The Rangers Go Into Emergency Mode In Loss

During the New York Rangers-Minnesota Wild matchup last night, semi-pro goalie Santino Vasquez  started the game sitting on his couch, and ended it in gal for the Rangers."I live like two minutes away over the bridge. I just grabbed all my stuff and got down here."

Rangers starter Antti Raanta left the game with 6:11 remaining in the first period after a slap shot hit him in the forehead. Usual starter Henrik Lundqvist, was supposed to have the night off, had to step in.  Every NHL team is required to make an emergency backup goalie available to visiting teams. The Wild asked Vasquez a month ago to be the designated on-call man."I was just in here stretching, just hanging out, staying relaxed," he said. "I don't really get too nervous. I've been down here a lot. I would have been ready to play, that's for sure. I know they wouldn't have scored on me every shot." Lundqvist, allowed four goals on 31 shots.

The Rangers (19-10-4) have not been able to string together a pair of wins in a month."I thought we were right there for two periods," Vigneault said. "But they got that goal to make it 3-1 and obviously after that, we didn't manage the puck real well and they got quite a few looks."

The Rangers are on the road against the Winnipeg Jets tonight at 8:00.