29-11-4: Saw This Story Before

It is nice to see other teams have the same trouble with playing a full 60 the way the Rangers do. For the second straight game Nashville played for just one period but this time the result did not go in their favour. The Preds scored three goals in the first period against the Isles Monday and cruised to a 3-1 win. Well, Tuesday they faced a real franchise and found Henrik Lundqvist more than up to the challenge in the first period. Hank held tough and Preds retracted their claws the rest of the way, gifting the Rangers a 3-0 win.

The Blueshirts seem to be in a little cycle - they played terribly against Ottawa and bounced back against a tired and largely uninterested Toronto team. Then they played terrible against Montreal and bounced back against a tired and largely uninterested Nashville team. Where the Rangers amped up their checking to wear down the Leafs early, they just let the Preds punch themselves out before going on to the win.

We just have to hope that they can break the cycle and crush the injury-ravaged Pens on Thursday.

Late Hits:

*Very interesting that the Predators decided to start Rinne against the Isles and Lindback - he of the .893 save percentage - against the Rangers. They put their starter in to get the 'guaranteed' points while playing the backup in the game with more of a dubious outcome. Plenty of teams do that - Carolina did it last year for one - and it showed that the Ranger reputation has grown.

*Most of the Ranger success this season can be attributed to Henrik Lundqvist and yet again the Rangers stood by when their goaltender got ran. Marty Erat hit the King and no one did anything other than offer some (likely) harsh words. Erat was called for goaltender interference. The Blueshirts were up 2-0 and their power play is terrible, so there shouldn't have been any fear of negating the call - which ended up happening thanks to a poor high sticking call for what actually was Predator on Predator violence. Hank got hit a few times in Montreal too, and has taken plenty of contact this season. I thought having a goon on the team was supposed to discourage that kind of thing but so far Mike Rupp has only fought to justify his fellow neanderthals' careers. (Shocked he didn't take on Brian McGrattan, who took a few spins looking for a tussle.)

*Big, big fan of Carl Hagelin - as is well known - but he extended his goal drought to eight games. He got a charity assist on Girardi's fluke goal but he hasn't been able to put the puck in. His speed is tantalizing and he has worked hard to move up the lineup but perhaps it is time to put him back with John Mitchell full time, as the two worked quite well together. In fact, it was Hagelin's forecheck that set up the play that Mitch scored on.

*That defensive play Del Zaster made in the second period? Best play he has made the entire season. Credit definitely due and given. No credit for the other 23 mediocre minutes he played though ...

*For the Swiss out there, Roman Josi was nothing special. Sorry. I watched him and rookie Ryan Ellis closely and came away unimpressed. Both have talent, but neither have tapped it yet and it is hard to say if they will be able to in Nashville's system.

*Oh, Brad Richard$. He has to realize that his ex was one of the most unfunny, uninteresting people to contribute to the Daily Show ever and get over her already. Another sub-par performance by the big-money signing.

*Brian Boyle played a motivated game but still choked when he had a chance to score. Old school Ranger fans, help me out here - is Boyle indeed the biggest waste of size since Willie Huber?

*Dubi made his return and was largely silent. But the two or three times he did get involved (that blocked Weber shot for one) the Garden crowd was quick to recognize his contribution with Duuuuuuubbbbbbbbs. Ruslan Fedotenko did not receive the same recognition.

*Saw the Garden put tweets up from people claiming there was a playoff-like atmosphere and that the place was going crazy. Um, no. Was the building dead? Far from it. Was it electric? Not even close.

*Arty and Stuuuuu were both in the doghouse and for good reason. Poor Stu made a poor play early on that gave Nashville a good scoring chance and Arty was a whole lot of nothing yet again. Guess after playing him up and down the lineup Torts decided a benching might be a better motivator. Not so sure that will work with him but we will find out soon enough.

*There was a guy in my section (329) wearing a yellow Preds jersey with Mike Fisher's #12 and the Underwood nameplate. Ridiculous. I did not get a good picture, sorry, but I did yell "Carrie, sit the hell down" at one point.

*PHW Three Stars
3-Brandon Prust - Um, nothing.
2-Dan Girardi - one goal.
1-Henrik Lundqvist - 27 saves.

Scotty Hockey Three Stars
3-Hagelin - Bork, bork, bork.
2-McDonagh - One of Mac's best performances in a month. He probably played a little too much but with Staal slowly rounding into form his minutes will go down and this experience will only help.
1-Hank - The King helped the Rangers survive the early onslaught and avoided allowing any soft goals.

14-10-1: Two Out Of Three Ain't Bad

The Rangers will head back into the Garden for their matchup against the evil Penguins on a high note after beating Nashville 3-2 in a shootout on Saturday night. As it has been of late, it was a game where a few guys put their oars in the water and pulled the entire ship but they pulled hard enough to win.

There is cause for celebration as the team is heading in the right direction. After two periods of putrid play in Tampa, the boys have slowly picked things up. They took advantage of the Bolts to make the scoreline look respectable, then won despite being outplayed in Florida and tonight beat a well-coached grinding team at their own game. We'll see if they can keep this upward swing when they face Pittsburgh and their cronies the officials on Monday.

Just going to get right into it:

*Erik Christensen is infuriating. Mr. Softie the Backstabber blatantly kicked the puck in the net, then proceeded to miss a pair of perfect chances that were gift wrapped for him. He had those opportunities because he was standing around while his linemates were battling around him. The so-called skill guy doesn't seem to have chemistry with anyone other than Gaborik and can be pushed off the puck quite easily (more on another Ranger like that later). When his mistakes were presented to him during an intermission interview, he didn't seem the least bit upset. So, with the hate still seething from my pores, Christy goes on to score a pretty goal in the shootout. Sonofa... In the postgame interview he admitted to using the same move he does every time, which goes to show that Pekka Rinne doesn't do his homework. As @mleetch352 pointed out to me, Christy can score in the skill competition "maybe because there is no threat of being hit by the other team?"

*Those aforementioned interviews, by the way, came with Dave Maloney seemingly inside a dark closet. What, MSG can't afford lighting? Even a small lamp atop the camera would have been better than looking at Mr. Softie cloaked in shadow, like a Sith lord or something.

*The King, meanwhile, showed that he has regained a bit of his form. While he was hardly tested by the Panthers, the Predators came right at him and he made several big saves. None were better than the one he made on a early break by Martin Erat, even if the Nashville goal came moments later.

*That goal came on Dan Girardi's stickhandling gaffe. It was a bouncing puck and it tantalized the usually steady blueliner - instead of turning and holding off the oncoming Wilson, Girardi started towards the boards but still didn't have possession and Carey's kid came in and scored. Random interesting thing about Carey, by the way, was the Rangers dealt him to Hartford with a third round pick for Jody Hull. The interesting part? The Whale selected Michael Nylander with that pick.

*It is sad that the current state of the Ranger power play makes me long for the Nylander/Jagr days because the power play sucked then too. But at least back then they were able to get the puck in the zone and stay there for a while. The current man advantage men are just awful, primarily because of MDZ. How long will we wait for something to click with this kid?

*Dubi, Cally, Avery, Prust, Girardi, Staal and Sauer all deserve attaboys for their efforts. Granted, Avery got his ass kicked by an eskimo but he can't be accused of lollygagging. Those guys make up the core of this team and who knows where we would be without them. Stepan has had games where he is right there with them but he clearly is still getting his skates under him.

*No, I didn't include Arty in that. Some credit must be given for his attempts to be more active than he was in Florida but I counted three times where he stickhandled into coverage and simply gave up possession of the puck. Most of his goals this season have come from sheer opportunism - it is nice that he has scored them but for a big, skilled kid he needs to be able to initiate the action with hard work instead of just capitalizing on others' efforts.

*Todd White played nearly 10 minutes. Could you tell? Me neither.

*Rozy returned to the lineup, weren't you excited to see him? Me neither. Rozsival clearly had his share of rust and yet Torts still gave him 22:22 of ice time, including more than two minutes with the man advantage. His timing was off, his positioning was off and he contributed little. Maybe it wasn't rust, because that is just like how he was before the injury ...

*Do you like Alex Frolov? Me neither. I would guess that noone, outside of his mother, does at this point. This guy is just awful and he is making three mil for it. Once he loses his spot on the top three lines once Prospal, Dru and Gabby come back, perhaps Sather can send him to Hartford and bring up a grinder like Dale Weise or Brodie Dupont. Brodie, by the way, might actually win a few faceoffs - something the Rangers struggle to do. That would be moot if MZA's acclimation to North America would go faster.

*MZA, by the way, had a four-game point streak (three goals and three assists) snapped tonight against Bridgeport. The team had 45 shots and MZA accounted for just two, not counting a blown attempt in the shootout. The Whale's new goon Stu Bickel had five shots, an assist and a fight.

*PHW Three Stars
3-Pekka Rinne - 23 saves.
2-Erik Christensen - shootout goal.
1-Henrik Lundqvist - 29 saves.

Scotty Hockey Three Stars
3-Jerred Smithson - It is hard to pick just one of the grinding Predators - Goc and Ward also deserved consideration - but Smithson kept winning faceoffs, allowing Nashville to control play.
2-Cally - Callahan certainly needs a nickname and seeing how Little Ball of Hate is taken, is Captain acceptable? Well that handle will come in two seasons ...
1-Dubi - Hank may have made a few saves, Christy may have scored the game winner but Dubi was the best player on the ice by far. He was incredibly frustrating last season but that was because of his inconsistency - something he clearly has improved upon this season.

Peepin' Foes Preview Edition: Nashville Predators

Ah, Nashville. Another Western Conference opponent we have rarely seen, and one we really didn't get to see last year as one of the 'great blizzards' swept through New York City and kept thousands of True Blue away from the Garden back in February. The Preds are also the one team that many people who do the name-all-the-NHL-teams tests often forget. It is easy to overlook the epitome of mediocrity in the NHL - they have an unassuming coach, a simple system and no superstars. Barry Trotz has yet to win a Jack Adams Award but he does deserve it for getting so much out of so little year after year.

Familiar Foes: No Jason Arnott anymore but a lot of the foot soldiers still remain - Steve Sullivan, David Legwand, JP Dumon, Martin Erat, Francis Bouillon, etc. The closest thing to stars they have are defensemen Shea Weber and Ryan Suter and goaltender Pekka Rinne. A big, technically solid Finn, Rinne may actually buck the Nashville trend of upstart goaltenders promptly losing their jobs to their backups. Patric Hornqvist came out of nowhere to save fantasy teams around the world last year with a 30 goal season but who knows if he will be able to avoid the sophomore slump. The big albino Wade Belak and the little annoying eskimo Jordin Tootoo are still providing the sandpaper in the Music City - setting up nice matchups for Boogaard and Avery/Cally. Colin Wilson - Carey's kid - scored a goal in the one game in the Garden last year and should be better in an injury-free season.

N00bz: When Arnott jumped ship David Poile picked up Matt Lombardi to replace him. Lombardi has never scored more than 20 goals before (in Calgary or Phoenix) but never was called upon to be the man like he is now. The Preds will hope Trots can bring out his best, same with former Ranger Jamie Lundmark and the lesser Kostitsyn, Sergei.

Last Year: Wednesday, February 10th, a 2-1 Nashville win.

This Year: Saturday, November 27th in Nashville.

What They Mean To Blue: A gut check. The game against the Predators comes at the back end of a stretch of six games in nine days, five of which are on the road, four are in a pair of back-to-backs - this one being the night after a Panther game.

26-27-7: No Shows

Apparently the announced attendance of the Ranger 2-1 loss to Nashville was just over 13,000. That is a lot of no-shows for the Garden but the most important people who didn't show up were the Rangers. Outside of a handful of players, the Blueshirts put in a half-hearted effort without Marian Gaborik. Henrik Lundqvist was great. Ryan Callahan skated his ass off but had a case of Higgins-itis. Enver Lisin got several great scoring chances but bless him, he just isn't good enough to take advantage of them. The rest of the team ... meh. It was as lackluster as always where many of the players disappeared for long stretches before making a late, ultimately futile push for an equalizer.

All that being said, credit must be given to Barry Trotz, Dan Ellis and the Nashville defense. They were all great with Trotz outcoaching Torts, Ellis making some good saves and the blueline helping him clear rebounds before the Rangers eventually decided to go after them. Torts decided to play seven defensemen for some reason, claiming that the other six guys were banged up. Well, if they are banged up then they shouldn't be playing, especially at the expense of being able to roll four lines. Cally played 27 minutes. That is insane! And he will be playing at least three extra games over the Olympic break so let's work on burning him out now, right?

It would have been nice for some other player to come through in the clutch ... you know, some player. I don't know who. Perhaps the one that had that "Captain Clutch" nickname before he came to New York? The one making over eight million dollars this season. You know who, right? Nahhhhhhh. That guy is only on the ice on power plays and in big situations, when he could possibly come through? The captain continues to underwhelm and Tortorella should keep him on the fourth line rather than bouncing him around the lineup so he can waste important ice time. Don't get me wrong, I will root for the guy in Vancouver, I just wonder why he will be there.

*And why the hell is he sent over the boards again and again on the power play? Drury has one power play assist and no goals in over his last 32 games. And our power play sucks. You do the math.

*The lone Ranger goal came off a lucky bounce, with the puck rebounding off the boards back to Dan Ellis and Vinny Prospal blindly swinging his stick at it to knock it in. It may have been the only time in the match where a Ranger was that close to the crease.

*Predators go-ahead goal was a power play goal after Michael Del Zotto was given a double minor. MDZ took a borderline penalty and then argued with the referee and got a unsportsmanlike. After the Rangers killed the first two, the Preds scored on the next two (more on that in a sec) and Torts blew a gasket on the kid. Was MDZ wrong to argue? Sure. Was it a rookie mistake? Sure. The kid was upset - which is something Redden and Rozsival don't seem to be despite constant mistakes and blunders.

*And it was a blunder by Rozy that gave up the power play goal. Now I don't know about you guys, but when I learned to play defense I was taught that, like crossing the streams, clearing the puck up the middle was baaaad. Rozy blindly launched the puck up the middle and it hit Cally, bounced to Colin Wilson and Carey's kid scored. Did Tortorella yell at Rozsival? Not that we saw...

*Jordin Tootoo had a goal on six shots. Sean Avery had no goals and one shot. Just sayin'.

*Considering how tightly knit the Nashville defense was, it would have been nice to see Prust and Boyle (and Voros if he was dressed) to go in and knock some heads around for a shift or two. They were used sparingly by Tortorella and played like they were on a tight leash.

*Voros was out so Torts could dress the extra defenseman - going back to the aforementioned 'banged up' starting six. Seeing as none of them played any worse than they usually do, I have to ask if it was just a chance for the Rangers and other teams to get a look at Corey Potter. Torts has never trusted him to date so what changed? Well, the trade deadline is coming up and Potter will be a RFA this summer. What a co-in-key-dink.

*I know many of you guys like Arty Anisimov but this kid is just infuriating me more and more. There is skill there - that is for certain - but there is something missing that just has kept him from putting pucks in the net. Perhaps the break will help, perhaps a trip to Hartford would. Just FYI, the AHL operates as normal through the Olympics.

*As I mentioned on Twitter, when MSG showed Hank's Team Sweden mask, Sam Rosen pointed out the "Olympic Circles" on the back. Seriously. Olympic Circles. They are rings Sam, rings. I guess after a while a bit of Micheletti had to wear off ...

*And speaking of the Olympics, I am heading west on Thursday to spend a few days in Seattle prior to Amtraking up to Vancouver. I will do my best to catch Friday and Sunday's game but no guarantees. As for as the Olympics go, I have tix to eight games in four days before I have to head back so I should be posting something each night, so stay tuned!

*PHW Three Stars
3-Henrik Lundqvist - 34 saves.
2-Colin Wilson - one goal.
1-Dan Ellis - 37 saves.

Scotty Hockey Three Stars
3-Dan Hamhuis - Best of the Predator blueliners, Hamhuis looked better than Weber and even Klein (the guy who took the shot that scored the first goal of the game).
2-Ellis - The dude did the splits to make a save late in the third period. That has just gotta hurt ...
1-Hank - MSG caught the goaltender walking down the tunnel and hitting the garbage can with his stick for the umpteenth time this season. The poor guy has been hung out to dry so often it is just embarrassing and this night was no different as he could not be blamed for either goal against.

Peepin' Foes: Nashville Predators

The Rangers are due to battle the Nashville Predators on Wednesday night at the Garden at 7 p.m. (MSG).

Even with local television making the forecast sound like the coming of the apocalypse, the odds of the game being cancelled are slim. For one, the NHL played the NBC Caps/Pens game on schedule despite a state of emergency due to snow. And for two, New York is a real city - no reason to close down for something so petty as a few inches of snow. Of course, the LIRR has already put out a warning that 10 inches will shut down the system so my personal four year streak of not missing a regular season home game is in jeopardy. And not the fun kind with Alex Trebek.

Where We Are: Coming off of a huge win over the Devils on Saturday. They've actually had two straight days of practice, which hasn't happened in a month.

Where They Are: Nashville lost Tuesday in a shootout on the Island. The Fishermen had their triple backup goalie Biron in the net so it was all the more embarrassing. However, they are in seventh in the West with 67 points in 59 games; the Rangers sit in 10th with 59 in 59.

Who To Watch For: They are doing quite well without having and real standout scorers. The neck-less Barry Trotz has them playing such a great team game on both sides of the ice that the entire team is dangerous - from Hank's soon-to-be-teammate on Sweden Patric Hornqvist down to Milwaukee call-up Cal O'Reilly, who scored his first goal against the Isles. That being said, old Devil foe Jason Arnott is always dangerous, as is Martin Erat.

What To Watch For: The Rangers giving too much room to the Pred blueliners, who are all capable of blasting the puck on goal. Ryan Suter, Shea Weber, Cody Franson all have incredible shots that they are not afraid to take. If Francis Bouillon has a decent game, rumour has it that Sather may swing a deal for him (and despite his name, Bouillon is a NY native). Joel Ward broke free for a gorgeous breakaway goal on the Isles and can turn on the jets just like that. Dan Ellis can get hot and run away with games - just ask Chris Mason - seeing as Pekka Rinne started against the Isles, we are likely to see @dellis39.

What We'll (Hopefully) See: No snow. Another outstanding effort from the Rangers, including Chris Drury - he has a one game scoring streak. Marian Gaborik not to show any signs of injury from his cut in practice (see! that's what happens when we start talkin' bout practice!). Hank shutting down Hornqvist. Sean Avery not wasting time with Jordin Tootoo but Brandon Prust beating down Wade Belak after the albino does something dumb.

Also Check Out: The local MSM guy is John Glennon SBN has On The Forecheck, Nashville's Sommet Center has born Section 303, See Puck City is good, as is What the Puck?

Welcome Back Jed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Even though Puck Daddy made a snide comment in his Death Watch today about it, he did alert us to some fantastic news - Jed has made it back to the NHL!!!!!!!

From the Preds homepage:

Nashville Predators President of Hockey Operations/General Manager David Poile announced today that the club has recalled forward Jed Ortmeyer from the Milwaukee Admirals of the American Hockey League.

Ortmeyer, 30 (9/3/78), has 23 points (10g-13a) in 55 games since joining the Admirals on Dec. 3, 2008 – he missed the first 24 games of the season due to a knee injury sustained in Nashville’s game against Dallas on Feb. 23, 2008, his last NHL game played. In 2007-08 – his first season with the Predators – the Omaha, Neb., native played in 51 games, recording four goals and four assists.

Since 2003-04, the 6-1, 188-pound right wing has played in 228 career NHL contests, tallying 32 points (13g-19a).

After the aforementioned knee injury Jed had blood clot issues again and he battled to get back on the ice. He did it and he now has made it back to the show. I hope he sticks, he deserves it.

Go Jed!!!!!

35-25-8: Hoo Wee, A Win In Tennessee!

Could this game be the St. Louis of this season? The Rangers blew a lead to the Blues when Sean Avery first came to town and Avery helped power the team to a comeback victory. Well, Sean seems to have found his form and was a profound pain in the ass to the Predators and it helped propel his team to a 4-2 victory.

Each team gave up a fluke goal that their goaltenders should have stopped, each team got a bad goal in off of a defenseman's skate but just one team had Avery. Sean set the tempo early and the Rangers followed. When they sat back at the end of the period John Tortorella apparently reignited the fire and the Blueshirts outplayed the Preds the rest of the way. Because Torts benched Nik Zherdev for halfassed play, that left Avery to play alongside Scott Gomez and Ryan Callahan and they overwhelmed Nashville. He finally gave Callahan someone to skate with and turned Gomez back into a real hockey player - put that together and you have two points in the standings.

This was tremendous for the Rangers as they head into the tough home-and-home with Philly. They will have one helluva fight ahead of them so for the team to show some moxy in coming from behind to win this one was huge. It was fun to watch and hopefully is a sign of things to come. After so many months of dreary hockey and dread, this is just awesome. Let's go Rangers.

*Continuing my love affair with the fourth line - they saw limited action but created chances when they were out there together. And on the penalty kill, there aren't many better than Betts and Sjostrom. Torts had them split up through much of the first kill in the third period but were able to reunite them and Sjo scored a one timer on a great play by Bettsy. Win the faceoff, take advantage of the pointman's mistake, use your speed to get free and make a perfect pass to your partner. Money. Too many times this season we saw the other team do that so it was great to see the Blueshirts net a pretty shortie.

*Yes, Hank won his 30th game to become the first goaltender to get 30 in his first four seasons but seriously, it doesn't matter. They used to have these things called "ties" back in the day that takes the luster off of this achievement.

*For months I called for Dan Girardi to be paired with Marc Staal. They were together for most of one shift early in the season and looked great but no matter how much Tom Renney juggled his lines, he never juggled the D. Tortorella came in, put the two RANGER PRODUCTS together and finally had a worthy first pairing on the blueline.

*It is quite easy to mock hockey in Tennessee but it looked like the Preds had a really good crowd there - a lot more than the Isles and Devils get at home.

*With all of that second period talk of Nik Zherdev being in "Chateau Bow Wow" was there anyone else who got extremely mad at Joe? Ok, we can accept that he isn't J.D. but several years later he still has no chemistry with Sam and still has no clue. Coming out of the next break he was 'analyzing' two Hank saves and said that the "puck went back to whoever followed up the play and Lundqvist made the save." Whoever. ARG!!!!!!

*Kinda OT: Fox Soccer Channel has a fun show where they get fans of opposing teams to call the EPL games together. I think that would be really fun - call a game the way I saw it, with someone sitting alongside as an easy target for rooting for the wrong team ...

*Totally OT: The Two Brothers Scrap Metal makes me laugh, every time. Apparently teenage girls have a lot of scrap metal lying around their homes and they talk about it with their hot little friends.

*Markus Naslund got pinned with two first period penalties. While he could be excused for the interference call - Scott Nichol came under him and got caught - the other was a too many men on the ice where Nazzy just jumped over the boards. Senior moments like that just can't be allowed and you have to hope that the Rangers make up for the mistake of signing him and buy him out this summer.

*Nice to see Wade Redden playing his game. He lofted a shot at the Nashville net that was easily blocked and then was grossly out of position as the Preds went the other way on a breakaway - with Redden trying to waterski back. What a useless clown. We need to come up with a good nickname for him. Just throwing this out there - Wade "Out and Drown" Redden.

*Derek Morris finally contributed to the Blueshirts, drawing a penalty late in the second period. For a big money defenseman who was acquired for three players, it is about time Morris did something positive. Then again, Morris was a huge help to Hank and the rest of the team tonight by allowing Tortorella to give less ice time to his new partner, Redden. Point of observation, Petr Prucha had a power play point, giving him four points in four games with Phoenix.

*Better beard: Paul Mara or Greg Zanon? Mara looks more like a lumberjack but Zanon's looked immaculately kept.

*KGB Watch: Nik Antropov contributed virtually nothing. While he went to the net once or twice, he sat back and watched the play more often then not. Nik Zherdev also sat back and watched - because he was benched. The mercurial forward got an assist on the opening goal and then made a half-assed play that led to a Nashville goal and spent the rest of the night on the bench. That is what we call accountability. Now if only Tortorella would use that on Redden and/or Rozy ...

*I'm serious, before every game someone needs to sneak into Chris Drury's room while he is napping and repeat "you are playing the Islanders tonight, you are playing the Islanders tonight. The Islanders." How he can be so big in those games and so small in others is beyond me. However, he did win nine of 10 faceoffs so at least he contributed something tonight.

*Stat of the night: Rozy was awarded with four hits while Avery and Callahan were credited with just one. I think that pretty much proves that no one in Nashville knows anything about hockey.

*PHW Three Stars
3-Henrik Lundqvist - 19 saves.
2-Ryan Callahan - two assists.
1-Scott Gomez - one goal and two assists.

Scotty Hockey Three Stars
3-Gomez - New coach, new pain-in-the-ass linemate and Gomez has gotten his lackadaisical ass in gear. Whether he was shamed into playing hard or not, Gomez matched the intensity of his linemates and is finally playing as well has he did when he helped the evil Devils win a Cup.
2-Avery - What can you say? Sean is back. Sure, he still took a few spills on the ice but his hands are matching his mouth and he is playing smart, pestering hockey. He is clearly the sparkplug that gets the Ranger engine running.
1-Cally - I used to call Cally the 'new Little Ball of Hate' after he looked like he would step into the Pat Verbeek role. He is not Beeker - he isn't nearly as surly. However, he is just as energetic and makes just as big an impact with his relentless physical play. Cally has played this hard all season long and now that he has linemates working as hard as he does, it is paying off.

Peepin' Foes: Nashville Predators

She-yoot, while NASCAR nation takes a week off to prepare for the calamity that is racing in Bristol, the Rangers are down to cause some calamity in Tennessee against the Predators on Thursday. Somehow I don't think a lotta Dale Jr. fans are going to fill the Sommet Center to see the crashes and collisions (between Wade Redden and Michal Rozsival, as the puck slides right past them).

All kidding aside, it is sad to see that the Predators will not have Scotty Hockey favourite Jed Ortmeyer in their lineup. After a knee injury last year, Jed had more blood clots that cost him the start of this season. He got back on the ice but has been unable to get out of Milwaukee. He is doing pretty well - 21 points in 45 games - despite playing on a team that features Huge Mistake Hugh Jessiman. Well, congrats to him on making it back to playing, those blood clots are serious business. At least he gets to wear the best jerseys in professional hockey. But back to our game ahead:

Where We Are: Struggling for our playoff lives. After a pathetic performance in Carolina, the Rangers need to get points where they can and Nashville needs to be two points that they get. Especially seeing as coming up after this is a home and home with Philly that it is quite difficult to be optimistic for.

Where They Are: The Rangers will be the third Eastern team the Pred face in a row and Nashville lost the first two - a 4-1 smacking at the hands of the Flyers and a 2-1 OT loss to the Caps. Nashville is currently holding down the last playoff spot in the West, even though they have five less points than the Rangers, who are ninth in the East.

Who To Watch For: Jason Arnott is just as big, just as skilled and more experienced then he was when he was a Ranger killer with the Devils. I heart Stevie Sullivan, who battled all the way back to the NHL after nearly two years off dealing with back issues. Shea Weber, the defenseman, has 211 shots - that is more than any Blueshirt aside from Scott Gomez. Gomez has two more shots but two less goals 15. And Gomez is a first line center. But with Weber, Dan Hamhuis, Ryan Suter and Greg Zanon, Nashville's defense blows the Blueshirts way. Outside of Zanon, the other three are young and have scary skills.

What To Watch For: A stellar performance by Pekke Rinne. Somehow the young Finn has been lost in the rookie of the year conversations despite some top notch work. He is carrying a 2.27 gaa and .921 save percentage after unseating apparent one-year-wonder Dan Ellis. With Hank suffering from stomach issues (even though he says he's fine), the Ranger net will not be as well protected as Nashville's. Outside of the paint, see if the Rangers have any chemistry as the new coach has decided to start the line juggling. Nice to see Borat Antropov already claiming injury - the same thing he did when they put the screws on him in Toronto.

What We'll (Hopefully) See: Wade Belak - the former goon of the Leafs - is plodding along for the Preds. It would be nice to see Colton Orr make short work of him but you never know, Belak may get lucky like he did against No Brains Brashear. Hopefully we will also see a Avery/Tootoo tilt, just because it would be funny.

Also Check Out: The Mighty Mirtle actually took a road trip to NASCAR land to check out the Grand Ole Opry and you can check his impression of the city in Part 1 and Part 2. He managed to find someone literate down there to write about the Preds for SBN at On The Forecheck although one of Hockey's Ladies of Greatness is a Pred blogger so you should also give her a glance, hehe.

Yeah Jed!! Good Luck!!

In a small piece of news that went under the radar last week, former Ranger fan favourite Jed Ortmeyer returned to professional hockey. Unfortunately it is not in the NHL:

The Predators reassigned the 30-year-old right wing to Milwaukee of the American Hockey League on Wednesday after sending him through waivers. Ortmeyer had missed all of training camp and the entire season because of a blood clot in his leg. --The Tennessean, 12-4-08

Being as he went unclaimed through waivers down to the A, Jed will have to really shine if he is to make it back to the NHL this season. The good news is that he is off to a great start with an assist in his first game and the game winning goal in his third! As I went on a futile quest for photos of Jed's goal, I found that the Quad City beat writer attributed it to a Mike Ortmeyer, but it was certainly our boy; gotta love small town journalism. Coincidentally, another former Ranger property - Huge Mistake Hugh Jessiman - was out with an injury for Milwaukee.

Sadly the Admirals (who have the coolest logo in all of sport) do not have any more games in the NY/CT area this season so we won't get a chance to see him wearing the skull and bones. Nonetheless, we want to wish Jed the best of luck from a distance and hopefully he will make it back to the big show before too long!!

NHL Four-cast: Nashville Predators

1 - Why is this team worth watching? Well, I watch to see former Ranger Jed Ortmeyer (get well soon!) but for someone not in the Jed fanclub, you should tune in to see Jordin Tootoo. Tootoo is the Little Ball of Hate for the new generation and is a little crazy to boot. Other than that ... well, I donno what to tell you. They play some up-tempo hockey but don't necessarily have the guns to pull it off, at least not yet.

2 - Are they better or worse than last year? Worse. They gave away puck-mover Marek Zidlicky, goaltender Chris Mason and tough guy Darcy Hordichuk while acquiring a few minor leaguers and some draft picks. And you can't forget that sniper Alex Radulov jumped ship to go to home. So all of that adds up to one happy fanbase. All five of those guys must be pissed!

3 - Who should YOU draft in fantasy? J.P. Dumont and Jason Arnott are both good for 70 points while the streaky Martin Erat should come in around 60. Ryan Suter is on his way to becoming a top flight defenseman and he is good for numbers across the board - points, plus/minus and PIM. Shea Weber will get a lot of ice time as well and he likes to shoot the puck. Dan Ellis put up some magical numbers last season so it will be interesting to see how he handles the burden of being a starter. If Steve Sullivan can actually make it back to the NHL from the back problems that kept him out of the league last year, then he will certainly be worth grabbing. But he is no Mario so I don't think we will see him again and that is a shame because he was a helluva player.

4 - What should we re-name this team ('cause Predators is lame)? Back in the early '80s there was minor, minor league hockey in Nashville named the Southern Stars. Why the hell didn't they go with that? It would have been fantastic and endearing and I would imagine that the jersey wouldn't end up on a zombie somewhere.