Ranger Rants

Moving day

The new Ranger Rants site is up and running and ready to be viewed so this will be the last post in this format. From now on, please go to and bookmark http://blogs.northjersey.com/blogs/rangerrants/. Among the exciting new features there will be a Twitter scroll of my latest Tweets.

If you come back to this site, there should be an automatic redirect to the new site after a few seconds. If not, please just click on the address I've linked above.

Obviously, no move happens without some anxiety but we believe we've worked out most of the bugs. Any problems posting comments or otherwise, please let me know at grossa@northjersey.com

In fact, as soon as I've finished posting this to the old site, I will be posting a morning blog on the new site so you can try out the change immediately. Thanks for everybody's support.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Follow me on Twitter at twitter.com/AGrossRecord

No Avery vs. Capitals

However, Sean Avery believes he should be available for Sunday's afternoon match with the Ducks. Avery skated today in an orange, non-contact jersey and said afterwards he's just trying to be careful.

"I think I'm just going to give it a couple of more days to make sure I'm as close to 100 percent as I can be," said Avery, who later added there's some lingering soreness but nothing out of the ordinary.

"I would say, barring anything happening from here to there, it's a pretty good chance," Avery said of playing Sunday.

Avery, who participated in some "battle drills" today for the first time since spraining his right knee on Sept. 21, said, in the past, he's come back perhaps too quickly from hand and shoulder injuries. Avery said he would skate after tomorrow's morning skate in Washington, then get a full practice in Saturday. That sounded like the Rangers might be off Friday but we won't know that schedule until late Thursday.

"I'm not saying I'm not effective at 85-90 percent but it's not fair to the team and to myself to do it this year," Avery said. "It's not game 80 of a playoff race."

"I think it's better for the team and better for myself in the long run," Avery added.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Follow me on Twitter at twitter.com/AGrossRecord

New blog home coming soon

Just wanted to repeat what I posted yesterday, that, very soon, we'll be switching blog platforms. This may cause a bit of uncertainty here during the transition but, please, please, stick with it. From what Tom Gulitti is telling me (Fire and Ice switched earlier today) his readers are having a hard time posting comments. I'm sure these are minor technical bugs that will get worked out. Nothing's ever easy, right.

My people tell me there will be ways to redirect to the new platform just by coming to this address.

Again, anybody having problems, go to http://www.northjersey.com/sports/pro_sports/hockey/ and follow the links to this blog. Again, again, if that fails, send me an e-mail at grossa@northjersey.com with the subject line "Can't find Ranger Rants" and I'll try to help you.

Thanks for your patience.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Follow me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/AGrossRecord

Fair warning

So now maybe I can have songs from my favorite Van Halen album stuck in my head all day instead of Bob Seger.

The fair warning is this: At some point this week, this blog is scheduled to be switched over to a new platform (for lack of a better technical term or, technical understanding on this blogger's part). Not sure exactly what this all means yet as far as readership is concerned. They tell me the content will be switched over. I'm not sure if there will be a new web address or not but, if there is, I will try to let you know as soon as possible so you can bookmark it before the transition. If you do have trouble finding Ranger Rants, please go to http://www.northjersey.com/sports/pro_sports/hockey/ and you can navigate your way to this blog from there and then bookmark it.

If all that fails, please send me an e-mail at grossa@northjersey.com with the Subject header of "Can't find Ranger Rants" and I will send you back the URL.

Meanwhile, coverage of last night's 3-2 win over the Devils at The Rock in this morning's Record includes: Tom Gulitti's game story,  Devils' notes,   Rangers' notes and a feature on the Marian Gaborik-Jacques Lemaire relationship. However, missing from the online content is my article on the performance of the Rangers' two rookie defensemen, Michael Del Zotto and Matt Gilroy. I've posted the unedited copy of that below the break.

Lastly, no practice today, the Rangers are off until tomorrow morning. Don't expect news today but if it happens, I'll post here.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Follow me on Twitter at twitter.com/AGrossRecord

Rangers 3, Devils 2: Postgame wrapup

No surprise, but coach John Tortorella absolutely ripped into his team when he took a timeout at 1:24 of the first period. The Rangers' defensive work in their end up to that point was, at best, abysmal, at worst, apathetic. Seriously, the Rangers were very flat and stood there watching the Devils pass the puck, go into the corners, retrieve the puck and head back toward the Rangers net.

"It was very obvious," Gilroy said of what Tortorella said. "Anything you guys could think of, he probably said."

The stern, ahem, lecture obviously worked because even though the first period remained, for the most part, the opposite of a defensive masterpiece, the Rangers were good, for the most part, in their own end the rest of the game. Tortorella was happy to announce the Devils were held to 10 scoring chances after the Rangers had given up in the teens to their first two opponents.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Follow me on Twitter at twitter.com/AGrossRecord

Live Blog: Rangers at Devils, 10/5

Things pretty much the same here at The Rock from this morning's skate, no updates to give as we get near game time. This game is being portrayed as Marian Gaborik vs. old coach Jaques Lemaire and that is as much a simplification as last season when it was Sean Avery vs. Martin Brodeur.

Lines and defense pairs can be found in this post.

Without anything new to report, thought I'd get to a couple of questions posted earlier in the comments.

As to the bigger picture for the Rangers, I don't necessarily see this as a transition season - it certainly shouldn't take a full season to grasp the Tortorella system, particularly since some of the core of the group had nearly two months with it last season. I say it's not a transition because by bringing in Marian Gaborik, the Rangers once again positioned themselves as a team that - in its own mind, at least - was a serious playoff contender. At the risk of disappointing some of you, I don't think this team is among the elite in the Eastern Conference (Penguins, Capitals, Bruins, perhaps the Hurricanes, perhaps the Flyers). So, based on that, yes, this team is probably looking at a 6-8 playoff seed. That said, I don't see the Rangers finishing outside the playoff picture, not buying the prediction of this team finishing 13th in the conference based on these ifs: Gaborik stays healthy, Lundqvist plays at his level or above and the defense proves adequate.

As for the group introduction prior to Saturday's game, I'll admit, I might have been a little slow to realize the implications. At the time, honestly, I thought it was a cool thing to do. Have seen some NFL teams do it and, personally, I like the message it sends. In retrospect, yes, it did protect some players - Redden, Rozsival, Brashear, Drury - from being booed on home ice. Do not believe this is something John Tortorella has done with any frequency, if at all, prior to Saturday. In fact, we were kind of hard-pressed to remember any other such instance.

Will be updating as the game draws near as will my colleague, Tom Gulitti, on his blog, Fire and Ice. If you remember, when Ranger Rants started last season, it got shutout in comments going up against Fire and Ice in one of the first Rangers-Devils games from last season. Feeling much better about Ranger Rants' chances in winning the all-important most comments battle going into tonight's game.

Enjoy
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Follow me on Twitter at twitter.com/AGrossRecord

Still the same

So now that I've got that Bob Seger song stuck in my head, just reporting that the lineup, lines and defense pairs will all remain the same for the beginning of Game No. 3 as they were for the first two. Tonight, of course, marks the first time (out of six regular-season games between the rivals) that new Ranger Marian Gaborik faces his old boss, new/old Devils coach Jacques Lemaire, after they spent the past eight seasons together in Minnesota.

The two had a brief conversation in the hallways this morning.

Henrik Lundqvist will start for the third time in four nights while Sean Avery (sprained right knee) participated in the morning skate but was wearing a white, non-contact jersey. Still thinking he's a strong possibility for Thursday at Washington.

Vinny Prospal-Brandon Dubinsky-Marian Gaborik
Christopher Higgins-Chris Drury-Ryan Callahan
Enver Lisin-Artem Anisimov-Ales Kotalik
Donald Brashear-Brian Boyle-Aaron Voros
Marc Staal-Dan Girardi
Michael Del Zotto-Michal Rozsival
Wade Redden-Matt Gilroy
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Follow me on Twitter at twitter.com/AGrossRecord

About the power play

About to take off for The Rock for this morning's skate, the start of a full day in Newark.

Here's this morning's article in The Record on the power play. As I write in the article, the only thing similar to last season in terms of the man advantage is the fact that the Rangers haven't scored yet. Unlike last season, though, it's not a shooting problem, it's a finishing problem with a bit of hard luck (against the Senators, particularly in the first period, at least). The third-period power play against the Penguins Friday night was not good in terms of puck movement/control and opportunities, otherwise, the chances have been there.

As far as finishing, the debate is to whether Chris Drury should be logging some PP time to clean up around the net. So far, John Tortorella has chosen not to use the captain.

What to watch for tonight: I suspect Michael Del Zotto will again start on the point but he might have a much shorter leash. The veteran four of Marc Staal, Dan Girardi, Michal Rozsival and Wade Redden got the bulk of the third-period time against the Senators. But, in the long term, Del Zotto and Matt Gilroy are much more exciting options - the Rangers will give them every opportunity to develop in this phase.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Follow me on Twitter at twitter.com/AGrossRecord

Rangers 5, Senators 2: Postgame wrapup

Among the two things that still need to be cleaned up: the power play and the frequency in the opponents getting odd-man rushes.

Again, glass half-full, the Rangers did take 14 shots over five power plays and, particularly in the first period, seemed on the verge of scoring each time. One player who definitely took it hard is Ales Kotalik, who spent 5:41 of his 14:58 of ice time on the power play. Chatting with him at his locker, he kept repeating, "I need to be better." He knows he was brought here for his work on the power play and, even though it's two games into the season, he's feeling the pressure to produce.

Henrik Lundqvist, took, had an interesting comment. He said even though it was only the second game of the season, he had trouble sleeping after Friday's 3-2 loss at Pittsburgh, so excited was he for the home opener.

"I was happy with the way we responded," said Lundqvist, who made 19 saves in the second period. "Even though it was the second game, I felt like it was important."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Follow me on Twitter at twitter.com/AGrossRecord

Live Blog: Rangers vs. Senators, 10/3

The Rangers lineup remains the same for tonight's opener from last night's 3-2 loss at Pittsburgh. That means Henrik Lundqvist in net and LW Sean Avery (sprained right knee) still in (dapper) street clothes. Avery skated on his own earlier today and likely will participate in tomorrow's practice.

The Rangers are also standing pat with six defensemen for now and Tortorella brushed aside a question about adding a seventh before the game.

But he was pretty interesting when clearing up what he considers the misconception that the Rangers will play run-and-gun hockey this season.

"I guess the biggest thing that we need to address tonight is puck support," Tortorella said. "If we're going to be aggressive as far as defending, try to jam the neutral zone, pinching in the end zone when we have the opportunities, we need to have support coming back. I think we lost ourselves a little bit there.

"I even heard one of our players say on a TV program before last night's game, run and gun. This isn't run and gun. This is pressure defense pressuring the puck. Defense first with support allowing us to be aggressive. It's not run and gun. These are things we have to curb and make our team understand because we gave up too many odd-man rushes."

Also to look for, the Rangers have won four straight home openers for the first time since 1989-92. The franchise has never won five straight openers.

Also to listen for: I'll be the second intermission guest on ESPN 1050. Swing on by and tune in.

Lines (to review):
Prospal-Dubinsky-Gaborik
Higgins-Drury-Callahan
Lisin-Anisimov-Kotalik
Brashear-Boyle-Voros
Staal-Girardi
Gilroy-Redden
Del Zotto-Rozsival

Updates coming once the puck drops. Pre-game player introductions not expected to push back the 7:08 puck drop.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Follow me on Twitter at twitter.com/AGrossRecord