Preseason Puck tonight at MSG

September 15, 2009   ·   Derek Felix   ·   Jump to comments

Camp officially started three days ago. But already there’s a preseason game later tonight at MSG when the Rangers play the Bruins.

As John Tortorella has indicated throughout, it doesn’t make any sense. Why have exhibitions so early when camps just opened? We’ve never gotten the point of cramming 5-6 games in nine days because nothing good can come out of it. That’s how players get hurt.

With newest Blueshirt Marian Gaborik already iffy due to a balky groin, it’s the last thing the Rangers need. So, how many of the six in nine will the former Wild star get into? At the very least given they held him out of the first practice, figure Tortorella to be very cautious. Gabby is the club’s meal ticket. If he goes down, Glen Sather will have a lot of egg on his face and it could be a long season.

With tonight being our first look, figure Tort to stick to his guns by giving plenty of kids ice-time. Hopefully, that includes Luke Walker and Sam Klassen who each impressed enough at Traverse City and given camp invites.

Jim Cerny preview’s tonight’s game including a few quotes from Gaborik who practiced yesterday with teammates and felt okay. Included is some positive stuff on two of the young blueliners looking to make the club in Matt Gilroy and Mike Del Zotto with both standing out in scrimmage.

Isles fall to ‘Nucks in exhibition: In case you missed it, there was the first preseason game last night with the Islanders falling in Vancouver 2-1. John Tavares didn’t play but regulars Josh Bailey, Blake Comeau and Jeff Tambellini did. Jon Sim scored the lone Isles’ goal while our sleeper Sergei Shirokov notched both Canuck markers.

For the Islanders, Scott Munroe (10 saves) and Nathan Lawson (5 saves) split duty while Andrew Raycroft and Cory Schneider did the same for Vancity. The Isles’ next exhibition game is at Edmonton tomorrow night with a stop at Calgary Thursday. Pretty tough early sched for games which don’t count. Why???
Stafford re-signs: The Sabres and forward Drew Stafford agreed on a new two-year $3.8 million contract. Good to see Darcy Regier get this done as Stafford is someone to keep an eye on this season.

Expect the former UND linemate of Travis Zajac to get better this year. He’s one of our fantasy sleepers.

Peters Invited to Devil Camp: It comes as no surprise that former Buffalo pest Andrew Peters was invited to Devil camp. That had been rumored all summer. So, he’ll have a chance to compete for a roster spot.

Personally, I don’t see the point especially with Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond already there and with more capability. Do they really fear Donald Brashear that much?

Speaking of invites, defenseman Alexei Semenov is in Ranger camp. Why I have no idea.

Anyway, we’re about to get out of here now. I’ll post a review of the kids later tonight.