The Boston Bruins defeated the Rangers 1-0 in Boston this afternoon.

For a recap and stats visit SNY.tv

• Scoring. Hello are you out there.
• Tuuka Rask was given the start over Tim Thomas and recorded his first NHL shutout. Rask has been widely regarded as one of the top, not only goalie, but all prospects in the NHL since he was drafted.
• Dmitri Kalinin was injured early on and the Rangers had to go to 5 D Men the rest of the way.
• Blake Wheeler is HUGE. Gretzky was right on him though he was still taken to high probably.
• Boston is good, they are a good team plain and simple.

The Rangers next game is Tuesday night when they will retire Adam Grave’s number against Atlanta.

The Game:

The Rangers continue their Original 6 rivalry this afternoon against the Bruins today in Boston, Mass, starting at 1:00 pm.

The Goaltenders:

Henrik Lundqvist (24-14-3, 2.61 GAA) starts in net for the Rangers.

Tim Thomas (21-5-5, 2.15 GAA) gets the start for the Bruins.

Monzo’s Keys to the Game:

• Coming off a disastrous loss, bring the energy early — tough assignment against the Bruins but Gomez, Naslund, Zherdev need to bring their legs with them.
• Bounce back game for Hank.  It is fair to say he lost his composure in the 3rd period against the Pens, he is going to be itching to make up for it.
• Stay out of the box, the Bruins click 24.9% of the time on the PP, and with Zdeno Chara and his 105.4 MPH slapshot — HEADS UP!

All Time:

Overall: 237-277-97-2

At Boston: 100-160-42-2

How To Catch It:

Today’s game can be seen locally on MSG and heard on 1050 AM.

The Record: Rangers out to tame Bruins

The Rangers are liking the NHL schedule makers right now.

After all, what better way to forget Wednesday’s 6-2 clunker at Pittsburgh than to play at Boston this afternoon against the East’s No. 1 team?

“We know we’re playing one of the best teams in the league,” said goalie Henrik Lundqvist, who allowed five third-period goals to the Penguins. “We don’t have a chance other than playing our absolute best if we want to win.”

New York Post:RANGERS HOPE REITZ HAS ‘D’ STUFF

Erik Reitz had stowed his bag in the overhead, turned on his laptop, and was about to settle into a Lindner’s Angling Edge fishing DVD on the way to Edmonton with the Minnesota Wild when he was told to call that accomplished fly fisherman in New York, Rangers GM Glen Sather.

New York Post: 4 MORE RANGERS SHOULD GRACE GARDEN RAFTERS

There are two other numbers already retired that qualify for a second honoree of a prior generation of Rangers. (Emile Francis’ generation of Rangers.) And while not wishing to turn the Garden’s distinctive ceiling into a densely populated zone resembling Monument Park, we would suggest there are four more players and two more numbers worthy of joining the franchise’s honor roll.

Larry Brooks mentions today in his article that Artem Anisimov is making a case to be called up. I agree.

Just over three weeks ago I made a case for it.

Let’s try again and see what people think.

Top prospect Artem Anisimov is an AHL All-Star, notching 21 goals and 27 assists for 48 points in 46 games. He was dynamic in training camp last season and this season and is on the brink of being a solid NHL’er.

The one concern about the Russian prospect is that he needs to work on the offensive side of his game, however this season he lighting it up, scoring over a point a game.

Last season with the Wolf Pack, Anisimov notched 43 points in 74 games and is on pace now for 80+ points, including 35+ goals.

Wouldn’t mind seeing what he can do on a line with Nikolai Zherdev. In fact, I am sure a lot of Rangers fans wouldn’t mind it either.

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New York Post: RANGERS OBTAIN REITZ FOR ‘LEVERAGE’

The hermetically sealed roster has been penetrated. The Rangers have come to the conclusion that the personnel that has produced a 29-17-4 record isn’t sufficient to go as deep into the post-season as required.

Hence, the first trade of the year, with waived winger Dan Fritsche going to Minnesota in exchange for 26-year-old defenseman Erik Reitz, who apparently packed some toughness into his hockey bag for the trip to New York.

New York Daily News: Rangers deal winger Dan Fritsche for defenseman Erik Reitz

Adding Reitz to the roster gives the Rangers seven defensemen after a season of carrying only six – an addition Tom Renney said earlier in the week that he’d like to see “in a perfect world.”

“He’s got some toughness, he’s got an edge to him. I don’t know if that’s his forte, quite honestly, but…he can take care of himself, stand up for his teammates,” the coach said of Reitz, who had a goal, an assist and 41 penalty minutes for the Wild this season. “What we think we’ve done is we’ve added a dimension to our team with respect to his edge that we can use on the back end.”

Newsday: Rangers trade Fritsche to Wild for Reitz

Renney said that using Reitz as the seventh defenseman isn’t a knock on Hartford defensemen Corey Potter and Bobby Sanguinetti. Reitz’s experience at the NHL level will allow him to join the team immediately and potentially make an impact.

“He’ll come here and jump in with us right away,” Renney said, “and we’ll see what we’ve got.”

Jordan Carleo-Evangelist of the Albany Times Union reports former Rangers G Mike Richter will not seek the the open congressional seat in New York states 20th District.

According to Carleo-Evangelist, Richter cites his family and his environmental business as the reasons he will not look to replace Senator Kristen Gillibrand in the newly vacated congressional seat.

Yesterday, SNYRangersBlog.com conducted a poll to see if you would vote for Richter, should he be in your district, with 94% of readers saying the would.

Join hosts Randy Sobel and Steve Karas for a tribute to #9 Adam Graves tonight at 10pm EST. ESPN 1050 AM Radio’s own Kenny Albert, the Rangers play by play announcer, will be joining the show to give his thoughts on Adam Graves, the state of the Rangers and so much more.

Click here to listen.

Monzo: Remember, Rotter and myself will be joining the crew next Thursday. More to come on that.  Agreeing with Rotter on the Fritsche/Reitz trade. Sanguinetti is not quite NHL ready yet — however I would love to see Corey Potter get a legit shot to play.

Dan Fritsche has been traded to the Minnesota Wild for Defenseman Erik Reitz.

Reitz, 26, is 6-1 221 pounds and played in 37 NHL games and 31 for Minnesota this season.

Andrew Gross has the report on his blog and also reflects on Sam Weinman leaving the beat.

Rotter: I guess this is the 7th defenseman that the team wanted. Sather and Renney and Co. must think that Bobby Sanguinetti needs more time, I agree, and that Corey Potter isn’t the fit right now.

Sam Weinman of the Journal News writes in his blog today that he is leaving the Rangers beat and the Journal News to move to become a senior editor at Golfdigest.com

Rotter: This is bad news for all of us lovers of Sam’s blog and work. Sam was always the first to report from practice and always had a great comical look at things. First Dellapina and now Sam, if Zipay from Newsday leaves I don’t know what I am going to do. He will be replaced for the time being by Rick Carpiniello who covered the team for years and even wrote two boks. Highly recomended.

Click play below to watch SNYRangersBlog.com’s Brian Monzo speak with former NHL player and current NHL Radio analyst, Jim Dowd.

Monzo and Dowd discuss many current Ranger topics, including the team’s lack of offense and Henrik Lundqvist‘s stamia.