This seems to be the big news of the day in Rangers land. Yesterday at practice, Petr Prucha played with first line pivot Michael Nylander and perennial all-star performer Jaromir Jagr. Prucha's practice position probably predicts that he will play on the prime line tonight and we pray that they produce plenty of points.
OK, enough of that.
Rangers' coach Tom Renney seems to be shaking things up a bit again. Prucha was moved to the first line, with Martin Rucinsky dropping down to the second to play with Steve Rucchin and Marcel Hossa. Martin Straka will play left wing along side Blair Betts, with Jason Ward on the right. Ville Nieminen, Dom Moore, and Jed Ortmeyer will make up the fourth line.
You know what this means, right? Yep, Jamie Lundmark will be a casual observer again. Two benchings in the first five games? I still get the feeling they are looking to move him to make room for Fedor Fedorov, although nothing has been reported.
Goaltender Kevin Weekes strained his groin yesterday, so the Rangers called up Al Montoya to back up starter Henrik Lundqvist. Ryan Hollweg, who has played hard but has taken a bunch of penalties, was sent down to make room for Montoya.
Marek Malik skated yesterday and is likely to play, as is Jason Strudwick, who returned from a personal leave for a death in his family. So most likely, the defensive pairings will be Fedor Tyutin and Darius Kasparaitis, Malik and Michal Rozsival, and Strudwick and Tom Poti. Maxim Kondratiev will probably be scratched unless Malik or Strudwick are given another night off.
Colin Stephenson of the Star Ledger reports that the Rangers would like defenseman Fedor Tyutin to play a little more aggressively.
Andrew Gross of The Journal News writes about Prucha's move, as well as the rest of the line changes. He also has a quote from Renney on Lundmark's situation:
"I'm going to reserve judgment with what to do with him going forward."
John Dellapina of the Daily News also covers the Prucha's story, and adds that Ranger fans shouldn't expect Jason Ward or Marcel Hossa to join Jamie Lundmark on the 'scratched' list anytime soon, as the pair have performed very well thus far.
Steve Zipay of Newsday on the line changes.
Tonight's game against the Devils at MSG starts at 7:00 PM EST.
HDH
Posted by Jim at October 13, 2005 09:52 AMeMail this entry!
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