‘Twas the day after Christmas…

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays Rangers fans!  Hope you enjoyed a wonderful weekend no matter what you were celebrating.  What did I do on Christmas?  Well, thanks for asking.  I enjoyed a typical Jewish Christmas, movies and Chinese food.  Nothing says tradition like sesame chicken and fried rice.

But, how bout them Rangers, huh?  Four in a row. Granted, those wins haven’t come against good teams, but with the way this team had been playing, I’ll take any win I can get.  I hear on Christmas it’s customary to make lists, so here’s my list of things that the Rangers have had in the past four games in order to win.

1) The Rangers have a productive captain.   I know what you’re saying, and yes the Rangers do indeed have a player wearing the “C”.  Chris Drury has come alive since moving to the fourth line and being paired up with Sean Avery.   Dru is up to 5 goals on the year and even though he’s been on the lower lines, Torts gave him more minutes than anyone else in the game against Florida.

2) Brandon Dubinsky and Ryan Callahan.  Dubi is back from injury and looks to be on a mission from God.  Both of these guys are skating harder than anyone on the ice.  What has impressed me the most about Callahan over this stretch is his return to chasing the puck.  What makes Cally special in my eyes is his instinct.  At the beginning of the season, it seemed like he was playing against his instinct.  Now, he’s doing what he does best, getting after pucks, forechecking and scoring goals.

3) Sean Avery.  He’s definitely been more visible as of late.  The Florida game was the Sean Avery show.  He was in players ears, he was aggressive on the forecheck, and he was setting up scoring opportunities.  Sean seems to slowly be getting back into his old self, which is exactly what the Rangers need him to do.

4) Coach Tortorella.  Those benchings seemed to have payed off.  While I still don’t think Wade Redden is playing well, both Chris Drury and Ales Kotalik have had some of their best all around games since the benching/demotion.  Matt Gilroy is also back looking more comfortable.  Only thing he needs now is a backup for the King.

5) The King.  Simply sensational.  But, can a player get a day off?

Rangers/Islanders tonight.  Rangers looking for a fifth straight win.  Hopefully us fans get some holiday cheer.