Deadline Day...

The Rangers should be sellers this year on deadline day but of course now that they have won 3 straight... they won't be. This team is not one or two players away from a Stanley Cup so why bother buying? The answer is the raising price of tickets at the Garden. They simply have to make the playoffs even though they'll get knocked out in the first round.

If you're a Ranger fan like me you can feel where this is going. They'll pick up a Pavol Demitra or some other scrub like that and try to squeak into the playoffs. This year they won't make it and if they do it's a waste of time.

Ryan Callahan's stock will never be higher than it is right now. Would trade him provided the team involved takes Wade Redden in the deal? I might but then again, I'd rather not see Glen Sather rescue his cap disaster by trading away the one guy who gives his all on every shift, every night.

Updates throughout....

** Rangers get 28-year-old F Kris Newbury from Detroit for 23-year-old F Jordan Owens... Awesome!

(Sather Really Knows What He's Doing!)

*** Parenthesis means sarcasm from now on

The Rangers face the Penguins tonight in Pittsburgh. They're coming off a very disappointing 2-1 l0ss to Nashville the other night.

"We need to play hard. I'm not going to get into defining how. That's between the team and I," Coach John Tortorella said yesterday. They haven't seemed to listen to him all year. Let's see if the latest pep talk does anything.

The hits keep coming from GM Glen Sather as he continues to show he doesn't understand the value of players. $1.4 a year Donald Brashear has been placed on waivers. He's been utterly useless and still has another year on his deal, meaning it's not likely anyone picks him up.

*** Update: Brashear clears... (big surprise)

The Olympic roster freeze kicks in at noon today and the Rangers should be sellers. They're going nowhere and I'm not sure what anyone would want from this team other than Brandon Dubinsky, Henrik Lundqvist, Ryan Callahan, Marc Staal or Marian Gaborik and it's not likely any of them move. I would give up Dubinsky to a team provided they take Wade Redden or Chris Drury. They don't even have to give anything back... just take them.

We'll see if Sather can fix more of his mistakes today... but don't hold your breath. Updates throughout...

Notes:
The swelling in Gaborik's leg is down. He will test it in practice to see if he can go tonight. It doesn't seem likely being that he has 21 stitches in his leg... This will be the last regular season appearance for the Rangers at the Igloo.

The Kovalchuk Kompetition...

There's are 5 or so teams that seem to be in on the Ilya Kovalchuk trade talks. The Rangers may be one of them and Devils may be another. The Islanders were also talked about. Thrashers GM Don Waddell wants NHL ready players and possibly a prospect or draft pick for Kovalchuk. Complicating matters, no team would can negotiate with Kovalchuk prior to him being part of their team. Quite a gamble considering he could just walk at the end of the season.

Kovalchuk already has turned down a 12 year deal for over $101 million according to a statement just released by Waddell:
http://tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=308935

TSN's Bob McKenzie is also reporting the Russian scoring machine wants the league max of $11.2 a year. That brings us to the Rangers and the salary cap disaster built by GM Glen Sather. The way I see it, if Chris Drury ($3 million tops), Wade Redden ($3 million) and Michal Rozsival ($2 million) were making what they should, that's over $10 million to work with. Would have been more if they let Rozsival go, which any team would have done with a player his age coming off hip surgery. But they didn't... so where's the money for this guy?

If we continue to dream, let's come up with a scenario. Waddell would demand one of Dan Girardi, Brandon Dubinsky or Ryan Callahan. I'd give two of them in Brandon Dubinsky and Dan Girardi. You may then be able to force Waddell to take Rozsival. If he wants a draft pick, throw it in there. The Rangers are going nowhere and have nothing but the same type of player on it (Drury, Dubinsky, Callahan... etc.). Those worried that Dubinsky could be a future Captain of this team... forget it. He's a second to third line player at best which I talked about all summer. Marc Staal is the future of the team.

This is the most boring team in the NHL. It sure would be nice to see Ilya Kovalchuk in a #17 Blueshirt. I'd give them whatever they want aside from Staal. Well it was nice to dream the impossible... but this financially cannot happen. Oh well... now I must prepare to watch an exciting team for once with Alex Ovechkin's Caps coming in. Maybe I won't fall asleep during the game after all....

Let's fight..

Something may be happening with this team. Though we had no reason to think this was coming... the Rangers are scoring goals. They scored 8 goals for the first time since 2002 when they beat the Boston Bruins 8-4. The Tampa Bay Lightning were annihilated 8-2 at the Garden, which came on the heels of a 6-2 demolition of the Montreal Canadiens. And the outburst has nothing to do with Marian Gaborik scoring... well not goals anyway.

Gaborik tied a career high with 4 assists the other night but Brandon Dubinsky, Ryan Callahan, Vinny Prospal and even Chris Drury are all heating up. 8 goals from 8 different scorers the other night. This team needs everyone to be involved and that may be starting to happen. Of course they could come out in Philly tonight and score 1 goal again... but there's always hope and cautious optimism. More goals equals less pressure for Henrik Lundqvist, who continues to be stellar.

Anyone else find it interesting that since they started defending themselves and each other they started playing harder scoring? Anyone surprised Donald Brashear has NOTHING to do with it? I'm not. Aaron Voros dropped the gloves :10 in with Zenon Konopka and although he lost, the building was still electric. Voros, who has been good, was rewarded with some power play time late in the game and converted a beautiful feed from Brian Boyle. Ryan Malone kicked the shit out of him later but that's ok. Brandon Dubinsky also dropped em' with Jeff Halpern with under two minutes to go.

Bottom line and memo to Gary Bettman... Fighting works.

Notes:

The Rangers suffered their most embarrassing loss to the Flyers in the Garden 6-0 last time they faced each other... Gaborik has a goal and 6 assists in the last two... Dubinsky has 3 goals and 3 assists in the last 2.

Signs of Life...

The Rangers are reading and listening to the Blueshirt Beat. Two days after flipping out about how this team doesn't care about each other... they come out hitting and fighting for one another. They ended up blowing out the Montreal Canadiens 6-2 in the Garden Sunday. The Garden was packed and as juiced as it has been all year.

Sean Avery has been fired up and playing closer to himself lately. He went at it with Josh Gorges and knocked him down in the end... did a good job getting Gorges' face shield off before blasting him a few times in the face. The Garden exploded when Avery raised his hands on his way to the box.

How about Wade Redden? He was singled out by me the other day and all of the sudden he's ready to drop the gloves. He fought a much bigger Benoit Pouliot and what happened? The Garden went bananas especially because it was Redden stepping in for teammates.

The Blueshirts finally stepped up and defended one another. The building rewarded them and they rolled. Maybe there is a little life in this team but they need to build on it. As for the game Ryan Callahan was fantastic with 2 goals and 2 assists, including a great individual effort on Brandon Dubinsky's second period short-handed goal that tied the game at 2. Dubinsky added another goal and had an assist. Of course Marian Gaborik scored again, and added 2 assists.

Notes:
Rumors are starting to fly again about Vinny Lecavalier tonight with the Rangers facing the Lightning tonight. The Ottawa Sun recently had the Rangers sending Matt Gilroy, Wade Redden, and either Ryan Callahan or Brandon Dubinsky for Lecavalier. Tampa GM Brian Lawton called the rumors "complete B.S.".

Wake Up Call

The wake up call Sean Avery needed arrived last night in the form of the Dallas Stars and the Rangers won back-to-back games at the Garden for the first time in over 2 months. Number 16 was simply awesome with a goal and 3 assists, but he was all over the ice and in everyone's face.

Avery's old teammates weren't too happy to see him. “I would have loved to have seen that delinquent do that for us last year,” Stars goalie Marty Turco said. The Stars threw Avery away 23 games into a four-year $15.5 million contract after comments about an ex-girlfriend among other things. Sweet revenge for Avery who also received the most ridiculous 10-minute misconduct I may have ever seen. More on that later.

Avery popped into third-person... which is always great, “It was the way that Sean Avery needs to play. I’ve been thinking about it a lot... I’ve got to stay consistent". That's the thing I don't get with him. He is fast, explosive in his stride, has a good shot and is a pretty good passer. You'd think he could put up 40 points every year in his sleep but that consistency has never been there. The most he ever had was 39 for the LA Kings in 2005-06.

The Blueshirts got goals from Marian Gaborik (tied for league lead with Patrick Marleau at 28), Ales Kotalik (second in 2 games), Chris Drury and an empty-netter from Ryan Callahan. Marc Staal was amazing again and Henrik Lundqvist made 25 saves.

Notes:
Special new podcast called "Cassee Was Angry That Day..." coming later. I'll give you a hint of what's angered me...The idiots wearing referee uniforms.

Streaks...

The Rangers are on a good streak going and continue to end bad ones. They won their fourth in a row last night beating the Florida Panthers 4-1 last night. Henrik Lundqvist was the focal point again making two sparkling glove saves on Nathan Horthon in the first and Michael Frolik in the third, among others. The King has simply been on fire for the last 10 games or so. He was beaten early ona rebound he had no chance on but stopped the next 33 shots.

As for the streaks ending... Vinny Prospal snapped a 14-game goal-less streak with a power play goal in the second and one in the third. The Blueshirts broke a 5-game losing streak at home and 7 out of 8 with a complete effort last night. Chris Drury scored his third goal in four games and was fantastic all around. Enver Lisin made great hustle play to negate an icing before feeding the Captain in the slot to tie the game just 2:13 after Victor Oreskovich opened the scoring for Florida. Drury also added an assist after stealing the puck short-handed in the neutral zone. Drury was taken down but rewarded for his effort when Marian Gaborik came flying off the bench to beat Tomas Vokoun on a bad angle back-hander. Gaborik who leads the league with 26 goals.

Ryan Callahan is scoring again and had a beautiful assist on Prospal's first goal. His stick was tied up in front so he kicked it to Prospal. Callahan has 4 goals and 5 assists in his last 7 games. Hey... Wade Redden even tried to hit a player. He got laid out by Mike Duco but oh well... at least he tried. Redden did make a great play earlier in the first sliding to take away a 2-on-1 opportunity. Michal Rozsival has been much better since Redden was sat down and played well again despite not being able to clear the rebound on Florida's only goal. He played 23:18, second only to Staal's 24:50.

Marc Staal and Dan Girardi were reunited for the first time since the Detroit game and absolutely shut down the red hot Michael Frolik-Stephen Weiss-Nathan Horton line. The bottom line is when this team gets a complete effort, they look like a team that can make some noise. Can they keep the effort going? We'll see on Saturday when the Islanders return to the Garden. That last 2-1 loss the to the Isles and meeting after seems like the wakeup call this team needed.

Notes:
For the second straight game the Rangers responded to a goal against quickly. Marian Gaborik scored in Raleigh :28 after the Hurricanes had taken the lead... Brandon Dubinsky looks to be getting his legs back with 3 points in the last 2.

King Without a Crown..

Maybe he was just tired playing the second night of back-to-backs... maybe he slipped... or maybe he just sucks. Henrik Lundqvist has been staying on his feet more lately and not surprisingly, has been better. The King saved the worst for the last 2:03 when he let up maybe the softest goal I've ever seen from him.

The Rangers lost 3-1 to a Red Wing team decimated by injuries and sits last place on the road in penalty killing. The deciding goal came on a cross ice pass from Henrik Zetterberg to Daniel Cleary, whose shot from about the goal line somehow got through Lundqvist. Kris Draper added an empty netter.

The Blueshirts didn't really go out and try to win this game. They seemed to be waiting to lose. Ryan Callahan missed a penalty shot and Christopher Higgins missed a breakaway. Other than that the power play was dreadful against the league's worst. 3 power plays in the third produced nothing but a few shots and very little set up time. The first unit, which had been so cohesive before John Tortorella started messing with Ales Kotalik, was terrible. The second unit generated a 2-on-1 down low in the third. Higgins fed Sean Avery for a wide open net but he didn't even get a shot off.

Marian Gaborik needs to be able to shoot but had no shots in the game for the first time this season. Niklas Lidstrom and Brian Raflaski had something to do with that but if he doesn't score a point, they have no chance.

Brian Boyle opened the scoring tipping in a Higgins feed after a nice rush. But Jimmy Howard was made to look like Patrick Roy the rest of the way. A little over a quarter of the way through the season, this team appears to be headed nowhere. They are an average team who can't make much noise in the playoffs... if they get there at all.

Wow..

Last time the Rangers were in Pittsburgh, they were in it til the end. This time they were done in the first. As predicted here on the Beat yesterday, The Rangers did in fact get obliterated by the Penguins with a final of 8-3. Sidney Crosby led the way with a hat trick and 2 assists.

Steve Valiquette got the start and was awful. Not sure why he started being that Henrik Lundqvist got the early hook the night before but he gave up several goals a good men's league goalie could've stopped.

Matt Cooke took Artem Anisimov's defenseless head off in the third period and got 2 minutes. Donald Brashear tried to go after him but was prevented by the refs and Cooke's fear. They gave him 4 minutes. I just don't get how you're allowed to injure someone, get only 2 minutes and then be suspended 2 games. This league is an absolute embarrassment as is Matt Cooke. Later Ryan Callahan was able to drop the gloves with this pussy but you'd rather someone who can fight go after him. Now Cooke gets protected by the league and will not be in the lineup tomorrow in the rematch at the Garden.

John Tortorella adressed it angrily after the game, "To me it's pretty simple, change the rule book. Some of these guys that go about doing that and have no fear at all as far as maybe a little retribution, it'll continue and that's why our game is more violent now because I think guys hide behind that rule book." He also referenced Brashear's effort to get to Cooke, "The linesman jumps in when someone is trying to take care of business that should have been left alone. This is where our game is screwed up as far as I'm concerned, there's just no respect, no respect in these types of situations and I think the rule book has a little bit to play with that." You can watch it all here:

http://rangers.nhl.tv/team/console.jsp?catid=765&id=52817

The team seems to be trying to stick up for each other more now but they're just not a very good team. Normally I'd be excited to see what kind of response the Rangers would have on Monday night but I'm sure there will be none. That's just what this league is now.

Not good...

The Rangers were absolutely dominated in a 5-1 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning last night. Not a great homecoming for Vinny Prospal or John Tortorella, except for a video tribute they did for him.

The team was simply never in this and doesn't appear able to compete with the quicker and more physical teams in the league. That's what happens when you have players like Michal Rozsival, Wade Redden and Chris Drury signed to gigantic and ridiculous contracts. You have no money for secondary scorers and tough defensemen. Good job Glen.

Not many bright spots except Ryan Callahan finally scored and Bobby Sanguinetti was pretty good in his debut. The pivotal play happened in the second with the Rangers down 2-0 though still in a game. Victor Hedman held Artem Anisimov's stick for :03 heading toward a puck in the corner. Anisimov finally yanked his stick free and it clipped Hedman up high. The only call was a high stick that iced the game for sure. Another joke call from the clowns... directly impacting the game, and in this case, deciding it.

Notes:
Henrik Lundqvist was pulled after giving up 4 goals on 22 shots... Marian Gaborik's 8 game point scoring streak came to an end... Rangers will get obliterated tonight by Pittsburgh.

Oilers Wrap...

The Rangers had their most complete effort in weeks in a 4-2 victory over the Edmonton Oilers. Steve Valiquette gave up a couple of soft goals to Lubomir Visnovski and Mike Comrie but otherwise was solid in his third start of the year.

Chris Higgins got it started on a pretty give-and-go with Matt Gilroy for his second in as many games. Higgins was all over the ice tonight. The Rangers had 14 shots in the first and second. They wound up with a season high 39 shots to Edmonton's 28.

The power play returned tonight and was nasty. Michael Del Zotto hit Ryan Callahan cruising through the middle on the rush for the first of 3 power play goals. Later in the second Marian Gaborik threaded a beauty from the right corner to Ales Kotalik on the left point for a one-time canon through the legs of Nikolai Khabibulin. "The Bulin Wall" was incredible keeping his team in the game.

In the third, Kotalik (1 goal, 2 assists) unleashed another power play rocket that got through Khabibulin and was tapped in by Gaborik who now has 12 goals and 9 assists. The Rangers needed a solid effort and played their most complete game in weeks against a depleted Edmonton team that was without Sheldon Souray and Shawn Horcoff. Tom Renney had said he wanted to beat the Rangers but was left with a sour taste in his mouth. Who cares? We don't miss ya Tom... but we'd probably grab a beer with you though.

Notes:
Dan Girardi was all over the defensive zone blocking shots... Donald Brashear was scratched again... Aaron Voros played 1:00 in the first and took two idiotic offensive zone penalties.... AGAIN. He sat for a while and saw only 2:39 the rest of the way... Higgins played his best game as a Ranger.

Losers...

The Rangers lost to one of the worst teams in the league again last night falling 3-2 to the Minnesota Wild. The Wild was the second straight team to get their first regulation win of the season against the hapless Blueshirts who were never in this one. It is alarming how much this team gets outworked almost every night now as they lost their 5th in the last 6.


Donald Brasheer, who has been utterly old and useless, got it going early turning the puck over in the defensive zone with no one pressuring him. He very easily could have carried it out but instead made a moronic pass to... well no one other than a Wild player. That was quickly turned into Petr Sykora's 2nd of the year and a 1-0 lead. Henrik Lundqvist did what he could but was left on his own again. Eric Belanger and Antti Miettinen were also able to beat him while Marc Staal added a useless third period goal.


The Rangers were without Christopher Higgins (who cares), Sean Avery (invisible man) and Marian Gaborik (whole team). The guys skating continued to be horrible including Chris Drury (who they say is embracing the new role of not scoring when the team needs goals), Ryan Callahan and Brandon Dubinsky. I wouldn't have paid him more than $1.3 a year and stated that on this blog. Certainly not the $1.7 he was able to hold out for. But that's Glen Sather who doesn't seem to understand contracts... see Donald Brasheer's $2.8 for two years (or Redden or Michal Rozsival).


The lone bright spot came from Wade Redden and Dane Byers, who got to the facility late due to weather. Redden stepped up in the first to block a clearing attempt and fired it on net. Byers was there for the rebound and his first NHL goal. Other than that... this team is a mess without Gaborik.

Rangers lose 3-2.

No Show...

The Rangers didn't show up last night for their "rivalry" game with the Islanders. I didn't feel like showing up on the blog either. This was one of the most boring hockey games I've ever seen. But hey... there were some exciting shoving matches.

Highlights... Ryan Callahan missed what must have been his sixth open net tap in goal of the year and that's including the one he missed against Toronto that Luke Schenn put it in for him. The guy works hard and hits everything but continues to skate himself passed the net on the rush so that he's not in a position to shoot. Where is he going? There's nothing behind the net...

The Rangers have lost 4 out of the last 5 and were a completely punchless team without Marian Gaborik. The Marc Staal-Daniel Girardi pairing continues to struggle... and Chris Drury continues to get $7.5 a year to block some shots, kill some penalties and be invisible. Better hope that banged up lower body of Gaborik gets itself right soon...

A Dandi?

Steve Zipay of Newsday has confirmed that 33-year-old defenseman Mathieu Dandenault is with the Hartford Wolf Pack on a tryout basis. He was released by the San Jose Sharks when Dany Heatley was acquired. He's been in the league with Detroit and Montreal for 13 year. Dandenault's best year was in 2002-2003 with the Red Wings when he had 19 points and was a plus 25. He was a plus 7 last year with the Canadiens in only 41 games.

Also, Ryan Callahan and Marian Gaborik were sent home before practice today with what John Tortorella called "colds or something". He wanted to keep them away from the team and get them some rest. Hopefully they're ok for the Devils at the Garden tonight...

Sometimes It Takes One...

Coach John Tortorella's style of play leaves teams out of gas in the third period... that's when the Rangers turn on the after burners. They have outscored the opposition 12-4 in the third coming into tonight's game against the Los Angeles Kings. But tonight, the afterburners didn't fire. The Blueshirts managed 1 shot on goal in the third... but boy was it an incredible shot.

The Rangers were outplayed tonight by a young and hungry King team. They looked like a tired team in playing their third game in four nights. "You just find a way to win when you're not on-and we were not on. We were behind in every facet of the game but we still found a way to win". Coach Tortorella added, "That's a good sign". Especially against one of the hottest teams in the league that also hadn't lost since opening night.

The problem for the Kings was that they were facing "The King". Henrik Lundqvist again was fabulous but again was run over 2 or 3 times. Would've been nice to have Donald Brasheer go after someone but he was a late scratch with an undisclosed injury. Make no mistake, Lundqvist stole this game for the Rangers and was named the first star. He made several beautiful saves highlighted by robbing Teddy Purcell point blank on a rebound with a seemingly wide open net in the first.

Vinny Prospal got the night started with a power play deflection of Michael Del Zotto's shot for his 200th NHL goal. Ryan Smyth came back with a deflection of his own just 1:10 later. A two man advantage and a brilliant Prospal feed left Ryan Callahan with a wide open net but the pass surprised him. He had a couple of whacks at it before Prospal slid around back of the net and popped it in off Kings goalie Erik Ersberg. But other than the power play (odd to have the PP be a strength) the Rangers could get little going in this one.

Brian Boyle opened the second period scoring against his former team off a nice feed from Michal Rozsival, who was otherwise disastrous. Boyle rang his first as a Ranger off the post, then Ersberg and in. Aaron Voros immediately dropped the gloves at the side of the net with Sean O'Donnell and had one of his patented throw 4 punches and fall over fights... it was a good one. The Kings answered again as Michal Handzus deflected Jack Johnson's wrist shot in for a power play goal and the score was 3-2 heading into the third.

Now the 1 third period shot I was talking about... yeah that was taken by Marian Gaborik so it wasn't really so much of a shot but a canon. Gaborik made a play in the defensive zone to get the puck around to Dan Girardi, then flew the zone. Vinny Prospal blindly threw the puck toward Gaborik who calmly gathered the puck with one hand as the pass was behind him... strolled down the left side to the hash... and unleashed one of the sickest snap shots I've ever seen. Top right corner in the blink of an eye. You pretty much felt bad for Erik Ersberg as no one could've stopped this thing. One big shot and one huge goal. The Rangers held on despite being outshot 10-1 in the third to win their 6th in a row, beating the Kings 4-2.

Notes:
Marian Gaborik made sure to pick up the puck on Prospal's 200th. Later while shorthanded on an empty net elected to be unselfish and slide the puck to Prospal for his hat trick but Jack Johnson swatted it out of mid air. Marian Gaborik is looking to be your other assistant captain and should be... Would've been nice if Brian Boyle had gotten a star in this game being that he scored against his old team and it was the game winner... Ales Kotalik had two assists and hit the post again... Michael Del Zotto leads all rookies in points with 2 goals and 5 assists... Gaborik leads the team with 6 goals, all scored in the third.

How's That For Openers?

The faithful got a glimpse of what John Tortorella's Blueshirts can be tonight at Madison Square Garden. The Rangers defeated the Ottawa Senators 5-2 in their home opener. Up and down the lineup, almost every player did their job and did it well.

Michal Rozsival played his best game in over a year. Wade Redden looked good for a second straight game (forget what he makes... we're taking baby steps here). 19-year-old Michael Del Zotto scored his first NHL goal. Matt Gilroy has not been as agressive as he was in preseason. Gilroy (3:09) and Del Zotto (1:33) didn't see much ice in the third. Dan Girardi continued his strong start after facing questions in the preseason.

The first line combination of Brandon Dubinsky centering Marian Gaborik and Vinny Prospal was electric creating chances almost every time on the ice. Prospal and Dubinsky opening the scoring in the second with two top-shelf rockets. Prospal's goal was his 600th career NHL point. A bad Ranger change left Matt Gilroy on his own against Jason Spezza and Daniel Alfredsson with the former feeding the latter alone in front cutting the Ranger lead to 2-1.

Enter Ryan Callahan whose relentless work ethic is on display every night. In the last minute of the second period, he dumped the puck in and took two Senators out of the play allowing Christopher Higgins to feed Michael Del Zotto. His wrist shot through a screen with under a minute in the second was a huge goal for the team, as well as himself. His parents and brother were there to watch the moment, with his Mom moved to tears. And oh by the way, it was Ryan Callahan who after setting up the play from the corner battled his way in front to screen Pascal Leclaire.

A neutral zone turnover in the third allowed Enver Lisin to spring Dubinsky on a breakaway. He rang a laser off the crossbar but Marian Gaborik followed the play and pounded in the rebound. Gaborik has 2 goals and an assist in 2 games while Dubinsky has 2 gols and 2 assists. He added a short-handed empty netter outworking Alexei Kovalev.

Though he didn't score, Chris Drury played much better tonight then he did last, as did linemate Ales Kotalik. Promising effort from the fourth line particularly from Brian Boyle, who was fantastic on the penalty kill. Donald Brasheer and Aaron Voros both had fights though Voros

A good bet that last years weakness will not be this years. The power play did everything but score... and they will. They're generating chances, clanging posts and it's just a matter of time.

The Rangers were outshot 20-13 in the second period but outscored Ottawa 3-1. They tightened up defensively allowing only 5 in the third. Peter Regin scored for Ottawa with :06 left. Mike Fisher bodied Del Zotto off the puck feeding Regin in one of the only instances a Ranger was outworked tonight.

With all the new faces on this team it's easy to take Henrik Lundqvist for granted. Whenever there was an odd man rush "The King" was there. He was fantastic again particularly in the second period when he stopped 19 opf 20 shots. He closed the door on a breakaway by Milan Michalek :15 in and Ryan Shannon on one later. Lundqvist was named the game's second star.

Tonight, the Rangers took chances but the balance not to take reckless ones. Tonight, they did not get outworked, they supported each other. Tonight... this team gave you some hope.

Callahan the Man

Ryan Callahan was named the sole Assistant Captain today and there's no one more deserving of one than him. He's consistently the hardest working player on the ice and it's been that way since he joined the team. Coach John Tortorella is waiting for another to emerge. Speculation was that Marian Gaborik could get the other one.

The snag that Alexei Semenov hit is apparently the kind that you have and you hold. Though Semenov and his agent agreed with the Rangers on a one year $600,000 deal, his wife said no. It looks like he will settle for playing in Russia where his wife lives.

Hooks and Gabs...

Marion Gaborik made his much anticipated debut at MSG last night in a 4-2 Ranger win against Detroit. He came as advertised showing flashes explosiveness the Blueshirts haven't had in their line-up in a long, long time. On a first period power play, Gaborik took Brad Stuart on a tour all the way around the net and halfway up to the left point before feeding Enver Lisin in the slot to put the Rangers up 2-0 on the power play. He also got drilled by Johan Franzen :24 in which he said "woke me up a little bit". Gaborik admitted it'll take time to shake the rust off but the sore groin didn't appear to hinder him. Later Michael Del Zotto fed Gaborik beautifully through center and he would've been gone if not for losing the puck in his skates.

Lisin's first period PP goal added to his strong start. He and Artem Anisimov each have 3 goals in the preseason as Anisimov sealed the game with an empty netter. After a dismal opener Anisimov has all but locked up a roster spot since. Evgeny Grachev continues making himself tough to cut. He took Jakub Lindl into the boards, stealing the puck and setting up Ryan Callahan for a sick little backhand-forehand goal. Can't help but be excited about the Rangers youth on the back line as Del Zotto, Matt Gilroy and Bobby Sanguinetti all played well. Alexei Semenov is also looking more and more like he'll stick.

Sean Avery ran into Ryan Callahan in practice and is out indefinitely with a sprained knee. Aaron Voros subbed for him and was noticeable though I don't know where he'll fit in. He started last year strong before dropping off to near invisible level. With $3 million being wasted on him, Tyler Arnason, and Patrick Rissmiller,not sure how Glen Sather would justify having all of them in Hartford.