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Rangers’ Kevin Hayes maybe ‘fifty-fifty’ to play vs. Islanders

It seems more likely than not Kevin Hayes will be sidelined when the Rangers come out of their bye week with Saturday afternoon’s match at the Garden against the Islanders. “Fifty-fifty maybe, at best,” coach Alain Vigneault said after the Rangers’ checking center went through practice Friday afternoon. “Before coming to the rink, I anticipated […]

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Rangers know biggest weakness but fixing it will take work

The common thread that runs through the Rangers’ season is the unacceptable number of times they have been marked absent at the drop of the puck. The Blueshirts have come out flat well in excess of the 22 games in which they allowed the first goal. As such, the team’s fate in its quest to […]

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Kevin Hayes’ missed Pittsburgh trip may be bad sign for Rangers

Click:china electric passenger tricycle bike After being off the ice both Sunday and Monday, it’s unlikely center Kevin Hayes will be ready to play when the Rangers resume the schedule with Tuesday night’s Garden match against the Flyers. Hayes suffered a contusion to his leg during the team’s 2-1 loss to the Golden Knights on […]

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John Tavares gives Islanders good news then bails them out

Of course when John Tavares went into the hockey-media echo chamber of Montreal, he was asked about his future as a possible free agent. And of course, Tavares answered in the same way he has over the past few months — albeit with stronger language. “I hope to stay in Long Island,” Tavares told reporters […]

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The one hope keeping Rangers from year of failed re-tooling

When the Rangers traded Derek Stepan for futures within two weeks of buying out Dan Girardi in the wake of the club’s disappointing second-round defeat to Ottawa last spring, “retool” became the operative off-season term applied by the administration. And it all made perfect sense. The core had taken the Blueshirts as far as it […]

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Rangers tab former top prospect to help fix their center problem

As the Rangers embark on the task of turning around their sinking ship, and as they faced the realization that they’re unlikely to do it by scoring a ton of goals, some more stability throughout the roster was needed. And so they called up journeyman center Peter Holland from AHL Hartford on Monday, and he […]

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Rangers play rare ‘complete game’ in win over Flyers

Well, that was different. The Rangers morphed into their best version for at least one game, absolutely thumping the Flyers, 5-1, Tuesday night at the Garden. For a team that had been struggling to defend and struggling to score — really, struggling all over the place for the past month — it felt like a […]

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Islanders lose another player to injury in loss to desperate Devils

The Islanders felt they got away with a win Monday at Montreal, but back on the ice at Barclays Center less than 24 hours later, there was no getting away from another desperate opponent. The Devils snapped a six-game losing streak, using a strong second period to secure a physical 4-1 win Tuesday night. “It’s […]

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Marc Staal exits with hip-flexor injury

One defenseman back, and another gone. As captain Ryan McDonagh returned from a one-game absence because of back spasms in Tuesday night’s resounding 5-1 victory over the Flyers, the Rangers also lost Marc Staal at the start of the third period to a hip-flexor injury. Coach Alain Vigneault was unsure exactly when it happened, as […]

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Islanders about to get back a key piece

There was a glimmer of good news on the Islanders’ injury front Tuesday for the first time in a while. Josh Bailey will skate Wednesday at practice and could make his return from a lower-body injury as soon as Thursday against the Bruins. “Bails is feeling pretty good,” coach Doug Weight said before his team’s […]

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