Rory Boylen at The Hockey News takes a look at some surprising stats this season including the Rangers leading the league in hits...

"Who is the most physical team in the NHL? The Flyers? Bruins? Flames? How about the New York Rangers. Currently leading the league in hits, the Rangers have finished tops in that category twice in the past three years and were second last season. Ryan Callahan (5-foot-11, 188 pounds) has been the team's most physical player in recent years, but with him missing time due to injury this season, the team has been able to stay on top thanks to the increased playing time and physicality from 6-foot-7, 252-pound center Brian Boyle. They're logging just as many hits, but have likely increased the bruises they have applied exponentially."

The Rangers have 1,522 hits.

...just have to ask. How can this guy can do a story on stats and not tell us how many hits the Rangers were leading the league with? I had to track down the number on my own.

...to the actual number, just further proof of how much of a hard working, tough team the Rangers are this year.

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I wasn't going to post this because, you know, this is a Rangers blog, but too many of you are requesting it. The one interesting part of the video is the Penguins announcers stating Johnson's punch on DiPietro was very similar to Staal's on Prust. C'mon man, big difference between a legit left hand and a sucker punch...



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On Tuesday I posted that John Tortorella was taking questions on Twitter and Facebook, today newyorkrangers.com has Torts' answers to those questions including this one about his penchant to change lines during the game...

"To me it's my gut, I go with my gut, and it's also perception of how guys are playing. I could sit here for five hours and talk about situations and why you change lines, there are so many things that come into play. My whole situation, in general, is I watch early and get a gut feel as far as which guys are going and which lines are going. You want to keep some continuity, but if you are stale or things are not working well, I am certainly not one to sit there and let it play out. We try to give them some time to work through things, but if you feel as a coach in your gut that it isn't working then you make some changes. Every coach in this league changes their lines, but I think every coach changes their lines to try and make their team better in that particular game. It's not just to change the lines, there's always a reason why. And I certainly won't change lines when things are going well. I think that's when you lose your players. I know our guys know when I change the lines there is a good reason for it."

...while I appreciate the Rangers and Torts giving the fans the opportunity to ask questions, all of the questions posted by the Rangers were complete softballs. Where are the tough questions about who's going to sit once Feds and EC comes back and how's he plans on fixing the power play?

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Here's a pic of Henrik Lundqvist sitting with Justin Bieber during last night's Knicks game at MSG...


Photo courtesy of Day Life.

...my six year old daughter actually pointed this out to me during the game. Bieber? Really Hank? C'mon man you're better than that.

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Bergen Record - Prospal returns but Fedotenko has appendectomy

New York Post - Blueshirts are not willing to consider sitting Drury -- yet

New York Post - Prospal set to return to Rangers lineup

New York Post - Rangers: Penguins' Orpik should have been penalized

Daily News - Blueshirts' Prospal sweats his return

Journal News - Fedotenko's return delayed

Newsday - Prospal will be re-united with Gaborik

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Peter Botte, who is filling in for Jesse Spector, tweets that John Tortorella says Marc Staal will keep the "A" when Vinny Prospal returns tomorrow night...

"I've talked Vinny...That's where our team is going right now."

Botte also reports that Ruslan Fedotenko had an appendectomy today and will now be out three to four weeks instead of two.

...i knew all this good news on the injury front couldn't last. Drury gets a few more weeks.

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Update, 4:33 p.m.:
Dubinsky has a pretty sore hip from a check last night, but will play tomorrow against Devils.

Update, 4:21 p.m.:
Christensen is still about a week away.

Update, 4:01 p.m.:
Prospal says he's in tomorrow against the Devils, while Callahan has no physical issues. Just a maintenance day.

...based on all the reports we've received the last month or so on Prospal, I've got to say I'm pretty shocked to see he'll be in the line-up tomorrow. Now let's hope he can jump start Gaborik.

Original Post:
Vinny Prospal returned to the Rangers practice today and is skating on a line with Derek Stepan and Marian Gaborik.

Also of note is that neither Ryan Callahan nor Brandon Dubinsky are on the ice.

Here are the lines...

Zuccarello-Boyle-Prust
Prospal-Stepan-Gaborik
Wolski-Drury-Avery
Christensen-Newbury-Anisimov

...hopefully both Cally and Dubi are just getting the day off to rest after their first game back.

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TSN reports that Jordan Staal received no supplementary discipline today after he was assessed a match penalty for a sucker-punch on Brandon Prust last night.

The league decided that no further action will be taken regarding the incident. An automatic one-game suspension applies when a player is given a match penalty, but the league chose to rescind the ban.

For more on the Staal sucker-punch click here.

...to be honest I'm fine with him not being suspended. The Rangers got the benefit last night in the form of a five minute penalty (which they scored on) and a suspension for tonight's game against the Islanders really doesn't effect the Blueshirts either way.

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See the Rangers take on Fatso Brodeur and the Devils tomorrow at MSG for as little as $45!!!

The ticket program TiqIQ that I have a widget for on the right hand side has found these tickets at StubHub, Ebay and other ticketing sites.

I'm also seeing fans getting ridiculously low prices through EBay auctions. A word of caution on the EBay auctions, please make sure you research the seller. There are a lot of scam artists out there and the last thing you guys need is to be taken for a ride.

Just another service provided by The New York Rangers Blog.

To check out all the deals click here.

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Its been 2 1/2 months since my move to Bloguin and I finally feel 100% comfortable with my new surroundings.

The process hasn't been an easy one, with expected and unexpected issues. But throughout it all you guys stuck with me and I can't express how much that means to me.

I'm sure there were plenty of opportunities for you to give up on me and jump ship, but the fact that last month was the second most visited month in the history of the blog shows that you believed in me and for that I promise to never let you down.

As I always say, this blog is only as good as its readers and you have proved it once again.

Lets Go Rangers!!!!

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