Regardless, the Rangers are still 4-1-1 in their past six games, and still own first place in the Eastern Conference. Chris and I split the review, he had the first two periods, I covered the third.

First Period Notes (Chris):

• The game started as many anticipated (upon seeing the starting line-ups) as Cam Janssen and Mike Rupp as well as Brandon Prust and Eric Boulton dropped the gloves with just two seconds off the clock. Mike Rupp appeared to injure his hand in his fight although he did return to the ice.
• The Devils came out strong to begin the game, none more so than their hot, top line of Parise, Elias and Kovalchuk. The trio controlled play when they were on the ice and created numerous opportunities, one of which was only broken up by a desperate block by Girardi on the wide open man.
• The Devils may have enjoyed too much space because, at least initially, it seemed the gap between the Rangers forwards and defense was far too big allowing the Devils to break quickly and get easy entry to the Rangers zone.
• The Rangers didn’t help their own cause in the first period with their total inability to create pressure, in part because of their poor play on the puck. The team, uncharacteristically led by Ryan Callahan turned the puck over countless times to begin the game.
• One of the Rangers first period turnovers led to Stu Bickel taking a holding penalty which resulted in the Devils powerplay goal. Giving a team, on a 6 for 18 PP tear, an early powerplay is never a good idea and after the Devils won a few battles for the puck, slick work from Parise saw Clarkson beat Lundqvist from close-in.
• During the TV timeout a vocal and animated Tortorella could be seen reading the riot act to his team and in part it seemed to have the desired effect. The Rangers were much better in the latter stages of the first (without being great) as they got a hold of the puck and generate some pressure in front of Brodeur which lead to a few chances of their own.
• The Rangers had two powerplay chances in the first, oh how I wish they didn’t. Again, bar a brief spell on the first chance the powerplay created little and again, was guilty of a lack of movement off the puck. Prior to Stralman (nearly) being stripped by Parise, there was Brad Richards skating across the Devils blue line with the puck which lead to a turnover. He had nowhere to go and seemingly little options to distribute the puck. To say this powerplay is struggling is a huge understatement.

Second Period Notes (Chris):

• Like the first period, the Devils created plenty of pressure – through their forecheck – to start the second period, including their defensemen pinching in several times.
• Turnover, turnover, turnover: how to describe the Rangers play in three words.
• It took 6 minutes of the second for the Rangers to get some sustained pressure in the Devils zone. Good pressure by the Gaborik line led to a couple of attempts on Brodeur.
• Great example of how to play Kovalchuk came in the second period from McDonagh. As the Russian skated in with the puck, McDonagh was right up in Kovalchuk’s space and closed him off immediately. The winger had no space to make a move and was pushed off the puck.
• Clarkson had a huge chance ten minutes into the second but was thwarted by Lundqvist who was called upon far too often because of defensive zone breakdowns by the Rangers. Great save down low.
• Stralman had a particularly difficult first 30.
• Parise is a monster. If he makes it to free agency the Rangers should find the cap space.
• Gaborik had a semi breakaway late in the second and got a good shot on net but the angle was cut because of the covering defenseman. It was the first chance in nearly 30 minutes of play where Gaborik had to open stride and use his speed. Absolutely zero space until that point for Gaborik. After that Gaborik seemed to be a lot more in the midst of the play in the second, creating a solid chance for Del Zotto later in the period.
• 13 minutes in to the second and the Rangers finally got physically engaged for a sustained period of time. They won battles along the boards, closed down the Devils players, stopping several clearance attempts and generated chances.
• You’re trailing in the game after one period and you generate just 4 shots on net in 18 minutes of the second. That’s simply not good enough. The Rangers need to take more shots, need to work the opposing goalie much more. Generating a forecheck to create chances or look for the shot (rebounds) to generate pressure – chicken or egg, what comes first?
• Speed Kills. Approaching Brodeur at speed, Carl Hagelin had the Rangers best chance of the first two periods as he came in and forced Brodeur into a quality save. If anything it showed what a little space and plenty of speed can achieve. The chance was perhaps the first time in the entire game the Rangers got a quality look, close-in on Brodeur.
• The Rangers first two periods seemed to suggest they need an infusion of talent as they generated little and their puck possession was poor. Oh, Brad Richards was meant to supply that? I know, harsh… but man does that guy need to step up.

Third Period Notes (Dave):

• This is the period that the Rangers owned. In typical Devils fashion, they played their “five men in the picture” and trapped the Rangers. The Devils mustered just one shot on goal, and it was entirely due to lack of trying offensively. They were content to just play a trap game.
• Brodeur was giving up rebound after rebound all game, and the Rangers failed to crash the net on every single one of them. The last time they beat the Devils, they crashed the net and put home dirty goals. The Blueshirts have gotten away from that, and that’s the main reason why they didn’t get a goal tonight.
• The linesmen were quite atrocious tonight. There were a few icing calls that were either wrongly waved off, or called icing.
• Staying with the horrible officiating topic, what a terrible call on the Gaborik goaltender interference to end the game. It was painfully obvious that Gaborik was stopping well before Brodeur. Hockey is the only sport where there is actually evidence of this: the snow from the blade stopping on the ice. The snow started well in front of Brodeur, and Volchenkov pushed Gaborik into Fatso. That should have been a goal.
• The horrible call overshadows what was a pretty decent third period for the Rangers…except for that powerplay.
• Riddle me this. What is worse: The Rangers powerplay or the NHL officiating?

• Overall, the Rangers played an incredibly solid game today.  They minimized mistakes, took advantage of some soft goals by Ilya Bryzgalov and played a hard-nosed, physical game.
• The offense was once again lead by Marian Gaborik.  He finished with a goal and an assist, a +3 and 8 shots on goal.  He was flying from the opening face-off and being reunited with Derek Stepan (2a, +3) and Artem Anisimov (1g, 2a, +3) yielded significant results.
• Speaking of Anisimov, that tip was an absolute beauty off Girardi’s point shot.
• Michael Del Zotto (Zaster?) continues to get stronger as the season progresses.  He is seeing open ice and making strong decisions when to join the rush.  His hockey sense has gone through the roof this season and it’s showing on both sides of the puck.
• The Rangers got some timely secondary scoring with Fedotenko, Dubinsky and Del Zotto chipping in goals.  Hopefully Dubinsky’s game will continue to improve and take some of the pressure off Glen Sather to make a move for a top-6 forward at the deadline.
• The PP continued to be ineffective, but there were plenty of signs of improvement in this game.  They began to force the puck toward the net from the points, which took some of the pressure off the wingers down low.  There were several lateral chances between the forwards as it forced the Flyer’s PK unit to operate a little higher in the D-zone.  10 PP shots on goal is a step in the right direction.
• On the other side of the coin, six penalties is way too many to take even in a physical game like this one.  While Stu Bickel had a solid overall game, the interference and boarding penalties are going to keep Tort’s from trusting him with more ice time.  It was great to see him standing up and taking some of the fighting responsibilities off Prust and Rupp.
• I continue to be impressed every game by Ryan McDonagh.  He is such a heady player and makes defending the top lines from every team look routine.  Once Staal rounds back into form (he looked much better again today) the Rangers will have an embarrassment of riches in the top-4.  Although they still lack the big bomb from the point, you have a puck mover (DZ) and three shut-down defenders who can chip in on offense more than occasionally.
• I don’t know who has less business being on an NHL roster, Sestito or Rinaldo…
• Another pedestrian performance by Brad Richards today.  He needs to step it up, and quickly.
• The Rangers blocked an absurd amount of shots again today.  They had 25 blocks to the Flyer’s 10.
• What else is left to say about Henrik Lundqvist’s play?  He only had 21 saves (mostly because of the 25 blocks), but man does that guy come up big when the team needs it the most.  Looks like he learned his lesson on Giroux (same move as the Winter Classic goal) with only a few minutes left.
• Ilya Bryzgalov did not fair so well this afternoon.  His game was pretty much a microcosm of his entire season.  He had some tremendous saves, but was done in by three soft goals.  His save % in this game was .892, for the season, .899.
• This team continues to find a way to win all types of games.  These intense, physical tilts are the best way to prepare for playoff hockey, and this team is making it clear they are going to be extremely difficult matchup to draw come April.

Off tomorrow and another big division game against the Devils on Tuesday at the Garden.

Everyone be safe tonight and enjoy the other big game!

• Rangers & Sabres are pretty evenly matched. They play the 2-1-2, they dont regroup much, defenders are given free reign to join the rush, they both collapse to the net, etc. First period was pretty evenly matched as a result.
• The only tilting happened when the Rangers took two lazy penalties and had to kill off a 5 on 3. The Rangers were able to do just that by coming up with key blocks, aggressive puck pursuing, and clearing the crease. Hank saw every shot pretty cleanly from the looks of things.
• Our defense’s recovery speed never cease’s to amaze me. They keep up with some of these small elusive forwards so well. A lot of their rushes are negated by just keeping up with these guys and forcing them wide.
• Both teams were pretty strong in their own end and we’re able to keep shots to the perimeter.
• Richards skated circles around the Sabres to open the second. He probably had the puck for a solid 20 seconds, disrupted coverages, fed an open Cally for a terrific chance, but Miller made a spectacular save. We need to see more of that.
• Anisimov had a three good opportunities on the next shift. Need to see more of that too.
• Random commercial break thought…The promos for the NHL w/ Hank & Richie in their hotel room watching highlights is interesting. I can never find the NHL on in any hotel.

Midway through the second, this is where I would have had my review, but work things got in the way. I apologize for that, but at least the Rangers got the win.

Update***

Suit actually caught most of the third period on from the rink (those late night games are a killer), here’s some additional thoughts:

• The Rangers were afforded a power play several minutes into the third period and after the Sabres killed it off pretty easily, the Rangers play went south.
• For a solid ten minutes or so the Sabres just dominated the Rangers in pretty much every aspect of the game.
• We couldn’t win a d-zone faceoff, our defensemen couldn’t make an outlet pass, just rimming everything around the boards, and our forwards lost pretty much every battle at the half wall to pinching Buffalo d-men. It was ugly.
• Thankfully Hank stood on his head and was able to fight off some pretty tough shots.
• During OT the Rangers were finally got some space thanks to a power play that was afforded due to a boarding call from Tyler Ennis on Dan Girardi.
• The Rangers 4-on-3 power play looked much better than their 5-on-4. They cycled well, they made the right reads, got shots on net from the point, etc. Unfortunately Miller was there to make the saves.
• During the coin toss that is the shootout, the Rangers won on an excellent top corner snipe from Ryan Callahan.

After a week layoff due to the all-star break, the Rangers drew a rivalry game right out of the gate, facing the Devils for the second time this season. There would be no All – Star break hangover in this one, as the two teams battled into overtime in a game that changed hands multiple times. In the end the Rangers could not hold onto a late third period lead, coming away with just one point as the Devils prevailed in the shootout.

The Rangers got on the board first, tallying with just 32 seconds left in the opening period. Brodeur made a kick save on a wrist shot from Marion Gaborik, and Anton Stralman was there to put the rebound into the net. Stralman’s second goal of the year gave the Rangers a 1-0 lead heading into the first intermission.

In the second period, the Devils answered, finding the net to tie the game on a good play by their captain. Zach Parise collected his own rebound and fired a shot from a tough angle, beating Martin Biron over his shoulder on the blocker side.

The Rangers had a number of good opportunities in the 2nd period. The best chance came when a long pass from Stralman found Brad Richards for a breakaway, but Marty Brodeur made the toe save with his left skate.

In the final stanza, the action really heated up. The Rangers started the period on the power play, but it nearly cost them. After the Rangers couldn’t keep the puck in at the point, Kovalchuck got a breakaway attempt, but Biron slid over to make the pad save.

The Rangers then took a 2-1 lead on a play that left Brodeur flopping around his own crease. Stu Bickel took a slap shot from the point that hit Brian Boyle, and Boyle collected the pick and skated around the diving Brodeur, and lifted the puck into the open side of the net.

Late in the game Artem Anisimov took an ill-timed slashing penalty to put the Rangers on the penalty kill with just over five minutes left in the third. The Devils capitalized, as some good passing found Kovalchuck, who had pestered the Rangers all night. His goal tied the game at 2.

However, it took the Rangers all of 36 seconds to answer. Marion Gaborik did an excellent job of keeping control of the puck with the defender all over him, and slid a perfect backhanded pass across the slot. Michael Del Zotto released the one-timer for the Rangers to retake the lead.

It looked the Blueshirts would hold on to that lead, but the Devils scored with an extra attacker on in the final minute. NJ dumped the puck in, and a fortunate bounce off the end boards found David Clarkson right in front of the net, and he scored to send it to overtime.

The five extra minutes were played at a frantic pace, with each team having a golden opportunity to win the game. The Rangers dodged a bullet early when Ryan McDonagh made a spectacular play. Danius Zubrus nearly put one in the net, put McDonagh got his stick on the puck and forced it out.

On the other end, Derek Stepan made a beautiful play, but just couldn’t get the puck in the net. He stickhandled around the defense and tried to sneak the puck in from the side of the net. The puck slid directly across the goal line, but somehow did not go in.

With that, the teams went to the shootout. Kovalchuck beat Biron through a wide open 5-hole, and Brodeur stood his ground to give New Jersey the 4-3 victory, with the Rangers earning a point out of the ordeal.

Notes / Analysis:

• Tortorella made the decision to go with Biron in the first game out of the break with Henrik having in Ottawa for the All-Star festivities. Biron has been solid this season, and was strong at times today, but Lundqvist could have been the difference maker in this one. He had started the previous 32 games against NJ, instead he’ll face the Sabres tomorrow.
• The Rangers powerplay continues to noticeably struggle. John Mitchell was out their on the advantage in the second period to try something different.
• Two assists each for Gaborik and Hagelin, each time setting up defensemen. Stepan wasn’t very visible on that line until his great play in OT that should have iced a Ranger win.
• Similar story for McDonagh, a few defensive lapses for him early, but he saved the game with a great play in OT.
• Stralman played a good game at both ends. Had the first goal, plus a nice long pass to Richards to set up a breakaway.
• The Rangers defensemen continue to join the rush and become a big part of the attack. Not only did two defensemen score, but the Rangers had a good chance in the second period with Girardi and McDonagh skating up the ice on a 2-on-1.
• The Rangers had Brodeur out of sorts a number of times throughout the game, especially on the Boyle goal, but he came up strong in the shootout to deny Richards and Gaborik.
• Secondary scoring really counted in this game for NY, with Stralman (2nd of the year), Boyle (4th of the year), and Del Zotto (6th of the year) finding the net.

Don’t forget to follow JordanO on Twitter here.

Offense

• How about that Ryan Callahan? He sure does a lot in front of the net. He was uncontested on that first goal, as Zach Bogosian just allowed him to hang out in front of Ondrej Pavelec all day. When Pavelec couldn’t handle the rising Anton Stralman shot, there was nothing anyone could do. It was Callahan’s to miss. Then he does it all again by taking the puck away from the Jets in the third, giving the puck to Brad Richards, who buried it. Richards needed that goal badly.
• That shift by John Mitchell during his goal sure was something else. He got some powerplay time, forechecked to death, came back and backchecked, then took a nice feed from Michael Del Zotto. It’s a shot that Pavelec should have had, but a goal is a goal.
• Del Zotto makes mistakes, but wow has he had a solid season, and this game was no different. He made a great defense play on Blake Wheeler in the second period by doing the simple things. He just stayed with his man, who is not a shooter, and let him make the first move. That is what we call progress folks. This kid may be for real.
• Brian Boyle can’t buy a goal, can he? Hits the post in the second. But for what he lacks in offense he makes up for in guts. His entire body weight fell on his bad right ankle. He can’t even get to the bench, misses a few shifts, but is right back out there for the penalty kill.
• Who’s more snake bitten right now: Boyle or Brandon Dubinsky?
• Very few people can match Carl Hagelin’s speed, but Marian Gaborik may be one of them. It’s odd to say that Derek Stepan is the slowest guy on that line, but he is, and it isn’t even close.
• The Rangers sure do do a good job of pressuring teams on the forecheck, forcing turnovers, and capitalizing. It’s what they did on the first goal, and they did it all game to the Jets.
• The powerplay may not have converted, but they generated some quality chances. At some point that won’t be enough though. They need to start burying these opportunities. That play with Del Zotto in the third really stings. He needs to shoot there.

Defense/Goaltending

• Henrik Lundqvist…you are almost the perfect goalie. But for the love of all that is holy, please stop handling the puck. Please.
• Hank sure is making his case for the Vezina this year. There were at least two highlight reel saves made tonight. Another shutout for The King.
• Speaking of awards: Forget Pavel Datsyuk. Ryan Callahan for Selke.
• Ryan McDonagh didn’t look out of place at all after taking that vicious hit from Andrew Ference over the weekend. He’s lucky too. He and the entire defensive unit played a solid game, albeit against a very offensively challenged and very shorthanded Winnipeg Jets squad.
• As good as the Rangers are at forechecking is as good as they are at blocking shots. Wow.
• Fighting has its place in the game, but these fights after clean hits need to stop. Mike Rupp leveled Jiri Slater with a clean hit, and was immediately challenged by Chris Thorburn. You’re a tough guy, we get it, but that hit was clean.

Opposition/Officiating

• The Jets have a good young core on this team, but it is clear they are lacking a system and a few key components before they become legitimate contenders. That first component: an elite scorer.
• What the Jets lack in production from their forwards they make up for in production from their defensemen. Their first two shots came from the point, and all game their defensemen were in on the play, specifically Tobias Enstrom.
• While the refs missed calls, this game was called consistently, which is all you can really ask for nowadays.

• This one now makes 15 of the past 18 games these teams have played each other that has been decided by one goal.
• This game was an incredibly physical one, as expected.  It seemed like Boyle was a Lucic-seeking missile every time he was on the ice, and pretty much everyone had that extra edge this afternoon.
• Once the second period started, the offense began to come through.  4 of the 5 goals came in the second, and had McQuaid’s shot not deflected off of Brian Boyle’s stick, it could have easily been all the scoring.
• Brandon Dubinsky was the one Ranger I felt really struggled in this one.  It seemed like he tried to do too much physically and got thrown off his game.  He missed his coverage on the Ference (more on him later) goal and seemed more or less lost in both ends of the ice.
• I’m going to get all the critiques of the Rangers overall play out in this one bullet.  The power play looked god-awful again today.  If the last one was not a 4-on-3 for 5 minutes, it would have been another wasted opportunity.  I thought the Rangers turned the puck over far too many times at the top of the their defensive zone.  The Bruins point men did a nice job keeping clearing plays in, but too much through the middle and miscommunications on the breakout could have cost the Blueshirts a lot more than it did.  Lastly, they seemed a little soft in the slot area.  Boston does a great job of creating time and space in the offensive zone, but you have to clamp down.  But overall, they played a very solid game in both ends.
• The heart and will that this team has blocking shots is really something isn’t it?
• I fully believe that this game can be played perfectly.  It rarely happens, but you have to strive for it every single time you step on the ice.  I love that Torts has engrained that message in this team.
• I thought Brad Richards played a much better game today.  He had an assist and 6 SOG.  Much more effective than he has been recently.
• Marian Gaborik was obviously the star of the show today.  He had a tough assignment in Chara and managed to put 2 in the back of the net.  He stuck with the goal in overtime, putting the third rebound past Tuuka Rask for the game winner.
• Good call on the musical chair line combos Suit…
• Hank played his usual Vezina caliber game for the Rangers with 32 saves.  He is making all of the saves he needs to and a ton he has no business making.  He very much embodies the success of this team.  I thought Tuuka Rask played an exceptional game as well.  I believe that he is the better goalie in the Boston tandem and kept the Rangers from putting some distance between the teams in the middle of the second.
• There was so much in this game that was worth discussing, but for the sake of keeping the length of the recap reasonable, I’ll close with this.  Ference’s hit on McDonagh was absolutely gutless.  I hope Shanny takes a good long look at this play.  Exactly the type of hit that needs to be removed from the game.

The Rangers need to keep up the intensity from this tilt and prevent a let down game when they return home to host Winnipeg on Tuesday at 7pm.

Offense

• Zzzzzzzzzz….wait…the game is over?
• Carl Hagelin was rewarded for past play by playing on the top line with Derek Stepan and Marian Gaborik, and he in turn rewarded John Tortorella for his confidence. Hagelin had another strong game where he notched an assist.
• It’s amazing how much difference having Brandon Dubinsky and Ruslan Fedotenko in the lineup has. The Rangers were much stronger in their own zone tonight, and those two players in the lineup make a huge difference.
• Face off percentage, meet regression to the mean. Regression to the mean, meet face off percentage.
• As we mentioned in the pregame thread, the Predators played their 1-2-2 and 1-4 to perfection. The Rangers adjusted, and just outworked them along the boards. That is solid coaching with solid execution.
• How about that John Mitchell? He sure is earning his ice time. That was a good shot that Anders Lindback robbed him in the second, but then he followed that up with a nice curl back and a goal about three minutes later.
• When your big guns aren’t scoring, you need secondary and tertiary scoring. The Rangers got that tonight.
• Still wondering where Brad Richards is. Maybe Olivia Munn can give him a pity “date” so he can find his mojo?

Defense/Goaltending

• Dan Girardi with a lucky goal, but hey, I’d rather be lucky than good. In Girardi’s case, he was both tonight.
• There wasn’t much to really say about the rest of the Rangers defense, there wasn’t much to really notice. Which leads to the next point…
• The Rangers played a pretty good defensive game tonight, but they were definitely helped by the relative ineptitude of the Preds offensively. Not having Ryan Suter helped them too.
• It’s tough to say that the last two games played by Henrik Lundqvist were weak games, but the fact is they were not in line with his normal games. Tonight was Hank being Hank. He was solid again, and made a string of saves in the second period that preserved the Rangers lead.

Opposition/Officiating

• That was one bad call against Marian Gaborik on that double minor. Andrei Kostitsyn high sticks Mike Fisher, but Gaborik got the four minutes. Poor call, but tough to really tell.
• There were a lot of icings on both sides. Such is the life of a trapping team, the Rangers long outlet passes worked sometimes, but resulted in icings other times.
• The Predators, as we mentioned, are a team that win with various methods. But without Pekka Rinne and Ryan Suter, they were going to have trouble against a top-three team in the league.
• If the Predators can manage to get one Suter/Shea Weber under contract, and deal the other for a killer package of offensive players, then they can be pretty good for years to come.
• Anders Lindback had a nice game tonight. He had two goals against that were relatively flukey/screeny, but it is what it is. He played well.

Not much to talk about for this game, the Rangers were just bad. The bullet points are going to be short:

Offense

• This game was just a clunker. They happen. It’s alarming that it’s happened twice in three games, but let’s see how this plays out over the next week.
• I had a series of tweets where I mentioned who was having a bad game, but at this point it’s easier to just point out who had a good game. The Brian Boyle/Carl Hagelin/Brandon Prust line had a decent game. Yea…that’s about it.
• It’s amazing how badly the Rangers miss Brandon Dubinsky and, surprisingly, Ruslan Fedotenko. Wojtek Wolski and Kris Newbury are not legitimate substitutes for them. The combo of Wolski/Newbury/Mike Rupp essentially scored two of the Montreal goals for them.
• Back to the positives, there were two shifts where Boyle/Hagelin/Prust held the puck in the offensive zone for an extended period of time. They did a great job of cycling the puck and wearing down the opponent. Even if they didn’t generate much on those shifts, they are important from a puck possession standpoint.
• Will the real Brad Richards please stand up? If he’s going to play like this now, he better turn it up in April, May, and June.

Defense/Goaltending

• This was not one of Henrik Lundqvist’s better games, but he was hung out to dry on a few goals.
• Stu Bickel sure did have a rough game. He coughed up the puck a few times and screened Hank on the second goal. John Tortorella ripped into him on the bench. Don’t worry kiddo, you’re not the first to get screamed at.
• Marc Staal still seems a step behind, but that’s expected.
• The Rangers backcheck was non-existent today. No one played defense.

Opposition/Officiating/Broadcast

• That David Desharnais kid sure is good.
• Montreal is very fast. There are few Rangers that can keep up with them. If this team gets hot they still have a shot at the #8 seed or the #7 seed, and could be a tough matchup for the Rangers int he first round.
• Very few whistles and penalties, so there wasn’t really an opportunity for a hometown bias. There were some missed calls, but they were on both sides.
• NBC Sports still has the same bad broadcast that Versus had. There was one rush where Hagelin had the puck on a 3-on-2, but the camera zoomed in on Hagelin, and we couldn’t see the play develop. Pair that with the “play-by-play” not actually being play-by-play and I had no idea what was going on. It’s not difficult to realize that the best camera angle in hockey is the zoomed out one so we can see what’s going on.
• I would give NBC Sports more slack with their camera angles and analysis if they fired Mike Milbury. He’s awful.
• Terrible analysis by the play-by-play crew: calling Ryan McDonagh a “no name” in the Scott Gomez trade. He was their top prospect. Learn the facts.

The Rangers are back in the win column after outplaying the Leafs Saturday night in Toronto.The Rangers set the tone early on with a very physical first period that would continue the rest of the game.

With the Rangers forechecking and throwing their weight around, the Leafs were limited to only five shots in a scoreless first period. Towards the end of the period, Cody Franson was called for a penalty which sent the Rangers to the power play.

The Rangers inability to score on the man advantage continued against the Leafs as they failed to capitalize and get shots on net. The Rangers went 0-2 on the man advantage against the Leafs.

The Rangers once again outshot the Leafs and physically dominated the Leafs in the second period and finally got on the scoreboard when Mike Rupp scored his fourth goal of the season on an odd man rush led by Derek Stepan. Tonight was a night where the third and fourth liner continued to shine.

Brian Boyle would get the monkey of his back when he scored his third goal of the season towards the end of the period and was assisted by Brandon Prust and Ryan McDonagh.

In the third the Rangers continued to limit the Leafs scoring chances but received some continued help from both goal posts and the crossbar. Derek Stepan scored the Rangers third goal after Marty Biron hit Carl Hagelin with a crisp cross ice pass before setting up Stepan.

The goal was Stepan’s tenth of the year and his second point of the night. Marty Biron once again was a difference maker. Biron stood on his head when the Leafs were swarming on the powerplay and didn’t give up many second chance opportunites.

Biron improved his record to 9-2-0 and has eclipsed his win total of 8 from the 2010-11 season.

Defensively, the Rangers were solid. Ryan McDonagh quietly had a good game and Marc Staal is continuing to show he is ready for more responsibility. The fact that Staal saw some power play time was a good sign. Phil Kessel and Joffrey Lupul were a non factor in this game and Toronto never got anything going.

Brad Richards and Marian Gaborik really weren’t a factor in this game and that is going to have to change for tomorrow night. The Rangers need these two players to perform in order to be successful against tough opponents. They can’t survive on third line productions alone.

Artem Anisimov may still be in Tortorella’s doghouse as he only played 10:07 as the fourth line center against the Leafs.

Hopefully the Rangers can continue this effort tomorrow night against the Montreal Canadiens. The Rangers have had some trouble with the Canadiens at the Bell Centre so hopefully Lundqvist can come out strong.

Offense

• Wojtek Wolski played very well tonight. He generated chances, got to open ice, and just had a good game. That’s your spot he’s after Ruslan Fedotenko.
• Speaking of Fedotenko, that was not a “cheap kneeing” penalty he had on Jason Spezza. It was a hockey play, so anyone saying it was dirty is kidding themselves. Fedotenko is a lot of things, but dirty is not one of them.
• The fact that the powerplay in the third period consisted of Fedotenko, Brian Boyle, and Carl Hagelin was a message. That message: get your act together. The recipients: The top six forwards.
• I did not notice Brad Richards at all this game.
• Artem Anisimov seemed to be in the dog house in the second period, as pointed out by Joe on the telecast. It was clear that he was receiving less ice time when Mike Rupp was on the powerplay with Derek Stepan and Marian Gaborik. To be fair, Rupp did a good job in front of the net.
• This game reminded me a lot of the game against Phoenix, where the Rangers took a lot of shots, but couldn’t solve the goalie. The issue here is that the shots weren’t quality shots. There were a lot of perimeter shots, which is why save percentage is such a faulty stat.
• Brian Boyle needs to start finishing. Period.
• So does Anisimov.
• There was a lot of “Hagelin goes to the net” from Sam tonight. I smiled. Good things.
• The Rangers couldn’t solve the Senators 1-2-2 trap…at all. It was sad to watch.
• That said, the 1-2-2 trap alternated with the 2-1-2 forecheck, which is what we said in the pregame. The Sens give a lot of looks, and the Rangers had trouble solving them.

Defense/Goaltending

• It’s tough to really fault the defense or the goaltending in this game. The Sens play a trap system, but the Rangers didn’t allow much offensively.
• The Rangers dominated this game, but one quick shot by Jason Spezza really set the tone for the game. That tone: one goal may be enough.
• Henrik Lundqvist sure did work on that glove, didn’t he?
• Speaking of what he’s worked on, he worked on the low stick side too. That save on the Erik Karlsson shot was simple but beautiful.
• Michael Del Zotto saved the game in the third period after an odd bounce in the crease.

Sens/Officiating

• The officiating seemed pretty fair and consistent, which is rare for NHL refs.
• The Sens really did rely on Craig Anderson tonight, and he stood tall. The Rangers didn’t test him, but he made saves when he had to.
• Kyle Turris sure is something. He started slow in Ottawa, but he really solidified their second line.
• Spezza made one great play blocking the Brian Boyle shot, then wound up getting the puck to Karlsson, who found Michalek, who roofed it on Hank. That play started with the Spezza’s play on Boyle.