While it appears any chance Brendan Shanahan will play for the Rangers has past, he may suit up for one of their biggest rivals. The Philadelphia Inquirer is reporting that Shanahan and the Flyers’ general manager Paul Holmgrem have talked…

Lots of election talk at the morning skate, as one might expect. The Rangers have a healthy seven Americans on their roster, and while I didn’t put any on the spot to ask who they voted for (Brandon Dubinsky, for one, had already made clear to me that he’s not comfortable talking politics in public), [...]

Turning the page on the third period meltdown in Toronto should be easy for the Rangers — after all, they’ll have the NHL’s Second Star of the Month of October, Henrik Lundqvist, back in net when the Islanders invade the…

One of the benefits of being a Season Subscriber is a chance to interact with players and coaches at a Subscriber Forum. On Monday, one such forum featured Henrik Lundqvist, Markus Naslund, Dan Girardi and Ryan Callahan. View photos.

The last two minutes of Tuesday night’s Rangers-Islanders game were thrilling, as the Blueshirts nearly forced OT with spirited play. The first 58 minutes were another story, as the Isles managed to ride a hot goaltender, Joey MacDonald, to a 2-1 win.

The Rangers won the first, but are coming off a devastating third period loss against Toronto.

The Islanders lost the first, but are coming off an overtime victory against the Blue Jackets.

Two teams going in opposite directions? Not yet, but this game could determine such a thing.

Let’s not get brash, it’s one win for the Islanders and one loss for the Rangers, which is not enough to forget what each has done to this point in the season. The same reason you saw no mention of the debacle in the third period against Toronto, it’s a hiccup, not a tragedy.

But as we all know and love, the Rangers - Islanders rivalry is renewed tonight at Madison Square Garden.

From the Islanders perspective, they have nothing to lose. The Rangers defeated them at home, so there will be a need for revenge. They have played better of late and will look to carry that momentum into Manhattan. Playing a quick and pressure game and keeping the Rangers special teams at bay will be very important.

For the Rangers, they have a bit more to lose. It’s a home game against arguably their biggest rival. They need to recover from their last loss and show that they are indeed a complete team. Early will be key. The Rangers need to get to the young squad early on and maintain a physical game. Back-to-back is never easy so the Rangers have to wear the Islanders out in order to have success.

Yesterday, the Rangers fooled with some new line changes (again).

Naslund - Gomez - Callahan
Dawes - Drury - Prucha
Voros - Dubinsky - Zherdev
Sjostrom - Betts - Orr

These lines are the most balanced that the Rangers have. While Dan Fritsche and Pat Rissmiller will be sitting, you can see the parity and equity amongst these lines. Which line is the first? Which is the third? You can make an argument for all of them.

My predictions: Petr Prucha scores his first goal tonight. Wade Redden has a big game. Dubinsky has a stand out performance. The Isles Joey “Big Mac” and Mike Comrie also have strong games.

More to come…

(photo from NY Times)

List of Community Ice Arenas participating in Third Annual Rangers and Garden of Dreams Coat Drive:

Port Washington Skating Center (Port Washington, NY)
Aspen Ice (Flemington, NJ)
Playland Ice Casino (Rye, NY)
Sport-O-Rama (M…

The Rangers and the Garden of Dreams Foundation have teamed up with a number of community ice arenas to help keep New York’s children warm this winter.

The Rangers and Garden of Dreams will be conducting a children’s coat drive in November at M…

Get the puck in, get it out was the lesson reinforced in the video room of a 10-3-1 team by coach Tom Renney yesterday. That way, when you get knocked down, you can get back up. Saturday night in Toronto, the Rangers suffered a five alarm…