Rangers cruise to victory No. 30 for their own No. 30

2010-11 Game No. 72; Home Game No. 36		Rangers' Record: 38-30-4
VIDEO: HIGHLIGHT OF THE GAME
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GAME RECAP By Jim Cerny, newyorkrangers.com In an absolutely electric atmosphere at Madison Square Garden on Friday night, the Rangers exploded for five first-period goals en route to a passionately-played 6-3 victory over the Montreal Canadiens. With that victory, the Rangers have now won three in a row and five of their past six and tightened their hold on seventh place in the Eastern Conference. Their 80 points are four better than both Buffalo and Carolina, the latter of which rallied for a 3-2 overtime win over the Islanders on Friday. The Rangers also moved to within five points of sixth-place Montreal with 10 games left to play in the regular season. The win might have come with a cost, however, for the Rangers. Henrik Lundqvist, who earned his 30th victory of the season Friday and became the first goalie in NHL history to win 30 or more games in each of his first six seasons, was barreled into by Montreal’s Benoit Pouliot with three minutes left in the game. Such was the force of the collision that Lundqvist flew backwards into his net, and his head snapped sharply backwards. Although he finished the game, Lundqvist remained down on the ice for several minutes and was tended to by team trainer Jim Ramsay. “The tough part here is that I really didn’t see him coming,” said Lundqvist, who did not meet with members of the media until a full hour after the game was over. “My head was leaning forward and I took a pretty hard hit there. But we checked everything, X-rays were good, it’s just that my neck is very stiff and sore. We’ll see how it is when I wake up tomorrow, but I’m sure it will be sore  ... • READ THE FULL STORY | PHOTO GALLERY

PHOTO OF THE GAME STAT OF THE GAME The last time the Blueshirts had five goals in a period vs. Montreal was on Jan. 10, 1986, when they scored five times in the second period. The three goals in a 67-second span were also the fastest three goals by the Rangers in any game since they scored three in 65 seconds vs. the Islanders at the Nassau Coliseum on Nov. 8, 2001. THREE STARS (selected by the local media) 1. A. Anisimov 2. R. Callahan 3. B. Prust

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THE BIGGER PICTURE Looking back in a few week, this might be remembered as the game where it no longer became any real question whether or not this Rangers team is playoff-bound. The Blueshirts played a dominating game against a team that had beaten them three previous times.

RANGERS LEADERS Icetime -- Girardi (28:03) Shots -- Callahan (7) Hits -- Girardi, Dubinsky (4) Blocks -- Girardi, McDonagh (3) Takeaways -- Four players tied (2) Faceoffs -- Boyle (21)

NEW YORK RANGERS LINEUP VS. MONTREAL
FORWARD LINES
Left Wing	Center	Right Wing
Brandon Dubinsky	Artem Anisimov	Ryan Callahan
Vinny Prospal	Erik Christensen	Marian Gaborik
Ruslan Fedotenko	Brian Boyle	Brandon Prust
Wojtek Wolski	Derek Stepan	Mats Zuccarello

DEFENSE PAIRINGS
Left Defense	Right Defense
Marc Staal	Dan Girardi
Ryan McDonagh	Michael Sauer
Bryan McCabe	Steve Eminger
Goaltenders: Henrik Lundqvist, Chad Johnson Starting Lineup: Lundqvist, Staal, Girardi, Fedotenko, Boyle, Prust.

POWER PLAY UNITS
FORWARD LINES
Left Wing	Center	Right Wing
Ryan Callahan	Vinny Prospal	Marian Gaborik
Brandon Dubinsky	Erik Christensen	Mats Zuccarello

POINT MEN
Left Point	Right Point
Bryan McCabe	Stepan/Eminger
Marc Staal	Dan Girardi

PENALTY KILLING UNITS
FORWARD UNITS
Forward	Forward
Brandon Prust	Brian Boyle
Ryan Callahan	Brandon Dubinsky
Ruslan Fedotenko	Artem Anisimov

DEFENSE PAIRINGS
Left Defense	Right Defense
Marc Staal	Dan Girardi
Ryan McDonagh	Sauer/Eminger