Since I’m not able to go to tonight’s Thrashing of the Rangers (yeah that’s what I said), I figured what better time than now to give you the hockey fan some of my total randomness. In no particular order:

1.When is the NHL going to stop allowing their star players to walk all over them? No. We’re not talking about Gary Bettman’s new CBA with a rising cap where teams are panicking and signing their own players to ridiculously long contracts. What I am referring to is the latest news about the upcoming All-Star Game in Atlanta.

Why should a star player such as Martin Brodeur be allowed to miss a game which is for the fans? You think he’s going to miss any upcoming starts between tonight in Philadelphia when he does what he usually does to them and Sunday?!?!?!?!?! It is an absolute joke that the league doesn’t step in and do the right thing by the fans who want to see the league’s marquee stars lace’em up in a fun-filled skills competition.

Unless you’re out with an excuse (injury, family crisis, health issue), it should be your obligation to take part in the All-Star Game. Especially if your own fans voted you in as a starter. Brodeur is still the best netminder in the conference and plenty of people want to see him. Even now as the three-time Vezina and Cup winner gets older, the Montreal native is still one of the NHL’s biggest stars. Someone who is marketable and treats fans and writers alike with nothing but class. No.30 should be in net for that first period in Atlanta. No if’s, and’s or buts.

That also means you Roberto Luongo! The fans deserve to see the Vancouver netminder at the opposite end of the rink against Marty. The fact that the two league’s top goalies were elected and won’t participate for unknown reasons looks bad. They’re what this game should be about.

This goes for any player who is elected. Unfortunately, the league already lost their most identifiable star in Sidney Crosby due to a high ankle sprain which appears will keep the 2006-07 Hart winner out at least six weeks. And losing one of the bright young stars out West in Paul Stastny due to injury doesn’t help much. Neither does one of the game’s best players in Henrik Zetterberg for no other apparent reason than wanting to rest due to recurring back spasms.

If the league wants to be taken seriously, put out the best players for this game and make it a priority. The encouraging news is at least Evgeni Malkin replaced Crosby and Tim Thomas is now in place of Brodeur. The surprising Boston No.1 goalie certainly was worthy of making it.

On the other side, Corey Perry and Mike Ribeiro will get to take part. They certainly both belong. Scott Niedermayer was also tabbed probably as a league selection due to his veteran status. He certainly hasn’t disappointed since returning to the defending champion Ducks posting 11 points in 17 games and helping lead his team to the top of the Pacific.

2.Hell or high water, Tom Renney has to go. His message clearly isn’t getting through anymore to the underachieving Blueshirts. There’s little effort. No discipline. And zero accountability. The affable coach is good at analyzing the team’s problems. The problem is he never punishes his best players and that’s not a good recipe for success. This team is severely lacking and has become softer than a box of Twinkies.

If the Ranger organization wants to save their season, they must bring in a tough cop. Pat Burns would be perfect. So too would John Tortorella if he ever gets fired down in Tampa. It’s more likely that Jim Schoenfeld takes over if the Rangers don’t get a win tonight or on Brian Leetch night against Atlanta.

3.Speaking of which, how is it possible that the Rangers host the Thrashers twice in a row??? What are the schedule makers doing? If it were a traditional home-and-home like the games against the Bruins, that would make more sense. Give both fanbases a chance to see a rivalry formulate.

4.Rookie Nicklas Backstrom continues to play extremely well on the resurgent Caps who now are over .500 and just three points behind first place Carolina and the eighth seeded Islanders. The former 2006 Caps’ fourth overall selection became the first rookie in league history to record back-to-back four assist games. He assisted on four Washington goals in a come from behind 6-5 shootout win over Pittsburgh last night. With nine goals and a team-leading 31 helpers, his 40 points place him second to only Chicago rookie forward Patrick Kane, who has 45 points (12-33-45).

Backstrom’s strong play along with NHL-leading goalscorer Alexander Ovechkin (38 goals), the reemergence of Alexander Semin (5 goals in last four contests) and Mike Green (14-16-30; 14 pts in last 10 GP) have Bruce Boudreau’s Caps thinking playoffs.

5.Now that John Ferguson, Jr.’s finally been giving his walking papers in Toronto, when does the Original Six franchise realize their problems are a lot more than just one executive???

6.Can anyone think of any good reason how Mats Sundin was passed over for the East?

7.If he gets the Bruins in the playoffs despite no Patrice Bergeron and other regulars out, does former Devil coach Claude Julien win the Jack Adams?

8.Tomas Vokoun’s a good goalie but he’s not better than Florida captain Olli Jokinen.

9.Remember when Bill Guerin was a bad move for the Islanders? How’s that turning out?

10.Speaking of which, Dainius Zubrus: 47 games, seven goals. He’s still got another five years left on his deal in New Jersey. Somehow, the Devils are still winning games. Brodeur and first-year coach Brent Sutter are the biggest reasons why.

The Rangers kick off a two game series against the Atlanta Thrashers tonight at 7pm. Both games will be played at home for the Rangers, who badly need the four points. In order to achieve that, Tom Renney has changed three of the four lines.

Avery - Gomez - Jagr
Dawes - Dubinsky - Shanahan
Straka - Drury - Prucha
Orr - Betts - Hollweg

These lines do look good on paper, and I’m curious as to how they will work out. Sean Avery is a playmaker who will provide some physicality to the first line, be able to retreat on defense and feed Jaromir Jagr and Scott Gomez. Maybe a grinder is what the top line needs.

Brandon Dubinsky gets moved up to the second line and is kept with Nigel Dawes. Him and Dawes seem to have developed some chemistry, which is nice to see. Both of them will also be able to feed Brendan Shanahan to get the shot off.

Chris Drury being paired with Martin Straka also makes sense to me. Straka can feed Drury who can hopefully start scoring 7 million dollars worth of goals. Petr Prucha adds to the speed and can finish and pass as well.

The fourth line remains the same, and rightfully so. The defense is changed a little also though.

Tyutin - Girardi
Roszival - Malik
Strudwick - Staal

Both Marek Malik and Jason Strudwick in the game makes me a little nervous. Besides the god awful giveaway at the end of Sunday’s game, Paul Mara has been playing much better of late. Maybe it’s an eye opener for him, and he’ll come back better. Maybe Glen Sather can try to move him or Malik at the deadline and bring in someone of equal talent that may click with Marc Staal or Michal Roszival.

Should be interesting to see how these lines work out. I’ll weigh in later on.

The New York Rangers dropped another game on Sunday to the same Boston Bruins that beat them 24 hours earlier. The only difference with Sunday’s loss was that the Rangers didn’t pick up a point in the standings.

Lackluster play and inability to get pucks past Tim Thomas translated into a 3-1 loss for the home team. Brandon Dubinsky scored the lone goal for the Blueshirts, with under a minute to play. Henrik Lundqvist looked a little shakey at times, and the offense stuggled getting anything going. The defense looked a little better, with Marek Malik back on the bench in favor of Jason Strudwick.

The big story after the game was that Tom Renney was openly upset with the team’s play, something that hasn’t been seen all season. Brendan Shanahan was non-existant in the team’s last 20 minutes of play, being sat down to rest his various injuries.

Renney has stated that while he is disappointed in the team’s play, he feels that the players on the team now are the players that he will win with. I have to agree. It’s hard to imagine a team with Scott Gomez, Martin Straka, Jaromir Jagr, Shanahan, Chris Drury, Petr Prucha and Sean Avery not putting pucks in the net. If I were head coach of the Rangers, I would shake some things up, maybe to look like this:

The top line seems to be going now that Straka is healthy again, so leave that line alone. The second line is the line that’s struggling. For whatever reason, Drury has not hit his stride yet in New York. Maybe playing with Shanahan has made him feel like he has to dish the puck off more rather than shoot it. Brandon Dubinsky’s play of late has been stellar. Bump him up during his hot play and let him center Shanahan and Avery. Move Drury down to the third line and let him add some defense to a line that is mediocre defensively. Prucha and Dawes will benefit with Drury at the center, possibly creating more scoring opportunities. Fourth line remains the same as well. So to sum it up in a pretty little chart:

Straka - Gomez - Jagr

Shanahan - Dubinsky - Avery

Dawes - Drury - Prucha

Orr - Betts - Hollweg

The only thing I don’t like about this scenario is that it is breaking up a line that seems to have found some chemistry in Dawes, Dubinsky and Prucha. One thing being thrown around is to move Drury back over to wing, but he has been our best faceoff man recently. If he were to move to wing, Avery would probably shift back to center, and he is not as good in the circle as Drury.

One thing that is evident is our need for another solid defenseman. Jason Strudwick and Marek Malik rotating isn’t so bad, but it isn’t ideal. I don’t have any surefire solutions, and the only name that comes to mind is the expensive Mathieu Schneider. He will undoubtedly cost us in players and in salary, but would be great to have on the back line. Maybe we can find a solid d-man in someone no one would imagine. The top four are fine, and Paul Mara paired with a mediocre player isn’t bad. I just want someone extremely defensive.

We will see what happens with this team in the coming weeks. Tomorrow and Thursday we take on another team that we should beat easily, if we show up. Atlanta is a good team, but not nearly as good as we have the potential to be. I’ll check in with an update mid-day or early evening.

The game of hockey isn’t always about statistics. Sometimes, it’s about great players elevating their games to lead their team to victory.

Precisely the type of quality game Pens’ star forward Evgeni Malkin had in their 2-0 road shutout of the Canadiens on Hockey Night In Canada (HNIC). Without top star Sidney Crosby (ankle sprain), the 21 year-old Russian who won the Calder last season dominated the action in all facets. He might not have lit up the scoreboard in his team’s bounceback victory to pull in front of the idle Devils for the Atlantic Division lead but the former 2004 first overall selection controlled the play in all three zones.

He also had a couple of tremendous plays which started in his own end and almost led to goals if not for some splendid goaltending by Montreal’s Cristobal Huet. The first such play took place in the opening stanza when Malkin took a puck and then worked a give-and-go with Petr Sykora before going around Andrei Markov and flipping a backhand saucer pass to a cutting Sergei Gonchar. But a sprawling Huet thwarted the chance.

Even though the Pens didn’t score on the play, the breathtaking end-to-end rush was replayed a few times on the HNIC feed as the broadcasters gushed.

On another shift, Malkin threaded the needle from his own blueline to string Sykora for a breakaway. Only two unreal Huet stops kept the puck out.

This was the kind of plays you’d expect from a player as physically gifted as the 21 year-old Malkin. However, it was his defensive prowess which helped seal the victory for his team.

With the desperate Habs pulling Huet for an extra attacker and under 60 ticks left, Malkin made two great defensive reads. First, he broke up a pass at center ice to interrupt a Montreal rush. The second play, he outraced a Canadien to a Sykora pass gliding by before flipping a backhand into a vacated net with 12.4 seconds remaining.

On a night when backup goalie Dany Sabourin was splendid in swatting aside all 31 Montreal shots for a shutout giving Ty Conklin the night off, it was Malkin who was his team’s best player. Or as the ‘casters noted, “Best player on the ice all game.”

A night before when his linemate went down, he promised to step up. Malkin shifted back to his natural position of center logging big minutes (22:57 TOI) and didn’t miss a beat. This was a statement game by a very talented player.

One who will continue to assume the leadership role with Sid The Kid out.

It took 65 minutes and a shootout, but the Boston Bruins won this afternoon in Boston, 3-2. The game wasn’t very offensive minded, saw few big hits and had plenty of weak penalties. All in all, let’s hope tomorrow’s rematch back in New York is a little more exciting.

Scott Gomez and Jaromir Jagr scored in regulation for the Rangers and Chuck Kobesew tallied twice for the B’s. Phil Kessel and Zdeno Chara scored in the shootout, Chara’s in the form of a slapshot from about 15 feet out in front of Henrik Lundqvist. Lundqvist stopped 25 shots in regulation time, while Tim Thomas stopped 36 shots.

This was the first half of a weekend back to back, home and home matchup between the two teams. Tomorrow’s matinee is on NBC, as they look to bring back the NHL game of the week. This is good news for the league, as several people may be tuning into NBC early to catch some early NFL shows, and could catch the tail end of a hockey game. The national exposure will be good, but we will undoubtedly be forced to sit through seemingly endless numbers of Tag body spray commercials, and play by play will not be done by Sam Rosen and Joe Michelletti.

The effort was close to being all there today, but the potential to be better is still there. The defense looked slow and out matched on several different occasions today. Maybe a minor move to bring in a little more competition than Jason Strudwick should be looked into. Maybe take a chance on Duvie Westcott, if only for another body, or bring up someone like David Liffiton or Ivan Baranka. Either way, the defense was better with Marc Staal playing with Michal Roszival, but with Marek Malik in the lineup, there’s no way I’d like to see him playing with either Paul Mara or one of Fedor Tyutin or Dan Girardi.

As was seen today, Brendan Shanahan didn’t receive any kind of penalty from the league regarding his cross check at the end of the Buffalo game. I thought it could have, and should have been a penalty, but that’s it. There was no intent to injure, and it wasn’t done on purpose. It was reckless and a minor penalty was all that was warrented.

Tomorrow will be busy for me as I have the Rangers at 12:30 and then the Giants vs the Packers. I also have to pack up to head back to school on Monday, so chances are good that I may not make it onto the computer until Monday night for a recap. I’ll check in and update with anything pressing or if I have a free few minutes. Enjoy the hockey games, go Giants and cross your fingers for a San Diego upset. Until Monday…

I didn’t see a lot of it but the Devils managed to lose at home to the Panthers. That’s like the Knicks losing to the Harlem Globetrotters. Even though if you’ve followed the Knicks at all, it actually could happen. But the Devs losing another bad Florida team who didn’t even start All-Star netminder Tomas Vokoun is inexcusable.

That might also be why frustrated first-year coach Brent Sutter came away shaking his head after his first place club blew a one-goal lead after two periods by permitting a couple of Panther goals in a 1:17 span. It was the first time in 2007-08 his team lost after holding a lead after 40 minutes were played.

It happened when ex-Ranger Radek Dvorak notched his fifth off a loose rebound in front just 2:28 into the final stanza to tie it. Another solid shift by Florida generated David Booth’s deciding tally 77 seconds later. Off a productive cycle, the second-year forward was positioned perfectly in front when a Ruslan Salei right point shot caromed off the back boards to him for his 13th.

The two quick goals were enough thanks to a 31 save effort from Anderson who stopped all seven Devil third period shots in notching only his second win in six starts this season. That included a key stop on the pesky Brian Gionta from about 15 feet out with about two and a half to go.

From there, the Panthers did a solid job outworking the normally gritty Devils by winning the puck battles along the boards. They didn’t allow a quality NHL club to generate the kind of chances they needed late to force overtime.

It all added up to a career milestone for veteran coach Jacques Martin who became the 10th coach to win his 500th NHL game behind the bench. Congrats go out to him. The 500 are the second most on the active list with only former Ranger (current Calgary) coach Mike Keenan having more.

“I’ve been very fortunate to work in this league, the best league in the world and to have some good players to coach,” a pleased Martin expressed to the Associated Press afterwards.

“Everybody was working hard tonight and it was good to see a turn for the better,” Anderson said of the comeback win. “It’s good to go against a future Hall of Famer, play head-to-head with him and get the win.”

Not surprisingly, the classy Brodeur took time out to praise his counterpart.

“After not playing many games, he made some big saves,” the future Hall of Famer pointed out. “This was a real bad loss for us. Up 1-0 in your building, you have to find a way to squeak it out.”

As FSNY color analyst Chico Resch always says, it certainly wasn’t Marty’s fault. In fact, this was one of the best games he’s played this season making several acrobatic highlight reel saves. Just ask Florida’s Richard Zednik, who was robbed point blank by a sprawling Brodeur at least three times in the first two stanzas.

It’s hard to say what was better. Brodeur’s unreal stop on Zednik during the first with an open net where he somehow kicked out the puck with his legs at the last split second. Or was it the two-save sequence in the second where he denied the struggling Panther once in front on a backhand and then somehow like a cat made an amazing left glove save as the crowd stirred ripping the puck away like a cat.

Amazing stuff from one of the all-time greats.

Judge for yourself:

Brodeur amazing in defeat

He might’ve been on the losing side in finishing with 25 saves but he’s never played better.

The Devs’ only offense came from resurgent second-year pivot Travis Zajac, who found a Jamie Langenbrunner rebound for his fifth goal in the last seven 70 seconds into the second.

The problem right now for New Jersey is that leading scorer Zach Parise has gone dry. As usual, the 23 year-old kid’s effort is there as he helped setup Zajac’s goal and got a few chances himself. The North Dakota product just isn’t burying his opportunities. He’s now 0-for-8 in 2008 with his last goal coming in a 5-2 road defeat to the Islanders on Dec.29.

If you go back further though, Parise’s goalscoring struggles are pretty evident. Since a two-goal four point night in a come from behind 4-3 home win over Boston, he’s lit the lamp only twice in the last 18 contests.

That’s just not enough from the Devs’ best threat around the net. Especially with normally reliable veteran forwards John Madden and Jay Pandolfo shelved due to injuries.

Sooner or later, you figure the law of averages will catch up and Parise will get some breaks because he certainly works hard enough. When they do, the Devils will be tougher to deal with in a pivotal stretch which sees them have 14 of the next 17 at The Prudential Center.

The good news for the Devs was they didn’t lose any ground in the division because the Pens were shutout by the Lightning 3-0 at home. Sidney Crosby left the game with a sprained ankle suffered in the first and previously unbeaten Ty Conklin was finally solved for three with ex-enforcer Andre Roy out of all people tallying once and setting up two other Bolts’ goals.

Pittsburgh’s record is 0-2-2 without Sid the Kid. They’re obviously not going to have the 2006-07 Hart recipient for a while. So, this is a huge loss.

“Sid is a big part of that team,” Vincent Lecavalier said after being held off the scoresheet and remaining in a three-way tie for the league lead in scoring with Crosby and Atlanta sniper Ilya Kovalchuk. “For them to win, someone else is going to have to lead, and I think (Evgeni) Malkin is going to have to do that.”

“Right now, since we lost our leader and our captain, I’m going to try my best and raise my game,” the second-year Russian star admitted after being kept off the scoresheet. “I’m going to try to do a little more.”

Malkin is the Pens’ second leading scorer with 52 points. He had been pretty hot lately with 12 goals and three helpers in the last 12 games before last night. The Pens will need the 2006-07 Calder winner to continue to step up.

The impact of Crosby’s injury won’t only be felt by his teammates but by the league as well due to the fact the All-Star Game is around the corner scheduled for Atlanta on January 27.

That’s just great. The game’s most popular player who easily was the leading vote getter seems certain to be unable to participate. Well, maybe that frees up a spot for his teammate Malkin, who should be going anyway.

The most important thing here is that No.87 recovers quickly in time to help his team get into the postseason for a second consecutive year. The last thing the league needs is a Pittsburgh second half collapse. Having the most marketable star player in the playoffs is very important. Especially for the game in the U.S. It would also help if rookie Patrick Kane somehow led a second half surge by Original Six Chicago. They won their second game in a row in a shootout over the Avs after a long winless streak.

And now for one final random thought on WFAN Devils’ radio play-by-play man Matt Loughlin. I like Matty a lot and have even worked with him when he was a studio host between intermissions. A role which suited the likeable studio anchor well. The Matt and The Maven segments were classic. Even if you hated the Devs, you watched to see what they would say. Steve Cangialosi is boring.

They need Loughlin back between periods because to be perfectly frank, he’s brutal to listen to calling these games. You can almost never tell what’s happening. If a goal’s about to be scored or if it’s a save. There’s almost no way to distinguish.

It’s not Matt’s fault because he’s an employee of the Devils and tries his best to make the games exciting. And because of his awkward style, it’s at the very least an interesting listen. Half the time I find myself chuckling at some of his calls.

He’s just not a natural play-by-play announcer. This falls on the Devil organization. For whatever reason only known to GM Lou Lamoriello, John Hennessey was let go a couple of years ago. I don’t really know what was wrong with the former River Rats’ playcaller but he definitely wasn’t as confusing as Loughlin.

Right now, the Devils have the worst radio broadcast in the entire league. It’s flat out embarrassing that this is what airs on WFAN in New York. Do the hockey fans a big favor and put Loughlin back with Stan Fischler and find a real broadcaster.

It’s for the best. Matt is just overmatched.

The Rangers played a 60 minute hockey game last night for the first time in a pretty long time. Facing off against a Buffalo Sabre team that is mired in their own slump, the Rangers came away with a much needed two points.

It was a solid effort up and down the lineup last night. Henrik Lundqvist had to be sharp and was for most of the night, Sean Avery and Brendan Shanahan looked like their injuries are close be being fully healed and the defense looked sharp again, even Marek Malik.

The top line has really clicked since Martin Straka returned. While they were held off the scoresheet, they created some decent chances and really moved and controlled the puck well for most of the game. The second line looked good behind a determined looking Sean Avery also. All of the offense came from the third line, though. Brandon Dubinsky scored the first goal from Petr Prucha and Nigel Dawes on a nice passing play, and the Prucha added a deflection goal off Paul Mara’s shot and Dubinsky’s faceoff win. Jason Pominville was the only Sabre to put one past Lundqvist.

With chemistry finally looking like it is kicking in, the Rangers’ goal of 96 points should be easily attainable. They sit in last place in the Atlantic Division with 49 points, but are only a three game winning streak out of first. With 35 games to play, 24 wins isn’t out of the question.

One thing of note to watch today is if the league does anything about a late third period cross check by Shanahan. He cross checked Clarke McArthur into the goal post in the closing minute, which resulted in an injury to McArthur and a public tirade by Lindy Ruff. The check was unnecessary and reckless, as Shanahan himself has said, but in his long, illustrious career Shanahan has never attempted to purposely injure another player. A fine if anything is all he should get, as the league is reviewing it today.

The Rangers are off now until a weekend home and home against the Bruins. I’ll keep you updated on anything that happens between now and then.

So if the Islanders could play the Rangers and the Devils and no one else, the NHL could just wrap up the cup and send it to Long Island. The Islander defeated the Devils last night for the fifth time this year. Yes I said the fith time. Bill Guerin solved Marty Brodeur twice and Mike Sillinger added another goal as the Islanders pull out yet another win 3-2 at The Rock.

The Islanders have defeated the Devils 5 times this season and the Rangers 3 times. That makes them 8-1 against them both. Now lets put this in perspective here, these are the Islanders. You know, that crappy team from Long Island with the worst arena in the entire NHL. The team that everyone always makes fun of, the team that everyone picks to come in last, and yes the team with Garth Snow as GM. But this scrappy bunch of players may not make the playoffs this season, while hockey will continue in Manhattan and Jersey, but to tell you the truth, Jersey should be ashamed of themselves. Or maybe you guys in Jersey should give Rick Dipietro a little more credit.

Like I said before, if the Islanders could play the Rangers and Devils all year around, just send the cup this way.

All hands will be on deck when the Rangers take on the Sabres at 7pm on MSG2 tonight. Brendan Shanahan, Sean Avery and Jaromir Jagr are all ready to go and will look to snap out of a skid that has made them losers in six of the last seven games.

Marcel Hossa, Greg Moore and Jason Strudwick will all be healthy scratches tonight. The first, third and fourth lines will all remain the same as the last two games, as will the defensive pairings. The second line will be Chris Drury centering Avery and Shanahan as it was before the two went down to injury. Henrik Lundqvist will also remain between the pipes.

Brandon Dubinsky and Marc Staal were both named to the Young Stars game, so congratulations to both of them.

Buffalo has been less than stellar so far this year, and may not have fully recovered after losing both of their top players to the free agent market in the offseason. The biggest test will be getting pucks past Ryan Miller. With the Rangers lacking in offense all season, they need to follow the same formula they tried in Pittsburgh of just firing pucks in on net and then follow up hard. With Avery back in the lineup, there will be more traffic in front I’m sure, but more players need to want to get their hands dirty around the crease.

I won’t be back until tomorrow, so enjoy the game.