In a must win game for more reasons than one, the Rangers stifled the Devils 3-0 in front of a very vocal crowd last night at Madison Square Garden. This was their most complete sixty minute effort all year. They were shooting the puck, forechecking, using the point, moving their feet, and crashing the net.
"The King" was perfect making 38 saves for his fourth shutout of the year, improving his record to 18-6-4 against Martin Brodeur. This win boosted much needed confidence to a team that has struggled in the last three games against the men from Newark.
In the scoreless heavy-hitting first period, The Rangers outshot the Devils 20-1o. The Rangers were quicker to every puck and winning the key battles along the boards. You can just see it would only be matter of time before the Rangers get one by Brodeur.
The Rangers jumped out to 2-0 lead just two minutes apart early in the second period. Brodeur made a sprawling save on Dan Girardi's shot but Brandon Dubinsky collected the rebound and patiently buried the puck into the net for the game's first goal. The crowd then erupted with the "MAAAAAARTYYY" chant that began last season.
Dubinsky's Goal
Soon after, Lundqvist came up with three huge saves on Havelid and Holik in a scramble in front of the net. Moments after Lundqvist's heroics, the Rangers increased the lead with Antropov using his size to poke the puck back to Girardi who fired a shot passed Brodeur for his fourth goal of the year.
Girardi's Goal
With under 5 minutes to play in the second period, Ryan Callahan scored from a play started by Saint Sean Avery. Avery made the smart and simple play by passing the puck to Gomez and crashing the net drawing Danius Zubrus and Paul Martin t0 him. Gomez found a wide- open Callahan who sniped a shot into the corner over Brodeur's shoulder. This goal doesn't occur unless Avery drives to the net creating space for Gomez to make the cross-ice pass to Callahan. After the goal, more chants of "MAAAAARTTYY" rose from the garden faithful.
Callahan's Goal
The Rangers are now 3 points ahead of the eighth Place Montreal Canadiens, 1 point behind the sixth place Pittsburgh Penguins, and 2 points behind the Carolina Hurricanes with 5 games left to play. Stay Tuned!
Next Game
Thursday, April 2nd
@ Carolina 7 p.m.
THE HUNT FOR THE PLAYOFFS
| Western Conference | Eastern Conference |
| 1. Y - San Jose | 111 | 1. Y - Boston | 106 |
| 2. Y - Detroit | 107 | 2. X - Washington | 99 |
| 3. Calgary | 92 | 3. X - New Jersey | 98 |
| 4. Chicago | 91 | 4. Philadelphia | 92 |
| 5. Vancouver | 91 | 5. Carolina | 91 |
| 6. Columbus | 86 | 6. Pittsburgh | 90 |
| 7. Nashville | 84 | 7. NY Rangers | 89 |
8. St. Louis
| 83 | 8. Montreal | 86 |
| --------------------------------------------------- |
9. Anaheim
| 82 | 9. Florida | 85 |
| 10. Edmonton | 81 | 10. Buffalo | 82 |
| 11. Minnesota | 80 | 11. Ottawa | 76 |
| 12. Dallas | 76 | 12. Toronto | 75 |
