by Ebey Soman

Created on: April 16, 2008

Just like the tough mentality of the Streets of New York, the Rangers are a tough opponents, specialize in Defense, just ask the New Jersey Devils if you do not believe me. Out of the 40 chances they had at scoring aganist the Rangers, the devils were only able to score 2 dames in the last game. That definitely says alot about the rangers, they are a tough cookie. Out of the total 82 games played by the Rangers, they have won 42 games and lost 27 games.

Currently, in the Eastern Conference, they are ranked # 3, behind the Pittsburgh Penguins and New Jersey Devils. They have secured a spot for the playoffs and their opponents are the New Jersey Devils. They are also # 9 in the League standings and has gotten 97 points overall.

So far the Rangers are in 3rd place in the Atlantic division, while Montral Canadiens is leading the North east and Washington Capitals leading the South east divisions respectively. The next game is on the 16th vs. the Devils in New York, 7 PM EST. You can go to the Rangers website to see the full sub-season schedule as well as buy tickets for the playoffs.

The website for the schedule is http://rangers.nhl.com/team/app?service=page&page=Te amSchedule

During the previous games aganist the Devils, the Rangers were doing mediocre, but their defense was strong. Almost the entire game, the devils were shooting the puck into the goal but failing to score by either hitting the post or getting blocked. Either the devils have bad aim or the Rangers put up a nice defense.

During the 2 games played in New Jersey, the Ranger won with a 4-1 score and a 2-1 score. However, things got intense during the 3rd game in New York, where the game ran into overtime as Ranger's Center Brandon Dubinsky scored the first 2 NHL playoff goals on Sunday night that tied the score at 3-3. However, the devils were able to come back with the last shot, winning the game with a 4-3 score.Dubinsky was quick to point out that, "At the end of the day we've got to win the game, and it doesn't matter if I have two goals or five or whatever the case may be...I will be alot happier if i had zero goals and we won the game."

The playoffs are the best of 7, and the Rangers have a 2-1 record. They need to win the next 2 games to move on from the Devils. So if all goes well, by Friday, the 18th, the rangers should be 1 step closer towards the Stanley Cup... which is less than 14 days away. Everything rests in the hands of fate and how well the team plays. Much of the team are still in good mood, and is ready to win the game, as stated by Lundqvist - "We're still in the lead in this series, playing the next game at home, so we still feel good..."

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