The New York Rangers and Atlanta Thrashers played a scoreless first period at Madison Square Garden. The shots were 10-8 Rangers.
Thrashers-Rangers Scoreless After One
The Rangers are two points ahead of eighth-place Carolina, but a win would make their magic number to clinch a spot one point. Atlanta is playing out the string with no playoff hopes left, but they play the Rangers tonight and Carolina tomorrow, so their two performances in the span of 27 hours will have the utmost impact on which teams will make the playoffs.
New York was fierce out of the gate. Ondrej Pavelec was very good and weathered an early storm. Atlanta did not get a shot until 6:20 into the first period. Once they did, however, the Thrashers starting coming on in their own right, taking the game to the Rangers. Evander Kane came closest for the Thrashers or either team, hitting the post mid-way through the period, and then getting a break with less than 30 seconds to go, only to be denied by Henrik Lundqvist, who made a wonderful save.
The Rangers got a power play opportunity when Eric Boulton went off for interference at 12:42. The Thrashers killed it off easily, and may have had more possession than New York during the two minutes. The Rangers had two shots on the only man advantage situation of the period.
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