The Rangers Battled , But Came Up Short !

The Rangers faced the NHL champs last night in Pittsburgh that ended in a Rangers 2-3 loss.  Although the Rangers did not come away with the win, their overall performance, with the exception of the second period was ok.  

 The Rangers captain, Chris Drury had a goal, and it looked like his line was clicking pretty good.  I was extremely happy to see Drury get his first goal early on in the season.  Last year Drury did not score a goal in the first 11 games.  Hopefully this will give him that extra boost tonight against Ottawa.  

If there was any question on whether or not Marion  Gaborik has completely healed it was obvious last night. The Rangers sniper was flying all over the ice and had several scoring opportunities.  One resulted in a goal in the third period.

Michal Rozsival  looked sloppy and his counterpart  Wade Redden was not a factor what so ever. I know it was only the first game. But these two players are veterans and should be playing up to par from day one.  This is nothing new to Ranger fans as both rosy and redden were useless last year. Expect the same this year. They need to go, they will do nothing but hurt the Rangers this year.

Matt Gilroy and Michael Del Zotto looked good. Although some mistakes were made, it was expected.  They rookie d-men wasted no time jumping in on the offense and helping create scoring chances.  Expect good things to come from these two. 

Marc Staal looked solid were as on the other side Dan Girardi  seen better games.  Last year when Tortorella took over as head coach, Girardi looked awesome on defense.   He stood out more than any other d-man with blocked shots , hard checks and superb defensive plays.  Since the Rangers are stuck with Redden and Rosy, they need Girardi to be at his best every game.  Expect him to step up tonight and have a much better game.

Vinny Prospal was the best player on the ice for the Rangers.  He was on the attack throughout the game.  Where ever the puck went , Vinny was all over it. He did it all except score a goal.  He looked  very impressive and showed that there are better  things to come from him.

The Rangers have a tough road  ahead as they face Ottawa tonight , then have the Devils, and then go up against Ovechkin  in Washington and then the Mighty Ducks. A tough schedule for any team.

The Rangers have some issues they need to attend to, but over all  they looked ok.  It was only the first game of the season and as the young players get more and more experience  they will only improve.