Brandon Prust Rangers Diary: In playoff gear -- with playoff beard

The feeling on our way to D.C. for the first playoff game of the series is pretty indescribable.

We’ve fought hard all season, which makes it that much more exciting to have achieved this playoff berth. The team is a tight-knit group of guys and we’re all just fired up and ready to go tonight. We have two big games down here to start, but then can’t wait to skate out onto the ice at The Garden on Sunday and feel the energy in the building.

I’m not really superstitious, but this year I’m participating in the Rangers Beard-a-thon to raise money for the Garden of Dreams Foundation. Let’s face it: I’m not really a clean-shaven kind of guy to begin with. So if I have to go without shaving to raise funds for a great cause — then I’m more than happy to do it!

Fans can grow their own beards or pledge funds to mine and some of the other players at www.beardathon.com/rangers.

Brandon Prust plays forward for the Rangers. Madison Square Garden, which controls the Knicks, is run by the same ownership as amNewYork’s parent company, Cablevision.