N.Y. Rangers: Game 3 - Dan Carcillo Kicks Sand In The Broad Street Bullies Faces

From the desk of:  RAISE GRESCHNER WITH THE GREATS

Rangers Lead Series 2-1

I - NYR 4; PHI 1

II - PHI 4; NYR 2

III - NYR 4; PHI 1

IV - FRIDAY @ PHI

GAME THREE FINAL

RANGERS   4

Flyers          1

NEW YORK RANGERS: Flyers Cheap Shots Failing To Rattle Blueshirts, Unless You're Benoit Pouliot That Is.....

When do you suppose Coach Vigneault will play Dan Carcillo?  I hope the answer is games Three and Four.  A game in Philly seems tailored for him..., no?  Doesn't the former Flyer have anything to offer, be it with his physicality, or on-ice composure in a familiar environment?  Put him in coach.  C'mon, let him bang some bodies. - Yeah, I said that.

DAN CARCILLO REVISITS WITH OLD FRIENDS IN PHILADELPHIA

BEARING GOALS AND TIDINGS OF ILL WILL.

Ray Emery finally played down to his abilities.  He let pucks get by him from up close, from far away, and from bad angles.  In other words, he was an equal opportunity Game Three failure.  The Flyers finally pulled him from net in the third period, and it's probably safe to say, the Rangers should expect to see Steve Mason the rest of this series.

For the first time this series, the Flyers out-shot the Rangers by a 32-23 margin.  After chiding The King in my last post, Tuesday night, Henrik Lundqvist was brilliant in stopping all but one shot. The Rangers also uncharacteristically put Philly on the PP five times, but successfully killed them all.  A stellar defensive effort, and Henrik's 31 saves were most certainly the determining factors of Game Three.

For the moment, the Rangers were able to seize back home ice advantage.

The rest, makes for a very colorful recap.

The Flyers crowd was taken out of the game early, by two Rangers first period goals.  Ray Emery gave up a bad angle goal in close quarters to Derek Stepan, on a Rick Nash feed from the far corner.  Then a little under seven minutes later, he gave up another on Dan Girardi's shot which was deflected in by Martin St. Louis.

Before the first period was through, the Flyers got one goal back, but nothing more.  Dan Girardi then cancelled it out with a booming second period shot taken from downtown Philadelphia, which Emery was helpless to stop.

Former Flyer Dan Carcillo provided the crowd with one final punch to the stomach, when he converted a great pass from Brian Boyle, and tapped it through the pads of Emery, to give the Rangers a 4-1 victory.  It was a marvelous turn of events for him.  After feeling dejected over committing a penalty, he scored right out of the box.  Back in the second period, he took a minor penalty for coming to the aid of Carl Hagelin.  Good man!  Good game.

Benoit Pouliot was clearly out of his mind though.  In fact, there was a point in the game when Pouliot and Carcillo were both going against everything Coach Vigneault preaches.  But, it may have served the Rangers well.  Winning certainly has a way of influencing perspective, and so I would say Carcillo and Pouliot both brought a high level of intensity, and even a measure of anger and raucousness, that perhaps Philadelphia needed to experience.

Once again, the Flyers resorted to their full repertoire of troglodyte tactics.  Wayne Simmonds continued his overall obnoxious behavior, and escaped the box after cross-checking Derek Dorsett in the face. Simmonds also continues to lead the Flyers in SOG.

Dan Carcillo took a deliberate shoulder to the jaw, which also went unnoticed by the stripes, who by the way, were particularly horrific this night.  If you were watching, how else can you explain Philly getting whistled only four times all game.  It was a ponderous performance by them.

Just prior to Philadelphia scoring their lone goal, I could have sworn Derek Dorsett and Simmonds agreed to drop gloves during their next shift, but the fight never materialized, unlike the series of punches Carl Hagelin endured during what the stripes deemed a non-fight against Jakub Voracek - an absolutely terrible job.

The Rangers are hopping a train back to New York City tonight, and will return for Game Four on Friday.  I don't blame them.  I wouldn't want to spend the night in Philadelphia either.

Enjoy a cold beer on the way home fellas.  Nice game.



Mike.BTB