The first time the Rangers ice a full team will end up being the first game of the season. But at least they will have Jaromir Jagr back in the lineup tonight against the Flyers.

With Tom Renney wanting to give Nigel Dawes another look, he’ll sit Petr Prucha, and will also rest his top pairing of Michal Rozsival and Marek Malik in favor of Paul Mara and Thomas Pock. Sean Avery (groin) and Stephen Valiquette (hand) are also out, as is Artem Anisimov, who will likely be shipped to Hartford by Monday.

As for lines, you can expect Renney to stick with Brendan Shanahan and Scott Gomez together, and to give Jagr his first test run with Chris Drury.

Still unclear is how much Henrik Lundqvist will play, although Renney sounded last night that he wanted to give the Swede—who has yet to exhibit his best form this preseason—at least some more work before Thursday.

Tom Renney indicated just now that Jaromir Jagr will likely miss tomorrow night’s preseason finale in Philly. It might still be that the coach is being cautious with the Rangers’ captain, but it also suggests Jagr’s hip flexor is worse off than originally anticipated.

But again, better to be dealing with it now than a week from now.

As for the rest of the lineup, Sean Avery is also out again, leaving Nigel Dawes on the Rangers’ top line with Brendan Shanahan and Scott Gomez. My guess is that Chris Drury will play with Marty Straka, and potentially Jagr Lite, better known as Marcel Hossa.

More updates in-game…

Update, 6:55 p.m.: The Rangers are suing the NHL over the team’s web site. It’s very complicated, with a lot of legalese I don’t quite understand. But the Rangers just released a statement that began, “We are a proud member of the National Hockey League and will remain so.” Thank heavens. I’m not sure I like this team’s chances in the NFL.

Update, 7:04 p.m.: At one point during this season will teams come out to start a game and I won’t recoil in horror at the sight of the new jerseys? December? February? Game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals?

Update, 7:33 p.m.: Slow going so far. The Rangers had two early penalties, then finally got a power play just now. They didn’t score, but they did hear their first, “Shoot the puck, you idiot!” from the crowd. Heartwarming stuff.

Update, first intermission: Not the rousing start the Rangers were looking for, and let’s put it this way: if Marek Malik is trying to win over the hearts and minds of Rangers fans, he might not want to show them the tape of the first period. Meanwhile, Henrik Lundqvist let in a backhander by Sean Bergenheim to give the Islanders the early lead. That alone wouldn’t be much cause for concern…except, who is Sean Bergenheim?

Update, 8:15 p.m.: Scott Gomez ties the game, and then sets up Brendan Shanahan to put the Rangers ahead 2-1. For all the talk about what to do with Jagr and Gomez, you wonder if Shanahan and Gomez might make the decision pretty easy.

Update, 8:27 p.m.: Dawes sets up Shanahan for his second goal of the game, and Dawes’ third assist. You may recall a few days ago I said I didn’t see Dawes making this team. I still have a hard time seeing where he fits in in the current configuration. But it’d be a strange time to send him down after he plays a game like this.

Update, second intermission: Meanwhile, I owe Brandon Dubinsky. I had already written a story about him for tomorrow’s paper, and was worried about having to rip it up in favor of a “Nigel Dawes salvages his NHL chances” story. But Dubinsky’s fight was noteworthy as well—or at least noteworthy enough to justify writing about him. We’re a strange bunch, reporters. We don’t root for teams but for stories. Or in this case, not having to re-write stories we’ve already written.

Update, 9:15 p.m.: We are officially in garbage time (which, in the preseason, is a lot of the time), but the first sign is the TV in the press box is permanently on the Mets game. In other news, my three star votes: 1. Malik; 2. Bootland, 3. Strudwick….OK, just testing to see if you’re paying attention. The real vote: 1. Shanahan; 2. Dawes; 3. Gomez.

Post-game musings: It’s hardly a surprise that Brendan Shanahan enjoyed his first game with Scott Gomez. “Scott’s probably more used to playing with someone like me. He likes to have the puck on his stick, and I treat it like a hot potato,” Shanahan said.

Gomez echoed the sentiment, although he did say that as a center, it’s his job to adjust to whoever he’s playing with. Either way, both players said they expect the lines to be jumbled as the season goes on. Next week: Gomez with Orr and Mitch Fritz!

Some other news:

If the plan for the Rangers was to treat these final two games as dress rehearsals for the regular season, they’ll have to do so tonight without their leading man.

That means no Jaromir Jagr tonight against the Islanders thanks to a hip flexor.

Tom Renney downplayed it, and Jagr himself came on the ice late during the morning skate and skated lightly for more than 20 minutes (the injury apparently was caused by Jagr pushing himself too hard in extra skating sessions). The plan is for the captain to still play in tomorrow night’s preseason finale in Philly, but that, too, could change.

It appears the Rangers are being cautious with keeping Jagr out of the lineup, and it’s certainly better to have him out tonight as opposed to Thursday in the season opener. But given the Rangers sluggish start to the preseason, and the need to develop some chemistry both at even strength and on the power play, it’s at least a small setback.

Some other notes:

To borrow one of Tom Renney’s pet phrases, the Rangers are “down to the short strokes” of their preseason, and as I noted in my story today, it’s not a moment too soon. For all the benefits of having a surplus of promising prospects in camp—meaning, it sure beats having no promising prospects —the downside is it muddies the process of preparing for the season ahead.

Hard as it is to believe, though, the Rangers are further along in their preparation process than they were a year ago, when they had more players in camp, and two important players—Jaromir Jagr and Michal Rozsival— could hardly participate because of injury. Yes, the Rangers have been steamrolled twice in three games, and no, it’s not just a reflection of their lineup but also some systematic breakdowns. But as opposed to last year, when they cruised through the exhibition schedule, this year the Rangers won’t be headed into the opener with a false sense of security.

In other words, better to be dealing with it now.

Meanwhile, some remaining questions:

The more astute of you noticed that Andrew Hutchinson was not on the press release from the Rangers. That’s because the Rangers don’t announce re-assignments when a player is on waivers, which Hutchinson is right now. When and if he clears tomorrow, he’ll officially be assigned to Hartford.

Among the rare sights at the MSG Training Center:

Jaromir Jagr and Henrik Lundqvist as the last two players on the ice, staying on for an extra 40 minutes.

This was noted to Jagr when he finally left the ice, that he’s never been one to skate so long, especially the day after an away game.

“Yeah, but we got embarrassed,” the Captain said. “I don’t like that.”

Some more notes:

The Hartford roster is expanding by the day, with the Rangers sending six more players to their AHL affiliate this morning.

The most prominent among them? Defenseman Andrew Hutchinson, who was acquired in the Matt Cullen deal with Carolina, and who now has to clear waivers before heading to Hartford.

The other five: Lauri Korpikoski, Michael Sauer, Miika Wiikman, Mark Smith, and Dane Byers.

On defense, this leaves the competition for the final spot presumably between Marc Staal and Thomas Pock. On merit alone, it’s not an issue: Staal is clearly ready to make the jump to the NHL. But the only complicating factor is the fact that Pock, too, has to clear waivers.

More later…

We’re a long way from those cold January nights when the Rangers were slipping further and further out of the playoff picture, and I considered bring in a psychiatrist as guest blogger.

It’s true, the Rangers are 1-3 this preseason, and even more disconcerting is the fact that both humiliating losses have come with Jagr, Gomez, and Lundqvist in the lineup.

But still…it is the preseason. While the Rangers have admittedly used these first four games more for assessment purposes, their opponents have almost all fielded their full varsities in hopes of putting on a good show for their fans.

I’m not suggesting there aren’t some trouble spots there for the Rangers because surely there are. What I am saying, though, is they may be slightly exaggerated at this point.

We’ll find out more today. I didn’t make the trip to Detroit or even have the game to watch on TV, so if Tom Renney tells us today that Al Montoya went end-to-end on a rush, I might have to take his word for it.

Either way, count on the roster taking more shape soon. Given the fireworks on Monday, the Rangers will be playing to win on Friday against the Islanders, and will certainly want the same for the preseason finale on Saturday.

With that in mind, I’d expect a number of players sent to Hartford as early as today.

More later…

Gotta love Sean Avery, who said the above words today when asked about last night’s 3 1/2-hour slugfest at the Mauseleum.

Avery said he didn’t think the craziness meant much because it was a preseason game, but he was heard chirping up in the press box during the game.

“I just wish I was playing,” he said.

When asked why, Avery added: “For obvious reasons.”

And what reasons were those?

“As obvious as reasons can get.”

****

OK, so I thought you’d all appreciate that. As for practice, Avery was one of only 11 guys on the ice this morning, joining Shanahan, Drury, Betts, Lassard, Roszival, Pock, Staal, Studwick and goalies not named Lundqvist and Montoya.

As for Steve Valiquette, he practiced today after receiving three stitches for a cut in the palm of his left hand. Valiquette suffered the cut on Saturday morning as he tried to cut his knee pads with a pair of scissors. He didn’t wear a pad to protect the hand (just some dressing) and expects to return to action before the preseason is over.

“As long as I can handle Shanahan’s shot, I think I’m O.K.,” he said.

Valiquette told us a funny story. Turns out this was not NEARLY the worst cut he’s ever sustained. When he played for the Islanders organization, he had an unfortunate incident in the locker room in Springfield. He said the room was tiny and it came back to haunt him. After he got out of the shower barefoot, two guys were wrestling nearby bumped into another teammate, who promptly stepped on the top of Valiquette’s foot with his skate. It tore a bunch of tendons, and — worst of all — prevented the Islanders from calling him up for the end of the season. Instead, DiPietro came up from Chicago and made his NHL debut.

“This is nothing,” Valiquette said.

***

One other quick news item: David Liffiton and Darius Kasparaitis both cleared wavers today. Kaspar was reassigned to Hartford. (Liffiton had already been reassigned there.)

I told you the lines I had before were likely to be altered. More updates as the game goes on…

Update, 3:08, first period: Fireworks early. After Islanders defensemman Andy Sutton levels Ryan Callahan in the opening shift, Colton Orr challenges Sutton when he comes out of the box. Seconds later, Jason Strudwick challenges Kip Brennan. Then Ryan Hollweg has a minor scrap with…you guessed it, Chris Simon.

Update, 5:52 first period: It’s official: The new jerseys are awful. As reader Mark described them to me, they look like an unbuttoned onesie.

Update, 11:44 first period: Some guy just proposed to his girlfriend on the Jumbotron. And here’s the kicker: The girl said yes! Dude, it’s bad enough that you proposed to your girlfriend at Nassau Coliseum, but can’t you wait until the regular season?

Update, first intermission: We’re a long way from Game 5 in Buffalo. Let’s just say the hockey thus far is a few notches below sloppy. Of course, I’m not sure I could concentrate after seeing that guy’s marriage proposal, either.

Update, 3:36 second period: Another Hollweg-Simon run-in, this time with Orr jumping in. The Islanders get a power play out of the deal. The result is the first goal of the game, with Ruslan Fedotenko backhanding a rebound past Al Montoya.

Update, 4:20 second period: Raise your hand if you had Marcel Hossa, Thomas Pock and Brandon Dubinsky on your list of Rangers most likely to fight tonight. I’m pretty sure that leaves Bruce the Masseuse as the only guy left on the Rangers who has not had a scrap tonight. And remember, it’s still early.

Update, 6:13 second period: Keep your eye on this Drury guy. He’s pretty good. On a 5-on-3, he beats fellow BU alum Rick DiPietro high glove side to tie the game at 1-1.

Update, 12:11 second period:Things have officially reached Utter Bizarro proportions, and I’m not even sure where to start. But the rub of it is Al Montoya is out and the Miika Wiikman Era is offically upon us. And the Rangers lead 2-1 on a go-ahead goal by….Ryan Hollweg?

Update, second intermission: A runaway Rangers win is now a one-goal game. This is important only because I already sent in my story and I said the Rangers won. Welcome to the preseason. Meanwhile, you’d love to blame Miika Wiikman, but there wasn’t much he could do. By the way, how many times will I need to look at the name Miika Wiikman and not be convinced I’m misspelling it?

Update, 4:00 third period: There have been roughly seven seconds of this game played at even strength. The funny part about it is Sean Avery is sitting directly behind me in the press box so I’m privy to his running commentary on the officiating. Needless to say, very little of it is printable in a family blog.

Update, 9:00 third period: Stop the presses. Josef Vasicek ties it up at 4-4. I’m going to go ahead and say the Rangers backup goaltender this year will NOT be Miika Wiikman.

Update, end of regulation: It’s becoming clear that if the Rangers want to keep Marc Staal and Brandon Dubinsky up this year, they have to be able to live with each making the occasional goof. Both are tremendous players that I think should be on the NHL roster. But both are capable of coughing the puck up at inopportune times. This in contrast to a seasoned veteran like Marek Malik….OK, bad example.

Meanwhile, this interminable game goes on. We’re headed to overtime. Please. Someone. Make it stop.

Update, 3:02 OT: Game over. Islanders win on a game-winner by Mike Comrie.

Update, postgame: The final word from the Rangers? No big deal. Not Al Montoya’s fight with Rick DiPietro. Not even Ryan Hollweg’s three separate run-ins with Chris Simon.

“Basically it came down to I really didn’t have a choice,� Montoya said of his bizarre second period fight. “You have to stick up for your teammates. I definitely wanted to be in net and showcase my talent, but obviously he was trying to get something going. I felt like my teammates would have done the same for me.�

Meanwhile, a strange scene in the hallway after the game, with the Islanders all venturing over to the Rangers side, for no other reason than they were ignoring the curtain separating the two teams. At one point Comrie walked by with girlfriend Hillary Duff, who is roughly 3 feet tall.

That’s it for me. Until tomorrow.