The news is late today because, like the Rangers, I am tired and lazy. (Actually I have an excuse -- today is Ladybug's birthday and I took the day off and slept in.)

Anyway, Larry Brooks gets us started today in The Post noting that the Rangers lineup in last night's Oiler loss was fundamentally flawed. He asks precisely the question that's been on my mind: "Why, after one bad game - Thursday's 6-3 loss in Carolina - Sather dismantled the lines that had developed chemistry and a meaningful level of trust while delivering a 5-1-2-1 run is something only he understands."

He goes on to note that, "the Rangers established two quite creditable lines during their impressive three-week run. One had Messier between Chris Simon and Matt Barnaby. The other had Bobby Holik between Martin Rucinsky and Anson Carter, who had his strongest games by far as a Ranger with No. 16 as his center."

This is one of those things that drove me insane under Trottier and Low -- the constant line shuffling, never allowing lines to build chemistry or dismantling those that did show chemistry in an attempt to fix those that were struggling. No wonder the players look lost and confused.

As Jason Diamos notes in today's New York Times, "For the second consecutive game, Sather had Lindros on Holik's right wing, with Martin Rucinsky on left wing. Sather moved Aleksei Kovalev to Mark Messier's right wing, with Chris Simon on left wing. Dominic Moore centered Jan Hlavac and Jamie Lundmark on the fourth line.

The experiment did not work."

Bridget Wentworth sums up last night's game fairly well in The Star Ledger when she observes, "It was a mess all around, actually." In the Note section we read "Eric Lindros played his second straight game as Holik's right wing, but Sather indicated he might move Lindros back to the middle and put Dominic Moore on the wing for a meeting tomorrow night with the Pittsburgh Penguins at the Garden."

Of course, now I'll contradict myself by noting that Lindros has had 4 points in his two games back sitting on Holik's flank. But then, hopefully, Lindros will play well whereever he's put -- these lines must be restored to some semblance of what was working.

The Ledger also notes that Dvorak, who predictably got his first goal of the season against the Rangers last night, recently had a premature baby with his wife. His son Adam is starting to do better but we should all send our mest thoughts and wishes along that this recovery continue.

Also this morning, John Dellapina points out in The Daily News that things get harder from here. "The soft early schedule, complete with loads of between-games practice time and a preponderance of home games, ends tomorrow night." Actually, to my mind, this may not be an all together bad thing. Under Sather, the Rangers have tended to play their worst against weaker opponants. I'm accordingly concerned about tomorrow's game against Pittsburg. Hopefully the Rangers will settle down again once they're facing tougher teams.

Diamos also notes that, "After going nine straight games without allowing more than three goals, they've allowed at least five twice in their last three games."

Indeed, that's the theme of this morning's article in The Journal News -- where'd our defense go? Sather had the following to say after the game last night: "I'm surprised. We had things pretty much under control, and now it seems like we're throwing the puck around in our own end and making a lot of mistakes, putting it up the boards, and guys are picking it off. Lots of times they had three guys down low and were controlling that end of the building, and it shouldn't happen."

Bobby Holik, once again violating his rule about only speaking about his own game, thinks he might have the answer. "We do think sometimes that we can beat someone on talent only. It's happened in the past and it's happened this year, too. It just doesn't work that way. I don't know when we're going to learn."

When indeed, wonders Arthur Staple in Newsday. His article is all about how the Rangers, who seemed to be learning Renney's lessons well, seem to have forgotten everything.

Finally, on a non-hockey related note, today is Veterans Day. While our troops are over seas risking their lives, let's all take a moment today to remember them and all of those who have given their lives in service to our country.

-- Rightbug

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