Postgame Reactions - Rangers vs. Blues 1/16

Blues 4, Rangers 1

• Enver Lisin MUST stay in the lineup.  He was the best Ranger on the ice all night, skating hard and creating chances.  I thought he should have drawn a tripping call on his partial breakaway, and he drew one on his next shift after hitting the crossbar.
• Marian Gaborik has definitely hit a rough patch, and not just offensively.  After blowing coverage on the game-winner Thursday night against Ottawa, his turnover led to the game-winner tonight.  He also had a glorious chance and was stoned by Mason.
• The Blues have the best forecheck I've seen all year.  I hope Torts uses it as an example of how to effectively--and consistently--forecheck.
• Chad Johnson was ok.  I still don't see him as an NHL caliber goalie yet, but he seems to be the best in-house option the Rangers have.
• The D pair of Dan Girardi and Michael Del Zotto has to end.  They were minus-2 together tonight, and the defensive pairs seem to be so much more in sync when Staal is with Girardi and Del Zotto is with Rozsival.
• The power play was brutal, and there's no other way to put it.  I think the Blues had more shots on Rangers power plays than the Rangers did.  Unaccepatable.
• Hockey 101:  Clear the zone...seriously, do it!
• BREAKING NEWS: The Rangers scored a goal!  Now they need to work on increasing that number again.
• Brian Boyle was the one who found the back of the net--ok maybe not the back, but the puck found its way completely across the goal line--and Aaron Voros got the lone assist.
• If I was coaching this team:  Aaron Voros and Enver Lisin both play again tomorrow night.  Kotalik rejoins the lineup in place of Higgins.
• In all fairness, the Blues played a solid defensive game and Chris Mason was strong in net.
• It was good to see JD on MSG (or whatever you want to call it) again, and great to hear he's doing well.  It makes me miss hearing and seeing him next to Sam that much more though.
• The box score says the Rangers had 27 hits to the Blues' 23.  I don't know what game the statistician was watching, because the Blues were hitting everything in sight.  They might have had 23 hits in the third period.