While the Rangers are mired in a five game slide, with a tough job at hand tonight against the Hurricanes, at least no one is sending them anthrax. Up in Vancouver, Todd Bertuzzi is getting letters containing white-powdery substances. Luckily, it turned out to be a hoax, but boy do those Canadians take their hockey seriously. I mean, the 'Nucks are only on a FOUR game losing streak.
Speaking of losing streaks, tonight's opponent happens to be on one as well. Carolina has lost three straight, including two to the lowly Florida Panthers. As Steve Zipay points out, though, the 'Canes are a strong home team (26-5-1), and they are going to be looking to right their own ship.
The Rangers are still a little beat up. No word on whether Marek Malik will return to the lineup, but Petr Prucha will be roaring to go again. Uncle Larry thinks it is about time to give Jaromir a rest, as he is nursing a bad hip that was first aggravated in the . . . well, let's just say it was aggravated. There was also no word on whether Martin Rucinsky would miss any time as a result of the knee he re-injured the other night.
Scott Burnside at ESPN addressed yesterday's front page concerns by pointing out that that the Rangers themselves are not panicking.
The key tonight (pretty obviously), is going to be to get on the board early and often, and to keep up the fantastic penalty killing and goaltending. There is no longer a 23-man roster limit, so in theory the Rangers can bring up a few Wolf Pack players to give some rest to the regulars and see who has some NHL scoring touch.
There is a new Pack player who is one of the all time scoring leaders . . . in the AHL. Brad Smyth, at 33 years-old, was acquired from Manchester in a loan deal for Joe Rullier. Center Bruce Graham was called up from Charlotte to help out in Hartford.
Joe Thorton took over the overall scoring race from Jaromir last night. Big Joe assisted on all three of Jonathan Cheechoo's goals. (Don't you love that name?)
Margaret Hurley is today's guest ranter over at Rodent's. She thinks we have nothing to fear but fear itself.
Let's hope that things turn out good tonight. If they don't, always keep this in mind: We ain't the Knicks. (At least not this year we ain't.)
It's the Rangers and 'Canes in Raleigh tonight. The puck drops at 7:00 pm EST. Enjoy the game.
HDH
Posted by Jim at March 14, 2006 12:39 PMeMail this entry!
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