Blair Betts and Marty Straka scored for the Blueshirts while Dainius Zubrus and Zack Parise scored for Jersey as the Rangers lead 4-2 after 2.

Both netminders look good and the youngsters, like Marc Staal, High Jessiman, Artem Anisimov, Brandon Dubinsky, Ryan Callahan and Dan Girardi all are skating strong.

The key though are the netminders. Tom Renney is looking to keep one, which Valiquette leading the younger Montoya just because they don’t want the former first round pick to waste on the bench. It will be interesting to see what the coach has to say.

Let’s talk after the game.

 

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Power play goals from Dane Byers and Ryan Callahan paced the Rangers to a 2-0 lead.

But more than that was the injuey to Kevin Weekes, who hit his head on the crossbar ad he went down after Sean Avery pushed Johnny Oduya into the former Ranger. After several minutes down on the ice, he was helpped off.

The Byers goal was scored off Weekes and the Callahan tally was off his Jordan Parise, Zack’s brother.

Otherwhise the Rangers look good as they have had a solid attack and Anisimov blends well with Avery and Shanahan.

Also Dan Girardi with 2 assists. Brandon Dubinsky and Marc Staal both with one.

More after 2…. 

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Ok, I didn’t chime in on this and now, I will give you a quick handicap. First, I think they made the smart move not signing Michael Peca. It’s better for the Rangers to see if one of the younger players can fill the third line center slot, vacated by Matt Cullen, and not take a chance on the oft-injured Peca, who, I think, will take up more cap space than playing time.

Now here are the choices: Brandon Dubinsky, Jarkko Immonen or the rookie Artem Anisimov.

Ok, unless Immonen comes in and has a huge camp next week, he probably is the dark horse in this race. He had his chances the last two seasons and failed to stick.  

Also, Tom Renney may have a tough time taking a 19 year-old like Anisimov to New York, unless he looks like he’s ready to make an immediate impact. At 6-4 and 190 lbs, the young Russian may need to bulk up before debuting on Broadway.

But if he is ready, will the Rangers even take him? On a veteran team like this, it may be tough for Anisimov to get playing time. Even if he shows up and has a huge camp in Greenburgh, they may opt to stick him in Hartford, just to see if he adjusts to the North American game.

That leaves Dubinsky. With good size and speed, fitting him in with Petr Prucha, and Ryan Callahan may be the best fit for at least the first few months of the year. Dubi can bring energy to the third line, while teamming with Callahan, who he played with at Hartford last season. And he looked good in his short stint in New York, so a longer stay might be merited.

Right now, it looks like Dubinsky’s job to lose.  

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Ok the Rangers looked good as they were able to drive on Miller. Prucha, Cullen and Callahan made up the best line again. Lundqvist looked good. It would be nice to score, but 0-0, we’ll take it.

More later….

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Tom Renney held an option skate after yesterday’s 96 minute marathon. Most players though were on the ice, which the coach felt was good and bad.

“The idea behind an optional skate is that guys use that time to workout and rest,” Renney said. “Most guys feel they have to be out there. One of the reasons why I don’t go out there is that guys will be there because I am out there. But it tells you what guys you have.”

Not skating today were:

Brendan Shanahan, Sean Avery, Michael Nylander, Fedor Tyutin, Ryan Callahan, Matt Cullen and Game 3 hero Michal Rozsival, who could use the rest.

But the Rangers need to hand it to themselves, they did what they needed to do yesterday, playing in front of a Garden crowd totally on their side.

It’s interesting to see that, because the Blueshirts totally turned around their home record from a pedestrian 12-14-4 on Feb.24 to a 12-1-1 mark since then.

So what has changed?

“We changed our style of play at home,” said Henrik Lundqvist, one of the key reasons why they have an eight game home streak. “We do the small things and take some pride at home, like we do on the road. I think we realize we will get chances from that. We stay back and play a control game, and we will get chances.”

That’s good because the Rangers need to win tomorrow’s game and then a Game 6 at the Garden if they are going to have any chance in this series, because they will have to win a game in Buffalo and maybe two games is too much to ask.

Some other notes from Greenburgh: Jaromir Jagr was asked if there was a defenseman who could contain him. He quipped about him not being born yet.

The mood overall was lighthearted, yet confident and who can blame them, the Rangers looked good not just yesterday, but also for most of Game 2, as well. Now they know there is still a lot of work to do, but this series is not over by any means.

Later on, I will have a report on NY Sports Day from Greenburgh and check out last night’s game story as well.

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