The Taxi and Limousine Commission says two pilot programs encouraging New Yorkers to share the back seats of cabs with perfect strangers would free up more cabs, reduce traffic congestion, and cut carbon emissions. Before voting to approve the experiment yesterday, TLC official David Kahr said another bonus is that "you'll save a little money, and maybe you'll meet someone new who's interesting." That's right, ladies! TAXI! Oh hello there, do you come to this back seat often? You know, we have so much in common, living in the same neighborhood and all. Say, why don't we drop you off next? Ladies first—it'll be fun to finally see where you live, anyway. more ›

Rangers 4, Islanders 1: Two days after having their dramatic rally ruined in a shootout, the Rangers crushed the Islanders, 4-1, and continued their surge at the season's most critical times. They drew Wade Dubielewicz in goal -- Rick DiPietro had missed too much time following the death of his grandmother -- but most goalies would have had trouble Thursday. The Rangers led this one 89 seconds into the game on a Brendan Shanahan goal. Sean Avery may have broken off contract negotiations. but he's also breaking off great slapshots from the slot. Scott Gomez also scored, and Avery enjoyed the stat-padder of all stat-padders, an empty-netter in a game already decided. Sean Bergenheim had the Islanders' only goal. more ›

That was because the best player on the floor took over the game. LeBron ended up with 50 points and 10 rebounds, scoring almost at will when he wanted to. It’s a good thing the Knicks don’t want a player like that. more ›

• 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. more ›

For the Giants, the opening of free agency saw them lose three players. Kawika Mitchell went to the Bills, Reggie Torbor to the Dolphins and Gibril Wilson to the Raiders. The loss of Wilson will hurt the most, but remember he was once a fifth-round pick. GM Jerry Reese proved last year that he is very good drafting players and won’t overpay in the free agent market, so don’t panic the Super Bowl champs will be just fine. more ›

• 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.
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Knicks 113 Bobcats 89 Take a long look at this box score, because you probably won’t see another one like it this season. The Knicks won a laugher Wednesday 113-89, dominating Charlotte over the final three quarters of the game. more ›

is out today! more ›

Five different Rangers scored goals and ten different Rangers had points in the win. Brandon Dubinsky showed his versatility when he pulled Sean Avery away from a fight, only to step into the action on his own. Dubinsky fought to a draw which was about the only thing the Rangers didn’t win Sunday. more ›

The only question after the win is what is going on with Eddy Curry? Curry played the first 9:29 of the game and then sat on the bench for the remainder of the game. Isiah gave up a ton to get the guy and now he won’t play him? more ›

• 76ers 124, Knicks 84: For the second time this season, the Knicks got blown out by the second-worst team in the division. How is that possible? Start with nine turnovers in the first quarter alone -- and 23 for the game. Sprinkle in some porous defense and everything should come out just fine. The Knicks lost by 40 despite shooting 46 percent from the floor. Too bad Philadelphia made 57 percent of its shots.
• Nets 110, Bulls 102 (OT): Even without Devin Harris, the best player the Nets got in exchange for Jason Kidd, the Nets were able to take down the Bulls at home. Marcus Williams played 39 minutes and had 25 points. If he can play remotely like that down the stretch, the Nets may find themselves a first-round victim rather than draft-lottery hopeful.
• Islanders 3, Capitals 2: Suddenly, the Islanders can't be stopped. One game after he helped his team stun the Sharks, Mike Comrie scored the only goal in the shootout and helped New York to its fifth straight win. This was the second consecutive time they rallied from a two-goal deficit. Miroslav Satan and Josef Vasicek lit the lamp in regulation.

Montreal didn’t score in OT, but Saku Koivu converted in the shootout and Montreal sent the Rangers to their worst loss of the season. more ›

A NY-based nonprofit called Breakthrough launched a video game yesterday called ICED: I Can End Deportation (also a play on the acronym for Immigration and Customs Enforcement Department). more ›

• Devils 5, Hurricanes 1: To be fair, Carolina was without three of its best players, but even a full-strength Hurricanes team would have had trouble with the Devils. New Jersey allowed only 22 shots the entire game and blew by Carolina for its seventh win in nine games. That makes them tied for the Eastern Conference lead with Ottawa and Montreal and two points clear of Pittsburgh in the Atlantic Division. The Senators and the Penguins, however, have a game in hand. Travis Zajac, Mike Mottau, Jay Pandolfo, Johnny Oduya and Zach Parise all took part in the scoring. This was classic shutdown mode for a team peaking at the right time.
• Islanders 3, Sharks 2: If you can't beat the opposing goaltender, why not bloody his face and then get the puck into the net? That more teams haven't tried this method is one of the world's biggest unsolved mysteries. Radek Martinek couldn't get the puck home, but he did do enough damage to Sharks goalie Evgeni Nabokov's mask that the netminder had to get stitches. He probably should have stayed in the dressing room. Andy Hilbert and Mike Comrie helped tie the game in less than a minute, and then Freddy Meyer did the glamorous work to give the Islanders a home win. They're one point out of a playoff spot, but they've played more games than Buffalo, Boston and Philadelphia, the teams above them in the Eastern Conference standings.

The Islanders survived on Thursday, outlasting the Maple Leafs 5-4 to get their second win in a row. more ›

Trent Hunter got things going with a goal at 17:42 of the first. The Flyers tied it up in the second, but the Islanders took the lead and built it on two beautiful goals. Jeff Tambellini took advantage of a bad Philadelphia turnover to put the Isles back in front. Sean Bergenheim got a semi-breakaway off of a feed from Trent Hunter to make it 3-1. Philadelphia cut it to 3-2, but Rusian Fedotenko put the game out of reach with his 10th goal of the year. more ›

Andy Pettitte has always wanted the ball in his hand with the game on the line...until now. Faced with the prospect of having to publicly contradict his friend, Roger Clemens, Pettitte asked to be excused from tomorrow’s hearing in Congress. Representative Tom Davis told Newsday last night that the Pettitte deposition matched McNamee’s in “most details” but Roger Clemens’ deposition says Pettitte is mistaken. As a result, Pettitte has been excused, along with Chuck Knoblauch and Kurt Radomski setting up a one-on-one showdown between Roger Clemens and Brian McNamee. more ›

With the writers' strike looking like it'll wrap up this week, Crain's points us towards another problem for New York's entertainment industry. more ›

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. more ›

• Spurs 99, Knicks 93 (OT): Normally, the Knicks do this in reverse. They fall behind big early, rally to make things respectable and pat themselves on the back. This game was worse. They blew an 18-point third-quarter lead and then didn't seem to care about the result when the game went to overtime. This is the second time they've lost eight straight. Will they have another eight-game skid before the season ends?
• Nets 104, Bobcats 90: Jason Kidd's line: 19 points, 11 rebounds, 13 assists and 0 answered questions after the game. He wasn't in the mood to talk despite the Nets' throttling of the Bobcats. Nenad Krstic, who started over Sean Williams, had only two points in 15 minutes. He'll need to recover from injury quickly if the Nets want to win more games.
• Ducks 2, Devils 1: Scott Niedermayer had an assist in his return to New Jersey as the Ducks finished their three-game romp through the New York area. Niedermayer played 13 seasons with the Devils, but the fans didn't seem to appreciate that tenure.

Itching to jump back into Liberty City yet? The New GTA IV website has been launched, in preparation for the quickly approaching April release. The previews so far have been somewhat light on details, but the site finally sheds some light into what kind of trouble you can expect to get into while traversing a virtual NYC. more ›

Former Ranger, Mathieu Schneider scored first and although New York tied things up at 1-1, they never got back in the game. The Ducks scored two times in the second to break things open and Todd Bertuzzi iced it at 12:13 of the third with his 12th goal of the year. more ›

The Mets introduced Johan Santana, their newest player and best attempt at getting back to the World Series, in Flushing yesterday. Just last week, the Mets and Santana agreed to a six-year $137.5 million contract that makes the Mets a favorite in the National League. Scores of press were on hand for the introduction, as well as David Wright, Omar Minaya, owners Fred and Jeff Wilpon, and Willie Randolph. Before his official introduction, the Mets played a video montage to showcase their new arm. The video had music by Carlos Santana and had greetings by famous Mets interspliced with the pitcher's highlights. more ›

An estimated three million people assembled along Broadway during yesterday's ticker tape parade to celebrate the Giants' 17-14 Super Bowl XLII win over the New England Patriots. more ›

• Clippers 103 Knicks 94: New York Giants Sam Madison, Kevin Dockery and R.W. McQuarters showed up for the game, which provided a great diversion from what happened on the floor. Leading 60-51 at halftime, the Knicks were blown away in the third quarter, getting outscored 28-14 as the Clippers cruised to the win. more ›

11:27PM: We're enjoying the postgame coverage of the Giants' victory, with sad Tom Brady, really excited Michael Strahan (singing Eli's praises), Peyton Manning being thrilled with his brother's success (aw!) and thoughts from the 1972 Dolpins, secure with their undefeated record for another year (but the Patriots still won more games in a row!). While we've been inside, there are a number of large crowds celebrating the Giants' win all over the city - the police have been called to break some of them up! more ›

The long delayed Grand Theft Auto IV is finally coming out soon, and it seems the marketing campaign has come off the screen and into the 3rd dimension. Where best to bring the faux Liberty City (based on New York) than to the streets than Williamsburg. Kotaku spotted a Wanted poster on the corner of Lorimer and Grand suggesting one Niko Bellic be shot on sight. more ›

So, the Giants making the Super Bowl has you preparing to watch a football game and you don’t know much about the sport. Let us help you with some pointers about the game. more ›

We already covered the Super Bowl half time show alternatives, but what if you're not a football fan or your team didn’t make it? What if you don’t want to sit through a football game to watch commercials or if you hate Joe Buck and Troy Aikman? Well, don’t worry, there are some television alternatives for you if you don’t want to watch either the game or the countless hours of pre-game shows. more ›