New York Rangers

RW Ales Kotalik had been a healthy scratch for six straight games before returning to the lineup Wednesday against Carolina. Kotalik also was restored to the left point on the power play, a struggling unit that had been 3-for-32 over its previous 10 games before adding an 0-for-4 night aga...

The Rangers are headed west, but will they come back to New York a fractured team or one that finally has started to sort out its ongoing problems? The bumbling Blueshirts have dropped four straight games in regulation for the first time this season, and they are 3-6-2 in their last 11 games...

NEW YORK -- A phone call at 11 a.m., followed by a drive of two-plus hours through wind and rain, provided a rough start to Chris Conner's Monday. Two goals to help the Penguins beat the New York Rangers, 4-2, at Madison Square Garden proved to be a perfect nightcap. Conner, promoted from AHL affi...

Chris Conner started his day at practice in Wilkes-Barre and ended it as a top star on Broadway. Just hours after being called up by the Penguins, Conner scored twice to lead Pittsburgh to a 4-2 victory over the slumping New York Rangers on Monday night. It wasn't the forward's first time on th...

It's that time of year in which desirable players hit the trade market. And the Rangers, despite their glaring salary-cap restrictions, always wind up being mentioned amid the rumor mill. Citing "an NHL GM," the New York Post reported Saturday that the Calgary Flames are "desperate" to mo...

There were two major stories to emerge from the New York Rangers ' 2-0 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers .

D Matt Gilroy has stepped up his physical game since returning to the Rangers following a brief minor league assignment in December, coach John Tortorella said. "The biggest thing was, we wanted him to engage as far as separating people from pucks, to be more aggressive," coach John Torto...

C Erik Christensen apparently proved himself worthy of added responsibility during his audition on the top line while winger Vinny Prospal (knee) was sidelined. Christensen, who scored three goals in six games, remained on the first unit -- between Prospal and Marian Gaborik -- in the R...

No. 1 star: Sean Avery, New York Rangers You think Avery as geared up to face his old team?

By Kevin Does anyone else get the feeling that I do when they see a game on the schedule like last night’s Rangers/Bruins tilt?  Which is, “Please, let this game end in regulation.” Boston’s loss leaves them seven points behind Buffalo and both teams have logged 41 games.

Chris Kreider was the Rangers' first round pick in this past 2009 NHL draft. There was much skepticism surrounding him going into the draft. ...

After losing to the New York Islanders Wednesday night, the Rangers have dropped to 14-16-3 and are now fifth place in the Atlantic division. ...

Before Rod Gilbert and Jean Ratelle and well before Messier, the leader and best player on the New York Rangers was Andy Bathgate. ...

By bottomlinesox Peter Abraham, Extra Bases – Abraham reminds us that the Red Sox were third in run differential last season and the top five teams in this category made the playoffs. Matthew Pouliot, Circling the Bases – Rich Harden is officially a Ranger and could earn as much as $20M over the next two years.

By pennskinsfan 12.  Vancouver Canucks 14.  Columbus Blue Jackets 15.  Ottawa Senators Teams that FELL out of  Top 15 pre-season rankings:  Boston Bruins, Philadelphia Flyers, Detroit Red Wings,  Carolina Hurricanes, Anaheim Ducks, St. Louis Blues

By Kevin Unfortunately for the Devils, they have been hit hard the past couple days with injuries.  In addition to Patrick Elias, who has yet to play this year after groin surgery, the Devils lost forward Jay Pandolfo for 4-6 weeks with a separated shoulder in Saturday’s game against Pittsburgh.

By Rick Carpiniello —————————— EDITOR’S NOTE: Hey, it’s Carp. Great job, Staal Wart. Just wanted to let you know that the Rangers’ Fan Fest scheduled for today has been postponed until tomorrow, in case you were among the subscribers who planned to attend. Check the Rangers’ web site for details.

By Jane McManus Sean Avery showed today to talk to the kids at the Rangers hockey camp in Greenburgh at the Rangers practice facility. I’m including a few audio clips. He talked about how his relationship with coach John Tortorella is coming along and address Colton Orr’s replacement. Here’s what he had to s...

By Jane McManus Sean Avery was not in the locker room. Here is some Markus Naslund audio. On a serious note, Tortorella said he was concerned about Chris Drury, who has not been himself since the playoffs began and has an unspecified arm/wrist/hand injury.

By Jane McManus Tortorella experimented with the lines a little today. Avery-Gomez-Antropov and Voros-Betts-Orr were the same, but Dubinsky centered Drury and Callahan once, and Markus Naslund was mixed in with the group. Zherdev skated with Korpikoski and Sjostrom.

By Jane McManus The Rangers can clinch with a win over Philly on Thursday. The 3-1 win over Montreal and an assist from the Flyers with a 2-1 win over Florida means the Rangers just need one out of the next two games to mathematically eliminate the Panthers. Henrik Lundqvist on Chris Drury…

By Jane McManus When the Rangers lost to the Thrashers on Feb. 3, it was one of the lowest points of the current season. It was Adam Graves night, and a host of Ranger legends had taken the ice at the start of the evening to bring back the memory of that 1994 team. And then the current Rangers [...]

By Jane McManus Shhh…. Playoffs.) But that’s a lot to ask considering that the Rangers have three home games coming up, with a 21-10-4 record on the Madison Square Garden ice. That’s decent, especially considering that Buffalo has a 14-16-5 away record.

By Jane McManus The lines: Naslund-Drury-Antropov; Avery-Gomez-Zherdev, Sjostom-Dubinsky-Callahan, Korpikoski-Betts-Orr. Defensive pairings Morris-Redden, Mara-Rozsival, Girardi-Staal. New York, March 19, 2009 —New York Rangers President and General Manager Glen Sather announced tod...

By Rick Carpiniello If John Tortorella thought the Rangers “wet their pants” then how would he describe what Bruins backup goalie Manny Fernandez was doing all day long? So it’s on to Raleigh and Nashville (did you older fans ever think you’d hear that) for the Rangers. Tonight is a Versus game, which means a lo...

By Jane McManus Avery was back on the ice wearing a blue jersey, and he said walking in with that the Rangers feel like coming home. He alternated in a line with Petr Prucha, Nigel Dawes and Lauri Korpikowski. And he could play tomorrow. Late in the 40-minute practice, Rangers coach John Tortorella took Avery...

By Greg Wyshynski The 6-4, 225-pounder's first goal since Nov. 17, 2007 tied the game in the second period before Andrew Cogliano's game-winner in the third gave Edmonton the 3-2 victory over the New York Islanders. The puck actually went off of Strudwick's skate, but a video review awarded the Oilers the go...

By Greg Wyshynski The 6-4, 225-pounder's first goal since Nov. 17, 2007 tied the game in the second period before Andrew Cogliano's game-winner in the third gave Edmonton the 3-2 victory over the New York Islanders. The puck actually went off of Strudwick's skate, but a video review awarded the Oilers the go...

By Seth Rorabaugh New York will scratch Dan Fritsche and Lauri Korpikoski. 10:55: Nikolai Zherdev rips a wrister over the net. Rozsival leads New York with 8:54. Sjostrom leads the Rangers with three. Rozsival leads the Rangers with 16:15. 4:21: Lundqvist fights off a slapper by Boucher.

By Greg Wyshynski 9. Peter Budaj, Goaltender, Colorado - $700,000 8. Mike Komisarek, Defenseman, Montreal - $1.7 million 6. Mike Smith, Goaltender, Tampa Bay - $950,000 5. Nikolai Zherdev, Right Wing, New York Rangers - $2.5 million 1. Tim Thomas, Goaltender, Boston - $1.1 million

By Greg Wyshynski • Chris Drury compares Nikolai Zherdev to Alexei Kovalev. Obviously Drury doesn't know that in New York Rangers-speak, that makes Zherdev more enigmatic and frustrating than the crossword puzzle in the Times. But also once in a while quite rewarding, to be fair. [NY Post]

By Greg Wyshynski Preview: Toronto Maple Leafs at Edmonton Oilers (9 p.m. EST; TV: LTV, RSW). Gotta love Lowetide's assessment: "Should be a good game tonight, with the only real negative being the number of Leafs fans in the house." Jeff Drouin-Deslauriers gets his first home start tonight.

By Sam Weinman That’s not to say the Rangers aren’t exploring other options, because I’m sure they are. But it’s doubtful any of those move would be ones that would fundamentally alter the core of the team. A player like Shanahan, for instance, would have that impact. And even in looking fairly unspectacul...

By Dave Nichols The Washington Capitals received goals from a grinder, a defenseman that has missed much of the early season, and their first quarter MVP to hold off the Eastern Conference's top team, the New York Rangers, 3-1 before a near-capacity crowd at Verizon Center. NOTES

By Dubi One obvious factor is the goaltending of Henrik Lundqvist -- no one who has watched Wade Redden, Dmitri Kalinin, and Michal Rozsival play hot potato with the puck in their own end is going to ascribe the Rangers' defensive prowess to their blueline corps. You just can't underestimate the i...

By Jason Klau This win against Pittsburgh may turn out to be a great rallying point for the now 8-2-1 Rangers—but it will mean nothing if they cannot carry this play to their game on Monday against their cross-town rival, the New York Islanders. Chris Drury definitely needs to step it up against the Islan...

By Dubi Check back Sunday for links and for a Blueshirt Bulletin+ report on the three Swedes who helped key this win -- Lundqvist, Naslund, and Sjostrom -- plus a few quotes (all that we could get out of him) from Zherdev. What was a bigger slap in the face to the Rangers, that the visiting Penguins too...

By gozer The Rangers dominated play in the third period. Aaron Voros was up to his old tricks, scoring two goals and being a pest in the crease, to give New York a 4-3 lead. Brandon Dubinsky added two assists. The Rangers were back to dumping the puck in and driving to the net. At times they were relentless....

By jim I'm sure you heard that the Rangers already won the cup. Unfortunately, it was only the Victoria Cup, and they beat a team with only a handful of borderline NHL players. BUT, it was cool nonetheless. If they can build on that and translate it into regular season wins remains to be seen. AND, we wil...

By Khalil Kassam Eastern Conference 1.       New York Rangers Key Players: Chris Drury (C), Scott Gomez, Henrik Lundqvist 2.       Washington Capitals 5.       Philadelphia Flyers 13.   New York Islanders 14.   Toronto Maple Leafs 1.       Detroit Red Wings 2.       San Jose Sharks

By Sam Weinman Sean Avery, Mitch Fritz, Andrew Hutchinson, Jaromir Jagr, Darius Kasparaitis, Marek Malik, Paul Mara, Michal Rozsival, Brendan Shanahan, Martin Straka, Jason Strudwick, Steve Valiquette. Update, 12:32 p.m.: Reader Bill asks regarding Jaromir Jagr:

By Dubi Glen Sather's Edmonton Oilers, by the way, were barely better than Smith's Rangers in the 1990s Rangers or his own 21st century Rangers -- 3.53% (tied with Detroit for 19th). The Oilers since then, under Kevin Lowe, are right where the Rangers are with 1,966 man-games. So despite the change,...

By Patricia Greuter 9:53 PM ET: Can anyone explain to me why an icing was called when, uh, the Devils are shorthanded? Lame. 9:53 PM ET: Aaaand Cap’n Langs takes a penalty. Wow. Way to ruin everything. 9:51 PM ET: Lundqvist with a huge save, time out Rangers. 9:20 PM ET: Epic fail. 2-0 Rangers. Avery scores. Sigh.

By Dubi This is no accident. As Jess Rubenstein has often pointed out in his coverage of Ranger prospects, this is part of the Rangers' plan, to draft and develop players in winning environments so that when they are NHL-ready, they are ready to win. With multiple Stanley Cup winners Brendan Shanah...

By Josh Burnett Of all the teams in the Eastern Conference, the Devils draw the Rangers for round one of the playoffs. This afternoon’s game decides home-ice advantage for the series. The Rangers need to win in regulation, the Devils just need to push it to overtime to lock up a potential game seven at the Roc...

By Dubi There's more -- there's a report on the contract situation of several key Rangers headed toward free agency, an article on defensive specialist Blair Betts, a profile of Wilkinson, a reader's encounter with Brian Leetch, five more numbers for the ages (one of which we now know will be ret...

By Joey Matschulat As the dust continues to settle from Sunday’s surprise acquisition of outfielder Milton Bradley, another free agent target of the Texas Rangers may be on the verge of selecting his next employer. And finally, Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel issued a rather cryptic re...

By Dubi Either way, Jagr has to be front and center in solving this problem. He has just one goal in eight games, the slowest start of his career in a season he promised would be his best ever. And he is the captain, so he must lead the Rangers out of the quagmire they have dug for themselves. Right behind hi...

By Jose de Jesus Ortiz(joe.conway@chron.com) Audio: Astros GM Tim Purpura says Rangers' claim opens door for Astacio Class AAA Round Rock pitching coach Burt Hooton and his wife Ginger were on the minor-league side Monday afternoon when Astacio went looking for them to thank them for their support.

By brian I started covering the New York Rangers in 1999. During that stretch I've seen everything from a player getting busted for smoking crack in a hotel room with a hooker, to an oafish defenseman winning a game in a shootout by snapping a puck through his legs. I've watched Theo Fleury, Eric Lindr...