The Rangers have brought in the antithesis of Tom Renney as their next coach and that may be a very good thing. Technically, the hiring of John Tortorella is a re-hiring since Tortorella stood behind the Blueshirt bench for four games at the end of the 1999-2000 season, but Tortorella comes back to the organization with a much better resume than when he left. He took the Tampa Bay Lightning from the cellar to the penthouse, winning the Stanley Cup in 2004. He is a hard-ass coach, demanding accountability from his players and does not put up with excuses. It will be very interesting to see how Tortorella mixes with some of the disappointing veterans on this club and if he can help Nikolai Zherdev to finally become a complete player. more ›

Scapegoating anyone? The Rangers have fired coach Tom Renney with the club in the middle of a dreadful slide. After once looking like an Eastern Conference favorite thanks to a 10-2-1 start, the Rangers have slipped to within one point of the final playoff spot. With one quarter of the season remaining, the still-immune Glen Sather hopes the team can recover in time after the leadership change. Renney's task this season was not easy, but he appeared to get off on the right foot, adjusting well to the departures of Jaromir Jagr and Brendan Shanahan. But his skaters, including Chris Drury and Scott Gomez, still had big names -- and big contracts -- and a middling performance in the season's second half did him in. more ›

• 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. more ›

Rangers 1, Maple Leafs 0: Tom Renney mixed up his lines tonight and while it didn’t produce any points, the effort was encouraging. Chris Drury is back as a center and Scott Gomez has a couple of new wingers and both lines showed some promise Friday. But, despite 32 shots, the Rangers couldn’t crack the Toronto net. more ›

• Islanders 4 Rangers 3 (Shootout): This was not a game for fans of goaltenders. Henrik Lundqvist was terrible, Wade Dubielewicz was too but better when it counted and the Islanders prevailed in a sloppy game. 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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Sean Avery, placed on the top line with Gomez and Jagr got things started with a goal at 12:12 of the first period. Brandon Dubinsky scored a few minutes later and the Rangers never looked back. Jaromir Jagr capped the scoring in the third period with some hard work and a nice assist from Martin Straka who handed Jagr a replacement stick after he broke his original one. more ›

But, it wasn’t just the top guys. Chris Drury had added two points and the defense held Pittsburgh to 18 shots. Henrik Lundqvist looked solid in net, coming up some big saves when he was finally tested in the third period. more ›

The New York Rangers have hit a speed bump, coming out flat in two-straight games, getting some bad goaltending and losing badly at home. Thursday night’s 6-2 loss was even more disappointing than Tuesday’s because the Rangers rallied in this game and then fell apart. Down 2-0 in the first the Rangers came back with two goals off of the power play to even things up heading into the second. But, Toronto took the... more ›

• IIndians 12, Yankees 3: Well, that didn't go as planned. Chien-Ming Wang didn't have his sinker, gave up a ton of two-out and two-strike hits, and the Yankees got buried. Their patient bats wore out C.C. Sabathia, but they only got three runs for their efforts against him, and that wasn't nearly enough given the way Wang pitched. Then they stunk up the joint against the Indians bullpen, but by them the game was over. It's only one in a five-game series, but the Yankees have an uphill battle. Remember who's likely pitching in Games 3 and 4: Roger Clemens and Mike Mussina. Andy Pettitte will face Fausto Carmona in Game 2 on Friday. Want a positive spin? The Yankees have never lost a division series in which they have lost the first game. That includes 1996, 2000, 2001, 2003 and 2004. Those teams were better than this one though.
• Rangers 5, Panthers 2: A sluggish second period couldn't slow down the Rangers, who lit the lamp four times in the final session to pick up a win in their season opener. Who knows what Tom Renney said in the dressing room during the intermission, but it worked. The Rangers got three goals in two minutes and two in 12 seconds. Chris Drury, one of the big offseason signings, got a goal in a five-point performance.
• Lightning 3, Devils 1: Things didn't come up roses for the Devils, who started a season-opening nine-game road trip with a loss in Tampa Bay. Why the long trip? They're waiting for their new arena.
• FC Toronto 2, Red Bulls 1: Ah, the own goal. Soccer players' way of giving back -- to their opponents. Blame this one on Chris Leitch, who kicked the ball into his own net for the deciding score. New York will have to wait for a playoff berth.
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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 ›

The Rangers played a great hockey game and bombarded Martin Broduer with 30 shots, but could not find the difference maker so they headed to overtime. more ›

Tom Renney sent the clearest wakeup call he could to his team, he benched his best goalie. The move worked to the degree that the Rangers played hard, but they didn’t win the game and after a 4-1 defeat find themselves two games from elimination. more ›

For most of the game, the Rangers had the lead thanks to Jaromir Jagr’s scoring prowess and Henrik Lundqvist’s brilliance in goal. So, when Martin Rucinsky scored to give New York a two-goal lead with just over eleven minutes to play, it seemed like the game was in the bag. Maybe that’s what the Rangers felt, because Philadelphia stormed back and eventually won the game 3-2 in overtime. more ›