Rangers ring in 2008 with a loss

Coming into 2008 with a 3 game winning streak, things were looking up for the Blueshirts. They beat Carolina, Toronto and Montreal over this streak. All respectable teams. That came to end tonight, as the Calgary Flames took down the Rangers 4-3. The Rangers never lead in this game once. Calgary struck early with a goal by Adrian Aucoin in the first. Lundqvist didn't even see the puck go by him, as he didn't react. After that Calgary went shot-less for about 12 and a half minutes. That didn't stop them from scoring in the second either. This coming off the stick of Jarome Iginla to give the Flames a 2-0 lead. Michal Rozsival finally got the goose egg off the TV screen late in the second, as he scored his 10th of the season, bringing the Rangers within one.

This gaol for gaol thing went on for the whole game, as the Rangers could not score a tying goal. Calgary scored again in the 3rd, giving them they're 2 goal lead back. Brandon Dubinsky made it 3-2 later in the period. This was by far, Dubinsky's best game of his career, as he was a monster with the puck, making plays, shooting, and drawing penalties. Less than 2 minutes after Dubi's goal, Kristian Huselius, banked one in off Lundqvist's skates, as he was not protecting the post making it 4-2. At the end of the 3rd, with 14 seconds left, Brendan Shanahan made it 4-3, but it was too late.

Tonight's game seemed like the never-ending climb for the Rangers, as they couldn't battle to tie the game. They were always down by 2, down by 1, down by 2, down by 1.

"Calgary's got what they've got going for a reason, they prey on those little mistakes," Rangers coach Tom Renney said. "I'm not going to stand up here and be philosophical and dress up a loss, we lost the hockey game and that was two valuable points that we let slip away."

"We had our opportunities and we had our chances but they capitalized on theirs while we made some key mistakes," Scott Gomez said.

This was a valuable two points, as the Devils wont their game tonight, against the Panthers 3-2. This brings the Devils to a 3 point lead over the Rangers, with a game at hand on them. Tomorrow the Rangers travel further west, facing off against the Vancouver Canucks, and superstar goalie Roberto Luongo. Things have to turn around for the Rangers to win this game, as Luongo is very stingy with letting goals in the net. They pretty much have to play mistake free hockey. Lets see what team shows up tomorrow night.