Rangers Report Blog

Courtesy of the Rangers:

NEW YORK RANGERS POST-GAME NOTES
February 16, 2012 (Game 56, Home Game 27)
Madison Square Garden — New York, NY

                                                 1st   2nd   3rd   OT   Final

Chicago Blackhawks            4      0        0       –      4

New York Rangers                 0      1        1       –      2

Team Notes:

-       The Rangers were defeated by the Chicago Blackhawks, 4-2, tonight at Madison Square Garden, and are now 8-2-1 in their last 11 games.

-       New York has posted a record of 37-14-5 (79 pts) on the season, including an 18-7-2 mark at home.

-       The Blueshirts held the Blackhawks scoreless in three shorthanded situations (3:24).  The Rangers’ penalty kill has now held opponents scoreless in the last four games (10 times shorthanded), and 18 of the last 23 games (57-62, 91.9% over the span).

-       The Rangers out-hit the Blackhawks, 32-14, and had 15 players credited with at least one hit in the contest.  Michael Del Zotto and Dan Girardi tied for the game-high with five hits.

Player Notes:

-       Marc Staal notched his first goal of the season and was credited with two blocked shots in 17:57 of ice time.  He tallied his last goal on Feb. 11, 2011 at Atlanta.  Staal has now registered two points (one goal, one assist) in the last three games.

-       Carl Hagelin tallied a goal, registered three shots on goal and was credited with two hits in 15:44 of ice time.  He has now recorded nine points (two goals, seven assists) in the last 13 games.

-       Ryan Callahan registered an assist and three shots on goal in 21:21 of ice time, to extend his point streak to five games (six goals, one assist over the span).  The assist was his 20th of the season, marking the second time in his career he reached the 20-assist plateau.

-       Ryan McDonagh tallied an assist and logged 19:01 of ice time.  He has now registered a point in each of the last three games (two goals, one assist over the span).

-       Steve Eminger recorded an assist and posted a plus-two rating in the contest.  He is now four points shy of 100 career NHL points.

-       Mike Rupp registered an assist and logged 7:59 of ice time in the contest.  He is now six points shy of 100 career NHL points.

-       Martin Biron stopped 18 of 22 shots, and is now 10-3-1 overall with a 5-1-0 mark at home.

Post-Game Quotes:

-       John Tortorella on tonight’s game… “Our team was ready to play. We just made some mistakes. It happens.  But I am happy the way we battled back. Some teams would pack it in. We didn’t; we played hard.  We will hopefully try to build on it.”

-       Ryan Callahan on tonight’s game… “We weren’t good enough in the first. We were giving up breakaways, we weren’t good defensively. You’re going to have periods like that. I think we responded well, but a four-goal lead in this league is obviously a steep hill to come back from. They outplayed us in the first period, there’s no question there. Whether that’s because they’re desperate, I don’t know. I think that’s a big part of it – they want to win, but we have to worry about us, not them, and I didn’t think our first period was good enough.”

-       Marc Staal on tonight’s game… “I think we’re going to look at that first period, we’re going to learn from it, see what went wrong, and fix it and respond from that.  We responded well (in the second and third periods) and we didn’t give up.  We played hard for the rest of that game, and it was kind of interesting in the end but it just wasn’t enough to get us back in the game.”

Team Schedule:

-       After an off-day tomorrow, the Blueshirts’ next practice is scheduled for 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, Feb. 18, at MSG Training Center.

-       The Rangers will return to action when they face-off against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Sunday, Feb. 19, at Madison Square Garden (8:00 p.m.), in their only meeting this season.  The game will be televised live on MSG Network and can be heard on 1050 ESPN Radio.