Rangers Sing Blues in 4-1 Loss at St. Louis Saturday

The St. Louis Blues defeated the New York Rangers 4-1 at Scottrade Center last night. One of the best parts of the game came in the 1st intermission where Sam Rosen interviewed former Ranger goalie and Hall of Fame broadcaster John Davidson, now president of the St. Louis Blues. JD was a fan favorite on and off the ice and the tribute aired was great. The Blueshirts broke their almost 3 game scoreless streak (172 minutes!) with a hardworking goal scored by Brian Boyle who centers the 4th line. Aaron Voros was forechecking behind the Blues net and passed the puck to Boyle in the low slot. Boyle spun around and shot a backhander through the five hole past Chris Mason to tie the game 1-1 at 7:27 in the 2nd period. Goalie Chad Johnson got the start to give Henrik Lundqvist the rest. I hope Johnson won’t be changing his name to “Dos Nueve” anytime soon. He gave up 3 goals had 22 saves in the game and looked comfortable for the most part. The Blues added and empty net goal at 19:47 in the 3rd period to make the score 4-1. The Blueshirts had to kill 3 penalties in the 1st period and that squashed their fast start to the game. The problem continues to be lack of scoring. Sometimes I’d wish the Rangers would treat the entire game as overtime and shoot the puck. If they can get the puck to the point for shots from their defensemen and crash the net with their forwards they’d create more scoring chances. Goalie Chris Mason made a great save on Marian Gaborik late in the 3rd period. Finishing and burying the puck is eluding this team. Christopher Higgins has been banished to the 4th line. The three stars of the game were Roman Polak, Alex Steen and T.J. Oshie, all Blues.