RANGERS CLIP WINGS IN OT 

     VERSUS    

NEW YORK RANGERS POST-GAME NOTES
March 21, 2012 (Game 73, Home Game 37)
Madison Square Garden – New York, NY

Team Notes:

• The Rangers defeated the Detroit Red Wings, 2-1, in overtime tonight at Madison Square Garden to improve to 4-2-0 on their current seven-game homestand.
• New York has posted a record of 46-20-7 (99 pts.) overall, including a 26-9-2 mark at home.

• The Blueshirts’ 26-9-2 (54 pts.) mark at MSG is their best record at home through 37 games since 1991-92 (25-8-4, 54 pts.).
• Tonight’s win was the Rangers’ first against the Red Wings since a 3-1 victory on Oct. 25, 2003 at Madison Square Garden.
• Each of the last 10 meetings between the Rangers and Red Wings have been decided by two goals or less, including six games separated by one goal.
• The Blueshirts have posted a record of 6-6-0 against Original Six opponents this season, and are now 52-31-12 against Original Six teams since 2005-06.
• The Rangers notched one power play goal in three attempts (4:28), and are now 5-21 (23.8%) with the man advantage during their current homestand.  New York also held Detroit scoreless in one shorthanded situation (2:00), and are now 29-32 (90.6%) on the penalty kill in the last 11 games.  The Rangers improved to 22-1-4 in games when tallying a power play goal, and are 31-11-3 when not allowing a power play goal.
• New York increased their lead over Pittsburgh to three points atop the Eastern Conference standings, and pulled to within one point of St. Louis for first in the league overall.

Player Notes:

• Henrik Lundqvist made 26 saves and tallied the lone assist on Brad Richards’ power play goal at 14:58 of the first period.  He improved to 34-15-5 overall, including a 20-7-2 mark at home this season.  Lundqvist has held opponents to two or fewer goals in each of the last three games, posting a record of 2-1-0 with a 1.65 goals against average and .926 save percentage over the span.
• Ryan Callahan notched the game-winning goal at 2:42 of the overtime period, registered a game-high, eight shots, was credited with three hits and two blocked shots, and logged 23:02 of ice time to earn third star honors.  He has tallied 15 points (10 goals, five assists) in his last 16 games, including six points (four goals, two assists) in his last eight games.  Callahan is now five points shy of 200 career NHL points.
• Brad Richards tallied one power play goal, recorded four shots on goal and led all forwards with 23:56 of ice time.  He has tallied 17 points (six goals, 11 assists) in the last 14 games, including 12 points (six goals, six assists) in the last eight games.
• Michael Del Zotto recorded the primary assist on Callahan’s power play, game-winning goal in overtime, led the team with three blocked shots and logged a game-high, 26:53 of ice time.  He has now tallied 10 assists in his last 17 games, including six assists on game-winning goals over the span.
• Brandon Dubinsky registered an assist on the power play, game-winning goal in overtime, and logged 19:46 of ice time in the contest.  He has tallied three points (one goal, two assists) and a plus-three rating in the last two games.  The Rangers improved to 17-2-3 in games when he records a point.

Post-Game Quotes:

John Tortorella on tonight’s game…

“I thought the biggest play of the game was Staalsie’s (Marc Staal) 2-on-1 play when it goes down the ice and they get nothing out of it.  We were kind of going up and down the ice with them.  We are trying to play our game against them, trying to bang through, trying to slow them down. But it’s hard. You need confidence.  We used the word patient quite a bit tonight and I thought we were at times, at other times we weren’t and that’s when you open ourselves up.  Even with the few gloves (their injuries), they have some pretty skilled guys that can hurt you. I liked our aggressiveness in the overtime and I thought Ryan Callahan was our best player.”

Henrik Lundqvist on Ryan Callahan…

“He’s been incredible, and that big block at the end of the game. A couple of highlights there for Cally, first with that huge block for us, and then scoring the game winner.  That’s the way he plays right now and it’s big for us.”

Ryan Callahan on tonight’s game…

“We’ve been playing well. Right from that Avalanche game, I thought we were playing well even though we lost. I think we’re starting to get our groove back, and we’re starting to play how we want and how we were playing earlier in the year. It’s an important time of year, and we’ve got to keep building and keep going.”

Brad Richards on tonight’s game…

“It’s March, under 10 games left, you want to contribute. You want to help your teammates. That’s what we do. I think the whole team, we’re starting to feel better the last few games. It’s a good time of year to start getting that way.”

Team Schedule:

• The Rangers will return to action when they face-off against the Buffalo Sabres on Friday, Mar. 23, at Madison Square Garden (7:00 p.m.), to close out their seven-game homestand.  The game will be televised live on MSG 2 and can be heard on AM1600 WWRL.