The rangers explode in the garden! Last night (1/19) the New York Rangers scored eight goals! Count them 8! Scoring three goals in the first, two in the second and three more in the third. The garden swayed like it was a Metallica concert!
Scoring goals from eight different players, the party was on! And interestingly, none of these eight scorers was named Marion Gaborik. Although Gaborik tied his career high for assists in a game with four, having something to do with half of Rangers’ goals on the night was a big part of the win.
The night began with a power play from the Rangers and they would capitalize on just 1:27 left on a Brandon Dubinsky goal. Vinny Prospal would be the next goalscorer for the azulgranas when counting at 7:05 giving Rangers a 2-0 lead. The Lightning would make it a 2-1 game at the 17:51 mark of the first only to see the Rangers attack again on Chris Dury’s eighth goal of the season. More importantly, they took a two-goal lead in the locker room.
The goals kept coming in the second and third with Tampa Bay goalie Antero Nittymaki being taken off after goal number five scored against. NY would give the Tampa rookie more of the same. In the last two games, the Rangers scored 14 goals, the previous three 1! It speaks of a twist and hence the title of this article.
Even during that three-game stretch where they only scored one goal, the last two games have been very impressive for the Rangers, who are now 6-2-3 over their last eleven. The next three outings should be a little more complicated with two of the three away from home against teams that are close to the blue shirts in the standings.
Next Thursday comes the Flyers, the team that embarrassed us a month ago at home, and then on to Montreal, the team we put up six against at the start of this rush of goals. I have a feeling this game will be in the back of their and their fans’ heads on Saturday night. These two games are big as all of these teams are only a few points away from each other with the Rangers on top of them.
On Monday night we’ll be back home against the defending champions, we’ll talk about two tough away games and then we’ll head home to say hello to the champions. Rangers’ hands should be full in the next three battles, but maybe not for a team that can score fourteen goals in two games, correct?