RANGERS LOOK TO GROUND JETS

NEW YORK RANGERS at WINNIPEG JETS
Wednesday, Mar. 28, 7:00 p.m.
MTS Centre – Winnipeg, MB
Rangers: 48-21-7 (103 pts.)
Jets: 35-33-8 (78 pts.)

• All information through NHL games on Mar. 27

NOT WILD IN MINNY, BUT STILL GET TWO BIGGIES

      VERSUS     

NEW YORK RANGERS POST-GAME NOTES
March 27, 2012 (Game 76, Away Game 38)
Xcel Energy Center – St. Paul, MN

                                                 1st     2nd    3rd     OT      F
New York Rangers               1        1         1          -          3
Minnesota Wild                   0        2         0         -          2

Team Notes:

• The Rangers defeated the Minnesota Wild, 3-2, tonight at Xcel Energy Center, and have now won four of the last five games.

RANGERS LOOK TO RUN WILD OUT OF MINNY

NEW YORK RANGERS at MINNESOTA WILD
Tuesday, Mar. 27, 8:00 p.m.
Xcel Energy Center – St. Paul, MN
Rangers: 47-21-7 (101 pts)
Wild: 31-34-10 (72 pts)

* All information through NHL games on Mar. 25

TONIGHT’S GAME:

• The Rangers will face-off against the Minnesota Wild at Xcel Energy Center (8:00 p.m.; TV: MSG Network; Radio: 1050 ESPN Radio), to begin a back-to-back road set. The Blueshirts currently sit atop the Eastern Conference standings, and rank second in the league overall, with a record of 47-21-7 (101 pts.). The Rangers enter the contest having defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs, 4-3, in the shootout on Saturday at Air Canada Centre, and have won three of the last four games. The Wild enter the contest with a 31-34-10 (72 pts.) record to rank 13th in the Western Conference, and have lost five of the last seven games. Following the contest, the Rangers will face-off against the Winnipeg Jets on Wednesday, Mar. 28, at MTS Centre (7:00 p.m.), to conclude their back-to-back set.

SPOTLIGHT: CASEY WELLMAN

By Bruce Berlet

Casey Wellman played several sports growing up in Brentwood, Calif., hardly a hotbed for hockey.

But Wellman got hooked on the game played on ice after his father, Brad, met several New Jersey Devils players who asked him to skate with them in Boston.

“Dad didn’t know how to skate, so he was pretty upset about that,” Wellman said with a smile.

VOROS A WHALE – FOR NOW

If you are unsure about why the New York Rangers have signed Left winger Aaron Voros to a Professional Try-Out contract with the Connecticut Whale, you’re not alone.

There are any number of questions you could fairly raise. Here are four right off the top of the head.

1) Is this signing a favor to Marian Gaborik? Could he and Voros been pals when they were both with the Minnesota Wild? (Update: It actually turns out that it might have something more to do with his best buddies Sean Avery and Henrik Lundqvist)

IT’S KUNDRATEK FOR BOUCHARD

The New York Rangers have announced that they’ve shipped defenseman Tomas Kundratek to the Washington Capitals for forward Francois Bouchard.

The move makes perfect sense for the organization, and for that matter for Kundratek as well.

FAN-FARE: A DEAFENING SILENCE BY ADAM GAVRIEL

BY: Adam Gavriel

Over 5 months after his tragic passing, the Rangers returned home to re-open the 33% transformed Madison Square Garden on Thursday night. Not only was it notable for the first phase renovation that was completed, but this would also be the first game the Blueshirts played on their home ice since the passing of  their 2010-2011 teammate, enforcer Derek Boogaard.

FROM THE CREASE with Bruce Berlet

BY: Bruce Berlet

After a stellar first season with the New York Rangers, it has been a difficult 12 months for Marian Gaborik.

First, the right wing who signed a five-year, $37.5 million free-agent deal with the Blueshirts on July 1, 2009 saw his goal production plummet from 42 to 22 last season as he battled injuries while trying to find a center to work with on a consistent basis. But that disappointment and angst paled in comparison to what transpired in the past four months.

On May 13, Rangers left wing/enforcer and close friend Derek Boogaard was found dead in his Minneapolis apartment, the victim of an accidental overdose of alcohol and the painkiller oxycodone. Boogaard was 28.

On Wednesday, the 29-year-old Gaborik was trying to come to grips with the tragic death of another of his best friends, former NHL standout center Pavol Demitra, one of 43 people killed in the crash of a plane carrying the Yaroslavl Lokomotiv team of the Kontinental Hockey League in Russia. Demitra was 37.

FROM THE CREASE with BRUCE BERLET

BY: Bruce Berlet

Talk about a worthwhile confab.

The Houston Aeros were floundering in January when coach Mike Yeo, elevated to coach of the parent Minnesota Wild on June 17, called a team meeting.

“It was a decision that we decided to make and kind of a story that we wanted to tell,” South Windsor native and Aeros captain/right wing Jon DiSalvatore said during the sixth annual Pete Asadourian Pro Hockey Camp that ended with a public scrimmage Friday night at Champions Skating Center. “We were kind of struggling, had a little team meeting and were probably the hottest team in the league in the second half.

FROM THE CREASE with BRUCE BERLET

By: Bruce Berlet

It seemed appropriate that rain fell as hundreds of family, friends and hockey teammates, opponents and officials filed in and out of the chapel for the private funeral of Derek Boogaard on Saturday.

The New York Rangers were well represented at the funeral of their left wing/enforcer who was found dead in his apartment on May 13. Rangers president/general manager Glen Sather and assistant GM/assistant coach/Connecticut Whale GM Jim Schoenfeld led about 40 team officials, players, trainers and support staff who were among those at the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Depot in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada, where Boogaard’s father Len, brother Ryan and two uncles had trained.