B R O A D W A Y***B L U E S H I R T S

Rangers Go After History Tonight @ The Garden




By Jim Cerny, newyorkrangers.com

When they square off with the Buffalo Sabres at Madison Square Garden tonight, the Rangers will look to accomplish something that no other Blueshirts squad has done in the long history of the organization -- start a season with six consecutive victories.

Having won five straight games since the first drop of the puck in Prague against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Oct. 4, the Rangers equaled the best start in franchise history with an impressive 4-1 victory over the New Jersey Devils on Monday evening at MSG. With that win, the Blueshirts now have recorded a pair of victories in Prague, two at The Garden, and one on the road, cumulatively outscoring the opposition 16-8 along the way.


Center Brandon Dubinsky is tied for Rangers' scoring lead with three goals and seven points in the first five games. His co-leader is linemate Aaron Voros.
“We haven’t been perfect, even though our record is perfect, so we have to remember how we got ourselves here with all the hard work,” said goaltender Henrik Lundqvist, who has surrendered just five goals in his first four starts this season. “To start off the season like this is a good feeling; and right now we are just going to try and make this go as far as possible.”

The Rangers, who allowed the fifth-fewest goals in the National Hockey League last season, are once again playing stifling defense in 1008-09, and that certainly has been the backbone to the club’s successful start to the season.

In addition, the Rangers’ specialty teams have been dominant, as the club has yet to allow a power play goal in 21 times shorthanded, and its own power play has notched five goals with the man advantage, several of which have been game-changing, or game-deciding, scores.

“Both units have been excellent, and that’s a credit to Perry (Pearn), who knows what I like to see in both cases,” Rangers head coach Tom Renney said, referring to his assistant, who is in charge of running the special teams. “We have personnel that badly wants to execute what we think will work. And you have to pay a price, and certainly the guys are doing that right now.”

What has also stood out in the season’s first five games is the club’s tremendous overall work ethic and commitment, which has been obvious not only during special-teams play, but in even-strength battles, as well. During a summer of sweeping change for the Rangers organization, that is the one area Renney hoped to see most from his club this year.

“I think our guys recognize that it’s a very special year for lots of reasons,” said Renney. “We don’t have some very good players here with us anymore, and some good men that are not with us. And I think those in our leadership group have really decided they have to step up and respond accordingly.”

Long before the club headed to Europe to begin the new season, the Rangers head coach saw something special in his core group of players.

“Guys like Chris (Drury) and Scotty (Gomez) were here in very early September, with Henrik shortly after that, and all of a sudden there’s this congregation of contract players here by the 7th or 8th of September working their butts off every single day on the ice, off the ice (prior to the start of training camp), with their commitment to being in great shape and having a great attitude, and that takes on a life of its own,” said Renney.

Lundqvist does not disagree with his coach, but he also believes that the newcomers to the team deserve a lot of credit for the Rangers’ early success, too.

“We have a lot of new guys, who obviously want to show that they’re the right man for the job, and they want to keep their spot, and they have to work hard to do that,” noted Lundqvist. “And then you have all of the young guys who feel more responsible for what’s going on out there this year.”

Standing in the way of the current Rangers squad’s spot in the record books is a Buffalo Sabres team that has played very stingy defense in winning its first two matches of the season. The Sabres, backstopped by Ryan Miller, beat the Canadiens 2-1 in a shootout last Friday night, and then blitzed the Islanders 7-1 with Patrick Lalime in goal on Monday on Long Island.

Miller likely will start against the Rangers tonight; and he will be looking for some payback after dropping all four starts against the Blueshirts last season, while accumulating a very high 3.68 goals against average in those contests. Of course, it was the Rangers who sought retribution against Miller and his Buffalo teammates a year ago after the Sabres had bounced the Blueshirts from the playoffs in the spring of 2007.

The Rangers will need to be aware of Buffalo winger Thomas Vanek tonight. The talented Vanek has started quickly this season with two goals and five points in the first two games. However the Rangers will catch a break, because the Sabres will play without three of their centermen -- Jochen Hecht, Tim Connolly, and Paul Gaustad -- who are all nursing injuries.

“We’re focused on that first period of the Buffalo game, not on setting any records,” stated center Brandon Dubinsky. “We’re going to treat every game like it’s important.”

After the Blueshirts host Buffalo on Wednesday, they will welcome the Toronto Maple Leafs into MSG on Friday night, the front end of back-to-back weekend matches that concludes with a tilt against the Red Wings in Detroit on Saturday.

Valli in nets tonight

no korpi or prucha,

dawes and fritsche are in .

:eek: