RANGERS AND WHALE BOTH LOSE BY 4-1 SCORES

      VERSUS       

NEW YORK RANGERS POST-GAME NOTES
March 23, 2012 (Game 74, Home Game 38)
Madison Square Garden – New York, NY

Team Notes:

• The Rangers were defeated by the Buffalo Sabres, 4-1, tonight at Madison Square Garden, to finish their seven-game homestand with a 4-3-0 mark.
• New York has posted a record of 46-21-7 (99 pts.) overall, including a 26-10-2 mark at home.
• The Rangers have posted a combined record of 16-4-5 in back-to-back games, including an 8-2-3 (3-1-0 at home, 5-1-3 on the road) record in the first game of the set.
• The Blueshirts’ penalty kill was 1-1 (2:00) against the Sabres tonight, and have now held their opponent scoreless in nine of the last 12 games (30-33, 90.9%) and are 35-39 (89.7%) in the last 14 contests.

Player Notes:

• Brian Boyle notched the Rangers’ lone goal at 9:32 of the second period, was credited with two hits and won a team-high, 9-16 face-offs (56%).  He has now won 30-50 (60.0%) face-offs in the last three games.
• Tim Erixon tallied his first career NHL point with an assist, and registered two shots on goal in 15:17 of ice time.  He also finished the contest with an even rating, and has now posted a plus or even rating in 12 of 17 NHL games.
• Artem Anisimov recorded the primary assist on Boyle’s goal, and logged 16:38 of ice time.  The assist was his 20th of the season, marking the second consecutive season he reached that plateau.
• Ryan Callahan was credited with a game-high, nine hits, and tied for the game-high with three blocked shots in 23:37 of ice time.  Entering tonight’s contest, Callahan ranked sixth among NHL forwards in blocked shots, and sixth in the league overall in hits.
• Henrik Lundqvist made 22 saves and is now 34-16-5 overall, including a 20-8-2 mark at home.
• Lundqvist finished the seven-game homestand with a record of 3-2-0 and a 2.35 goals against average.  Martin Biron was 1-1-0 with a 3.50 goals against average in two games.
• Brad Richards led the team in scoring with five goals and 10 points during the seven-game homestand.  Marian Gaborik (three goals, four assists) and Carl Hagelin (two goals, five assists) each tallied seven points on the homestand.  Hagelin and Richards also tied for the team lead with five assists apiece.

Post-Game Quotes:

John Tortorella on tonight’s game…

“We had some chances.  (Buffalo’s) second goal really killed us, it really hurt us, because (Ryan) Miller is playing so well.  We gave that one up when we had full control of the puck and really maybe a chance to score another goal ourselves.”

Henrik Lundqvist on tonight’s game…

“You just try to stop the puck; you don’t try to adjust your game. It is what it is. We were close to tying the game, but it was pretty obvious that the odd man rushes killed us tonight. Going into the third, we felt like we had a chance to tie the game. We played pretty well but it was just a couple of turnovers that really cost us. They’re a quick team and we knew that it was important to be smart with the puck, we just had a couple of tough bounces on the blue line.”

Ryan Callahan on tonight’s game…

“I thought we had a good first 10 minutes. We were in their zone, we were fore-checking and then after that it was up and down for us. There were periods of time where we were good and there were periods of time where we weren’t. I thought we came into the third, had our chances, and battled hard. They get that goal to make it 3-1, and it’s tough to come back from there.”

Team Schedule:

–        The Rangers will return to action when they face-off against the Toronto Maple Leafs tomorrow, Mar. 24, at Air Canada Centre (7:00 p.m.), in an Original Six matchup.  The game will be televised live on MSG 2 and can be heard on Bloomberg Radio.