The New York Rangers traded defensemen Brian Fahey to the Colorado Avalanche for defensemen Nigel Williams.

Not a major trade, but we will see a long the road if Williams will be a career minor league d-man or if they have some type of role for him on the Major roster which we totally doubt.

Welcome back Ranger Nation members and fans!

We are sorry for the long delay in bringing you your favorite New York Rangers coverage and transactions but due to personal problems & issues, we took a short leave but we are BACK and badder than ever!

We will keep you all tuned on what we are doing here at Ranger Nation over the next few weeks.

And always remember…. LET’S GO RANGERS!!!

Outstanding  job by the Blueshirts last night, they stole a game on the road and have put doubts in the minds of the “experts” who saw Washington coming out of the East. 

Henrik Lundqvist was brilliant despite giving up 3 goals, Brandon Dubinsky and Ryan Callahan played great games and Sean Avery was productive in his own right. 

…Not to mention, the Rangers were without their Captain, Chris Drury. 

Looking ahead to game 2, there are plenty of question marks for the 2-seeded Capitals, mainly, who will be in net (I will put my money on Theodore). 

If the Rangers can play there game and get control we could be looking at a 2-0 lead as the series shifts to MSG. One thing’s for sure, however, Alex Ovechkin and co. will come to play. 

Here are 5 keys to another Blueshirt victory…

1) Take Advantage- Believe it or not, the Rangers Power Play has actually been connecting. There were goals in game one as well as the season finale against Philly. A tally on the man advantage could be the difference, plus, you know Washington will get chances and the only way to counter that is score when you get yours.

2) Pepper- Keep shooting on Jose Theodore! This seems simple enough but if the Rangers sit back it only plays into the offensive game of OV, Semin and the Caps.  Getting shots on net could exploit a weak Caps defense and lead to goals. If the Rangers score like they did in game 1, I cannot see them losing a game.

3) Play to the King- Number one star of game one was clearly Henrik Lundqvist. If Hank gets in the zone, there won’t be much Washington can do. One of the best goalies in the world, tends to show up on the biggest stage…Let’s hope Saturday’s atmosphere is big enough for the King.

4) Try to “Limit” Ovechkin- The guy is going to get his one way or another. He had 13 shots in game one and missed several more wide of the net. The thing was, he did not score a goal. For the most part, the defense did a great job on him all game and they will need a repeat performance if they want to win another.

5) B-E  Aggressive- The forecheck will cause problems and physical play will lead to success. John Tortorella knows this and stresses it. Hopefully it translates on the ice.

There it is, in a nutshell. The Rangers have already made a statement by stealing game one on the road. Hopefully they can make a bigger mark and bring a coveted 2-0 lead to a raucous Garden on Monday.

Nobody wants to go into the playoffs after a loss and after a win on Thursday night against the Flyers, the Rangers will look for two more points against the Broad Street Bullies when they clash on Easter Sunday at the Wachovia Center. 

The Rangers, under John Tortorella are playing with a style that is very conducive to beating the Flyers.  The uptempo play lets them be just as aggressive as John Stevens’ club.  Playing their game is key here because giving the Flyers and that roaring crowd any momentum is a bad idea. 

Opening night in Philly this season featured a Rangers win where they went up, way up early and relied on perennial Flyer killer  Steve Valiquette to hang on for the win.  Odds are that Henrik Lundqvist will be in net tomorrow but if he steps up like he did on Thursday night, he, as always will be the x-factor. 

Playoff seeding is still up in the air in this one as well as the Blueshirts can potentially end up with the #7 seed and play Washington in the first round, as opposed to the Bruins who they’d play with the 8 seed.  The Flyers are still fighting to clinch the #4 seed which would mean home ice in the first round, which means a lot in Philadelphia. 

The stage is set for what will be a very interesting season finally. Rangers will want to end the year on a high note, as will the Flyers.  When these two teams square off in home-and-homes it always seems like they split but as for a prediction, I will take the Rangers 4-3 in a shootout… Great road win, which will need to be a trend if we want any success in the postseason.

Corey Potter was the candidate chosen to be recalled as the Rangers sent Michael Sauer back down to the Wolfpack.

One wonders why it’s always Potter instead of Bobby Sanguinetti. More say that Sanguinetti will make this roster next year but why won’t they give the kid a look?

Andrew Gross of The Record is saying the Rangers will be recalling a defensemen from the Wolfpack very shortly.

Candidates are Bobby Sanguinetti, Vladimir Denisov, Corey Potter, or Brian Fahey.

“When kids get brought up, they get that juice of adrenaline,” Tortorella said. “Then, sooner or later, they settle down to what you’re going to be at this particular time in your maturity. He’s in the middle of a playoff race, getting called up and being asked to put the mitts on against some very good teams, on the road, where you can’t always get the match you want. It was a lot for him.”

More on the call up as soon as it is made.

Last night wasn’t pretty for the New York Rangers as they found themselves losing in embarrassing fashion 5-4 in a shootout to the Eastern Conference bottom dwellers, the Atlanta Thrashers. But it didn’t start out all that bad, but even when the Rangers were winning, things just were not going right.

The first five minutes of the game found itself to be a very interesting one at that. There were four penalty calls and a disallowed goal for each team, what had started out as a fast paced exciting game turned out to be drastically slowed down by the referees. The Rangers were chasing their tails around in that first period, getting seriously outplayed and outclassed by a sub par opponent, but even after that, they still left with a 1-0 lead after the first period. Head coach John Tortorella was not pleased.

When the first period intermission report came on MSG Network, the broadcast crew awaited a Ranger player to show up on camera for a quick intermission interview, but there was none. Deb Placey and John Gianonne would later reveal that no player was allowed out of the locker room. Their head coach was blowing a gasket, for lack of a less salty phrase. Would Tom Renney have done that if his team was winning 1-0? I highly doubt it as his calm demeanor would be all too pleased just to have a one goal lead.

The Rangers would respond in the second period with three unanswered goals to take a 4-1 lead, but that would be their last hurrah as the Thrashers would get a late second period goal to make it 4-2, and then score two more in the third period to tie the game before winning in the shootout. I couldn’t wait to hear Tortorella’s press conference after the game, and about a half hour later, there it was.

John Gianonne asked him something to the effect of, “Was there a noticeable difference in play from when the team was up 4-1 compared to 4-4?” to which the head coach responded with, “Yeah, I thought we sucked. Right on through the game I thought we were fortunate to get a point, very fortunate to get that.” A follow up question was later asked about what his thoughts were on the players reactions to the slip in play. He answered, “I don’t give a sh*t what the guys talked about. We sucked.”

As a fan, it was almost worth losing just to hear those statements. After having a coach for the three seasons prior who I often wondered if he had a pulse, it’s great to hear this coach just flat out tell it like it is. Larry Brooks has since called out the head coach in his daily Rangers article today by calling his comments, “Bush league”. I guess that’s how the media feels about dealing with the previous head coach who would use fifty fancy words just to say, ‘We sucked.”

Greg Caggiano is happy to be the newest blogger here on Ranger Nation. He also hosts an online hockey radio show called Rinkside.

It’s very simple to enter this contest that we are doing at Ranger Nation.

All you have to do is head over to www.nyrnation.com/forum. Register for our free fan forum. Every new member registers starting today and posts at least 30 times to the forum will be entered automatically to win a Brandon Dubinsky Autographed Puck!

How great is that? Win a hand signed hockey puck by Dubie just for doing what you do now, being a fan of the New York Rangers and talking to fellow Ranger fans.

Don’t miss this content! Next month we will be having another contest where you can with a signed Daniel Girardi hockey puck.

With Michal Rozsival going down with a lower body (knee) injury last night in the loss to the Ottawa Senators the Rangers recalled defensemen Michael Sauer from the Hartford Wolfpack.

Sauer came to the Rangers along with Lauri Korpikoski in the Brian Leetch trade back in 2004.

We recently had Bob Crawford from the Wolfpack on Ranger Nation Radio recently and he said Sauer is making big strides since suffering a devestating knee injury last year.