Blair Betts has a broken eye socket, for which the Capitals will be rewarded in tonight’s Game 7 by the privilege of using a player in the place of Donald Brashear. It will be a better one than the Washington goon, who put the Rangers’ valuable…

WE have only Jim Schoenfeld’s word for it that John Tortorella is remorseful for throwing a water bottle, brandishing a stick toward a fan and ending up suspended for a game in which the Rangers failed to nail down what would have been one of the…

FROM his penalty box high above Madison Square Garden, a forlorn John Tortorella presumably felt shame. Considering the ample bench experience of Jim Schoenfeld, the worst of the Tortorella’s water-bottle-firing and stick-threatening tantrum was…

The Rangers circled the wagons yesterday. Unfortunately for them, all the wheels came off. A day after learning that John Tortorella would be suspended for the potential closeout Game 6 at the Garden against the Capitals, the organization…

Though I am not ordinarily a superstitious person, I have a good feeling about tonight’s game. After skating for an hour and a half this morning, I came off the ice feeling good. I had some success today on something I have been working on for along time. In fact, I was hitting things fairly consistently [...]

The Rangers held a team meeting this morning during which they went around discussing some of their experiences in Game 7s. Not many of them have been through one before in the NHL, but tonight they’ll all see what it’s all about.

Game 7 in the Stanley Cup playoffs. I can’t say how the players feel, but those words alone give me butterflies.

After taking an informal poll of the media yesterday to ask how many people thought the Rangers had a chance to win this game - not a single hand went in the air - the coach continued to stress today that the pressure all falls on the Capitals because they’re playing in their rink, where nothing is expected of the Rangers. The Caps also are trying to avoid losing a second straight first-round Game 7 at home - the Flyers beat them here last year in overtime.

Still, it’s not as if the Rangers come in here with a completely clean slate, given that they’ve been outplayed for almost the entire series, and pronouncedly so in the last two games. A 1-0 lead tonight would be a huge, huge help.

“We’ve blown a 3-to-1 lead in the series, we’ve had some things going on around the team - we need to wipe it clean,” Tortorella said this morning at Verizon Center. “And it’s easy. To me, it’s easy in a Game 7, because it’s a final, it’s the final game of the series. And I think it’s a mindset that you can clear your head and play one game - it’s one game - and try to find your way. That’s what’s neat about it.”

Only four Rangers - Chris Drury, Scott Gomez, Wade Redden and Markus Naslund - have played in a seventh game in the Stanley Cup playoffs. (Drury, Gomez and Tortorella have been in the ultimate Game 7 - in Round 4.) The Rangers haven’t been to one since they won that ultimate Game 7 in 1994 (remember that one?).

As far as the Blueshirts’ lineup goes for tonight, with Blair Betts out Torts said he’s still trying to choose between dressing Colton Orr and Artem Anisimov, who was called up from Hartford and practiced with the team yesterday. With the Rangers sorely lacking in the offense department, Anisimov would bring the potential for a little pop - he scored 37 goals for the Wolfpack this season. But the 20-year-old Russian has played in one NHL game in his life, on Feb. 3 of this season at the Garden against Atlanta, in which he saw fairly scant ice time, especially late. (One argument for putting him in there is that this seems to be the series of 20-year-old Russians, and Simeon Varlamov turned 21 yesterday.)

On the Washington side, there’s a chance Caps captain Chris Clark could step into the lineup tonight in place of the suspended Donald Brashear. Clark hasn’t played since Jan. 27 because of a wrist injury.

And over at the Capitals’ skate in Arlington this morning, Bruce Boudreau was talking about how “Game 7s bring out the best in everybody,” but Tortorella doesn’t quite agree:

“Game 7s, you can get yourself so wrapped up and say, ‘Holy crap, it’s Game 7,’ and you go out there paralyzed,” Tortorella said. “It is a game of mistakes. Both teams are going to make them. … You need to allow yourself to play in this situation and not paralyze yourself. Some guys can do it and some guys can’t. Some guys get so uptight they do paralyze themselves, and they’re not going to be a factor in the game. Other guys just look at this as an opportunity and just allow themselves to play, free themselves. Those are going to be the better players.

“Do you accept it and enjoy it and look at it as an opportunity, or does it scare the hell out of you and you paralyze yourself? That’s how we’ll find out about players.

“I think it’s the greatest thing about sports, because some guys just thrive in these situations. A guy in this organization, Messier - he thrived in these types of situations. Other guys are hiding. I’m not sure if we’ll have any guys hiding tonight - we’ll find out.”

WASHINGTON — The Rangers have a chance here tonight in Game 7 against the Caps, you bet they do, the same chance the Americans had when they faced off against the Soviets at Lake Placid on Feb. 22, 1980. And if the Blueshirts somehow manage to…

Playoff intensity — that’s the subject of the cover of the April issue of Blueshirt Bulletin, now available by subscription or digitally vis Zinio. Some great photos from David Perlmutter and Getty Image’s Bruce Bennett capture the intensity of the…

Just for fun, let’s get some debate going. In preparation for tonight’s Game 7 contest at the Nation’s Capital, what are your guts telling you? Will the Rangers win their first Game 7 on the road OR will they blow…

Sorry so late with this post, everybody. I am sick as a dog today. Feel like I’ve got hockey pucks inside my sinuses and Donald Brashear sitting on my lungs.

But this is the biggest day of the season—and it will be the best day of the sea…