The Rangers and Penguins are in progress right now, playing the final meeting of the season and the second half of a home and home. It was a pretty solid first period for the Blueshirts, who got nine shots in on Marc-Andre Fleury, while allowing only one on Henrik Lundqvist. The game is scoreless at second intermission right now.

The lineup for the Rangers is the same as last night, with the exception of Michal Rozsival paired again with Marc Staal. That shifts Christian Backman with Paul Mara, which I like better than the previous pairings.

Sean Avery and Ryan Malone had a scrap in the first, and that seemed to energize both teams. The fight was a draw, but Malone had the upper hand on Avery until everyone’s favorite pest clocked Malone with a right, knocking him to the ice.

The powerplay for the Rangers looked sad still. Still not enough pucks getting to the net. The penalty kill, mainly Chris Drury, looked solid.

Colton Orr is listed as day-to-day right now, but it was revealed today that he has a broken toe. Good news is that both he and Blair Betts should be ready to go for round one of the playoffs. Bad news is that there is no one to stick up to big Georges Laraque, who nailed Mara with a late hit before.

Should be an energetic rest of the game. It’s a busy Monday for me, so I may not be around again. Enjoy the game.

Why oh why did you play that puck?!?!?!?!?! You are one of the best goalies in the league but sometimes, I just don’t know what the heck you’re doing out there. Nice job costing your team any chance of having a remote prayer of tying it after that pathetic power play.

Now the playoffs aren’t even a certainty. You better bounceback tomorrow because the Caps aren’t losing.

You suck!!!!!!!! You are the biggest asshole actor going in this new NHL. Your lifting of your head and chin is FLAT OUT PATHH-ETTTICC!!!!! The refs are so far up your butt, they might as well be connected to you.

I can’t believe they called that a penalty on Scott Gomez. That is just awful. As if it weren’t bad enough that a weak call is the difference in this game because of the NHL overhyped machine.

You never see Alexander Ovechkin pull the childish antics Sid The Kid does. I also rarely notice Evgeni Malkin trying such stuff.

Why? Because they don’t NEED to and are better! Try getting that message out to the folks out here who are basically down on their hands and knees. Get the picture?

Mike Milbury just nailed it about Tom Renney’s passive philosophy of sitting back during the NBC intermission segment with mad scientist Pierre McGuire. Totally amazing.

Truthfully, the Rangers aren’t playing poorly and probably deserve to be at least tied but the stupid refs missed a Pen hook and then made a weak slashing call BECAUSE IT WAS CROSBY which hooked them up with a two-man advantage. Not surprisingly, their best player Evgeni Malkin capitalized ripping his 46th past Henrik Lundqvist for a 2-1 lead.

They’ll need to kill off the last 11 seconds of Michal Rozsival’s penalty and continue attacking. They’ve generated some good chances off the cycle. Shoot the puck and go to the net. Good things will happen.

Pre-game update: Colton Orr is in fact injured. He blocked a shot with his foot a few games back and will not skate today. Both Petr Prucha and Jason Strudwick are skating in the pre-game warm-ups as I write this, and one of them will skate on the fourth line with Ryan Hollweg and Fred Sjorstrom. If you want toughness, go with Strudwick. An extra scoring threat, hard forechecker, Prucha. It’s a toss up really because the line will get all of four minutes of playing time.

The Rangers have a Sunday afternoon game today, squaring off against the Penguins at 12:30 on NBC. With all kinds of playoff implications hanging in the balance, this is another one of those crucial games for the Blueshirts. While a loss wouldn’t crush them, it certainly would be nice to have.

The Rangers trail Ottawa by a point and the Devils by two. They are six points behind Pittsburgh for the lead in the Atlantic Division. Even the Montreal Canadians are only seven points away. While that may be a stretch, a two game sweep of the Penguins today and tomorrow for the Rangers puts them two points behind with three games left to play. Couple that with some Hab losses, and the Rangers could be in business.

Whatever happens, all of this intensity should only help the Rangers come playoff time. I’m a believer that if you let down intensity to rest all of your starters and take it easy for a few games that getting back to that intensity for the playoffs becomes that much harder. I would be all for giving Brendan Shanahan or Martin Straka a game off, and starting Stephen Valiquette in net for a game or two before the big dance kicks off, but there’s a difference between doing that and taking the last few games of the season off. This scenario only helps the Rangers right now.

I don’t know much in terms of lineups tonight, but the lines at practice yesterday were almost the same as Thursday’s lines against the Devils. The only exception was Petr Prucha skating on the fourth line in place of Colton Orr. Whether that’s an injury issue or just to get Prucha some ice time, I don’t know. I would expect Orr to be in there today, especially if big Georges Laroque is in the lineup.

Philadelphia inched closer to securing a playoff spot last night with a win over the Islanders in a shootout. The Islanders led 2-1 and 3-2 in the third period, but couldn’t hold of Mike Richards and the Flyers. The other game to watch today is Boston vs Buffalo. Buffalo is all but out of the race, in my opinion, but a lose to the B’s today will make that almost a sure thing.

I’ll check back in after the game. Enjoy.

Derek, I apologize. Readers, I apologize. While I disagree with the idea that Marty is a fake (You don’t raise what, 4-5 kids without stretching the truth once in a while, heh), I’ll agree that it was the wrong time to say that about Lundqvist, and while he had every right to analyze Lundqvist’s style (as he is the, you know, best ever) it was neither the place nor the time to do, and it was absolutely the wrong choice of words.

But Derek, you know as someone who covers sports, I’ll bet those were taken just a tad out of context and probably were the only negative things to say out of what must of been two paragraphs worth of guy-love for Lundqvist. But he was still wrong, and you are still wrong for calling him “image conscious” and “a fake”. But I apologize if I acted immaturely towards Derek, and well, in general.

As far as the Avery thing goes. I think it’s funny. I thought what happened to Shanahan was funny, I thought what happened to Gov. Spitzer was funny. While I certainly dislike it when someone goes after Marty’s, er, escapades, I will argue that that involved the breakup of a family and is more sad than funny. And, well, Marty didn’t have to pay for it. Sorry, I know, I know. If any of you thought it was immature, at least I was consistent.

Derek, you’re a better writer, and I’d bet a better person than I am if we stacked it up. I just have had enough of acting, well, my age for the past week and am going to take the next couple days off from this. See you on Tuesday for Devs-Isles wrap-up.

San Jose washed up veteran Jeremy Roenick is tied for the league lead with Alexander Ovechkin in game-winners (10).  NO! This isn’t a misprint people!!!!!

IT’S ACTUAL FACT!!!!! That old guy has notched 10 of his 14 goals for winners. And the Sharks aren’t exactly a team which scores a ton. Though they’ve been white hot for the past month in pulling away from Anaheim and Dallas in the Pacific to within five points of tops in the conference Detroit.

The 38 year-old loquacious Boston Massachusetts native hasn’t fared too badly for a guy who at one point retired only to change his mind for the 9,367,235th time signing with the Sharks after failed stints with LA and Phoenix the past couple of seasons.

He has posted 30 points (14-16-30) including half those goals coming via the man-advantage. If you’re keeping track, that means JR has three more while on the power play than Jaromir Jagr. Will wonders ever cease?!?!?!?!?!

How is that possible? Nevermind.

In games which mattered today, the Bruins shutout the Sens 4-0. The Flyers cameback twice to tie the Islanders before taking it in a shootout 4-3 on Daniel Briere’s backhand deke. The Canadiens lost to the Maple Leafs 4-2, remaining just a point up on the Penguins for the East’s top spot with them playing host to the Rangers early this afternoon after a zillion and one Sidney Crosby promos (while their best player Evgeni Malkin gets no air time-what a country).

The Flyers’ win ties them with the Rangers for sixth. The Capitals won yet again this time blanking the Panthers 3-0 with Alexander Ovechkin getting No.62 and Viktor Kozlov also tallying. They are just two out for the Southeast because somehow, the Hurricanes lost to Tampa Bay 2-1. They’re also two behind Boston and suddenly trail both the Blueshirts and Flyers by three.

I already said they’re running the table. So the teams in front of them would be wise to get to 95 points or their could be trouble.

In the one big game out West, the Oilers and Flames are scoreless in the third. An Edmonton win would tie the Canucks and Predators for the final spot with all having 86 points. It’s a must!

And with that, I’m out.

Peace.

This Guy.

-That Mike Richards no-look backhand pass behind the net to Mike Knuble for the tying marker was pretty sweet. That kid is money and got his team a huge point. The end. Lepore, I’ll also admit to getting a good chuckle when the Flyers tied it. Just how fragile is the Devils’ psyche right now? Leads are no longer a sure thing with them.

-I called the shootout saying that the Devs would connect on all three shots. So even when the Flyers twice beat Martin Brodeur, it still didn’t matter extending their jinx in the Turnpike State.

-The Sabres’ latest collapse was almost as brutal as the one to Ottawa. Blowing a two-goal lead with less than three on the clock is darn near impossible. Somehow, they managed to do it and predictably lost when an unguarded Chris Higgins tipped home an Andrei Markov pass in overtime pushing the Habs back ahead of the Pens for tops in the East.

-The butt end by Vancouver’s Alex Burrows on Pierre-Marc Bouchard was the latest disgusting act which once again the league needs to evaluate and not go soft here as that was a very serious offence and to make matters worse, he came back trying to get in another cheapshot. Despicable! And yet somehow, the Canucks got a four minute power play out of that because of the assinine instigator when good Minny teammate Brent Burns stepped in for Bouchard doing what anyone would do in that dangerous situation which saw everyone drop’em on the ice as the Wild routed the struggling ‘Nucks to wrap up a playoff spot.

-The ‘Nucks actually owe the Avs a postcard if they make the playoff cut due to their 5-4 shootout rally past the Oilers with Joe Sakic netting the tying marker with under six ticks left in regulation. That lost point for Edmonton, who trails Vancouver by two could loom large with only three games left including a home-and-home in the Battle of Alberta before finishing in British Columbia for what could be make or break. They’ll need to win and get help as the Canucks have four left.