With two assists on the night and the first star, Brandon Dubinsky made his case to be on this team when the season starts on October 4.

“Obviously, that’s my ultimate goal to be here,” he said. ”So I’m just trying to go out every night to [show] our management and coaching staff. That’s what I am fighting for.” 

Looking sharp, the rookie won 8 of 13 faceoff won and got coach Tom Renney’s attention. “He’s good; he’s responsible,” Renney said. “He worked both ways and played with confidence. He was very vocal on the bench. I liked him.”

Competiting for the third line center slot is Artem Anisimov, who also looked good on the night skating with Sean Avery and Brendan Shanahan, but Dubinsky was a little better. Only Ryan Callahan, goal and an assist, was comparable to the Alaska native. 

And Dubinsky loved it. “Obviously it was pretty exciting to be in MSG again and I felt like my legs were there. I was just happy to contribute tonight.”

You can read more on the game at NY Sports Day.  

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A new Gardenvision and graphic boards at both goal ends highlight the look at the old girl. Also the John Condon press room got a once over.

And debuting tonight are the new uniforms.. But no Jaromir Jagr, Scott Gomez, Chris Drury or Henrik Lundqvist. Antem Anisimov is centering Brendan Shanahan and Sean Avery.

Al Montoya and Stephen Valiquette are in goal and olf friend Kevin Weekes is in net for Jersey.

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The first period of the Blue-White game saw Sean Avery core the only goal as the Blue team leads 1-0.

Brendan Shanahan is not playing due to rest, so Avery is on the top line with Jaromir Jagr and Scott Gomez. Chris Drury is centering Marty Straka and Hugh Jessiman on the top line for the White.

Interesting to see a lot of the players pull up and not check. Remember this is an exhibition scrimmage. No need to get anyone hurt.

Henrik Lundqvist is in goal for the Blue, while Stephen Valiquette is in net for the White.

Talk after 2.

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There were two scrimmage games at the MSG Training Center this morning. The more interesting of the two – and the one I was there for – took place around noon when the Blue team, with Jaromir Jagr, Scott Gomez and Marcel Hossa, took on the Green, with Sean Avery, Brendan Shanahan and Chris Drury.

In the end, the 3-2 Blue score didn’t really matter with Henrik Lundqvist in goal for the Blue [Chris Holt netminded for the Green], but Gomez scored his first goal as a Ranger. Actually he scored two, but the ref didn’t see the other one.

What made this interesting was the immediate chemistry between Jagr and Gomez. It looked like they really could play together and Tom Renney said he wanted to try the combo most wanted first, although things couls be changed up in the upcoming weeks.

Also, after practice Drury modeled the new uniform. Outside of it being smaller on top and the leggings made of a different material, it looks the same. Drury gave his approval of the change saying he used to swim the the old ones.

And the funny note of the day over Henrik Lundqvist’s locker, his placard read “Hankenstein,” which is something the equiptment managers call him.

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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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As reported by John Dellapina in the Daily news this morning, Henrik Lundqvist signed a one-year 4.25 million dollar contract for next season.

After Brendan Shanahan signed yesterday, the Rangers are at the cap, but can go over it by 10 percent before the season starts. Assuming Darius Kasparaitis goes down to Hartford again, that will lash off three million right there.

But it doesn’t really matter to the general public, since the Rangers pay people handsomely to figure this whole thing out.

Now Sean Avery has to be inked and maybe there will be a relief move – Paul Mara, anyone? – before the season starts.

But the Blueshirts look pretty much set.  

More on this on NY Sports Day.

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Today at Greenburgh another Ranger season comes to an end with the players getting exit interviews with Glen Sather and Tom Renney, while taking physicals.

Some key notes:

1) Brendan Shanahan seems to want to come back and said, “My instincts are that I will probably play but it’s something that I’m going to think over and you know as far as playing and coming here this year and being part of the Rangers., there’s nowhere else I’d rather play.”

2) Sean Avery was chirpy as usual and even blamed himself for losing the series. But he also felt that a second line center would be important. Specifically he mentioned Scott Gomez when names were tossed out.

Avery said: “I was going to use Patrick Marleau as an example, but I think Gomez would be, I certainly wouldn’t mind playing with him, that’s for sure. That would be big. That’s where the depth comes in. I think that’s the difference. As much as I can handle playing 18 minutes a night, a guy like that is a second line center or first line center, that’s his job. Then you just throw me on the wing to clean up all the dirty stuff.”

3) Jaromir Jagr was asked about his first year as a captain. His thoughts: “I was a captain when I was in Pittsburgh, but it’s kind of different. It’s a big city, and when you’re older, you’re more responsible for everything else. You kind of think more about the game, and about other people when you are older. You worry more about the young guys, and older players who haven’t won the Cup yet – you just want to make sure about the players who are free agents, because if you win, everything stays together; you don’t have to make any changes. If you lose, of course the organization might make changes. And if you have a contract, of course, you still have to work for other players who you play with. And when yhou were younger, you didn’t think like that. When you are older, you worry about other people, and you just want to make sure they got what they need.”

4) Marty Straka will not need surgery, contradicting a web blog report. He said he needs to rest it over the summer, since “it will do anything if I have the surgery.”

5) Jed Ortemeyer, who is a free agent, wants to be back, but hasn’t spoken to the team yet.

6) Michael Nylander, on the other hand, expects to get back into the contract talks with the Rangers in a week.

7) Tom Renney expressed his interest in a second line center, but also wanted to consult with Sather and Don Maloney before he started to name targets.

More later as I go through more tape.

 

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Although they lost, this season proved the Rangers are back as a force in New York. No longer considered a joke, the Blueshirts showed they could do the city proud.

“In the big picture, it was a positive season for the New York Rangers and their development,” said Brendan Shanahan “It was a great learning experience. Buffalo has been through it last year. It is incredibly valuable experience for our young players to go through what we went through this year.”

And next year may get better. With only Michael Nylander – who will probably be back – and Shanahan – who will be back or will retire – as free agents, the team that jelled at the end of the year will be more or less the same next year. 

That’s good, because the Rangers can be the team to control the year for themselves, while making the 2007-08 Stanley Cup run.

Henrik Lundqvist is a championship goalie, while Jagr and Shanahan are Hall of Famers. Add to that veterans who never had a chance to win a cup, like Marty Straka and Nylander and the Rangers have the pieces there for next year.

So all that needs to be done is to say good bye. The Blueshirt Scene will be still up and running all summer and giving updates from the offseason. Also we will have draft coverage and some further playoff features.

But right now the 2006-07 season has ended in New York. But as they said in Brooklyn all those years ago….

“Wait ‘Til Next Year!” 

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Joe’s note: I was away all day on a personal matter, so NYS’ editor Joe Pietaro pinch hit for me on the conference call. Here’s his report:

Rangers Knot Up Series at Two with 2-1 Win Over Sabres

Madison Square Garden was ablaze once again on Tuesday night as the Rangers held on for a 2-1 win over the Buffalo Sabres to even their Eastern Conference Semifinals series at two games apiece. After dropping the opening two hard fought contests in Buffalo, the Blueshirts took Sunday’s match in double overtime and followed that up with a close regulation victory.

The Rangers led the latest game 2-0 before the Sabres came right back. Jaromir Jagr (second period) and Brendan Shanahan (third period) had power play tallies before Buffalo’s Ales Kotalik scored only 33 seconds later to cut the lead to one.

Sabres’ captain Daniel Briere had a potential game-tying shot with only 13.4 seconds left in the game kicked out by Rangers’ netminder Henrik Lundqvist that was sent for a long video review. It was determined that the puck did not fully cross the goal line and the Rangers took the two-game set at home. Counting the end of the regular season and first-round sweep against the Atlanta Thrashers, it was their ninth consecutive win and 12th in their last 13 games at the ‘World’s Most Famous Arena.’

“In that situation, you’re handcuffed. You’re at the mercy of the video review,” Rangers’ head coach Tom Renney said on a conference call to the media on Wednesday. “You have to prepare yourself to continue to play with the worst fate possible. Our video people thought it was a no-goal.”

The Rangers’ special teams were very effective, not only scoring twice with the man advantage, but killing off all four power plays that the Sabres’ had.

“We’re working together,” said Renney. “We tried to make their entries a little tougher. We have to continue to work very, very hard.”

Now the Rangers head back up to Buffalo for Game 5 on Friday night. A big shift has occurred in the series since the Sabres led two games to none.

“It’s on behalf of the players more than me,” Renney continued. “I felt as a coach that the guys had it in them (to come back). We just stayed with the game plan. This may be a special story this year.”

Renney also felt that due to the low scoring and effective goaltending in the series, scoring first would be major. “The goaltending has been great. Scoring the first goal is important. The bottom line is controlling the puck, controlling the ice. We understand what they’re (Buffalo) capable of doing.

“If you want to move through the playoffs, you have to play in a certain manner,” Renney said. “I truly believe our guys fell they can beat anybody.”

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For those in Buffalo and in Canada who thought the series was over after Game 1, what are you thinking now?

A good solid win by the Rangers, who proved once again they can keep up with the Sabres, shift to shift.

Now, I know the question everyone is wondering: Did Daniel Briere score with 13.4 seconds left?

Ok, I saw the call could go either way, meaning if the it was called a goal on the ice, then it would have stood, but it wasn’t so it was waved off.

It’s nice to see the Rangers catch a break here. Too many calls were going against them all series, so it was good to see one go to the Garden side.

How about that Garden? The crowd was into it as usual. And my friend John Amirante fired up the faithful, the way only he can.

Now they have to win one in Buffalo. Brendan Shanahan had these thoughts. “It is not a while new series. You always take little bits and pieces of previous games but certainly now it’s two out of three with two of those three games in their building. We have to win one on the road to be successful.”

That’s the question. Can they win in Buffalo? Most people were wonder if they could win period, and with that out of the way anything is possible.

That being said, the Rangers will need to play almost perfect on Friday to make it 3-2 and if they do, Game 6 will close it out at the Garden, where they won nine straight and 12 out of 13.

But can they do it?

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