Blueshirt Boggle

Schedule Gets Tougher After Today

The Rangers had better make the most of their rematch with Florida today, because life is about to get tougher for them. Completing the month of November with a fifth straight game against the worst teams in the conference, having gone 3-1 in the preceding four, the Rangers start December with a trio against teams in the top ten in the league and will face teams in the top half of the league standings in twelve of their next fifteen games, which includes a three-game west coast road trip. They then embark on a five-game trip at the conclusion of the fifteen-game stretch. Of course, this might not be such a bad thing -- they are currently 6-2-1 against the top fifteen in the league, and just 6-4-1 against teams in the bottom fifteen that are not located in Florida (5-0 against Tampa and Florida).

Nikolai Zherdev remains a key for the Rangers -- since the season openers in Prague (in which he didn't score in the Rangers' two wins), only once have the Rangers won a game without benefit from at least a point or a shootout goal by Zherdev, and only once have they lost when he registered a point. Special teams are a make it or break it factor too -- only once this season have the Rangers won in regulation time without benefit of a power play goal. They are 5-4-2 when failing to score on the power play (four of those wins in shootouts) and are 12-3-0 when scoring power play goals. They are likewise 13-2-1 when holding opponents scoreless on the power play, 4-5-1 when allowing PPGs (two of those wins by shootout). They have allowed more than one power play goal in a game only once all season.

At Blueshirt Bulletin+ today, we look at the effect Dmitri Kalinin has on his defense partners, and it's not a pretty picture, at least not statistically, especially for the beleaguered Michal Rozsival. Also at BB+ are today's links and all reader comments. Click here to read BB+ 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 Blueshirt@mindspring.com. If you are not a subscriber, E-mail us or click here to learn how to subscribe to the magazine and get quick access to BB+.

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Ranger Royalty to the Rescue

The Rangers' royalty came to the rescue last night when Rangerland came under attack by a pack of toothless pussy cats. With the foot soldiers squandering their advantage and letting the attackers come close to victory, the Rangers fell back to their trusty weapon of last resort, the shootout, where they were saved by King Henrik, the Marquise of Naslund, and Tsar Nikolai (with the poor Sjo-maker watching from the sidelines, once again missing a chance to be the hero because of the heroics of the royal triumvirate).

It wasn't as easy as it would have been had the Tsar and Captain Clutch hit their targets early in the contest rather than sending glancing blows off the iron, or if the Special Forces had pressed their advantages with as much alacrity as they killed off most of the Cats' series of six straight advantages, but in the end, the Kingdom was still ruled by the King and his shooters.

Translation: The Rangers won in a shootout, with Henrik Lundqvist stopping the last two Florida Panther shooters while Markus Naslund and Nikolai Zherdev converted their chances for the second straight game, after the opposition was allowed to tie the game late in the third period for a second straight game.

The Rangers would have won by a blowout if not for three bad breaks in the first period after they had taken an early 2-0 lead -- the Panthers scored when a puck deflected in off Radek Dvorak's skate and two apparent Ranger goals hit the goal post, one by Chris Drury from inside the crease after he had skated around goalie Craig Anderson and another on a blast by Zherdev. "You get lucky," Anderson said. "It could easily have been 4-1 after the first. It's almost like the gods were in my favor after giving up the first two."

The Rangers also would have won easily had their power play been as effective as their penalty kill. They were a dismal 0-for-5, generating hardly any attack, especially when they had three early chances to salt the game away. The penalty killing saved the day in killing off five of six straight power plays, including a lengthy five-on-three, over a fifteen minute period spanning the second and third periods. The penalty streak was so one-sided that no less a personage than Panther TV analyst Denis Potvin, who knows full well how reviled he is in Rangerland, joked that the referees were getting nice properties in South Florida in return for their generosity.

At Blueshirt Bulletin+ today, we give thanks for Hank and have our daily compilation of media links as well as all reader commentary. Click here to read BB+ 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 Blueshirt@mindspring.com. If you are not a subscriber, E-mail us or click here to learn how to subscribe to the magazine and get quick access to BB+.

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Rangers Must Table Booth

The Rangers complete their annual two-game Thanksgiving road trip to Florida tonight with the first of a home-and-home series against the Panthers. The match-up pits teams at opposite ends of the conference standings, the Rangers back in first in points (they still trail in point percentage, having played those extra games) and the Panthers tied for last. The Panthers will be without their second leading scorer Nathan Horton as well as one of their other main offensive weapons, Cory Stillman. But the player to watch for Florida is David Booth, who has scored three of their last seven goals and seven in the last eight games, including all three goals in a 3-1 win over Anaheim in the first of those games.

Back-up goalie Craig Anderson will be in net after having replaced starter Tomas Vokoun during the Panthers' last game against the Devils, a game in which the Panthers erased a 2-0 deficit in the final two-plus minutes of the game before losing in overtime. Anderson has only made eight appearances this season, but his goals against average is a full goal lower than Vokoun's (2.01 to 3.01) and his save percentage of .942 is excellent. Anderson, you may recall, posted consecutive 1-0 shutouts last March to bolster Florida's ultimately unsuccessful playoff push, stopping a total of 93 shots, including 53 against the Islanders.

At Blueshirt Bulletin+ today, we discuss Petr Prucha and Michal Rozsival, based on reports from beat writers in Florida. BB+ is also where you will find today's compilation of media links and all reader commentary. Click here to read BB+ 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 Blueshirt@mindspring.com. If you are not a subscriber, E-mail us or click here to learn how to subscribe to the magazine and get quick access to BB+.

Please note that phone orders will not be possible from today through Sunday -- please use E-mail or fax. Thanks!

Rangers Sweep Lightning in Shootout

The Rangers turned their recent M.O. around, getting off to a flying start but blowing a lead in the final minute. But they ended up winners in the end as they continued their M.O. of winning shootouts. They started off as if they thought they were still playing Phoenix, rushing up and down the ice but feeling as if they didn't have to throw any checks. The Lightning, on the other hand, were more than willing to throw their bodies around -- the Rangers were willing to fight, even Nikolai Zherdev, who went at it with 18-year-old rookie Steve Stamkos, but not hit.

The newly formed line of Zherdev and Markus Naslund flanking Brandon Dubinsky was again a big hit, with Naslund scoring both Ranger goals, assisted on both by Zherdev (as well as Michal Rozsival). Naslund and Zherdev capped off the evening by scoring shootout goals to make it a perfect four for four against the Lightning this season -- Tampa played its ninth tie of the season, extending their shootout record to 1-5 (the Rangers are 5-1) to go along with a 1-2 overtime record.

As expected, the power play was a big factor in the game. Though the Rangers were just 1-for-6, the one power play goal would have been the game winner had the Lightning not scored in the closing minute skating six-on-five. But that cannot be considered a success -- one power play goal earlier could have helped them take better control of the game, one power play goal later would have won the game in regulation. Tampa was in the same boat -- their one goal was a power play goal, they failed repeatedly in the third period to equalize on the power play, but they finally did do so with a man advantage with the goalie pulled.

Overall, though, despite the last minute goal sending the game into overtime, the Rangers played a largely mistake-free game, not once forcing Henrik Lundqvist to erase an error, they supported the puck well, especially in front of the net, minimizing the number of rebounds Lundqvist had to contend with, and they cleared their zone well, getting turned back only occasionally rather than routinely, as has been routine in so many prior games. The lack of physical play and the lack of one more power play goal were the only areas of disappointment. Nevertheless, the Rangers came out with two points, running their overall record to 16-7-2 and their recent record to 5-2-1 in their last eight.

I watched the Tampa feed of the game, where the announcers spoke repeatedly about how NHL GM's were upset with some of the ticky-tacky calls of the type the officials made in this game. But they never really put their finger on the real problem, which is how marginal some of the calls are in some areas (hooking and holding) while blatant calls in other areas are allowed, especially dangerous ones. They twice showed a compendium of Lightning hits, but never once mentioned that at least a half dozen were hits from behind that were picture-perfect penalties, only one of which was called.

At Blueshirt Bulletin+, we take a deeper look into the new line combinations and why they seem to make sense. BB+ is also where you will find today's compilation of media links (will be available Thursday late morning) and all reader commentary. Click here to read BB+ 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 Blueshirt@mindspring.com. If you are not a subscriber, E-mail us or click here to learn how to subscribe to the magazine and get quick access to BB+.

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Rangers Set to Strike Lightning Again

Of all the reasons the Rangers should be thankful for their 15-7-2 record going into tonight's Thanksgiving Eve tilt in Tampa, one must be the fact that they will have played all four games of their season series against the Lightning by the time they carve their turkey tomorrow. Without Tampa, the Rangers would be 12-7-2, which is almost exactly where they were last season (12-8-1) after a loss to Florida the day before Turkey Day.

For the Lightning, the difference would be one place out of the playoff picture at one game over .500 (6-5-6) instead of one point out of last place. The key for the Rangers is to score some goals, as they did in their 5-2 win over the Lightning two and a half weeks ago. Tampa has scored three or more goals ten times this season, but they're only 4-2-4 in those games. Obviously, they are easily beatable when they score less than three (2-6-2), but they can be beaten even when they score three, though that becomes harder to do with Mike Smith in net (2-0-3 when his team gives him at least three goals to work with).

Another key, as always -- the power play: Tampa is just 3-for-27 in their last six (1-3-2) while allowing 6-for-30. The Rangers, meanwhile, for all the grief they've taken for their anemic power play, are 9-for-41 (22%) since their last game against the Lightning (they scored three in that game alone, the difference in the game). Their penalty killing remains superlative, allowing just 2-for-24 (8.3%) in the last seven games (the Rangers are 4-2-1 in those seven games despite their two recent ugly losses).

Today at Blueshirt Bulletin+, another reason to be thankful, bigger picture than a good record against Tampa. BB+ is also where you will find today's compilation of media links and all reader commentary. Click here to read BB+ 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 Blueshirt@mindspring.com. If you are not a subscriber, E-mail us or click here to learn how to subscribe to the magazine and get quick access to BB+.

Please note that phone orders will not be possible from today through Sunday -- please use E-mail or fax. Thanks!

Gomez Draws the Rangers Back Into the Win Column

The Rangers have positioned themselves as so much of a "team" rather than a collection of individual players -- and that's a good thing, both as a position and as a fact -- that the impact of the absence of a top offensive weapon, Scott Gomez, has been largely overlooked and underreported. Not his absence, which has been amply covered, but the impact of his absence. It's tough to calculate a negative, especially since Gomez continued to play on his fractured ankle for a number of games after the initial injury, and even continuing to be a positive factor for a time in those games.

And then the Rangers won their first three games without him, so it didn't seem to be a huge factor. But they won two of those three games with some degree of difficulty and they got off to poor starts in all three wins, as well as in the two awful losses that ensued. So it should not come as a surprise that Gomez's return to action last night was a shot in the arm and had a ripple effect throughout the line-up. With the infusion of his ability to carry the puck out of the defensive zone, rush it through the neutral zone, and control it in the offensive zone -- not to mention win 19 of 23 draws, 17 of 18 through the first two periods -- everyone benefited.

Everyone, including Nikolai Zherdev, first star of the game with three assists, and Brandon Dubinsky, third star with the Gordie Howe hat trick, the duo playing on a second line that was beefed up with the availability of Markus Naslund, made possible by Gomez's return, and that was freed from some measure of opposition checking that was focused instead on Gomez's line -- although that's hard to truly discern considering this was the Phoenix Coyotes, who didn't really have much by way of shut-down checking to throw at either Ranger line.

At Blueshirt Bulletin+, we delve into this topic in more depth, with input from Gomez, Dubinsky, Dan Girardi, and Tom Renney, and touch on a couple of other topics, including factors that contributed to Girardi's big third period power play goal. BB+ is also where you will find today's compilation of media links and all reader commentary. Click here to read BB+ 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 Blueshirt@mindspring.com. If you are not a subscriber, E-mail us or click here to learn how to subscribe to the magazine and get quick access to BB+.

Fans Getting Antsy After Two Bad Losses

As the Rangers get set to take on the second of four straight teams in the league's lower echelons, Wayne Gretzky's Phoenix Coyotes, losers of five straight, fans are up in arms over the pair of listless losses the Rangers themselves bring into this contest. Despite a 14-7-2 record that has the Rangers first in their division, second in the conference, and fourth in the NHL, fans are already starting to call for changes in coaching and/or team management. Hopefully, the team has more faith in itself despite the two bad losses than its supporters seem to have.

To read our opinion about throwing Tom Renney under the bus, see Blueshirt Bulletin+. You can also find today's links as well as all discussion of these and other matters 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 Blueshirt@mindspring.com. If you are not a subscriber, E-mail us or click here to learn how to subscribe to the magazine and get quick access to BB+.

As for the Coyotes, the Rangers will have little excuse to lose to them at home. They sit second to last in their conference, have an anemic offense, one of the weakest power plays in the league, and cannot kill penalties -- they are 3-for-27 on the power play during their five recent losses and have given up 6-for-20 to opponents' power plays. They have no one on the roster who should throw any fear into the Rangers, except perhaps goalie Ilja Bryzgalov, though he hasn't fared all that well in his last four starts either.

This is the perfect opponent with which to break the Rangers' recent tendencies for slow starts, error prone defense, and difficulties scoring in general and on the power play. Henrik Lundqvist will of course have to be sharp, as is always the case.

Your Own Worst Enemy

The Rangers knew what was coming at them. No, it wasn't the Vancouver Canucks or Ottawa Senators. It wasn't even Jarkko "Sean" Ruutu. The Rangers were their own worst enemy again. How else to explain going from "we gotta wake up before this bites us in the ass" after a win to a pair of pug-ugly routs? It's one thing to sound the alarm, it's another thing to ignore the alarm, but what is truly alarming is hearing the call and still letting it turn into a five-alarm fire.

If the last one was the one that everyone was supposed to forget and move on, this one -- to a team that had lost six straight and has been in free fall since the start of the calendar year -- is one that will be impossible to forget. Because it now becomes even more clear that without goaltending that erases mistakes -- as Steve Valiquette did for nearly forty minutes in keeping the Rangers close -- one is hard pressed to see outcomes all that different from these last two.

We're not going to give Ottawa credit for this -- the Rangers did it to themselves. The only guy who can handle the puck in Scott Gomez's absence is Nikolai Zherdev, and his moves rarely amount to much. The rest of the team? Choose your metaphor -- the Rangers treated the puck like a hot potato, their sticks were like reverse polarity magnets, repelling the puck. The errors were unforced and they were legion -- turnover after turnover, overskating the puck, fanning on passes, sticks too slow to move the puck before being checked off it.

Boo Michal Rozsival all you want. He was as bad as anyone today. But everyone was as bad as him, except for Marc Staal. What exactly were Wade Redden and Dan Girardi thinking on the Sens' second goal? Redden's inexplicable move made it seem as if the Ottawa fans cheering him when he was announced was in appreciation for how much he would help them in the game rather than how much he helped them over the past eleven seasons. Add in a lack of discipline in dealing with the likes of Ruutu so soon after declaring that the best remedy against him is to ignore him, and it was lights out.

We know what Paul Mara was thinking when he refused to ignore Ruutu. He decided to play Charles Bronson and go after the pest for his shootout shot at Henrik Lundqvist, taking a penalty that led to an early goal, throwing the Rangers right off their game. Then he gets all high and mighty about Ruutu refusing to fight. Valiquette got all puff-chested too about not embellishing when Ruutu bumped him off the third goal. Even Staal, a rare bright spot on a bad day, took himself out of position to hit Ruutu, opening up room for him to pinball a shot off Mara and a teammate.

Why do these Rangers have to be so high and mighty? Even when they stopped taking the high road for a season and a half with Sean Avery in town, they got all high and mighty about hating to win that way and sent him packing to soothe the consciences of people who never seemed to mind winning championships with the likes of Claude Lemieux, Ken Linsemen, or Marty McSorley on their teams. You don't like the guy? The only thing to like is that he helped you win games. Anything else, we just don't care. But he's gone. So there's nothing left for you guys to do but get off your high horses, roll up your sleeves, and do some dirty work yourselves.

Game reports: Newsday, Record, Daily News, NYR.com, NHL.com, Ottawa Sun, Ottawa Citizen, Ottawa.com. Additonal game notes from Newsday and the Record. Looking ahead to the next game, the reporters report in their blogs that Scott Gomez practiced fully today and may return tomorrow -- see Rangers Report, Ranger Rants, Blue Notes, and Game On!. Sunday column at the Post. NHL.com obviously declared the Rangers the class of the East before their last two losses. On the farm, the Pack rebounded with a big win in Portland -- see Howlings, WP.com, Beyond the Blueshirts, and Hartford Courant. The Courant has more on defenseman Ethan Graham. Prospect Park recaps other prospect action from last night.

Redden's Return to Ottawa is No Big Deal

Wade Redden returns to Ottawa today. He will probably hear a lot of boos, but it doesn't seem to be that big of a deal, really, probably because neither Redden nor the Senators are faring all that well this season, though Redden is certainly doing better than his former team (see the Ottawa Sun and Citizen). Our local papers barely give Redden's return a nod, focusing on Steve Valiquette's start tonight -- see Newsday, Journal News, Record, Post, and NYR.com. TSN looks back at last summer's moves and the Rangers come up looking good -- what else would you expect from a team that is 14-6-2 at the quarter pole?

The compendium doesn't evaluate the signing of Pat Rissmiller, obviously the one unqualified bust -- Rissmiller was waived again yesterday after his original waiver expired. Rissmiller got the second assist on Artem Anisimov's game-tying goal with six seconds left in Hartford last night and he was successful in the shootout, but the Pack lost nevertheless -- see Howlings, Beyond the Blueshirts, and the Courant. Elsewhere on the farm, Hockey's Future has a Ranger system audit and Prospect Park has last night's three stars.

Thanks to all who responded to yesterday's posting by subscribing to Blueshirt Bulletin, gaining immediate access to Blueshirt Bulletin+ on the same day that our November issue came out, and thatnks too to current subscribers for your words of encouragement. Your support is truly appreciated. But it was not nearly enough to help get us out of the morass of red ink we perpetually find ourselves in. Please scroll down to see a healthy sampling of some of the exclusive quotes we publish at BB+ and please consider taking out a subscription -- we will not be able to maintain our current level of coverage past New Year's Day without reducing our losses by reaching some serious subscription goals.

The Mind Boggles

I'd like to bring to your attention today two startling statistics. The first, posted yesterday by one of our commenters, is that, after 22 games, the Rangers have given up just eight goals while shorthanded but have allowed seven shorthanded goals while on the power play. Just one goal more down a man than up a man. To quote a scientist from the cheesy 1950's sci-fi movie The Thing, "The mind boggles!"

Then there is this: Since the start of the season, we get about 700 hits a day at Blueshirt Bulletin+, which makes sense since that is roughly equal to the number of subscribers who have signed up for access. Meanwhile, here at BlueshirtBulletin.com, where there are only my personal musings, bits of news that are found elsewhere, and a daily compendium of links, we average 7,000 visitors a day.

In other words, only 10% of our readers here subscribe to BB+ and the print publication, even though that's where all of our exclusive material appears. If we had just another 10% of those people subscribing, our future would be secure and we could provide even better coverage of the Rangers. Yet that many thousands of fans who take the time to come here to read things that are easily available anywhere choose not to subscribe, for a mere $2.50 per month (less with multi-year subscription discounts), to the material we make available to subscribers that cannot be found anywhere else.

We've posted 15,000 words at BB+ in the past month, and probably 10,000 of those words came out of the mouths of the coach and the players. Here are some of the things they've said in that time that we think are of great interest to serious Ranger fans that we reported at BB+ (and some of which get incorporated into articles in the monthly magazine) that were not, except in a couple of rare instances (and then only in part), reported anywhere else:

Asked why the players were falling back into a passive 1-2-2 defense instead of forechecking Vancouver, Tom Renney said, "That was their choice, not mine." He also said, "It camouflages some of the bad things that you've done when you get a win. When you get your lunch handed to you, it's black and white." About the lengthy post-game meeting, he said: "You can go in there and rip 'em, and throw things around -- sometimes that's what's required. The garbage can was still upright when you went in, so that didn't happen.”

"Too many open looks, breakaways, three in the first ten minutes," Drury said. "Hank's bailed us out of some tough spots, 1-0, 2-0 leads where he makes an unbelievable save so that it doesn't go to 3-0, and we're able to claw back." On the shorthanded goals, really telling and quoted in part by only one other reporter: "They're pressuring all over the place looking for chances. You can see it in their body language, in their eyes -- they're looking to attack when they're shorthanded."

Dubinsky after the prior game: "We have to find a way to practice what we preach or else it's gonna come back to haunt us, it's gonna bite us in the ass. We gotta do it now -- I don't want to say it, but we don't want to put ourselves in this position again and not get the job done and have that be the wake-up call. We gotta understand that this is the wake-up call." And on Ruutu: "I can have words with anybody, I can talk with the best of them, but he's not gonna get under my skin and make me play any different. We want to keep away from him, let him run his mouth and be ineffective."

After that same game, Renney said this about benching players: "As you do those type of things, at least they recognize you're trying to do what you can [as a coach] to win the hockey game." And he said this about how the Rangers practice: "We like to condition skate -- our level of fitness is huge to us. We have to spend a lot of time doing drills that allow pace and tempo. In some cases it's at the expense of teaching and reviewing things." Not a valuable enough quote to make a newspaper, but the kind of thing we’ll never pass up at Blueshirt Bulletin.

Did you wonder why Ruutu and Vermette took the shootout instead of Alfredsson and Heatley? I asked Redden -- and I was the only person to ask him -- if that was the norm when he was in Ottawa, and he said that Vermette always participated in the shootout and occasionally Dean McAmmond too instead of Alfredsson and Heatley. As for Ruutu, even though they were not teammates, Redden said that he took a number of shootouts in Pittsburgh, so he wasn't surprised to see him out there.

"I got a lot of confidence from that trip," Korpikoski said of his recent stint in the minors. "Of course playing a lot, playing on the power play, being the go-to guy. I'm trying to transfer it to here -- obviously my role is not the same as there, but that's normal, I'm a young player still. Every shift is a gift, you have to make the best of it.” He said more, but you won’t read about it anyplace else because I was the only one talking to him. You could read it at BB+ now and it will be in the next issue of Blueshirt Bulletin.

Renney said of Korpi’s line: "They deserved the opportunity. As much as them guys never want to get sent someplace they don't want to go, they're going to do everything they possibly can to get the job done properly and work hard at it. That line was ripe for the opportunity on the power play and ripe to help us get back into the game."

When the Rangers played a terrible first period in Jersey and then came out blazing in the second, one wondered what happened during intermission. "There was no yelling and screaming," Naslund said. "It was more, 'We gotta keep doing the right things and things will come.'" Drury, Mara, and Renney told us pretty much the same thing. Drury also said of the penalty killing, "We're definitely a team that uses kills as momentum." And Mara said of the power play: "Our real objective is to get to the point and get shots and get traffic in front of the goalie. That's how you score in this league."

Rozsival scored in that game after a lot of passing between him and Mara, something that infuriates fans. He explained: "We moved the puck quite a bit on that power play trying to set up a good shot. They seemed to line up real well [in the shooting lanes]. But when I took my shot, I was able to shoot it around the guy in front of me, and he created a little bit of a screen." Here’s Drury with some candor about the next power play goal: "The first unit was out there, my unit, we kind of batted it around a bit. Then the other unit went out and did a great job. Five on three if you don't score, it could swing momentum the other way."

Renney on what happened during another game after a slow start: "Tonight I didn't go in [the locker room] between the first and second period, I didn't go in between the second and third. They made a decision [on their own] and however they chose to deal with it. It doesn't always have to come from me." We can go on and on -- Drury on power play adjustments the coaches made, Voros on his battle with an opposing goalie, Renney on Zherdev’s overhandling the puck ("It's like a cat with a mouse -- they just like to just play with it for a little while."), and Rozsival blaming himself for a loss and explaining his mistakes in detail even after the coach partially exonerated him.

Dan Fritsche explained how Zherdev is different now than he was in Columbus in an exclusive conversation with me, coming to these conclusions: "That might not have been the fact every game in Columbus, but he's proven a lot of people wrong so far... Most of us live on the west side, we're always out together and Nikky's always with us. I personally didn't see that in Columbus last year." There was a lot more to what he said that appeared immediately at BB+ and is now part of an article on Zherdev in the current issue of Blueshirt Bulletin.

When the Rangers beat Pittsburgh in a shootout, only one other reporter picked up on Lundqvist saying of Crosby, "Usually you face the best players on the other team, so you have to have your A game. He's a great player, but I don't think he's the best shootout guy." Or Sjostrom describing what happened after his pal Lundqvist made a highlight reel save on a shot he deflected that would have cost the Rangers the game: "Yesterday against Columbus, two incidents where I went out and blocked shots, tipped and he barely made the saves.So right after the play, we smiled at each other -- [I don't know] if he was smiling happy thoughts at me or not, he made a great save."

And no one else quoted an angry Renney after the loss to Dallas saying, "We were stupid. We're trying to make the big play, do the extraordinary thing instead of doing the less extraordinary thing -- working." Or describing how to make a play off a rebound: "You shoot for the pillows -- that's a pretty good pass more often than not. We're trying to pick corners and be precise -- one of the best passes in hockey is when it comes off the goaltender's pads." And Gomez's classic response when he was asked what adjustment the team needed to make: “We missed a lot of shots -- our adjustment would be to hit the net." And then making fun of my shirt.

We also post exclusive photos at BB+, like the one accompanying this posting from yesterday that may help explain why the Ranger point men give up so many shorthanded breakaways to the other team (click on the image to see a larger version). And this doesn't even cover the exclusive material that we publish in print, like personal interviews with Ranger players and in-depth interviews with Ranger prospects, among other things. For just $2.50 a month -- less with multi-year discounts. As that mad scientist said, "The mind boggles."

In the news today, Steve Valiquette is slated to start tomorrow night in Ottawa and Gomez is skating again, according to Rangers Report, Ranger Rants, and Blue Notes (all of whom, by the way, contribute regularly to Blueshirt Bulletin). More on the Rangers in Slap Shot and the Post. Prospect Park has an update on the Russia-Canada junior series that a couple of Ranger prospects are participating in, with Evgeny Grachev named the player of the game last night. ESPN lists Henrik Lundqvist as a Hart candidate, grades the Rangers B+ in a quarter-pole assessment, and renews Renney's standing as a proven coach in their head coach ranking. Rangers Report also has an update on Brendan Shanahan.