Most of us went into Friday's game expecting a low-scoring battle given how the Rangers had struggled against Montreal this year. Color us all surprised as the Rangers posted a five-spot in the first, then were stoned by Alex Auld, allowing Montreal to narrow the 5-1 deficit twice. B.I.G. tried to remind us of the collapse at the Bell Centre from February 18, 2008, but the Canadiens got no closer than two and Vaclav Prospal's PPG clinched it with 2:43 to go.

There were heroes abound in the win including Prospal, who has points in eight straight games and 13 in his last 11 games, Marian Gaborik, with goals in three of his last four, and Brandon Prust, who set the tone and got the already riled-up MSG crowd into the next level with his fight one second in against Travis Moen.

The one downer was the injury to Henrik Lundqvist, who was plowed over by Benoit Pouliot with 3:39 to go in the game and suffered a neck injury. I caught up on all the comments and the one key one that was made was that it's easy to understand why Torts didn't get upset as he wants the Rangers to charge the net, so how you can berate an opponent for doing the same. Maybe Eminger should have done a better job pushing Pouliot away from Hank, but Pouliot did his job crashing the net.

As of when I am writing this, 10AM, there is no word on if Hank will play, and if not, Chad Johnson, who has not played in 24 games or seen any action as a Ranger this year, will be between the pipes against Pitt. Not the best way for the kid to get his feet wet this year, but the team will need to step up their play around him if he goes. I expect the lineup to be the same, though could see Gilroy getting back in over Eminger, but I expect Avery to be scratched again.

Current Standings and Today's Matchups (thanks to the SNYRangersblog):

6: Montreal 85 Points 39- 26-7 10 games remaining.
7:NY Rangers 80 Points 38- 30- 4 10 games remaining.
8: Buffalo 78 Points 35- 28- 8 11 games remaining
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9: Carolina 76 Points 33- 29- 10 10games remaining.
10: Toronto 74 Points 32- 31- 10 9 games remaining.
11: Atlanta 72 Points 30- 29- 12 10 games remaining.
12: Devils 70 Points 33- 34 -4 11 games remaining

Tomorrows Games:
NJ Devils @ Columbus
NY Rangers @ Pittsburgh
Montreal @ Minnesota
Nashville @ Buffalo

Buffalo and Carolina winning the past two nights have prevented the Rangers from opening a gap between them. The key obviously is to hold your own serve, and if you do, then the Rangers will make the playoffs.

Time to extend the streak and win in Pittsburgh...

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