Ryan Callahan put on a show tonight. He proved why he deserved a new contract with a big raise and the "c" on his sweater. His second goal was epic. I'm going to breakdown tonight's game by period, but unfortunately, the focus is going to stay on the Rangers.
1st: Derek Stepan puts home a one-time goal on a cross-crease 2 on 1 pass from Brandon Dubinsky. Brent Burns pinched on Dubinsky in the neutral zone and got caught flat footed. Dubi stormed the zone and chipped a great feed to Stepan. Burns made exactly the kind of play I was worried about--bad pinch that leads to a goal. He left Colin White and Niemi in the lurch. Of course, it was a PP goal so some of the blame falls on the bad penalty taken by Marty Havlat. The bad penalties are another part of the Sharks game that has to stop. Now.
The Rangers new first line looks beastly. Callahan-Richards-Dubinsky. While it's disappointing that Gaborik and Richards aren't clicking, these guys will definitely be fun to watch.
2nd: Best play the Sharks (actually, Dan Boyle) made all game was Boyle's save on the empty net. The real highlight was the Rangers' first PP unit Callahan-Dubinsky-Gaborik with Richards and Del Zotto on the points. These guys looked much better than the pathetic unit that was the Rangers' powerplay last year.
The Sharks could barely leave their own zone this period. It was depressing. Marleau disappeared, and Brent Burns was not a star in his own end. At all. The Sharks took some bad penalties, and their PK was abismal.
3rd: Martin Biron.
This was a rough game for the Sharks against an opponent that they definitely should have beaten. Colin White had a pretty rough night (minus 3), but the Sharks forwards did almost no job of back checking. The Rangers first line was tearing it up, and Marty Biron (24 saves on 26 shots) played a solid enough game to get the Rangers the win. Callahan was the first star with 2 goals, 1 assist, and some great shot blocks.
*And an added note. What is Joe Thornton thinking? Calling the Rangers "the softest team they've played" is just not classy. Sorry, you guys got outworked Joe, but saying something like that isn't captain material...especially when your team looked even softer.
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