Results tagged “martinstraka”

• Islanders 4 Rangers 3 (Shootout): This was not a game for fans of goaltenders. Henrik Lundqvist was terrible, Wade Dubielewicz was too but better when it counted and the Islanders prevailed in a sloppy game.
  Continue reading "Last Night's Action: A Big Win For The Islanders"

• Rangers 5, Canadiens 3: Fans who tired of FOX's marathon Super Bowl pregame show may have migrated to NBC to catch this inspired effort by the Rangers. Playing in Montreal -- did any of them get to watch the Super Bowl, or even want to watch? -- the Blueshirts scored five unanswered goals after trailing, 3-0, early in the second period. Chris Drury had the go-ahead goal, and Scott Gomez, Michal Rozsival, Martin Straka and Brandon Dubinsky also scored. Coach Tom Renney, who has not had the most job security of late, described this as a character win. The Rangers sit at seventh place in the Eastern Conference, with 60 points. They trail the Flyers -- whom they dominated -- by only three points in their Atlantic Division.
Continue reading "Last Night's Action: That Other Comeback"

Sean Avery, placed on the top line with Gomez and Jagr got things started with a goal at 12:12 of the first period. Brandon Dubinsky scored a few minutes later and the Rangers never looked back. Jaromir Jagr capped the scoring in the third period with some hard work and a nice assist from Martin Straka who handed Jagr a replacement stick after he broke his original one.

New York doubled that lead in the second period thanks to some great work from the Dawes-Dubinsky-Prucha line. Prucha and Dawes got the goals and two points for their efforts, but Dubinsky had a wonderful game as well. Lundqvist lost the shutout in the third, but Montreal never seriously threatened and the Rangers earned two huge points.

Saturday the Rangers couldn’t score again, despite 26 shots. Manny Fernandez played very well for the Bruins and when things went to a shootout, Shanahan, Drury and Jagr all failed to convert, but Phil Kessel didn’t. His wrist shot won the game and New York heads to Pittsburgh with a lot of questions, including one about the health of Martin Straka.

Maybe it will take some time for this Rangers team to click. They have so many playmakers that they may need time to adjust to sharing the ice with such talent. That's a good problem to have, and given the lack of urgency directed toward the regular season, the Rangers have some time to figure it out.

You may not have noticed that the NHL season started last weekend. While two games between two California teams in London may not have captured your interest, the three local teams that begin play tomorrow and the next few nights will all be fascinating stories throughout the season.

The question is will this trade facilitate the return of Roger Clemens? Stay tuned….

-Rangers 3 Philadelphia 1: This game should have been a blowout. From almost the opening face-off, New York seized control of the action, peppering shots against Antero Nittymaki and keeping the puck in the offensive zone.

--Bulls 106, Knicks 95: MSG announcer Mike Breen called the Knicks the most schizophrenic team he's ever seen. Saturday's game was another example, but no matter how much heart they've shown in these rallies, Knicks usually end up on the short end, just like they did Saturday. Every time they see the Bulls, the Knicks are reminded that Chicago has the right to swap draft picks at the end of the season, an arrangement agreed to in the Eddy Curry deal. Curry was productive -- he had 20 points -- but he still heard boos at the Garden, where the Knicks are 1-6 this season.

- Rangers 3 San Jose 1: New York completed a successful west coast swing with their second win in as many nights. Kevin Weekes looked stellar between the pipes, stopping 29 of 30 shots and Matt Cullen, Martin Straka and Brendan Shanahan scored. With Weekes playing well in consecutive games, the question is, who will start in goal on Sunday?

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."

If not for Martin Straka’s skate, Jaromir Jagr would hold the record for most goals in a season by a Ranger. Jagr appeared to have scored his 53rd goal of the year in the second period, but replays showed that it actually went off of Straka and instead of a goal, Jagr was credited with his fourth assist while Straka got a natural hat trick in the Rangers’ 5-1 win. While Jagr didn’t get the goal record, he did set the franchise points record, breaking Jean Ratelle’s mark of 109.

It looks like we have reached the crisis point of the Rangers’ season. Sunday they dropped their fifth game in a row, falling 3-2 in overtime to Atlanta. The loss was especially tough to take because of how well New York played in the first two periods of the game.

Kevin Weekes had not started in goal since the middle of January and figured to be rusty last night, but the Rangers picked up their defense and didn’t allow an Islander shot in the first eleven minutes of their 5-2 victory. With the upcoming Olympic Break, the Rangers will need to rely on Weekes more to get through the compressed schedule in March and April.

In the mid-90’s it was the best local rivalry we had. Both teams were among the NHL elite and ferociously battled each other whenever they met. Then the Rangers fell on hard times and the Devils kept wining. Last night the two teams squared off at the Garden and when it was over New York had beaten New Jersey 3-1 and snapped their nine-game winning streak.

It was a night to pay tribute to one of the greatest hockey players to ever lace up skates, so it was fitting that another one of the all-time greats provided the winning goal. Long after the cheers for Mark Messier had died down, Jaromir Jagr scored just 14 seconds into overtime to give the Rangers a 5-4 victory over Edmonton.

If the Rangers are going to be successful this season they are going to have to stop taking so many penalties. Thursday night the Rangers committed eleven penalties including two that put them in five on three situations in their 4-3 loss to Montreal.