tom Poti.

The second period was a different story as Jarko Immonen, one of the prospects acquired in the Brian Leetch trade, scored his first NHL goal in his first NHL game to tie things up. The Rangers battled the whole period and scored just before the end of it, the goal mistakenly attributed to Jagr. The third period saw both teams getting good chances, but only the Rangers converted when Straka netted his second of the game. The win gives the Rangers a five-point lead over the Flyers with six games remaining. (Philadelphia has seven games left)