Blueshirt Boggle

Rangers Keep Cleaning Out the Cellar

The Rangers won their fourth straight game last night, 3-2 over the struggling Atlantic Thrashers, to improve their league-leading record to 10-2-1 and set a franchiserecord for best start ever. Once again, it was not as easy as it should have been against the second-worst team in the league, with the power play coming up empty except for one individual effort by Nikolai Zherdev and Henrik Lundqvist having to make a number of saves to give the Rangers a chance to win. But the Rangers nevertheless made it a perfect 6-0 against teams in the bottom third of the standings.

The biggest hero of the game, for the third time in four games, was Zherdev, who scored a third period go-ahead goal and made the play to set up the game winner, and who opened eyes -- popped them, in fact -- with a diving backchecking play to break up a breakaway. Everyone was talking "Z" after the game -- Lundqvist, Drury, Renney, Kalinin, Dan Fritsche, and of course Zherdev himself, as best he could -- and we have it all at Blueshirt Bulletin+. Click here to read it if you subscribe to Blueshirt Bulletin and have registered for BB+ access. If you need instructions on how to access BB+, write to us at [email protected]. If you are not a subscriber, E-mail us or click here to learn how to take out a subscription to get the magazine as well as BB+.

Game reports centering mostly on Zherdev can be found in Newsday, the Journal News, Record, Times, Post, Daily News, NY Sports Day here and here, NYR.com, AJC, and AP. It would not be immodest to say that none of these reports has quotes as extensive as those as BB+, and no one else talked to Fritsche as we did about the difference in Zherdev between Columbus and New York. Game and team notes, primarily on the trade of Hugh Jessiman to Nashville, can be found in Newsday, the Record, Post, and Inside Shots. More on Jessiman from the Darien Times. See also the reporters' blogs -- Rangers Report here and here, Ranger Rants here and here, Slap Shot, and Game On!.

The lines that ended the game last night, with Zherdev reunited with Dubinsky and Voros while Fritsche moved to Drury's line with Naslund, were those used in practice today, according to Rangers Report and Ranger Rants. Scott Gomez was given the day off, and Steve Valiquette was named the starter tomorrow night in Toronto. There was an epic fight early in the game between Colton Orr and Eric Boulton -- see it here. Prospect Park goes gaga for Evgeny Grachev's goal just seven seconds into his game last night. The Checkers bring a 4-2 start to their home opener tonight -- Lyon Messier was re-signed after Tysen Dowzak was returned to his junior team by the Rangers.

The Return of a Garden Icon

UPDATE: Hugh Jessiman traded to Nashville for future considerations. Mitch Beck at Howlings spoke to Jessiman about the trade -- read about it here.

Good news today as Gerry Cosby's re-opens its doors after moving to a new location near Madison Square Garden. The new address is 11 Pennsylvania Plaza -- the entrance is on 31st Street just east of Seventh Avenue across from Athenia Hotel between Fidelity Trust and the Catholic church. We'll be heading over there before today's game to drop off copies of the last two issues of Blueshirt Bulletin -- Cosby's is the only place to get individual copies of the magazine without taking out a subscription.

Speaking of today's game, the Rangers have to guard once again against complacency. Their prior match against the league-worst Islanders at least brought with it a rivalry that has historically transcended the standings. Tonight's match against the second-worst Atlanta Thrashers is even more of a trap. While there is no such emotional attachment to the game for the Rangers, the Thrashers will be bent on atoning for a 7-0 thrashing in Philly that left them winless in their last four and 2-5-2 overall.

If you're getting a deja vu right about now, that's because one year and eleven days ago, the Rangers met a Thrashers team that was fresh off a 4-0 rout in Philly that left them 0-6 to start the season. Guess what happened? A complacent Ranger team was beaten 5-3 on three early goals. Perhaps to keep the team on its toes going into a game like this, Tom Renney has shaken up his lines again, according to Rangers Report, going back to the top two units that started the season -- Drury on the right side of Gomez and Naslund, and Zherdev back on the right side of Dubinsky and Voros. Dan Fritsche will center Callahan and Dawes while the fourth line remains the same.

In the press today, Newsday and the Daily News discuss that power play. The Record examines the Rangers still trying to put together a full sixty minute effort despite their league-leading 9-2-1 record. The Post, Journal News, Blue Notes, and ESPN look at Brendan Shanahan's declaration of independence. NYR.com and the AP have game previews. Atlanta's paper reports on the Thrashers' woes. The Wolf Pack won in overtime last night -- see Howlings, WP.com, Beyond the Blueshirts, and the Hartford Courant. Prospect Park names Chris Doyle its Ranger prospect of the week.

Forbes announced their annual NHL franchise valuations yesterday, and the Rangers are in their customary number two spot behind the Toronto Maple Leafs. Since the lockout, the Rangers have gone up in estimated value from $282 million to $411 million. Cablevision purchased the team eleven years ago for $195 million, according to Forbes (apportioning the $1 billion they paid for the Garden properties as a whole). The Islanders are in second place too -- if you turn the list upside down. For more, see Ranger Rants.

Also new today is another Blueshirt Bulletin blog, Life and Hockey, authored by Patrick Hoffman, a Ranger fan and journalist who has been one of our copy editors for the past few years and has contributed articles online and in print. Check it out!

Korpedo Torpedoed

It should come as no surprise to anyone that Lauri Korpikoski was sent back to Hartford today. Having secured a roster spot coming out of a successful training camp and a good pre-season, Korpikoski was unable to contribute offensively during the regular season, despite generally skating well. As the only spare forward with a free pass to Hartford (i.e. without having to pass through waivers) and as a young player who needs to get ice time -- not to mention his $1.1 million NHL salary cap hit -- it was really just a matter of time. For more, see Ranger Rants, Rangers Report, and Blue Notes.

Does this and a potential assignment of the already waiver-cleared Patrick Rissmiller open enough cap space to sign Brendan Shanahan? We don't believe Tom Renney wants Shanahan back, not after their dispute last season over the veteran winger's ice time, but it is surely more than mere coincidence that on this very day, Shanahan tells the Post that he is now ready to talk to teams other than the Rangers.

Too Much Ado About Dubinsky Benching

Brandon Dubinsky's first period benching the other night remains an issue with fans two days later even though the player himself said that he was OK with it. Given that Tom Renney is a players' coach rather than a Mike Keenan or Ken Hitchcock type, we believe that he chose a perfect time and the perfect player with which to send a message aimed at the team as a whole. The supremely confident Dubinsky is well able to take it in stride, as he showed by coming back strong in the latter two periods.

Nikolai Zherdev never responded well to these types of coaching tactics when Hitchcock used them against him in Columbus, so he would have been a poor candidate to try it out on, even after his horrible turnover to Kyle Okposo nearly cost the Rangers a goal. That turnover is Exhibit A for those who see Renney applying a double standard, but Dan Girardi allowing himself to get beaten to a puck after a face-off win that led directly to Okposo's last-minute first period goal has yet to be brought up as another example.

Anyway, with captains Chris Drury and Markus Naslund having been benched late in the third period of an earlier game in which they were struggling, the double standard argument obviously doesn't hold up. Blue Notes also weighs in on the subject of benching players for transgressions like Dubinsky's two first period penalties. Larry Brooks of the Post looks at a wholly different problem that could arise with the popular young center -- re-signing him when his contract expires at the end of the season.

With the Rangers having had the day off yesterday, it was time for one reporter to take stock of the team's fast 9-2-1 start, and Sam Weinman's analysis in the Journal News and at Rangers Report is spot on. No one would dispute Sam's primary conclusion -- goaltending -- least of all Steve Zipay of Newsday, who takes a closer look at Henrik Lundqvist's MVP play. The team resumed practice this morning, with Ranger Rants reporting that Dan Fritsche will step in for Petr Prucha tomorrow night. The lines will otherwise remain the same as the Rangers, their record notwithstanding, hope to put together a full sixty minute effort.

Elsewhere, Rangers Report looks at Patrick Rissmiller's situation -- he passed through waivers but is still with the team, using up salary cap space. The suggestion that Alexei Cherepanov's heart condition may have been brought about by performance enhancing drugs has been debunked by a report that found no such drugs in his blood, according to Beyond the Blueshirts. And the Times talks to Jaromir Jagr in a long magazine story about Russian hockey, which is summarized at Slap Shot (our link goes right to where Jagr comes into the story, about halfway through).

Drury Sticks It to Isles

We tried to look at both sides of several stories yesterday heading into the Rangers' first meeting of the season against the Islanders. Turns out they weren't mutually exclusive. Would the first place Manhattanites let the last place suburbanites ride the emotion of the rivalry to make a game of it, or would they show some killer instinct and put away a team that was bad even before they lost their top goalie, best defenseman, and several other starters? Would Henrik Lundqvist have to carry them again, or would an underachiever like Chris Drury, Markus Naslund, Wade Redden, or Nigel Dawes step up and take control?

Well, for the first half of the game (a bit more, actually), Lundqvist had to hold the Isles at bay with some superb saves, 25 in all (ten on the power play) until the Rangers took over toward the end of the second period. Despite an opening minute goal put into his own net by Islander back-up Joey MacDonald, who looked extremely shaky at that moment but went on to play well, the Isles were allowed to get back into the game by a far superior Ranger team. When they were allowed to tie the score with eight seconds left in the first on a team-wide breakdown by the Rangers after they won a draw, it looked like another Ranger-Islander hair-puller that should never have been allowed to take place.

But the Rangers stepped it up late, as they have so often so far this season after slow starts. They outshot the Isles 18-5 over the twenty minutes of play in which they took a 4-1 lead before they stopped competing in the final minutes, secure with that lead and riding out another power play. And it was Drury who stepped up from among those players who were struggling, scoring the opening goal and the five-on-three clincher and getting eight shots on goal (unfortunately, he was part of both goals against, so he was -1, and he was inexplicably 4-11 on draws, and not against any one opposing center -- Scott Gomez was 19-8 against the same array of centers).

Overall, coming away with a win that was not as hard-fought as most against the Isles, the signs were positive -- Lundqvist continuing his excellent start, Drury emerging as a hero after the weekend heroics of Nikolai Zherdev and Naslund, another key power play goal that made a difference in the game (even though the team was just 1-8 overall and allowed their third shorthander of the season), somewhat of a killer instinct in putting the Isles away despite letting them hang around too long to start with, and disciplined play after taking some early undisciplined penalties, with the Isles losing all discipline in taking three high sticking penalties at one time and negating a late power play with some roughing (the initial call on Aaron Voros was wrong -- the player leaned into Voros with his back exposed).

Game reports: Newsday, Journal News, Record, Times, Daily News, Post, NY Sports Day, NYR.com, NHL.com, AP. More in the reporters' blogs at Rangers Report here and here, Ranger Rants, Blue Notes, Slap Shot, and Game On!. From the Isles' point of view: Newsday, Daily News, NYI.com. NY Sports Day takes a closer look at Tom Renney, Newsday considers the possibility of the Isles moving elsewhere, the Record has additional game notes, Inside Shots has team notes, Hockey Rodent wails away on Markus Naslund, our friend Jason Lockhart looks at the Ranger-Islander fans' rivalry at NYI.com, and Puck Daddy looks at the Aaron Voros fight (Puck Daddy, if you're interested, also looks at ex-Ranger agitator Matt Barnaby commenting on ex-Ranger agitator Sean Avery). From WP.com, the Wolf Pack Weekly, and Prospect Park looks at QMJHL player of the week Chris Doyle.

Finally, in the national media -- nothing on the Rangers. Nothing. Instead, there is the predictable hue and cry about Doug Weight's hit that knocked out rookie Brandon Sutter Saturday night. It doesn't really apply to the Rangers, but it came up during last night's game, so we want to get our two cents in on the subject. We're all for legislation to outlaw headhunting, but the knees that are jerking so self-righteously on this one are laughable -- this was a headhunter who got a taste of his own medicine, and it was Doug Weight, for crying out loud, skating with his arms down, not following through the way Sutter would have, to check the puck carrier.

You can't legislate against stupidity (even though the NHL tried and failed to do so with the lockout that led to the current CBA) -- that injury was Sutter's own fault, not Weight's. If you want to stop that from happening, you might as well go to a no-check league (and then it would still happen if someone skates head down into a player crossing his path like Sutter did). Instead, you have a league where some of the most marginal hooks are called, as they were in last night's game, while a dozen or so cross-checks (half of them on one play by Marc Streit on Naslund, the other half against Drury in front of the net) are allowed.

View From the Top

It's still early, but the numbers are looking good for fans on this side of the Clearview Expressway and murky for those on the other side. Here, we have the team with the most points in the NHL with 17 -- there, they're in the cellar with just four points. Adjust for the fact that the Rangers have played the most games (11) and they are still sixth in the league in point percentage, but the Islanders are still dead last. Normally, you can just throw the standings right out the window whenever the Rangers and Islanders meet.

But this isn't really the standings at work here -- it's the situation in net. Henrik Lundqvist is off to another great start and is the main reason the Rangers are winning games despite struggling to score goals as they did last year (they are 23th in goals for, 2nd in goals against), especially on the power play (the power play ranks 24th, the penalty killing 4th overall). On the Island, meanwhile, Rick DiPietro, goalie for life, is injured and is likely to miss tonight's contest after missing the first four and leaving midway through the last game.

Still, the Rangers have to beware their suburban rivals, who relish nothing more than beating them. There are two ways the Rangers can go from here -- although they are a nice 8-2-1, they are just 3-2-1 since their 5-0 start, and they readily admit that they have still not played up to their potential. Chris Drury has just three assists in eleven games and is still tied for the team worst plus-minus with -3. Most emblematic of his struggling start to the season is his sub-46% face-off record. Wade Redden has just three points, only one since the team returned from Prague, none since the Garden opener. Nigel Dawes has just one goal and has been invisible for long stretches of time.

If these players can come alive, the Rangers can get even better. Markus Naslund has come alive with two goals and two assists in his last three games, helping the Rangers win their last two when they were on the ropes. Nikolai Zherdev likewise has two goals and two assists, huge factors in those two wins, after going without a point during the Rangers' 1-2-1 dip. Getting additional production from Drury, Redden, Dawes, and the rotation of Petr Prucha (who will get the call against tonight), Dan Fritsche, and Lauri Korpikoski, as well as more finishes all around for Scott Gomez's great set-up passes, and the Rangers can rocket even higher.

On the other hand, as we saw last season when Lundqvist went into an eight-week funk after Thanksgiving, things have the potential to take a turn for the worse if he hits another rough patch without getting the help he needs from the team in front of him. We've seen it a bit already -- Lundqvist has allowed ten goals in the Rangers' three losses, but only nine goals in his six wins; in front of him, the team has averaged close to three goals in the six wins but only two goals per game in the losses. One cannot point the finger at Lundqvist in those three losses, but the suggestion is that if he doesn't hold the opposition completely at bay, the Rangers can have a hard time winning.

The stats also suggest that the Rangers as a team have been beaten in those three games, but anyone who saw the losses to Buffalo and Dallas knows that it was the Rangers' failure to capitalize on good scoring chances that cost the team those games and it was officiating that cost them the overtime loss in Detroit after they roared back to overcome a rocky start and take the lead. Going up against the Islanders, the Rangers have to watch out for these kinds of problems -- they have to show a killer instinct and take advantage of an opponent that is struggling mightily and not let the rivalry spur them on.

In the press today, see reports in Newsday, the Record, Post, Daily News, Game On!, and NYR.com. The situation in net is discussed in Newsday, NHL.com, and Ranger Rants. Rangers Report defends Drury, Blue Notes looks at the Rangers early season success. NHL.com also has this late entry on the last game against Pittsburgh. Prospect Park, as always, has a weekend wrap-up of prospect action.

Second Chance in the Third

What was a bigger slap in the face to the Rangers, that the visiting Penguins took a 2-0 lead after the Rangers failed to clear the puck from the zone (or did they?), or that they failed to get themselves back into the game on the two-minute two-man advantage they got shortly thereafter, a lackluster power play despite their seven shots on goal?

Either way, they came out in the third and roared back to tie the game on Nikolai Zherdev's goal with eight seconds left in regulation and then won their second shootout of the season on a Freddie Sjostrom shot after Henrik Lundqvist clamped down in overtime. Lundqvist was perfect in the shootout as well, stopping the soundly booed Sidney Crosby to nail down the win after his buddy Freddie put the Rangers ahead in the third round.

It's not that the Rangers were bad during the first 46 minutes of action. It's that they just can't seem to score at home -- including their two goals tonight, they have just four in their last four games at home, where they are 4-2 overall with two of those wins in shootouts. By contrast, they have scored fifteen in their five games away from Madison Square Garden, where they are 4-0-1. But they turned it on in a big way in the final 24 minutes of regulation, outshooting the Pens 26-3, 18-2 in the third period, during which the Pens were held shotless for more than 17 minutes.

Once again, after all other factors had balanced themselves out, positive and negative on both sides of the ledger, goals scored with the man advantage made all the difference. Pittsburgh scored their first goal just as Wade Redden was stepping out of the penalty box after an otherwise good kill, the Rangers got themselves back into the game with a bang-bang play from Scott Gomez to Markus Naslund off the opening face-off of their first power play after the botched five-on-three, and they scored their last-minute equalizer six-on-five with Lundqvist pulled for the extra skater.

Game reports: Newsday, Journal News, Daily News, Record, Times, Post, NY Sports Day, NYR.com, NHL.com, AP, and Pittsburgh media here, here, and here. On Renney returning to the bench: Newsday, AP, Rangers Report, Ranger Rants, Blue Notes, and Blueshirts Blog (which also wonders why Ranger fans boo Crosby). From the reporters' blogs: Rangers Report, Ranger Rants, Blue Notes, Blueshirts Blog, and Game On!. Newsday reports on the Rangers' no-name offense, the Record has game notes, and Inside Shots has team notes.

The Wolf Pack won again last night -- see Howlings, WP.com, and the Courant, Prospect Park recaps prospect action elsewhere. Just can't escape Sean Avery -- the Post and THN get on Bobby Clarke's case for getting on Avery's case, and Bob Raissman of the Daily News gets on MSGN's case for their coverage of Avery without apparently knowing that a) Stan Fischler got the exclusive interview with Avery after the game, and b) John Giannone did indeed get on Avery's case last year. Beyond the Blueshirts translates a long interview with Jaromir Jagr speaking about Alexei Cherepanov.

Now available at Blueshirt Bulletin+ is a lengthy article about Zherdev and the Rangers' three Swedes, with many quotes from those four players and Tom Renney -- click here to read it if you subscribe to Blueshirt Bulletin and have registered for BB+ access. If you need instructions on how to access BB+, write to us at [email protected]. If you are not a subscriber, E-mail us or click here to learn how to take out a subscription to get the magazine as well as BB+.

If in the First You Don't Succeed...

The Rangers arrived in Columbus long before the first period of last night's game. But their legs didn't arrive until after the period ended. Playing a poor period that can perhaps best be summed up by noting that the worst Ranger was the usually reliable Marc Staal, the Rangers came out skating in the second period and found ways to keep the puck on their sticks instead of constantly losing it, as they did so often during the opening stanza.

One is tempted to say that what finally got the Rangers really going was their coach Tom Renney finally using his head, but the stick Renney took to his head on the bench is no joking matter. Nevertheless, Dan Girardi scored the Rangers' first goal of the night even before MSGN's cameras could re-train themselves on the action after watching Renney being helped to the locker room. Renney reportedly lost consciousness briefly and might have sustained a concussion, but he flew back to New York after the game.

The Rangers regained consciousness at that point too. Less than four minutes after Girardi tied the score, Brandon Dubinsky redirected a Nikolai Zherdev pass into the net with his skate, and even though there was a distinct kicking motion, video replay rightly concluded that the redirection has already taken place without a kick before Dubinsky kicked.

Zherdev, having already assisted on the first two goals, fired in the clincher to cement the Rangers' win in his first homecoming to the city where he played his first four NHL seasons. The homecoming was certainly a happy one for the much-maligned winger, who was booed by Columbus fans every time he touched the puck even though it was obviously not his fault he was traded. His three points now give him eight in his first ten games in New York and he sports a team-high +7 despite the knock on him as a Blue Jacket that he refused to play in the defensive zone.

Dubinsky's game-winning goal was a power play goal. Say what you will about the lines and pairings, which were jumbled a bit last night, about the opposition and the goaltending (Henrik Lundqvist was superb again last night), about the shots or whatever, but almost every game comes down to special teams. This was the fourth game out of seven that was won with a power play goal. One other power play goal was an equalizer and another extended a one-goal lead. The only power play goal wasted was still an important go-ahead goal in a game that was squandered afterwards -- and part of that squandering was allowing a power play goal that equalized the score. The Rangers gave up PPG's that equalized the score in both of their other losses as well, along with an opposition game winner in one of those losses.

Renney's status for tonight remains uncertain, according to Rangers Report reporting from today's morning skate. Game reports: Newsday, Daily News, Record, Ranger Rants, Post, MSG.com, NYR.com, NHL.com, AP, and Columbus Dispatch. More from Newsday on Fedor Tyutin, the Post on Petr Prucha, the Record with game notes, the Disptach with a look back at the Zherdev trade, and Inside Shots with team notes. Looking ahead to tonight's Garden match against the Penguins, see Pittsburgh area reports here, here, here, and here. The Wolf Pack broke a three-game losing streak -- see Howlings, WP.com, and the Courant. Prospect Park reviews other action from last night.

Zherdev's Columbus Day

It's probably not as big of a deal for Nikolai Zherdev and Columbus as it was for Sean Avery and the Rangers, but the young Ukrainian right winger makes his return today to the city where he began his NHL career five years ago. For more on Zherdev as well as the other Columbus returnee Dan Fritsche, see Newsday, Journal News, Daily News, Record, Post, Ranger Rants, Blue Notes, NYR.com, and the Columbus Dispatch. Beyond the Blueshirts has a translation of a Russian interview with Zherdev. Aaron Voros article here. Prospect Park has prospect action from last night. And Lyon Messier was released by Charlotte.

UPDATE: Ranger Rants and Blue Notes report from the game day skate in Columbus on Blue Jacket coach Ken Hitchcock and other subjects. Howlings reports that Andreas Jamtin and Joe Barnes have been sent to Charlotte.

Juggling Act May Be Risky

The Rangers completed practice today and are off to Columbus for their match against the Blue Jackets Friday evening. As he so often does, coach Tom Renney is putting the hometown boy into the line-up so that he gets a chance to play in front of his family and friends. Dan Fritsche is actually from the Cleveland area, although that's not that far away, and he has a lot of friends in Columbus not just from his own playing days there but because of his brother's four year stint at Ohio State.

According to Rangers Report, Renney is juggling two of his lines for this game, putting Fritsche on the right wing of Brandon Dubinsky and Aaron Voros and moving Nikolai Zherdev, another ex-Blue Jacket, to the right side of Chris Drury and Markus Naslund, a risky move that may help get Drury and Naslund going or could backfire against Dubinsky and Voros, the team's leading scorers. On the other hand, Fritsche performed at his best during training camp when he was on a line with Dubinsky (although that seems to be a universal for any player this season).

In the news today, Newsday looks at areas the Rangers can improve while the Post checks in with the struggling Drury. Ranger Rants wonders about Mats Sundin's preparations to return to the NHL. NHL.com has yet another look at the Staal brothers. The Daily News reports on Russia's response to Alexei Cherepanov's death -- too late for the Ranger prospect. The Wolf Pack returned to action last night and lost in a shootout -- see Howlings, the Courant, and WP.com for recaps. Prospect Park has a recap of other action.

Yeah, we're as tired of the Sean Avery show as you are, but Avery's appearance in New Jersey last night brought back a lot of talk of his role in antagonizing Martin Brodeur during the Rangers' playoff win over the Devils last spring. If you're still interested, check out reports here, here, and here. Larry Brooks was in Newark reporting on Avery v. Brodeur, and his reports in the Post here and here are interesting in a different sort of way than just his subject matter. And this just in -- pot calls kettle black, as Bobby Clarke blasts Avery at TSN.