Postgame Reactions - Rangers vs. Islanders 12/26

Final Score: Islanders 3, Rangers 2 (OT)

• Brandon Dubinsky played an outstanding game.  Not only did he score both Ranger goals, but he went 12-4 in the faceoff circle and was effective all over the ice.  He also registered 5 shots on goal, 2 hits, and a plus-1.
• Sean Avery did a good job of being Sean Avery.  That said, the penalty he took for goalie interference was just dumb.  That's one of those penalties Torts has to just hate.
• When I saw just a single referee on the ice to start the game and heard that it was Steve Walkom I began to wonder if this was going to look like a Rangers-Isles game from the 90s, with lots of scraps and what is now called interference.  Fortunately...or maybe unfortunately...it wasn't.
• Marian Gaborik and Vinny Prospal were each a team-worst minus-2.  It's gonna be hard for the Rangers to win when that happens...
• Prospal's pass to Girardi that set up the first Isles goal was a tough one that took a bad hop on Girardi.  On that goal, what a pass by Kyle Okposo.
• Michal Rozsival posted 2 more assists and was plus-1.  He now has 5 assists and is a plus-5 in the past 5 games.  Despite the 2 assists, Rozsival's game regressed a bit tonight.  That said, I still don't understand why people boo the guy when his assists are announced...seems a lot like punishing good to me.  (I plan to write further on this in coming weeks.)
• Enver Lisin's game regressed a bit as well, but I still thought he had a decent game in limited time.
• See my previous post on Brian Boyle.  I don't remember seeing him on the ice again after his STUPID delay of game penalty for putting the puck over the glass unnecessarily on a delayed penalty.  Hey, at least he was 2-2 on faceoffs, right?
• Chris Drury had another effective game even though he didn't put one in the net.  He did get the primary assist on Dubinsky's first goal though.
• Did I mention how bad Brian Boyle was?  3:01 of ice time...Tortorella agrees.
• On the game-winner in OT, the puck made an unfortunate (for the Rangers) deflection off Staal's skate.  No deflection, do goal...that's a tough one.
• I'm watching NHL on the Fly (on NHL Network) as I write this.  They just played the highlights from this game, and I feel bad for whoever had to listen to John Giannone call this game.  His voice is brutal and it seems like you can see the gears spinning in his head on the screen in front of you.

That's all for now.  I have the USA-Slovakia game from the World Junior Championships on my DVR and intend to watch it tomorrow and blog on it.  Also, congratulations to another Rangers prospect, Roman Horak, on being named to the Czech WJC team.  Horak, a center, was the Rangers' 4th round selection this year.