It is no secret that in order for the Rangers to make the playoffs they need their star player to take them there. Jaromir Jagr, one of the most prolific players to ever step on the ice is mired in his worst statistical season of his life. I really can’t stand the critics who blast Jagr and declare that he does not want to play and has no heart. That is a bunch of crap. The bottom line is that Jagr is just having a difficult time putting the puck in the net right now. It has been 9 games since the Ranger Captain has lit the lamp but even without scoring, Jagr contributes in other ways.

Take the Montreal game from Super Bowl Sunday. Jags was held without a point but if it were not for his hard work to get in front of Canadiens goalie Cristobal Huet for a monstrous screen, Marc Staal’s shot would not have been kicked out right to Scott Gomez, who in turn had a wide open net to bring the Rangers back from a three goal deficit. Its plays like that where Jagr makes his mark. Everyone goes through scoring slumps in the league, it is a natural part of any sport but Jaromir is getting blasted for his cold streak because let’s face it, it has never happened to him before and no one is used to seeing number 68 with only 47 points in February.

If GM Glen Sather decides to trade Jagr it will without a doubt be one of the worst things this franchise has ever done and they have done some pretty dumb things in their long history. By trading Jagr, the Rangers will lose not only their Captain but they will lose their most valuable player. Night in and night out Jagr is covered by the opposing team’s top defenseman like no other player on the Rangers. Last week for example against the Ducks, Jagr did not have one single shift the entire game where he did not have Chris Pronger, Scott Niedermayer or Mathieu Schneider draping all over him. Those are three of the top defensemen in the NHL and that was just for one game.

Without Jagr’s presence on the ice it will be too easy for the opposition to shift their focus to Scott Gomez and Brendan Shanahan. If that were to happen, the Ranger’s offense would sputter so badly that Henrik Lundqvist would need to win every game 1-0 in a shootout for New York to have a chance. New York needs Jagr and Jagr needs New York, he doesn’t want to play anywhere else. He wants to bring the Stanley Cup back to Manhattan.

Yes, he needs to start producing for the Ranger’s to win but there are 23 games left and Jagr will explode just in the nick of time. Get your Jaggerbombs ready.

After thoroughly dominating the arch rival Philadelphia Flyers last night at the Wachovia Center, the Rangers head down the turnpike to battle another one of their division rivals, visiting the New Jersey Devils at the Prudential Center. The Flyers controlled the puck and tempo for the first 5 minutes of last night’s games as backup goalie Stephen Valiquette was forced to make some tough saves to keep Philadelphia off the board but after that it was New York who controlled the game.

Nigel Dawes got the scoring started for the Rangers when Chris Drury fed the speedy winger a perfect pass to spring him down the right side. Dawes faked a slap shot to get Flyer goalie Antero Nittymaki down to his knees and leaving an open net which Dawes hit to give the Rangers a 1-0 lead. It was a good sign for New York to see the third line and especially Drury to produce an early goal. It set the stage for a big night for the blue shirts.

A little bit later, the struggling Petr Prucha cashed in on a juicy rebound by Nittymaki on a perfect shot by Dan Girardi. It looked as if Girardi purposely fired a low softer slap shot to force a rebound for the crashing forward. After head Coach Tom Renney blistered his team in practice the day before, screaming for his forwards to get to the net, the guy who has built his reputation on doing this finally came through. Prucha has been disappointing so far this season but a goal like that could be just what he needs to snap out of his funk. Time will tell.

Chris Drury then scored a power play goal 23 seconds into the second period which took the air out of the Philly fans for good. With the goal and assist, Drury now should have his confidence back as he needs to continue to play this way night in and night out.

Valiquette, making just his seventh start this season, notched his first career shutout in the NHL by stopping 20 shots. “I’m pumped, yeah, but with a 4-0 win, we’re more excited about that as a team then a shutout for me, that’s for sure,” the goalie said. He will step aside tonight as The King will be back in net for the Devil game.

 The Rangers have now won 3 out of 4, a good start for the second half of the season. However, if the team can’t feed off of last night’s dominating win tonight against another one of their long time rivals, then it is all for naught.