It’s March 2 and time to start bringing my stress ball to games. You know the kind I mean. The ones they give out for physical therapy if you have carpal tunnel syndrome. Mine is white and a little smaller then a tennis ball. These games down the stretch can be real nailbiters.

This afternoon’s game was no exception. What a crazy game. I was hoping the Rangers would get on the board early and first. Much to my chagrin, it was the Flyers who scored less then two minutes in. The entire first period was like watching pond hockey with two snowballs substituting for goal posts and no one playing defense. It was the perfect game to be showcased on national TV. NBC sure got their monies worth of excitement. Gary Bettman probably had that smug little grin on his face for the duration.

There was plenty of scoring. Six goals were scored in the first period alone. There was scoring, good goals, bad goals, two pulled goaltenders, a rockem’ sockem’ fight, overtime and a shoot-out. It ran the gamut of possibilities for one NHL game. The only thing that didn’t happen was the crowd throwing things on the ice and delaying the game. No matter. This was one of the most entertaining games of the year.

While Henrik Lundqvist was hung out to dry on the first two goals, the third goal was definitely soft. The score indicated that Henrik had let in three goals on eight shots. Were I Tom Renney, I would have pulled Henrik after the third goal. I must say that I was releaved to see Valliquette, the Flyer Killer, come out at the beginning of the second period.  After the Rangers went up 4-3, the Flyers pulled Nittymaki and put Biron in. When that happened, I really started sweating bullets. Biron is far more experienced then Valley. 

Carter did get one by Valley to tie the score at 4-4 but Valley made some great saves and was steady for the rest of regulation and in the overtime. Once it came down to a shoot out, I was working the stressball but good. I felt Biron, the seasoned veteran, would stone the Rangers and that Valley wouldn’t be up to the job. Valley had beaten the Flyers twice this season but never mano a mano in a shoot out. Again, I was happily mistaken. Thanks to Brendan Shanahan and Nigel Dawes, Valley only had to face two Flyer shooters and came up big again.

Our Swedish newbies both scored goals tonight. Sjostrom may bring some scoring to the fourth line afterall. That was a beautiful second effort goal. Backman’s goal may be just the penance he needs to repent all the penalty minutes he has taken and keep the boobirds away long enough to establish himself on our backline.

Too bad the Rangers had to give up a point to get the two but I’ll take them and move on.