Erik Christensen rides in on his white horse to replace the injured captain and single-handedly (or single-legedly) snap the three-game losing streak. Or not. Here are the pre-game notes, courtesy of the New York Rangers: NEW YORK RANGERS at MONTREAL CANADIENS Saturday, Feb. 5, 2:00 p.m. Bell Centre • Montreal,... Read More →
Here’s the announcement from the Rangers: NEW YORK RANGERS TRANSACTION UPDATE New York, February 3, 2011 – New York Rangers President and General Manager Glen Sather announced today that forward Kris Newbury has been assigned to the Connecticut Whale of the American Hockey League (AHL). Newbury, 28, has registered one… Read More →
John Tortorella: “I don’t think there’s any one best thing. Obviously, Gabby getting untracked in a game here hopefully will help his confidence. Our penalty killing I thought was the biggest point early in the game. It’s something we didn’t want to do—we talked about that before the game, trying… Read More →
Where to start? OK, let’s start with the line brawl. Why? Because the game was pretty bad, because the Flyers were all yapping about wanting to get back at Sean Avery, etc., and how they had to show restraint because they didn’t want to take a penalty. 1) Normally, I’d… Read More →
Marian Gaborik: On being benched for a stretch of the second and third periods: “Yeah (was surprised). At times, I think last year, once it happened (vs. Atlanta).” “Obviously I haven’t produced much lately (no goals in eight games), obviously in these type of games where it’s a big game…. Read More →
First, let me say that the renovation of MSG has really begun now. You’ll see it when you walk in. The foodcourt on the sixth floor directly behind the visitors bench is completely walled off. There’s stuff happening everywhere. Going to be very interesting to watch how they do this… Read More →
I’ll get to the pre-game notes later, and I’ll be headed for MSG this afternoon. Until then, I’ve got one word for you: CONCENTRATION. 1) I believe concentration is at the root of being good or bad on faceoffs. I really do. Some are naturally better than others, and some… Read More →
This is some nice little run here by your New York Rangers. OK, they lost to Montreal, and didn’t play their usual grind-it-out game that night. Imagine if they had. Imagine what this would-be five-game winning streak might look like? So now the Rangers have Western pelts of Vancouver, Dallas,... Read More →
This one was bad. The Rangers played a stinker. Again, you can’t argue with the effort, but there were errors in all three zones. So home they go with one goal and a single point in two games in Florida. Thoughts: 1) This may have been the worst game of… Read More →
Don’t want to be a broken record, and I really don’t believe in moral victories, but I thought the Rangers played pretty darn well in this loss, better than they’d played in their previous two games (which were wins). And that’s a darn good point, despite the one that got… Read More →
If you didn’t watch this game and just saw the score and the boxscore, you might think it was an impressive beatdown. I didn’t think it really was. I thought the first period was lousy, and I didn’t think the second was miles better. But the Rangers did get going,... Read More →
Another one of those see-what-you’re-made-of wins last night. I won’t repeat all the stuff about resilience, and about playing to the end, and sticking to the system, and all that. Even though, it seems, every time they win and even most of the time when they lose, they are all… Read More →
John Tortorella: On these games being as important as wins over Washington and Pittsburgh: “Absolutely. You’re not going to play error-free or disciplined or just dead-on games. The amount of games you play in this league, it just doesn’t happen. So you’ve got to find a way to win these… Read More →
Hey, this is how my day is going. Caught an earlier train than usual, but it was slow and completely packed, including idiots on the phone. No prob. Still plenty of time for a brisk walk to the Garden. But I get there, still early, and the World’s Most Terrible… Read More →
Take the win, run to the airport. Because for two periods, it was men vs. boys. Not domination, but did the Pittsburgh goalie make a single important save until several minutes into the third? But these boys don’t care if they’re playing men. They don’t care if they’re down. They… Read More →
Big game against the angry Pens, coming off a loss in Philly last night which ended their 12-game winning streak (their first loss since the Rangers beat them at the new Igloo a month earlier). So we get to see Sid the Skid, Malkin, Fleury and that piece of carcillo… Read More →
Now that the Penguins’ 12-game winning streak is over (they hadn’t lost since the Rangers beat them a month ago, until last night’s game in Philly) I wonder if the mustachioed noted slew-footer, Sid “The Skid” Crosby, on a 19-game point streak, goes to the razor. There’s a fair amount… Read More →
We expect Chris Drury to play tomorrow in Pittsburgh, and I’m sure those guys who are at practice today will be talking to the captain about his return. But I want to get the discussion going ahead of the pack. Here’s my take: I know he’s not the most popular… Read More →
Thoughts: 1) I know it was a little thing, but I thought it was an important piece of the game. With 4.8 seconds left in the first, Rangers up 1-0, Lundqvist was forced to cover a puck in the crease. Faceoff in the right dot. Ovechkin in the trigger position… Read More →
Quotes to follow. Just want to get this out there first, in case they didn’t cover it on the post-game show. Drury has been cleared to return and wanted to play tonight. He will play in Pitt Wednesday. “It’s not going to be the kids,” John Tortorella said. “I’ll tell… Read More →
