The Game:
The New York Rangers host the Colorado Avalanche at the Worlds Most Famous tonight.
The Goaltenders:
Henrik Lundqvist (26-20-7, 2.52 GAA) starts in net for the Rangers.
Peter Budaj (16-24-1, 2.98 GAA) gets the start for the Avs.
Notes:
Aaron Voros, Steve Valiquette, Erik Reitz and Mark Bell are out for tonight’s game.
How To Catch It:
Tonight’s game can be seen on PIX 11 and can be heard on 570 AM.
These seem to be the line combinations for tonights battle with the Avalanche tonight at MSG. Rotter will provide a game preview in a few hours.
Forwards:
Naslund-Gomez-Zherdev
Dubinsky-Drury-Callahan
Dawes-Korpikoski-Prucha
Sjostrom-Betts-Orr
Defense:
Rozsival-Redden
Staal-Girardi
Mara-Kalinin
Mark Bell, Aaron Voros and Erik Reitz will be healthy scratches — Reitz is banged up however.
The Record: Rangers eye Avery, other roster moves
Most notably, the Dallas Stars are expected to place Sean Avery on re-entry waivers no later than Monday, with teams in reverse order of the standings having the chance to grab the Grate One and split the remainder of his four-year, $15.5 million deal.
Avery has made no secret he wishes to return to New York, and Rangers general manager Glen Sather has professed his love for the troubled left wing.
Newsday: Avery could be skating for Rangers soon
Avery has told friends he wants to play only for the Rangers, who are owned by Cablevision, which also owns Newsday. Another team gunning for the playoffs could claim him, but claimer beware – his failed stint in Dallas is a reminder of what happens when Avery plays in a place in which he’s not happy.
NY Post: STRUGGLING RANGERS AREN’T GOAL-ORIENTED
Basically, the Rangers had a coaching opening because their players can’t find any openings behind goalies. With Jaromir Jagr in Omsk and Pierre Larouche in retirement, John Tortorella has given interim assistant coach Jim Schoenfeld the task of trying to turn Aaron Voros into Clark Gillies.
NY Post: AVERY’S RETURN DAYS AWAY
If, as expected, Avery is not claimed by any team lower in the NHL standings than the Rangers within 24 hours, the prodigal should be in their lineup Thursday night against the Islanders
NY Post: NEW RANGERS COACH WOULD LIKE TO GUIDE TEAM USA TURNAROUND
The decision on whether Tortorella, who coached Team USA in last spring’s World Championships, gets that opportunity will fall to Brian Burke, the Toronto general manager who will oversee the U.S. team next year.
Steve Zipay reports in his blog that Sean Avery will likely be placed on recall waivers Sunday or Monday, meaning that if he clears the teams below the Rangers, he could be in New York Tuesday or Wednesday.
(Update 3:15P ET) – Darren Dreger from TSN reports Avery will be put on re-entry waivers Monday and the Rangers are expected to claim him, unless a team lower in the standings does — which is unlikely.
(Update 2:40P ET) – TSN reports Avery will in fact be placed on re-entry waivers before the trade deadline and the Rangers have reportedly committed to claiming him — officially making Avery property of the Rangers when that happens.
Monzo: From what I hear, the Stars will place him on waivers Sunday — meaning he could potentially be in New York on Tuesday. We will know soon enough.
NY Times: After 2 Games, Tortorella Still Has Patience
The Rangers had seized on all his directives. They skated hard. They were aggressive. They peppered Florida goalie Craig Anderson with 41 shots. Their maddening inability to score preceded Tortorella — it is the reason he is here, the reason Tom Renney was fired — and it would not be brushed away so quickly, no matter how many things Tortorella changed.
The Record: Goal drought continues for Rangers
“I think there’s no doubt we’re playing a different game,” Markus Naslund said. “The scoreboard is not going away right now but I’m sure it will if we keep getting chances like this.”
Journal News: Garden fans vocal with another Rangers loss
Although John Tortorella was hired to turn around a flagging Rangers team, even he admits there is only so much that he can physically do with the team with a quarter of the season left to play.
Newsday: Sleepwalk continues, and Sather created the nightmare
The fresh start the franchise chose back then was hiring Glen Sather as general manager, a decision that fans at the Garden would like to rescind. Last night, they loudly sang “Fire Sather!” before they booed and headed quickly for the exits.
Newsday: Rangers can’t hold lead, fall to Panthers
One point.
After 63 games, that’s all that separates the Rangers from the postseason and the golf season.
NY Daily News: Rangers still off the mark; can’t hold lead as Panthers rally late in 3rd
The only difference between Thursday night’s game and the one before? Thursday night, the Rangers were unable to hold on until overtime to gain the loser’s point, which means the three teams behind them in the standings gained on them last night. Florida pulled even in points (70) in a tie for sixth place (the Panthers have two games in hand), while Carolina and Buffalo moved to just one point behind and the 10th-place Penguins, who play tonight, sit four back.
NY Post: SATHER’S LEFT RANGERS PUNCHLESS
New coach John Tortorella says the problem is not lack of offensive talent, but tension created by the four-month slide necessitating a change behind the bench. But if the new coach thinks Chris Drury is tense, wait until the meeting when Glen Sather – who, much to the disappointment of the chanting fans, will not be fired any time soon – explains how tight the Rangers will be this summer against the salary cap.
NY Post: RANGERS FAIL TO SEAL DEAL VS. PANTHERS
The memo proclaiming a clean slate for the Rangers apparently didn’t reach the blue seats . . . or the green ones . . . or any other color of upholstery covers and the fans filling them at the Garden last night.
NY Post: BLUESHIRTS LOOK FOR TRACTION IN FINAL PLAYOFF SPRINT
“They are a very easy team to play against and they weren’t like that at the start of the year. They aren’t hunting the puck, they aren’t playing that way at all any more. They have been the biggest disappointment in the NHL with all that talent.”
To watch highlights of last nights Panthers win over the Rangers click play below.
Ever since I heard that Tom Renney had been fired and that the rumors were that John Tortorella was the guy to replace him, the thought of this being Glen Sather’s last season as GM has been lingering in my head. I have this feeling because Glen Sather has a history of only dealing with people that he knows, cough Ron Low, 
and he didnt know John Tortorella.This shows me that either Slats (Sather’s nickname from his playing days) is going to change and start dealing with people that he hasn’t with before or that he took the advice of whoever he is going to appoint to replace him, Jim Schoenfeld or Mike Barnett maybe, and picked Torts. Why would Slats change now? He has been at this since the late 70′s and is now willing to talk with people he doesn’t know. There were always stories that Don Maloney was the one who was really running the Rangers and that Slats was always fishing or golfing and only had to sign off on big things.
Slats easily could have let Mike Pelino or Schoenfeld take over as coach for the rest of the season and then tried to bring in Craig McTavish to coach since there were rumors he could be gotten. But instead he did something he doesn’t do and hired Torts. Yes, he did call his friend and legendary former Rangers coach John Muckler first to talk about Torts but he didn’t know the man personally. I was shocked that Torts was hired. I didn’t want Renney fired since i didn’t think he was the problem but 
something had to happen and he was the fall guy. Because of that the Rangers ended up with a better coach and the only one i wanted to replace Renney. Sather also wasn’t willing to let this season go, as I mentioned he could have let the season run out with Pelino or Schoenfeld or even Renney and then hired one of his buddies but he went out, and i keep making this point, and hired someone he had never dealt with.
Why wouldnt Slats let this season go though? The team is clearly struggling but he is the one who constructed it and if they miss the playoffs all the egg is on his face and rimmed glasses. Torts may be the only guy he saw fit, past or no past, to steer the team in the right direction to have him save face at least. Plus he looks smart if the guy he hired turns the team around.
But the team that was constructed is the problem, it wasn’t Renney. Letting Jaromir Jagr go was the biggest mistake the team has made since they let Mark Messier go in 1997. Was giving Wade Redden all that money a better idead than giving Jagr a little more and signing Mark Streit? This goes back to the Maloney thing. Was he the man behind the curtain who orchestrated the Jagr trade and the decision to surround him with players he could play with? I may be giving Slats not enough credit here but since Maloney left the team has spent fortunes on Chris Drury, Scott Gomez and Redden. While all of their contracts still have plenty of time on them to turn it around all three could be looked at as disappointments so far. Don’t forget Michal Rozsival‘s big contract.
I think Sather may just be tired of it at this point. He can stay on as President with a hand picked GM of his friends and still collect big checks from James Dolan. He may have really thick skin and doesn’t let the calls for his head get to him but he has been here since 2000 and the three playoff berths were nice but what about taking Al Montoya 6th overall and Hugh Jessiman instead of a dozen NHL regualrs. Who wouldnt want Ryan Getzlaf or Zach Parise or Mike Richards on this team. All three went after Jessiman. It’s not just that I think it’s time for Sather to go, but I think he has to realize it to at this point. If not than this long rambling rant can be discounted as 15 minutes of my time out of a random day. But i truly believe that we will get a day, maybe before the draft where Sather steps down as GM and picks Barnett or Schoenfeld or even dare i say Mark Messier to replace him. The team will have his fingerprints on it for years to come but at least he won’t be there himself.
The Florida Panthers scored two goals in a minute to beat the Rangers 2-1 at MSG tonight.
For a recap and stats visit SNY.tv
The Rangers next game is Saturday night at home against Colorado.
The Game:
The New York Rangers host the Florida Panthers at the Worlds Most Famous tonight.
The Goaltenders:
Henrik Lundqvist (26-19-7, 2.53 GAA) starts in net for the Rangers.
Tomas Vokoun (20-17-3, 2.41 GAA) gets the start for the Panthers.
Craig Anderson is starting.
Monzo’s Keys to the Game:
-This is a must win — a regulation win gives the Rangers a four point lead over the Panthers where a regulation loss ties both teams at 70 points.
-Nikolai Zherdev had some energy in his game last night, but he has struggled at the Garden — look for coach Tortorella to pressure Zherdev to turn things around at MSG, starting tonight.
-Tortorella is high on Wade Redden — Redden played well last night and should look for continued success tonight.
Notes:
Aaron Voros will play tonight and Freddy Sjostrom will sit.
Paul Mara is in, Reitz is out
All-Time:
Overall: 33-21-6-4
At MSG: 17-10-4-0
How To Catch It:
Tonight’s game can be seen on MSG and can be heard on 1050 AM.
Jim Kelley of SI blogs about how the relationship between Rangers Head Coach John Tortorella and forward Sean Avery will get along, if Avery does in fact wear the Rangers sweater within a few weeks.
Click here for the article.
Kelley talks about how Tortorella will give Avery likely one shot to prove he won’t be a ‘me-first, team-second’ guy and can actually help the Rangers current situation.
Monzo: They need him back in his best form ASAP. They lack a guy that can not only get under the other teams skin but can also score goals and play an offensive game.
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