Rangers coach Alain Vigneault will make a decision this weekend that, at the very least, will be the beginning of a late-season experiment. Jesper Fast, the do-it-all forward for whom Vigneault has an unabashed affinity, will return to practice when the team finally gets back on the ice Thursday following a Sunday-Monday back-to-back and a […]
Read MoreMOSCOW — Mike Keenan is taking charge of a Chinese hockey team. The longtime NHL coach has been hired to lead Chinese club Kunlun Red Star, which competes in the Russia-based Kontinental Hockey League. Kunlun’s aim is to develop Chinese players as the country builds a national team to compete at its first home Winter […]
Read MoreIt’s that time of year again when ambiguous phrases like “compete level” start being thrown around hockey locker rooms across North America, while the importance of a player’s “intangibles” is made absolutely paramount. So there was Rangers coach Alain Vigneault getting quiet, almost reverent, when he was describing what type of effort he gets from […]
Read MoreThe Rangers don’t play enough of a hard-edged game, I’ve been clear on my thoughts about that all year, but please, sitting Pavel Buchnevich at this stage of the season to save room for Tanner Glass just doesn’t make sense. Yet that appears the plan for Friday’s match at the Garden when the Blueshirts meet […]
Read MoreThere are seldom meaningless NHL games in March, but for the Islanders every recent game has felt like a life-or-death affair. Following a franchise-record nine-game road trip, an eight-goal meltdown against the Hurricanes on Monday and the redemptive heroics the following night in Raleigh, the Islanders needed an easy win. What better opponent for that […]
Read MoreIf the Devils could just play the Flyers every night, maybe that winless streak would not have reached 10 games, and New Jersey would be doing more than playing meaningless games in the final month. Adam Henrique and Taylor Hall scored two goals apiece and the Devils snapped a 10-game winless streak with a 6-2 […]
Read MoreAlain Vigneault wasn’t willing to say Henrik Lundqvist is ahead of schedule in returning from his hip injury suffered March 7 against the Panthers, but the Rangers’ franchise goalie could be back sooner than expected. The coach said Lundqvist skated Wednesday and Thursday, and will skate with the team Friday morning before its Garden match […]
Read MoreGood for them. Good for the US Women’s National Team for boycotting this year’s World Championship, to be hosted at U.S.A. Hockey’s new facility in Plymouth, Mich., starting on March 31. Good for them in demanding more from USA Hockey, not just for their personal well-being, but for the well-being of women’s hockey going forward. And good […]
Read MoreThere is not enough time for this to disappear, nothing that can happen over the final four games remaining in the regular season for the Rangers at the Garden that can eliminate the creeping suspicion they are one team on Broadway and another off it. Because it’s more than just the 4-3 shootout loss to […]
Read MorePITTSBURGH — Their MVP candidate center, the one that’s not Sidney Crosby, is hurting. Four of their top seven defensemen are in street clothes dealing with a variety of injuries. And yet the Penguins keep rolling anyway, and it helped that they were playing the Devils. Their 6-4 victory over the Devils on Friday night […]
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