New York Rangers

Henrik Lundqvist waited just long enough to come out on the ice at the beginning of Monday’s practice to put a scare into everybody watching. But eventually he skated out, and participated fully with his team, putting to rest any worry that the shoulder issue that arose at the end of Game 2 on Sunday afternoon in Boston was going to linger. “It’s under control,” Lundqvist said. “I landed on it awkwardly and it hurt a little bit but it’s under control.” With 4:52 remaining in what would turn out to be a 5-2 Bruins win, putting the Rangers in a 2-0 hole in the Eastern Conference semifinal, Lundqvist made a save on David Paille with his right side. He then jumped on the rebound reaching out with his left glove hand. When he got up, he was stretching the shoulder and skating around in pain. He finished the game, and there is little to no question that he’ll be ready to play in Tuesday’s Game 3 at the Garden. “Everybody is sore,” he said. “It’s the playoffs. You can’t sit out because it’s hurting a little bit. It happens. You have to do the right things to keep it going.” *** From the looks of it, coach John Tortorella is contemplating reuniting his top defensive pair of Dan Girardi and Ryan McDonagh. The two skated together at practice after playing the first two games of this series with different partners – Girardi with Michael Del Zotto and McDonagh with Anton Stralman. Girardi was dreadful in Game 2, on the ice for all five Bruins goals. “I think we can defend,” Tortorella said. “It doesn’t bother me, but it surprises me that we made some mistakes that we very rarely do on simple coverages. The third and fourth goal, they’re simple coverages and we beat ourselves.” *** The Rangers practiced with 20 guys on the ice, the same 20 that played in Games 1 and 2 (with the addition of backup goalie Martin Biron). After that, on came the scratches, which included injured defenseman Marc Staal and forward Darroll Powe. Staal played in just Game 3 of the first-round series against the Capitals, still reeling from his right-eye injury suffered on March 5. Powe has been out since presumably suffering a concussion during that same Game 3 of the first round. They joined Roman Hamrlik, Matt Gilroy, Kris Newbury, Micheal Haley, and young goalie Cam Talbot. Missing was forward Ryane Clowe, out with what is assumed to be his second concussion in two weeks suffered in Game 5 of the first round. bcyrgalis@nypost.com

Per Andrew Gross, Dan Girardi and Ryan McDonagh are back together as a pairing on defense. After an abysmal Game Two with Michael Del Zotto, Girardi will be reunited with McDonagh to form that top shutdown pair the Rangers split up after the Washington series. Del Zotto will be with Anton Stralman, and the John Moore-Steve Eminger pair remains the same. The change is likely two-fold: Realizing that the current pairs weren’t working, and that the Rangers have home ice (and last change) for the next two games. Tweet

OK, breathe easier Rangers’ fans. Whatever left shoulder issue was bothering Henrik Lundqvist after Sunday’s 5-2 Game 2 loss to the Bruins is not keeping off the ice for today’s practice and, presumably, will not present an issue when the Rangers host the Bruins in Game 3 Tuesday night. At 15:08 of the third period, he leapt forward to cover the puck after a Daniel Paille deflection try. Lundqvist remained on the ice for a bit and was in obvious discomfort while rotating his left arm, something he continued after the stoppage. It looked like the puck hit him in the chest, not the collarbone so it was unclear exactly how Lundqvist got hurt. Perhaps when he stretched his arm out to cover the puck. “It’s my shoulder, we’ll see,” said Lundqvist after Game 2 as rubbed his shoulder area a couple of times while speaking to the media. “We’ll take a look at it.” If they did take a look at it, Lundqvist was apparently given the green light for today’s practice. All Rangers who played in Games 1 and 2, plus backup goalie Marty Biron, are on the ice for practice. But Marc Staal (right eye blurred vision), Ryane Clowe (suspected concussion) and Darroll Powe (suspected concussion) are not skating with the team today. That does not preclude those three from practicing with the Rangers’ practice squad. The lines are the same as they have been in the series: Carl Hagelin-Derek Stepan-Ryan Callahan Rick Nash-Derick Brassard-Mats Zuccarello Taylor Pyatt-Brian Boyle-Derek Dorsett Chris Kreider-Brad Richards-Arron Asham As for defense pairings, as suspected, Ryan McDonagh and Dan Girardi have been reunited, with Michael Del Zotto paired with Anton Stralman in practice and John Moore remaining with Steve Eminger. ====================================================== Follow me on Twitter at twitter.com/AGrossRecord Follow the Record Sports Staff at twitter.com/TheRecordSports

I know a lot of New York Rangers fans love to be negative. And honestly, I can't blame them. The oldest fans have seen four Stanley Cups in over 85 years. One cup since 1940. Countless heartbreaks along the way. It's tough. I know it is even though I've only been a fan for 24 years - and really, to me, you can't fully comprehend sports until you're around 17 or 18 so really six years. Isn't it funny how you have to be able to "comprehend" sports? You have to know what you're getting yourself into. You have to sign the contract. The "Work?" Invest a ton of your life, time and emotions into something you can't control. The reward? Feeling like you've not only won the championship with your team but traveled on the journey with them. The fine print? Sports reserves the right to kick you in the gut over and over again, stomp on your emotions like they're a spider in your bedroom, have no regard for your feelings at all; all the while giving you hope year after year that next year will be different. Sometimes being a sports fan is the greatest thing in the world. Most of the time it's the worst. And there's the "fun." You strive for that moment when it is the best. You dream of that moment when they win it all. When Mark Messier lifted the Stanley Cup in 1994 every true Rangers fan felt like they were lifting it too. That's the moment you strive for as a sports fan. The Rangers didn't just break the curse in 1994, they did it with the help of the fans (or so we like to think). But it's a long road to get there. Some teams take a longer road than others. You never know which road your team is on. That's the risk. That's the gamble. So when the Rangers went down 2-0 to the Boston Bruins thanks to an embarrassing third-period effort in Game 2, I felt that familiar gut punch followed by a sweeping wave of hope. That hope is what I'm going to share with you now. Because, honestly, why be negative? What's going to happen is going to happen. This team had made it this far, there's no reason not to think they can pull it out. Even if you think a comeback is irrational (I don't, but I'm generally far more optimistic than the average fan) you may as well throw yourself headfirst into it. What do you have to lose? Here we go: Rick Nash - Scored his first goal of the playoffs on a beautiful rush to the net to tie the game at two. You could see the weight lifted off his shoulders. He was an animal the rest of the period and into the third (despite most of the team deflating like a balloon with a cannonball shot through it). Sometimes with players it's all about the mental aspects of the game. Carp recently suggested that he didn't think Nash was injured after seeing that rush for the goal. I'm not so sure, but I'm not in the room and he would know better than me. I'm just saying Nash looked a whole Hell of a lot better once he lit the lamp. That should translate into Game 3 on home ice. The Defense - Can't be much worse than it was on Sunday, right? It seems like the Rangers' defense had everything that could go wrong go wrong in Game 2. Girardi will never be that bad again, Michael Del Zotto will (hopefully) never be paired with Girardi ever again. It's doubtful the Rangers' defense will be perfect the rest of the series, but there's no way the Rangers' defense will be that bad again. That was truly the perfect storm. The Effort - Removing the overtime in Game 1 and the third period in Game 2, the Rangers have easily hung with the Bruins and even been the better team for stretches. Yes, obviously those major breakdowns have cost them both games and those have to stop. But the Rangers have to know, as they go back to New York, that they can be the better team in this series. They have to know that what they've done has worked, they just haven't sustained it (which is a problem within itself, but we're being positive, remember?). This isn't as deep of a 2-0 hole as it seems. MSG - The NBC broadcast was talking about MSG as though it wa

Here we go again. For the second straight playoff series the New York Rangers find themselves down two games to none after dropping the first two contests on the road. While the Blueshirts have shown that they can recover from such a deficit, you don’t want to keep going back to that well because one of these days that well is going to be bone dry. The Rangers are tempting fate if they are looking for history to repeat itself because the Boston Bruins are not the Washington Capitals. The Bruins are a better team than the Caps, have better goaltending, and most importantly, they are a battle-tested playoff team a point that Henrik Lundqvist confirmed. ‘‘We’ve done it before,’’ Lundqvist said to Dan Rosen of nhl.com, ‘‘but I think we are playing a better team now so it’s going to be tough to do it.’’ However, history will not be on the Rangers ide because no NHL team has ever rebounded from being down 2-0 in back-to-back series. The first thing I wrote down in my notes for Game 2 was written on Saturday night. I wrote that the Rangers needed to capitalize on the momentum shifts that were going to occur on Sunday – something they did not do after scoring late in the second period and early in the third period of Game 1. The Blueshirts did show resiliency after spotting the Bruins leads of 1-0 and 2-1 with Ryan Callahan and Rick Nash stepping up to score goals to tie the game. Derek Stepan nearly put the Rangers in front about eight and half minutes into the second period, but his shot hit the post. Boston took advantage of poor Rangers defensive coverage following a faceoff win at the Bruins blue line during four-on-four play as Johnny Boychuk’s wrist shot beat a screened Lundqvist for the eventual winning goal. Poor defensive coverage plagued the Rangers all night long as they kept getting caught watching the puck and not paying attention to the weak side. That deficiency pretty much ended the game when the Bruins scored 26 seconds into the third period on a play that was identical to Boston’s overtime goal in Game 1. Dan Girardi, on ice for all five Bruins goals, was caught watching the puck and lost track of Brad Marchand in front. ‘‘We felt really good going into the third, and to have that type of goal go in — it’s just two-on-two — it hurts you,’’ Tortorella admitted to Howard Ulmer of the AP. ‘‘We couldn’t generate anything, and then they’re just going to fill the middle and they’re just going to jam you.’’ The Rangers constant ignoring of the weak side if one of the reasons why Bruins’ defensemen have scored four of Boston’s eight goals in this series. Given that Boston’s blueliners have scored 10 of the team’s 30 goals, the Rangers must pay attention to the defensemen and they must not get caught focusing solely on the puck. While the Bruins finished off the scoring at 12:39, the Bruins realized that the series is closer than Game 2 showed. ‘‘We didn’t play our best,’’ Marchand told Dan Rosen. ‘‘They had a lot of opportunities that if they would’ve converted on, then it would be a completely different story right now. I think especially in the second period, they took it to us, but we were able to bounce back. It’s definitely a very even series.’’ With the game out of hand, I think Coach John Tortorella lost a chance to “gamble” on a little gamesmanship. Pierre McGuire made a point of a Zdeno Chara slap shot from the point acting like a “curveball”. Add to that his “knucklepuck” goal in Game 1 and I would have asked the referees to measure his stick to make sure it if legal. The worst that would happen is that the Rangers would have to kill a power play. The best case is you get Chara to have to change his sticks and possibly deflect attention from the Rangers poor third period and transfer it on to the coach – a tactic Tortorella uses in his post-game press conferences. Speaking of the Rangers coach, Tortorella is confident his team will respond when they return to Madison Square Garden. “We

Al Bello/NYDN Something that was very obvious during yesterday’s loss was that the Rangers defense had a lot of trouble matching up and shutting down the Bruins forwards. Prior to the series, coach John Tortorella swapped his defense pairings to prepare for a much deeper Bruins club. In doing so, he split up Dan Girardi/Ryan McDonagh, and put Girardi with Michael Del Zotto. Let’s be clear about one thing, Del Zotto is a top-four defenseman in this league. He’s a top-50 guy, which puts him in the upper echelon of second pairing defensemen. He’s not perfect, he’s not going to do well against the top scorers in the league, but he will be able to hold his own. That said, the pairing of Del Zotto/Girardi has never worked. It didn’t work two years ago, it didn’t work last year, it won’t work this year. Neither defenseman is perfect, and both have flaws that can be easily exploited by smart teams. We saw this last night. Girardi was on the ice for all five goals, and MDZ for four. We can spend all day pointing out how the Bruins did it, but that isn’t the point of this post. Marc Staal’s absence leaves a gaping hole that the Rangers are not able to fill. Staal’s presence in the lineup gives the Rangers four top-four defensemen, five if you count Anton Stralman as a bottom-tier second pairing (or top-tier third pairing). More importantly, it makes a possible Girardi-MDZ pairing unlikely to occur. The fact here is that the Rangers aren’t properly equipped to deal with a deep Bruins club on the blue line while Staal is out of the lineup. It’s not that the replacement (Steve Eminger) is playing poorly (he’s not), it’s that he’s not Marc Staal. The Rangers are a rare team that has three top-pairing defensemen, and has relied on them heavily. Take one out of the lineup, and they have trouble matching up on deeper teams. There are many problems facing this club at the moment, but the biggest one is the absence of the only Staal not in the Carolina organization. It’s created one giant matchup problem for the Rangers, one that simply can’t be fixed until he returns. Of course, it would be nice if we stopped seeing that Girardi/MDZ pairing while Staal’s out. Just my two cents. Tweet

On the postgame show last night, it was mentioned that Henrik Lundqvist would have his shoulder looked at today to ensure everything is ok. Hank took a Danielle Paille shot off his shoulder late in yesterday’s 5-2 loss, and remained down on the ice for a short period of time. Hank stayed in the game, and trainer Jim Ramsay never left the bench. Marty Biron didn’t even put on his helmet. The shot likely hit Hank in a soft spot in the padding, which happens from time to time. We’ve seen Hank take awkward shots and remain in the game. This likely wouldn’t be any different. Tweet

- Well at least we know where we are. Some Rangers fans were scratching their heads and checking roadmaps when the Rangers went down 2-0 to Washington in the First Round, at least time time around the fans know the Rangers have the ability to win the series. Then again, if the Rangers bring they're play in the final 20 minutes of that 5-2 blowout to Game 3 this is going to be a very short series. - Which is why I can't give a reason or think of an excuse for why this team played so poorly in a game that they needed so badly. Those first 40 minutes were textbook successful hockey (minus, you know, power play goals). The Rangers created offense, were physical, tough in the corners and crashed the net. All of that (repeat: all of it) disappeared in the third as the Rangers rolled over. - It should also be noted the Rangers had a power play with four minutes lef in the second when it was 3-2 Bruins. The Rangers didn't come close, which is ironic because that's as close as they would get the rest of the game. - 2-for-36 on the power play in the playoffs. Not a typo. 2-for-36. The fact that the Rangers have made it this far with a power play that bad is a testament to Henrik Lundqvist and this team finding a way to win games without too much offense. Then again, the Rangers haven't scored a power play goal against the Bruins and they're 0-2. Not going to get away with that type of stuff against a team as good as Boston. - Want to know what else the Rangers aren't going to get away with? Abandoning the point in the offensive zone. Washington didn't make the Rangers pay for that too badly in the first round, but the Bruins defenseman are eating the Rangers alive in terms of offense. Too much space, too much time and too many people screening Lundqvist. Put bodies on the point. It shouldn't take 120 minutes of hockey to notice that the Bruins are far more dangerous when they have time up top. Adjust. - Another adjustment? Remove Brad Richards from the power play. Both units. I like what Richards brings to the room with his voice and his leadership but his level of play simply isn't there. He's playing 10 minutes a night as it is. He's making mistakes rookies wouldn't make. The second Bruins goal came because of two things: 1) Dan Girardi blocked the puck directly to Gregory Campbell and 2) Richards completely lost Campbell in the slot and allowed him all the space he needed to score the goal. Yuck. - Speaking of Girardi. Worst game I've ever seen him play as a Ranger. He was on the ice for all five of the Bruins' goals. All of them. He's done so much for this team he gets a full pass in my book, but he was awful Sunday. - I'm sure many of you will point out that Michael Del Zotto was on the ice for four Bruins' goals. He wasn't great either, but not all four of those goals were on him. - Rick Nash scored a goal. Finally. And despite what you might think from the scoreline, it was a huge goal when it was scored. Tied the game at two and sucked the air out of the building. Nash pulled off a few vintage Nash moves and on his goal he made Zdeno Chara look like a traffic cone. Need more of that. - Ryan Callahan had one of his best games in a long, long time. - Here's the thing. I wanted to completely avoid going down 2-0 to Boston. They're a better team than the Capitals and they're far more experienced with success in the playoffs. The Rangers have tow games at MSG where they can even the series. Get a win in Game 3 and you keep things alive. As negative as I've been in this recap, the Rangers have shown serious flashes of good in the second round. Game 1 could have gone either way, the Rangers doomed themselves with 20 putrid minutes in Game 2, things can change for Game 3. And if the Rangers win both games at MSG, well, this is a whole new series. Easier said than done, obviously. Thoughts?

Shane McColgan (#9) (CHL/WHL/Steve Hiscock) So much for all of us so-called "experts" as if you hear someone claiming they thought the Saskatoon Blades really had a chance to beat the Halifax Mooseheads on Sunday don't believe them. Odds are that only the team and their most diehard supporters thought the Blades would knock off the Mooseheads at the Memorial Cup. But 5-2 says they sure did and this one win does a lot for the Blades and in many ways their deserving to host the event. The Blades and Saskatoon have taken much of a beating since they were awarded the right to host the Memorial Cup and the first couple of days haven't been all that smooth either. An anthem singer who badly botches the Star Spangled Banner and some weak attendance (this game was just 8934 for an arena that sits over 15000) didn't make things much better. Saskatoon came into this game already 0-1 after losing to London on opening night and the critics were having a field day with the Blades having a 13 game postseason losing streak going back 3 years. The 5-2 win shuts that one down with authority and this win has to start with the Blades playing their game plan almost to perfection. The Blades wanted to get that first goal of the game and they did as Matej Stransky pounced on a Shane McColgan (NYR 2011 5th) rebound at 12:11 of the first period to give the Blades a 1-0 lead. If this was a game of redemption then count McColgan in as Friday night the only thing anyone noticed about McColgan was getting crushed by London's MaX Domi on a hit. McColgan played well, he won faceoffs, set up scoring chances for his teammates and let the game come to him rather than try to force things. McColgan needed to be more visible on Sunday especially after a shaky opening night. The other Ranger prospect Josh Nicholls (2013 UFA) also had a strong game with another 2 point outing (1-1-2) to give him a 3-1-4 record after 2 games. Nicholls has been making the Rangers look good for signing him by elevating his game against a very strong level of competition. Nicholls had a secondary assist on Saskatoon's 4th goal of the game which came on the power play in the 3rd period. Toss in the game sealing empty net goal and Nicholls has been much better than expected. There is a slight concern about Nicholl's knee as he appeared to have tweaked it but gets 2 day off to rest it as the Blades don't play again until Wednesday night. Next up will be the Portland/London game on Monday night as the Winterhawks find themselves now in an almost must win situation because of the Blades win. The Winterhawks don't want to get that 2nd loss which would put them into double elimination games on Wednesday and Thursday. London will be wanting to win this one as 2 wins assures them of a spot in the semi-finals and also gives them a chance to earn a direct spot in the finals if they could also defeat Halifax. The possibilities are now endless thanks to a 5-2 win by the Blades.

Gotta tell you, I didn’t think the Rangers could do the 0-2 trick against Washington, so I’m not saying “no way,” but I really don’t get the feeling that this Boston team is going to lose four of five. I think these Bruins are better than Washington, play a style and have a pedigree that won’t have them disappear as the Caps did in Game 7, and they have a better goaltender. I also think that, while the Rangers might be able to play better, that Boston hasn’t played its best yet in this series. Thoughts: 1) The Rangers were more than OK for two periods. Better than they’ve been in a lot of areas – forecheck, creating offense, physical play, push-back, offensive-net presence, tempo – for two periods. I really did. Tuukka Rask had to make some difficult saves. Then the Rangers gave up a bad goal during the 4-on-4, and still, only down 3-2 entering the third, let Brad Marchand loose.  And the whole thing collapsed like a mudslide. 2) That said, with even a clue of a power play, maybe they win this game, or at least make the Bruins work a lot harder for it. Maybe they win Game 1 too. Maybe they win the Washington series in fewer than seven. They have to remove Brad Richards from the power play. And they need to really assess the whole plan, because it’s awful. 3) There is plenty of deserved criticism of John Tortorella, some of it greatly biased, some of it very legit. The hoopla over the Carl Hagelin “stinks” comment was way over the top. He can be a jackwagon to the press. But one area that is on him alone … and one where he’d better get some help in the off-season (because he’s not being fired), is that power play. As Pierre McGuire said – and I do agree with Pierre more than you guys do – it’s systematic more than personnel. Was it a little better as the game went on? Yeah. It has costs them too many games for that to matter anymore. And Richards being on it, while he’s on his way out the buyout door, makes no sense. 4) Richards maybe needs to be removed completely from the lineup, because the Rangers’ fourth line getting its brains kicked in by Gregory Campbell and Co. Campbell scored a big goal when Richards lost him. Just don’t know if Kris Newbury is a better option in that spot. 5) Henrik Lundqvist was definitely not great. Of course, he had no chance on some of the goals, and didn’t see one of them at all. Not all his fault. But five goals against, eight in two games, is not going to get it done. 6) That said, the Rangers’ defense spread it around, but Dan Girardi was the most woeful, on the ice for all five Boston goals. I’m not blaming him on the goal off his skate right to Campbell, though he did kick at it. Not completely blaming him for sliding out of the play AND failing to block Milan Lucic’s pass on the fifth goal (Derick Brassard was partly to blame, too). But Girardi might want to move that forward screening Lundqvist on the 4-on-4 goal that made it 3-2. A lot went wrong there, but the bottom line is the goalie couldn’t see the shot. Then, Girardi’s complete loss of Marchand in the opening seconds of the third was a terrible play and it was Game Over. 7) I thought it was disgraceful for NBC to use “Boston Strong” in a graphic  while showing the Game 1 highlights. Just a mind-numbing decision by somebody. 8) Ryan Callahan had a bad Game 1, and a goal doesn’t make Game 2 a good game, but he was much better overall. And I hate saying that when a guy scores because I like to look way past goals. That said, he’s one of their top goal scorers, especially since No. 61 had evolved into something other than that, and he needs to score too. He did, a “God damn huge goal” as Tortorella said on NBC. Callahan also had the big shift immediately after the 2-1 goal that led to Rick Nash’s finally break