Rangers rested…

By Jon Gabrielle

The Florida Panthers left Motown in the early hours of the moring, after beating the Wings 2-1 in overtime, and headed to New York. That’s where they will play the Rangers in their 6th game in 9 nights…and therein lies the story.

The New York Rangers conversely, off their last 3 days since losing to the Washington Capitals on Tuesday, are well rested.

Lundqvist ready! (photo by duluoz cats/flickr)

So tonight’s game at Madison Square Garden should be a documented case in the “mighty,” versus the “weary!”

One would expect the Rangers to come out early in front of their home crowd and try and get a jump on the road warriors from south Florida, who by the way, have managed to pick up points in eight of their last ten games. Since opening the season at 2-7-1, including that trecherous trip across the pond, the Panthers have done an exact 180, turning in a 7-2-1 record in their last 10 games. The bad news however, for the Panthers, is that their streak is still good for only 13th place in the conference standings.

But if you’re a Ranger fan, or their head coach, you have got to believe that you have a distinct advantage over a team that spent a decent part of it’s night 35,000 feet in the air in between tarmac stops.

There will be no excuses for the Blueshirts tonight in front of their home crowd if they are not able to pressure the Panthers early, and often.

And so, with all the seeming advantage on the side of the Rangers, I am still quite familiar with the cliche, “that’s why they play the game!”

Posted by Jon Gabrielle on Nov 21 2009. Filed under Atlantic, Eastern Conference, New York Rangers. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.