Blog

Ryan McDonagh looks like he’s good to go

It wasn’t easy for Ryan McDonagh to sit on the side and watch. But now the Rangers captain is feeling better, and seems ready to return for Friday night’s Garden match against the Hurricanes after a four-game absence because of an abdominal strain. “Whether it’s a short time away from the team when you’re not […]

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The NHL has a goal-scoring problem: There are too many

The NHL was shouting from the rooftops at the quarter mark of this season that scoring was up 12.4 percent from this past year. Holy jeepers, Batman! The 1,924 goals through 318 games is the second-most goals since they canceled the 2004-05 season — remember they canceled a season, and also canceled half a season […]

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Rangers and Lundqvist show bounce-back ability in ugly win

The biggest step forward the Rangers have made from the early season to now is in their mental strength, most notably their ability to absorb a bad break and put it behind them. Because it’s likely this scenario would have ended a lot differently had it happened in October. Instead, these December Blueshirts were able […]

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Islanders\u2019 win streak snapped by bad play and even worse luck

The pucks had eyes. That’s how Islanders coach Doug Weight described his team’s poor performance Friday night, in which the Islanders spoiled their four-game win streak with an ugly 6-5 loss to the lowly Senators at Barclays Center. A combination of ugly changes, bad luck, and poor goaltending, ended the Islanders’ most productive run of […]

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Ryan McDonagh’s back, and ‘he was a force out there’

It was a successful return to the ice for Rangers captain Ryan McDonagh, as the defenseman came back from a four-game absence because of an abdominal strain and was solid while playing a team-high 22:54 during his team’s 5-1 win over the Hurricanes on Friday night at the Garden. “Felt really good,” McDonagh said. “Thought […]

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Michael Grabner an ’empty’ threat for the Rangers

It may look like Michael Grabner is just padding his stats when he scores empty-netters, but the Rangers winger seems to have an uncanny knack for them. In Friday night’s 5-1 win over the Hurricanes, Grabner became the first Ranger in the expansion era to record two empty-net goals in one game, according to the […]

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Canadiens hang 10 goals on the Red Wings

MONTREAL — Paul Byron got his first career hat trick, Alex Galchenyuk had a career-best four assists and the Canadiens beat the slumping Detroit Red Wings 10-1 Saturday night for their fifth straight win. Nicolas Deslauriers, Jacob de la Rose and Daniel Carr each scored for the first time this season, and Charles Hudon, Brendan […]

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Three uniformed Rangers ride subway to Central Park practice

At least for a few hours Saturday afternoon, the Rangers got to be kids again. The Blueshirts held an outdoor practice in front of a packed house at Lasker Rink, a hidden gem at the top of Central Park on 110th Street, as they began to prepare for the Winter Classic against the Sabres at […]

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Rangers’ youth movement isn’t working out how they hoped

Regarding the Rangers, who, pending Sunday’s results, have the best record in the NHL (11-3, .786) since Oct. 31, but remain on the outside looking in at the playoffs: 1. General manager Jeff Gorton never expected Lias Andersson to be in Sweden and Tony DeAngelo to be in Hartford at this juncture of the season, […]

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Rangers’ season is going to start to feel real now

Nearly one-third of the way through and it does not feel as if the Rangers season has generated traction. Not the team, which is 11-3 since Halloween; but the season itself. Maybe that is because the Blueshirts have played only 26 games in 61 days since the opening puck drop on Oct. 5 in a […]

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