Rangers Drop Second Straight With 2-1 Loss To Panthers

The New York Rangers didn’t find the sense of urgency they needed following their 4-0 loss Saturday and it cost them again as they fell 2-1 in Florida Wednesday night.  The lack of offense was obvious, but the Rangers are back to the utter lack of energy and effort that was plaguing them to start the season as well.  If that does not change quickly, then the positive of the seven game win streak will disappear in the standings very quickly as the competition level is only increasing and the schedule getting more compact.

Florida outskated the Rangers for the entire first period with Jason Garrison making them pay on the power play at 10:06.  Garrison was left all alone for a bomb from the point scoring his league leading eighth goal by a defenseman.  That didn’t wake New York up as they let Kris Versteeg put them in a 2-0 whole in the opening seconds of the second period.  Tomas Fleischmann completely undressed Artem Anisimov before finding a wide-open Versteeg in front of the net.

Derek Stepan gave the Rangers a sense of hope when he scored 4:18 into the second period to cut the deficit in half.  Marian Gaborik made the goal happen after taking a Ryan McDonagh pass, dancing into the offensive zone and cutting to the middle until finding Stepan for the goal.

The Rangers generated some chances late in the third period, but Jose Theodore made some huge saves to preserve the game.  It should not even have been that close if not for the work for Henrik Lundqvist who made 36 saves on the night.  Lundqvist’s brightest stretch of the night was while killing the 5-minute major to Andre Deveaux. During the kill the Rangers got trapped in their own zone for long stretches, but Lundqvist saved them making seven stops during the kill.

The 5-minute major to Deveaux was from a ridiculously foolish play elbowing Tomas Fleischman in the head.  Deveaux was assessed a 5-minute major and given a match penalty for the hit.  He should receive a significant suspension and likely sends him back to the minors for how stupid and selfish the play was. 

• Stralman made no difference on the power play
• Boyle, Prust, and Fedotenko all seem lost out there right now and are bringing little to the table

Anton Stralman To Make Rangers Debut Tonight While Scratch Unknown

Anton Stralman will make his Rangers debut tonight, but no official announcement of which player will be the scratch.

Pat Leonard tweeted that Jeff Woywitka is the likely candidate to be pulled from the lineup, which would be right if a defender is the scratch.  There is also a small chance that Deveaux would be scratched and the Rangers go with 11F and 7D.  That is unlikely because of coach John Tortorella's stated distaste for dressing seven defenders.

Staal Makes Trip To Florida With Team

Last night the New York Rangers announced that Marc Staal, Mike Rupp and Wojtek Wolski all accompanied their teammates on the short road trip this week.  Having the full team together is always a positive thing and great to see the injured guys making the trip, especially during a holiday week.

For Staal it is the first trip he has made with the team so far this season and is another small step in his recovery process.  The fact that he is on the plane should indicate that he is still symptom free after starting light workouts because if he was still have any concussion symptoms they would not be letting him fly. Any step forward is welcomed news when it comes to Staal's recovery and while this one is small being around the club on the road can be big for him both psychologically and emotionally.

Dan Girardi All-Star Campaign Must Continue

Earlier I shared the All-Star balloting results that were released today and no Rangers really have a realistic chance to be voted into the game.  There is no getting around that fact, but that does not mean that the campaign spearheaded by Kevin DeLury of TheNYRBlog should fail to go forth as planned.  No denying the discouragement at Dan Girardi being 72K votes behind Zdeno Chara for the final defensive spot in fan voting, but the campaign was not one of winning or bust for me.

To me the purpose of the campaign for Girardi was to get him a piece of the recognition that he deserves and that can be accomplished regardless of whether he actually gets voted into the game.  Girardi deserves to have his name amongst the top defenders in the league and even if he is not going to get voted in by fan ballots this year, the continued voting by Rangers' fans will keep his name on that list as he deserves to be.  Beyond that the goal can change to have Girardi be the number one player overall in write-in votes.  In that particular race he is only 3,607 votes behind Bruins forward Tyler Seguin.

Senators Dominate Early Balloting, Girardi 18th Amongst Defense

The first round of All Star voting results were released today and the home town Ottawa Senators dominated the balloting.  Daniel Alfredsson, Jason Spezza and Erik Karlsson were three of the top four in voting with Milan Michalek also coming fourth amongst forwards.  The only player to sneak between the Senators was Toronto forward Phil Kessel who is leading the league in goals (16) and points (29).

Amongst the New York Rangers Henrik Lundqvist was the leading vote getting with 65,441 votes, which placed him fifth in goaltending.  Marian Gaborik was the only Rangers' forward to crack the list in 21st for forwards with 47,980 votes.  Finally Dan Girardi placed 18th amongst the defense voting with an impressive
37,836 write-in votes. The vote total for Girardi was the second highest amongst all write-in candidates.





Girardi's write-in total was the second highest of any write-in candidate thus far.  A large sum of the credit for that feat goes to Kevin DeLury of TheNYRBlog for his relentless campaigning to get Girardi the recognition he deserves with an All-Star appearance.

Turris Ends Holdout Signing Two-Year Deal With Phoenix, But Will He Play There?

According to TSN’s Darren Dreger Kyle Turris and the Phoenix Coyotes have finally solved their contract dispute and have agreed to a two-year, $2.8 million deal.  Turris will earn $1.2 million this season and $1.6 million under the terms of the agreement.  Those numbers are way below the reported figures that Turris was seeking earlier in negotiations.  Despite the new contract the question still remains whether Turris next game will be with Phoenix or for another franchise.  The 22-year-old forward had requested a trade out of the organization in the midst of his holdout while Coyotes GM Don Maloney is on record saying he would not trade the player this season.

Turris signing now should not be surprising as he only had until Dec. 1 to sign if he wanted to play at all this season.  Having the deadline as leverage certainly appears to have made Don Maloney the winner in the contract battle as he got Turris for the price he wanted to pay and now has all the cards in what happens next.  By adding the second year to the deal it could increase the odds of a trade happening as the acquiring team would not have to go through a negotiation with Turris this summer.  The Flames have been the most discussed trade possibility for the young forward, but they have little to offer in terms of cheap, young talent.  When Phoenix is involved you always have to consider the possibility of the New York Rangers getting involved in the discussions as Don Maloney’s familiarity and relationships in his former organization have made them common trading partners.

Stralman On First PP Unit As Rangers Search For Answers

The New York Rangers are once again searching for answers to solve their power play woes.  According to the team's official twitter Anton Stralman got a chance to show what he can do on special teams today practicing with a first unit that included Brad Richards, Ryan Callahan, Brandon Dubinsky and Eric Christensen.  Interesting to see Christensen and Dubinsky on the top unit, but no Marian Gaborik.

There was no reporting on the second unit but Stepan, Gaborik, Del Zotto and possibly Girardi seem like safe bets to be on the other unit.  I have no problem with shaking up the groupings as it is clearly not working.  Hopefully Stralman can use his shot to create chances down low for Dubinsky and Callahan based on these groups.

While there has been no official word on the lineup for tomorrow, with Stralman practicing on the top power play unit, I would expect him to be in there.

Video: ESPN Bleeps Crosby Goal Celebration

After missing the past 10 months recovering from a concussion, Sidney Crosby was rightfully excited when he scored 5:24 into the first period.  During his goal celebration Crosby screamed "F-ck yeah," but apparently that was too controversial for the folks over at ESPN as they blurred out Crosby's mouth when showing the highlights on SportsCenter this morning. 



H/T to ThePensBlog

Kris Newbury Suspended Four Games

According to Jesse Spector of the Sporting News, Connecticut Whale center Kris Newbury has been suspended for four games.  The suspension stems from an illegal hit to the head he delivered last Friday night during the second period against Bridgeport left winger Justin DiBenedetto.  Newbury was given a two minute minor for the hit.

Video: Fan Brawl In Montreal Late In Bruins/Habs

When longtime rivals like the Montreal Canadiens and Boston Bruins get together the rivalry creates an added level of energy in the building.  Last night the fans took that one too far as there was a brawl in the stands late in the third period between fans of the two teams.

Via Puck Daddy: