CHICAGO - A championship coach not long before, Peter Laviolette was assisting his 11-year-old son's team when the underachieving Philadelphia Flyers called.

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Dany Heatley and linemates Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau were challenged by Sharks coach Todd McLellan after Game 1 to pick up their offense.

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As John Amirante finished up his National Anthem – still the best in my opinion – Brandon Nolan was on the ice to start for the ‘Canes, who as some of you know is the son of Islanders coach Ted Nolan.

In his first game, on Saturday against Tampa Bay, Nolan assistsed on the Hurricanes’ first score and took two shots of his own.

 

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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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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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