Rangers Rebounding | Slats Won’t Trade Jagr

They’re heating up.

Just days after a demoralizing loss to the Montreal Canadiens, the Rangers got another 5-0 lead and this time held on to it against the Florida Panthers Sunday night.

Henrik Lundqvist got his career-high eighth shutout by stopping 23 shots. Since signing a six-year extension on February 12 he has allowed 10 goals in just 5 games while backstopping the Rangers to a 4-0-1 record.

Lundqvist isn’t the only one starting to get hot these days, Jaromir Jagr and his new linemates are playing better than they have all season. While Hank was inking his $41.25 million extension, Tom Renney moved the 21-year-old Brandon Dubinsky off the third-line to play on Jagr’s line. The move is paying off in a big way so far as the pair along with Sean Avery have combined for 21 points during the last five games.

With the goal that put the Rangers up 3-0 Sunday, Jagr scored in back-to-back games for the first time since December 30, 2007. He also assisted on four goals during the debacle last Tuesday February 19 that was the game against Montreal.

Aside from the offensive production this has been the most physical top line the Rangers have had since the days of Mark Messier. Dubinsky has been involved in a few scraps this week and both he and Avery were seen retaliating against Buffalo’s Patrick Kaleta after his more than questionable hit on Paul Mara Saturday night.

With Dubinsky skating on the top line, the Rangers have $85 million worth of depth. Scott Gomez and Chris Drury are skating on the second and third lines respectively and are also adding to the recent success. Since they each took a step back on the depth chart the pair has 12 points combined including a game-winning-goal each.

Since the recent success, or perhaps in spite of it, GM Glen Sather has announced that he will not be trading 36-year-old Jagr.

“If I was to ask him to leave, he might say yes. But I don’t plan on talking to him about that (trade),” Sather told the Edmonton Journal. “Trade Jagr? Nobody’s called me on him. Why would I want to do that?”

Sather even went so far as telling reporters that he wanted to bring back Jagr for the 2008/09 season.

“Jagr is still the best player on our team,” said Sather. “He’s got two guys all over him most nights and he still draws lots of attention. I absolutely want him back next year,”

Jagr’s contract is up at the end of the season and he will be an unrestricted free-agent on July 1. The Rangers pay only $4.9 million worth of his $8.4 salary this season. The Washington Capitals pay the rest.

Rangers Win 4-0 After Shake-Up

The Rangers beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 4-0 Tuesday night when Jaromir Jagr’s line scored three goals and had two assists after being shaken up before the game.

For most of this season Jagr has skated with a rookie centerman, Brandon Dubinsky, despite the Rangers spending over $85 million on a pair of all-star pivots. Jagr was paired with him after brief experiments with Scott Gomez and Chris Drury failed to achieve immediate results.

Since Jagr’s immediate positive reaction to Dubinsky head coach Tom Renney has been reluctant to split the pair, but both players have been slumping lately and it was obvious to everyone that something needed to change. Now Jagr is back to being pair with Gomez and is flanked by Martin Straka.

That was just one of the moves the Rangers have made this week in an attempt to shake things up after going 1-4-1 over the past six games. Drury has been moved on a line with Brendan Shanahan and rookie Nigel Dawes, who was just called up this week. Dubinsky replaced Drury on the third-line and skated with wingers Petr Prucha and Ryan Callahan, who returned to the Rangers after a non-trip to Hartford.

Also goalie Al Montoya was recalled from the Hartford Wolf Pack, but that may be a move which is only temporary because the status of Henrik Lundqvist was uncertain this week after coming down with the flu. Lundqvist appeared healthy and rested Tuesday night as he shutout the Pittsburgh Penguins. It is the second time in two weeks Lundqvist has posted a shutout after being rested the previous game.

Sean Avery will go with the Rangers out west to Minnesota and Colorado according to Steve Zipay’s Newday blog, but there is little expectation that he will get into a game. The Rangers are 4-4-1 since Avery’s wrist surgery.

Go to Hot Stove New York for more sports news and rumors.

Rangers Drop 5 of Last 6

Scoring continues to be a problem as the New York Rangers lost to the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-1 at home at Madison Square Garden Saturday night.

Fans were nervous going into the second period as the Rangers got off 11 shots in the first and none of them were scoring threats. Then early in the second period Jaromir Jagr tried to alleviate everyone’s concerns as he scored to give the Rangers a 1-0 lead.

Just over five minutes into the period Michal Rozsival intercepted a pass at center ice and made a nice pass off the boards to Jagr on the right side. As Jagr skated into the zone he took a hard wrist shot from the right face-off circle. The shot beat Maple Leaf goalie Vesa Toskala who could not see because he was being screened by defenseman Hal Gill.

Coming off of two shutouts in his past three games, Henrik Lundqvist looked strong again early. Just after Jagr put his team ahead and with the Rangers on a power play Lundqvist made a terrific stop on a Boyd Devereaux breakaway. Devereaux received a very long pass from deep in the defensive zone to center ice then muscled his way past a Ranger’s defenseman only to be turned away by Lundqvist.

The good feelings from Jagr putting the team up and Lundqvist making a highlight reel save didn’t last long, less than three minutes later Pavel Kubina scored his first of the season to tie the game 1-1. The Rangers had their chances to keep the goal from happening but were not able to control rebounds or clear the puck from the zone and after moving the puck around from deep into the zone to Tomas Kaberle on the left point then to Kubina on the right point, Kubina just blasted a shot from the blue-line and the puck was deflected by a player in front of the net before going past Lundqvist.

The goal was the first even strength goal given up by Lundqvist in over a week dating back to the loss in Atlanta against the Trashers on October 18.

The Maple Leafs took a 2-1 lead with just under five minutes left to go in the second period when Lundqvist botched a play behind the net. After the Leafs dumped the puck into the zone he went behind the net to pass the puck to a Ranger defenseman, but turned it over to Devereaux who was aggressively fore-checking. Devereaux was then able to make a smooth pass in front of the net to Johnny Pohl who got off a textbook one-timer slap shot for the goal.

Now the Rangers were down 2-1 and needed to keep the score right there. Instead they allowed a third goal just 1:20 after the second. This time it was Nik Antropov who was able to score when he received a centering pass from Kaberle right in front of the net and just pushed it past Lundqvist to put the Leafs up 3-1.

In the third period, with the fans booing loudly and often, the Rangers had a number of chances but were not able to get any shots past Toskala. The scoring was not over though as the Leafs added one more goal with about 15 seconds left when Chad Kilger took advantage of an empty net to put his team up 4-1.

Despite Lundqvist giving up three goals in this game the offense was definitely to blame for this loss. The Rangers out shot Toronto and had better chances, but were never able to capitalize. This is only the third time in 10 games that Lundqvist allowed three goals or more and top offensive players, Jagr, Chris Drury, Scott Gomez, and Brendan Shanahan, have merely six goals combined over that span. Through 10 games last season the quartet had 25 goals between them.

Read more Rangers news and other NY teams @ Hot Stove New York and Rangers Press.

Drury Leads Rangers

The New York Rangers beat the Florida Panthers 5-2 last night scoring four goals in the third period after getting off to a slow start.

Chris Drury scored the game winning goal and had two more assists as quickly begun earning his big $35 million contract.

The Rangers got their season off quickly when Michal Rosival scored a goal 37 seconds in, but then seemingly took the next two periods off.

"The first 10 minutes I thought we were OK, the second 10 minutes of the first period we were not very good, and in the second period, for me, there was only one team on the ice and it wasn't the New York Rangers," Tom Renney told the NY Post.

The Rangers left the ice after the second period and the fans let the team hear their disappointment with a chorus of boos.

It didn’t take long for the team to turn things around and after Petr Prucha tied it Drury did what he does best, scored a big goal. His first goal would eventually become the game winner and he would add a second assist on Martin Straka’s goal late in the game.

Dispite the slow start the first line played very strong. Between the three players on the top-line, Drury, Jaromir Jagr, and Straka, they scored a total of six points (2 goals 4 assists).

As the Rangers left the ice after the game ended fans at the Garden cheered, “"We want the Cup!"

Overall the game was a positive one. The team from Broadway played poorly through the first two periods, but had enough talent to put the Panthers away in the final frame. The weakest link on the team is going to be the defense and Marek Malik and Rosival were impressive. Marc Staal usually looked like a guy who had never played in the NHL before, but managed to make a few strong plays to show the promise scouts talk about.

As usual Henrik Lundqvist played a strong game. He only allowed two goals one of which only scored when rookie Brandon Dubinsky impeded his motion to stop a puck to his left. The King was impressive keeping the Rangers in the game until they got it together enough to score some goals.

Aside from Drury the most impressive part of last night’s victory was the contributions the team received from the third-line of Prucha, Ryan Callahan, and Dubinsky. Prucha tied the game and Callahan was impressive putting them ahead 4-2. If that line can continue to pitch in this team is going to be very strong throughout the season.

Read more Rangers articles @ The Hot Stove.

Rangers Hope To End Cup Drought

The New York Rangers begin their quest for the Stanley Cup as they open up the season in Madison Square Garden and they face-off against the Florida Panthers tonight.

When the Rangers take the ice the “obvious” line combos – Gomez/Jagr/Straka and Drury/Shanahan/Avery – will not be taking the ice together, but that is fine Scott Gomez.

“To Start it off, I like to pass it and (Brendan Shanahan) likes to shoot it,” said Gomez in the NY Daily News.

Just because Gomez and Jaromir Jagr are not skating together to start the season doesn’t mean the pair won’t be together soon. “We’re likely to be making changes on the fly in a number of areas as we get into the season and see what works and what doesn’t,” Rangers coach Tom Renney told the NY Post.

The biggest question that remains unanswered is exactly how will Jagr adapt to not having the playmaker Michael Nylander there to feed him the puck? Chris Drury is not exactly the same type of player as Nylander was. He is more likely to shoot the puck than Nylander who often skated around for long periods of time waiting to setup Jagr.

“I anticipate it will be a little different with Chris rather than (Nylander),” Renney said to the Post. “I think Chris will change the dynamic in that sense.”

That is why Renney initially said it was obvious to pair Jagr up with Gomez who is known as one of the best passers in the NHL. Although I don’t think anyone is worried about the talented top line.

“I think that right now, that line with Chris and Jags and Straka looks like it could be really dangerous,” Gomez said to the Daily News.

As for the power-play, it looks like Renney won’t be breaking up his even strength lines. The top man-advantage line skating during practice was Jagr, Drury, and Petr Prucha with Martin Straka and Michal Rozsival at the points. The second power-play line gives a bit of a different look with Gomez, Shanahan, and Sean Avery up front and Fedor Tyutin and Dan Girardi at the points.

“Our best success last year came when we had two units with distinct looks that received an equitable amount of time,” said Renney to the Post.

The rest of the lineup is set as well. The third line which skated together Tuesday was rookie Brandon Dubinsky centering Ryan Callahan and Prucha and the third line will be a combination of Blair Betts, Colton Orr, Marcel Hossa, and Ryan Hollweg with one of them getting scratched.

The defense is mostly familiar faces with Rosival and Marek Malik as the first pair, Tyutin and Girardi as the second pair, and rookie Marc Staal will make his NHL debut tonight playing with Paul Mara as the third pair. Thomas Pock will be a healthy scratch and could possibly start tonight if Mara is held out of the line-up.

Of course Henrik Lundqvist will be between the pipes for the Rangers tonight. He is coming off of back-to-back 30 win seasons and he finished as a Vezina Trophy finalist in each of those seasons. Last year he got off to a slow start with a 3.57 GAA in October, but rebounded and was one of the best goalies in the NHL down the stretch with a 1.80 GAA after the all-star break.

The team is hoping things start off more smoothly than last season which didn’t go well early and didn’t start winning until the February 5 trade which brought Avery over from Los Angeles. From that point on they finished the season 17-6-6 maddening opponents all the way to the second round of the playoffs. With acquisitions of two of the biggest free-agents on the market in Gomez and Drury they hope to go a lot farther this season.

"I don't think there's anything wrong with talking about how we believe that we're good enough to win the Stanley Cup,” Avery said to the Post. “As long as we back it up on the ice each and every game."

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Gomez and Drury Lose In Debut

New acquisitions Scott Gomez and Chris Drury made their debuts as New York Rangers when the team was beaten 5-0 by the Philadelphia Flyers Saturday night.

A rusty power play and some poor defense took the heat as Henrik Lundqvist allowed all five goals in his first game of the preseason.

The first period started with a lot of action and special teams as seven different players on both teams were given penalties in the first 11 minutes. Not included in the penalties was Fedor Tyutin who pulled down Sami Kapanen for which he was awarded a penalty shot which was eventually denied by Lundqvist.

There was no score in the game until shortly after the penalty shot Sami Kapanen was involved in another play. This time he beat two Ranger defensemen including Michal Rozsival to score on Lundvist glove side to put the Flyers up 1-0 12:15 into the game.

From this point on it was pretty much all Philly and just a minute and a half later they scored again to make it 2-0. On the play Jagr made a bad pass right to Simon Gagne who took a shot on net when the puck was deflected by Mike Knuble for the goal.

In the second period the Rangers attempted to get some scoring when Petr Prucha got a pass in front of the net and appeared to score, potentially making it 2-1, but after review it was clear that the puck merely hit the crossbar.

New York had another chance soon after on a power play during which Gomez moved to the net with some fancy stick-work to make a smooth pass to Jagr who had a nice shot but was turned away by Martin Biron.

About midway into the second, the Flyers started to put the game out of reach when Mike Richards scored to make it 3-0. During the play Prucha, Rozsival, and Marcel Hossa appeared to be standing still as Boyd Kane and David Laliberte had plenty of time to get the puck to the net until Richards scored on a rebound.

The only other time during the game the Rangers really threatened was during the third period after Scott Hartnell took a hooking penalty and the Jagr line went back to work. They moved the puck around pretty well and Jagr and Gomez both set each other up with Flyers goalie Antero Niittymaki off-balance only to both miss wide.

The Flyers were able to score two more times during the third period. Steve Downie scored off a rebound and Mike Knuble picked up his second goal during a power-play by knocking the puck out of mid-air while Lundqvist was scrambling to get back after playing the puck behind the net.

Throughout the game head coach Tom Renney was clearly trying different experiments while playing with seven different rookies in the lineup. One rookie in particular, Nigel Dawes, got a lot of attention playing left-wing alongside Jaromir Jagr and Scott Gomez during the power-plays. The line didn’t generate that many chances and the Rangers didn’t score during eight chances with a man advantage.

Renney will continue to try different wingers to match up with Jagr and Gomez. Hossa has been given the most opportunities during training camp, but Martin Straka and Prucha will also be likely to get chances on the top-line.

The rest of the rookies on the team played the same way Dawes did, not particularly impressive but with flashes of promise. One other standout rookie was Lauri Korpiskoski, a former first round draft-pick, who utilized his speed and size and beat Flyer Jason Smith before challenging Martin Biron in the second period.

Center Stage on Broadway

Do you believe in magic? Well Rangers fans probably do after The Rangers somehow managed to fit the salaries of two of the biggest free-agents under cap-constraints.

After failing all spring to come to terms with Michael Nylander the Rangers started off the summer of free agency with a bang, a big bang. The blue-shirts went out and signed both Chris Drury and Scott Gomez to long-term deals Sunday doing what many in the sport thought was impossible.

With Drury and Gomez now on the team the Rangers will enjoy a core of players which should make them competitive immediately and for years to come. At least immediately the Rangers will boast an offense which also has Jaromir Jagr, Martin Straka, Brendan Shanahan, and Sean Avery which means scoring on the power-play should be the least of their concerns.

What will concern the Rangers the rest of the summer is going to be how they can fit the rest of the restricted free agents and Shanahan under the cap. The Rangers gave Chris Drury a five-year $35.25 million deal and Scott Gomez a seven-year $51.5 million deal. That puts them at a $38 million already spent on a payroll than cannot exceed $50.3 million. This leaves them with about $12 million to spend on Henrik Lundqvist, Shanahan, Petr Prucha, Sean Avery, and Marcel Hossa.

Next year the coach Tom Renney will likely send out a first line of Jagr-Gomez-Straka. Gomez would be paired with Jagr likely because of his ability to get the puck to the captain as opposed to Drury’s propensity to score goals, which would make him a good line-mate for Jagr on the power-play. That would leave Drury to be paired up with Shanahan and Avery, Prucha, or Hossa on a second line which certainly should be able to light-up the garden. Combine the offensive fire-power the Rangers now possess with Lundqvist and a blue-line crew who will add the OHL’s Most Outstanding Defenseman for the 06/07 season Marc Staal and you should get a team ready to go deep into the playoffs.

While it is hard to imagine them fitting all those players on the roster with such little cap-space left GM Glen Sather doesn’t think so. Slats said in the NY Daily News, “We think we can keep everybody we have right now.”

The Rangers did see some subtraction to their roster as the Nashville Predators signed forward Jed Ortmeyer to a two-year $1.5 million deal announced yesterday. This is of course in addition to the loose of Nylander who was determined to give free-agency a shot.

As always my work can be read at Hot Stove New York