The Fifth Liners

While the Phoenix Coyotes ' troubles off the ice seem to be resolved for now, any uncertainty about the team's future was definitely not reflected on the ice. The Coyotes really brought the game to the Rangers last night, ruining Alain Vigneault's debut. Kyle Chipchura netted first for Phoenix only a few minutes into the game after an error by Henrik Lundqvist allowed Rob Klinkhammer to set up Chipchura for the opener. The Jobing.com arena gave the Phoenix keeper a standing ovation after Mike Smith made a sprawling double save to keep the Coyotes in the lead.  The Rangers upped their game but the first period finished with the Coyotes leading 1-0. The second period brought more goals, Marc Staal cancelled out the Coyotes' lead during a Rangers powerplay. The game didn't stay tied for long though, Radim Vrbata was alert to a rebounding puck to fire past Lundqvist just before the halfway point of the game. The second period finished without inc...

The New York Rangers showed their offensive capability last night with an entertaining 8-4 win over Buffalo Sabres. Brad Richards was the star of the show with an impressive hat trick to take him to 10 goals during regular season play. But the Rangers were also aided by some questionable goaltending by Sabres' Ryan Miller, who was largely at fault for the first four goals and found himself pulled from net and replaced by backup Jhonas Enroth- who would give up four extra goals! The boys from Broadway came out strong in the first two periods and found themselves 6-0 up by the midway point of the second period with Hagelin, a brace from Richards, Clowe, Stralman and Rick Nash all pitching in. Although there was a brief rally from Buffalo as former Canucks Christian Ehrhoff and Cody Hodgson combined to put Buffalo on the board then Nathan Gerbe's wrist shot reduced the score to 6-2! But Rangers Captain Ryan Callaghan soon restored normality despite a third Sabres goal from Staff...