You never would have known from watching that this Battle of the Hudson was a low-stakes match — with Rangers all but assured of the East’s first wild-card spot and the Devils on the precipice of a fifth straight playoff miss with fewer than three weeks remaining on the schedule. For this one in Newark […]
Read MoreAntti Raanta, who has started six straight for the Rangers in Henrik Lundqvist’s absence, is sure hoping to extend the second-longest such streak of his career to seven when the Islanders visit the Garden on Wednesday. It would mark the third complete set of back-to-backs within 13 days for the 26-year-old Finn since Lundqvist went […]
Read MoreHenrik Lundqvist was back on the Garden ice Wednesday, but not for the Rangers’ game against the Islanders. Instead, he was getting another tune-up before his expected return this weekend in California. Lundqvist, out since March 7 with a hip injury, sat again Wednesday night as the team stuck to its plan to get him […]
Read MoreThe Islanders entered Wednesday’s game at Madison Square Garden an admittedly “desperate” team — and after they beat the Rangers, 3-2, the Blueshirts might use the same term to describe their own situation at home. Andrew Ladd’s third-period, power-play goal gave the Islanders their first lead of the night, and they held on for just […]
Read MoreClick:C35001-1 Rick Nash has been the Rangers’ best forward this season just as he has been the team’s best forward over the course of his five seasons on Broadway; the most diligent with and without the puck. But still, much of the national shine is off Nash, the marquee name who was bought to New […]
Read MoreAfter the Islanders snatched a somewhat improbable victory over the Rangers Wednesday night at Madison Square Garden, they pulled another surprise Thursday, recalling goalie Jaroslav Halak from AHL Bridgeport. With the Isles heading into a pair of critical games on consecutive nights — in Pittsburgh on Friday and versus Boston in Brooklyn on Saturday — Halak […]
Read MoreLOS ANGELES — If the Rangers were going to encounter the type of malaise that’s marked much of the last month through which the club has won only five of 13 games (5-6-2), better now than in another three weeks, when such stupor will result in immediate expulsion from the playoffs. For as they begin […]
Read MoreWhen the Islanders return to action Friday in Pittsburgh, they will have a significantly different look. Ryan Strome is out indefinitely with a broken wrist suffered in Wednesday’s win over the Rangers, according to a source. He is unlikely to return unless the Isles advance deep into the playoffs. Of course, they’ll have to get […]
Read MoreTORONTO — Auston Matthews had two assists and William Nylander had a goal and an assist as the Maple Leafs topped the Devils 4-2 on Thursday night for their seventh win in nine games. Nylander set a franchise rookie mark by extending his points streak to 10 games, while equaling another team record for power-play […]
Read MoreSidney Crosby’s flailing stick claimed a handful of victims this week, the latest of whom has an NHL owner calling for his indefinite suspension. Senators owner Eugene Melnyk savaged the Penguins star Friday morning for his vicious two-handed slash on the hands of Ottawa defenseman Marc Methot, forcing Methot to leave Thursday night’s game with a brutally […]
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