AlexanderScharf

"Talking New York Rangers Hockey, since 2007"

New York, NY • United States • 23 Years Old • Male

Rangers Start Slow

Recap
The Rangers began the 2007-2008 season by posting a 1-1 record. They beat Florida by a score of 5-2 on Thursday,followed by a 2-0 shutout loss in Ottawa. Although did come out with 2 points, the Rangers seemed shaky on the ice in both games, did not play well as a unit and generally did not put out a good effort. While the 4-goal third period on Opening Night showed how good the Rangers can be, there seems to be an inability, thus far, to put out a full game effort. This is what happened during the miserable first half of last season and the Rangers will have to come together quickly to prove that the bad start is not a sign of things to come. Although this is no reason to worry yet, it is important that the Rangers find a groove as soon as possible. The Rangers dont play until Wednesday Night so hopefully Renney and the Rangers will figure out how to improve.

A-Very Bad Injury
Sean Avery will miss the next four weeks with a separated shoulder. He was hit shoulder-to-shoulder by the Senators' Chris Neil on Saturday Night. Avery was playing on the second line with Gomez and Shanahan and now the question is who will fill that spot. Two names jump to the front: Marcel Hossa and Nigel Dawes. Hossa, who was scratched from both games, is a pretty good player and has played well with the Jagr line. Many believe that this will translate to success on any offensive minded line but this is questionable. Hossa played well in the puck-possesion, slow game played by the tandem of Jagr and Nylander. His lack of speed will be an issue with the speedy Gomez as the center. Dawes on the other hand had a good preseason and played especially well with Shanahan and Gomez. It will be nice to add another young player to a team that is trying to prepare for the post-Jagr era. Hopefully, he gets a chance against the Islanders on Wednesday

Kid-Line Broken Up?
The line of Prucha-Dubinsky-Callahan which produced two goals against the Panthers was broken up for the most part of Saturday's loss to Ottawa.Dubinsky was moved to fourth line center and Betts moved up. The explanation for this move eludes me and hopefully Tom Renney will put the line back together. In other line-up changes, Paul Mara was scratched agains the Senators in favor of Jason Strudwick. There was no big difference to report.
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Scores
Thu 10/4/2007 Rangers 5 Florida 2
Sat 10/6/2007 Ottawa 2 Rangers 0

Schedule
Wed 10/10/2007 @ N.Y. Islanders 7:00P
Fri 10/12/2007 Washington 7:00P
Sat 10/13/2007 Ottawa 7:00P

Stats
Goals: 5 tied 1 (league lead-4)
Assists: Malik 3 (5)
Points: Drury, Malik 3 (8)
+/-: Rozsival, Straka +3 (+5)

GAA: Lundqvist 2.00 (0.000)
SV%: Lundqvist .935 (1.000)
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Thank you for reading and stay tuned for the next Rangers recap. If you have any questions, comments or corrections, please leave a comment or send me a PM.
For more Rangers material, check out blogs by Rangers Blogger Patrick Hoffman and New York Metro Blogger Jan Levine. Also, for everything hockey, check out http://everythinghockey.blogspot.com