Rangers Vs. Avalanche: Two Points Are Two Points

- That's another game where the New York Rangers truly dominated for about 55 minutes, but in the five minutes they didn't dominate they got themselves in trouble. I can remember one sequence in the first 40 minutes where Colorado truly had control of the puck, and that was on the two-minute long shift where the Rangers couldn't clear the zone and the Avalanche cashed in.

- Then the horrible turnover by Martin St. Louis leads to a goal the other way, Tanner Glass takes a dumb penalty to continue to give Colorado momentum and then -- because apparently Glass hadn't done enough damage -- Alain Vigneault had him out on the ice again and he did nothing to stop Jan Hejda (despite being right next to him) from tying the game. Don't worry, more on you know who below.

- And don't get me wrong, Cam Talbot bailed the Rangers out a lot last night, in a great bounce-back game from the Toronto incident. He was fantastic on the five-on-three, made all the important stops he was asked to make the first 40 minutes (note: there weren't many) and couldn't do anything about the two third period goals. Trust me, that wasn't an easy night for him late -- especially when the Rangers came close to imploding.

- The good news from the past two games? The Rangers have somehow found a way to win, with their offense bailing out the breakdowns. Kevin Hayes (who is going to be a monster) had a highlight-reel goal and two assists. His first assist was a beautiful pass to a streaking Dan Boyle after Colorado decided they could do a full change with the puck still in the zone. Adam thought it was the worst line change he had ever seen. He might be right. Four out of the five Colorado players on the ice for the goal were in the neutral zone and had their back to the play.

- Hayes goal was a beautiful streak from his own zone, through two defenders and around the keeper for an easy finish. Then he skipped a perfect pass through two defenders right on Carl Hagelin's stick for his go-ahead goal in the third. 24 points in 50 games, nothing to scoff at for a kid who is coming on late (nine points in his last 10 games) and was with Glass for a good chunk of the season.

- Mats Zuccarello -- who is becoming more expensive by the game -- scored an enormous goal after the Rangers killed off the five-on-three and continues to be solid. Rick Nash had another assist (four in the last two games now) and scored a giant goal himself in the third period. Derick Brassard had an assist. That line, by the way, is really getting the job done during this St. Louis and Derek Stepan slumpfest that's happening with the second line.

- Ryan McDonagh had a goal (empty net but whatever) and an assist. Kevin Klein played really well and had an assist. Marc Staal was very good. Dan Girardi was OK. I guess what I'm trying to say is the Rangers breakdowns defensivley happened with the forwards more than the defense.

- Don't look now, but Boyle's game is coming around. Four goals in seven games. His offensive numbers (eight goals and five assists in 37 games) aren't going to blow you away, but he finally looks fully healthy. And he has been an improvement on the power play. Those mitts on his goal by the way? Fantastic.

- J.T. "seriously, you're REALLY telling me I need players to be injured to be playing every night? Really???" Miller was good again last night. Had an assist on the Nash goal and crashed the net (pulling a defender) on the Carl Hagelin goal. Remind me again why he's not playing every night?

- And, of course, I need to go on a Glass tangent. This is the end of the recap so if you're sick of them just skip below to the comments. Glass was, once again, on the ice for another goal last night. I hate the +/- metric, and I think it's stupid, but he's a ludicrous -17 in 40 games. He has a single point on the season. He's a corsi anchor who is seeing his advanced metrics improved because Dominic Moore is so good. He took a bad penalty that extended Colorado momentum, didn't cover his man on the tying goal in the third and took another stupid penalty at the end of the game. All in just eight minutes of ice time! Had Miller done ONE of those three things he'd be gone and buried already. The Glass experiment needs to end and it needs to end right now. He's been horrible all year. He hasn't done a single thing to help this team win and he's a waste of $1.45 million dollars of precious cap space. Vigneault better get his head out of his rear and he better do it soon, because eventually these mistakes are going to cost the Rangers and it's going to become a bigger issue.

- Two points, yay!

Thoughts?