Results tagged “nigeldawes”

Normally, seventh-place teams don’t make trades like this, but the Rangers are not a normal team. Constricted by the salary cap and in many ways built to win now, New York sent Petr Prucha, Nigel Dawes and Dmitri Kalinin to Phoenix in exchange for Derek Morris and draft picks to Toronto in exchange for Nik Antropov. Morris improves the defense and Antropov really improves the offense. Giving up on Dawes and Prucha is tough, but with their cap situation the Rangers probably would not have been able to resign them next year anyway. The Islanders traded their captain, Bill Guerin, to Pittsburgh in exchange for a conditional draft pick. It is initially a fifth-rounder, but could go as high as a third-rounder if the Penguins win a playoff round.

Rangers 2, Islanders 1: The Islanders have enough trouble winning games with Rick DiPietro in net. So imagine how they felt when an injury to backup Joey MacDonald meant Yann Danis -- fresh off the bus from Bridgeport -- got some facetime. He allowed two goals in a 1:56 span in the second period, and that was just enough for the Rangers. Nigel Dawes and Chris Drury got the glory for the Rangers, who got a strong performance from Henrik Lundqvist. The Islanders have lost five straight and are going nowhere fast. They have the league's worst record and have gone 2-15-2 since Nov. 29. So the Rangers' only acceptable result was a two-point haul.

• Rangers 4, Penguins 0: Most things that didn't work during a recent slump clicked Monday at the Garden. Henrik Lundqvist stopped 27 shots, got his first shutout of the season and became the fifth NHL goalie to start a career with four seasons of 20 or more wins. The Rangers converted on two power-play opportunities -- they went 1-for-17 during their 1-3-1 stretch entering this game -- and came up with a big win. Goals from Nigel Dawes, Paul Mara, Chris Drury and Scott Gomez helped the Rangers regain first place, but they have played more games than the Flyers and the Devils.
• Nets 98, Kings 90: Yep, that's what an 8-27 team looks like. The Nets have to be worried about Devin Harris, who sat out the second half after aggravating an injury. But at least they can smile at Vince Carter's 29 and Yi Jianlian's 22. The Kings led at the 5:21 mark of the fourth quarter, but the Nets woke up in time. Harris, who missed Saturday's game against Miami, will need to feel better if his team is going to be competitive against teams better than the Kings.
• Oilers 3, Islanders 2: This quote from Andrew Cogliano, who scored the go-ahead goal for the Oilers, sums up the Islanders' state of affairs. “We just couldn’t lose this game. When a team comes in the way they did, you have to win it.” The Islanders held a 2-0 lead at one point, but that vanished into the wind.
Continue reading "Last Night's Action: Power in Power Play"

It was a game of crazy bounces with the puck, benefiting both teams. Tied at one, Christian Backman committed a terrible turnover in his own end that led to an easy goal from Zach Parise that put New Jersey up 2-1. But, Backman found redemption early in the third period with a power-play goal of his own off of nice feeds from Gomez and Drury to tie things up.

Overtime failed to produce a winner so things went to a shootout where Nigel Dawes made a brilliant fake to freeze Martin Brodeur and score . Dawes’ goal held up and the Rangers beat the Devils for the sixth time this season, while moving into a tie for fifth in the Eastern Conference.

How hot are the Rangers? They have 21 points in their last 12 games, and 31 in their last 20. They are now in sixth place in the Eastern Conference but just five points out of the division lead and No. 1 seed held by the Devils. Anything's possible. What's most important is that the Rangers are playing their best hockey -- and finally washing the taste of underachievement -- at the right time. Lundqvist is tied for the most shutouts in the NHL (nine). His team picks up points in almost every game. When it was built last summer, this is what people expected. Better late than never.

• 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 4 Carolina 2: It was the perfect blend of the old and the new for New York on Thursday. Brandon Dubinsky got things started for the Rangers with a great backhand off of the pretty feed from Jaromir Jagr. Sean Avery came off the bench at the right time to grab the puck and score a goal right before the first period ended to make it 2-0. It was 3-2 in the third when Nigel Dawes fed Brendan Shanahan with a perfect cross-ice pass to make it 4-2 and clinch the win.
Continue reading "Last Night's Action: Another Big 2"

Nigel Dawes got the Rangers on the board near the end of the third period as he converted a power play chance. Scott Gomez who assisted on the first goal followed with a goal of his own, setup by a great screen from Chris Drury at 3:53 of the second. Then the fights started, a linesman took a skate to the face but the Rangers and Valiquette kept their focus and got the win.

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.

Maybe all the Rangers needed was a punch in the mouth. Not a punch per se, but a high stick that knocked some teeth out of Jaromir Jagr’s mouth. Jagr shook off the hit and the Rangers shook off the malaise that has plagues their power play all season with two goals in the third to win 3-1 over Tampa Bay.

Of course, the other story in this game was Scott Gomez's first appearance against the Devils. At least he got to play a home game. The Devils finished their nine-game season-opening road trip 3-5-1 and will open their new arena in Newark on Saturday.