The Rangers defeated the Sharks with a score of 5 to 2 last night. Erik Christensen finally realized that the season had started, and decided to make an appearance with 2 assists in the game. The bad news is he will probably put that invisibility cloak back on for the next 9 games. Anisimov and Stepan scored their first of the season, and Callahan seems to have recovered from his slow start with 2 goals. Ryan McDonagh scored his third of the year. Who would have thought that McDonagh would have more goals than Dubinsky? Great to see McDonagh developing into a solid defense-men and offensive threat. In Dubinsky's defense, he has been getting a lot of chances, and I think (hope) that he is close to breaking out. The only thing he needs is target practice, seeing as he can't seem to hit the net. I think there were two keys to this game, the beginning and after San Jose had tied the game. After their epic collapse, most Rangers fans were left wondering whether the Rangers would sink deeper into the hole they were digging, or finally find the spark they needed to play a full 60 minutes of hockey. While some people may claim that the recall of Sean Avery inspired the Rangers, I think the Prust fight in the beginning of the game should receive most of the credit. Dating back to last season, the Rangers are 6-0 when Prust fights in the first 2 minutes of the game (thanks to Scotty Hockey for this great stat). Biron was solid in goal, giving me confidence he is up to the task of giving Hank a rest when he needs it. In some interesting post-game drama, Joe Thorton of the Shark said the Rangers were soft and they should have won the game. It doesn't really mean anything though, just like it doesn't matter that the Rangers should have held on to their 3 goal lead on Saturday. At the end of the day, the Rangers dominated the game, and earned a well deserved 2 points.
In other good news, Sean Avery has officially cleared waivers and has been recalled by the Rangers. I'm assuming he will play Thursday night or the fans might try and lynch Torts.
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