New York Rangers

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.

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

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

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.

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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

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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