Down Goes Renney, But Rangers Come Back

Tom Renney took one for the team last night. A stick upside his head from Blue Jacket defenseman Rostislav Klesla knocked him out. The team did not specifically call Renney's injury a concussion, but it must have been one if he was knocked unconscious.

There is nothing funny about a concussion. When you hear the word concussion substitute "brain injury" and then you can appreciate how really dangerous this type of injury can be.

See Wikipedia:

Traumatic brain injury (TBI), also called intracranial injury, occurs when physical trauma injures the brain....

TBI is a major cause of death and disability worldwide and the leading killer of people under age 45. Major causes of TBI include falls, vehicle accidents, and violence. Prevention includes using seat belts and helmets when riding bicycles or motorcycles and during some sports.

In addition to the damage caused at the moment of injury, brain trauma causes secondary injury, a variety of chemical events within the brain that contribute to damage in the hours and days following the injury. This presents the opportunity to discover new treatments that limit damage by interfering with these damaging cascades...

So this is bad news for Coach Tom and our prayers are with him. And even though we take our blogn' shots at him here at the Ranger Pundit we hope the noggin is okay. We won't say a word if he decides to wear a helmet for the rest of the season.

I saw the game last night from a distance while having dinner at an Outback Steakhouse. The Devils-Flyers game was on next to it. It seems like every time I looked up there was a fight going on over at the Devils-Flyers. It looks like Clarkson, who has been itching to get into a brawl, got his chance. There was also more scoring going on in the other game. I found myself watching more of that game, while just glancing over to see if there was any scoring going on with the Rangers.

Nikolai Zherdev obviously had a great game with his goal and two assists. Will this launch "Z" and as Section 335 says, help give the Rangers "a real scoring threat every shift"? Let's hope so.

Some reactions to the game:

Zipay / Newsday -
Zherdev returns a winner for Rangers in Columbus:

Zherdev, the 23-year-old Ukranian right wing, wrapped it up with a beautiful top-corner backhander off an odd-man rush at 13:48 of the third. It was his third point in his first game skating with vets Drury (one assist) and Markus Naslund (two assists). Zherdev has three goals and five assists in 10 games.

"I'm not able to sleep before games," said Zherdev, explaining his early presence at the rink, where he was booed when he touched the puck. "I'm glad I scored and got two assists."

Blue Jackets coach Ken Hitchcock expected his former player to step up. "Players like Zherdev only respond to responsibility," he said, "and for us, it was that the more responsibility you gave him, the bigger the role, the better he played ...You look at his numbers on big goals, his goals in shootouts, in overtime, he contributed."

Scotty Hockey --
Ref Interference Swats Jackets:

The Columbus Blue Jackets were robbed on Friday night. Somehow both officials and the video judges in Columbus and Toronto all mistakenly agreed that Brandon Dubinsky's eventual game-winner was a fair goal even though he clearly redirected it in with his skate...

The Dark Ranger --
Renney Wakes Up Puzzled Saying "Yes, Jaromir!?":

New York Rangers Coach Tom Renney saw his past, present and future before him in one WHACK! as he took a direct hockey stick swat to his head, middle of the second period last night against Columbus. He'd be delighted to learn that his Blueshirts dominated throughout, properly rotating and checking and controlling Ken Hitchcock's Blue Jackets from start to finish. Maybe the dent in his head will keep him from moving around the lines for tomorrow's first season meeting against the Pittsburgh Penguins!!?

HockeyBird --
Bonked:

When told he was in Columbus, dazed head coach Tom Renney asked if they had discovered the new world yet.

When told they had just defeated the Blue Jackets on their home turf, dazed Rangers couldn't believe their ears.

Pretty much outplayed by their hosts, your heroes squeaked by with a victory thanks to their omnipresent backstop, one Henrik Lundqvist...

Rangers Review --
You Can’t Go Home Again:

Chris Drury and Markus Naslund had, in my opinion, their worst games (offensively) as Rangers. Drury and Naslund were constantly out of synch, neither could read off of the other with any degree of accuracy, and the 2 of them just held back Zherdev big time.

I was for the change and moving Zherdev to their line, but after that performance, it seems to me to be a waste of Zherdevs talent to put him with those 2. The Playstation line once again produced on the Power Play while the Naslund Gomez Drury trio have done less than nothing with their time on the ice…speaking of..

I think it seems clear, based on pretty measurable ways, that the 3 best forwards for the Rangers, thus far, have been the 3 kids on the Playstation line (Voros Dubi, Zherdev)...

The Blue Line --
Zherdev stars in return to Columbus:

Lest this blog site turn into a daily obsession about Nikolai Zherdev, we'll just say this: the Rangers scored three goals last night in their victory, and Zherdev was in on all three of them with one goal and two (primary) assists.

Power play? Check. Even strength? Check.

The idea of Zherdev being a 200-point scorer? Okay, hyperbole from Ken Hitchcock aside, so far especially in light of Steve Zipay's conversation with a seemingly-happy Fedor Tyutin, that trade is working out quite nicely for both parties...

And new Rangers blogger Amanda Panda and Nigel --
A Very Successful Opening Ten-Pack:

Speaking of offense, Niko has it, that much is for certain. 1 goal and 2 assists against his old club last night despite playing on a new line (with Drury and Naslund) for the first time. It seems Zherdev can play on any line and be successful. At the very least, he’s had success with each of the Rangers’ top three centers. Now if only Naslund could pick it up, we might have a true #1 line.

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ICINGS: Speaking of Nikolai Zherdev, there really needs to be a decent, standard, and well accepted nickname for our new left winger. I have seen "Z", Niko, Nik, Nicky Z, etc. Here at the RP I have also referred to him as "The Winger Kiev" or "Z Winger Kiev." But, there needs to be a Rangerland consensus. What nickname works for you?

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