The Rangers lose a tough one in Philly

The New York Rangers lost 2-1 in Philadelphia on Thursday night. They came off a good win over Boston on Wednesday night at home after losing their first two games. The Rangers couldn’t keep their momentum going though as they couldn’t score, getting a power play goal in the third period. They had a two man advantage and a four minute power play with around 10 minutes to go in the third period and failed to capitalize. 
The Rangers are now 1-3 to start the season, that is not where they want to be but they still have time. The Rangers have played much better in their last two games. They will host the Toronto Maple Leafs at home on Saturday and then they will play the Flyers and Bruins in the two games after that at home next week. The Rangers need to get a good streak going and start to be the team that everyone though they would be and can be.

Taylor Pyatt scored the only goal for the Rangers. It was his third in the last three games. Lundqvist probably played his best game with 31 saves. Lundqvist and the defense have gotten much better the last couple of games and that is very important for the Rangers. The offense will get better as the guys start to develop chemistry but it is the goaltending and defense which ultimately will win you games.

The Flyers scored both of their goals in a four minute span in the second period. The first goal was a deflection off a skate. The second one was on a power play and a rebound.

The Rangers just couldn’t get their offense going in this game, they only had 13 shots through the first two periods and only one from the top line that had been so good the night before. The Rangers looked like they were tired and had heavy legs. They are usually pretty good in back-to-back games. The Rangers this early may just not have their conditioning where it should be. It will be important for them to bounce back at home against the Maple Leafs and get a win.

The New York Rangers get off to a slow start and then finally win against Boston

The New York Rangers lost their first two games of the season. They lost in Boston and then they came home and lost to the Pittsburgh Penguins. I should say that although the Rangers are one of the favorites those were two top teams they were facing also to start the season. Rick Nash did record an assist in his first game and a goal in his second game. The Rangers just didn’t look crisp though and then finally on Wednesday night at home against Boston they won a thrilling game in OT. They looked more like themselves winning 4-3 in OT, Marion Gaborik recorded a hat trick. 
The Rangers were more physical, they were dropping down to block more shots and they get a hard fought win which they needed. They will head to Philadelphia to take on the Flyers on Thursday night. The Flyers have started the season 0-3 and the Rangers will try and make that 0-4 while putting a winning streak together. The Rangers will then be back home on Saturday night to take on the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Henrik Lundqvist has given up some goals although I don’t think most have been his fault. He will have to get a little bit better though and the defense has to start to tighten up, I think they were more on track in this game. They gave up a late goal which was disappointing but then erased that with a quick game winner in overtime. Rick Nash has been really impressive, he had some brilliant moves that the goalie made some good saves on, he is close to really exploding though. I like the pairing of Nash, Richards and Gaborik on the top line and I think you will continue to see that for the foreseeable future. It is a short season but there is still plenty of time and the Rangers have their first two points of the season. They would like to push that to four points tomorrow and then go from there. They do have a majority of games at home to start the season so they would like to take advantage of that.

NFL Championship Sunday

The San Francisco 49ers defeated the Atlanta Falcons by the score of 28-24 in Atlanta to be the first entrant into this years Super Bowl. The Patriots and Ravens faced off in the night game in Foxbourough, Massachusetts and the Ravens came out on top winning the game by the score of 28-13. The Ravens lost last year in the AFC Championship game in the same place so they got their revenge. This also sets up the Harbowl as the two head coaches are brothers who are 15 months apart in age. 
The San Francisco/Atlanta game was a good back and forth game. The second half was especially good as the action picked up, it really went down to the wire but in the end the niners were a little bit too much for the Falcons. The niners overcame an early 17 point deficit. Their quarterback who is in his second year played well again and Frank Gore the running back really had a great game rushing for over 100 yards. The niners also avenged a loss in last years NFC championship game although it was to the New York Giants.

In the night cap it was a very close game throughout the first half. The game was 13-6 in favor of the Patriots at the half and the Ravens dominated the second half outscoring the Patriots 22-0 in the second half. The Ravens defense gave up some big plays but they wouldn’t break and kept New England off the scoreboard. The Ravens offense put the ball in Joe Flacco hands and he looked really good picking apart the Partriots defense.

This is going to be one interesting Super Bowl and I am sure we will hear every detail of the Harbaugh family over the next couple of weeks.