Leafs Fall on Valley, Forward Rotation Takes a New Turn

The Rangers have a chance to rebound from their first loss of the season with another outing against a paper thin team when the Leafs visit the Garden tonight. They'll do so with Steve Valiquette in net, Valiquette having had success against his hometown team last season. That gives Henrik Lundqvist a bit of rest as the team heads into a stretch of three games in four nights, a pair of Garden games sandwiched around a quick trip to Detroit tomorrow night. Other line-up changes, according to Rangers Report, Ranger Rants, and Blue Notes -- Nigel Dawes and Dan Fritsche will dress in place of Lauri Korpikoski and Petr Prucha, two forwards who have been skating well but have been struggling to score.

See game previews in Newsday, Journal News, Daily News, Record, Post, Toronto Star, and NYR.com. Ryan Hollweg will not be in the line-up tonight, the former Ranger having been suspended for three games for his second major for checking from behind this season (for more, see the Globe and Mail). The tragic death of Alexei Cherepanov continues to be a story -- see Slap Shot, Globe and Mail, National Post, and CBC Sports. Prospect Park and Howlings both discuss the defection of David Skokan back home to Slovakia after leaving Charlotte.

The October issue of Blueshirt Bulletin was delivered to the postal service today, so subscribers should begin to see their copies in their mailboxes perhaps as soon as tomorrow, but more likely early next week. Our cover story is the leadership of Chris Drury and Scott Gomez, a story by Andrew Gross that we have already excerpted at Blueshirt Bulletin+. Alongside it is Steve Zipay's look at Markus Naslund and Wade Redden during happier days in Prague (see the partial page image above). Our own coverage of the trip to Prague and Bern takes up five pages, all of which are available for immediate viewing by subscribers at BB+ who want to get a head start on the issue.

Other stories: Biofiles on Naslund and Aaron Voros by Scoop Malinowski, Joe McDonald on Fritsche's attempts to crack the line-up, Dan Rosen of NHL.com on the once and maybe future Rangers who played for the opposition in Bern, Bruce Berlet's article on Dale Weise (see a preview at BB+) and his comprehensive Wolf Pack News & Notes, items on Korpikoski and Corey Potter that originally appeared in similar form at BB+ (here and here), Jess Rubenstein's preview of Ranger prospects playing college hockey this season, and the monthly entries by John Halligan, Ron Boesgaard, and Mitch Beck.

Click here to see the preview of this issue at BB+ if you already subscribe to Blueshirt Bulletin and have registered for BB+ access. If you need instructions on how to access BB+, write to us at Blueshirt@mindspring.com. 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+ -- for just $3 per issue or $2.50 per month (or less if you take advantage of multi-year discounts), you'll get our monthly print publication with its wall-to-wall coverage of the Rangers and the entire organization, illustrated in full color with photographs and top-notch art direction, as well as continuous access to our exclusive premium online content at BB+.

Comments

[Jed Orts]

Anyone else extremely upset we will not be seeing Ryan Hollweg tonight? I still blame him for changing the momentum in Game 3 against the Penguins with that stupid boarding penalty he took in the 2nd period.

[Dan]

I read an article somewhere, I forget where, praising Renney for controlling Hollweg for as long as he did. I thought that was pretty interesting.

[Paul R _ _ _ _ _ D]

I'm kind of happy we are not seeing hollweg, less chance of anyone getting injured.

[Ant]

im upset because i wanted Orr to rock Hollwegs world.I also hope Avery will drop gloves with Orr.Hel probably puss out tho

[ojc]

I guess Pruch is going to be Renney's whipping child this year. Not a single mention on how our 1st line isn't putting the puck in the net either.

[Ant]

OJC

What you want Renney to say?I know my 1st line sucks because they gave me 2 centers and a 35 y/o to work with.The 2 choices for Renney right nwo are keep them together and hope they click or move 7 million dollar man to the 3rd line and make yourself and Sather look like the biggest dumbasses.Unless you willing to move red hot dubi to 3rd line.

Makes u miss Jagr doesnt it right now??

But no reason to go into the panic mode when the team is 5-1

[ntb]

"move 7 million dollar man to the 3rd line and make yourself and Sather look like the biggest dumbasses"

According to Ranger's Report, that is exactly what they are doing. The opening line combination sure are interesting.

[Ant]

NTB

I see that lol.i hope becasue of that Dubi line wont get their time cut

[Chris QCT]

Anyone know where you can watch the game on the internet? For free?

I'm in Florida now and cannot get it....

[RobZ]

Valli Valli Valli!

[cwgatti]

NASLUND IS A DISAPPOINTMENT.

[And This One Will Last A Lifetime]

1 goal in 125 minutes of play, however tonight it wasn't for lack of trying. Hopefully the bounces go the Rangers way sooner rather than later.

[Ant]

1 goal in 125 minutes of play

and the team is 6-1 so chill man we still good

[rangerbill94]

Ant

Make me miss Jagr??? Are you kidding! I guarantee you we would not be 6-1, and don't give me the 7-0 story.

We played 5 periods of poor pass and catch hockey. It seemed as though most of our passes we behind or just ahead or in the skates of somebody. And when they were on the tape, we couldn't catch them cleanly. This is a very fast team. Screw up the passing and this team comes to a complete halt. In the third period, for some reason, we started making better passes and far better catches and the flow returned. Toskala got the Leafs a point tonight. We should have put this game in the bag in the third. Valli was great and deserved the #1 star. Zherdov, Dawes and Sjostrom will be a formidable trio and we haven't even gotten to the team leadership!

I do think they were looking a little bit ahead last night, what with Renney saying he wanted Hank to get a win in Detroit. Renney is thinking about the playoffs already, and that's a good sign. However, it took the focus off last nights game. Still, we got 2 points and that's all that counts.