The Fifth Liners

This season's Stanley Cup playoffs have been one of the best and most unpredictable of years gone by, the Boston Bruins; almost everyone's favourite for the cup have been dumped out by the Habs. The Rangers, riding high under the stewardship of Alain Vigneault have put out the Pittsburgh Penguins. Last night also saw another sting in the tail, as the LA Kings put an end to an impressive Anaheim Ducks with a 6-2 win at the Honda Center! We've now arrived at the conference finals. During the regular season you never would have predicted these line ups. But who will triumph here? Western Conference Chicago Blackhawks v LA Kings The Blackhawks have done well to salvage some pride after an indifferent regular season and players such as Jonathan Toews, Marion Hossa and Brent Seabrook have impressed during this time. I have no doubts they will fight to the bitter end to bring the cup by to Illinois for a second year running. They are not as dominant as last season, but th...

Tonight's Eastern Conference match up saw Alain Vigneault's New York Rangers make the trip to Montreal to take on the Canadiens at the Bell Center. Cam Talbot took net duties for the Rangers but it was the Habs' Carey Price who saw most of the action in the first period, fending off 15 shots while Talbot was only needed seven times. Both goalies were called into action early in the second period. With the Habs down a man due to Diaz's delay of game penalty, the Rangers upped the ante and Zuccarello forced Price to make a great stretch save. Gionta then made a shorthanded run but was denied by an instinctive glove save by Talbot. Price was beaten though when at the end of a Rangers 5 on 3 powerplay; Ryan Callahan was able to power a slap shot to give the visitors the lead. The New York Rangers have taken a while to adapt to Alain Vigneault's new leadership style. Couple this with starting the seaon on an extended road trip due to the MSG's refurbishment and i...

The Philadelphia Flyers claimed just their second win of the 2013/14 season with a hard fought 2-1 victory over fellow strugglers the New York Rangers at the Wells Fargo Center. Matt Read put the home side in front after 9.07 of the 1st period as he made the most of a 2 on 1 advantage to shoot past Rangers goalie Cam Talbot and give Philadelphia the lead! Brad Richards then levelled the scores for New York after 18.56 to set up an interesting battle. The Flyers kept Talbot busy in net for the majority of the second period but it wasn't until 3.03 of the third period that Braydon Coburn 's long range effort flew in to give Philly a much needed win! Currently the Flyers lie 15th in the Western Conference and are currently in a heated battle with the Buffalo Sabres for the wooden spoon- good luck lads!

Ever since 1994 when the New York Rangers beat the Vancouver Canucks over seven games to claim their first Stanley cup since 1940- glory has now been absent from the Big Apple ever since! The big question now is which team in this fine city has better shot at victory in the coming seasons as the Rangers are continually expected to push for it but their counterparts the New York Islanders have been dismissed as underdogs in previous seasons despite having more cup wins than their rivals. This question will require some big considerations as as always... Lets go to war! New York Rangers  This team is still held in high regard by many people and the Rangers are among the highest spending teams in the league. But money doesnt always guarantee success and for the Rangers this has been painfully true in recent seasons. Take for example last year when Rick Nash finally joined the team and alongside big scoring Marion Gaborik and Brad Richards, many expected this line to be the one t...

New York Rangers have levelled their series against Washington Capitals after a 4- 3 win at Madison Square Garden last night! This series is one that is growning increasingly interesting and is set for a grand finale! Brad Richards scored his first of the series late in the first period and Carl Hagelin increased the Rangers advantage to 2-0 midway through the second. But then the Capitals rallied through Mathieu Perrault who cut the lead to one- then 17 seconds before the buzzer, Troy Brouwer scored to bring us a tie game! Any nerves the Rangers fans may have had of their team folding under pressure were put to bed 59 seconds into the third period as Dan Girardi scored on a powerplay to put New York in front and seven minutes later Derek Stepan restored their original two goal advantage! But soon after a long range effort from Karl Alzner beat Lundqvist to ensure a tight finish was in store. But the Rangers held on to tie the series at 2-2! Which way will this series go? The an...

New York Rangers will definitely be appearing in the Eastern Conference playoffs after a 4-3 Overtime win against Carolina Hurricanes confirmed them as the 7th overall seed! Early goals from Derek Stepan and Derek Brassard made it appear that it would be an easy night for the Broadway Blues, but Carolina rallied in the second period and goals from Jiri Tlusty and Tuomo Ruutu tied the game! Early in the 3rd period Tlusty scored again to put the Hurricanes 3-2 in front and things were beginning to look worrying for the Rangers! Brad Richards however, scored on a powerplay near the end of the period to push things to overtime. It was left here for Captain Ryan Callahan to shoot high into the next and give great reward to the Rangers hard work! This year we have a rare distinction of having both teams from the Big Apple appearing in the Eastern Conference! A potential match up between these two would be one of great interest as we know what both can do offensively. The Stanley Cup race...

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...