- Rangers 4 Atlanta 3: To say this was a physical contest is an understatement. The Rangers and Thrashers engaged in a heavyweight fight Thursday with New York surviving in the end.
Jagr and Rozsival put the Rangers up 2-0 in the first before Eric Belanger cut the lead in half. The Rangers opened another two-goal lead in the second when Marcel Hossa made it 3-1, but Shane Hnidy cut the lead to 1 again midway through the period.
New York took its last two-goal lead when Michael Nylander punched in a huge mistake by Kari Lehtonen to make it 4-2. But, the Thrashers scored the next goal and had numerous chances for the tie when they went on the power play with 71 seconds remaining in the game.
Atlanta threw everything they had at the Rangers, but Henrik Lundqvist came up huge and New York survived to take a 1-0 lead in the series.
- Devils 5 Tampa Bay 3: The Devils had more of a fight on their hands than they may have expected, facing a 3-3 tie in the third before fending off the Lightning behind 23 saves by Martin Brodeur.
- Sabres 4 Islanders 1: Wade Dubielewicz was awesome again, stopping 31 of 35 shots, but the Islanders couldn’t generate any offense against Buffalo in their loss.
- Mets 5 Phillies 3: In the “Battle of Geritol” Tom Glavine outdueled Jamie Moyer to give New York the game and the series. Jimmy Rollins finally woke up from his nightmare series with two hits and 3 RBI’s, but to the delight of the Shea crowd, he left town a loser.
