Rangers 4, Islanders 1: Two days after having their dramatic rally ruined in a shootout, the Rangers crushed the Islanders, 4-1, and continued their surge at the season's most critical times. They drew Wade Dubielewicz in goal -- Rick DiPietro had missed too much time following the death of his grandmother -- but most goalies would have had trouble Thursday. The Rangers led this one 89 seconds into the game on a Brendan Shanahan goal. Sean Avery may have broken off contract negotiations. but he's also breaking off great slapshots from the slot. Scott Gomez also scored, and Avery enjoyed the stat-padder of all stat-padders, an empty-netter in a game already decided. Sean Bergenheim had the Islanders' only goal. more ›

• Devils 5, Hurricanes 1: To be fair, Carolina was without three of its best players, but even a full-strength Hurricanes team would have had trouble with the Devils. New Jersey allowed only 22 shots the entire game and blew by Carolina for its seventh win in nine games. That makes them tied for the Eastern Conference lead with Ottawa and Montreal and two points clear of Pittsburgh in the Atlantic Division. The Senators and the Penguins, however, have a game in hand. Travis Zajac, Mike Mottau, Jay Pandolfo, Johnny Oduya and Zach Parise all took part in the scoring. This was classic shutdown mode for a team peaking at the right time.
• Islanders 3, Sharks 2: If you can't beat the opposing goaltender, why not bloody his face and then get the puck into the net? That more teams haven't tried this method is one of the world's biggest unsolved mysteries. Radek Martinek couldn't get the puck home, but he did do enough damage to Sharks goalie Evgeni Nabokov's mask that the netminder had to get stitches. He probably should have stayed in the dressing room. Andy Hilbert and Mike Comrie helped tie the game in less than a minute, and then Freddy Meyer did the glamorous work to give the Islanders a home win. They're one point out of a playoff spot, but they've played more games than Buffalo, Boston and Philadelphia, the teams above them in the Eastern Conference standings.

The Rangers are going to have to have a lot more weekends like this one if they are going to make the playoffs. Fresh off of Saturday’s shellacking of Buffalo, New York outlasted San Jose in a physical contest 3-1. more ›

• Rangers 5, Canadiens 3: Fans who tired of FOX's marathon Super Bowl pregame show may have migrated to NBC to catch this inspired effort by the Rangers. Playing in Montreal -- did any of them get to watch the Super Bowl, or even want to watch? -- the Blueshirts scored five unanswered goals after trailing, 3-0, early in the second period. Chris Drury had the go-ahead goal, and Scott Gomez, Michal Rozsival, Martin Straka and Brandon Dubinsky also scored. Coach Tom Renney, who has not had the most job security of late, described this as a character win. The Rangers sit at seventh place in the Eastern Conference, with 60 points. They trail the Flyers -- whom they dominated -- by only three points in their Atlantic Division.
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• Knicks 89 Philadelphia 76ers 81: The Knicks enjoyed a team effort in defeating another struggling Eastern Conference team, the Sixers. Five players scored in the double digits, led by Jamal Crawford's 18 pounts and Zach Randolph's 16 points and 14 rebounds. Coach Isiah Thomas said, "We have good shot distribution, everyone feels part of the game, everyone gets to touch the basketball." more ›

You may not have realized it, but some of the other local teams had games Sunday and some of them were pretty important. more ›

Some L.A. Lakers fan (we assume) came up with a brilliant plan to psych out Phoenix Suns guard Leandro Barbosa last week. Barbosa fell victim to a hoax where his hotel gave him a message saying that Suns GM Steve Kerr wanted to meet him to discuss a trade to the New York Knicks. Jeez, that's maybe the meanest prank call we've ever heard! more ›

But Dubielewicz doesn't deserve all the blame. Ottawa has plenty of talent and the highest points total in the Eastern Conference. After stonewalling to a scoreless first period, the Senators put up three goals in the middle session to suck the drama out of this one. Bill Guerin scored both Islanders goals, with the second coming in garbage time. more ›

The Lakers cruised to a 70-45 lead and then had to hang on against a Knicks’ rally that happened with the unit of Nate Robinson, David Lee, Malik Rose, Jared Jeffries and Jamal Crawford playing most of the minutes. What changes are coming? It’s hard to say, but a good start would be splitting Eddy Curry and Zach Randolph up. Let’s just hope Isiah doesn’t start making trades. more ›

Jamal Crawford led the way with 32 points and Zach Randolph added 20. Even Eddy Curry looked interested with 23 points and 9 rebounds, only his third game of the season with more than 8 rebounds. Add it all up and the Knicks got out of the cellar in the Eastern Conference. more ›

How many times this season are we going to say that the Knicks have hit an all time low? It seems that every couple weeks the team drops another disgraceful notch, and this weekend was the latest. No one knew how the team would react to the death of Stephon Marbury's father last week, but the sense was that they had come together as a unit out of the tragedy, and many might have thought... more ›

Rangers 5 Ottawa 2: The Senators may be in a funk of late, but they still have the best record in the Eastern Conference. That may not last for too much longer as the Rangers beat Ottawa soundly Saturday afternoon, scoring three goals in the first period and forcing a goaltending change. Everything seemed to work for New York as the power play scored twice, Brendan Shanahan had two goals and Blair Betts even got... more ›

Mark Messier will forever be remembered for delivering the Stanley Cup to the Rangers in 1994, his famous guarantee before Game Six of the Eastern Conference Finals that year and a tendency to cry in public. The captain had his number retired by both Edmonton and New York and is the only player ever to captain two teams to a Stanley Cup victory and he was second all-time in points scored in NHL history. Scott... more ›

Celtics 112, Nets 101: Early indications have the road to the NBA Finals going through Boston. If the Nets entertain any hopes of becoming a legit contender, they'll have to find a better measuring stick. As if the Nets didn't have enough concerns about Vince Carter, their star left the game in the third quarter with an ankle injury. At least he had 17 points when he left. Beating up on the Eastern Conference may... more ›

The Knicks, a team David Stern described as “not a model of intelligent management,” comes into the 2007-08 NBA season with some reasons for optimism - on the court. Zach Randolph and Eddy Curry will be a tough 1-2 punch in the low post while a healthy Jamal Crawford and Quentin Richardson should combine with Stephon Marbury to provide a solid perimeter game. David Lee will give plenty of quality minutes and rebounds for a team that should easily put up over 100 points a night. more ›

The current Devils are one of the best teams in the NHL over the past 12 seasons, but that meant nothing as they opened up their new building with a loss. The Senators blew open a 1-1 game after two with three goals in the third and the Devils fell to 3-6-1 on the season. Luckily, they have a lot of home games coming up at “The Rock”. more ›

Henrik Lundqvist kept the Rangers in the game with 32 saves, but Ryan Miller was also up to the task. Miller made several great saves when it mattered and the Rangers couldn’t break through. Thomas Vanek had two goals for Buffalo while Hossa and Shanahan got the only tallies for New York. more ›

• A's 5, Yankees 4: After all the work the Yankees did to outlast A's starter Rich Harden and hold the not-so-potent Oakland offense in check, Mariano Rivera gave up a three-run walk-off homer to Marco Scutaro (he's a former Met) and the Yankees lost a series in the Bay Area. They could have easily swept the three games, but a tough extra-inning loss Friday night and an even tougher loss Sunday made them settle for a 3-3 road trip. To make matters worse, they had to place Mike Mussina and Carl Pavano -- well maybe his loss isn't making matters worse -- on the disabled list before the game. They have somehow managed to tread water with their starting rotation -- Andy Pettitte aside -- in shambles. So long as they hold their own a little longer until they get healthy, they should be fine.
• Nets 111, Pacers 107: They've made the playoffs, but the Nets can still improve their position. They took a step towards doing that with this win. Since they're chasing the Gilbert Arenas-less Wizards -- who they're probably better than anyway -- the Nets have a good shot of bettering their seeding.
• Raptors 107, Knicks 105: If it's mid-April, the Knicks must be irrelevant. They lost a close one to the Raptors, who have quietly become a miniforce in the Eastern Conference. The Knicks have not-so-quietly done the opposite.
• Red Bulls 3, Dallas 0: In case you weren't among the 15 people at this game played in a torrential downpour, here's how it went down. Clint Mathis scored a goal and added an assist, and the Giants Stadium field was probably ruined for weeks. At least they won. No one wants to play in a lake and lose.

For some inexplicable reason, the NHL has scheduled all three local clubs to start their playoff chase tonight and to overlap with each other most nights. Because of that, fans of the various teams should get to know this website to figure out where they can watch the games. more ›