The Rangers are on the road against the Toronto Maple Leafs tonight.  They are looking for their first win on the road this season where they are 0-5-1 coming into tonights game.

Stephen Valiquette gots his first start of the season tonight.

Sean Avery gets a the “Gordie Howe” hat-trick tonight.  In the first period he fought Darcy Tucker and during the second period he assited on Brendan Shanahan’s goal before putting in a rebound of his own.

Rangers are tied 2-2 going into the third.

Saturday night’s game was the first appearance by Sean Avery since he was injured on a hard hit by Ottawa Senator’s defenseman Chris Neil on October 6.

Without Avery in the lineup the Rangers looked very similar to the same passive team they had early last season, not able to protect finesse players like Scott Gomez and Jaromir Jagr. With Avery back in the lineup things are different.

During the second period of last night’s game Devil’s defenseman Vitaly Vishnevski landed a big hit along the boards on Gomez and it wasn’t long before Avery came down on Vishnevski in retaliation. Colton Orr followed the feisty winger’s lead later in the game when he fought Michael Rupp who came in to break up the quarrel, and the message was clear that when you mess with Rangers skaters now there will be consequences - an ingredient that’s been absent in the season’s opening weeks.

In fact even before that play came close to materializing the Devils were well aware of Avery. Before the game started the scrapper was jawing with winger David Clarkson. The confrontation ended shortly after Avery pointed his stick towards Clarkson in what was simply an intimidation attempt.

Ranger’s coach Tom Renney was glad to have his winger back in action. “His energy, his enthusiasm. I think he’s got a skill level that’s been under appreciated.” Renney continued to discuss with the NY Daily News, “He’s got a nose for the net and plays the tough areas with a vigor that you like. We haven’t had that in a consistent manner throughout our lineup. And I think he helps elevate that in others.”

Rob Abruzzese’s articles can also be read @ Hot Stove NY.

The New York Rangers beat the New Jersey Devils 2-1 in a shootout at Madison Square Garden Saturday night.

Petr Prucha has been spending most of his time this season on the third line with rookies Brandon Dubinsky and Ryan Callahan, but was the hero of the game Saturday while skating on a line with stars Scott Gomez and Sean Avery.

Prucha assisted on Gomez’ goal in the first period and won the game during the shootout with a shot over the left shoulder of Devil’s goalie Martin Brodeur.

This was not the first time Prucha notched the game winner in a shootout against Brodeur. As a rookie he won a game on November 5 when he beat the future hall-of-fame goalie between his legs. That season Prucha got attention as he scored 30 goals, but up till this point this season he has not looked anything like that promising young star. Going into Saturday night’s game he had only one goal and one assist.

Many Prucha fans have been disappointed with the playing time the speedster has been receiving and blame that on his poor results statistically. Critics have said if he scored once and a while on the third line he would be given more opportunities to skate on the top two lines.

Rob Abruzzese’s articles can also be read @ Hot Stove NY.

Could the Rangers pull off its first two game win streak of the season? Yeah baby! Thanks to Chris Drury’s two point night and Henrik Lundqvist’s third shutout of the season.

The visiting Capitals wanted to set the tone early. They were going to be a more physical team than the one that was tossed around like ragdolls in a 3-1 loss to the Rangers on October 12. To that end, resident goon Donald Brashear lined up for the opening faceoff. Curiously enough, Coach Renney decided to match the Jagr line against the Ovechkin line.

After a lackluster opening 20 minutes that saw the Blueshirts outshot 10-7 they came out with more energy to start the second and were rewarded with the first goal of the game from Chris Drury at 6:45. Drury’s goal came off a nifty deflection of a booming point shot by Marc Staal. Brendan Shanahan picked up the other assist for his 1301^st career point.

Tonight, the buzz going into MSG was, “Would Shanahan get his 1300^th point?” The buzz kill said otherwise. It was announced before the game that Shanahan was given credit for the Blueshirts go-ahead goal against the Bolts on Monday. The goal was originally credited to Jaromir Jagr.

Hope you enjoyed your moment out of the spotlight Brendan. As for the Tampa goal itself? I still say it was Jagr’s, but then again I don’t have a hidef TV and all those blurry pucks passing Shanahan’s blurry skate didn’t look like they connected.

The Rangers escaped the second period with a 1-0 lead. That statistic is notable because the Blueshirts have shown a propensity to bleed goals in the middle frame this year. Half of the goals scored against them this year have occurred in the middle 20 minutes.

The Capitals gameplan to be more physical worked to a point. They were laying the body and Brashear was a presence every time that he was on the ice. Fortunately the Blueshirts, led by Colton Orr, didn’t wilt under the onslaught and gave as good as they got. The Rangers outhit Washington 42-29 on the night.

Despite the physicality both teams were disciplined early. Only one whistle blew in the opening 40 minutes and that was for a Washington powerplay midway through the first period. Both teams traded fruitless powerplay opportunities early in the third until the Rangers were awarded a two man advantage for a full two minutes.

With John Erskine and Brian Sutherby in the box at 9:01 the Rangers applied pressure in the Washington end. Michal Rozsival, cheating on the play, fed Scott Gomez behind the net who in turn returned the puck to Rozsival who by now was standing on the lip of the crease and knocked the pass from Gomez behind Kolzig for the insurance marker at 9:34. Chris Drury picked up his second point of the game on Rozsival’s third goal of the season.

The Rangers then killed off a four minute call to Fedor Tyutin to seal the deal.

It was another textbook display of goaltending by Henrik Lundqvist who quietly turned aside 31 shots for his fifth win of the season.

The Blueshirts could be in trouble as number two D-Man Marek Malik collided awkwardly into the boards and did not return to the game.

ST.RANGER PLAYER OF THE GAME as brought to you by rangerspress.com is Brendan Shanahan. BS could have been the ST.RANGER PLAYER OF THE GAME last time out against the Bolts if we knew he had scored his 1300^th point. But he is rewarded tonight for his 1301^st point.

Up next for the Rangers are Marty Brodeur (3-6-0 .885SA) and the New Jersey Devils (4-6-1) on Saturday night. The Blueshirts defeated the Diablos 2-0 in their first meeting of the year last week at MSG. The Diablos will be playing the back end of back-to-back games after hosting the Toronto Maple Leafs tomorrow night at The Rock.

ST.RANGER THINGS…Sean Avery did not dress against the Caps…thanks to an Andy Bathgate slapshot to the face Jacque Plante wore a mask for the first time in an NHL game this day in 1959 at MSG…Dubinsky, Orr and Hollweg were the surprise starting forwards against the Caps…3-1 record four games into a six game homestand…D-Man Jason Strudwick is still playing as a forward on the 4^th line…Staal’s assist was his first NHL point…Drury had a team high eight shots on goal…Marek Malik had a season high five blocked shots before he left the game…Only 12 more days until Marc Messier enters the Hockey Hall of Fame.

Until next time baby Blueshirts…puck on!

After coming alive against Tampa Bay last time out, the Rangers (4-6-1) face the Washington Capitals (5-6-0) at MSG tonight. The last time that the Capitals won in New York was in January, 2004. That’s six straight wins for the Blueshirts at home for those of you keeping score.

Washington will be a good test for the Blueshirts powerplay which has run hot and cold…mostly cold, this season. When we last saw the Caps in NYC the home team potted three powerplay goals in the first period en route to a 3-1 win. With two tallies with the man advantage against the Bolts earlier this week, we’ll see if the Rangers powerplay can maintain its momentum.

After a two point night against Tampa, Brendan Shanahan finds himself one point away from 1,300 on his career. Heading into tonight’s game, Number 14 is 629-670-1299. Shanahan has two powerplay goals for the Blueshirts on the year to tie with Scott Gomez for the team lead. Sadly, after 11 games, neither Shanahan nor Gomez has scored an even-strength goal.

Washington demolished Toronto 7-1 on the road in its last game. Al Ovechkin (8-7-15) picked up two goals and one-time Jagr centreman Michael Nylander (4-7-11) picked up three assists in the game. Olaf Kolzig (4-3 .922SA) stopped 32-33 shots against the Leafs. If not for Kolzig’s play in the Caps previous tilt against the Blueshirts the score of that game may have been 7-1 for the Rangers. Olie the Goalie gave his mates a chance to get back in the game with his stellar play as the Rangers fired a season high 41 shots at him.

Let’s see if the Rangers have long memories and if anyone will remind Caps defender Brian Pothier that he can’t take vicious swings with his stick at other people’s ankle as he did last time out against Ryan Hollweg.

The trio of Avery, Straka and Callahan are still out of the lineup. It will be a game time decision if Sean Avery does play tonight. In the Caps sickbay is former Ranger Tom Poti with a groin injury. Also out for the DCers is Steve Eminger, Al Semin, and team captain Chris Clark.

ST.RANGER THINGS…Rangers are 4-1 when they score first…0-5-1 when opponents score first…powerplay is ranked 22^nd in league…penalty kill is ranked 4^th … PK has given up one goal in the last 23 opportunities.

We’ll have an update later tonight. Until then, Puck On!