Marek Malik is in. Paul Mara is out and Steve Valiquette is in goal.

Tom Renney said Valiquette plays for scheduling purposes, and Henrik Lundqvist will be in Jersey and Montreal.

But tonight the Rangers play the Flyers in a game that hopefully gets the competitive juices flowing as time is ticking away.

“Anything can help,” Renney said. “I would like to think it doesn’t matter, but these are four point games and Philadelphia is playing very well and we have to have the passion to play”

For the lines, Renney is changing the lines once again with Marty Straka moving back with Scott Gomez and Jarmomir Jagr. Sean Avery goes back with his buddy Brendan Shanahan with Brandon Dubinsky centering and Chris Drury will center Nigel Dawes and Petr Prucha.

That’s all for now.

And for some Giants news check out NYGMen.com, which I am running for the week.  

 

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Sean Avery will be with the Rangers on Thursday and Friday on their western trip, but according to Tom Renney he’s still a ways away from suiting up.

“[He'll] drive us bananas because he is itching to play,” Renney said. “He’s a few days away from serious contact and there’s still a little bit of pain there. We can rehab him, and he could be day-to-day in two days.”

***

Al Montoya was called up in case Henrik Lundqvist was not ready after coming down with the flu. Based on last night’s perfromance, The King was ready.

***

The line shakeups seems to work very well.

Jaromir Jagr seemed pleased with playing next to Scott Gomez: “From the first time we played together, Scotty is a lot more confident. He’s gotten a lot quicker.”

Gomez on Jagr: “I think that was the problem in the beginning, I was thinking too much,” Gomez said with a laugh. “We get in trouble when we start to think. We’re just a bunch of hockey players.”

Chris Drury and Brendan Shanahan also seemed pleased, although Shanahan wantes to take some time before passing judgement. Said Shanahan: “It was good. I though at a certain point of the game, it seemed like we were getting more special teams shifts together. We killed a lot of penalities. He had a lot of shifts with Nigel [Dawes], but then we couldn’t string them together. It’s tough to gage.”

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Tom Renney apparently had enough and decided to shuffle the lines to something more conventional before the Rangers take on the Pens tonight.

Scott Gomez will now be centering Jaromir Jagr and Marty Straka with Chris Drury becoming Brendan Shanahan’s pivot. Brandon Dubinsky goes to line No. 3 with Ryan Callahan and Petr Prucha.

Now this makes sense. As long as the Rangers were winning, Renney wanted to leave well-enough alone, but now it’s time to get Jagr a true puck moving center like Gomez and Drury with Shanahan works well too.

Let’s see if it puts more goals in the net tonight.

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From Greenburgh, the Rangers has a light practice with everyone particpating except Sean Avery and Paul Mara, who sprained his shoulder in yesterday’s game.

Towards the end of practice, some of the Rangers were hitting pucks off a piece of wood in front of the net to practice rebounds, which is something Chris Drury brought from Buffalo as part of his routine.

Tom Renney put Marek Malik back on the top pairing with Michal Rozsival, while Marc Staal skated with Jason Strudwick.

I asked the coach if these next two games, against division leaders Ottawa and Carolina, were a test and he said that they were and if they can compete with these teams, we may have better insight on how good the team is.

 

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With Eli Manning on the cover and a full feature on Chris Drury, the 64 page NY Sportscene is better than ever.

In it you will find articles on the Rangers, Knicks, Nets, Giants, Jets, and full coverage of the baseball off-season.

And at $25.00 for the full year, it’s still one of the best deals out there. To subscribe go to www.nysportscene.com/subscribe.php or call the office at 631-580-7772.

Also every week NYS editor Joe Pietaro and myself will be hosting NY Sportscene Radio, Tuesday’s at 3 p.m. with a rundown on NY Sports. Last week we had future Hall of Famer Roberto Alomar and Ray Negron, so you never know who will pop up. You can listen by going to www.blogtalkradio.com.

And finally if you like this blog and want to read about the enemy, go to www.nysportscene.com/isles for the Islander view of the day by NYS writer Brian Bohl.

Great things are here at NYS, be a part of it!

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After further review Jaromir Jagr’s goal on Monday actually tipped Brendan Shanahan’s skate, so the goal goes to No. 14, not No. 68. Jagr gets the assist and Chris Drury loses an assist.

Just keeping things up to date.

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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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.Marcel Hossa scored for the Blue, and Chris Drury for the White as the Blue leads the White 2-1 after 2.

After the top lines playing for the first half, we saw the lower lines getting all or most of the time as the period came to a close. That meant more hitting and checks becuase these players had more to prove.

Alex Bourret is not playing due to a shoulder injury.

Hossa is playing with Nigel Dawes and Antem Anisimov, who looked good out there.

Al Montoya relieved Valiquette and Miika Wiikman is in for Lundqvist.

In the third I suspect there will be more rookies playing just to prevent injury.

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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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