Final
Rangers put season-best win streak on the line against Panthers
Mar 22, 2011 - 3:02 PM (Sports Network) - The New York Rangers will try to extend their longest winning streak of the season when they host the Florida Panthers this evening at Madison Square Garden.The Rangers have won four in a row for the first time since Dec. 17-23, 2009. Tonight, the Blueshirts will try for the club's first five-game winning streak since they ripped off seven in a row from Oct. 3-17, 2009.
New York is currently sitting seventh in the Eastern Conference playoff race with 82 points. Buffalo, which plays tonight in Montreal, is three points behind the Rangers in eighth.
The Rangers, who have also won six of their last seven contests, are coming off Sunday's 5-2 road win over the rival Pittsburgh Penguins.
New York trailed the Pens by a 2-1 count early in the third period, but Marian Gaborik and Ryan Callahan scored power-play goals just 11 seconds apart to give the Rangers the lead for good. Derek Stepan and Brandon Dubinsky also scored third-period goals for the Rangers.
"It would have been easy to get down on ourselves, but to our credit it showed a lot of character coming back," Callahan said.
Callahan and Dubinsky each finished with a goal and two assists for the Rangers.
Henrik Lundqvist stopped 38 shots in the victory, New York's third in as many visits to the Steel City this season.
Sunday's game will probably be most remembered for the elbow Pittsburgh's Matt Cooke delivered to the head of Rangers defenseman Ryan McDonagh. Cooke was given a game misconduct and a five-minute major for the incident, which occurred early in the third period. On Monday, Cooke was suspended for the final 10 games of the regular season as well as the first round of the playoffs.
McDonagh was not injured on the play and later added an assist on Stepan's goal.
Rangers defenseman Marc Staal missed Sunday's game with an undisclosed injury and is questionable for tonight's contest.
New York is playing the first of two straight on home ice this evening and is 17-16-3 as the host club this season. The Blueshirts have won their last three tilts at MSG.
Florida is tied for 13th in the East and has basically been reduced to a spoiler role, as the Panthers are 11 points out of a playoff spot with 10 games to play.
The Panthers lost for the eighth time in 11 games (3-5-3) on Saturday, dropping a shootout decision to the visiting New York Islanders. P.A. Parenteau notched the deciding score in the shootout to lift the Islanders to a 4-3 victory at BankAtlantic Center.
Evgeny Dadonov lit the lamp twice for the Panthers, while Scott Clemmensen made just 18 saves in defeat.
Florida is kicking off a five-game road trip tonight and is just 14-18-2 as the visiting club this season. The Panthers have lost two straight and four of their last five tests on the road.
The Panthers have taken two of three from the Rangers this season and have claimed six of the last 10 meetings between the clubs. The teams have also split the last eight encounters in the Big Apple.
- FLORIDA: 0
NEW YORK: 1
Final
Mar 22 9:25 PM - FLORIDA: 0
NEW YORK: 0
End of 2nd
Mar 22 8:36 PM - FLORIDA: 0
NEW YORK: 0
End of 1st
Mar 22 7:44 PM - FLORIDA: 0
NEW YORK: 0
1st Period - 20:00
Mar 22 7:08 PM
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