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.

For the next round, the Blueshirts will get three possible opponents depending on what happens in the two remianing series in the Eastern Conference.

The most likely opponent is the Pittsburgh Penguins, who the Rangers went 5-3 this season. They were 4-0 on Garden Ice and 1-3 in the Igloo, so if the trend continues they will win it in seven games. Now the trick with the pens is to do to Marc0-Andre Fleury, what the Blueshirts did to Marty Brodeur. If that can crash the net and get him off the game, they can steal a game in Pittsburgh and then continue Penguin mastery at the Garden.

For the series, Tom Renney may put Colton Orr back in the lineup, because the fourth line of Blair Betts, Ryan Hollweg and Orr, did a great job at shutting down Sidney Crosby during the year, while relying upon the Ranger big guns to come through with less ice time.

Also watch if Jaromir Jagr melt unter the Scott Gomez treatment in Pittsburgh.

Now if the Caps come back and Montreal wins, the Rangers will visit the Bell Centre for game 1. The Blueshirts were 3-0-1 against the Habs, who are relying upon Carey price. As we saw in Game 5, Price can get rattled by little mistakes as the Bruins were able to keep the series alive. In this possible series the Ranger penalty kill needs to shut down the Hab pwer play and also stay out of the box, because the Habs offense is centered around taking advantage of other teams mistakes.

They also will be visiting a hostile Bell Centre, unlike the cushy Prudential Center they got in the first round.

If Boston and Philly win, they the Blueshirts will open at the Garden against the Flyers. They were 5-1-2, but Stephen Valiquette took three of thoise wins. Don’t expect Vali to replace the King in the beginning, but coach Tom Renney may use his backup in this series to change things up. Valiquette has a 1.04 gaa against the Flyers.

On offense, the Rangers need to solve Martin Biron and doing the same things to him as they did to Brodeur should do the trick.

They can also play the Capitals if the Caps and Briuns win their respective series. Again, they will have to deal with Cristobol Huet, who was great in the regular season, but struggled against the Flyers who ran him. However this matchup seems unlikely due to the nature of their round 1 matchup.    

New York, February 8, 2008 – The New York Rangers’ Blair Betts, Dan Girardi, Colton Orr and Marc Staal join alumnus and honorary chairman Adam Graves at the 11^th Annual Family Dynamics fundraising event on Tuesday, February 12^th from 6:00 – 8:30 PM at the “Play by Play” restaurant at Madison Square Garden. Family Dynamics, a member of SCO Family of Services, is dedicated to strengthening families and preventing child abuse and neglect. Rangers team members will host a series of activities, including kids games, a live Rangers sports memorabilia auction, an autograph session and a street hockey clinic.

Family Dynamics is supported by the Rangers and the Garden of Dreams Foundation, a non-profit charity that works closely with all areas of Madison Square Garden to “make dreams come true for kids in crisis.” Attending children will receive goodie bags from Garden of Dreams and the Rangers.

For more information, please contact Family Dynamics at (718) 895-2555, ext. 113 or the New York Rangers at www.newyorkrangers.com and 212 465 6486.

 

With Callahan in the lineup, the Ranger forwards will be fully healthy for the first time since the first game of the year, but also presents a problem on who gets scratched.

Marcel Hossa is the probable candidate, since he has no goals and three assists and seems like he took a step back this year. But also Petr Prucha could be scratched as well, yet that seems unlikely since the Rangers do like him, although he isn’t having a good year [2 goals and 5 assists].

They also could scratch Ryan Hollweg or Colton Orr, but that fourth line played very well so far, so why mess with the one consistant Ranger line.

Coach Tom Renney will have a decision to make in the next few days, but at least there may be a consistency to the Ranger lines over the next few weeks.

Now if they can get the power play working. After an 0-6 yesterday and 3-for-39 over the last eight games. Renney has tried a number of different combinations, including just rolling lines out there. Nothing has worked.

“Believe it or not, it’s better than it’s been,” Renney said after yesterday’s loss. “I thought tonight we showed good puck movement, I thought we had some chances. We still need to shoot more, naturally. That certainly is an area we have to improve upon, and work habits are a part of that.

If our power play doesn’t get clicking, if we beat ourselves, which may have been the case tonight, then the statistics will bear out where we belong. Every team is a work in progress, but at some point in time there is a level of excellence that is acceptable, and only that, and we’ve gotta make sure we continue to strive for that.”

One bright spot about Thursday. The Islanders may be a little tired since they have a game at home against the now slumping Ottawa Senators.

That’s the story of the first period as the Rangers gave away the puck a little too much for anyone’s taste. And the 2-0 Flyer lead, on goals by Sami Kapanen and Mike Knuble is the result. Some neat things: Colton Orr took on David Laliberte and the Flyers rookie got a 10 minutes misconduct and an instigator penalty. When will the Flyers learn?

And Henrik Lundqvist made a penalty shot save off Kapanen to the glove side.

But giveaways. If the Rangers cut that down, they should be fine.

The team sent defenseman Bobby Sanguinetti back to junior and forward Tom Pyatt to Hartford.

The Rangers now have 37 players remaining in training camp, including four goaltenders, 13 defensemen and 20 forwards. 

Here’s the list:

Goal: Henrik Lundqvist, Al Montoya, Steve Valiquette, and Miika Wiikman

Defense: Ivan Baranka, Dan Girardi, Andrew Hutchinson, Darius Kasparaitis, David Liffiton, Marek Malik, Paul Mara, Thomas Pock, Michal Rozsival, Michael Sauer, Marc Staal, Jason Strudwick, and Fedor Tyutin

Forwards: Artem Anisimov, Sean Avery, Blair Betts, Dane Byers, Ryan Callahan, Nigel Dawes, Chris Drury, Brandon Dubinsky, Scott Gomez, Ryan Hollweg, Marcel Hossa, Jaromir Jagr, Hugh Jessiman, Lauri Korpikoski, Francis Lessard, Colton Orr, Petr Prucha, Mark Smith, Martin Straka, and Brendan Shanahan

“That’s the question,” Renney said. “He felt to me that he felt good this morning. He’s an important guy for us, but do you sacrifice a guy now for later?”

Either way, the Rangers will play a game tonight, much to the chagrin of the Canadian media, who seem to feel they should just forfeit. The key tonight is not only the Matt Cullen line, but also the Blair Betts fourth line. 

Since Buffalo can score from with any of their forwards, it’s key for Betts, with Ryan Hollweg and Jed Ortmeyer, to generate some sort of offensive threat.

The coach is hoping for the effort. “It depends on how you qualify offense?” Renney said. “In terms of getting pucks deep and in from a territorial position, they are critical. Those guys can score too. It’s not going to be a pretty goal but it’s the type of goal that pumps up your bench because of the role they play. I would like to see them among other play the type of game they can.”

Added Blair Betts: “The more we can be out there and bang the body to create energy for our team the better.”

All three of those fourth liners can score and if they do, the rest of the team usually follows suit. Earlier in the season against Tampa Bay, when Colton Orr and Hollweg lit the lamp, Jagr compared it to when a lineman scores a touchdown in football. Smiles usually happen all around.

This is not to say the Betts line needs to score, but if they can keep the puck on the offensive end, it will make it easier for the other three lines to do their jobs.

Other notes: Sean Avery was asked by Sam Rosen if he had to behave because his mother will be in the attendance. Avery answered: “She likes it when I am behaving poorly; she’s used to it by now.”

I know everyone in New York was concerned about this: Tonight’s Sabres rally outside of HSBC Arena will have beer served. So maybe they will get more of a crowd.

Stay tuned to The Blueshirt Scene for live updates during the game.

Anyway, for those who didn’t know, Karel Rachunek and Ryan Hollweg are both dressing, while Colton Orr and Thomas Pock will take a seat a few sections down in the press box during the game.

Oh, and Kevin Weekes is starting……

 

 

Just trying to see if you were paying attention. Lundqvist is in goal, as usual.

And a show of force by the New York media. Ten – including myself – print writers are here from the various newspapers and mags, you would think a Yankee game was going to be played tonight.

Ok, talk to you after the first…