Week 3 Preview

Two weeks into the season and the Rangers have a 6-1-0 record and are tied for first in the Eastern Conference with the Pittsburgh Penguins. Their 4.00 goals a game is tied for first in the league with the Stars and Thrashers, while Henrik Lundqvist and Stephen Valiquette have helped the Rangers to third best in the league in goals against average – 2.00. Even the special teams are ranked in the league’s top ten, 9th for the Power Play and 6th for the Penalty Kill.

To say they’re off to a flying start would be an understatement. Leading the way is Marian Gaborik, who now has points in all seven Rangers games this season, ably supported by Vaclav Prospal and rookie defenseman Michael Del Zotto.

To give you some perspective, Gaborik six goals are tied for second in the league, trailing only Alex Ovechkin’s 7. Both Gaborik and Prospal are tied for fourth in the league in points with 10, and Del Zotto leads all rookies with seven points to date.

It’s certainly been a fun start to the season, and they’ll get a chance to equal their best season start since 1983-84 with a second match-up with the struggling Maple Leafs in Toronto, followed by visits to The Garden by the Sharks and Devils later in the week.

Saturday October 17th at Toronto Maple Leafs (0-5-1) – 7:00pm MSG
Game Preview
The Rangers lead the season series 1-0 after demolishing the Leafs at The Garden on Monday night to the tune of 7-2. Toronto held tough through two periods, but capitulated to allow four goals in the final frame as New York ran away with it.

The loss earned veterans Matt Stajan and Niclas Hagman a seat for the following game – a 4-1 loss to the Colorado Avalanche on Tuesday – though they’ll be back in the line-up for Toronto this Saturday.

Compounding the bad news, goaltender Vesa Toskala is questionable for the match-up after sustaining a leg/groin injury when Jason Blake cross-checked Chris Drury into the Toronto netminder. Blake got a penalty and the Leafs turned to Joey MacDonald.

Seeking to try and get his charges focused again, Maple Leafs coach Ron Wilson resorted to a dodgeball session Thursday, hoping to get his players to relax a little. Certainly the Rangers will be hoping that Toronto can hold off one more game before gaining some form.

For the Rangers, Donald Brashear missed the last game against the Kings with general soreness, and there’s no word yet as to whether he’ll be ready for the game tomorrow.

This could be a trap game for New York. They didn’t play well in their last outing against the aggressive forecheck of the Los Angeles Kings, and it could be a sign that the team’s early season form is starting to wane a little.

Monday October 19th vs. San Jose Sharks (3-3-1) – 7:00pm MSG
Game Preview
The Sharks visit The Garden Monday in the midst of a season high six game road trip – one of three such for the Sharks this season. Like the Rangers, they play Saturday against a weaker opponent in the Islanders. San Jose has gotten off to a slow start this season, losing two of their first three games, and coming to New York having been shutout in a 1-0 shootout loss to Phoenix, followed by 4-1 defeat in Washington last night.

San Jose is in the middle of the pack both scoring and defense-wise, averaging 3.00 goals a game, while allowing 3.14. Neither Evgeni Nabokov (2.88 GAA .904 SP) nor backup Tomas Griess have particularly impressive statistics early in the season, with Griess lasting all of 27 minutes in his only start so far this season.

The offense for the Sharks is decidedly top heavy, with only nine players having scored goals so far, and 14 of their 21 goals coming from just three players – Dany Heatley, Patrick Marleau and Devin Setoguchi.

There’s also plenty of supporting firepower from the likes of Joe Thornton – leads the team with ten points – while Dan Boyle and Rob Blake can provide offense from the blue line.

Former Rangers Manny Malhotra and Jed Ortmeyer signed up with the Sharks late in the Summer and will make their first trip to MSG in a San Jose uniform. Ortmeyer has just one goal in seven games, and Malhotra has been kept off the scoresheet entirely.

Last season the Rangers lost 3-2 in San Jose, battling back from a 3-1 deficit, but unable to capitalize on their opportunities.

Monday October 22nd vs. New Jersey Devils (3-2-0) – 7:00pm MSG
Game Preview
New York leads the season series 1-0 having beaten the Devils 3-2 at the Prudential Center during week one. The Devils have won three in the row, though it’s been hard work – two wins in the shootout, and the third a one-goal regulation win.

They face Atlanta and Carolina tonight and tomorrow, before getting a four day break ahead of Thursday’s first season visit to MSG. Just seven Devils have scored goals to date, and if you remove the two goals credited for the shootout wins, they’ve managed just 12 in 5 games for an average of 2.40 per game.

After two weeks the specials teams for New Jersey are in the middle of the pack, as is their 3.00 average goals allowed. New York has won 8 of the last 10 at MSG between the two teams, including 2 of 3 last year.

Summary
We’ve managed to predict 5 of the 7 games so far, though the Rangers have actually outperformed our expectations picking up two additional wins. This week the Rangers could once again run the table, but we’re thinking after the performance against the Kings that they’re due for a loss, and it’ll come at the hands of Toronto.

You might think we’re mad, but the Leafs gave the Rangers some troubles before the home team finally blew the game open, and we’re thinking Joey MacDonald – who has done well in the past against the Rangers – is a better goaltender than Toskala anyway. The goaltending change, plus some soul-searching will earn the Leafs their first two point game of the season.

On Monday we also fancy the Sharks. The Rangers used to dominate San Jose, but those days are gone and the team now has a potent first and partial second line. Nabokov is hot and cold, and if he gets hot he’ll give the Rangers trouble.

Rounding out the week we’re picking the home team Rangers over the Devils to put an end to the short losing streak.

Top 3 scorers from the past week
1. Vaclav Prospal – 6 points (2 goals, 4 assists)
2. Marian Gaborik – 4 points (2 goals, 2 assists)
2. Dan Girardi – 4 points (3 goals, 1 assist)
2. Ales Kotalik – 4 points (1 goal, 3 assists)

Season leaders
1. Marian Gaborik – 10 points (6 goals, 4 assists)
1. Vaclav Prospal – 10 points (3 goal, 7 assists)
3. Ales Kotalik – 7 points (3 goals, 4 assists)
3. Michael Del Zotto – 7 points (2 goals, 5 assists)
5. Brandon Dubisnky – 6 points (2 goals, 4 assists)

Goaltending from the past week
Henrik Lundqvist 2-0-0 .938 2.00
Stephen Valiquette 1-0-0 1.000 0.00

Season Goaltending
Henrik Lundqvist 5-1-0 .924 2.34
Stephen Valiquette 1-0-0 1.000 0.000

Special Teams
Power Play: 6 for 14 for the week 9 for 34 on the season moving up 16 spots (26.5 – 9th)
Penalty Kill: 13 for 15 for the week and 31 of 36 for the season. Percentage moved up 0.4, but they remain steady at 6th (86.1 – 6th) two shorthanded goals.

Injuries
Sean Avery returned to the line-up and played all three games this week. Donald Brashear missed Wednesday’s game against the Kings with unspecified soreness.

Transactions
October 9th – Evgeny Grachev returned to Hartford

Standings
The Rangers remain tied for first in the East with the Pittsburgh Penguins, both with a 6-1-0 record.