Blog

The tweak in Marc Staal’s game that stabilized the Rangers

The biggest sigh of relief from the Rangers front office during the first half of this season came when Henrik Lundqvist quickly got over his early struggles and showed he is still as good a netminder as there is in this league, rewarded with his fourth All-Star selection. At 35 years old, with three more […]

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US Army is going to battle with new NHL team

The Las Vegas Golden Knights, currently first in the NHL’s Western Conference at 29-10-2, have won most of their battles this season. But the thriving expansion franchise is now facing its most difficult opposition yet: the U.S. Army. On Wednesday, the Department of the Army filed a challenge with the U.S. Trademark Trial and Appeal […]

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‘Immature’ Josh Ho-Sang hits AHL rock bottom

BRIDGEPORT, Conn. — Josh Ho-Sang was one of the last five players on the ice Wednesday for AHL Bridgeport’s morning skate at Webster Bank Arena. He was firing slap shots from the blue line in between sprints as he put in extra work long after most of his teammates had skated off to the locker […]

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Predicting NHL awards, with a few New York headliners

The halfway mark is as good a time as any to assess what has taken place in this 2017-18 NHL season, and to start giving out our awards (that mean nothing right now). There have been surprises and disappointments alike, and, as Rangers coach Alain Vigneault says any time he gets a chance, the league […]

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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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Doug Weight hopes philosophy change a wake-up call for Isles

Doug Weight is honest beyond the point of politeness, especially when it comes to his team. So the Islanders head coach laid it all out pretty clearly in explaining why they have gone 6-11-2 over their past 19 games. That includes losing five-of-seven since Christmas and finding themselves outside the playoff picture in the Eastern […]

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

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 Jan. 7, the final game […]

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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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