The Rangers skated for about 45 minutes today at the HSBC Arena. It was more informal, with only Marek Mailik, getting rest and Michal Rozsival out with his knee injury.

Afterwards, the players were confident and blamed yesterday on their own poor play.

“We can’t keep this with us,” said Matt Cullen. “We had tough times before and it wasn’t like we played our best and were pounded. We played poorly. We made our mistakes; we didn’t play smart. When we did play well, we were pretty effective.”

Now, nothing new to report on Rozsival. He is day-to-day and will be evaluated again tomorrow. If he can’t go, Tom Renney didn’t say who will pick up the slack. It may be more of a committee thing.

Talking to the Buffalo and Canadian reporters, they really feel, Renney’s comments were inflamtory. Although, they may have come out wrong, the you have to question why the Sabres needed “The Cream of the Crop” quote to get them motivated.

The Sabres and their fans also seemed really pissed off at Sean Avery, although his comments were just as innocent as Renney’s.

One reporter said the Sabres needed that, because they always respond when their play is questioned. I responded saying the Rangers have fought back when they were counted out.

Most of these non-New York scribes feel the series is over. Me? I still say it goes 7.  

Buffalo skated earlier and they did look loose afterwards. Spoke with Chris Drury for a bit, who actually was a Ranger fan growing up and sat in the blue seats when he went to games.

Otherwise Lindy Ruff was very careful to say nothing the rangers could use as motivation.

I should have a report on the Matt Cullen line later, which will be posted on NY Sports Day.

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And there was a band playing trying to rally the Sabres fans. Unfortunately it was sparse, because apparently the police outlawed drinking at the event, which may have killed any buzz [no pun intended].

But I have to put a shoutout to a local bar two block away from the HSBC Arena. I arrived at the arena early today; too early actually because the Sabre media dept was not down with the credentials. So in the rain, I found the Malamute Tavern on South Park Avenue. The very friendly staff and patrons made me feel right at home, even though I was here to cover the enemy.

To me, this is the reason why I love this job. It’s not the players, games or whatever. It’s the fans. And the ones who don’t look at the city you are from, but the person you are.

Now that I brought a tear to your eye, on to the game….

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