Today’s opponent at Madison Square Garden, the Boston Bruins, are a different animal. Yes the B’s only had one win in their last three games coming into the game, but we’re nevertheless talking about the top team in the Eastern Conference. It would be a solid test for the new Rangers, while also giving the team a chance to redeem itself after its last two embarrassing outings on national TV.

Test passed with (almost) flying colors. Redemption achieved. The Blueshirts beat the Bruins 4-3 for their third victory in a row and second in as many games since Tuesday’s NHL trade deadline brought them Sean Avery, Nik Antropov and Derek Morris.

Just like they did in the midweek victory over the New York Islanders, the new players made their impact felt. None more than Avery, who assisted one goal (the Rangers’ third) in vintage fashion and who seemed to energize the team (and the crowd) every time he stepped onto the ice.

Asked if he was a different hockey player, Avery said “no.” A different human being? “Maybe.”

In the first two periods especially, the Rangers at time dominating the visitors through aggressive forechecking schemes. The B’s were able to answer the Rangers first tally when they did finally break through (courtesy of Antropov, who has been stellar in his first two games as a Ranger) but after going down 3-1 were only able to get back in the game due to some stupid double minors picked up by Dan Girardi and Chris Drury. They did so in the first minutes of the third period.

What was most impressive to me was that the Rangers were able to rally to score the winning goal after suffering such a clear shift in momentum. Yes, they got lucky on the winner, but as Tortorella said after the game, “You need to work for your luck.” Amen, Torts. The team is finally doing that now. How far will it take them? Impossible to say at this point, but you have to figure the playoffs are definitely in the cards.

This, more than anything else, is what proved to be the team’s undoing this season. Yes, Renney should have shuffled his lines far less and played Petr Prucha far more than he did. That he failed to do either was unfortunate–but it was not the reason for the team’s malaise.

What has happened is this: The inmates are now running the asylum. Gomez and Drury were never leaders of the various championship teams they played for before joining the Rangers. Instead, they were role players. Valuable role players for sure, and maybe not quite expendable parts either, but role players nonetheless. Putting these guys in a position to captain (Drury) and assistant captain (Gomez) this team was just not going to work. The last two seasons Jaromir Jagr and to a lesser extent Sean Avery performed the leadership duties pretty effectively. With both of them gone this season, the Rangers ship quickly lost its rudder–with predictable results.

The fact that the team has managed to keep it together as well as it did (and remains in a playoff spot) is a testament to Renney’s abilities as a coach. Unfortunately, he too struggled with the lack of scoring power, which might explain the constant juggling and re-juggling of lines. Ultimately, this team, built by Sather, is just not very good. Besides the aforementioned leadership void, the team is weak at every single position except goaltender. The defensemen are too slow, the wingers too small, the centers too passive. Until that changes, don’t expect this team to do much better than it has. Sure, there may be a short-term bounce due to the change in leadership. There often is. But it will be short-lived. The team probably needs to be gutted and the responsible parties (Slats) need to be held accountable. Unless and until that happens, we don’t see the Rangers going anywhere.

“We can go as far as to pinpoint the precise moment when perhaps (though hopefully not) the fortunes shifted dramatically in the Rangers season: The start of the third period in Pittsburgh last Wednesday (Jan. 28).”

As it turns out, that loss in Pittsburgh turned out to be the start of its present slump (the “last eight games” referred to above). I point this out partly mainly largely because I want to demonstrate how brilliant I am and that you absolutely should stick with me here, even if I disappear for weeks at a time (not by choice but due to my various other obligations, including my wretched day job). More importantly, however, this demonstrates just how desperate the Rangers are for a change in momentum if they are to salvage the season. Can the current coaching staff deliver the goods? Tonight should give us an idea, but the signs are not encouraging. Many of the players, chief among them Scott Gomez, appear to have quit on Renney. With Sean Avery not yet available, management simply does not have many other options to provide a spark. If the Rangers lose at St. Louis tonight, the Renney era at Madison Square Garden could be over.

Lost in this equation is the fact that Renney is not the biggest culprit for the team’s current malaise. That honor goes to Glen Sather, who saddled the team with overpriced free agents (Gomez, Chris Drury, Wade Redden). Ironically, Sather will be the guy dropping the ax on Renney’s stint as Rangers head coach. I’m not saying Renney doesn’t deserve some blame (why oh why does he refuse to play Petr Prucha for example?) but the larger problems with this team are a reflection of Sather’s moves as general manager. If anybody needs to go, it’s him. But there’s no justice in this world. Everybody knows that.

The superpest diva has signed with the Dallas Stars, and will earn just under $4 million per season for the next four years, which is right about what he was hoping to get.

I’ll have more on this a little later.

Then comes this article, from the Post’s Larry Brooks, on just that topic.

Brooks claims that, ideally, the Rangers would love nothing more than to retain Jaromir Jagr and pair him with Toronto captain Mats Sundinas the team’s top offensive duo, with Chris Drury moving over to the wing on Scotty Gomez’s line. Brooks also mentions that the team would like to retain the services of Sean Avery and Michal Rozsival.

This line of thinking is pretty close to what I’d like to see this team do myself, actually. Signing Jagr and Sundin to one, or even two, year deals worth around $5 million each would be a much smarter idea than overpaying a guy like Marian Hossa for the next seven years. With Sundin and Jagr in the lineup, the Rangers would be able to stay competitive for the next season or two, while continuing to groom young players.

If the Rangers could manage to sign both Jagr and Sundin, even to two-year deals, then by the time their contracts expired, the Rangers would be a deep team full of quality young players and with enough cap room to sign a franchise player, like Ilya Kovalchuk, for example, who will be an unrestricted free agent after the 2009-10 season. The Rangers would still have veterans like Drury, Gomez, Henrik Lundqvist and Blair Betts to go with a score of young players, like Brandon Dubinsky, Nigel Dawes, Dan Girardi, Ryan Callahan, Marc Staal, Bobby Sanguinetti, Mike Sauer, Artem Anisimov, Alexei Cherepanov and others, who have already either had some NHL experience at that point or are would be ready to step in.

Even if Sundin goes elsewhere, I’d stick with essentially the same plan. Signing Hossa won’t make the Rangers a contender, and he isn’t a franchise player. Hossa is a great, great player, but he’s more of a compliment than a main piece. Thanks to the Tampa Bay Lightning, the Rangers won’t have the opportunity to highly overpay for a player like Ryan Malone, after the former Penguin signed with the Lightning yesterday, but the Rangers must be sure to avoid similar temptation from the likes of Hossa and many of the other top free agents available this summer.

I’d much rather see the team go after a cheaper player like Michael Ryder. Give Ryder three years at $3 million per season and maybe he goes back to scoring 30 goals again. It’s a better risk than paying Hossa $8 million.

If there is one free agent from the top crop this season that I wouldn’t mind seeing in Broadway Blue next season, it’s Wade Redden. I’ve never been a big fan of Rozsival, and if teams are going to offer him $5 million (or even more), I’d rather pay a little more for a guy like Redden. His last couple of seasons in Ottawa weren’t great, but I believe he’s still got it. He’s only 31. I’d give him a 5 year deal at $5.5 million per, though I don’t know if I would go past that.

Truth be told, what I’d really love is to see the Rangers send a second or third round pick and a player to Anaheim for former Ranger Mathieu Schneider. Due to salary cap constraints, the Ducks are likely to move Schneider, who can still put up points from the blueline despite his age. Yeah, he’s 39, but he only has a year left on his deal, and he wasn’t bad last season. He’s still a solid offensive defenseman, and he could hold the fort until Sanguinetti is ready for duty.

I must take umbrage with Brooks’ claim that the Rangers want to keep Avery, however. Granted, I’m not an “insider,” but from what has been made public, nothing that the Rangers have done so far shows me that they want to retain the Annoying One’s services. Personally, I think they should, as long as he earns no more than $3.25 million per season. That figure is overpayment as it is, but anything more would be too much.

Obviously, we’ll see what happens on Tuesday, but I’ll be hoping that the Rangers resist temptation and go for the smart, affordable personnel.

That said, the Rangers now face the tricky situation where they will have to stay sharp without knowing who they will play. Last year, we saw that become a problem. After sweeping the Thrashers, the Blueshirts had to wait a week until Round 2 started. They came out flat in Game 1 against the Sabres and then lost the second match.

I asked Jromir Jagr about that after the game on Friday to which he said the team will need to practice like its playing in a game. 

Round 2 is expected to start either Thursday or Friday, so it will be a long layoff for the team.

***  

Too much is being made from the Marty Brodeur snub of Sean Avery. Sure, Avery is a bit annoyed and called Brodeur “Fatso” during his post game interview on the MSG Network.

But to make it out to be some sort of crime is like making Avery’s face guarding play into some sort of international crime.

Bottom line here is this: 77 games is just too much for Brodeur to play in a season and needs to play about 60 at 36 years old. He has burned out in the playoffs the past three seasons and Lou Lamoriello needs to sit down and talk to his goaltender in the offseason.

And if the Devils keep insisting on playing Brodeur so many games, then why keep a veteran like Kevin Weekes in the roster. They would be better served with a goalie from the ‘A’ who can fill in for five games.

With the Rangers coming through for two goals in the third, the Blueshirts take home ice back for a 1-0 lead in the series.

And this was a Devil Fans nightmare. Their ‘favorites’ like Scott Gomez and Sean Avery performed and Marty Brodeur looked like a rookie out there [or at least like Mike Dunham] in the third when he tried to handle pucks that should have been just covered up.

Good job by the young Rangers like Callahan and Brandon Dubinsky who didn’t melt under the pressure and good work from Brandan Shanahan scoring the first goal.

The star of the night was Henrik Lundqvist who outplayed Brodeur and could have had a shutout if Marty Straka’s stick didn’t break causing a 5-4 powerplay to be a 5-3 since the Rangers couldn’t clear the puck and Straka couldn’t do too much.

But that’s water under the bridge, because the Callahan and Avery goals were the difference.

And what leadership from Chris Drury at the end of the game, giving the puck to Nigel Dawes for the empty netter so he can get his first goal.

All in all, a nice win.  

Tonight we get the Devils in New Jersey, which should be a blood war if the first five minutes is anything. Sean Avery is already out with a five for fighting and the hits are coming.

But the Rangers are 5-0 this year against the Devils and need this game if they hope to win the division or the East.

More later as it comes in….

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.  

 

Henrik Lundqvist is back in goal, but other than that, the same lineup will go out with both Marcel Hossa and Jason Strudwick taking seats.

Tom Renney is looking to build some momentum by getting three in a row for his Blueshirts before they take the dreaded Western Canadian trip next week.

And for those who are counting that’s five games in a row against teams from the north and six out of seven.

Oh Canada!!

Even with such a bad December, remember the Rangers are only three points behind the Devils for the second most total in the conference. So it’s not so bad.

With the power play coming alive and Sean Avery back, the Rangers look like they can take on the world in 2008.