Subtract one superstar in Sidney Crosby, add one (ok, maybe two) period of excellent team defense, three periods of a stellar Henrik Lundquist, Sean Avery and Brandon Dubinsky and the total is: A convincing 5-2 Rangers win, 2 points in the standings and a bit of a reprieve from their recent futile Florida trip.

After a 1st period of more free handouts than your local soup kitchen, Coach Tom Renney called a time-out 3 minutes and two quick Penguin goals into the 2nd period, settled down the troops and the Rangers responded almost immediately. Less than a minute later, after strong forecheck pressure and hard hitting from Colton Orr and Blair Betts, 4th line forward Fredrik Sjostrom intercepted a pass in the slot, faked Pens goalie Ty Conklin right, then popped a shot past Conklin's stick to give the Rangers a 3-2 lead they would never relinquish.

Sean Avery potted 2 goals and was all over Conklin most of the evening. A "re-sign Avery" chant went up in the Garden after Avery's 2nd goal; if Sather lets this guy get away, it will be the worst move he has made as Rangers GM. One question: Why was Avery wearing a black knit hat during the post-game interview? Did he get a bad sunburn in Florida or a butcher shop haircut?

Martin Straka added a goal in the 3rd and played a strong north-south game, which as most of you Rangers fans know, is not something we've seen alot of this season. I actually saw Straka dump the puck in behind Conklin on at least two occasions when he couldn't stickhandle past the Penguins defense or attempt an ill-advised cross-ice pass. Yes, miracles can happen.

Brandon Dubinsky is turning into a monster on Broadway. He hits everything that moves and hits hard. He's shown a good scoring touch, a nose for the puck, surprising speed and has a goal-scorers' hands. In years past, we would have watched regretfully watched Dubinsky perform like this for another team, as he most likely would have been shipped off for a high-priced vet at the trading deadline. Thank god for the salary cap.

New York travels to New Jersey to meet up with the 1st place Devils Wednesday night against whom the Rangers are an astonishing 5-0 so far this season. The Rangers seem to have the Devils number in '07-'08 as Renney's defensive system, when played correctly, matches up well against a NJ team that plays a defense-first game. Here's to the Rangers balanced scoring attack outdueling Jersey's one dimensional offense.

Posting has been very light while I'm down here in PSL. The internet connection I'm on is excruciatingly slow and with the kids around all day, its hard to get any free time. Nighttime comes and I'm usually too wiped to be sitting in front of my laptop. It's hot, I'm distracted and uncomfortable at the desk I'm using. /excuses off

Of course, if a better synopsis of the game is warranted (trust me, it is), then stop by Hockey Rodent; you can't get any better than that. HR now has the Rangers at a 95.3% chance of making the playoffs via his Berth-o-Meter, in case anyone is interested.

Forgot to mention this milestone last night: Henrik Lundquist reached 100 wins in his short NHL career. In the process, Lundquist broke the Rangers record of fastest to 100 wins, which was held by Mike Richter who reached 100 wins in 198 games. Henrik accomplished the same feat in only 187 games. This is just one of many Ranger records soon to be broken and owned by The King.