Rangers Report Blog

Ah, a headline that will be outdated in an hour and a half.

Got nothing. Well, except this: Callahan and Gaborik are playing tonight. Probably the same lineup as Monday, with Lundqvist in goal instead of Valiquette. Which means Voros gets Prucha’d (I love that verb).

Martin Brodeur (you guys know him) starts in goal for the Devils.

Enjoy the game.
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Update, 5:46 p.m.: Just got the tap from Dave Maloney. I’m going on the radio with him between the first and second periods, on 970-AM tonight.
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Update: 6:42 p.m.: Looks like Brashear will be prucha’d. He’s not in warmups. Voros is.

Good late morning. I’m trying to wrap up a few things so I can head to MSG for tonight’s game, which should be interesting given all the history, and given what the Rangers did (or didn’t do) Monday, and given the usual Avery-Brodeur and other assorted rivalry stuff that accompanies Rangers vs. Devils.

I’m sure you read yesterday that Mathieu Dandeneault is on a tryout at Hartford. Both Marian Gaborik and Ryan Callahan (flu) are expected to play tonight.

You can see video coverage of last night’s Lester Patrick awards ceremony—Mark Messier and Mike Richter were honored along with Jimmy Devellano—on NHL. com.

Another of the Class of ‘94, Adam Graves, takes questions on Rangers Radio with Jim Cerny today at noon.

Here are the official pregame notes for Devils-Rangers tonight.

Laurel here, and I think this is worth a new post. Still time left to listen here. As Carp said earlier…I

>p>I’m going to be a guest of The Mouth on his blogtalkradio show tonight around 9:15. The show runs from 9-11, and his other guest might interest you: Mitch Beck who blogs on the Hartford Wolfpack. If you haven’t heard The Mouth before, well, let’s just say he’s not your typical “radio” voice.

I’m looking forward to tomorrow’s game for two reasons. One, I’m going!

Two, it will be interesting to see what this game does to or for the Rangers, after their awful loss Monday to the Sharks.

Mostly I will be interested to see how Sean Avery plays against his old foil, you-know-who. I will be interested to see if this is the game where Avery becomes a difference-maker again. I am not blaming Avery for anything, not at all. In fact, he has been one of the more reliable Rangers so far. But I haven’t seen the guy who was a difference-maker in almost every game he played down the stretch last season. He has only four penalty minutes, to boot.

And I wonder if any of that is fallout from his benching for undisciplined penalties against Washington in the playoffs. I wonder if the fine line that John Tortorella has him walking is too fine a line for him to play the way he needs to play. I wonder if he needs to be more on the edge, needs to cross that line sometimes. And I wonder if the Rangers just have to live with the idea that he will cost you sometimes, but that the sometimes-over-the-line Avery is the really effective one.

Thoughts?
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The Captain talks about Lester Patrick. Mark Messier, who will receive the Lester Patrick service award along with Mike Richter and Jimmy Devellano, discusses Patrick and the game’s pioneers on NHL.com. Beware, though, if you go to the NHL.com home page, there’s a picture of The Beard (Paul Mara) and your favorite ex-Ranger Scott Gomez, celebrating a goal in Montreal’s first home win.
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I’m going to be a guest of The Mouth on his blogtalkradio show tonight around 9:15. The show runs from 9-11, and his other guest might interest you: Mitch Beck who blogs on the Hartford Wolfpack. Check it out by clicking here, or by pasting this link: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/Ranger-Crisis.

If you haven’t heard The Mouth before, well, let’s just say he’s not your typical “radio” voice.

If you’ve watched hockey seasons at all … in other words, if this isn’t your first season as a fan … then you should know this. Losing streaks sometimes start with poorly-played victories. The Rangers had won seven in a row, but the last three were nowhere near complete-game wins, and if you analyze each, they got worse. The bad play stretched and extended over longer periods of time in each. Then comes 7-3. It really ought to not be a surprise.

Likewise, sometimes a team will play better as it starts to come out of a tailspin. Maybe this one miserable loss will turn into two or three. But it also could be the best thing to happen that the next opponent is the Devils at home. Because it forces the Rangers to fix it quickly.

I was waiting for the official post-game notes and quotes, but never got them.

Some thoughts:

1) Starting Valiquette. I know a lot of you have a problem with that. But starting him at home against San Jose isn’t like starting him at Pittsburgh or at Detroit. If he can’t handle San Jose at home, then he can’t be the backup goalie, because Lundqvist has to have some games off … and what if Lundqvist ever got hurt? What if he had to miss a week down the stretch with the playoffs on the line? What if he had to miss a playoff game or two? Well, if Valiquette can’t handle the Sharks at home in October, how the heck should he be expected to handle those situations? You have to let him play some meaningful games, or get somebody else. Period.

2) All six defensemen stunk. Stunk to high heaven. I think five of the goals were scored from 10 feet and in, and each time nobody was put on his fanny, and on a few of them it was 2-on-1 down low, with the other defenseman nowhere in the picture. It’s easy to always blame Rozsival, but the Calder Trophy kid and everybody else, including Staal and Girardi, were dreadful.

3) The turnovers. My goodness. I know they want to be aggressive and take chances, but not reckless and careless. And that goes quadruple for the fourth line. If anybody should play it relatively safe, it has to be those guys in their limited minutes and with their limited ability. Donald Brashear? Horrible. Only Valiquette, and maybe Joe Girardi and Alfredo Aceves, had a worse night.

4) Do the Versus clowns think that we’re watching Versus because it’s Versus, or because that’s only place we can see the game? Because every time they say Versus, the more I promise I won’t watch Versus unless I absolutely have to. Their play-by-play guy makes Chip Carey sound like Vin Scully. And how does MSG Network not have some sort of postgame presence for a home game?

Here are the official game summary and event summary.

The last time the Rangers won eight in a row was 1974-75 … I think that was the team that lost to the Islanders on the J.P. Parise goal in overtime … and 1973-74. The team record is 10 in a row 1972-73 and in 1939-40.

Here’s your blank canvas for tonight.

Hope we do better numbers than the last time we went head-to-head with the Yankees.

See yas.

Whenever I think of San Jose, one thing in particular comes to mind: That trip where the Rangers, having a pretty good season as I recall, collapsed. Eric Lindros suffered a concussion (surprise) on a minor collision at center ice, near the boards; and Theo Fleury punched the Sharks’ mascot—he would meltdown further on that trip, “retire” during a game in Pittsburgh, and all of his demons would resurface.

I also think about San Jose being the outpost to which the Rangers banned Adam Graves, getting Mikael Samuelsson in the deal, then getting rid of Samuelsson, and letting Pavel Bure wear Graves’ No. 9.

Ugh.

Anyway, tonight comes a real test, against Dany Heatley, the almost-Ranger, and the boys, on Versus no less. Oh. joy!

Some of my brethren are reporting that Sean Avery is being moved to the second line, in place of Christopher Higgins, on a line with Chris Drury and Ryan Callahan. Maybe that will get all four of them going.

Also, Zipay and Gross reporting Steve Valiquette, off his shutout, will start in goal. I know that annoys some of you, but they have to find games for Valiquette to play and Lundqvist to sit during this Olympic year. It’s a fact of life. LQ will play against the Devils Thursday.

Over at NHL.com is this story: 100 things to know about the first 100 games of the season.

Here are the pregame notes, from the Rangers.

See yas later.

Sorry for the late post. Got home from Yankee Stadium well after 3 a.m. I felt like CCCP this morning, only without, you know, the vodka and the fun.

1) The defense corps, overall, seems to have adapted well to the Rangers’ new system, you’d have to say. It doesn’t hurt that they’ve added two young guys who can really play that game and move the puck, and who, by the way, are probably more responsible than Marian Gaborik for the suddenly dangerous power play. And what a difference the PP makes. So that’s nine goals for the D-men, most in the NHL.
2) Brandon Dubinsky’s really starting to look good. It’s funny, you put one superstar on a line with two guys who play hard and smart and, boom, you have a legit No. 1 line. Dubinsky was being criticized and his value questioned during his contract situation during training camp, and Vinny Prospal was lifted, at a bargain price, off the Tampa scrap heap. Together they give the Rangers a No. 1 line they didn’t have last year, when it was either Chris Drury or Scott Gomez centering the top line, and guys like Markus Naslund and later Sean Avery playing No. 1-line minutes.
3) But that makes you realize how great the great teams are. They have two Gaborik types on the top line, and guys like Dubinsky and Prospal on lines No. 2 and 3.
4) Henrik Lundqvist keeps getting set up and bowled down. Here’s this quote from John Tortorella, borrowed from The Daily News’ Michael Obernauer:
“I asked the refs in between periods, ‘What do you want us to do? What do you want the coaches to do in this type of situation when they’re not being called, when it’s not being enforced? We’re eventually going to have to protect him somehow, and we’re hoping that the refs do their job there. This is three games in a row that he’s been hit a couple of times.
“I don’t believe you need to protect him completely from being hit, but some of the hits that are coming on him right now, it’s ridiculous. Something has to be done, or we have to do it our way.”
Obernauer then interjects: “Fair enough, but after three games – two against the same opponent – what are they waiting for?”
5) Game No. 9 for Michael Del Zotto tomorrow. He’s probably staying, huh?
6) Last eight-game winning streak: 1974-75.

Here are the official game summary and event summary.

From the NYR:
NEW YORK RANGERS POST-GAME NOTES
October 17, 2009 – New York Rangers 4, Toronto Maple Leafs 1 (Game #8, Road #4)

• The Blueshirts defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs, 4-1, tonight at Air Canada Centre to improve to 7-1-0 overall, including a 3-1-0 mark on the road; the 7-1-0 record ties the best start through eight games in team history (1983-84).
• The Rangers have extended their winning streak to seven games, including three straight wins away from MSG; the seven-game winning streak is their longest since they won seven in a row during the 2005-06 season (Feb. 1 – Mar. 2).
• New York are currently tied for the league lead in goals per game (4.00 goals/game) and rank second in the NHL in goals against per game (1.88 goals against/game).
• Marian Gaborik tallied two assists in a team-high 21:21 of icetime; he has now registered at least one point in each of the Rangers eight games this season (six goals and 12 points), his longest point streak to begin a season in his career and best start through eight games since he recorded 13 points (five goals and eight assists) through eight to begin the 2002-03 season.
• Two Rangers defensemen notched a goal in tonight’s contest – Marc Staal recorded the game-winner at 4:36 of the second period and Michael Del Zotto registered a power play goal 71 seconds later; the New York defense corps currently leads the NHL in goals scored (nine).
• Brandon Dubinsky opened the game’s scoring with an unassisted goal at 16:00 of the first period, and finished the game with two points (one goal and one assist), a plus-two rating and 10 faceoff wins for a 63% (10-16) success rate.
• Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist made 34 saves to record his sixth straight win, his longest winning streak since he won seven in a row during the 2006-07 season (Mar. 17 to Apr. 1).
• Vinny Prospal recorded an assist on Del Zotto’s power play goal to extend his scoring streak to seven games (three goals and 11 points).
• Enver Lisin registered his first goal as a Ranger at 2:26 of the third period to complete the game’s scoring; Lisin’s goal was assisted by Wade Redden and Michal Rozsival, giving Rangers defensemen a total of 24 points on the season.
• The Blueshirts practice schedule for tomorrow, October 18, is 12:00 p.m. at the MSG Training Center.

• The Rangers return to action on Monday, October 19, when they will face-off against the San Jose Sharks at Madison Square Garden (7:00 p.m.); the game will be televised nationally on Versus and can be heard on 970 The Apple.

Closing in on gametime. Hope my radio is working in the pressbox at Yankee Stadium. Wish I was home on the couch with the laptop and a sandwich. Or in T.O.

I know some of you think Josh doesn’t exist, but he does, and he’s here at the Stadium, right next to me in the pressbox. See picture (PS, that’s Pete Abraham in the second row; he’s the blogfather who started all this LoHud blog stuff, but now he’s at the Boston Globe).

You might want to click on my name in the bio on the right side of the page. Sort of my nod to Josh. Also, I think I came up with a new verb. See below.

Tonight’s probable lineup, per Andrew Gross:
Vinny Prospal-Brandon Dubinsky-Marian Gaborik
Christopher Higgins-Chris Drury-Ryan Callahan
Sean Avery-Artem Anisimov-Ales Kotalik
Donald Brashear-Brian Boyle-Enver Lisin
Wade Redden-Matt Gilroy
Michael Del Zotto-Michal Rozsival
Marc Staal-Dan Girardi

Also, Lundqvist is in goal. It would appear Voros will be Prucha’d.

Here’s your blank canvas for the game. Please keep me posted. Rangers in 60 will be over before I get out of here. Heck, the Olympics might be over by the time I get out of here.