MONTREAL — The contract extension given to Rangers depth defenseman Steven Kampfer was less about the player he is and more about how much coach Alain Vigneault believes the most important attribute of a modern NHL defenseman is his skating ability. It was announced Friday that the 28-year-old inked a two-year, two-way deal worth $650,000 […]
Read MoreMONTREAL — There is no home ice like the Bell Centre. The Rangers, however, are hoping they can get something even in the same realm when they return to the Garden for Game 3 of their first-round series with the Canadiens on Sunday night. The best-of-seven contest is tied one game apiece after the Habs’ […]
Read MoreMaybe the Rangers are trying to convince themselves it is true, or maybe it is. But come Sunday night, it will be seen if the playoffs really are a new season or if the Blueshirts’ malaise at the Garden has carried over into the postseason. Because this Game 3 of their first-round series against the […]
Read MoreRegarding the Rangers, who come home to the building in which they have lost five consecutive playoff games dating back to Game 2 of the 2015 conference finals by an aggregate score of 18-3, while at the same time going 4-4 away from the Garden: 1. So, then, Derek Stepan, would you then agree the […]
Read MorePHOENIX — Condolences poured in for retired NFL player Todd Heap and his family Saturday, a day after police say the former Pro Bowl tight end accidentally ran over his 3-year-old daughter with a truck, killing her. Heap was moving the truck at his home in Mesa, a Phoenix suburb, on Friday when he struck […]
Read MoreIt is a tenant of hockey any time of the year, but one especially important in the postseason: Get pucks and bodies to the front of the net, and if there is contact with the goaltender, so be it. Turns out the Canadiens have done a better job of that through the opening two games […]
Read MoreMaybe Doug Weight, who has been an important part of the Islanders’ front office since 2011-12, is destined to become the franchise’s next Al Arbour. Maybe the 40 games he coached — perhaps coaxing the team to a 24-12-4 record and a shot at finishing eighth in the East following a shipwreck first half under […]
Read MoreThis is like a recurring dream, with the anxiety and all. Again, the Rangers came home in the playoffs to see their offense run dry, the effort of Henrik Lundqvist go for naught, and they hold on to hope — warranted or not — as the season inches closer to another hockey-less spring in New […]
Read MoreCOLUMBUS, Ohio — Playoff hockey, indeed. Zach Werenski, the Blue Jackets’ 19-year-old rookie defenseman, took a puck to the face in the second period of Columbus’ 5-4 overtime loss to the Penguins on Sunday, but returned to the game. As the Penguins came from behind to tie the game on Bryan Rust’s second goal of […]
Read MoreFor most of Sunday night, the sold-out crowd at Madison Square Garden was silent. By the third period, the home team would have signed up for that. The Rangers’ power-play struggles continued in Game 3’s 3-1 loss to the Canadiens, turning the crowd against them after the unit failed to score on three attempts, leading […]
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