"Not for nothing, but the Rangers will take nothing-nothing down to the wire every time.

"It seemed like a grind the whole way, a game of hitting, blocking shots, coming down to the last shot," Dan Girardi, a rock on the blue line, said after another throwback Norris-type game. "That's our style of hockey.

"We'll take that any day."

The Rangers took last night's match, 1-0, over the Sabres when U.S. Olympian Ryan Callahan beat U.S. Olympian Ryan Miller for just his second career shootout goal in 10 tries after 65 minutes of scoreless hockey dominated for the most part by the grinders, the penalty-killers and by goaltenders Miller and Henrik Lundqvist."