True Blue Review

Blue Notes: Tom Renney wins Good Guy Award

In a landslide victory, former Rangers head coach Tom Renney has been selected for the ‘08-09 Good Guy Award, as chosen annually by the media covering the team, for his cooperation with the press.
Rangers captain Chris Drury was second in the voting; defenseman Paul Mara third.

NY Post: RANGERS KNOW WIN MEANS PLAYOFFS

It was Henrik Lundqvist who talked yesterday about putting outside possibilities aside and that the Rangers need to be “locked in on what we do on the ice.” Tonight the Blueshirts can lock themselves into the playoffs.

Journal News: Rangers Still Have Work to Do

A lot can still happen. No. 10 Buffalo can still get in if the Rangers and Florida lose twice and the Sabres win all their remaining games. Or, if the Rangers don’t win either of their games, Florida can get in. Or the Rangers can go 0-2 and get in with a Florida loss at Atlanta tonight or against Washington Saturday. And then there are all the zany possibilities surrounding overtime losses, where you get one point for losing in OT or in the skills competition the NHL calls a shootout.

Daily News: John Tortorella battles Rangers’ playoff assurance

It wasn’t nearly as over the top a sound bite as Jim Mora’s classic meltdown from a few years back.

But John Tortorella was similarly incredulous when asked a hypothetical question by a TV reporter about the playoffs Wednesday, with the Rangers still needing one win in their final two games to qualify. Playoffs? “Don’t ask me that. We’re not in,” Tortorella said. “You’re asking the wrong guy, the wrong question because we’re not in. We have to play a game. Don’t talk to me about playoffs. No sense asking questions about playoffs.”

NYRangers Cast - Rangers Buyout Wade Redden

It actually happened! In a move that Eric and I had been calling for since October, Glen Sather has admitted his mistake and simply cut the chord.  This move will open up $6.5 million in cap space in each of the next 5 years and allow the Rangers to not only re-sign some of their free agents this summer, but possibly get in on another big name as well (Gaborik? Hossa? Kovalchuk in 2010?).

…April Fools Duh…

NHL Network Online - Rozsival’s Happy to Be Practicing Again

NY Rangers: Rozsival on Return to Lineup 4/1 Rozsival on Return to Lineup 4/1 Defensemem

MSG Blog - The Maven Responds (4/1)

Hank: Stan, the Devils bought in a journeyman, minor league goaltender & he put up the same stats as Martin Brodeur. Does that mean Brodeur is as good as his numbers or is he a beneficiary of the Devils’ system/philosophy? That’s what I meant by “exposed”.

The Maven Responds: Dear Hank: Another possibility is that the Devils cranked up their offense to “protect” Scott Clemmensen and have let down a bit since Marty got his Roy record. You make an interesting point, however, and Brodeur bears further scrutiny from here on in.

Newsday - Lundqvist remains key to Rangers playoff drive

After Monday night’s game against the Devils, when Henrik Lundqvist made 38 saves for his third shutout of the season — seven fewer than last year — he said he enjoyed coming out ahead in a game against future Hall of Famer Martin Brodeur.

NY Post - Rangers Say Avery Got Raw Deal in Loss

PITTSBURGH — The Rangers’ 4-3 defeat to the Penguins here yesterday afternoon was painful, but the unequal treatment under the law that Sean Avery received from the refereeing tandem of Dave Jackson and Steve Kozari raises questions far more profound than whether the Blueshirts will qualify for the playoffs.

The Maniac Rangers - Rangers Players Call Out Refs

Apparently there are new “Avery Rules” in the NHL. Feel free to slash, trip, and do w/e the !@#$ else you want to do to him because it won’t be called. There were numerous cases against Pittsburgh today when a penalty wasn’t and should have been called. Granted the refs don’t see everything, but when it’s such a regular occurrence and often in plain view, it’s inexcusable.

Rangers Rant - Some of this Some of That

No real cohesive string to the post-practice interviews so here are some bullet-points of what the guys are talking about as they head into tomorrow night’s game hosting the Devils. Devils are third in the conference, Rangers are seventh with 87 points after 76 games. The eighth-place Canadiens have 86 points after 75 games. And ninth-place Florida has 85 points after 76 games.

Daily News - Potter Gets the Call

John Tortorella promised a new defenseman would be brought in, and that defenseman turns out to be Corey Potter, who was recalled from Hartford today while 21-year-old Michael Sauer was sent back down. Sauer, filling in for the injured Michal Rozsival, played only four first-period shifts, good for 1:59, yesterday in Pittsburgh.

In last night’s game defenseman Michal Rozsival left early with a lower body injury on what seemed to be a clean almost soft hit.  Rozsival took an MRI on his knee today and that he will have to sit out at least 7-10 days.  In order to replace him the Rangers have called up top prospect Michael Sauer.  Sauer has put up 6 goals, 16 assusts, and 22 points in 59 games with a plus 22 and only 35 penalty minutes.

…Sauer is a good skater who posseses good passing ability especially on the break out pass.  He has a good hockey IQ and comes from a great hockey family.  He’s a hustler who should fill in as a solid blueliner for the Rangers…

The Game:

The New York Rangers host their upstate rivals, the Buffalo Sabres tonight at the Worlds Most Famous.

The Goaltenders:

Henrik Lundqvist (32-21-7, 2.50 GAA) starts in net for the Rangers.

Patrick Lalime (5-12-3, 3.01 GAA) gets the start for the Sabres.

Sabres Leading Scorers

Derek Roy: 26 goals, 38 assists

Thomas Vanek: 35 goals, 22 assists

Jason Pominville: 15 goals, 35 assists

All Time:

Overall: 53-67-25-4
At MSG: 31-25-15-2

This Season vs Buffalo

Oct. 15 Rangers 1, Sabres 3 at MSG
Jan. 9 Rangers 1, Sabres 2 (SO) at Buffalo
Feb. 21 Rangers 2, Sabres 4 at Buffalo
March 21 Rangers vs. Sabres at MSG

How To Catch It:

Tonight’s game can be seen on PIX 11 and can be heard on 770 AM.

This is from SNY Rangers Blog as I was making a game preview video that I did not get to finish because of a family emergency.  I am expecting them to gun after Gomez.

Head coach John Tortorella did an interview on Boomer & Cartoon discussing various aspects of the Rangers including Sean Avery, the handling of Nikolai Zherdev, coaching in New York, and other things.

One of the main things that struck me from the conversation was the discussion on the benching of Nik Zherdev.  Tortorella says how the easiest thing for a coach is benching a player(although we never saw that under Tom Renney when it was necessary.)  He goes on to explain how he does not mind if you make the turn over or fail to score the  goal as long as you hustle and get back on defense something Z was not doing.

To listen to the rest of the interview click the link below.

Tortorella on WFAN

The Rangers have signed undrafted prospect Paul Crowder(6′3 202 lbs) from University of Alaska-Anchorage Seawolves.  Crowder has played in 35 games registering 14 goals and 19 assists for 33 points, along with 44 penalty minutes all career highs.

…Can never be a bad thing when signing a guy nothing bad can come from it.  The kid has good size and had a little bit of a break out season maybe things came together late for him.  He is going to be playing for Hartford so we’ll see how he does and if he can have any impact in the future…