Tonight: Jets @ Rangers

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 01/04/2013 (4570 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

About the Rangers:

-The Rangers limp home after back-to-back shutout losses on the road — 3-0 in Ottawa and 3-0 to the Canadiens in Montreal on Saturday. They are just 3-6-1 in their last 10.

-A story for all the wrong reasons in New York: former Ranger/loudmouth Sean Avery tweeted after Saturday’s loss: “Fire this CLOWN. His players hate him and wont play for his BS…. @imseanavery is #winning.” Avery was referencing Rangers coach John Tortorella and on Sunday the players responded as captain Ryan Callahan read a statement that was backed by all 23 players: “Sean Avery’s comments solely represent his own thoughts and opinions. He did not speak for us as a team when he was here and certainly does not now.”

Added centre Derek Stepan to The New York Daily News immediately after the game: “Our problem isn’t with our coaching staff, and it hasn’t been. And I think if you asked everyone on our team, they would say the same thing, that that’s not the case here… I don’t agree with (Avery’s tweet) at all, no. I think it’s safe to say that all 23 guys on our roster would say that’s not the case.”

All of which, not surprisingly, caused Avery to respond — again via Twitter: “Relax with the official statements its kinda embarrassing.”

-Rangers sniper Marian Gaborik, who is pulling in a cool $7.5 million, has not only been the subject of trade rumours of late, but was bumped down to the fourth line with Kris Newbury and Taylor Pyatt.

-New York ranks dead last in offence, averaging just 2.21 goals per game. They’re power-play ranks 25th and penalty kill is 21st.

-This is the last of three meetings between the Jets and Rangers, with Winnipeg having grabbed the previous two contests: a 4-3 win in The Big Apple on Feb. 26th and a 3-1 victory at MTS Centre on March 14th.

 

WINNIPEG JETS

31 Ondrej Pavelec

35 Al Montoya

 

4 Paul Postma

5 Mark Stuart

6 Ron Hainsey

7 Derek Meech

8 Alex Burmistrov

9 Evander Kane

12 Olli Jokinen

13 Kyle Wellwood

16 Andrew Ladd

18 Bryan Little

20 Antti Miettinen

22 Chris Thorburn

23 Arturs Kulda

24 Grant Clitsome

26 Blake Wheeler

27 Eric Tangradi

28 Patrice Cormier

33 Dustin Byfuglien

39 Toby Enstrom

44 Zach Bogosian

80 Nik Antropov

 

NEW YORK RANGERS

30 Henrik Lundqvist

43 Martin Biron

 

4 Michael Del Zotto

5 Dan Girardi

6 Anton Stralman

8 Darroll Powe

10 Marian Gaborik

14 Taylor Pyatt

19 Brad Richards

20 Chris Kreider

21 Derek Stepan

22 Brian Boyle

24 Ryan Callahan

27 Ryan McDonagh

28 Kris Newbury

36 Mats Zuccarello

40 Roman Hamrlik

45 Arron Asham

47 J.T. Miller

61 Rick Nash

62 Carl Hagelin

97 Matt Gilroy

(Lineups subject to change)

–Ed Tait