Rangers Watch: BUF 1, NYR 2

It may have been the first time Chris Drury faced his former Buffalo teammates, but the storyline the night was the two goals from the unlikely five-man unit of Nigel Dawes, Brandon Dubinsky, Petr Prucha, Marc Staal, and Paul Mara. Those tallies proved to be enough to stay ahead of the sagging Sabres.

The Rangers have struggled with consistency all season. Tonight they turned out 60 minutes of quality effort and earned two very important points, putting them back in the eighth spot in the East.

Sabres coach Lindy Ruff, who has more whine than a wino, took exception to Brendan Shanahan's cross check to Clarke MacArthur in the dying seconds. The hit dumped MacArthur into the goal post; Shanahan wasn't penalized. Ruff is calling for a league review and suspension. He'd get farther worrying about his team's 10-game winless streak.

Update: Shanny answers back...

“I’ve got no problem with Lindy Ruff saying it was careless and reckless. I felt bad about that,” [Shanahan] said. “But Lindy saying that it was an intent to injure is careless and reckless on Lindy’s part. I know he wants to protect his players, but I think he should know me by now. He played against me. He’s coached against me for a number of years. So while it was careless and reckless, him throwing it out that it was an intent to injure was a stupid remark.”

- Rangers Report

Agreed. Sean Avery has gotten less attention for running goalies, and that's more likely to result in a future injury.

Recaps: Y!/AP, TSN Broadband