In the bad old days after an opening 35 minutes through which the Rangers’ energy quotient was equal to the big round zero on the Garden scoreboard Sunday afternoon against the Canucks, someone surely would have gone over the boards to initiate a fight in order to get his team going. “Oh, for sure,” Rick […]
Read MoreThe absence of fourth-line center Boo Nieves for most of Friday’s game in Detroit and for all of Sunday’s at the Garden threw off the Rangers’ entire rotation up-front. As a result, coach Alain Vigneault has had to shorten his bench and get away from rolling his forward groups. Of course, the game Nieves missed […]
Read MoreIt’s days like these that put things in perspective for hockey players. More than the lavender tape on their sticks and the uniforms the Rangers are set to wear for warmups Tuesday night at the Garden before a game against the Panthers, it’s the message of Hockey Fights Cancer month that has hit indelibly close […]
Read MoreAs of early Monday evening, all three local NHL teams were in the playoff picture, making for what could be an interesting hockey winter in the metropolitan area. But the Thanksgiving Rule that most teams in playoff position by the final Thursday in November are going to make it to the postseason might not apply […]
Read MoreThis hurt the Rangers, physically and emotionally. And how could it not, as they twice stormed back from three-goal deficits and had it all blow up in their faces during a 5-4 loss to the Panthers on Tuesday night at the Garden. Left in the wake of this torrid affair was first the sight of […]
Read MoreIt’s getting easier for the Islanders. With their second line playing like their first, the Islanders won for the seventh time in eight games, easily handling the Canucks 5-2 Tuesday night at Barclays Center. Coach Doug Weight wouldn’t call his offense explosive, but the emergence of the team’s second line of Mathew Barzal, Andrew Ladd […]
Read MoreIt makes sense that Chris Kreider would have the best description of David Desharnais. “Can’t speak enough about the professionalism of David,” Kreider said on Tuesday night after Desharnais assisted on both of his goals, collecting three assists during the Rangers’ 5-4 loss to the Panthers at the Garden. Desharnais was supposed to be a […]
Read MoreOnce Ryan McDonagh realized his play on the ice was being compromised by the muscle strain in his abdomen, and once the doctors realized it was getting worse and negatively affecting other parts of his body, the Rangers defenseman finally shut it down. But the captain is inching closer to a return, as he skated […]
Read MoreQuite a bit of the Rangers’ season is resting on the head of Mika Zibanejad. The team announced Thursday their first-line center is suffering from a delayed onset of concussion symptoms and is going through the league protocol, which is set to keep him out indefinitely. Already sparse down the middle, the Rangers are now […]
Read MoreBy virtue of their schedule, the Rangers and Henrik Lundqvist were afforded the opportunity to find their game, both collectively and individually. The stretch of 10 wins in 12 games that ended with Tuesday’s wild 5-4 loss to the Panthers were games all started by Lundqvist, and any early-season rumblings about the 35-year-old netminder being […]
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