Pens It Is

With Philly winning in overtime 3-2 last night, the Rangers will now face the Penguins in Round 2 with games on Friday and Sunday in Pittsburgh and Games 3 and 4 at the Garden on Tuesday and Thursday.

Here’s the full schedule:

Game 1: Friday 4/25 at the Igloo 7 p.m.

Game 2: Sunday 4/27 at the Igloo 2 p.m. Game on NBC

Game 3: Tuesday 4/29 at the Garden 7 p.m.

Game 4: Thursday 5/1 at the Garden 7 p.m.

Game 5*: Sunday 5/4 at the Igloo 2 p.m. Game on NBC

Game 6*: Monday 5/5 at the Garden 7 p.m.

Game 7 *: Wednesday 5/7 at the Igloo TBD

*if necessary

The Rangers went 5-3 this year against the Pens. 4-0 at the Garden and 1-3 in Pittsburgh. Two of the Ranger wins were in overtime, including the one win in Pittsburgh and Marc Andre Fleury went 3-2 against the Blueshirts.

They will have to face the star power of Crosby, Malkin and Hossa. and it will be interesting to see if Tom Renney dresses Colton Orr for this matchup, since the fourth line of Betts, Hollweg and Orr did a great job against Crosby this season.

Should be a fun matchup.

I won’t be around for the first few games – getting married this weekend, but I will be watching from afar and checking in from the blackberry or on my laptop. Full reports from here and NYSD return next week.

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On Drury….

We spoke to Chris Drury and he said he felt that ready.

Playing on a team of stars in Colorado, he seems to be ready to be part of that atmosphere again in New York. He said he was ready to put the team first, even if it means less ice time for him. Drury said: “The deeper your lineup is, the more success you have.”  

As for locker room leadership, Drury thought about taking more of a back role as the season starts. He said when he was in Buffalo he had to immediately take the leadership because the roster was so young.

Much like Gomez, he also said he will wait and see where he is lined up with.

Finally he said he looks forward to playing with Brendan Shanahan because he “was an idol” of his growing up.

I will have more later today from practice. Feel free top leave a comment or two as I will be blogging from my Blackberry again today.

Also, you can check out NYSportsDay.com for an article about Henrik Lundqvist.

Talk soon….

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This post was written by Joe McDonald on September 13, 2007

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Kaspar Ready for a Rebound

Darius Kasparaitis came into the MSG Training Center 20 lbs lighter. He said after “hitting rock bottom” last March in Hartford, after he had a panic attack after practice.

Kasparaitis seems resigned to the fact no matter how well he plays, he may still be sent down, but still wants to play and even participate in the 2010 Olympics.

It should be interesting to see if the soon to be 35 year-old can make Tom Renney’s decision a tough one when the season starts.

More later on other players and please ignore the typos since I am blogging from the Blackberry to get the info out quick.

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