Last Night's Action: Columbus Clippers

Photograph of Colton Orr, left, checking Columbus Blue Jackets' Marc Methot by Jay LaPrete/AP

• Rangers 3 Columbus 1: It’s the health of the head coach that occupies the mind of the Rangers’ fan after this game. Tom Renney, took a vicious, but inadvertent stick to the head in the middle of the second period that knocked him out and sent him off the bench for the rest of the game. Renney said through a spokesperson that he is “hanging in there” but no official word has come down on the extent of his injuries.

  Ironically, the Rangers scored immediately after Renney was forced to leave the bench, tying the game at 1. Brandon Dubinsky added a goal shortly afterwards and Nikolai Zherdev scored in the third, his third point of the game, to provide the final margin. Zherdev must have particularly enjoyed his return to Columbus and the Rangers will have to hope he continues this level of play. The Rangers take the ice later today against Pittsburgh and they may or may not have their coach behind the bench.

• Philadelphia 6 Devils 3: Round one of the home-and-home goes to the Flyers, but New Jersey should have done better. The Devils scored just 47-seconds into the contest and despite falling behind 2-1, they led at the end of one 3-2. Philadelphia took it from there, scoring four-straight as they blitzed Martin Brodeur with only 27 shots.