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 ›

• 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 ›

The Rangers are going to have to have a lot more weekends like this one if they are going to make the playoffs. Fresh off of Saturday’s shellacking of Buffalo, New York outlasted San Jose in a physical contest 3-1. more ›

• Rangers 5, Sabres 1: Five days off, but only 10 seconds to score. Sean Avery got the Blueshirts off to a great start and they finally got the taste of Sunday's overtime loss to Washington out of their mouths. "I don't think we expected that great of a start," said Brendan Shanahan. He has to be telling the truth. Who sits at his locker lacing up his skates and says, "I think we'll score within nine seconds"? No one, that's who.
• Islanders 4, Thrashers 1: The Rangers took 10 seconds to score, but the Islanders denied the Thrashers a goal until 77 seconds remained in this one. Miroslav Satan, Ruslan Fedotenko, Marc-Andre Bergeron and Sean Bergenheim all scored for the Islanders. Don't look now -- actually, it's safe to look -- they've won three straight. Up next: San Jose on Monday. It's at home, so the team won't get lost.
• Devils 3, Senators 2: Jason Kidd was in the NBA's skills challenge, but, even if his trade has fallen through, he still doesn't feel like a true local player. With him as the only such representative in Saturday's NBA festivities -- if not playing defense were a skill, Eddy Curry would have been there -- the Devils had to show off their talent. Arron Asham had as many goals as he has R's in his first name, and Martin Brodeur had 37 times as many saves as he has B's in his last. The Devils won despite finishing a 10-round shootout the night before.

• 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.
more ›

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. more ›

That’s where things stood well into the third period. The Rangers thought they had tied the game when Fedor Tutyin’s wrist shot was ruled a goal on the ice, but video replay overturned it. A few minutes later Chris Drury tied things up with a great effort. And, Drury figured in the overtime winner. After Montreal turned the puck over, Girardi made a brilliant pass to Drury who led Brendan Shanahan perfectly and Shanahan deposited the puck into the net for a very satisfying end to 2007. more ›

The Lakers cruised to a 70-45 lead and then had to hang on against a Knicks’ rally that happened with the unit of Nate Robinson, David Lee, Malik Rose, Jared Jeffries and Jamal Crawford playing most of the minutes. What changes are coming? It’s hard to say, but a good start would be splitting Eddy Curry and Zach Randolph up. Let’s just hope Isiah doesn’t start making trades. more ›

Sonics 117, Knicks 110: Knicks fans deserve a lot of credit. No one's pointing out how hard it is to chant "Fire Isiah." That phrase has a ton of vowel sounds. They held off for part of this game, but at the end, the result was the same. Zach Randolph is the only self-respecting Knick, though Jamal Crawford has been putting up better numbers with Stephon Marbury still out. The sum of the parts is... more ›

Carolina 4 Rangers 0: Things got ugly early and the Rangers never recovered. Carolina got two goals in the first, the second off of Ranger’s skate to jump out to an early lead and New York could not muster any offense against Cam Ward. Ward dominated New York getting big saves when they were needed and the Rangers could not muster an offensive attack in the game. The Hurricanes added two goals in the third... more ›

Devils 3, Thrashers 0: Martin Brodeur earned his first shutout of the season -- and the 93rd of his career -- and the Devils are at .500 again. Rod Pelley and Paul Martin had the two non-empty-net goals for the Devils. Jamie Langenbrunner tied an NHL record by assisting on all of his team's goals. After that early-season road trip, the Devils appear to have their skates back under them. Panthers 3, Rangers 2 (SO):... more ›

Devils 6, Flyers 2: After three failed bids to get Martin Brodeur his 500th career win, the Devils finally provided him some margin of error. They played stingy defense and lit the lamp six times en route to an easy milestone win. Brodeur joins Patrick Roy as the only netminders with 500 wins. Dainius Zubrus got the party started and added an assist. As happy as the Devils are for Brodeur, they're probably happiest that... more ›

Rangers 4 Philadelphia 3 (Shootout): The Rangers have overcome their slow start and moved into a tie for first place. Brendan Shanahan had a goal in regulation and the game-winner in the shootout to power New York. Henrik Lundqvist kept the Flyers off the board in the shootout, stopping all three shots he faced. Marc Staal played another solid game paired with Rozsival and Marek Malik has to be worried about regaining his starting spot.... more ›

Celtics 112, Nets 101: Early indications have the road to the NBA Finals going through Boston. If the Nets entertain any hopes of becoming a legit contender, they'll have to find a better measuring stick. As if the Nets didn't have enough concerns about Vince Carter, their star left the game in the third quarter with an ankle injury. At least he had 17 points when he left. Beating up on the Eastern Conference may... more ›

Rangers 2 Philadelphia 0: These teams really do not like each other and it was evident early on Monday night. The gloves came off just 54 seconds into the game and another fight broke out seven minutes in. That ended the boxing portion of the evening, but both teams continued to hit hard and often in a physical contest at MSG. The Rangers dominated the first period, but would have had nothing to show... more ›

Rangers 2, Devils 1 (SO): Petr Prucha did enough to finally earn a second "E" for his name. He set up the only goal in regulation and scored the only goal in the shootout. Scott Gomez struck against his former club. The Rangers had other chances, including Chris Drury's breakaway in overtime, so this win helped them sleep better at night. Islands 3, Penguins 2: This could have been a Pyhrric victory. Rick DiPietro got... more ›

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. more ›

• IIndians 12, Yankees 3: Well, that didn't go as planned. Chien-Ming Wang didn't have his sinker, gave up a ton of two-out and two-strike hits, and the Yankees got buried. Their patient bats wore out C.C. Sabathia, but they only got three runs for their efforts against him, and that wasn't nearly enough given the way Wang pitched. Then they stunk up the joint against the Indians bullpen, but by them the game was over. It's only one in a five-game series, but the Yankees have an uphill battle. Remember who's likely pitching in Games 3 and 4: Roger Clemens and Mike Mussina. Andy Pettitte will face Fausto Carmona in Game 2 on Friday. Want a positive spin? The Yankees have never lost a division series in which they have lost the first game. That includes 1996, 2000, 2001, 2003 and 2004. Those teams were better than this one though.
• Rangers 5, Panthers 2: A sluggish second period couldn't slow down the Rangers, who lit the lamp four times in the final session to pick up a win in their season opener. Who knows what Tom Renney said in the dressing room during the intermission, but it worked. The Rangers got three goals in two minutes and two in 12 seconds. Chris Drury, one of the big offseason signings, got a goal in a five-point performance.
• Lightning 3, Devils 1: Things didn't come up roses for the Devils, who started a season-opening nine-game road trip with a loss in Tampa Bay. Why the long trip? They're waiting for their new arena.
• FC Toronto 2, Red Bulls 1: Ah, the own goal. Soccer players' way of giving back -- to their opponents. Blame this one on Chris Leitch, who kicked the ball into his own net for the deciding score. New York will have to wait for a playoff berth.
more ›

After taking a 1-0 lead with just over three minutes left, the Rangers needed to play defensive hockey, so why did Jagr even hit the ice? Blair Betts and the fourth line had shutdown the Sabres all night, so why weren’t they used more at the end of the game? more ›

New York took an early 1-0 and seemed to have extended it to 2-0, but their goal was disallowed after extensive replays for an apparent “kick in”. Buffalo tied things up in the third period and the game headed to OT. Unlike the old NHL, they call penalties in OT now and both teams went on the power play multiple times, but could not score. Both teams had shots miss crossing the goal line by millimeters and both teams had to suffer that frustration. more ›

After spending a week healing their wounds, the Rangers head into the second round of the playoffs tonight rested and ready. They will need to be at the top of their game to beat the Buffalo Sabres, a deep and talented team with plenty of guys who can fly all over the ice. more ›

Five minutes into the third period, Matt Cullen unleashed a vicious slapshot that caromed off the top crossbar and appeared to bounce out of the crease. Replays showed the puck had bounced down into the goal and the Garden erupted when the tally was put on the scoreboard. more ›