I guess Ranger fans should be thankful for the fact that the team is doing well, just four games out of first place. Still, it’s hard for anyone who follows the team closely to deny that there are problems. Some of these problems are underlying, while others seem to be coming to a head lately. The usual early-season excuses are getting old with over a quarter of the season already gone. I suppose it’s fitting, then, that it’s the Islanders that the Blueshirts face next, Thursday night at the Garden. The team from the Big Apple will try not only to work out their own issues, but look to finally defeat the surprisingly good Isles after an 0-3 record so far this season against their biggest rivals.

Before I go any further, I just want to take the time to introduce myself. My name is Eric Faynberg and I’m a young journalist trying to make my way through the tricky, treacherous realm of sports journalism. I’m a student and I have covered several local sports teams. I love the sport of hockey and as you’d have probably guessed already, I’ve been a hardcore Ranger fan for most of my life. This is my first crack at covering the team through the blog format and I’m hoping I can do an effective job. I can guarantee only two things. For one, I’ll update this blog frequently. Secondly, I’ll try to be as objective in my coverage of the team as possible.

I’ll talk more about myself eventually as I get on a roll with this blog (not too much though), but for now, I’ll stick to the important stuff. We’ve all grown accustomed to hearing how each game is important. Trust me; I’m just as tired of that phrase as you are. Unfortunately, I can’t help but truly believe that this game is actually quite important for the Rangers.

There is no hiding the fact that this team can’t score goals. All season long this hasn’t been a problem because of how stellar the defense has been, not to mention a certain Swedish guy in goal. However, we’ve seen a couple of times now what can happen if King Henrik is not on his game, most recently in the team’s last game, the 3-2 loss at home to the Dallas Stars. The Rangers were by far the better team, outshooting the Stars, 40-18. As has become commonplace, though, they just couldn’t seem to put the puck in the net. They got a lucky break when Jagr’s pass attempt deflected in off of a Dallas defenseman’s skate, too. It’s also hard to win a game when you’re 0-for-6 with the man advantage, while your opposition goes 2-for-3.

Yes, chemistry takes time to forge. Unfortunately, when you’ve made the kind of moves the Rangers did this summer, you don’t have that kind of time. The loss to Dallas should have been a message to Tom Renney and his coaching staff: get your stars to start scoring, because if Lundqvist or the defense start to struggle, you’re going to have some big, big problems.

What’s worse, the latest news from the team is that Sean Avery will undergo wrist surgery. Paul Mara had similar surgery before and was fine after two weeks. However, Mara’s surgery took place in the off-season. Expect Avery to be out for a little longer than that. That’s not the worst thing in the world, except when you factor in that the Rangers are 9-4-1 this season with Avery, but only 4-5-1 without him. The numbers are even more impressive for Avery when you factor in last season’s success with him in the lineup. Yes, sometimes he causes unnecessary problems, but if you watch closely, you’ll see that Avery’s hockey sense has been the centerpiece in a number of key plays this season. They’ll miss him.

They’ll be hoping that part of Avery’s contributions can be replaced by the return of Ryan Callahan. Callahan has been out over a month, injured in a loss to the Penguins. Callahan played in eight games before being injured and honestly, he wasn’t quite as impressive as he had been last year. Still, he’s shown what he’s capable of and you can bet that Renney and friends are really hoping that Callahan can play the way he did at the end of last year. Furthermore, he’ll likely be playing with Drury and Prucha, another couple of guys who the team desperately needs to start scoring goals.

While I still believe that Drury needs to be on a line with Straka and Jagr, I do see the appeal of playing Drury and Callahan. All three players on the line should be able to create a lot of open ice with their efforts in the corners and along the boards. Still, there has to be someone that uses that open ice to create. Prucha is also likely to see power play time with Avery injured. In his first two years, Prucha found quite a bit of success on the power play. Maybe this can get not only Prucha going, but the power play as well.

More on the game against the Isles later…