60 Minutes of WIN!

Rangers 3 Devils 0
YAY!
A shutout for the King, and 2nd period goals by Brandon Dubinsky, (great to see him putting the biscuit into the basket again!) Dan Girardi and Ryan Callahan led to the playing of this song: NY Rangers Goal Celebration Song
A Devils-Rangers game is a chance for old 'friends' to meet; Sean Avery gets re-acquainted with Martin Brodeur:

The boys are holding on to 7th place in the Conference, and travel to Raleigh for a game against the Hurricanes on Thursday...
LET'S GO RANGERS!

Another 3rd period letdown.

Penguins 4 Rangers 3
guh.
The boys came from behind twice to tie, on goals by Callahan, Dubinsky and Antropov; they also went 9 for 9 on penalty kills, an amazing statistic. However, Sid-the-kid Crosby scored the game-winner on a shot from the slot past King Henrik, and so all that great NYR effort was for naught. guh.
Rookie callup Mike Sauer was benched after being on the ice for the 2 early Penguin goals, and now he's on his way back to Hartford. Corey Potter has been called up to take his place on the Rangers' back line.
Devils at the Garden on Monday night...
Let's Go Ranguhs!!

boys run out of gas in the atl...

Thrashers 5 Rangers 4 OT/SO
guh.
Having built a 3 goal lead in the 2nd period, one would think it would be the Rangers that grabbed the 2 points for a win. One would be wrong. =(
Atlanta scored 3 straight to send the game to overtime, and after the scoreless OT, it took 6 rounds of shootout to determine the winner. Stephen Valiquette gets the loss in goal for New York, and the boys get 1 point in the standings for the regulation tie.
7th place (for now) and Pittsburgh on Saturday afternoon...
Let's Go Ranguhs!!

I'm wild about WINS!

Rangers 2 Wild 1
YAY!
King Henrik did not face many shots, but he stopped all but one, including a few point-blank chances late in the 3rd, when the Blueshirts were clinging to a 1 goal lead.
Sean Avery, assisted on the game winner by Scott Gomez, and also got to know Cal Clutterbuck a little better:

Nikolai Zherdev was the offensive star, with a goal and an assist. Nik, this song is for you: NY Rangers Goal Celebration Song
Mike Sauer, filling in for the injured Michal Rozsival, played well in his NHL debut:

6th place, at least for now. Thrashers on Thursday night in Atlanta...
LET'S GO RANGERS!

Same Auld Story...

Senators 2 Rangers 1
guh.
The Rangers ran into a hot team and poof!-- just like that, the winning streak is over. Ottawa may be on the outside looking in, but they're 9-1 in their last 10 games. Sens goalie Alex Auld gave up an early 1st period goal by Brandon Dubinsky, but then held the Blueshirts without a sniff for the rest of the contest. guh.
Michal Rozsival will miss the next week or so, after injuring his leg yesterday. The Minnesota Wild come into the Garden Tuesday night...
Let's Go Ranguhs!!

Don't let up, boys!

Rangers 5 Sabres 3
YAY!
The Sabres may have won the season series 3 games to 1, but last night was the Rangers' night. 2 goals for Callahan, 1 each for Naslund, Drury and Zherdev.

Fortress Lundqvist:

This song was heard 3 times in the 2nd period: NY Rangers Goal Celebration Song
Senators tonight at MSG...
LET'S GO RANGERS!

I do like a road win!

Rangers 4 Canadians 3 OT/SO
YAY!
3 times the Rangers had the lead (Antropov, Zherdev and Callahan) and 3 times the Habs tied the score.
After a scoreless overtime, it came down to the shootout; King Henrik opened with a save on the Kostitsyn attempt, Markus Naslund scored. Alex Kovalev registered a goal for Montreal, Nik Antropov put New York ahead. Markov tied it for the home team, but Chris Drury ended the game with his goal in the 3rd round of the shootout. Maestro, if you please: NY Rangers Goal Celebration Song
Hank, you don't have to be perfect, just 1 better than the other guy!

This probably won't last long enough for me to blog it, but for now, the Rangers are alone in 6th place in the conference. YAY!
The boys will entertain the Sabres this Saturday at the Garden...
LET'S GO RANGERS!

An Avery Afternoon!

Rangers 4 Flyers 1
YAY!
Love him or hate him, Sean Avery can be the most important player on the Rangers. He's a skill player who loves to mix it up with physicality, and derives great pleasure from antagonizing the opponent to distraction. When he stays within 'reasonable' limits, he is indispensable. He just makes his Ranger teammates better and braver, that's not an exaggeration. Yesterday he scored 2 power play goals, made a few bone crushing hits, and provoked the Flyers into at least one penalty. A perfect Avery afternoon!
Speaking of the Blueshirt power play, the once pitiful embarrassment of the Rangers' game notched 3 goals, with the game winner scored by recent arrival Nik Antropov:

Let's hear some Music!: NY Rangers Goal Celebration Song
Tomorrow night, a big Original Six match-up with Les Habitants in Montréal....
LET'S GO RANGERS!

lots o'shots, only 2 goals

Flyers 4 Rangers 2
guh.
Marty Biron made many saves, and Philly took the 1st game of the home & home from the boys. Antropov and Avery had goals for New York, who outshot the Flyers 42-29.
Rematch tomorrow afternoon at the Garden...
Let's Go Ranguhs!!

Rangers come from behind to WIN!

Rangers 4 Predators 2
YAY!
Scotty Gomez tied the score at 2-2 in the 2nd period...

and Marc Staal put in the go-ahead goal (see top photo). Fred Sjostrom added a shorthanded goal in the 3rd.
Milestone: King Henrik reached 30 wins for the 4th straight time to start a career (an NHL record for goaltenders, way to go Henrik!)
In a less meaningful milestone, Sean Avery got his 1st goal since returning to the Rangers, and I think that deserves a bit of this: NY Rangers Goal Celebration Song
The Blueshirts are back in the playoff picture, currently they have a very tenuous hold on 7th place. Up next for the boys: a home-and-home against the Flyers starting tomorrow afternoon in Philly....
LET'S GO RANGERS!

I prefer winning.

Hurricanes 3 Rangers 0
guh.
Just when I was getting used to this thing they call 'winning', the boys run into a hot Carolina team and get shut out. King Henrik got the night off, but let's not place all the blame for the loss on backup Stephen Valiquette; his teammates didn't put any biscuits into the basket.
Road trip continues in Nashville on Thursday...
Let's Go Ranguhs!!

Sunday Best!

Rangers 4 Bruins 3
YAY!
The Rangers have been on national television (NBC game of the week) a few times this season, and they finally came through with a win. *does a little happy dance*
I'm not gonna complain about the slight 'flukiness' of 2 of the Ranger goals (Backup goalie Manny Fernandez was kinda shaky for the Bruins) because sometimes a team will make its own luck through effort and persistence. And having watched the entire contest, I gotta say I'm pretty happy with the way the boys played. So the contest was decided by Nikolai Zherdev's open net goal, made possible by Marc Staal's end-to-end rush; the play was great, who cares if the puck bounced directly to our winger with the net minder out of position? Not me, and certainly not Nikolai:

Fans, go wild: NY Rangers Goal Celebration Song
Carolina an Monday night....
LET'S GO RANGERS!

New Look = Winning Streak?

Rangers 4 Islanders 2
YAY!
The new look Blueshirts scored 4 goals (this qualifies as an offensive explosion!) on the Island, on Thursday, with Zherdev, Drury, Naslund and Gomez all getting in on the fun. Play this 4 times in a row: NY Rangers Goal Celebration Song
What about the impact of the new guys?
Nik Antropov had an assist on one of the Rangers' 2 power play goals (2 pp goals in 1 game, woohoo!!), Derek Morris had a solid 17 minutes of ice time and Sean Avery did what he does so well:

Gotta wake up early (really early, considering the clock change) to watch the boys take on the Bruins at the Garden on Sunday...
LET'S GO RANGERS!

Meanwhile, at the trading deadline...

Return of the prodigal son:

Sean Avery is very happy to be back with the Rangers, after being exiled from the league by Dallas for bad behavior. He's gotta help, right?
The Rangers traded away Petr Prucha (from almost rookie of the year to healthy scratch; what a shame) and Nigel Dawes (oooh, I hate to see him go) and acquired Nik Antropov (forward) from Toronto...

... and Derek Morris (defense) from Phoenix:

Islanders tonight at the Mausoleum...
LET'S GO RANGERS!

Goals!! What A Fabulous Idea!!

Rangers 6 Avalanche 1
YAY!
Lynn Zinser from the NY Times wrote that the Blueshirts played like they didn't want to be traded by the deadline, which is this Wednesday. Still, it's nice to see happy scenes like this:

The Rangers scored 6 goals; play this song 6 times in row: NY Rangers Goal Celebration Song
No game for the boys until Thursday versus the Islanders...
LET'S GO RANGERS!

March. Updated! (again)

Hey everybody, this is what being a rockstar looks like:

March
1 Sun. Tobin’s Pub Crawfish Boil 3-6:30 11902 Jones Rd. Tobin’s map
2 Mon. First Tee Pub 5-9 Corner of Whittington and Dairy Ashford First Tee map

3 Tue. Vine Wine Room 6-8:45 (12420 Memorial Dr., just west of Gessner) Vine map
4 Wed. Grappino 6-9:45 (2701 West Dallas, between Waugh & Montrose)
Grappino map
5 Thurs. Hungry's Cafe & Bistro NEXTDOOR Lounge 5-10 (14714 Memorial Dr.)

Hungry’s map
6 Fri. Special Assignment (Sweetwater Country Club)
7 Sat. Molly's Pub 9-1:30 (Corner of Wilcrest & Westheimer) Molly’s map
8 Sun. Tobin’s Pub Crawfish Boil 3-6:30
10 Tue. Vine Wine Room 6-8:45
11 Wed. Grappino 6-9:45
12 Thurs. Hungry’s NextDoor 5-10

13 Fri. Backyard Tavern & Chophouse (formerly known as Grisby Grill) 6:30-10 Backyard map
14 Sat. Robustos Cigar Lounge 9:00-1:30 Robustos map
15 Sun. Tobin’s Pub Crawfish Boil 3-6:30
17 Tue. Vine Wine Room 6-8:45
18 Wed. Grappino 6-9:45
19 Thurs. Hungry’s NextDoor 5-10
20 Fri. Grappino 7-11
21 Sat. worms.
22 Sun. Tobin’s Pub Crawfish Boil 3-6:30
24 Tue. Vine Wine Room 6-8:45
25 Wed. Grappino 6-9:45
26 Thurs. Hungry’s NextDoor 5-10
27 Fri. Muir Fine Art Gallery 7-10 (302 Stafford St. Houston, Tx 77079) Muir Gallery Map
28 Sat. Backyard Tavern & Chophouse (formerly known as Grisby Grill) 6:30-10
29 Sun. off!
2 Mon. First Tee Pub 5-9
31 Tue. Nino’s, Vincent’s & Grappino Spring Fling 5:30-8 Wine Tasting & Hors d’oeuvres (Reservations required $25.00 per person. For info, call 713-522-5120)