Game 1 - Post Game Thoughts

That was the greatest period of hockey I have seen in a long time. That was an overall complete game and a great game by the entire Rangers team. The defense and Henrik were the key to this game. The defensive play was solid and Henrik was an absolute wall. The beginning of the game was sloppy to say the least. I credit that to just some playoff jitters. There is no other reason for all the turnovers. After the first the Rangers were a whole lot better and cleaner. The penalty kill was the best I have seen in a long time. They were solid, aggressive and kept the Rangers in the lead. There in not much more you could ask for from the Rangers.

Three Stars:
1) King Henrik - If you watched the game then you know why he is the first star. He made saves no human should ever be able to make. He kept the game close when they were tied and stayed solid when the Rangers gained the lead. He out dueled Marty, who seemed to have a little senior moment out there on the shorthanded goal., poor old Marty. Henrik was at is best tonight and the King was the biggest reason why we won this game.

2) Scott Gomez - After the first period, I thought one of his mishaps was going to cost us the game. He got over the jitters and the boos and composed himself to end with a great game. He assisted on 3 of the 4 goals tonight and was great on the penalty kill both defensively and offensively. He skated very well in the 2nd and 3rd period and made great plays on both Callahan's goal and Avery's goal. It was nice to see him really burn his old team when it really mattered.

3) Ryan Callahan - As I mentioned before, Marty seemed to have senior brain fart out there on Callahan's goal. That was some serious hustle to stop the Devils, get down the ice and follow up his own shot. Before that play the Rangers had no shots on goal in the third, and that goal really seemed to relax the team a little bit and give us a whole lot of momentum. Without his hustle the game could've been a lot different.

Notables: Shanny - A great goal and what a great hockey player letting Dawes record his first playoff goal. That was something.

The entire defensive unit - I will say once and I will say it again, the Rangers defense was great tonight. The forwards came back and helped but the entire defensive unit played very well, blocked shots and got their sticks in to steal some pucks. With defense like that the Rangers can go very far.

So we now have the momentum in the series as we captured the first game and take a 1-0 lead in the series. That’s a big momentum boost to win the first one on the road and not have to worry about going back to the Garden down 2-0. If they can play the entire game like they played the third period in Game 2, I expect the Rangers to take it back to the Garden up 2 games to none.