Rangers break the funk, defeating 'Canes 4-2

Coming off the Christmas holiday following a loss, and a horrible stretch, the Rangers came back with a great performance. They defeated the Hurricanes 4-2, after being shut out at MSG last meeting 4-0. Rangers came out of the gate throwing everything they could at goalie Cam Ward. Only problem is, he stopped everything. That changed early in the second period, with Jaromir Jagr scoring to break the scoreless tie. That was his first goal in his last 10 games. The longest stretch without going with a goal since 1998. That was one of two he scored tonight. Scott Gomez assisted on both of them, bringing his point scoring streak to 10 games, tying a career high.

Things got ugly in the 2nd period with Matt Cullen crossing the blue line with the puck, with his head down. Colton Orr was coming in the same direction, and trying to shield himself, put both of his hands up and hit Cullen right in the face. Cullen hit the ice face first and lied unconscious for about 15 seconds. It was a clean hit though, but the referees seen different. Orr got a 5 minute major for interference, and a game misconduct for, from what we all seen was a clean hit. The Rangers shut down the 5 minute major and held Carolina to only 1 shot on goal, but Eric Cole did hit the post on a wrist shot.

The Rangers got hot in the 3rd period. They scored 3 goals in the first 10 minutes of the period. 2 power-play goals from Chris Drury and Dan Girardi respectively. Then Jagr capped it off with his 2nd of the night. Things got stirred up again 14 minutes in when Sean Avery and Andrew Ladd went at it. Both got 10 minute misconducts. Avery got the game misconduct and an extra 2 minutes. There may be a suspension for Avery from the league though. He went after Ladd when the referees were restraining them, and repeatedly punched him while being restrained. Back to hockey, the Rangers outshot the 'Canes 35-22, and fed of the great goaltending of Henrik Lundqvist.....again. He may have made the save of the year on Ray Whitney late in the 3rd, when the Hurricanes were on a power-play, after a juicy rebound found Whitney's stick. Whitney threw it right at the net, but Lundqvist dove across the crease, making an amazing save with his blocker. After tonight's win, the Rangers next 5 opponents are Canadian teams starting with the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday.