Photo: Jonas Hiller Takes Movember To Another Level With New Mask

Facial hair in the National Hockey League is nothing new.  Each year in the playoffs the hockey beards come out, but long before that point there is Movember.  Movember is and effort throughout the month of November to raise money and awareness for different men’s health issues by growing mustaches.  On some the mustaches look good, while on others they provide a sense of comedy relief.  Today, the Goalie Guild released images of Anaheim Ducks goaltender Jonas Hiller taking the comedy side of it to another level with his new mask depicting himself and his Ducks’ teammates with ridiculous mustaches.

Photo’s courtesy of the Goalie Guild:

Be sure to check out the Goalie Guild for more on Movember, and the inspiration of the artist who did the mask.

Rangers Blueline Gets Boost With Sauer Return, While Offense Searches For Answer With New Lines

The New York Rangers have battled through defensively without two of their top four defenders in the last five games, but that appears ready to change tomorrow night.  Michael Sauer told reporters today that he expects to be in the lineup tomorrow for the first time since October 8 against Anaheim.  This is a huge help to the defensive corps as Sauer was the steadiest defender on the club last season and while his presence does not show up in the boxscore often he does plenty of things on the ice to make himself known.  This should help ease the burden on Girardi and McDonagh while solidifying the second defensive pair for the Rangers.

What would Rangers game be without some new lines heading into it?  With the offense continuing to struggle to generate not only goals, but consistent pressure coach John Tortorella has mixed up the lines once again.  Lines via Steve Zipay:

Fedotenko - Richards – Gaborik

Stepan - Dubinsky - Callahan

Wolski - Boyle - Prust

Newbury - Anisimov - Rupp/Christensen

The top two lines are solid as Fedotenko’s grit should help the Richards, Gaborik line possess the puck more in the offensive zone and create chances.  Stepan brings his playmaking ability to Dubinsky and Callahan, while all three are trying to get their games going this season. 

The bottom six is less certain for me as Anisimov on the fourth line is not good for him at this stage of his development.  It was fine two years ago to protect him and let him come along slowly, but playing with Newbury and Rupp is not going to help him now, especially if Torts uses his fourth line as little as normal. 

Wolski needs to bring the Rangers offense or he is not worth the price they are paying him, and it is unclear if he will do that with a more grinding type pair in Boyle and Prust.  Putting Anisimov between Boyle and Prust is something I would like to see them try as Anisimov has excelled in the past with physical players, Boyle gets more freedom on the wing to play in the corners and all three guys can score.  However, if Fedotenko sticks on the top line it would mean wasting Wolski on the fourth line.  Rangers once again are still searching for combinations that work.

Rupp didnt practice today, as was the case before Winnipeg, but is expected to go tomorrow.

Gaborik Not Benched Monday; Why Tortorella Made Right Call On Ice-Time In Third Period

Marian Gaborik has been the New York Rangers best forward thus far this season.  Gaborik has returned to the form of his first season in New York with four goals already and showing the burst he never really had last season.  With as well as Gaborik has been playing the fact he was not playing for much of the third period against Winnipeg caused concern for possible injury and/or anger at coach John Tortorella for possibly benching the star winger.  Luckily it appears that neither of those was the case. 

According to Larry Brooks at The New York Post the reason that Gaborik only got four shifts and 3:03 of ice time in the third period was because of the amount of time the team spent pinned in their own end.

 “It was not a benching,” Tortorella said. “Gabby has probably been our most consistent forward.”

There are those who still want to see Gaborik get his ice time because of how good he has been and it is hard to blame them for that.  It was a missed Gaborik shift that saw Prust, Richards and Fedotenko get pinned in the defensive zone for nearly two minutes, but eventually led to the power play that Callahan scored on.  Once the Rangers took the lead there was no reason to double shift Gaborik to make up for the lost ice time, especially since there are forwards much better equipped to preserve the lead.  Sure Gaborik could go out and make it a two goal game with another snipe and make the rest of the game a little easier to take, but his line also could have been responsible for giving up the tying goal and then Tortorella would have been hammered for having him out there.   

Gaborik will get used and abused when the team is in need of a goal while down one or tied in the third, so there is no reason to worry about running him out there when you have the lead.  That is the luxury of having Callahan, Dubinsky, Boyle, Prust to sustain those third period leads.  Tortorella makes questionable decisions with the lineup and the lines, but his use of Gaborik in the third period Monday night was not one of them.

Report: Zuccarello Suffered Concussion Saturday Night

According to Norwegian newspaper Verdens Gang, the reason that Mats Zuccarello did not play on Sunday was because of a concussion sustained on the vicious hit from Adam Mair Saturday night.  Mair was suspended four games for the hit that knocked Zuccarello out of action.  Concussions are going to happen and Zuccarello said he expects to be at practice today, but as we have seen with Marc Staal they can be very unpredictable and hopefully they will be cautious with Zuccarello in not letting him rush back to action.

h/t to Kevin DeLury of NYRangers Blog for finding this one

Simple Hockey Still Rangers Best Best For Success

The New York Rangers completed a brutal seven game road trip to open their season last night with their win in Winnipeg.  While the play on the ice was far from pretty for the majority of those seven games, the fact that they came through a 3-2-2 record should be cause for optimism.  How long that optimism lasts will be up the play on the ice, which aside from goaltending, Gaborik, Richards, Girardi and McDonagh has been lacking for significant portions of the opening stretch.

Last night’s performance was still lacking, but within the game there were flashes of what the Rangers need to do to be successful long-term.  Getting two power play goals, only taking one penalty and Ryan Callahan getting back to his game were all tremendously positive signs going forward in fixing some of the ailments the team has had thus far.  The continued stellar play of Gaborik, Girardi and McDonagh as well as Biron proving again that he can let Lundqvist rest were further signs of optimism.

Beyond the individual players, the most noticeable thing from last night’s performance was once again the Rangers are most successful when they keep it simple.  A huge problem for the Rangers to open the year has been trying too hard to make the perfect play, especially in the offensive zone.  Both goals last night had no flash and no flare too them as they were just basic hockey principles. 

The Rangers first power play goal got away from the cute pass the puck around stagnant play the Rangers had been seeing with the man advantage and saw some aggression.  Starting early in the man advantage Callahan receives the puck from Boyle down low and fires at the net hitting the crossbar.  The Rangers have Fedotenko and Boyle in front during the battle for the puck and while they don’t score right there it keeps the puck alive for Callahan in the corner.   Rangers then work the puck back to the point and instead of staying stagnant at the left point Girardi moved to the middle of the ice forcing all the other Rangers players to move.  With Ruslan Fedotenko setup high in the slot and Boyle battling down low, Girardi fired a shot pass to Fedotenko for the redirection.  Nothing fancy at all, just basic hockey that resulted in a goal.

The Rangers second power play goal was also basic as they stuck to the adage of throwing pucks at the net and watching good things happen.  The Rangers entry was a simple one where Girardi hit Fedotenko in motion in the neutral zone and he found Callahan with a tape to tape pass as he entered the zone.  Callahan continued down the boards and fired the puck towards the front looking for Fedotenko who was driving the goal mouth hard, but the Rangers got a fortunate bounce as it went of Bogosian’s skate and in. 

Marian Gaborik and Brad Richards give the Rangers two elite skill players in their lineup and those two will provide the Rangers will some highlight reel action this season, but for the rest of the lineup the focus has to be on keeping it simple.  The team still is not doing it enough as their forecheck is not where they want it and only getting 17 shots on net is certainly not pressuring the goaltender, but last night had some signs of how this team going back to things that have been successful in the past.  Players like Callahan and Fedotenko, who were both excellent last night, lead the way in the kind of play and that is how the secondary scoring will return. Hopefully being over .500 after the grueling trip to start the season and being back home will bring out more of that throughout the lineup.

Rangers Assign Bell to CT Whale; Sauer Ready To Return?

According to the AHL transactions page the New York Rangers have assigned Brendan Bell to the Connecticut Whale (AHL).  The move to demote Bell back to the AHL should mean that Michael Sauer is ready to return to the lineup on Thursday.  Adding Sauer back into the lineup should take a little of the burden off of Girardi and McDonagh to eat so much ice time because it will give Tortorella another defender he can lean on.  The addition would only help to aid an already strong penalty kill.

Rangers Make Contract Offer To D Stralman; Bad Sign For Staal Recovery?

Last night Tom Gulitti, of the Bergen Record, reported at Fire and Ice that the New York Rangers made a contract offer to unrestricted free agent Anton Stralman. 

A source confirmed that the Rangers have made a contract offer to defenseman Anton Stralman, the unrestricted free agent who attended training camp with the Devils as a tryout.

Stralman was in camp with the New Jersey Devils this year, but was not offered a contract to join the team.  The initial thinking was that Stralman would eventually sign with the Devils, but that never came to fruition.  Guilitti reports that Stralman has yet to give the Rangers an answer on their offer and is weighing and offer from HV 71 in the Swedish Elite League.

Stralman has the ability to add some offense from the blue line as he scored 34 (6G, 28A) points for Columbus in 73 games two years ago.  He could not match that production last season, declining to 18 points (1G, 17A) in 51 games. The problem with Stralman is not in the offensive zone, but on the defensive end where he is a combined -28 the last two seasons.  The Rangers would love to add offense from the blue line, but they cannot afford to do it at the expense of solid defensive play.  It does not seem to fit what coach John Tortorella wants from his defense.

The New York Rangers have made no secret that they are looking into all possible defensive options with the absence of All-Star Marc Staal.  The team has already claimed Jeff Woywitka off waivers and is currently carrying eight defenders on the active roster.  The fact that even after claiming Woywitka and with Michael Sauer said to be getting close to returning, possibly Thursday, that they are still making contract offers to the likes of Stralman cannot be a good sign on Staal’s recovery.

During last Tuesday’s game with the Vancouver Canucks Joe Micheletti said that the Rangers might have  an update on Staal the following day, but no update ever came and all that has been said since is that things are “status quo.”  The lack of an update is never a good sign and “status quo” in this case certainly doesn’t indicate any sort of improvement in Staal’s condition.  The positive side of that is there is no announcement of any regression for Staal, but as the time between positive recovery news continues to grow so does the seeming timeline for Staal to return to the lineup.

Rangers End Road-Trip With Win Thanks To Biron Goaltending, Callahan Game-Winner

The New York Rangers still are not playing well by any stretch of the imagination, but a Ryan Callahan power play goal at 8:41 of the third period and 27 saves from Martin Biron were enough to give them a 2-1 win over the Winnipeg Jets.  The Rangers wrapped up a seven-game road trip with a solid 3-2-2 record including a 3-1 trip to Western Canada.  We can focus on how the team has yet to play a good game, but to have those results on the board is something you have to be happy with, even if the level has to rise massively in the future.  Take the points and worry about fixing things as they go.

Martin Biron came up huge repeatedly tonight, with no bigger sequence than the one before the Callahan winning goal.  The Jets pinned the Rangers in their own end for nearly two straight minutes, but Biron was able to keep the puck out of the net and the Rangers were actually able to get a power play out of it when Ruslan Fedotenko was taken down on the other end of the ice.  During the ensuing power play the Rangers got some more luck when Ryan Callahan’s “shot” deflected off the skate of Zach Bogosian behind Chris Mason into the net.  Callahan drove into the Winnipeg zone down the right wing and fired the puck towards the front of the net looking for Fedotenko to finish it off, but Bogosian did the work for New York. 

The Callahan goal was the Rangers second of the night with the man advantage.  Ruslan Fedotenko had the other tally when he re-directed a Dan Girardi shot-pass from the high slot past Mason to give the Rangers the 1-0 lead in the second period.  After entering the game one for their first 23 on the power play they converted two of five opportunities on the night.

The Jets lone goal on the night came from former Ranger Nik Antropov.  Dan Girardi’s clearing attempt ended up in the skates of Brandon Prust and after the failed clear it would end up with Antropov at the left circle.

• Martin Biron showed again that resting Henrik Lundqvist does not necessarily mean a drop in the quality of the man between the pipes.
• Ryan Callahan played much more like Ryan Callahan tonight with his battle level, blocking shots like a monster and looking to shoot the puck as well.
• Ruslan Fedotenko was the Rangers best forward tonight.  He was all over the ice, scored the opening goal and was rewarded with time on the top line late in the game.
• Marian Gaborik was a threat all night, even though he didn’t end up on the score sheet and saw limited action in the final period.
• Dan Girardi continued to be a beast playing at an All-Star level right now.
• Rangers managed to stay out of the box much better tonight only taking one penalty. 

Rangers Announcement on Winter Classic Tickets

Eric Roitman over at 5-Hole shared the email he got as a season subscriber from the New York Rangers concerning Winter Classic tickets.  Here is the key excerpt...

Based on the number of tickets we have available to offer our Season Subscriber family, we will be reaching out to you via email the week of October 24th, 2011. At that time, you will receive detailed information on the seating configuration and a questionnaire that asks you to rank all available price points in order of preference. Please note that as the visiting team, we will be unable to accommodate all Rangers Season Subscribers with an offer to purchase Tickets. As such, we will be contacting you in order of your Subscription tenure with an offer. Those Subscribers that wish to purchase tickets and receive an offer will be assigned a maximum of 2 seats based upon availability.

Tough to fault the Rangers for offering the tickets based on seniority of subscription to season tickets, but a lot of season ticket holders are going to be left without an opportunity to purchase tickets.  For those who don't own season tickets, the secondary market is your only hope to get tickets and the cost is going to be steep.

Be sure to check out the rest of the email over at 5-hole and if you aren't already, continue to check back there for his great work.  

Biron Starting, Wolski, Woywitka In; Christensen, Bell Out

The New York Rangers lineup will have some new faces in it tonight as they look to rebound from their loss at Edmonton and finish their Western Canada trip 3-1.  The Rangers official twitter announced that Martin Biron will make his first start of the season along with the return of both Wojtek Wolski and Jeff Woywitka to the lineup.  Biron getting the start tonight should not be seen as anything to do with Lundqvist leaving the game early the other night, but simply giving Biron some action.

Wolski, who has been out since the season opener with a sore groin that has plagued him for about a month takes the place of Erik Christensen in the lineup.  Woywitka is swapped for Bell, who took his place last game. 

Mike Rupp is playing despite missing the morning skate and being said to have some knee issues right now.