The Rangers may as well jump in the pot with the turkey carcass because they played like mixed vegetables tonight. Talk about your post thanksgiving turkey/l-trypophan hangover. The Rangers were outshot 17 to 6 in the first period and miraculously walked out of it ahead 1-0 on Chris Drury’s very late goal. The Panthers would have been up 3-1 were it not for Valiquette.

No one can say the Rangers didn’t get every possible break tonight. They had three consecutive powerplays in the second period and failed to score. The Rangers got a goal on a 5 on 3 powerplay to tie up the game with 4 minutes left in regulation. More miraculously, Florida even had the game winning goal negated on a delayed penalty in the overtime.

When the game went to the shootout, Valiquette was excellent, as was Vokoun. None of the Ranger’s five best shooters were able to score on Vokoun. They all went low glove side on Vokoun. After three attempts, you would think the last two shooters would consider going high stick side on Vokoun, eh?

Was Jacques Martin saving Jokinen, his secret weapon, for last? He beat Valley and Drury wasn’t able to beat Vokoun. The Panthers deserved to win this game and they did. Tampa deserved to win on Wednesday night and they didn’t. The fact that the Rangers walked away with a point tonight is a miracle. The fact that the Rangers won in Tampa was a gift.

The Rangers better stop relying on Lady Luck and get their collective asses in gear. They are not playing good hockey and sooner or later their weaknesses, especially in their special teams, is going to expose them to their opponents. Tonight, Dan Girardi, their most valuable defensemen, had his worst game as a Ranger. Low betide this team if their “so far” rock solid defense starts breaking down.

The only bright spot tonight was that Chris Drury scored two goals. Good for Chris. Now if the rest of the “offense” would check in from time to time, the Rangers might become unbeatable. The Rangers have play 23 games and their offense doesn’t seem to have any more chemistry then they had 10 games in to this season. I am starting to lose my patience. I might be one of the few Ranger fans with any patience left.