Photograph of the Rangers' Brandon Dubinsky, right, firing a shot to score past Chicago Blackhawks goalie Brent Sopel (not shown) as defenseman Brent Sopel defends by Ed Betz/AP Rangers 4, Blackhawks 2: Jet lag didn't appear to be a problem for the Rangers, who won easily in their Stateside debut. Remember, they canceled the Lightning in two games in Prague last weekend. Wade Redden, Aaron Voros, Brandon Dubinsky and Nikolai Zherdev all scored for......

Photo, left, of Sinorice Moss celebrating with Amani Toomer after a third-quarter TD reception and photo of Giants fan at Giants Stadium, right by AP/Kathy Willens Giants 44 Seattle 6: New York took control of the game with their opening series and never looked back as they destroyed Seattle on Sunday. Starting with the ball on their own nine, it took only four plays for the Giants to lead 7-0 after Eli Manning connected......

Photo of Aaron Voros of the Rangers and Ryan Malone of the Lightning during today's game in Prague, Czech Republic by AP/Petr David Josek With baseball over and football only an once-a-week watch, New York sports fans may be staring at an empty October. But, there is a solution that sadly only a small number of fans in the area have found -- hockey. Take the speed of basketball, add the contact of football......

Photograph of New York Rangers' Paul Mara, left, confronting Tampa Bay Lightning's Mark Recchi, right, after the game by Petr David Josek/AP Rangers 2 Tampa Bay 1: Last season it was the power play, or lack of one, that did the Rangers in. In the first game of the 2008-09 season, it looked like that storyline would continue, despite the multitude of new faces for New York. With just over seven minutes left in......

Photo of Martin Brodeur of the Devils stopping a shot by the slanders' Mike Comrie in a pre-season game by AP Photo/Frank Franklin II; Photo below of Henrik Lundqvist throwing a t-shirt by AP Photo/Petr David Josek The NHL season starts a little earlier than usual for our local teams. The Rangers are opening their season in Prague this weekend with two sold-out games against the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Islanders and Devils open......

The end of the year is always overloaded with tributes to how great the past year has been. Luckily in 2008, we don’t have to wait. We can come right out and say that 2008 has been the greatest year in sports. Think about all we have seen so far. We had the Ice Bowl 2 and then the greatest upset in Super Bowl history when the Giants defeated the Patriots. Kansas shocked Memphis in......

A developer will break ground Thursday on what will be the city’s only rooftop ice rink (the Chelsea Piers Sky Rink is on the second floor, not the roof, and it’s been a while since skaters frolicked on the old Madison Square Garden roof rink.) Located in Long Island City, the City Ice Pavilion will feature an NHL size ice rink that will be open during the winter under a Yeadon air dome, the self-proclaimed......

The almost-new Prudential Center in downtown Newark was shut down yesterday. Officials say there were issues "related to its smoke evacuation system," according to the Star-Ledger, which also notes the arena has had to pay for city firefighters to stand in stairwells during events because of these issues. New Jersey Devils owner Jeff Vanderbeek and Mayor Corey Booker were spotted heading into the center this morning, to find out what was going on.......

One short day after the Rangers parted ways with Jaromir Jagr, the 36-year-old wing signed a two-year deal with a Russian team. Jagr's deal with Avangard Omsk, part of the Continental Hockey League (KSL), is reportedly worth $7 million a year. The KHL starts its inaugural season later this year and will likely compete with the NHL for European and Russian talent.......

Back in 1997, the Rangers lost their captain when Mark Messier headed to the Pacific Northwest to play for the Canucks. On Thursday, they brought Vancouver's captain, Markus Naslund to New York with a two-year, $8 million deal. Thanks to the salary cap and other roster considerations, this move means Jaromir Jagr's New York career is over. Rangers general manager Glen Sather sounded like he had gotten tired of waiting for Jagr to decide what......

Whether he's being a pest on the ice or a fashionista at a glossy magazine, Sean Avery makes his presence known. And now the city of Dallas will be seeing a lot more of him as the Dallas Stars have agreed to give Avery $15.5 million over four years. Stars co-manager Bret Hull said of the notorious player, "He goes against the stream, which I kind of like. He reminds me of myself in a......

If Larry Brooks is right, the Rangers will let Jaromir Jagr enter free agency on July 1st and therefore risk losing their captain to another team once their exclusive negotiating rights expire. And, despite the backlash such a move would create, letting Jagr walk is a smart move for a franchise that is clearly at the crossroads. Yes, Jagr has been wonderful in a Rangers’ uniform since the lockout ended. His 54-goal season in 2004-05......

For many people, the best part about watching hockey is the fights. For those fight-lovers, there's some rumbling between the Rangers and the National Hockey League that could interest you. Back in September, Madison Square Garden sued the NHL for antitrust violations, claiming the league monopolized team promotions via the Rangers' website. Court papers filed yesterday included a letter from NHL commissioner Gary Bettman that asked the court to rule that the Rangers were in......

Photograph of Rangers coach Tom Renney (rear, center) and other Rangers players after the Penguins knocked them out of the playoffs by Gene J. Puskar/AP Pittsburgh 3 Rangers 2 OT: In the end it was another weird bounce that brought a close to the Rangers’ season. Dan Girardi tried to kick the puck out of the zone and instead of clearing it, deflected it right to Marian Hossa. Hossa deposited it past a surprised......

Rangers net go-ahead goal, by Ray Haddad at flickrRangers 3 Pittsburgh 0: If New York pulls off the impossible, coming back from a 3-0 deficit, the turning point will be a Henrik Lundqvist save in the second period when Pittsburgh had a penalty shot. Lundqvist’s save was only part of his great night as he made huge saves every time the Rangers needed one. Jarmoir Jagr played like this might have been his last......

The New York Rangers are on the brink of elimination in their 7-game series against the Pittsburgh Penguins, but Rangers forward and "enforcer" Sean Avery is on a much more serious brink. Avery was hospitalized at St. Vincent's Hospital early this morning around 3 a.m. for a lacerated spleen and he remains there this afternoon. Which means Avery will be out for the rest of the season. The Daily News had reported the much-maligned Avery......

Photograph of the Rangers and Penguins in a first period fight (three roughing penalties were charged to each team) at Madison Square Garden by Julie Jacobson/AP Pittsburgh 5 Rangers 3: Ryan Hollweg has a fantastic moustache, but his idiotic penalty probably cost the Rangers their season. New York fell behind right out of the gate with Marian Hossa scoring only a minute into the game. The Rangers tied things up, but Pittsburgh went ahead......

Photograph of Hal Gil (center) going after the Rangers' Sean Avery, with goalie Marc Andre Fleury and linesman Lonnie Cameron trying to stop him, by Gene J. Puskar/AP Penguins 2, Rangers 0: Pittsburgh's Evgeni Malkin skated past Marc Staal before giving up the puck to Jordan Staal, who scored the deciding goal in this nailbiter in Western Pennsylvania. That second-period strike plus an empty-netter put the Penguins in complete control of this series before......

Photograph of Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist stopping a shot from Penguins player Sidney Crosby by Keith Srakocic/AP Penguins 5, Rangers 4: Martin Straka, Chris Drury and everyone's darling, Sean Avery, had the Rangers feeling good about themselves three minutes, 37 seconds into the second period. Game over? Not quite. Pittsburgh scored twice in 14 seconds near the eight-minute mark. Then they scored twice in a 20-second span five minutes into the third. Scott Gomez......

You have to pick your poison when playing the Penguins. Do you try and stop Pittsburgh’s top line, anchored by Sidney Crosby, or do you focus on shutting down the equally talented, Evegni Malkin and his line? And, don’t forget about the defensemen, Sergei Gonchar and Ryan Whitney are both threats to score when they touch the puck. Clearly, keeping the Penguins off the scoreboard will be a monumental task. But, the Rangers have a......

Yankees 9 White Sox 5: Bobby Abreu had a huge grand slam in the seventh to put the Yankees up 6-3 and Johnny Damon added a 3-run shot in the 8th to put the game safely out of reach. Chien-Ming Wang was shaky, but fought through six innings and got the win. It is the 50th win of his career and Wang becomes the fastest pitcher to win 50 games since Dwight Gooden did it......

Photograph of the Devils' Paul Martin, left, and Rangers' Sean Avery, right, go flying over Devils goalie Martin Brodeur by Bill Kostroun/AP Rangers 5 Devils 3: This was an epic clash to end the series. After the Devils jumped out to a 1-0 lead, the Rangers scored the next four goals, taking control of the game and leading 4-1 with about fifteen minutes left in the second period. But the Devils stormed back with......

Rangers 5 Devils 3: There is justice in the hockey world. One game after inadvertently deflecting the winning goal for the Devils off of his skate, Marc Staal scored the winning goal for the Rangers. Staal’s slap shot beat Martin Brodeur through the five-hole with three minutes left in regulation of a 3-3 game and gave the MSG crowd another chance to serenade Brodeur. Staal’s goal was one of the many highlights for the Rangers,......

Yankees 8, Rays 7: Three home runs helped give the Yankees a six-run cushion, but the fourth gave them the final margin of victory. Johnny Damon showed signs of life by starting the game with a homer, and Alex Rodriguez followed with a solo shot of his own in the first inning. Morgan Ensberg got into the act an inning later, and Ian Kennedy appeared to have clear sailing ahead of him. He left the......

Devils 4 Rangers 3 (OT) : Sometimes the puck just bounces the right way for you and that is exactly what happened for the Devils Sunday. New Jersey got the win they had to have thanks to a very lucky bounce. John Madden made a smart play, throwing the puck at the crease and it deflected off of Marc Staal’s skate and into the net. It was the second good bounce for New Jersey, who......

Rangers 2 Devils 1: If you were under the impression that these teams like each other, this game should clear that misconception up. New York and New Jersey spent sixty minutes Friday hitting and scrapping and when it was all over the Rangers had a huge victory and a big advantage in the series. Jaromir Jagr got things started with an amazing shot that beat Martin Brodeur off the short-side. Sean Avery scored only 23......

Photograph of the Rangers' Ryan Callahan putting a puck pasting Devils goalie Martin Brodeur by Bill Kostroun/AP Rangers 4 Devils 1: Don’t let the score fool you, this was a close game for about 57 minutes. New York got on the board first thanks to Brendan Shanahan, but New Jersey answered with a power play goal from Paul Martin. The game remained tied until the 7:23 mark of the third period when the Devils......

Photograph of Jaromir Jagr scoring against Martin Brodeur in a losing effort on Sunday by AP/Bill Kostroun For the fifth time in their history the Rangers and Devils will meet in the playoffs. The Rangers won the first three meetings, with New Jersey winning the fourth, a clean-sweep in 2006. Neither team is likely to sweep the other this year as both teams are fairly evenly matched, especially defensively. The Rangers and Devils allowed......

Islanders 4 Rangers 3 (shootout): The Islanders clinched at least a share of the Metro Ice Challenge Championship! Unfortunately, the Islanders had to play the majority of their games against teams from outside the tri-state area and they didn’t do as well which is why their season is over. For the Rangers, they got a critical point and that combined with the Devils’ loss (see below) gives them a chance to take over fourth......

Rangers 3, Islanders 0: They don't know where they'll be seeded, but the Rangers are going back to the playoffs. Jaromir Jagr scored the first two goals in the first period, and the team never looked back. Even though many fans saw this as a foregone conclusion for the last several weeks, the Rangers weren't taking any chances. “It’s never been like that before,” Jagr said. “You don’t realize when the coach is telling......