Five Things About the Rangers/Capitals Game. . .

Another game, another loss. Please don't tell me this is how the home stand is going to unfold.

* For the first 10-or-so minutes of this game, the Rangers were flying. They were go-go-going in the manner we envisioned Torts pushing them to go. They won battles, put pressure on, kept the puck in Washington's zone. As wonderful as it was to see, it was just as evident that it was so rare to see from this team as of late.

* At the Garden tonight they showed a really great clip montage of vintage Rangers clips meshed with current Rangers clips. Whoever thought of that - very good idea. You could tell many fans at the Garden were watching and saying, hmm, this is new, this is cool.

* In the 2nd period, the Rangers normal "nap" period, they actually pressed the puck. I'd guess they had no less than 6 takeaways. Which is something I hadn't noticed before, so I'm going to go with - this is something they don't normally do. Getting to those loose puck battles, standing up and taking the puck away from someone on the Capitals unexpectedly.

* Gaborik has a special something. It should have - and was - evident in every single game so far, it would seem, but yet tonight, with his two goals, it was incredibly obvious. If you are a goalie, you almost can't see his shot. He's that quick. But my favorite thing about Gaborik, a quarter into the season, is the way he is able to pick up a puck. A puck is coming to him, and he has one hand on the stick to pick it up, without any bit of effort, and he slides so easily into his motion of - making a play, a pass, a shot. The way he appears to be barely holding on to the hockey stick, and yet he can make such fluid motions. It's really something. It really is.

* Such a disappointing loss tonight. Really. You have your guy - let's face it, your ONLY guy, score two goals, to keep you in a game that perhaps, you shouldn't have been in, and you manage to lose the tie with less than five minutes to go. Very depressing. They didn't play badly, but they didn't play well enough to win.


The Rangers have three days off before Florida comes to the Garden on Saturday. We'll see how they rebound. I don't even know what to expect to expect.