Double header at Garden helped by Rangers OT win

Well the Garden is like a neutral playing ground this season. Earlier in the afternoon, the Knicks stunk up MSG once again, with lackluster play and a team that just doesn't care. Luckily the Rangers saved the Garden from melting tonight with an OT win vs. the Montreal Canadiens. It has been like this the whole season. Knicks are terrible, Rangers are championship contenders. With a win tonight, the Rangers would pull within 1 point of the idle first place NJ Devils. The Rangers got started early, with a goal by Dan Girardi, for a one goal lead. The Habs tied it up later, thanks to a power-play goal from Andrei Kostitsyn. A minute later the Captain, Jaromir Jagr regained the one goal lead to the Rangers.

The Rangers took the second period off. They only recorded 1 shot on goal. That was a season low for a period. The previous low was 4, which they have done 7 times this season. The Canadiens scored twice, again on the power-play, and once when they had the advantage before a delayed penalty. After 2 periods it was 3-2 Canadiens. The Canadiens were lead by Alex kovalev the whole way tonight, as he held the puck for the Habs most of the game, and wore the "C" as Saku Koivu was out with the flu. Kovalev took advantage tonight and had the game of the season for him.

Late in the 3rd period, the Rangers tied it up after a odd angle wrist shot from Fedor Tyutin......but wait. After the replay and review, it was clear that it hit the crossbar and then the post. Sean Avery did what he could to sell it when it first happened, but it did not work. Hard work persevered as a few minutes later Chris Drury found the puck through a slew of defenders, and put it past Cristobal Huet, as Avery had a great screen and Huet did not even react to the puck. The game ended up going to OT, and the 39 year old veteran Brendan Shanahan lasered a wrist shot past the glove of Huet, off a great foward pass from Chris Drury to give the Rangers their 3rd win in the last 3 games and pull within 1 point of first place.

Rangers power-play themselves to a 6-1 win over the Leafs

With a four way tie with the 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th place teams, the Rangers being 8th, this was an important game to give a slight edge in the standings to the Rangers. With that in store, the Rangers came out and shut up the Leafs crowd early on. The Rangers got 2 in the 1st period, and lead 2-0 after one. Another 3 goals were scored in the 2nd period, when the Rangers were on 3 straight 5-on-3 power plays. The Rangers scored a total of 5 power-play goals tonight, and made the Leafs look silly. 2 of them were scored by Petr Prucha, one by Straka, one by Shanahan, and one by Jagr. The last time that the Blueshirts scored 5 PP goals, was back in 1996 vs. the Capitals.

Steve Valiquette got the nod in net tonight, giving Henrik some rest for Tomorrow evening's game against the hot Montreal Canadiens. They beat Tampa and Florida 5-2 and 5-1 respectively. Valiquette play very well, allowing 1 goal on 28 shots. His counterpart, Andrew Raycroft was chased allowing 4 goals before the midway point through the 2nd period. The Rangers fed off the 4th line goal scored in the 1st period by Blair Betts. After that the ice seemed tilted in the Rangers favor, as they dominated the burnt biscuit for almost all of the first half of the game. Jaromir Jagr had a goal and 3 assists to bring his point streak up to 6 (3 G 8A) in a row. Scotty Gomez has a new career high with an 11 game point streak.

"It's the first time in about 10 games we have something going on the power play, our unit anyway," Jagr said. "We have to wait and see. The power play won the game for us."

Tomorrow holds no easy task, as the Habs visit MSG. They are currently 4th in the Eastern Conference, 2 points ahead of the Rangers. If the Rangers win in regulation, they will move up to 4th place after being in 8th place before tonight's game. Tight race isn't it?

Rangers break the funk, defeating 'Canes 4-2

Coming off the Christmas holiday following a loss, and a horrible stretch, the Rangers came back with a great performance. They defeated the Hurricanes 4-2, after being shut out at MSG last meeting 4-0. Rangers came out of the gate throwing everything they could at goalie Cam Ward. Only problem is, he stopped everything. That changed early in the second period, with Jaromir Jagr scoring to break the scoreless tie. That was his first goal in his last 10 games. The longest stretch without going with a goal since 1998. That was one of two he scored tonight. Scott Gomez assisted on both of them, bringing his point scoring streak to 10 games, tying a career high.

Things got ugly in the 2nd period with Matt Cullen crossing the blue line with the puck, with his head down. Colton Orr was coming in the same direction, and trying to shield himself, put both of his hands up and hit Cullen right in the face. Cullen hit the ice face first and lied unconscious for about 15 seconds. It was a clean hit though, but the referees seen different. Orr got a 5 minute major for interference, and a game misconduct for, from what we all seen was a clean hit. The Rangers shut down the 5 minute major and held Carolina to only 1 shot on goal, but Eric Cole did hit the post on a wrist shot.

The Rangers got hot in the 3rd period. They scored 3 goals in the first 10 minutes of the period. 2 power-play goals from Chris Drury and Dan Girardi respectively. Then Jagr capped it off with his 2nd of the night. Things got stirred up again 14 minutes in when Sean Avery and Andrew Ladd went at it. Both got 10 minute misconducts. Avery got the game misconduct and an extra 2 minutes. There may be a suspension for Avery from the league though. He went after Ladd when the referees were restraining them, and repeatedly punched him while being restrained. Back to hockey, the Rangers outshot the 'Canes 35-22, and fed of the great goaltending of Henrik Lundqvist.....again. He may have made the save of the year on Ray Whitney late in the 3rd, when the Hurricanes were on a power-play, after a juicy rebound found Whitney's stick. Whitney threw it right at the net, but Lundqvist dove across the crease, making an amazing save with his blocker. After tonight's win, the Rangers next 5 opponents are Canadian teams starting with the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday.

Avery's return spoiled by Sens

It was a night of exciting hockey, and most of all the return of Sean Avery. He returned to Garden ice tonight, after missing 3 weeks with arthroscopic surgery on his wrist. It did not take long for him to get under the skin of the likes of Chris Neil and Chris Phillips. Avery seemed to take where he left off, having a overall great game. His skating was good, his passing was even better, and most of all he was being the lovable we all know. All that and then some was spoiled by Ottawa tonight, as they scored 3 unanswered after the Rangers took an early 1-0 lead, as Scott Gomez scored his 9th goal of the season tonight on his 28th birthday.

After scoring about 4 minutes in, the Rangers did not score another goal the rest of the night. Attribute in bad luck, and you got another loss chalked up for the Rangers. Jason Spezza tied it up late in the 1st after stealing the puck in the neutral zone, and firing a shot past Henrik to tie it up. Ottawa scored two more times over the course of the game, both deflecting off rookie Marc Staal. Thats just some of the bad luck the Rangers had tonight. Ryan Hollweg, and Jaromir Jagr smacked posts tonight missing goals by mere inches. That, and the strong play of Martin Gerber marked bad news for the Rangers as they have now fallen to 17-15-4. Not making excuses or anything for the team, but tonight was a hard one to swallow, as the Rangers dominated play in the Ottawa zone for a chunk of the game. But to be a good team, they have to overcome the "bad luck", and play like champions.

Rangers rocky road start ends in another loss

After the game tape was probably thrown away, the Rangers made their was westward today to Colorado to face the Avalance. The Avs were without Ryan Smyth and Joe Sakic tonight. Sakic missed his 11th game and Smyth missed his 2nd straight. That didn't stop the Avs from beating the Rangers for the 7th straight time tonight. The last Rangers win vs the Avs came on November 20, 2001 at Madison Square Garden. Also, the Rangers have not won in Denver since 1998. Wojtek Wolski and Milan Hejdik played big roles in tonight defeat of the Rangers, which came in OT. Hejduk had 2 goals, and Wolski had a goal and an assist. His goal was the game winner a minute and ten in the OT period.

"You can't replace Sakic and Smyth," Wolski said. "We miss them a lot."

Wolski on Hejduk and Paul statsny.....

"It was time for someone else to pick it up. They did a nice job," Wolski said.

Wolski didn't do a bad job himself, as he scored the game winner off of a slapshot from Jeff Finger. The shot ended up going through Lundqvists pads, and ended up being an easy tip in for Wolski to send the Avs to 14-3 at home this season. Credit the Avs for getting their line change done quickly unlike the Rangers.

"They jumped off their bench awfully early on their line change, and we weren't astute enough to do the same thing," Coach Tom Renney said. "We were too late to pick anybody up."

On to brighter things. Gomez tallied 2 assists, making it the 7th straight game in recording a point. He now has 8 G and 22 A for 30 PTS in 35 games this season. Straka alos tallied 2 assists himself. Michal Rozsival scored his 9th goal of the season. He is quietly having himself an all star year, and should be a reserve due to his consistent play and great offensive production from a blue liner. Speaking of which Marc Staal scored his second career goal tonight.

After tonights game the Rangers are most likely flying back in to NY. They have Ottawa on Sunday. They currently sport the best record in the Eastern Conference.

The Gaborik Show ends in a Rangers meltdown

Tonight started out like last game. Rangers played hard, played disciplined, and scored a quick goal. It was not as quick as last game, but the Rangers scored first. After a Jagr turnover in the defensive zone later in the period, Minnesota scored and it all went down hill from there. In the second period Petr Prucha was elbowed by Brent Burns, and it was a free fall from then on. Not only did Minnesota get away with the elbow, the Rangers got called for unsportsmanlike conduct. That lead to a power-play, and Minnesota took the lead 2-1. After that Brandon Dubinsky took a bad penalty from being pressured in the defensive zone. He quickly flipped it into the stands, giving the wild another power-play. That gave Minnesota a 3-1 lead, and superstar Marion Gaborik had the natural hat trick. He was not done by far, as this was the beginning of the highlight reel for him.

Gaborik had a career night. He scored a franchise record 5 goals and also had an assist. The last time that was done to the Rangers was in 1993 by none other than Mario Lemiuex. Bad penalties, and poor play by Henrik Lundqvist lead to this decimation. This is the 4th time in the last 6 starts that Lundqvist has allowed 4 goals or more. He allowed 6 on 18 shots tonight, and was relieved by Steve Valiquette midway through the 3rd period. He prevented a 6, perhaps 7 goal night from Gaborik. He made two stellar saves robbing Gaborik after he scored his 5th.

The Rangers should just throw away the tape from this game. They have not played like this all season. They have to look foward and not behind, as they fly tonight to Denver tomorrow to face the home dominating Colorado Avalanche. The Avs are 13-3 at home this season. They also have a lot of talent to spread around also. Ryan Smyth, Joe Sakic, Milan Hejduk, Paul Stastny, and Wojtek Wolski. The Rangers have to show up tomorrow, or else that will be a mirror image of how tonight was. Also, don't be surprised if Valiquette gets the start.

Rangers turn it around, shutting out the Pens' 4-0

In a two game span, we saw the tale of two teams. Sunday evening against the Phoenix Coyotes, the Rangers were flat, and played poorly, and were embarrased. Tonight though, saw the Rangers completely shut down Sid the Kid, and the Pens. They held the Penguins to only 5 total shots through the first 40 minutes. The Rangers got 2 goals from Scott Gomez, and ones from Drury and Straka as well. We even got a point from Jaromir Jagr. Henrik Lundqvist returned to net and put on another great performance, stopping all 18 shots thrown his way. He earned his 6th shutout of the season. That ties Blue Jackets goalie Pascal LeClaire for the NHL lead.

It was an all around great performance by the team, and we seen the return of Ryan Hollweg. He was a healthy scratch last game. He came out flying. He recorded 4 hits alone in the 1st period. The lines were also shuffled around. No more Brandon Dubinsky on the first line with Straka and Jagr. Gomez centered that line and they combined for 3 goals and an assist. Chris Drury also added an assist to that goal he scored tonight. Gomez has recorded points in 10 of his last 11 games and the 6th straight game with a point.

"Sometimes you have to make changes. Sometimes you've got to mix things up. We're in the NHL. It doesn't matter who you play with," Gomez said following his first two-goal game with the Rangers. "We didn't try to almost overthink. We're a bunch of hockey players."

Returning to the system tonight, meant a well played game and doing so lead to a Rangers win. The problem is their inconsistency in staying in that routine of playing their style of hockey. Maybe the return of Sean Avery can level this all out, but until then, the Rangers have to stay withing themselves.

"These last eight or nine days haven't been glorious for us, and it's because we haven't been able to get that first goal," Rangers coach Tom Renney said. "When we play outside of our system and outside of ourselves, consequently we lose probably by more than we should."

Other game notes:

-Sidney Crosby was held to 2 shots in his 25 shifts tonight.
-The Rangers are 10-11-1 when outshooting opponents. They are 7-2-2 when being outshot.
-Sidney Crosby has only 1 goal in his last 9 games.
-Rangers lead the season series 3-1 so far over the Penguins.

Poor execution leads to Blueshirt beatdown: 'Yotes 5 Rangers 1

The Phoenix Coyotes almost finished off the Tri-State Trifecta. They didn't beat the Isles though. They did beat the division leading NJ Devils, and beat up on the Rangers earlier this evening at MSG. Although Rangers put out a decent effort, poor execution and defensive mistakes left backup Steve Valiquette hapless in tonights defeat. There was a new face in the lineup tonight. Steve Moore got the spot for Ryan Hollweg, as he was sitting out as a healthy scratch, to hopefully regain his game. Coach Renney said that he thought Hollweg was playing too cautious, and he needs to be like himself.

On to the game, it wasn't much to talk about from the Rangers side. The first Phoenix goal was a PP goal, that deflected off the skate of Fedor Tyutin , and through the five hole of Valiquette. The second and third goals were defensive mishaps that took the Rangers out of the game. The second goal was due to the miscommunication of rookie Marc Stall and Valiquette. The third goal, came off a slapshot from Radim Vrbata after Michal Rozsival was muscled off the puck, when he should have been protecting it. Marek Malik took Jason Strudwicks place as he was moved up to left wing. The Rangers should have just gone with 5 defenseman as Malik did his best at turning over the puck on numerous occasions.

All of this on the Great One's return to the Garden. Although, he had a touch of the flu and a case of Laryngitis, Gretzky mustered out some laughter and smiles after the win today.

"I don't know if it was revenge," Gretzky said. "They're a good team. Over 82 games, you're going to have games where it doesn't go your way. We got a couple lucky bounces and did some good things but I know the next game they play they'll be a much different team."

"It seems like it's fresh in my mind because I think about it a lot because I wish I could still play," Gretzky said. "Unfortunately I can't because I'm not good enough anymore. I remember the last day here. It's like it happened yesterday."

The next mountain to climb comes Tuesday when the Rangers host Sid the Kid and Co. as the Penguins visit MSG.

Avs, Rangers rumbling about a trade?

February 26th seems far, far away. But it may not be too soon too pull off a nice trade. Rumors.....and i say RUMORS, are floating around that a possible 2-for-2 trade may take place. The Avs would send Marek Svatos, and defenseman John-Michael Liles to New York, in exchange for hapless defenseman Marek Malik, and underachieving winger Petr Prucha. In essence, the Rangers are just getting Prucha back, but with a different name. Both had great rookie seasons tallying 30 or more goals, but they haven't done much since. J.M Liles can put the puck in the net more often than Malik, but is not much better on the defensive side. Everyone has to put this into perspective also. Marek Malik is 2nd in the NHL for the past 5 seasons in the plus-minus department. He only trails future Hall of Famer Nicklas Lidstrom.

If the rumors just happen to be true, the Rangers may want to experiment with Svatos, hopefully making him return to his flashy play, and put the puck in the net more often than not. For Petr Prucha, that may seem the same, but you may also call him Petr Fluka.

Rangers fall in OT to the Caps 5-4

Maybe its a cold stretch. Maybe its fatigue. But Henrik Lundqvist is allowing a lot of rubber to cross the line. Tonight marked the 3rd time in the last four games, that he allowed 4 or more goals. Albeit it was on 35 shots, Henrik hasn't been the Henrik we all know and love. He was great in the first period only allowing 1 goal on 17 shots. He allowed 4 goals on the next 18 shots, and a very savable one at that, that gave the Caps a 4-3 lead in the third. Brendan Shanahan did all he could, scoring one and dishing out 2 assists. Martin Straka, doubled his goal output scoring twice to give him 4 on the season.

"I'm not sure if I'm disturbed or perturbed. We just weren't very smart," Rangers coach Tom Renney said. "I thought we handled the puck poorly, we managed it poorly, we had disjointed line changes, we had defensemen caught out for 2-minute shifts because we couldn't get out of our own end."

That should also, be put into effect, as what Renney said was dead on. Seemingly every period, the Rangers were caught up in their own end for one and a half to two minutes at a time. The Rangers got caught on a slow line change in the 2nd, when Alex Ovechkin had a breakaway, but was denied against Lundqvist. Ovechkin scored his 22nd of the season after a deflection off a Mike Green slapshot. And once again Jaromir Jagr wasn't that great....shocking.

Many questions to be answered as to next season for Rangers

New York is a very impatient sports town. That goes for all four major sports. The Rangers currently sit fifth in the Eastern Conference with 34 points. The idle Rangers had Boston slide up to the fourth spot tonight with a win in Buffalo. With the half-way point of the season looming, and the trade deadline just a few months away, what will Rangers brass do? The Rangers have a lot of young talent to exchange for superstar caliber players. The issue with that is, with the main core of guys like Henrik Lundqvist and Michal Rozsival becoming free agents, the Rangers may not be so quick to pull the trigger.

Scott Gomez and Chris Drury are going to combine for roughly $15.5 million of the $52.5 million dollar cap next season. We all know Henrik will command Scott Gomez money, and Rozsival will command a formidable salary of around $3 to $4 million a year. It is appealing that names like Brad Richards, Marian Hossa, Mathieu Schneider, and Martin St. Louis may be shopped around. The Rangers though cannot accept another $7 million dollar contract unless the signature says Henrik Lundqvist. Luckily players like Marek Malik, Kasparaitis, Straka and Mara are coming off the books at the end of this season.

Listed below are the Rangers Unrestricted Free Agents and Restricted Free Agents:

UFA: LW - Martin Straka, D - Darius Kasparaitis, D - Paul Mara, D - Marek Malik, LW - Brendan Shanahan, D - Michal Rozsival, LW - Sean Avery, G - Steven Valiquette, D - Andrew Hutchinson, D/LW - Jason Strudwick, F - Mitch Fritz

RFA: G - Henrik Lundqvist, D - Dan Girardi, D - Fedor Tyutin, G - Al Montoya, D - Hugh Jessiman, RW - Marcel Hossa, C - Greg Moore, Bruce Graham, G - Chris Holt, Rick Kozak, D - Dave Liffiton, D - Ivan Baranka, LW - Nigel Dawes, F - Matt Zaba

Thriller in MSG ends in a Rangers OT win over Devils

Coming off a 3 game losing streak being outscored 14-4, the Rangers went back to their winning ways. The Devils took the Rangers to a scoreless tie going into OT. They could not hold up as Brendan Shanahan rocketed a shot past Martin Brodeur 30 seconds into the OT period. They played an exciting scoreless game, and it only feels better to come out with a win putting out such a hard effort. Nothing in the way of dirty play or fighting. A hard effort by both teams made out to be a great showing at MSG.


After being a little inconsistent, Henrik Lundqvist returned to his normal ways, in making great saves and holding the Devils at bay. Brodeur did the same, with the only exception being Dan Girardi hitting the left post in the first period. In the second period, Brodeur made a highlight reel save, robbing Petr Prucha after a spin-o-rama backhand, using his famous glove, which so many goal scorers remember seeing after Brodeur robbed them. Lundqvist's best save came in the first 10 seconds of the period, when he robbed a one-timer off the stick of Zach Parise, just 13 seconds in off the Devils initial drive.

"I was thinking, 'Get pumped up for this game,' and it's not hard to get that feeling going out there to play against the Devils and play against Marty," Lundqvist said. "After the first period I felt like I was back."

And he was indeed back as the Rangers snapped that 3 game losing streak and come within 1 point of the first place Devils.

Other notes:
-Brendan Shanahan's OT goal was his 10th of the season.
-Scott Gomez has 20 points in his last 19 games.
-Jaromir Jagr has 4 points ( 3G 1A) in his last 11 games with a -6 rating.
-Henrik Lundqvist notched his 5th shutout and 15th win of the season.

Rangers lose 3rd in a row to Thrashers 4-2

When it rains it pours. The lack of effort at times is obvious. After coming off 2 games at home being outscored 10-2, the Rangers should have had something to play for. Mainly first place of course, but most of all, to get back to their game. That once again did not happen against the Thrashers. Both teams got off to a very poor start. Both offenses seemingly skated through the defenses at will, and there were 3 goals scored in the first six and a half minutes. The Thrashers opened up the scoring, after Eric Boulton skated right through the invisible Rangers defense to score on a rebound. The Rangers quickly tied it up two or so minutes later. Marcel Hossa scored, it was his first goal of the season. Took him 25 games, but he finally found the back of the net.

After the first, the teams stepped up their defense, but the Rangers were done scoring. Ex-Ranger Pascal Dupuis had the only goal of the period, once again on a rebound, with the Rangers defense no where to be found on the left side of Valiquette. Steve did make some big saves, as well as his counterpart, Johan Hedberg. The Thrashers were the ones that had the advantage after that. Earlier in the second period, Brandon Dubinsky gave the Rangers a 2 goal lead. But not so fast. He decided to play soccer and kick the puck into the net. Of course in the NHL the stick has to be the one to put the puck in the net. Seemingly after that, the Thrashers had the advantage and the Rangers played passive for a while here and there.

The 3rd period was a stalemate, until late in the third. The Rangers defense decided to pinch and they got burned. Brandon Dubinsky was the only Ranger back, and he should have taken center Bobby Holik off the puck, but decided not to. That only lead to a drop pass to Slava Kozlov, and he ripped it right over Valiquette's shoulder. That was the game winner. Marian Hossa netted an empty netter with 4 seconds to go to give the Thrashers their 4-2 victory.

All in all, it was a great game to attend. I was there live, and it had a playoff atmosphere to it. The crowd was lively, and deservedly so. Both these teams met in the first round of the playoffs last year. Thrasher fans know that the Rangers are seemingly their biggest rivalry. The Thrashers know that as well. They have taken the first 2 of the 4 game series this season. Right now though, the Rangers biggest rival seems to be themselves. They just aren't playing confident at this time, and with a Devils win tonight, they take a 2 point lead in the Atlantic Division. The Rangers next game, of course is against the NJ Devils. Time to show up boys, its hockey time.

Blueshirts daydream their way to another loss: Leafs romp Rangers 6-2

It wasn't pretty. That about sums up tonights game against the Toronto Maple Leafs. After being defeated 4-0 by the Hurricanes Monday night, the Rangers had a chance to redeem themselves after a effortless showing. That did not happen. The Rangers were flat for the first half of the 1st period and got burned twice. Defensive mistakes, and a lack of using the body hurt the Rangers early on. After going down 2-0, the Rangers had chances and they took advantage. They scored on their first 2 power plays. Dan Girardi and Fedor Tyutin scored both goals. Scott Gomez and Chris Drury recorded assists on both goals.

Going into the 2nd it was tied at 2, but it didn't get better from there on out. Toronto tallied 2 more in that period, and anyone could have seen it was not the Rangers night. Henrik Lundqvist put out his worst performance thus far this season. He allowed 3 goals on the first 8 shots and allowed 4 total on 10 shots. Steve Valiquette relieved Lundqvist but fared no better. He allowed 2 goals on 6 total shots in the 3rd period. The Leafs scored 6 goals on a total of 16 shots. The Rangers should have had this game. The Leafs showed up very passive, and some can say timid. They were not very aggressive with the puck, but they were aggressive with the body. They took advantage of almost every mistake the Rangers made, and scored almost every goal from their lack of effort. Jaromir Jagr got knocked down numerous times tonight, by the likes of the "Jagr Stopper" Hal Gill and returning defenseman Pavel Kubina.

The post game press conference left Tom Renney telling reporters that there was no passion, and no fight. He said it was like the NFL. If you don't have passion and drive you're not going to win. Hopefully the Rangers paid attention to those 2 words. PASSION and DRIVE. It doesn't take a lot of finesse and star power to make you win. That goes for all sports. With passion and drive though, anyone can achieve anything. It just seems though that certain nights the Rangers leave that at home or in the locker room.

After tonight's debacle, the team left on a quick flight down south. Tomorrow's task calls for the Atlanta Thrashers, who are coming off a 4-3 shootout victory over the Isles Wednesday night. The Thrashers currently stand only 3 points out of a playoff spot. The 2nd to 11th place spots in the east are seperated by only 6 points, with the Rangers only 2 points out of a playoff spot so far. We know it is way too early to put this into hindsight, but remember the 2 words, PASSION and DRIVE.

Rangers inconsistent with finding the back of the net

It did not seem like a problem before the season started. Now 27 games in, the Rangers and their fans are left wondering. They have scored a total of 62 goals this season, 2nd to last in the conference only to the rival NY Islanders. With names like Jagr, Shanahan, Drury, Gomez, Straka, Prucha, Avery, and so on and so forth, there would be no guessing that the rangers couldn't score. Theres a few solutions that I can come up with, and here they are.

Belief: It seems to be there and then it disappears. The more the Rangers can't score the more unselfish they get. Not believing in their game, makes them dish more, and it seems to frustrate everyone on the bench and in the stands. These guys on this team, have great career numbers but not this year. They are trying to make the perfect pass and it seems to get through like 10% of the time. They have to start believing in themselves more and start shooting the puck. They have two 600 goal scorers for a reason. Put the puck in the net.

Chemistry: I personally have not seen a chemistry problem this season. Yes, there has been some line shuffling here and there early, but now there are the set lines. Dubinsky is gelling great with Jagr and Straka. Gomez and Shanahan have it, and the 3rd line with Drury is taking some time, but it will eventually get there. Remember Ryan Callahan missed like 15 games with that leg injury. These lines are doing they're thing but the results have not shown yet.

Relax Ranger fans its only 27 games. Theres 55 to go and anything can happen. We should all personally thank Henrik Lundqvist and the defense for their part so far. Theres alot of thank you cards at the stores. Pick one up and mail them to Madison Square Garden.

Rangers could pull the trigger on some huge trades near the deadline

Ahhh, you got to love it. Roughly two and half months before the trade deadline, the rumors are already flying. The Rangers of course, are centered in this. With Jaromir Jagr and Brendan Shanahan being they're primary threats for offense, the Rangers will need more in the terms of scorers. They may be able to strike a deal with some huge names when and if they become available. The Rangers have a rich, young core to fix up in a trade for some big time scorers. Names like Andrew Hutchinson, Greg Moore, Nigel Dawes, and Pierre-Alexandre Parenteau. All of these guys are having great seasons down in Hartford. After getting off to a slow start, Nigel Dawes has 16 pts in his 9 games for the Pack (6G 10A). The Wolfpack are having a tremendous season so far at 16-7-1 on the season, although trailing the Providence Bruins who are 17-3-2.

Now whom are the names that may float around at the deadline?, you may ask. Does the names, Mats Sundin, Marian Hossa, Vincent Lecavalier ring a bell?. I'm sure you do, because these are household names for hockey fans. With the young core of players that the Rangers have, they may have the pieces to add a huge star like that. Also, guys like Rob Blake and Sergei Fedorov, are likely to be shopped at or near the deadline. Of course though, the Rangers would not have to part with a lot of talent for the likes of them two.

Blueshirts shoot a blank vs Canes, losing 4-0

It wasn't one of the Rangers best performances of the year, and it showed. Even though tallying more shots, they got shutout by Cam Ward and Co. 4-0. The Rangers didn't get much of anything tonight, with all of their shots coming in clear view of Ward, making the most of the time, easy saves. Ex-Ranger Matt Cullen notched 2 assists in tonights victory for the Canes, after getting a goal taken back from him which he thought he scored on. It ended up going off of Jason Strudwick. Cory Stillman scored twice giving him 15 goals this season.

Back to the Rangers, it was known that they're heads and feet weren't in tonights game. Coach Renney realized that tonight.

"You'd like to think that we're sort of mature enough as a team to recognize you've got to sort of maintain some equilibrium," coach Tom Renney said. "Tonight it just wasn't there. There wasn't sort of that synapse between the brain and feet."

Also, Brendan Shanahan (the real captain, Jagr has the "C" for show), had a few words also for this loss.

"It was a real stinker, There was nothing good about this one."

The Rangers really didn't measure up against the Hurricanes tonight, and it showed. But its only 1 game and with a coach like Tom Renney, and a true player leader in Brendan Shanahan, don't expect the Rangers to stink up the Garden ice 2 games in a row. They play again Thursday night vs the Leafs.

Rangers strong start propels them to a 5-2 victory over Sens

Slowly but surely its coming. With today's strong effort and a 5-2 win, the Rangers are only 2 points out of 1st place in the East. The Rangers dominated the Sens early on, getting out to an early 3-o lead, and ended up getting goalie Martin Gerber pulled. Luckily though the Rangers got that lead, because the Sens put out a strong effort in the 2nd and 3rd periods, but could not solve Henrik Lundqvist. Put them on a list with the rest of the teams that fell short against him. He put on another stellar performance today, stopping 31 of 33 shots. Rangers got goals from Dan Girardi, Jaromir Jagr, Blair Betts, and a pair from Brendan Shanahan. Jagr put out a great effort and seemed to top his performance from the last game against the Isles Thursday night. He scored on the power play to give the Rangers a 3-0 lead, and seemingly had the puck every shift when he was on the ice in the 1st period. He could not be stopped early on.

On the opposite side of things, the Sens were handed their 6th loss in a row, and don't look anything like they did early in the season. They have allowed 32 goals in their last 8 games. With this loss, they have allowed the Rangers to move closer to the top spot in the east.

"I thought toward the end of the second and into the third we showed a little more energy in their zone," Senators coach John Paddock said. "We're a good hockey team that's a lot better than we're playing right now. But we're not winning lots of battles in the corners either offensively or defensively."

Ottawa didn't help themselves early on by turning the puck over a lot in the neutral zone, and making passes through the center of the ice, and not up the boards. The Rangers took advantage of that by dominating early on by throwing shots at Marty Gerber, and taking an 11-3 shot advantage to start the game. From there on out though, the Rangers got outshot 30-14. But were stopped and left baffled, by Lundqvist. With today's win Lundqvist is the league leader with 14. The Rangers next obstacle is the Carloina Hurricanes, who should come into this game with a vengeance, after being pummeled by the Sabres tonight, losing 8-1.