The Rangers look to rebound from their first loss of the season Wednesday against the Sabres, when they host the visiting Maple Leafs tonight (7:00pm – MSG). Lauri Korpikoski will sit out with an arm injury, and will be replaced by Tom Fritsche in the line-up. Petr Prucha goes back to the bench to allow Nigel Dawes another shot after missing the last three games as a healthy scratch.
In net, Stephen Valiquette will replace Henrik Lundqvist to give the Rangers a shot at beating the Red Wings tomorrow (according to Tom Renney).
The Rangers’ top line has been the story today, with their lack of cohesion continuing to be a topic of discussion. While Renney says they’ll stick together, don’t be surprised if we see Chris Drury slip down during the game into the spot vacated by Korpikoski.
You can read Renney’s comments about not panicking and sticking with the current format in The Daily News, Newsday and Post.
The Bergen Record says the Rangers are ready to go on another run, though after tonight they have to face the Red Wings and then host Sean Avery and the Stars.
The Rangers closed ranks behind Paul Mara, after he cost the team a five minute major by taking care of business with Patrick Kaleta…the same player that hit Mara late last season and caused him to miss 17 games.
Both Newsday and The Toronto Star liked what they saw from Mara and the Rangers so far this season with respect to willingness to drop the gloves.
Tom Renney says that Alexei Cherepanov had a bright future with the club as the focus now shifts to an investigation over what went wrong.
Former Ranger Ryan Hollweg won’t be in the line-up for the Leafs courtesy of his second suspension of the season, but another former Blueshirt Dominic Moore will be dressed. Rookie defenseman Luke Schenn will also make his first appearance at the world’s most famous arena.
The Charlotte Checkers kick off their season tonight and hope to have solved their offensive problems from last year. The Checkers also signed Mark Messier‘s son to a pro contract this week.
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