New York Rangers

Tonight's Game The Rangers face-off against the Boston Bruins tonight at Madison Square Garden (7:30 p.m.), in Game 3 of their Eastern Conference Semifinal series. The Blueshirts trail in the series, 2-0, following a 5-2 loss in Game 2 on Sunday ...

GREENBURGH, N.Y. -- New York Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist attempted to put to rest any fear that an injury to his left shoulder is something that potentially could hurt his chances of playing in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals against the Boston Bruins at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday (7:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN, TSN, RDS). "It's under control," Lundqvist said after practice Monday. "I landed on the ice awkwardly and it hurt a little bit. It's under control." Lundqvist appeared to hurt himself after extending his left arm to cover the puck just above the slot with 4:52 remaining in the third period of Game 2 at TD Garden on Sunday. He needed some extra time from the officials to gather himself and flex his arm a bit, but he stayed in the game and was on the ice for the entire practice Monday. He indicated that he didn't even think about sitting out practice. "Everybody is sore," Lundqvist said. "It's the playoffs; you can't just sit out if it's hurting a little bit. It happens and you just have to make sure you maintain and you do the right things to keep it good." http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=671405&print=true

Anybody who watched the New York Rangers game yesterday may have wanted to do one of the following: - Gauge their eyes out. - Scream at the top of their lungs (profanity included). - Throw the closest solid object to them through their TV. - Fly to Boston and re-create Herb Brooks’ dreaded “AGAIN!” practice after the game. Shoot maybe you wanted to do all of the above. May 19, 2013; Boston, MA, USA; Boston Bruins goalkeeper Tuukka Rask (40) looks from behind New York Rangers forward Ryan Callahan (24) during a Rangers power play in the second period of game two of the second round of the 2013 Stanley Cup Playoffs at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: Michael Ivins-USA TODAY Sports Lets look at history. It’s not on the Rangers side. Although they did comeback from an 0-2 series deficit in round 1 against the Washington Capitals, not all teams are the same. As you go deeper in the playoffs the hill gets steeper to climb. The Rangers are 2-19 in series in which they went down 0-2 in the history of the franchise. To make it worse, no team in the history of the NHL has gone on to win round 2 when going down 0-2 in back to back series’. This team has a tough hill to climb, with that being said I am confident they will get a win in game 3. That’s all they should worry about right now, game 3. Not if they win game 3 or if they win game 4. Another little history fact against the Rangers. If this series can go 7 games and the Rangers can again steal another series, they have more problems come the Eastern Conference Finals: - No team has gone 7 games in the first two rounds and made it to the Stanley Cup. Tomorrow night we see what this team is made of and if the home ice trend continues for them in the 2013 Playoffs. Don’t forget to follow me on Twitter: @serao_11 Email me if you’d like to discuss any post or just hockey in general: serao011@gmail.com & leave comments with your thoughts if you’d like !

Here’s my story from practice today, for The Journal News and LoHud.com (it’s the unedited version, so please excuse any typos). By Rick Carpiniello GREENBURGH – The last time the Rangers needed to win two in a row at home, Henrik Lundqvist allowed six goals in two victories. The last time they needed to win two in a row anywhere, he pitched two shutouts. Either way, Lundqvist has to be better in Tuesday’s Game 3 of the Rangers’ second-round series with Boston, which they trail 0-2. He allowed eight goals in two games in Boston, including five in Game 2. “You’re never happy or satisfied obviously giving up five goals,” Lundqvist said. “But you have to move on. Take the good parts, bring them with you, and try to learn as much as possible. There’s a few things I have to remember … but also you need to get some good bounces too. Boston earned it by working hard and making really good decisions out there.” Lundqvist surely gave his teammates a scare when he landed on his left shoulder awkwardly late in Game 2. “It’s under control,” he said following a full practice Monday. “Everybody’s sore. It’s the playoffs.” But what isn’t under control unless the Rangers win Game 3 is this series, which heads to the Garden, where the home team was 3-0 in the first round. The comeback from 0-2 against Washington last week was only the second such series win in Rangers history – the other in ’96 against Montreal. But as Rangers coach John Tortorella said, most of this team has now been through a lot of situations where it has had to win playoff games, including the need to win two in a row (Games 6 and 7) against Ottawa last spring, and twice against the Caps (Games 3 and 4, then 6 and 7). “You have to believe in yourself and your teammates that  you can do it,” Lundqvist said. “We’ve been here before. But we’re not looking too far ahead. We’re looking at the first period (Tuesday), get a good start at home, build some confidence there and we’ll see where it takes us. “Every series is different, but your approach doesn’t change. Like I said, you focus on your first period and you move on. Hopefully it can build something – a strong first. If you start looking too far ahead – we need to turn this around … start very small right now.” As Tortorella said, it starts with correcting very correctable, and highly uncharacteristic, defensive breakdowns and blown coverages. “The way they scored their goals – the first one was a trailer and we’ve been pretty good at finding guys late,” said Ryan McDonagh, who was paired with Dan Girardi at practice. “Washington did that a lot and Boston does it a lot. We got hurt by it one time. We know how to defend those kind of plays. For us it’s battles and whatnot, defensive coverage, and things we’ve been doing well. “You can’t think about it too much after it’s all said and done. We’re still going to look at some tape and try and correct some things and make some adjustments here and there maybe. But our gameplan never really changed through the whole season and playoffs. It’s a matter of our compete level and effort level. That’s been there, so it’s a matter of execution, bearing down and defending and scoring goals.” The post Lundqvist knows he has to be better for comeback to be possible appeared first on Rangers Report Blog.

Provided the Rangers win either or both Games 3 and 4 at Madison Square Garden, thus necessitating a Game 5 Saturday at Boston’s TD Garden, we now when that game will start. The NHL announced today the starting time has been set for 5:30 p.m. and the game would be televised nationally on NBC Sports Network. Previously, the NHL announced the Red Wings-Blackhawks Game 5 that day in Chicago would begin at 8 p.m. Television schedules, of course, are driving the bus when it comes to scheduling these games. Five-thirty is actually a fairly odd time to start a hockey game, probably too early in the day to have a morning skate yet late enough that it’s going to feel like an eternity to the players. They’ll have to treat it, in terms of their routine, as a night game without a morning skate. ====================================================== Follow me on Twitter at twitter.com/AGrossRecord Follow the Record Sports Staff at twitter.com/TheRecordSports

After the Rangers concluded their practice, D Marc Staal (right eye blurred vision) and RW Darroll Powe (suspected concussion) stepped on the ice with the team’s practice squad, which also saw D Roman Hamrlik, D Matt Gilroy, C Kris Newbury and LW Micheal Haley on the ice along with G Cam Talbot. Among the drills the group did was a battle drill around the center-ice circle, with the player on the inside lowering his shoulder and applying pressure on the player on the outside to prevent him from getting in as the pairs circled the circle. Both Staal and Powe participated in the contact drills. Meanwhile, Henrik Lundqvist addressed his sore left shoulder, suffered at 15:08 of the third period in the Rangers’ 5-2 loss in Sunday’s Game 2 as Lundqvist leapt forward to cover the puck after a Daniel Paille deflection try. “Yeah, it’s under control,” said Lundqvist, who apparently has entertained zero thoughts he’d miss Game 3. “I landed on the ice awkwardly and hurt it a little bit. It’s under control. Everybody’s sore. It’s the playoffs. You can’t sit out (because) it’s hurting a little bit. it happens and you just have to make sure you do the right things to keep it good.” Meanwhile, LW Carl Hagelin spoke in his own defense after coach John Tortorella said Hagelin “stinks” on the power play on Saturday. Hagelin logged 46 seconds of power-play time in Game 2, nearly scoring in the second period on his lone power-play shot. “To be on it, it felt good to be on it,” Hagelin said. “I haven’t been on it much this year so when I get the chance, I want to make the most of it. “(The puck) was a little bit behind me so (Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask) was cheating, too, coming across,” Hagelin added. “it was better to go far side and he made a good save. He’s lucky Cally (captain Ryan Callahan) doesn’t put it in. “For me, I definitely don’t think I stink on the power play. That’s the only comment I have on the PP.” ====================================================== Follow me on Twitter at twitter.com/AGrossRecord Follow the Record Sports Staff at twitter.com/TheRecordSports

It is always a sad, sad thing when we see that our superheroes are really human after all. And that's what has been happening with Henrik Lundqvist over the first two games of the Eastern Conference Semifinals. The King has sank from royalty to the real world, allowing uncharacteristic goals go by him left and right.While his brother Joel was busy winning a gold medal in Stockholm with Sweden, Hank struggled with the black and gold of the Boston Bruins. Repeatedly exposed by the porous Blueshirts' blueline, Lundqvist let puck after puck get past him in Boston as the Bruins took a 2-0 lead in the series with a 5-2 win.Shots that he sees, shots that he gets a piece of, shots from bad angles ... we've taken his Vezina form for granted for a long, long time and seeing him struggle with those shots is a shock. Even when he wasn't himself at the start of this asterisked season, Lundqvist was still better than the guy who backstopped the Rangers in Games 1 and 2.But it's not over yet, there's time for him to reclaim his crown. The boys rebounded after failing at the Phone Booth to start the last series so perhaps a return to the real Garden will hopefully help. The only problem is that Rask and the Bruins aren't half as horrid as Holtby and the Caps...Late Hits:*At the start of the year Hank was helped out by the boys in front of them, and that hasn't been happening. The cornerstone of the defense, Dan Girardi, has been making mistakes over the last few weeks as all of the mileage has piled up. G was on for all five goals against, and was directly culpable for at least two of them.*It certainly didn't help that G was constantly pulled out of position to cover for his inept partner Del Zaster. The two didn't play together too much over the regular season, so of course Torts felt it best to pair them in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals. Of course.*Torey Krug, two goals and one assist in the first two games. The entire Ranger blueline, one goal and one assist in the first two games (goal by McD, assist by G).*Nine minutes and 12 seconds of power play time. Forrest.*Nice to see people overreacting because Nash finally scored a goal. Remember when those folks celebrated the long-awaited goals by Boyle and Gaborik? What became of them? Just because he found daylight as Rask sagged off his angle doesn't mean Nash still isn't a factor.*So now Brad Richard$ isn't even taking faceoffs on the fourth line. Too bad there aren't any other real options for the fourth line (Newbury? No.), then Richie could be a healthy scratch.*Speaking of someone who should be scratched, Boyle. Slow, physically outmatched with hands of cement - but he was given over six minutes of power play time. The same Boyle who has no power play goals in his last 180 games (incl. playoffs). Zero. But he doesn't stink with the man advantage, Carl Hagelin does. Right Torts?*Nice of Dorsett to show some pride and start a fight, too bad it came two goals too late.*With him around, what's the point of having Asham? Not that having another man advantage woulda helped anything, but my tw-enemy negated a power play that woulda happened seconds before Boston scored the go-ahead goal in the second period.*Cally had a nice bounce-back game.*PHW Three Stars:3-Torey Krug - one goal and one assist.2-Patrice Bergeron - two assists.1-Tuukka Rask - 35 saves.Scotty Hockey Three Stars:3-Johnny Boychuk - A goal and some good, physical defense.2-Krug - Remember when everyone thought DZ or Hobey were going to be big point-getters from the blueline?1-Bergeron - Must be nice to have a first line center on your team.

The post VIDEO: John Tortorella post-practice press conference 5-20-13 appeared first on Rangers Report Blog.

Josh Nicholls (undrafted UFA) of the Saskatoon Blades scored three goals and added an assist in Saskatoon’s first two games of the Mastercard Memorial Cup round robin play. In the first contest –a 3-2 loss to the OHL champion London Knights– Nicholls notched both goals for the Blades and finished with a +1 rating. In the second game –a 5-2 win over the QMJHL champion Halifax Mooseheads– Nicholls notched a goal and an assist with 2 PIMs. Shane McColgan (5th, 2011), also with Saskatoon, notched an assist and a +1 rating in the game against Halifax. McColgan was held scoreless in the first game. Saskatoon is hosting the Memorial Cup this season, which guaranteed their entry to the tournament, despite their first round loss in the WHL playoffs. Tweet

The post Post-practice interviews: Lundqvist, Nash, McDonagh appeared first on Rangers Report Blog.