Ouch. Four Buffalo goals means a 4-2 lead with 20 minutes to play. The Sabres looked like the team of old attacking on the transition and scoring at will.

Can the Rangers catch up?

Stay tuned….

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My adapter died on me. I do have another one at home, but I had to use one lent to me by Newsday’s Tom Rock, so I have enough juice for the game.

Anyway, Buffalo is playing their game, which doesn’t bode well for the Rangers. And it makes sense that it’s now 3-2 Sabres halfway through the second.

The Rangers have to slow this game down, so they will be able get the tying goal.

More later….

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That may be what the Sabres thought when they stepped on the Garden ice. The crowd was awesome.

But the fact is this: If Ryan Miller continues to stand on his head, Buffalo will be tough to beat. A lot of good chances for the Rangers, but nothing to show for it. And the Rangers again outplayed the Sabres that period.

Now some calls could be questionable. I thought Avery should have gotten a penalty shot, but the Blueshirts had some great chances.

They have to now do it again in the second.

Talk to you in 20….

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First, thanks to Tom for covering for me yesterday as I was on my way bacf from Buffalo. Now onto the game.

Tom Renney is dressing Jed Ortmeyer today in favor Ryan Hollweg. The pairing Rocky Rachunek and Paul Mara are still together.

From what I heard, Sean Avery is doing his best to rattle the Sabres, but Buffalo is just ignoring him.

Stay tuned, more after the first….

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Ok 2-1 Rangers. Good PP goal by Paul Mara and the Rangers are succeeding at shutting down the Sabre attack.

The Sabres have only nine shots on goal. Thye have to keep it going, but looking good so far.

Now the Rangers need to smell a little blood and finish this team off.

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Well, outside of one poor penalty kill, the Rangers killed the Sabres this period. 13-4 on shots. A great power play and basically total domination.

Unless he’s hurt, you have to wonder why Isbister was dressed over Ortmeyer. On Brian Campbell’s power play goal, that’s a shot Ortmeyer usually blocks. Unless he’s hurt, there’s little reason.

Now onto the good things. If they can keep up this pace, Buffalo will have a tough time keeping up with the Blueshirts. They just look like they have fresher legs.

Now at the end of the period, Michal Rozsival took a check into the boards, so you wonder if he re-injured that leg. That would be a key loss.

Stay Tuned for more….

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The Rangers skated for about 45 minutes today at the HSBC Arena. It was more informal, with only Marek Mailik, getting rest and Michal Rozsival out with his knee injury.

Afterwards, the players were confident and blamed yesterday on their own poor play.

“We can’t keep this with us,” said Matt Cullen. “We had tough times before and it wasn’t like we played our best and were pounded. We played poorly. We made our mistakes; we didn’t play smart. When we did play well, we were pretty effective.”

Now, nothing new to report on Rozsival. He is day-to-day and will be evaluated again tomorrow. If he can’t go, Tom Renney didn’t say who will pick up the slack. It may be more of a committee thing.

Talking to the Buffalo and Canadian reporters, they really feel, Renney’s comments were inflamtory. Although, they may have come out wrong, the you have to question why the Sabres needed “The Cream of the Crop” quote to get them motivated.

The Sabres and their fans also seemed really pissed off at Sean Avery, although his comments were just as innocent as Renney’s.

One reporter said the Sabres needed that, because they always respond when their play is questioned. I responded saying the Rangers have fought back when they were counted out.

Most of these non-New York scribes feel the series is over. Me? I still say it goes 7.  

Buffalo skated earlier and they did look loose afterwards. Spoke with Chris Drury for a bit, who actually was a Ranger fan growing up and sat in the blue seats when he went to games.

Otherwise Lindy Ruff was very careful to say nothing the rangers could use as motivation.

I should have a report on the Matt Cullen line later, which will be posted on NY Sports Day.

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At even strength, the Rangers outplayed the Sabres, but they have to stay out of the box. Giving a team like Buffalo power play after power play will come back to haunt them. It’s that simple.

That being said, Lundqvist was up to the task and the Rangers. The Sabres outshot the Rangers, but with a couple of PPs, who’s counting?  So it’s not terrible.

But stay out of the box.

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First, hats off to the Vancouver Canucks. Great game and also a tip of the cap to Joel “Henrik’s Brother” Lundqvist, who scored the only Dallas goal.

It’s funny, I was sitting in front of my TV just hoping it would not go into overtime. Not because it would end at 2 a.m., but because the reporter in me came out.

Everyone wants to see the miracle ending and yes, it’s much easier to cover a winning locker room compared to a losing one, but the last second comeback makes every reporter rip up a story and start anew.

I remember doing that last year for Game 7 of the NLCS, where I had a nice story written about Endy Chavez – called “Leaving Us Breathless” [Yes, only I can compare baseball to a girly song by the Corrs] – to tearing it up and penning “The Tears of Shea Stadium” [Unlike the daily guys, I have to write my own headlines and usually they come up bad]. It’s not fun. And sometimes your best work goes on the cutting room floor. Nobody wants that.

Anyway, no one wants to do twice the amount of work, so the miracle comeback is not conducive to easy journalism, especially for the daily guys who are on tight deadlines. That’s why Game 3 at the Garden was such a joy to cover.

Ok on to more pressing matters, like the ECSF. The Rangers open up on Wednesday in Buffalo. Here are the keys to the series for the Rangers:

1) Great goaltending: Yes, Henrik needs to outplay Ryan Miller. He needs to be as sharp as he was in the first round and may have to cover up defensive a mistake or two, which didn’t happen against the Thrashers.

2) Stay out of the box: Let’s face it, Atlanta’s power play was terrible, and even though, Buffalo’s isn’t that much better [They are ranked 17^th]. Their fast attack is not going to be conducive to the Rangers penalty kills. On the other hand, the Blueshirts can take advantage of the Sabres a man down, since Buffalo was ranked only 20^th on the penalty kill.

3) The third and fourth lines are key: Buffalo can roll four lines at even strength. Not saying the Rangers can match that, but with a pretty good third one with Matt Cullen, Petr Prucha and Ryan Callahan, the checking line of Blair Betts, Jed Ortmeyer and either Colton Orr or Ryan Hollweg will come into play. If they can get meaningful and productive minutes and not burn the top two lines, the Rangers have a chance.

Oh and I promised a prediction:

Rangers in 7

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