Final score: Buf 1 NYR 2 (2 OTs)

Buffalo leads best-of-seven series 2-1.

Few diehards would argue that being in the building to see your team pull out a playoff game in sudden death is just awesome. That’s exactly what happened earlier today at a packed Madison Square Garden as the Rangers overcame plenty in pulling out a well earned 2-1 Game Three double overtime victory over the Sabres- pulling within one of Buffalo with a huge Game Four set for Tuesday night.

To be in attendance for something like this was unbelievable. I’ve only gotten to see the Rangers in the postseason two years. And they’d already supplied myself and family plenty of excitement with how they swept Atlanta the previous week to advance to this much more challenging round.

There were many questions entering this game after a gutwrenching Game Two one-goal loss upstate in which the team fought hard and might’ve deserved a different fate.

Would that kind of defeat take the wind out of their sails? How would this team respond to such adversity? Would they melt away like last year? As this intensely fought game went forward, the resounding answers this fan wanted to see were right there on the ice as Tom Renney’s club laid it all out there and sent the message to Lindy Ruff’s team that the might’ve been down two but were not out for the count.
I’ll be honest and say that I expected this club to come out and play well much like the last game giving themselves a chance to win it and get back in the series. However, I also wasn’t certain if they’d prevail because the Sabres are that good. Their mixture of talent, skill, grit and speed can be a royal pain in the ass for any team that’s left in this tournament. To put it bluntly, going up against them is no picnic.

This was a game the Blueshirts could’ve prevailed in regulation as they were that detail oriented despite a penalty fest which drew plenty of ire and the usual, “These refs suck” chants from legions who protested how onesided the second and third periods were called. If you were there, you know. If you watched on TV, you know it too.

Apparently, Ruff was aggravated at the end of Game 2 probably by that cheesy ‘cross checking’ call on his captain Daniel Briere, which gave the Rangers a golden opportunity to force sudden death. He ripped into the officials and was fined despite his team prevailing. After hearing that via the postgame courtesy of ESPN Radio’s Don LaGreca, I can’t say I’m surprised that Buffalo got so many calls while the zebras just turned the blind eye to what his team got away with.

It was maddening. I don’t think I can ever recall one team getting so many calls in a row while getting away with similar infractions. I believe at one point spanning the second to a portion of the first OT, Buffalo had six consecutive power plays. They needed as many as they could get just to tie it and force sudden death when Briere’s seeing eye slapper went off Henrik Lundqvist and in.

Now, I’m going to make a point right now about the officiating before anyone gets upset. I don’t have a big issue with what was called. As long as they’re consistent, I’ll never go nuts over this. For a large portion of this game, that wasn’t the case as refs Paul Devorski and Dennis LaRue became an easy MSG target. Maybe they were ticked at the reaction they got? I don’t know. But when I finally concluded that my team wouldn’t get any calls for the final 40 of regulation, I didn’t waste my energy on them.

The Rangers would just have to overcome their ineptitude to get a big ‘W’ and get themselves back in the series. That along with some of their undisciplined penalties (many warranted) was why this game required two OTs. That and the replay booth or whoever (I’m told NBC’s Brett Hull actually thought so- same guy who had a Cup winner for having a foot in the crease) decided that Karel Rachunek intentionally kicked in that puck when a Sabre had hooked him from behind. Isn’t that a penalty?!?!?!?!?!

When Rachunek’s play which btw was ruled a goal on the ice went upstairs, I quickly hopped out of my seats in the second to last row and watched the NBC replay and knew they’d rule against it because of how his skate was directed towards the net. But there’s no way anyone from the league can tell me that it was intentional. He wasn’t even looking at the puck because he couldn’t. When you had a Versus team of broadcasters confirming that it was a bad call, you know something’s wrong.
Regardless, it didn’t matter because in the end justice was served unless you’re an Islander fan.

After an up and down opening period, Rangers’ captain Jaromir Jagr put home his own rebound to give his team the lead 33 seconds into the second. Off kind of a broken play, No.68 fired a routine wrister from the left circle which gave Ryan Miller trouble. JJ was able to find a juicy rebound for his third (1st of series) to send the place in a frenzy.

Before all the penalties in the stanza, the Blueshirts seemed to have all the momentum and a nice advantage in SOG. But all the Buffalo power plays gave the Sabres a chance to get into the period and change the momentum. They tried but just couldn’t find a way to beat a very sharp Lundqvist or get through a penalty killing unit which had Jed Ortmeyer back and was on its way to killing eight of nine.

The most remarkable aspect was that at one point, the Sabres got three consecutive man-advantages but still the Rangers PK didn’t crack. Usually, that’s when an opponent will usually get one.

In the third, after failing early, the Sabres finally made it work when Brendan Shanahan went to the box for a cross check with under nine minutes left. Instead of trying for the perfect play, they worked the puck to Briere and their leading scorer drove one through Lundqvist to knot it with 7:46 remaining. Of course, there were loud boos but truth be told, that was a legit call on Shanny and a silly penalty to take. They got burned.

When nothing was decided at the end of regulation, one could only wonder who would have the advantage in sudden death. I figured it would go to the younger legs of the Sabres. A team with four lines that can score and a more active D which made life difficult at times just for the Rangers to get the puck out.

So, I feared the worst. It might explain why it was my first playoff OT game and I wasn’t nervous at all. My only thought at that point was that I didn’t want to see it taken away from my team when they had fought so valiantly all day.

As had been the case throughout, the refs didn’t put away their whistles opting to call penalties on each side. First, it was the Rangers who killed off a Marek Malik hook. Then the Sabres were finally forced to kill two straight near the end of the first OT including five seconds of three-on-five. How pathetic was the Ranger PP? Maybe because they hadn’t had one since the first but they couldn’t generate anything and made it so easy for their opponents that they nearly got burned shorthanded.

When Derek Roy one-timed one off the far post, from our vantage point up in 411, the game was over. It didn’t make the usual sound you hear when it’s a post/crossbar. So we were thinking the worst. Amazingly enough, time ran out before they could review it. But as NBC’s replay confirmed, the Rangers caught a huge break as it hit the far post and just stayed out, meaning another session of sudden death was required.
I should also point out that that wasn’t the only post as Marcel Hossa also drew iron in close off a mad scramble.
Neither team could cash in on their power plays in period No.5 which meant that as I had wished, even strength would decide it. For much of the OTs, it seemed to many that Jagr and top pivot Michael Nylander were running on empty. They had no legs on shifts and were being taken off the puck more. What looked like a bad sign was a false alarm as they would help spring the winner.

But not before a crazy sequence (can’t remember when) where the Sabres had Lundqvist down and out of the net but couldn’t get to the loose puck to put it in. Before I discuss the winner, there were several chances where a Buffalo player seemed to be ready to win this game in the high slot but a hustling Ranger either got in the path of the shot or backchecked at the last possible second. It’s a big reason why they won. The commitment to team defense was extraordinary given the pressure packed circumstances.

Now to the winner. As my mind was thinking, ‘Could this possibly be one of those games that goes 4 OTs and never feels like it’s going to end,’ the Jagr line put together its best OT shift. After Jagr nearly setup Nylander for the winner, he recovered the puck and worked it to Hossa, who then fed Nylander along the left wall. All during their OT shifts, Buffalo was collapsing everyone down low to thwart their cycle game. This meant that the point was open. And when Nylander threaded the needled to a wide open pinching Michal Rozsival at the right point, the underrated defenseman didn’t miss burying the shot top shelf to send everyone into bedlum. Our row basically all jumped on each other.

It was pretty crazy. Rozsival’s winning tally came with 3:17 remaining in the second OT or was scored at 36:43 in NHL playoff terms.

Already in this series, the quiet Czech who logs more ice-time than anyone else on that blueline has been run at twice by Sabres along the boards injuring his knee. When he limped off in Game One, the team fell apart afterwards. Rozy has played with pain in the last two and acquitted himself well. He logged the most ice-time (38:16) in the big win, got the exciting deciding goal and blocked a game high eight shots- also delivering three hits. This guy was steady all game and made some great defensive plays with it on the line.

He and partner Marek Malik (more so because of what happened in Game 2) have taken it on the chin this year unfairly at times. While it’s true both can drive fans nuts at times with their slow precise decision making and penchant for getting taken off the puck in corners, they log more ice than the other four D. So there’s plenty of pressure which comes with it.

Sometimes, your key defenders are going to screw up. How many times have we seen Brian Rafalski giveaway a puck leading to a goal against? Yet if you took him away from his team, they’d be defensively challenged. When you log more minutes, it will happen. The key is how you bounceback. They got it done as did the tandems of Fedor Tyutin (34:01, 7 hits), rookie Daniel Girardi (33:01, 7 hits, 3 blocked shots), Paul Mara (27:05) and Rachunek (23:07). Malik btw logged 29:54 finishing with an assist, plus-two rating and two blocked shots.

A few quick hits:

1.Sean Avery was a beast in this game. Only Miller prevented him from scoring a couple of times. He was great shorthanded and much more actively involved than the first two games (both losses).

2.Rookie Ryan Callahan continued to impress with some very strong shifts. In 20-plus minutes, the gritty Rochester native registered three shots, blocked three shots and delivered six hits. It seems like whenever he’s on the ice, something positive happens.

3.Briere scored the only Buffalo goal which wasn’t a coincidence as he was much much better in this one and dangerous for many OT shifts.

4.Maxim Afinogenov was demoted to the fourth line. The struggling Russian who hasn’t been the same player since returning from injury only received 18:39 TOI and got only two SOG. He just hasn’t looked all that comfortable.

5.Both goalies were terrific in this one with Lundqvist making 38 saves while Miller turned aside 44 of 46. The two young netminders is part of what makes this series appealing because they’re two of the better goalies in the game.

6.Shifts at even strength were a battle for territory. Each team had plenty of opportunities to end it earlier but both teams collapsed down low and did a solid defensive job. Part of the reason goals were tough to come by.

Our three stars:

3rd star- Ryan Miller (44 saves)

2nd star- Henrik Lundqvist (38 saves)

1st star- Michal Rozsival (GW 2 OT goal)