The Blueshirts snapped their losing streak and rookie Chad Johnson got his first career victory as the Rangers defeated the Colorado Avalanche 3-1 earlier tonight on the strength of Marian Gaborik’s first hat trick as a Ranger.
John Tortorella speaks to the media following the win.
Jokinen licking his lips at the prospect of centering Gaborik?
TSN Canada is reporting that the Rangers are close to announcing a deal that would send forwards Ales Kotalik and Christopher Higgins to the Calgary Flames for C Olli Jokinen and F Brandon Prust.
Jokinen, 31, has 11 goals and 24 assists in 55 games with the Flames this season. He is in the final year of his contract and will be an unrestricted free agent following the season.
Prust, 25, is a rugged forward who has 1 goal and 4 assists in 24 games this season. He will also be a UFA at season’s end.
Higgins was acquired by the Blueshirts this past offseason in the Scott Gomez trade with Montreal and the Long Island native has never really looked comfortable playing with his hometown club. Kotalik, who was another offseason acquisition of GM Glen Sather, never found his place on the ice and after a hot start has spent most of his time in the rafters over the last month instead of on the ice during games. Higgins is a UFA at season’s end and Kotalik still has two years remaining on the 3 year, 9 million dollar pact he signed over the summer.
Analysis: While it’s easy to call for Glen Sather’s head based on this team’s uneven and uninspired play this season and an obviously mismatched roster he put together, Rangers fans must admit that the man knows how to pull off a trade. If this deal goes through, The Rangers will acquire a proven scorer in Jokinen and a physical presence (who can fill the void that Donald Brashear hasn’t been able to) in Brandon Prust while subtracting a player in Higgins, who obviously had trouble with playing on this stage and also removing six million dollars off the books over the next two seasons by shedding the enigmatic Kotalik. This is a great move for the Rangers from every angle and if Jokinen prospers while he’s on Broadway, the Blueshirts will have the first crack at him in free agency once the season ends. I have to think, while the fans won’t be happy until the “W”’s come more frequently for this club, that this move will make more than a few of them smile and that the attendance at the upcoming “Fire Sather” rally may have just been thinned out a little by the wily old general manager.
Highlights of the Rangers’ fifth straight loss, a 3-2 defeat at the hands of the Phoenix Coyotes Saturday night in Glendale.
The Rangers lose their 4th straight game tonight to the Carolina Hurricanes at MSG. There is nothing left to say about how terrible this team is playing right now. It’s obvious no one in that locker room from the head coach on down has a clue how to get this team going offensively and after watching Wade Redden suit up night after night, there is obviously no accountability on this club either.
A delusional John Tortorella thinks all his team needs is a good road trip to get back on track. The problems are much deeper than that coach and if you can’t see that then you have worse eyesight than “Blind Man” Sather.
After the Rangers failed to score once again during 4 opportunities last night in a 4-2 loss to the Penguins, John Tortorella spent most of practice today working on his beleaguered unit’s need for more motion and creativity while getting bodies to the front of the net. To bolster the attack, Ales Kotalik, who had been a healthy scratch for the last six games, returned to practicing with the first unit and is expected to return to the lineup tomorrow night when the Carolina Hurricanes visit the Garden.
In other news, Chad Johnson was back at practice today for the Rangers after starting two games and making three appearances for Hartford (AHL) this weekend. Tortorella said he was unsure when Johnson would get another chance to start.
Erik Christensen and Donald Brashear are expected to be healthy scratches tomorrow night.
Highlights of the Rangers 4-2 loss to the Penguins at MSG.
John Tortorella speaks to reporters following the Rangers third straight loss.
The Rangers were shut out for the second straight game and Henrik Lundqvist was pulled after surrendering 4 goals as the Canadiens hammered the Blueshirts 6-0 in Montreal.
John Tortorella doesn’t have much to say to the media after watching his team get embarrased by the Canadiens Saturday night.
This team obviously has some problems that “more practice time” and “studying game tape” are not going to fix. There is NO secondary scoring after Marian Gaborik. Some of the younger forwards (Anisimov, Lisin) are obviously struggling and are not finishing. No one is scared of this team and as witnessed in Philly, opponents feel they can take shots at anyone without fear of reprisal. This club, as it’s constituted right now, may be strong enough to slip into the playoffs but is no threat to the Capitals, Penguins, Devils, Flyers or any other top team in the East. Glen Sather needs to open his eyes and see this team is BROKEN and it’s time to start selling and get ready for next year. Wade Redden should have a one way ticket to Hartford waiting for him when he returns to New York. Vinny Prospal, Christopher Higgins, Donald Brashear, Ales Kotalik and Aaron Voros should be sent postage paid to any club that is willing to have them and their salaries. This organization needs to move on immediately, bring up some kids (Grachev, Locke, Sanguinetti) and see what they can do and get ready for the draft. If Glen Sather can’t see this (or more likely, he sees it but won’t do anything about it) then it is time to finally pull the plug on him and bring in someone who will.
For the second straight meeting, The Flyers shut out the Rangers in a game marred by many scrums following a fight between Philly’s Daniel Carcillo and the Rangers’ Marian Gaborik. The Blueshirts never really got any offensive momentum going and were never able to solve the Flyers’ strong forecheck.
John Tortorella addresses the media following his team’s loss and gets into a war of words with New York Post columnist Larry Brooks.
John Halligan, who worked as VP of Communications for the New York Rangers and had spent over 40 years working in hockey passed away this morning at age 68. Halligan is probably best known to Rangers fans through the four books he wrote about the franchise, the most recent being “100 Ranger Greats” which was released last year. He was also a recipient of the 2007 Lester Patrick Award for outstanding service to hockey in the U.S.
NHL.com has more on the life on John Halligan here
Our thoughts and prayers are with his family..
Aaron Voros joins the party with his first goal of the season.
All the Rangers coaches were hoping for following their impressive 6-2 win over the Canadiens on Sunday was a repeat of the effort the team gave during that victory. Not only did they receive the same effort but the players took it to another level as they jumped on the Lightning early and controlled play from start to finish during a dominant 8-2 dismantling of the visiting Tampa Bay club.
After a fight between Aaron Voros and Tampa’s Zenon Konopka off the game’s opening faceoff really got the crowd going, Brandon Dubinsky continued his inspired play of late and got the scoring started when he cleaned up a rebound in front of Antero Nittymaki to give the Blueshirts a 1-0 lead. The Rangers controlled play for the rest of the period with their strong forechecking and used tallies by Vinny Prospal and the resurgent Chris Drury to take a 3-1 lead after one period.
Dan Girardi and Enver Lisin would extend the lead to 5-1 in the second period and chase Nittymaki from between the pipes. Alex Tanguay would score on the power play late in the period to keep the Lightning withing striking distance but Henrik Lundqvist would shut the door the rest of the way.
Marc Staal, Aaron Voros (on the power play) and Christopher Higgins would put a nice bow on the blowout with third period tallies and gave the Rangers their second straight game with at least 6 goals. It still may be too early to call the Rangers’ season long offensive struggles solved but these two performances are definitely a promising step in the right direction.
Thumbs Up- Brian Boyle, Sean Avery and Erik Christensen were amongst the few Rangers who didn’t score a goal tonight but continued their energetic play that has been the catalyst on many of the offensive opportunities the team has cashed in on over the last two contests. Ryan Callahan and Chris Drury once again excelled on the penalty kill. Vinny Prospal seems to have fully recovered from his injury and was a factor tonight with a goal and an assist.
Thumbs Down- It was hard to find any negatives with tonight’s performance but the only thing that stood out to me was Artem Anisimov’s inability to get anything going offensively. I’m sure if he keeps up the work ethic he has shown so far during the first half of the year, he will find a way to break through but this is a situation that might bear watching especially if Evgeny Grachev should begin to put up numbers in Hartford.
Three Stars- 3-Henrik Lundqvist- “The King” was very strong early when the game was still anybody’s contest. His big saves during the first period gave the Rangers the confidence to continue to attack offensively. Another impressive performance from Lundqvist, who is finally getting the support he deserves from his forwards.
2- Aaron Voros- The toughest thing to do is come to the arena each night knowing that you might not be in the lineup the next game, even if you have a good outing that night. Aaron Voros has had to deal with this situation and be ready to contribute when called upon all season and up to this point his results have been hit and miss. Tonight, it was a big hit for Voros as he got the crowd involved early with a fight, was a physical presence throughout, drew a late penalty by being smart and even contributed a garbage time goal (after being rewarded with power play time by John Tortorella for his drawing the man advantage). This was Voros’ best game since early last season and i’m willing to wager he has earned another start in the Blueshirts’ next contest.
1- Marian Gaborik- For most of the year, Gaborik has been the Rangers focal point on offense and only consistent goal scorer. Tonight, he was the team’s playmaker with assists on 4 of the Rangers first 6 goals. Gaborik has to love this new found offensive output from his teammates as it takes the pressure off him to have to carry the club each time they hit the ice. He showed this evening that he is just as comfortable being a support player as being the team’s biggest star.
The Rangers will try to continue their explosive run when they visit the Flyers in Philadelphia on Thursday at 7 PM.