Garden Cheers

With the Rangers up a stunning 2-0 in the series, Broadway Blue looks to take game 3 tonight at what will be a sold out Madison Square Garden. Yes, Rangers fans should be excited that they took the first two on the road, are on a five game winning streak, and that only thirteen percent of teams have comeback from being down 2-0 in NHL playoff history. However, it is tough to count the Capitals out when they have the greatest player in the game as well as arguably a top five forward in Alex Semin, who will both be absolutely relentless tonight as their backs are against the wall. With this said, how can the Rangers prevent Ovechkin and company from coming back in this series.

As hockey fans know, it all starts from the back, and star goaltender Henrik Lundqvist is at the top of his game. They will also need some sort of offense, not the measly on goal they put in in game 2 from their big guns Markus Naslund, Nik Antropov, and Chris Drury. A solid defensive game from young blue liners Marc Staal and Daniel Girardi will have a definite impact on the game too. With all this however, the biggest influence in tonight's game will be the atmosphere that Madison Square Garden brings every single night to the ice. The Rangers are 26-11-4 at home and the Garden faithful defines what home ice means to playoff hockey. All in all, it is certain that Ranger fans will not put today's incident of Ovechkin sitting in on Rangers practice behind them.

This picture is from hockey.ballparks.com