Rangers-Nucks Tonight

November 3, 2009   ·   Derek Felix   ·   Jump to comments

At the top of the hour, the Rangers will be in British Columbia kicking off their three-game Northwestern Canadian road swing against the Canucks. They’ll also travel to Alberta to face Edmonton Thursday in the Tom Renney reunion and Calgary Saturday, reuniting against former Rangers Nigel Dawes and Freddy Sjostrom.

Vancouver will be without Roberto Luongo again, with Andrew Raycroft instead subbing. Obviously, it’s not the same as facing one of the best netminders in the game but Raycroft is coming off a 3-0 shutout of the Avs. Not surprisingly, minus Louie and Daniel Sedin, the ‘Nucks have been up and down literally, trading wins and losses. Hopefully for the Rangers, that’s a good sign that Vancity’s due for an ‘L.’

The Blueshirts are coming off a 1-0 shutout win over the Bruins, who at last check trailed Detroit late in the third 2-zip in a Versus game. Henrik Lundqvist will look to build on his first shutout (21st career) as they try to get this trip off on the right foot. They’ve only won two of their last seven since a 7-1 start. So, it would be nice to make it two straight and build some momentum into Edmonton.

Marian Gaborik scored the lone goal in his first game back after missing a pair due to a knee injury. The Big Ticket’s been everything and more pacing the club with 11 goals and 19 points while meshing with new alternate captain Vinny Prospal, who’s been a breath of fresh air, leading them with 14 assists and a plus-eight rating. His 18 points trail Gabby by one. It was his nifty feed that the new No.10 converted the other night.

Prospal is an excellent choice as the other ‘A’ as he’s been leading ever since he got here after Tampa bought him out. The same team that then overpaid Alex Tanguay (1-4-5). They’re still paying Prospal, who’s the biggest FA bargain. So, when everyone focuses in on who we overpay, maybe they should take a step back and look at the other side. If you really think about it, all the guys Glen Sather signed have been performing. Now, if only Christopher Higgins, Chris Drury and the other alternate we love, Ryan Callahan started contributing.

The Rangers will be without Enver Lisin and Donald Brashear tonight. In practice, Tort had Higgins working with Prospal and Gaborik, rewarding his strong effort the other night. Whether he gets the chance to stay depends on the start. Artem Anisimov could get more time on the top unit as well. Definite lines should have Brandon Dubinsky centering Callahan and Sean Avery along with Drury working with Ales Kotalik and Dane Byers. If Higgins starts on line one, then Anisimov plays with Brian Boyle and Aaron Voros. It should be interesting to see what changes the coach makes as the game progresses.

The back end should again be the same with Michal Rozsival okay. The question is can the Blueshirts finally conquer their GM place demons where they’ve dropped four straight since prevailing some 12 years ago? Remains to be seen.

Who: NYR @ Van

Where: GM Place

When: 10 PM on MSG