Erik Christensen, the first shooter in last night’s shootout, made Dan Ellis look ridiculous on a backhand. The Rangers clearly had the Lightning where they wanted, with just three chances to get one against Henrik Lundqvist.
The King of the Shootout, Christensen, came to the Garden last night 22-9…

PHILADELPHIA — Brian Boucher, journey man conqueror of Henrik Lundqvist last April in the most compelling shootout in NHL history, continues to live the dream, 6-0-1 with a 1.83 goals against average in his last seven starts for the NHL’s standings leader.
And Lundqvist? He comes here to…

There is a time to go and a time to stay. And Year Four of Marc Staal’s NHL career is no time, figures Rangers coach John Tortorella, for one of the league’s better shutdown defensemen to shut his mind to opportunities up ice.
Safe is death, Tortorella has…

Lines come and lines go, often under a coach like John Tortorella, directing a team that often struggles to score.
Artem Anisimov, Ryan Callahan and Brandon Dubinsky did not have that problem through most of Marian Gaborik’s absence early in the season. And last night, when Callahan scored twice…

The barrage was a mirage.
Rangers coach John Tortorella, needing hands quick as Erik Christensen’s to win a shell game that inevitably turns fraudulent in the absence of a pea, last week moved Sean Avery and Christensen up with Marian Gaborik.
If that weren’t a real first line…

For two periods, the only thing compelling about this back-to-back series was the shot to the back Sean Avery laid on Zenon Konopka in the second period, drawing a boarding penalty.
We do not mean to suggest that the mean has gone out of Rangers vs. Islanders, but enforcer Derek…

When less than 11,000 people show up at The Coliseum for a Rangers-Islanders game, we didn’t think there was a hole on Long Island deeper than the one in which Charles Wang is burying his NHL franchise.
But after giving up a bad rebound, making an even worse…

The Garden, charged as were Marc Staal and Dan Girardi last night with the responsibility of stuffing the genie-with-the-12-game point streak back into the bottle, was ready early, booing Sidney Crosby as he delayed the opening face-off for ice cleanup.
“There was confetti, white and all over the zone, and…

The last stand-up goalie finally is taking a seat a row back.
Martin Brodeur, three years since his last playoff series win and not likely to have a chance at redemption this spring, still, at 38, has some stops left. But he is no longer the name that stops the…

The backup almost needed a backup.
“Artie [Anisimov] hit me right in the sternum in the warmup,” Marty Biron said. “It kind of choked me a little bit.
“I came in and told Hank. He started laughing, kind of stayed half-dressed.”
Henrik Lundqvist felt kind of half dead with a…