Update: 10:30PM: The following quotes are from the Rangers:

John Tortorella on tonight’s game…
“I thought we played better defensively, first of all.  I thought we had the puck more.  We generated some offense.  It is discouraging.  I thought there were a lot of good things for a lot of minutes of that game.  Right now we are just not figuring out how to win it at key times.  We need another big play, another big defensive play, another big offensive play, another big save.  That is the fine line between winning and losing in this league and right now we are not getting it done.

Marian Gaborik on the positives of the game…
“I don’t think we gave them much.  We gave them a couple of power plays.  I think we had a lot of chances, quality chances.  That is what we have to take out of this game.”

Chris Drury on tonight’s game…
“I thought we did a lot of good things throughout the game. It’s really a frustrating loss.  Hopefully we can take some good things from it, get a good week of practice and get ready for Buffalo.”

Original Recap: For a recap and stats, visit SNY.tv

Scoring Summary

No Scoring In The First Period

Second Period:

-3:12: Marian Gaborik (20) opens the scoring as he knocked in the his own rebound. Assisted by Vinny Prospal (20) and Marc Staal (8)

-3:23- Sidney Crosby (16) raced down the ice and fired a back-hander past Henrik Lundqvist to tie the game at 1. Bill Guerin (11) and Sergei Gonchar (10) picked up the assists.

-7:33- Mike Rupp (6) gave Pittsburgh a lead as he put in his own rebound off a pass from Jordan Staal (9).

-18:42- Gaborik (21) tied the game with his second of the game on the powerplay, from Chris Drury (7) and Michael Del Zotto (12)

Third Period

-11:14-Rupp (7) gave the Pens the lead as he rushed up the ice with the puck and beat Lundqvist with a wrist shot.

-15:51- Crosby (17) deflected a shot past Lundqvist for his second of the game and a 4-2 Pitt lead. Assisted by Mark Eaton and Martin Skoula

-18:20-Rupp (8) added an empty net goal to complete his first career hat-trick.

Statistics

-Henrik Lundqvist stopped 28 of 32 shots

-Marc-Andre Fleury made 29 saves on 31 shots

-The Rangers were out-shot 33 to 31

-Gaborik had seven shots in addition to his two goals.

-Christopher Higgins had two shots and was a minus 4 tonight

-Both P.A. Parenteau and Artem Anisimov were minus 3

-Bobby Sanguinetti played 11:20, his first game at MSG

-Marc Staal led the team with close to 26 minutes of ice time

-Ales Kotalik played 3:14 in the game. No time on the powerplay. The least of any Ranger player

-The Rangers had 13 takeaways, compared to Pittsburgh’s five.

-Drury won 10 and lost 15 faceoffs tonight. Artem Anisimov went 7 and 10. Vinny Prospal went 6 and 7

Penalties

-The Rangers took five minor penalties. They were 5 for 5 on the penalty kill.

-The Rangers went 1 for 3 on the powerplay.

The Rangers next game is Saturday against Buffalo

More game notes after the jump

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The Game:

The Rangers (13-12-1) try to erase the weekend and exact revenge on the Pittsburgh Penguins (18-9-1)

For a preview, click here

The Goalies:

Marc-Andre Fleury (15-7-0) vs Henrik Lundqvist (11-9-1)

Pittsburgh‘s Key Players:

Notes:

Enver Lisin will be a scratch tonight after playing 0:00 against Pittsburgh on Saturday night.

Brian Boyle will return to the lineup and play with Ales Kotalik and Aaron Voros

Matt Cooke is suspended for two games for his hit on Artem Anisimov

Alex Goligoski is out for the Pens

All Time:

Overall: 110-94-23-6
At MSG: 63-43-9-1
At Pittsburgh: 47-51-14-5

2008-09 Schedule Against Pittsburgh

Oct. 2 Rangers 2, Penguins 3 at Pittsburgh
Nov. 28 Rangers 3, Penguins 8 at Pittsburgh
Nov. 30 Rangers vs. Penguins at MSG
Jan. 25 Rangers vs. Penguins at MSG
Feb. 12 Rangers vs. Penguins at Pittsburgh
March 4 Rangers vs. Penguins at MSG

How To Catch It:

The game can be seen on MSG starting at 7:00PM.

Update: Joe Delessio of New York Magazine wonders if the Rangers will be out for blood tonight because of Cooke’s hit.

Original Post: Courtesy of Stu Hackel’s daily must read post on Slap Shots, here is video of the hit that got Matt Cooke suspended for two games:

Arthur Staple of Newsday spoke to Cooke and some of the Penguins about the hit and their thoughts on the suspension.

Sean Avery, who played with Marian Gaborik and Sean Avery for parts of Saturday’s game, again skated with Gaborik and Vinny Prospal on the top line.

…Avery has had more jump to his game recently, and has been rewarded by getting to play with the top unit. He has these moments where he can play on the top line, remember his time with Jaromir Jagr?, and hopefully it can last for a while as Avery gets his game back to the level that he needs to play at.

After not playing at all on Saturday, Enver Lisin looks like he will be a healthy scratch tonight according to Steve Zipay, back from vacation.

…Torts is teaching some sort of lesson to Lisin. I guess its more of the watch what happens on the ice and then apply that to your game approach

Brian Boyle, who was a scratch on Saturday night, skated today with Aaron Voros and Ales Kotalik on the fourth line.

More on practice at Blue Notes

Larry Brooks, in the New York Post, writes today about John Tortorella and what the Rangers need to do to improve.

Tortorella joined the Rangers preaching, “It’s not about defense, it’s not about the defensive zone,” before amending his mantra. The problem is, his team has apparently taken him at his original word, for the Blueshirts enter tonight’s match ranked 24th in the NHL in goals-against average.

The Rangers have no presence in front of their own net — how exactly do we know that Lundqvist isn’t feeling the effect of being smashed down repeatedly by marauding forwards? — and no clue in their own end, where they habitually chase both the puck and opponents.

Read more from Brooks at the New York Post.

Brooks also has thoughts on the Matt Cooke suspension.

..Its certainly no secret that Lundqvist hasn’t been the incredible goalie he has in the past, but he has still been good enough in most games for the Rangers to win. I don’t think you can underestimate the toll that those collisions have had on him, it may not be big, but the wear and tear from those hits may be impacting his play.

There has been spotty defense in front of him, which wasn’t entirely the case with Tom Renney, but there needs to be an adjustment to help Lundqvist out.

In a post to her blog at Hockey’s Future, Leslie Treff spoke to Ranger Director of layer Personnel Gordie Clark about some of the Rangers prospects who are playing in Europe.

They talk about David Kveton, Tomas Zaborsky, and Treff notes that the Rangers expect former second round pick Ivan Baranka to return to North America, maybe by next season.

Treff also writes about the Rangers policy of bringing in players who are playing professionally in Europe.

…Very interesting read. Cool to hear that Baranka wants to come back and play in North America. Also from the article is Clark noting that the Rangers are happy with the development of Ilkka Heikkinen and expect him to be called up and contribute if necessary.

In his “Slap Shots” column on Sunday, Larry Brooks writes that the NHL should abandon the shootout.

It is time for hockey games to be decided by hockey players and by hockey plays. It is time for the shootout to be replaced by a five-minute, three-on-three overtime period that, when necessary, would follow a scoreless five-minute four-on-four overtime.

…I still like the idea of the shootout. Maybe its because Henrik Lundqvist is good at it, maybe because the moves these guys put on are cool. But the idea of the three on three overtime, that is pretty cool…

So,

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Yesterday, the New York Post had a nice article about Matthew Von Dollen and his Make A Wish dream to meet the Rangers and especially The Captain, Mark Messier.

Click here to read the whole story.

…Its a very nice story and one that was documented by MSG and shown plenty of times last season on the various Rangers programs.

The NHL has announced that Pittsburgh Penguins forward Matt Cooke has been suspended for two games for his hit on Artem Anisimov last night.

This means that Cooke will miss tomorrow night’s re-match against the Rangers.

Cooke, 31, has five goals and seven assists for the Penguins this season.

…Good

Near the middle of the third period in last night’s drubbing, Matt Cooke of the Penguins blindsided Rangers rookie Artem Anisimov with an elbow to the head.

Anisimov was shaken up and didn’t return to the game.

Following the game, John Tortorella gave his feeling on the hit:

“There’s a big thing this year with these headshots and what the league is going to do,” said the Rangers head coach. “To me it’s pretty simple: change the rulebook. I’m not sure what’s going to happen (regarding a suspension for Cooke). He leaves his feet. It’s an absolute head shot.”

Read more about the hit and the reaction at Fanhouse

Ryan Callahan fought Cooke, above, a little while later and was given 17 minutes in penalties for it.

A few minutes ago, the incredible Bob McKenzie of TSN tweeted that Cooke could face discipline for his hit.

…It was a dirty hit and Cooke deserves to get suspended for at least a couple of games. This is the hot button issue in the league right now and the NHL or Colin Campbell, need to set a real standard for these types of hits. If you do them, you will miss games. It has to be as simple as that.