Day: April 18, 2011

Former Ranger Sergei Zubov officially hung up his skates after a professional career that spanned twenty two seasons and a hip injury that kept him out all of this season. Drafted by the Rangers in the fifth round of the 1990 NHL Entry draft, Zubov went on to play 165 games and win a Cup for New York.

In 1995, Zubov was traded along with Petr Nedved for Luc Robitaille and Ulf Samuelsson in what ultimately proved to be a mistake by many. Zubov would ultimately find a home with the Dallas Stars in 1996-97, and spent the remainder of his career with the team, winning a second Cup along the way.

Injured goaltender Martin Biron was cleared to skate today for the first time since suffering a broken collar bone back on February 28th. The Rangers’ backup netminder skated in full gear, but did not face any shots.

There’s still no timetable for him to return to the Rangers line up, and there’s no expectation he’d get to play even if he did. Still, having him on the bench would be a welcome addition if the Rangers can prolong their season beyond at least the two more games required Wednesday and Saturday.

With the Rangers idle until Wednesday, and the Connecticut Whale in action tomorrow night, the team has elected to send down winger Mats Zuccarello. Zuccarello should be a welcome addition to a team that trails Portland 2-1 in the best of seven series, and generated just 22 shots on goal in Sunday’s 3-1 win.

In his only playoff appearance so far, the Norwegian native registered one shot and two penalty minutes, and was also involved in a too many men penalty. Zuccarello has been a healthy scratch for the past two games in favor of starting Sean Avery, and it’s hard to see how he would play ahead of any of the healthy forwards right now.

As you can imagine there’s plenty of excitement in Rangerland today following yesterday’s 3-2 win over the Capitals, not so much on the Capitals side. Head Coach Bruce Boudreau went on the attack, calling out the officiating, MSG and Marc Staal among others.

Staal in particular got attention for his hit on Mike Green moments before Alexander Ovechkin scored the first Capitals goal, saying that the hit deserved review by the league. For the record, the league didn’t elect to review the hit, so no suspension pending.