Rangers 4, Islanders 1: Two days after having their dramatic rally ruined in a shootout, the Rangers crushed the Islanders, 4-1, and continued their surge at the season's most critical times. They drew Wade Dubielewicz in goal -- Rick DiPietro had missed too much time following the death of his grandmother -- but most goalies would have had trouble Thursday. The Rangers led this one 89 seconds into the game on a Brendan Shanahan goal.......

Magic 118, Knicks 92: If the Knicks can't get motivated for games when they haven't played the night before, what makes anyone think they would appear energized for the second half of a back-to-back? One night after losing at Atlanta, New York put forth a token effort and even led by five in the second quarter, but it then fell back to Earth and got crushed. Orlando's Dwight Howard dominated the Knicks -- who were......

Rangers 4, Sabres 3: Not only did the Rangers exact some revenge for their defeat in last season's playoffs, but they improved their chances of qualifying for this postseason. Sean Avery broke a third-period tie and put the Rangers two points ahead of the Sabres in the race for a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. Jaromir Jagr, Brandon and Nigel Dawes also scored for the Rangers, who have picked up points in their last......

Photograph of the Devils' Zach Parise battling with the Hurricanes' Scott Walker along the boards of the Prudential Center by Bill Kostroun/APDevils 5, Hurricanes 1: To be fair, Carolina was without three of its best players, but even a full-strength Hurricanes team would have had trouble with the Devils. New Jersey allowed only 22 shots the entire game and blew by Carolina for its seventh win in nine games. That makes them tied for......

The Rangers are going to have to have a lot more weekends like this one if they are going to make the playoffs. Fresh off of Saturday’s shellacking of Buffalo, New York outlasted San Jose in a physical contest 3-1. Ryan Callahan continued to show the club that he belongs in New York with two goals in the contest. Chris Drury continued his resurgence with his seventh goal in nine games as the Rangers beat......

Rangers 5, Canadiens 3: Fans who tired of FOX's marathon Super Bowl pregame show may have migrated to NBC to catch this inspired effort by the Rangers. Playing in Montreal -- did any of them get to watch the Super Bowl, or even want to watch? -- the Blueshirts scored five unanswered goals after trailing, 3-0, early in the second period. Chris Drury had the go-ahead goal, and Scott Gomez, Michal Rozsival, Martin Straka and......

Knicks 89 Philadelphia 76ers 81: The Knicks enjoyed a team effort in defeating another struggling Eastern Conference team, the Sixers. Five players scored in the double digits, led by Jamal Crawford's 18 pounts and Zach Randolph's 16 points and 14 rebounds. Coach Isiah Thomas said, "We have good shot distribution, everyone feels part of the game, everyone gets to touch the basketball." Late in the fourth quarter, the Knicks' 10 point lead was cut......

You may not have realized it, but some of the other local teams had games Sunday and some of them were pretty important. Take for instance the Rangers who lost 3-1 to Boston, giving the Bruins the home-and-home sweep over the weekend. New York played well offensively, but made some stupid mistakes in the defensive zone and paid the price. They are in the thick of the playoff race in a wide-open Eastern Conference,......

Some L.A. Lakers fan (we assume) came up with a brilliant plan to psych out Phoenix Suns guard Leandro Barbosa last week. Barbosa fell victim to a hoax where his hotel gave him a message saying that Suns GM Steve Kerr wanted to meet him to discuss a trade to the New York Knicks. Jeez, that's maybe the meanest prank call we've ever heard! The Brazilian player sought out assistant coach and mentor Dan D'Antoni......

Penguins 4, Rangers 1: Don't look now, but the Knicks aren't the only Madison Square Garden team in last place. Jaromir Jagr scored the Blueshirts' lone goal against his former team. The rest of the team seemed awed by Evgeni Malkin, who had a hat trick and led the Penguins to an easy victory. New York has 47 points in 46 games, and, despite being a game over .500, sits in the unenviable ninth spot......

Knicks 89, Pistons 65: Fans leaving Madison Square Garden on Sunday night had to be asking each other, "Where are the Knicks and what have they done with them?" Normally New York outscores its opponents by 18 in a quarter only when it is down by 25 or so. But the Knicks' 28-10 advantage in the third period helped them put this game out of reach from one of the Eastern Conference's elite teams. Zach......

Nets 96, Magic 95: Vince Carter won this game with two clutch free throws at the end, but it was former Magic Darrell Armstrong who provided the biggest of several sparks off the bench. He had 13 points on 6-of-7 shooting and a critical hand on defense during Orlando's last possession. The Nets outscored the Magic, 31-18, in the fourth quarter and have now won five of six games. If they keep this up,......

Senators 5, Islanders 2: Any time Wade Dubielewicz is seeing significant time in goal for the Islanders, things can't be going that well. He made 32 saves -- but allowed five goals -- as the Senators romped past New York and snapped the Isles' three-game winning streak. Dubielewicz played because Rick Di Pietro sprained his ankle in Wednesday's win over Toronto. The No. 1 goalie is day to day -- aren't we all? -- and......

Lakers 95 Knicks 90: The light bulb has finally gone on for Isiah and he admitted after the game that “maybe we have the wrong guys starting right now.” Why it took this long to click is another question, but Sunday offered definitive proof that changes in the lineup need to be made. The Lakers cruised to a 70-45 lead and then had to hang on against a Knicks’ rally that happened with the unit......

Nets 107, Heat 103: Udonnis Haslem forced overtime with an off-balance shot at the end of regulation, but the Nets shook it off. The overtime wasn't pretty, but it's the results that count. Richard Jefferson and Vince Carter had their moments in the son, but Malik Allen had 18 points (on 9-of-11 shooting) and tormented the team with which he started his NBA career. At last place in the NBA's Eastern Conference, Miami isn't the......

Knicks 94 Nets 86: Stop the presses, the Knicks have a winning streak against the Nets and this win came with Jason Kidd in the lineup. Saturday night went so well that the crowd never had to unleash the “fire Isiah” chants or anything else directed towards the Knicks’ management. Jamal Crawford led the way with 32 points and Zach Randolph added 20. Even Eddy Curry looked interested with 23 points and 9 rebounds,......

How many times this season are we going to say that the Knicks have hit an all time low? It seems that every couple weeks the team drops another disgraceful notch, and this weekend was the latest. No one knew how the team would react to the death of Stephon Marbury's father last week, but the sense was that they had come together as a unit out of the tragedy, and many might have thought......

Rangers 5 Ottawa 2: The Senators may be in a funk of late, but they still have the best record in the Eastern Conference. That may not last for too much longer as the Rangers beat Ottawa soundly Saturday afternoon, scoring three goals in the first period and forcing a goaltending change. Everything seemed to work for New York as the power play scored twice, Brendan Shanahan had two goals and Blair Betts even got......

Mark Messier will forever be remembered for delivering the Stanley Cup to the Rangers in 1994, his famous guarantee before Game Six of the Eastern Conference Finals that year and a tendency to cry in public. The captain had his number retired by both Edmonton and New York and is the only player ever to captain two teams to a Stanley Cup victory and he was second all-time in points scored in NHL history. Scott......

Celtics 112, Nets 101: Early indications have the road to the NBA Finals going through Boston. If the Nets entertain any hopes of becoming a legit contender, they'll have to find a better measuring stick. As if the Nets didn't have enough concerns about Vince Carter, their star left the game in the third quarter with an ankle injury. At least he had 17 points when he left. Beating up on the Eastern Conference may......

Nets 112, Bulls 103 (OT): Despite blowing a 15-point, lead the Nets managed to win their 2007-08 opener against the Bulls at home. Antoine Wright had 14 points in the fourth quarter and overtime. His supporting cast included Richard Jefferson (29 points and 10 rebounds) and Vince Carter (24 points). The Nets and the Bulls both hope to move to the top tier of Eastern Conference playoff teams, and Day 1 was encouraging for New......

The Knicks, a team David Stern described as “not a model of intelligent management,” comes into the 2007-08 NBA season with some reasons for optimism - on the court. Zach Randolph and Eddy Curry will be a tough 1-2 punch in the low post while a healthy Jamal Crawford and Quentin Richardson should combine with Stephon Marbury to provide a solid perimeter game. David Lee will give plenty of quality minutes and rebounds for......

Ottawa 4 New Jersey 1: It’s been 25 years since the original Colorado Rockies moved to New Jersey and Wayne Gretzky called them a “Mickey Mouse organization”. That team struggled to establish an identity in an area with a historic franchise and, at the time, a franchise that was the best in the NHL, but they managed a 3-3 tie in their first game in their new building. The current Devils are one of the......

Mets 2, Reds 1: On a night when the Mets honored one member of the Baseball Hall of Fame, a future member inched closer to the 300 win milestone. It was Ralph Kiner Night at Shea Stadium and the Mets announced that their broadcast booth at Citi Field will bear the broadcaster's name. The TV booth at Shea is already named after Kiner, who played in the Majors for 13 seasons, mostly with the Pittsburgh......

Devils 3, Senators 2 (2OT): Things appeared to be going according to plan for the Devils. They jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in a game they needed to avoid an 0-2 deficit in the Eastern Conference semifinals. That plan got broken when Dany Heatley tied the game with 26.4 seconds left. The first overtime was ripe with chances -- tired skaters lead to open shots -- but the Devils needed to the......

Buffalo 5 Rangers 2: The Sabres showed the depth and speed that made them the top seed in the Eastern Conference Wednesday night. Buffalo skated circles around the Rangers as they built 3-0 and 4-1 leads in the game behind a relentless attack. Henrik Lundqvist kept the Rangers in the game with 32 saves, but Ryan Miller was also up to the task. Miller made several great saves when it mattered and the Rangers......

A's 5, Yankees 4: After all the work the Yankees did to outlast A's starter Rich Harden and hold the not-so-potent Oakland offense in check, Mariano Rivera gave up a three-run walk-off homer to Marco Scutaro (he's a former Met) and the Yankees lost a series in the Bay Area. They could have easily swept the three games, but a tough extra-inning loss Friday night and an even tougher loss Sunday made them settle......

For some inexplicable reason, the NHL has scheduled all three local clubs to start their playoff chase tonight and to overlap with each other most nights. Because of that, fans of the various teams should get to know this website to figure out where they can watch the games. As for the actual series, the Islanders have clearly drawn the toughest test. Buffalo started out the season on fire and hasn’t let up, earning the......

Yankees 8, Twins 2: After not getting a decent -- much less quality -- start from any member of their rotation, the Yankees gladly accepted Carl Pavano's seven innings of two-run ball. Alex Rodriguez hit his fifth home run, but that came after the affair was wide open. This is the type of game the Yanks hope to play more of this season, but they won't get to face Sidney Ponson every night. And here's......

Mets 10, Cardinals 0: John Maine threw seven innings of one-hit baseball as the Mets capped a one-sided three-game sweep of the Cardinals. This doesn't come close to erasing the disappointment of last season's playoff loss -- only a win in a grudge match would take care of that -- but the wins have gotten the Mets off to a good start. They've also assuaged the fears that the Mets rotation is too old or......