Rangers rocky road start ends in another loss

After the game tape was probably thrown away, the Rangers made their was westward today to Colorado to face the Avalance. The Avs were without Ryan Smyth and Joe Sakic tonight. Sakic missed his 11th game and Smyth missed his 2nd straight. That didn't stop the Avs from beating the Rangers for the 7th straight time tonight. The last Rangers win vs the Avs came on November 20, 2001 at Madison Square Garden. Also, the Rangers have not won in Denver since 1998. Wojtek Wolski and Milan Hejdik played big roles in tonight defeat of the Rangers, which came in OT. Hejduk had 2 goals, and Wolski had a goal and an assist. His goal was the game winner a minute and ten in the OT period.

"You can't replace Sakic and Smyth," Wolski said. "We miss them a lot."

Wolski on Hejduk and Paul statsny.....

"It was time for someone else to pick it up. They did a nice job," Wolski said.

Wolski didn't do a bad job himself, as he scored the game winner off of a slapshot from Jeff Finger. The shot ended up going through Lundqvists pads, and ended up being an easy tip in for Wolski to send the Avs to 14-3 at home this season. Credit the Avs for getting their line change done quickly unlike the Rangers.

"They jumped off their bench awfully early on their line change, and we weren't astute enough to do the same thing," Coach Tom Renney said. "We were too late to pick anybody up."

On to brighter things. Gomez tallied 2 assists, making it the 7th straight game in recording a point. He now has 8 G and 22 A for 30 PTS in 35 games this season. Straka alos tallied 2 assists himself. Michal Rozsival scored his 9th goal of the season. He is quietly having himself an all star year, and should be a reserve due to his consistent play and great offensive production from a blue liner. Speaking of which Marc Staal scored his second career goal tonight.

After tonights game the Rangers are most likely flying back in to NY. They have Ottawa on Sunday. They currently sport the best record in the Eastern Conference.