Saturday, April 15, 2006

Another Keystone State Debacle

The Pittsburgh Penguins humiliated the Rangers Thursday night; Saturday afternoon the Blueshirts did it to themselves.
With their first division title in 12 years within their grasp, the New York Rangers decided not to show up Saturday in Philadelphia, losing 4-1.
Jaromir Jagr played admirably, but not all-world.
Kevin Weekes showed flashes of brilliance, but was not a phenom like injured backstopper Hendrik Lundqvist.
The win accomplished several things. First, it pulled the Flyers within one point of the Atlantic division leading Rangers. Second, it kept the New Jersey Devils' hopes for a division crown alive. The Devs trail the Blueshirts by three points. The Flyers and Devils square off tomorrow in New Jersey. Philly will conclude the season with a road game against the Islanders.
The Flyers got goals from Mike Knuble, Nicholas Dimitrakos, R.J. Umberger and Petr Nedved while Marcel Hossa scored New York's lone goal.
The Rangers conclude their season at home against Ottawa Tuesday night.
New York should have many of their injured players back for this enormous challenge against one of the league's best. Marek Malik, Darius Kasparaitis, Steve Rucchin, and the aforementioned Lundqvist should be able to play.
Hopefully, the Atlantic division title will not have slipped through their hands.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Great job, dude. Good luck with the blog!
--Terry