Sunday, November 2, 2008

Zherdev's Zesty Backhander Zings Thrashers





Another game, another fairly sluggish start and more of the lax puck management that caused them problems in the first period on Long Island.

They let the Thrashers jump out to a 1-0 lead before Markus Naslund zipped a wrister past Kari Lehtonen at 12:35. 


So, they continued the recent trend of a sleepy open followed by an awakening team doing enough to snuff out a lesser one.  Even so, there are some big positives to pull from the game.

Naslund was again a factor--for the fifth game in a row--as he was able to create in the offensive end for himself and for Chris Drury.

Most impressive of all, however, was the artistry of of Nik Zherdev.  

The kid played extremely well defensively.  His full-on sprint and dive to deny Slava Kozlov a breakaway was simply beautiful and he also swiped the puck before roofing a nasty backhander to tie the game at two.  His speed and skill helped create Dan Girardi's game-winner as well.  

Is there anyone out there still not convinced about the trade that brought Zherdev to Broadway?  I think even Fedor Tyutin would say the Rangers got a steal.  Awesome.


[Via ESPN]

KEY RANGERS:
Nikolai Zherdev 1-1-2 | +2 Filthy is the only word that comes to mind
Dan Girardi 1-0-1 | +1 20:58 TOI; 2 hits
Markus Naslund 1-0-1 | +1



Partially because I don't have a lot more to offer up on this game and partially because he reeks of greatness, another video clip of Nik Zherdev doing this thing:

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