OK, ladies and gents, let's start with Marian Gaborik, Marc Staal and Chris Drury, who summed things up quite nicely.
"It was just one of those games," Gabby said. "I try to draw people to me and guys were getting open. It was a team effort and one of those nights where everything was going in. We deserved it. We haven;t been scoring that many goals lately. We played physical and played well as a team."
"It was a long time coming," said Staal. "We were creating chances,m but we weren't getting rewarded. Our guys are hitting holes, moving and it made oit easy to find them. It was nice the last couple games, to hity the back of the net. Hopefully, it keeps on rolling."
"I think a lot of guys are feeling good mentally," said Drury. Asked about Aaron Voros fight before fans could settle in with beers and popcorn, he said: "When you see a guy like that willing to do that right off the hop, ten seconds in, I think it gets the guys' attention."
And this beauty from Tampa coach Rick Tocchet: "Every facet of the game, they outdid us. You can go down the list. The only thing we did, was the bus was on time to get us to the game. The bus driver was the best thing we had.".
Here's my gamer, with stats and more quotes:
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All of a sudden, the goal-starved Rangers have morphed into the late-90s Red Wings.
Call it crazy eights. Eight Rangers scored as the Blueshirts posted their first eight-goal game in eight years in dismantling the Tampa Bay Lightning 8-2 last night at Madison Square Garden.
Go figure. In the last five periods, the Rangers have scored 14 goals. In the previous 10 periods, they had managed just one.
A game after overpowering the Montreal Canadiens 6-2 the Blueshirts took a 3-1 lead after one against the Lightning on goals by Brandon Dubinsky, Vinny Prospal and Chris Drury on just nine shots. After Dan Girardi’s long, screened shot eluded Antero Niittymaki’s glove at 5:23 of the second, Enver Lisin buried a loose puck into a half-open net for a 5-0 lead at 15:39 to prod Tampa coach Rick Tocchet to bring in Dustin Tokarski. Marc Staal beat Tokarski on one of the numerous odd- man rushes off turnovers, Aaron Voros, who also had two fights, scored his first of the year on a power play midway through the third and Chris Higgins finished it off. Marion Gaborik tied his career high with four assists.
Only Michal Rozsival and Artem Anisimov didn’t register a point.
The last time the Rangers (24-19-7), who have won two straight, had seven goals was against the Blue Jackets on Nov. 23, right before Thanksgiving. Last night, they feasted on a Tampa team that had played Monday night in Carolina and appeared weary.
“It was just a matter of us getting ready again with the same emotion and same start for this game, in the same way we finished the game against Montreal, and we were successful for a change,” said Prospal, who also set up Dubinsky’s opening goal. “We had D stepping in and guys like Lis and Higgins getting goals, it’s just a great confidence builder if you can score in bunches.”
It was the second straight game that Henrik Lundqvist had a well-deserved cushion. But he said he couldn’t really relax until Staal’s goal at 6:04 of the third. “We take two penalties on one shift late in the second and it’s a 5 on 3, they score to make it 5-2. We blew a three goal lead before so going into the third. I didn’t feel safe. Getting the sixth one, I said, ‘OK, now it’s over.” ”
From the start, the Rangers were active---and physical. “The way we forechecked was a carryover, how physical we were, knocking guys off the puck, that was something we had success with in the last game,” said Staal. “When we were on their D and hit them hard on the first shift, it makes them think twice to see if guys are coming. We did that all game long.”
One of the more physical Rangers was the little used Voros, who had been a healthy scratch for 18 of 20 games before dressing for the last three. He dropped the gloves with Zenon Konopka at the 10-second mark and traded punches with Ryan Malone with 5:32 left.
“We’re at home and I tried to set the tone,” said Voros. “In the third, I tried to stay away from it, but after I scored I was maybe overzealous at the glass, so I understand that. Look, I love being a Ranger and if that’s what Torts needs me to do, then I’ll do whatever it takes to be a part of it. I think we’ve got something special here and it’s starting to come together.”
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Next up, the Rangers practice at noon and then head to Philly for Thursday's match in what looms as another physical game, so perhaps this was the prelim. Score it a knockout. Quotes from Torts coming shortly....