Live from Edmonton: Valiquette to start, Lisin returns

Thursday November 5, 2009 2:59 PM By Steve Zipay

              G Steve Valiquette will make his first career start at Rexall Place. "We had said he was going to get one game on the trip and this it it," said coach John Tortorella. Henrik Lundqvist, therefore, will get the nod on Saturday in Calgary.

               Enver Lisin (instep) will play on the left of Chris Drury and Ryan Callahan..."He rested one game, he's fresh, got lots of power," said Lisin's unofficial Russian spokesman Artem Anisimov... Ales Kotalik (took shot in right leg) and Wade Redden (ice on right shoulder) didn't skate in the optional but will dress...

             Here's Sean Avery on Saturday visit to Dion Phaneuf's world and scene of  last year's "sloppy seconds" remark:  "I won't even think about Calgary when I get there...except for the game."          

              Classy Tom Renney stopped and took questions and schmoozed with Rangers broadcasters and writers on walkway from rink after Oilers skate. About's tonight's game, he said: "I can't fib. It's been on my mind. I want to get it over with." He said he spoke with Jaromir Jagr about six weeks ago. Jagr's KHL contract ends this season.  "He's on our radar. He's got NHL years left in him. He can still play, no question."

             Dane Byers, suspended, won't dress, and it appears that neither will Donald Brashear....Rangers are expected to stay here overnight and then travel to Calgary tomorrow. 

             More from the scene, Renney, Jason Strudwick, Tortorella on Brandon Dubinsky,  swine flu, the lines, coming up right here in a bit.... 

             Also remember: twitter.com/stevezipay

Quotes from the Wild West: Byers, Avery, Tortorella, Lisin, Prospal, new lines

Wednesday November 4, 2009 6:22 PM By Steve Zipay

             EDMONTON---John Tortorella’s wallet is a little lighter and Dane Byers’ family is disappointed.
             After practice at Rexall Place today, Tortorella had no comment on either the automatic $10,000 fine assessed by the league as a result of Byers’ instigation penalty with 1:10 left in the Vancouver game on Tuesday or Byers’ one-game suspension. Hard to believe, but Tortorella said he was unaware of the details until told by reporters. “I have no reaction to it,” he said.
            Byers, who fought Canucks forward Trevor Glass, said he wasn’t pleased with the suspension. The scrap, Byers said, “was part of the game…emotions get the better of you. I thought I had given him enough time to get up, but he knew we were going. He had been running his mouth all along and it was 4-1.”
           The 23-year-old, who has played three games, earns $500,000 and his fine is $2,590.67, according to the league. The tougher part, said Byers, who is permitted to practice, was that his parents were driving from Saskatchewan for the game and that his uncle, who lives here, had acquired eight tickets for tomorrow’s game. Instead, Byers won’t dress.

***

         Henrik Lundqvist and Marian Gaborik were being treated for minor bumps and bruises and didn’t practice. Tortorella called it “maintenance” and said both were fine. Lundqvist does have a stiff right thigh, however, and backup Steve Valiquette, who hasn’t played since the 7-3 loss to the Sharks eight games ago on Oct. 19, could get the start against the Oilers. Tortorella refused to confirm, but it makes sense.

***
         Left wing Enver Lisin skated for the first time since blocking a first-period Bruins shot with his left instep on Sunday afternoon. "The swelling is down a lot," he said, and figured that he could play Thursday.
 
***
          The Vinny Prospal-Brandon Dubinsky-Gaborik line will be reunited, Tortorella said, because he liked their play earlier in the season and because he wants to get rookie center Artem Anisimov more minutes. Against the Canucks, he said, “I liked the line with (Chris) Higgins, AA and (Ales) Kotalik.”  Lisin could play the left side of with Chris Drury and Ryan Callahan and the fourth line would apparently be Sean Avery-Brian Boyle-Aaron Voros/Donald Brashear.

****

               Avery said he was jabbed with Shane O’Brien’s stick “two or three times” from the bench during the third-period “melee” and smiled when he was told that O’Brien would face a disciplinary hearing. “I’m surprised they haven’t called me,” said Avery, “for being in the area.”
 
***
           Prospal, sporting six stitches around his left eye from a stray stick in Vancouver, said when captain Chris Drury told the team Tuesday monring that Prospal was chosen as an alternate captain, “it was a very proud moment for me.”
          In Tampa, Prospal was occasionally given the “A’ when either Tim Taylor, Marty St. Louis or Fredrik Modin were hurt. “There was a rotation, so it was not very often and not in the last three or four years I was there. So it’s a great honor. I’m very happy…especially when you think of what I went through last summer. I never thought it would turn out like this.”
          In the summer, Prospal, 34, was bought out by Tampa and was concerned about ever playing in the NHL again before being offered a one-year $1.1 million contract by the Rangers.


              
 

Chasing news on the prairie: Byers suspended, Torts fined?

Wednesday November 4, 2009 2:32 PM By Steve Zipay

             Just arrived in Edmonton.

             Neither the Rangers or the NHL has yet confirmed that Dane Byers is suspended one game for instigating a fight with Tanner Glass with 1:10 to play in Vancouver and that coach John Tortorella was fined $10,000 for the incident. The penalties are supposedly automatic, but can be rescinded upon review. 

             The Canucks Shane O'Brien also is reportedly facing a disciplinary hearing for jabbing Sean Avery with his stick from the bench during an earlier third-period melee in the 4-1 Rangers loss.

            Rangers are skating at Rexall Place in about an hour, and I'll report from there...

The Wrap from Vancouver, a 4-1 loss

Wednesday November 4, 2009 1:50 AM By Steve Zipay

              Numbers first: 4-14-5=23.

               That's the shot totals for the 9-6-1 Rangers against Canucks backup Andrew Raycroft, who made 22 saves.

               The facts: Marian Gaborik: 1 shot; Dubinsky 1, Prospal 0, Anisimov,  Avery 2. Can the Rangers really miss Enver Lisin this much?

               "I think we were passing up shots, sometimes from not great angles," said Chris Higgins, who scored his first goal of the season in Tuesday's 4-1 loss. "But sometimes you get rebounds off those shots and score some more goals up front. I don't think we're scoring enough off rebounds or in front."           

             Or scoring enough at all: Five goals in four games and the Rangers are 1-3.

             "I thought our second period, we started taking over the game, got back into it with a goal," said coach John Tortorella, who declared it a power play goal, but it came three seconds after the man-advantage expired.

            "We just can't make the mistakes we made, on their second goal (by Rick Ripien alone in front just 2:24 after the game was tied), two guys spin off the play. (I'll interrupt: One was definitely Sean Avery). I think we'll get the offense going, but I'm more concerned about positional play. I'm happy the way we defended, we gave up nine scoring chances. But we made some big mistakes."  On the first goal,Wade Redden couldn't clear the puck along the boards and Ales Kotalik didn't tie up Mikael Samuelsson, who also scored the third goal. "Scoring on second chance opportunities was the key," the former Red Wing said.

             More Torts: "The work ethic is acceptable for most people, totally unacceptable for some people and some of it is not working smart. There are some areas and some people we need a better effort from."

            Sometimes the opposing coach sums it up the best:  "The thing that changed the momentum was the four-minute power play we killed at the end of the second period," said Alain Vigneault.  The Rangers are 0-for-15 in the last four games on the power play.

               Said Higgins: "I'd rather score when we win, but it's the only goal we score and we lose. We gave up three and they were preventable. We can sharpen up in our own end a little bit; it's tough when Hank plays so well and you don't help him out on the offensive end as well."

                For the record, Dubinsky, with the pass, and Drury, assisted on Higgins' goal....Dane Byers collected 29 minutes in third period penalties. 

              The Rangers left immediately for Edmonton after the game. Guessing it was not a pleasant flight.       

The Wrap from St. Paul: Wild 3, Rangers 2

Friday October 30, 2009 11:47 PM By Steve Zipay

The live game thread fizzled; servers were down. Much like the Rangers ability to generate scoring chances.
 

So much for the four-goal a game average.

"Three goals in two games," said Vinny Prospal. "That's not enough."

Where's the beef?

It's painfully obvious that Marian Gaborik is the backbone of this offense. "Our best goal scorer is out of the lineup and so far, the other guys haven't been able to step up in his absence," said Prospal.

Of the Rangers' 20 shots, about five were really dangerous.

How inept is the offense? Did it remind you of last season? Dane Byers, who arrived at the rink about 20 minutes before the game and was dressed eight minutes before the puck dropped after two plane trips from Hartford, tied Enver Lisin for the team high in shots with three.....

So naturally in the post-game scrum, Tortorella spoke about the ineffective offense and the fact that they were caught short in some type of communications breakdown:  

"We just did not think three people were gonna be out of the lineup today....that was mind-boggling that we lost three people (Gaborik, Avery and Higgins) and we didn't think that."

Somehow, the passoff was wrong on Avery or Higgins.

There were other errors, said Torts. "We made some mistakes, we hurt ourselves with turnovers in neutral zone, we don't get puck out of our zone, but we still didn't develop enough offensive chances. It's a game of mistakes, but you overcome those mistakes by scoring some goals here and there."

"I think we beat ourselves, you can't whine about that, there are some people in our lineup who are supposed to be offensive players ...the guys who are there who have brought offense before, this is your chance to help us. There's no magic potion trying to get out of this."


"You can't teach the skill, the creativity," said Tortorella. "But as far as some of our guys, it's by being sharp in the neutral zone, playing in the corners and behind the net, and trying to wear teams down..with tip ins. On the second (Staal) goal, Artie (Anisimov) goes right to the net, we make a play, win a battle, throw it back and score, that's how you manufacture offense."

More on Staal: "What Stallsie has to learn, it's not the D leading the rush, before he turns it over (on the third goal), he makes a great play behind the net. He has Dru wide open, he's got to headman the puck, that's a basic play, headman the puck and then join that way. You simply cannot beat people if they have the neutral zone jammed and go one on one, he's young, he's going to learn that."

On Parenteau and Byers scoring in the past two games: "It's good for their confidence as far as coming to the National Hockey League and contributing. Once we get healthy, I'm not sure how it's gonna shake out. But they get some games and some minutes and feel they can do it. Especially Byers tonight, coming in right before game time."

Agree, kudos to Byers.

Voros and Boyle were nailed to the bench in the third as Tortorella tried to mix three lines, Prospal-Anisimov-Kotalik looked the best...

Scrimmages, cuts to 29, 30 today

Thursday September 17, 2009 8:44 AM By Steve Zipay

                 The scrimmages are at 9 and 1, cuts late afternoon.

                 Unless something happens today, here's one (semi-alphabetical) school of thought on the 29-30 initial keepers:

                 Upfront: Artem Anisimov, Sean Avery, Tyler Arnason, Donald Brashear, Brian Boyle, Dane Byers, Ryan Callahan, Chris Drury, Christopher Higgins, Marian Gaborik, Evgeny Grachev, Ales Kotalik, Enver Lisin, Jordan Owens, Vinny Prospal, P.A. Parenteau, Aaron Voros

                 Defense: Michael Del Zotto, Matt Gilroy, Dan Girardi, Corey Potter, Wade Redden, Michal Rozsival, Marc Staal, Bobby Sanguinetti, Mike Sauer, Nigel Williams

                  Of course, Henrik Lundqvist, Steve Valiquette (and maybe Chad Johnson)

                  Back later....

At the Rangers scrimmage...

Monday August 31, 2009 2:56 PM By Steve Zipay

                  Okay, away we go...

                  Today's morning on-ice scrimmage was organized by the players---no coaches are allowed there yet---and had one goaltender: Matt Zaba. The other net was protected---except for the corners---by the canvas shooting cover.

                   Among the defensemen taking shifts: Marc Staal, Wade Redden, Michal Rozsival, Dan Girardi, Bobby Sanguinetti, Matt Gilroy, Corey Potter, Michael Del Zotto, Ilkka Heikkinen. Pulled in a tad late, may have missed a few who were in the facility for workouts or testing...

                  Wrote about Dubinsky previously. Other forwards: Marian Gaborik, Chris Higgins, Donald Brashear, Ryan Callahan, Evgeny Grachev, Pat Rissmiller, Brodie Dupont, Andres Ambuhl, Brian Boyle, Enver Lisin, Jordan Owens, Dane Byers. 

                Unseen for today (but will be around later in the week apparently): Lundqvist, Valiquette, Drury, Prospal, Kotalik, Avery....

****

                Main locker room layout has changed:  Drury's spot has shifted away from the crowded main entrance a couple spots to the left,  Higgins is in Orr's ex-locker next to Drury, Staal is in Gomez' slot a few down....Brashear's space is across the room next to Dubi and near Lisin...Gaborik is in Naslund's old space, next to Prospal; Kotalik's No. 12 is in Staal's old spot; Rissmiller wearing 19; Potter (44) is in Sjostrom's former locker; Arnason (39) in Betts'....One of the informal lines was (don't read anything at all into it): Brashear-Dubi-Lisin...        

****

                   Not a lot of access, some introductions, but gave players their space. Many left right after the skate..Had short conversations with Staal, Redden, Potter, more on that coming up