Rangers Rumble Out Of Gate, Sweep Bruins In Home and Home

[CamKneely]

After a delayed start to the season, which led to rampant rumors in the New York Times, the Rangers finally managed to play some games, beating the Boston Bruins 5-4 in Boston and 6-4 at home. In game one, Mario Lemieux dominated as usual with a hat trick, but some Boston players stole the spotlight from him as Mike Gartner scored 4 goals in the losing effort and Lemieux's bitter rival Wayne Gretzky had 3 assists. After the game Lemieux remarked "Yeah uh, I've been having some uh, back spasms, and they...uh...may or may not have affected the team missing some flights uh, getting tossed out of hotels and not being able to practice, uh but whatever, you guys write the stories, not me." Lemieux's wonky back led to such headlines as "Super Mario Not Earning Contract", "Mario Le-Pew", and "Lemieux Languishing". Lemieux responded to his critics, and Gretzky, with a 4 goal showing in front of the Garden crowd, leading to several curtain calls after he was announced as the number one star. The fickle fans of New York quickly forgot about his uncertain health. Petr Svoboda also endeared himself to the Garden faithful with a monstrous hit on Gretzky. As Bruins captain Mike Gartner crossed center ice, Svoboda read the play he was trying to make to Gretzky. As soon as Gartner passed toward him, Svoboda jetted into Gretzky, stealing the puck and knocking him over the glass and halfway into the Bruins bench, leading to a penalty. "I barely touched him!" remarked Svoboda, snickering.