Cinderella Rangers Hit By Carolina Hurricane Train

Did anybody get the name of the train that ran over the Rangers? Sean Avery stood in front of a train in Carolina and, unbelievably, the train won.

They call the Carolina Hurricanes "the train" because it's a big, heavy, fast-moving team that is hard to unrail.

They call the New York Rangers a "Cinderella" team because they have been down in the cellar but now they are on the way to the ball, or the Stanley Cup playoffs.

The train has been on track and picking up speed. Cinderella just turned her pumpkin into horses.

Both teams had three game winning streaks going when they collided in Raleigh.

The Rangers just won a very emotional, hard-won game, upsetting the league-leading Boston Bruins while bringing Madison Square Garden back to life.

The Hurricanes just had a huge game, beating Tampa Bay Lightning 9-3 with Eric Staal scoring four goals.

The Rangers got off to a good start in Carolina's building, getting the first shots on net and scoring the first goal, but the referee said, "No goal!", after it was reviewed and determined to have been set up by a hand pass.

The disallowed goal hit the Rangers like a freight train and changed the momentum of the game. The first period ended in a scoreless tie as it was a tight, close checking 20 minutes, just like a playoff game.

Rangers star Scott Gomez picked up a pair of penalties, which is unusual. The Hurricanes had seven power play opportunities before they finally scored on the Rangers second goalie, Steve Valiquette.

In the second period, Eric Staal of the Hurricane ran into Marc Staal of the Rangers and flattened his little brother. Sean Avery picked up a penalty, Joe Corvo scored, Avery got out of the box and flattened Corvo and got sent right back to the penalty box.

Before the NHL Trade Deadline, the Rangers were in a serious mid-season slump, with a scoring drought, little offense, and a defense called "vanilla". New coach John Tortorella gave them a new game plan, calling for aggressive attack for three periods.

The plan worked against the lowly Coloradao Avalanche and the New York Islanders, as well as the slumping Boston Bruins, but it looked like the old Rangers playing against the Hurricanes.

Gomez was in the penalty box. Where was big Nik Antropov and little Nik Naslund? Antropov was off for hooking at 2:23 of the third, the Rangers' seventh penalty, when Rod Brind'Amour's one-timer from the left circle on Whitney's pass zipped past Valiquette's glove to extend the lead to 2-0 at 3:41.

In his 600th career game with the Hurricanes, Rod Brind'Amour scored a power play. The Hurricanes team captain Rob Brind'amour had gone 29 games without a goal before scoring in the last two.

Tortorella put Avery on a line with Chris Drury, to spark the team into action.

The new line controlled the puck, unlike the other lines, and got some shots on net, but the Hurricane train scored again.

At the end of the third period, Avery got a wrist shot on net but could not ruin Cam Ward's shutout. It was his fifth of the season.

The Hurricane threw a third goal into an empty net as the Rangers pulled the goalie to get an extra attacker on the ice.

The Cinderella Rangers were run over by the Hurricane train in Carolina. The Carolina Hurricane train ran over the Rangers like they were Cinderella tied to a railway track.
the Rangers travel to Nashville, next, to take on the Predators.

For those watching Sean Avery, like the referees, that was his first loss after eight victories, six in a row with the Hartford Wolf Pack in the AHL plus two in a row with the Rangers in the NHL. The Rangers are 2-1 with Avery in the lineup.