Just wanted to give you this blank slate. I’m at the second of three football games and not freezing (yet). Not bad out.

Keep me posted with some score updates later, OK?

Here are the pregame notes.

But they sure shouldn’t be tired, and with all the practice time afforded by a schedule of three games in the past 13 days, they should surely be prepared.

Because now, tonight, starts a busy stretch, and there will be more of these coming in this condensed Olympic-year schedule. Tonight against Florida, they begin a period of five games in eight days, six in 10, including a three-game road trip and a Turkey Day in Florida.

It starts with the Panthers, who have won four of their last five games (the only loss was to L.A. in a shootout), including wins in Boston, in Buffalo and Friday night in Detroit. Then Columbus comes in Monday. The Jackets have won three in a row and are six over .500.

The Rangers hit the road for a rematch with the Panthers in Sunrise Wednesday, John Tortorella and assistant Mike Sullivan return to Tampa on Friday, and then comes a whopper of a home-and-home with the Penguins, next Saturday (third road game in four nights) in Pitt and the following Monday at the Garden. Whew!
————————————
My friend John Dellapina of the NHL (formerly of the Daily News) always said, “when in doubt, write the schedule.” So, Dell, the above post is for you. I also wanted to thank the Blogmamma (did I spell that right?) for stepping up this week, helping out, cheering me up, and pretty much doing as much as one can do via e-mail.
————————————
I’ve got a football (state semifinals) triple-header today in Kingston. So I’ll attempt to put up a pregame post from there. Enjoy the game, behave yourselves as always, and I’ll check in later.

Steve Zipay reports from practice that Ales Kotalik is the newest autioner for the job of the Mairan Gaborik-Vinny Prospal left winger. Kotalik is naturally a right-winger.

No doubt that Enver Lisin has lost some of his speed due to the fractured foot.

And yesterday it was reported that Chris Drury is starting to feel better. However, having been through LaFontaine, Lindros, Beukeboom, Richter, et al, we all know not to jump to conclusions on concussions, right?

Also, the site tells me, the new Rangers Yearbook will be available at MSG soon, but you can pre-order it now. Why did that little tidbit catch my eye? Duh….

See, this is what you get when there’s no game, no news and me in charge :)

So next week has to be better with all those games, starting Saturday, then Monday, then Wednesday, then Friday, then Saturday, then Monday! Hallelujah!

It has to be better for me, too, because this week was difficult on a personal level, and on a blog level. It really was. I cannot wait for it to be over.

So today I’m taking a day mostly away from the blog. I have another assignment this afternoon/evening, and I need some time away from everything else until then. See youse later.
——————————-

PS, you should know that I talked to Jane McManus yesterday. She’s doing great, freelancing. And she misses you Boneheads. She really does. Maybe we’ll get her back on here for a guest post one day. Also I have invited the Great SamWeinman to stop by whenever—it’s open-ended. And somebody was asking a few weeks ago about Walt MacPeek, the former  long-time Rangers’ beat guy for the Newark Star Ledger who’s now retired. He visits here, and he said he’d be interested in sharing some views once in a while, too. He’s a guy with a great wit, with loads of stories and never short of opinion, so that should be interesting when it happens.
————————————-

Meant to link to Tortorella’s post-game from Tuesday, since the game was on Versus. Here it is.

Anyway, here are my first-quarter report cards. As always I’d love to hear what you think, or how you’d grade them:

Michael Del Zotto: A ...He’s going to get stronger and a little meaner and he might be a star.
Dan Girardi: C ... Is is possible that the Staal-Girardi pair was a product of Tom Renney’s system?
Wade Redden: B ... Fits much better in this system, is playing with some passion; but will never earn that type of salary.
Marian Gaborik: A ... Absolutely as advertised, and remained upright for most of the first quarter. Where would they be without him?
Ales Kotalik: B ... Probably could do a little more, but that shot has given the Rangers a legit PP pointman they didn’t have at all last year.
Sean Avery: C ... Don’t know if the benching in last year’s playoffs put too much of a leash on him, or what. I do know that the Avery Rules, as called by almost all officials, are ridiculous.
Brandon Dubinsky: C ... Got the big contract, and didn’t produce before the injury. He’s not a first-line center, but he should be more than he was.
Marc Staal: C ... I really don’t think he has the offensive skills to ever be the Norris many suggested he’d be. But could be a defensive stud, and also should be more than he’s been.
Vinny Prospal: A ... The bargain of the year, if not the Glen Sather regime. Hope he doesn’t burn out with all the minutes and responsibility.
Christopher Higgins: D ... Doesn’t appear he will get a sniff of the 20 goals he was supposed to bring, and he’s not good enough away from the puck to not score.
Brian Boyle: B ... Has played his role very well, been maybe a little tougher than expected, kill penalties, and is tied with Higgins, Drury and Avery with two goals.
Chris Drury: D ... Unless he was hurt before the concussion, there’s no excuse for the production he’s provided, not to mention the faceoffs or the plus/minus.
Ryan Callahan: C ... The alternate captain has only lately begun to play the way he did last year. And his offense has dissappeared too.
Michal Rozsival: D ... Just took two steps backward from a mediocre year last season. That contract is like an anchor.
Aaron Voros: C ... If he could cut out some of the offensive-zone penalties, it would be a B. Say what you want, he plays with passion and fearlessness.
P.A. Parenteau: A ... In a small sampling, he’s produced. Looks fine on the PP.
Artem Anisimov: B ... This kid will be an NHLer for a long time, with size, good skill, and hockey sense.
Enver Lisin: B ... Now on the top line, must produce. His speed suffered with the hairline foot fracture.
Donald Brashear: D ... Why did they pay this guy $1.4 M?
Matt Gilroy: B ... It’s only his fifth year of playing defense at any level, and the NHL is a tough place for learning on the job. Can sure skate, though.

Henrik Lundqvist: C ... Needs to play like an elite goalie more often, and make the big save late in games, especially with this offense in front of him.
Steve Valiquette: B ... Had the one shutout, and is 2-2. Really shouldn’t expect much more from someone who plays so rarely.

John Tortorella: C ... Needs to find a way to get more offense within his system, needs to get his players to better understand that system and not play reckless hockey, needs to get guys like Drury and Avery going.

Glen Sather: B ... Brought in Gaborik, Gilroy, Prospal, Kotalik, Lisin, got rid of Gomez and a lot of dead weight, and drafted most of the kids on the roster. On the other hand, saddled himself with the bad contracts, insulted fans with the Brashear signing, has only one legit first-line player, no shut-down defensemen. But the grade is based on this first quarter, so it’s not bad.

Tortorella said that Gilroy was at fault for the third goal, and I don’t disagree. Redden was trapped in a bad spot, and also I thought Lundqvist might have made the save.

“It’s a little bit of inexperience on Gilly,” Tortorella said. “With Reds (Redden) there, Gilly’s got to pull out. He does a good enough job getting back because he’s such a good skater, but he, in that situation—and it’s inexperience—even if he takes a penalty he can’t allow that shot to be taken. I thought he had an opportunity to stop it. But we’ve got a kid there that is still understanding some of those things. You can tell he doesn’t want to take a penalty, but at that point in time I’d soon kill a penalty because we can’t have that type of shot. The first part of it is he needs to realize that he needs to pull out with Reds stuck on the boards there a little bit. It’s inexperience. It’s a bump, and he’ll learn from it.”

Redden took some responsibility, too.

“There’s a battle along the board and they just try to flip it up and I had it. I kind of missed whacking it down with my hand. I knew there was a guy coming, and I kind of turned around and it took a bounce … and they end up getting a break off it. That time of the game, no matter what, you’ve got to be extra sure and not have those things happen, be caught on the wrong side of a guy. They made us pay.”

I doubt that Versus showed this, but when the buzzer sounded, Lundqvist swung his stick downward like an ax and broke it on the ice. 

“We did enough good things tonight to win this game,” Lundqvist said. “They scored a late goal there and it’s tough for us. We worked really well, I think, and made some great plays. ... We don’t have to adjust a lot. We’re right there.”

“I think I could be more aggressive. I saw him going for the shot and I was a little bit more on my heels than on my toes there. As a goalie you want to come up with a big save there at a crucial time of the game. I didn’t.”

NEW YORK RANGERS POST-GAME NOTES AND QUOTES

November 17, 2009 – New York Rangers 2, Washington Capitals 4 (Game #21, Home #10)
Here are the official game summary and event summary.
• The Rangers were defeated by the Washington Capitals, 4-2, in front of a sold-out crowd (18,200) at Madison Square Garden to drop to 11-9-1 (23 pts.) on the season and 6-4-0 at home.
• New York have sold out 166 consecutive regular season games, dating back to Nov. 5, 2005 against New Jersey; the last regular season non-sellout was Oct. 31, 2005 vs. Montreal (17,697); including the playoffs, the Rangers sellout streak is now at 180 games.
• The Rangers are now 14-5-0 in their last 19 regular season games at MSG, and have out-scored their opponents, 65-40, during the stretch.
• Marian Gaborik opened the game’s scoring at 1:16 of the first period, and added a power play goal in the third to post his ninth multi-point effort of the season; he has recorded a point in 17 of 19 games this season, including nine goals and 15 points in his last 10 contests; Gaborik also logged a team-high 24:03 of icetime.
• Sean Avery tallied one power play assist and registered three hits in 16:03 of icetime; he now has five goals and eight points in eight career regular season contests against Washington.
• Rangers defensemen Dan Girardi and Marc Staal each recorded an assist on Gaborik’s goal at 1:16 of the first period; New York defensemen have now combined for 45 points (13 goals and 32 assists) this season.
• P.A. Parenteau recorded an assist on Gaborik’s power play goal at 8:23 of the third period; the assist was his first as a Ranger.
• Ryan Callahan registered five hits in 21:21 of icetime; he currently leads the NHL with 82 hits on the season.
• Christopher Higgins led the team with seven hits, and won seven of 13 faceoffs (54%) in 18:00 of icetime.
• The Rangers next practice is scheduled for Thursday, Nov. 19 (11:00 a.m.), at the MSG Training Center.
• The Rangers return to action on Saturday, Nov. 21, when they will face-off against the Florida Panthers at Madison Square Garden (7:00 p.m.); the game will be televised live on MSG Network and can be heard on 1050 ESPN Radio.
POST-GAME QUOTES
John Tortorella on tonight’s game… “I thought, for most of the game there, we played.  Obviously our biggest weakness is that we are not getting any secondary scoring.  We played in surges at times.  We held them to 11, 12 scoring chances.  We just aren’t creating enough with our secondary scoring.”
Henrik Lundqvist on tonight’s game… “You have to be positive and you have to think you’ll turn this around. We had a big win the other night and we just need to have a couple in a row and get going. Now we’re back to square one again. We have a couple of days off between games and we have to make sure we’re ready for the next one.” 
Marian Gaborik on tonight’s game…  “We’ve got to capitalize and try and score on those hardworking, grinding plays. We just have to cut down on taking penalties and go from there. We didn’t generate a lot of shots, that was a problem there. We came back in the third, we had some good chances down low and we need to keep the puck down low more often.”
Wade Redden on creating offensive chances… “I think a lot of things stem from getting the puck in their zone.  It starts from our end, where we get good passes, chip it in and forecheck.  It is not just shots, it is creating momentum. I think we just have to rely on the simple little plays to create chances for ourselves.”

Repost from earlier: No Knuble tonight. No Semin, either. Behave yourselves. See yas in the comments.
——————-

Oh, yeah. New poll on the right side of the blog.

Yesterday we were talking about Hall of Famers in the comments section. Well, here’s one that won’t be debated. Wonder if he’ll pull a Favre around the trade deadline, though. Why not? I’m sure he could make some money and help some team down the stretch and into the playoffs.
—————————-

With this being Game 20, I will probably do a column about the quarter-pole of the season, and maybe do a report card tomorrow. I will update here pregame if there is anything newsworthy. Enjoy.
——————————
Ooops. Game 21. So the quarter-season mark is at 10:00 of the second period. No Knuble tonight. No Semin.

Behave.