Better Late than Never

Sorry for the late update, but the Rangers topped the Islanders last night in a rematch of Monday's brawl filled affair by a score of 4-2. The Islanders dressed only the required 8 NHL players, and the Rangers had most of their opening day roster in the lineup so the game was tilted from the start. Very little of Monday's game spilled over, with only the usual rivalry tension. The last 15 minutes or so got a little heated, with a few misconducts handed out, Hollweg and Orr right in the middle of it as usual, and even Fedor Tyutin dropping the gloves. Gomez got the scoring started for the Rangers, followed by two straight from Shannahan and an empty netter for Prucha. Bergenheim and Hunter scored for the Islanders.

The biggest things to take away from the game last night were the chemistry between Gomez and Shannahan, an increased level of play from Lundqvist and Nigel Dawes playing extremely well. Gomez and Shannahan looked great together, and that only helped out Dawes, who was playing on the other side of that line. Dawes is making a strong case for himself with the final roster cuts happening shortly after tonight's game against the Flyers. It's a toss up right now between him and Dubinski, who didn't really show much last night playing with Hollweg and Orr besides having another impressive scrap with Johnson of the Islanders. Lundqvist wasn't tested much, but after an initial bad goal allowed, looked sharp. His side-to-side movement looked better than previous games and his movement of the puck was minimal, but much better as well.

Jagr is playing tonight, but Avery and Anisimov will not. Anisimov will most likely be headed down to Hartford immediately following the game, and then Renney and the rest of the coaching staff are left with the tough decisions of Dubinski or Dawes, Montoya or Valiquette and Pock or Staal. We'll see what comes of it.

Also, if you get a minute, there is a real interesting read for Rangers fans over on Blueshirt Bulletin about the league and it's view on Hollweg, Simon, Downie, etc. I enjoyed it so I figured I'd pass it along.

I'll check back in later after I get the recap of Rangers and Flyers tonight.