Photograph of Rangers coach Tom Renney (rear, center) and other Rangers players after the Penguins knocked them out of the playoffs by Gene J. Puskar/AP Pittsburgh 3 Rangers 2 OT: In the end it was another weird bounce that brought a close to the Rangers’ season. Dan Girardi tried to kick the puck out of the zone and instead of clearing it, deflected it right to Marian Hossa. Hossa deposited it past a surprised......

Rangers net go-ahead goal, by Ray Haddad at flickrRangers 3 Pittsburgh 0: If New York pulls off the impossible, coming back from a 3-0 deficit, the turning point will be a Henrik Lundqvist save in the second period when Pittsburgh had a penalty shot. Lundqvist’s save was only part of his great night as he made huge saves every time the Rangers needed one. Jarmoir Jagr played like this might have been his last......

The New York Rangers are on the brink of elimination in their 7-game series against the Pittsburgh Penguins, but Rangers forward and "enforcer" Sean Avery is on a much more serious brink. Avery was hospitalized at St. Vincent's Hospital early this morning around 3 a.m. for a lacerated spleen and he remains there this afternoon. Which means Avery will be out for the rest of the season. The Daily News had reported the much-maligned Avery......

Photograph of the Rangers and Penguins in a first period fight (three roughing penalties were charged to each team) at Madison Square Garden by Julie Jacobson/AP Pittsburgh 5 Rangers 3: Ryan Hollweg has a fantastic moustache, but his idiotic penalty probably cost the Rangers their season. New York fell behind right out of the gate with Marian Hossa scoring only a minute into the game. The Rangers tied things up, but Pittsburgh went ahead......

Photograph of Hal Gil (center) going after the Rangers' Sean Avery, with goalie Marc Andre Fleury and linesman Lonnie Cameron trying to stop him, by Gene J. Puskar/AP Penguins 2, Rangers 0: Pittsburgh's Evgeni Malkin skated past Marc Staal before giving up the puck to Jordan Staal, who scored the deciding goal in this nailbiter in Western Pennsylvania. That second-period strike plus an empty-netter put the Penguins in complete control of this series before......

Photograph of Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist stopping a shot from Penguins player Sidney Crosby by Keith Srakocic/AP Penguins 5, Rangers 4: Martin Straka, Chris Drury and everyone's darling, Sean Avery, had the Rangers feeling good about themselves three minutes, 37 seconds into the second period. Game over? Not quite. Pittsburgh scored twice in 14 seconds near the eight-minute mark. Then they scored twice in a 20-second span five minutes into the third. Scott Gomez......

You have to pick your poison when playing the Penguins. Do you try and stop Pittsburgh’s top line, anchored by Sidney Crosby, or do you focus on shutting down the equally talented, Evegni Malkin and his line? And, don’t forget about the defensemen, Sergei Gonchar and Ryan Whitney are both threats to score when they touch the puck. Clearly, keeping the Penguins off the scoreboard will be a monumental task. But, the Rangers have a......

Yankees 9 White Sox 5: Bobby Abreu had a huge grand slam in the seventh to put the Yankees up 6-3 and Johnny Damon added a 3-run shot in the 8th to put the game safely out of reach. Chien-Ming Wang was shaky, but fought through six innings and got the win. It is the 50th win of his career and Wang becomes the fastest pitcher to win 50 games since Dwight Gooden did it......

Photograph of the Devils' Paul Martin, left, and Rangers' Sean Avery, right, go flying over Devils goalie Martin Brodeur by Bill Kostroun/AP Rangers 5 Devils 3: This was an epic clash to end the series. After the Devils jumped out to a 1-0 lead, the Rangers scored the next four goals, taking control of the game and leading 4-1 with about fifteen minutes left in the second period. But the Devils stormed back with......

Rangers 5 Devils 3: There is justice in the hockey world. One game after inadvertently deflecting the winning goal for the Devils off of his skate, Marc Staal scored the winning goal for the Rangers. Staal’s slap shot beat Martin Brodeur through the five-hole with three minutes left in regulation of a 3-3 game and gave the MSG crowd another chance to serenade Brodeur. Staal’s goal was one of the many highlights for the Rangers,......

Yankees 8, Rays 7: Three home runs helped give the Yankees a six-run cushion, but the fourth gave them the final margin of victory. Johnny Damon showed signs of life by starting the game with a homer, and Alex Rodriguez followed with a solo shot of his own in the first inning. Morgan Ensberg got into the act an inning later, and Ian Kennedy appeared to have clear sailing ahead of him. He left the......

Devils 4 Rangers 3 (OT) : Sometimes the puck just bounces the right way for you and that is exactly what happened for the Devils Sunday. New Jersey got the win they had to have thanks to a very lucky bounce. John Madden made a smart play, throwing the puck at the crease and it deflected off of Marc Staal’s skate and into the net. It was the second good bounce for New Jersey, who......

Rangers 2 Devils 1: If you were under the impression that these teams like each other, this game should clear that misconception up. New York and New Jersey spent sixty minutes Friday hitting and scrapping and when it was all over the Rangers had a huge victory and a big advantage in the series. Jaromir Jagr got things started with an amazing shot that beat Martin Brodeur off the short-side. Sean Avery scored only 23......

Photograph of the Rangers' Ryan Callahan putting a puck pasting Devils goalie Martin Brodeur by Bill Kostroun/AP Rangers 4 Devils 1: Don’t let the score fool you, this was a close game for about 57 minutes. New York got on the board first thanks to Brendan Shanahan, but New Jersey answered with a power play goal from Paul Martin. The game remained tied until the 7:23 mark of the third period when the Devils......

Photograph of Jaromir Jagr scoring against Martin Brodeur in a losing effort on Sunday by AP/Bill Kostroun For the fifth time in their history the Rangers and Devils will meet in the playoffs. The Rangers won the first three meetings, with New Jersey winning the fourth, a clean-sweep in 2006. Neither team is likely to sweep the other this year as both teams are fairly evenly matched, especially defensively. The Rangers and Devils allowed......

Islanders 4 Rangers 3 (shootout): The Islanders clinched at least a share of the Metro Ice Challenge Championship! Unfortunately, the Islanders had to play the majority of their games against teams from outside the tri-state area and they didn’t do as well which is why their season is over. For the Rangers, they got a critical point and that combined with the Devils’ loss (see below) gives them a chance to take over fourth......

Rangers 3, Islanders 0: They don't know where they'll be seeded, but the Rangers are going back to the playoffs. Jaromir Jagr scored the first two goals in the first period, and the team never looked back. Even though many fans saw this as a foregone conclusion for the last several weeks, the Rangers weren't taking any chances. “It’s never been like that before,” Jagr said. “You don’t realize when the coach is telling......

Mets 13 Marlins 0: The game is the good news as the Mets pounded out 17 hits against Florida in an easy win. Ryan Church got it started with a home run in the second and David Wright also added his first shot of the year. Oliver Perez looked very good, striking out eight over six innings. The bad news came from Pedro Martinez who is out 4-to-6 weeks with what is being described as......

Marlins 5 Mets 4 (10 innings): Forget the final score, the biggest news was Pedro Martinez grabbing his left leg after a pitch in the fourth. Pedro later told reporters he felt a “pop” and will head for a MRI shortly. Needless to say, “pop” is not a good thing for a pitcher to feel and it seems very likely that Martinez will be heading to the DL. For how long remains to be seen,......

Rangers 2, Penguins 1 (OT): Barring a Mets-like collapse, the Rangers will make the playoffs. Monday's victory probably boosted their spirits, too. Chris Drury scored in overtime after assisting on Jaromir Jagr's goal in regulation. At 93 points with three games remaining, the Rangers are one point away from clinching and tied with the Devils for the fourth spot in the Eastern Conference. But catching the Devils and the home ice in the first round......

Penguins 3, Rangers 1: As the playoffs draw nigh, people are beginning to wonder if the Rangers will be able to make a run when the second season starts. As almost everyone knows, the regular season in hockey doesn't prove anything. The Stanley Cup playoffs are where statements are made. If the Rangers were trying to tell the league something Sunday, it must have been, "We take a lot of penalties and can't score." Playing......

Accused assistant to Murray Hill Madame Kristin Davis, Grace O'Toole, turned herself in yesterday, perhaps realizing that escape from both the NYPD and the NY Media was an impossible mission. After her alleged boss was arrested and jailed on $2 million bail for running a prostitution ring linked to former Gov. Eliot Spitzer, O'Toole took off, although she was described very accurately by someone who witnessed her flight as wearing over-sized sunglasses, and carrying......

Phoenix 110 Nets 104: The Nets almost pulled it out in a topsy-turvy game, but the Suns proved to be too much. The Nets jumped out to a 10-point lead after one quarter, but Phoenix came back and took a one-point lead at halftime. The Nets got as close as a three-point deficit in the fourth quarter, but they simply couldn’t get over the hump. Vince Carter had 32 points in the loss.Philadelphia 4 Islanders......

New York Ranger forward Sean Avery may be on thin ice with any woman he's currently seeing, as his name popped up in the spreadsheets of Murray Hill madame Kristin "Billie" Davis. The distaff pimp was arrested after being linked to former Gov. Eliot Spitzer--one-time state attorney general and longtime whore connoisseur. Avery denies that he knows Davis or ever used a prostitute, laughing off the incident as a practical joke by someone familiar with......

Toronto 103 Knicks 95: The march to the end continued with another loss and another lack of defense. Zach Randolph didn’t play again (wink wink) but surprisingly Randoph Morris spent the night sitting on the bench. It’s clear from things like the 18-minute shoot-around the other day that Isiah simply doesn’t care anymore. And while that isn’t necessarily a surprise and may not even cost him a job in the organization, it is disappointing to......

Flyers 2 Rangers 1 (OT): Sean Avery would like to have that one back. After circling the net and skating near the point, Avery threw a blind pass to center that Philadelphia intercepted and turned into the game-winning goal. It gave the Flyers their second-consecutive win over the Rangers after regulation and puts Philadelphia only a point behind New York in the tight Eastern Conference. New York will now look ahead to a huge game......

Photograph of the Nets' Vince Carter trying to keep the ball from the Knicks' David Lee by Seth Wenig/AP Nets 106, Knicks 91: At this points, with Knicks fans just assuming defeat, the Nets picked a good time to avoid embarrassment and finally take down their rivals. Vince Carter had 27 points and Richard Jefferson poured in 26. New Jersey has faint playoff aspirations. They probably won't make it, but at least they have......

Flyers 4, Islanders 1: Just one month ago, the Islanders were in the thick of the playoff race. Sunday night, they were officially eliminated from playoff contention. Flyers goalie Martin Biron is a perfect 6-0 against the Islanders and stopped 32 of New York's shots last night. Backup goalie Joey MacDonald made his first start of the season for the Islanders in the loss and allowed three of the Flyers goals on the power play.......

Timberwolves 114, Knicks 93: More losses = more balls in NBA Draft Lottery. That may be the best gift Isiah Thomas can give the Knicks before this season is over (a resignation would probably be better). In a match-up featuring two of the NBA's worst teams, the Knicks managed to come away as the loser, dropping their 11th of 12 games. Shockingly, at 19-50, the Knicks haven't been eliminated from playoff contention in the Eastern......

Flyers 4 Rangers 3 (Shootout): Do you judge success by the final score or the effort it took to get there? Clearly, the final score is a disappointment, but when you consider the Rangers were trailing 2-0 with less than 10 minutes left, getting a point is somewhat of a victory. New York got back into the game with goals from Marek Malik and Nigel Dawes, but fell behind 3-2 when Daniel Briere scored at......