Rangers reach 1st place by defeating Flyers 4-3 in a shootout

Even though its 19 games through the season, tonight's game had that playoff atmosphere feel to it. It just may be that these two teams meet in April or May, but the fight for first was on. Newly signed Flyer Daniel Briere was ready to play and knew to be.

"I hear about it around town and those are the games that are exciting to play. They're easy to get motivated for and tonight was a good, exciting game for the fans to watch."

Scoring got started early, with the Flyers lighting the lamp first, with none other than Jim Dowd giving the Flyers a 1-0 lead. He shot it from a bad angle, and managed to bank it off Lundqvist's pad. Later in the 1st, Fedor Tyutin, tied the game at 1 after a great feed from Scott Gomez gunning a wrist shot hitting the top shelf. Each team scored a goal a period. With the game going to OT, the teams played more conservative, but the Rangers got the best chances. Goalie Martin Biron made some huge saves in the 2nd to keep the game close and did the same in OT to bring it to a shootout. Chris Drury tipped off Lundqvist about Danny Briere's tactics in the shootout, and low and behold Lundqvist poke checked a surprised Briere. The tip off by Drury must have worked.

The lone goal in the shootout was scored by Brendan Shanahan, who also scored a goal in regulation. He now has 5 goals in his last 9 games. The addition of Scott Gomez is paying off as well, as he added 2 assists giving him 14 points this season. Sean Avery also had 2 assists in the game. Once again, King Henrik was great in between the pipes and he has won 6 of the last 7 games he started. His last loss, along with the Rangers as a team came against the Islanders, last week. The Rangers have won 8 of 9 and 4 in a row, to pull to a first place tie with the Flyers.

The road trip continues for the Rangers, as they head west to Pittsburgh for a meeting with the Penguins Saturday night. The Pens beat the Islanders 3-2 tonight, so they hope to carry that momentum into Saturdays game against the Rangers. They will definitely need it as the Rangers are riding high right now, and they are playing up to their expectations, and are finally scoring goals. The last 9 games they have scored 25 goals, and only given up 14, so the Pens will have to try to solve the defensive prowess of the Rangers and the unstoppable netminding of Lundqvist.