Rangers notes

Shanahan demoted?

Rangers coach Tom Renney swapped the right wings on his secondand fourth lines for Monday's practice, moving Petr Prucha up toplay with Sean Avery and Scott Gomez and dropping Brendan Shanahandown to play with Fredrik Sjostrom and Blair Betts. Renney usedShanahan on the fourth line in the team's regular-season finaleagainst the Devils, but wouldn't commit to it Monday for Game 3tonight.

"We thought we'd skate with that [Monday] and just have a look atit," Renney said. "Don't think too much into what you saw [Monday].I'm still working on this lineup."

Power shot

After going 0-for-6 on the power play in Game 2, the Rangersspent the last 15 minutes of practice working on it. Renney made oneadjustment, using defenseman Paul Mara on the point in place ofChristian Backman.

"He does have a very good shot," Renney said. "It's a heavy shotand if anyone is going to get in the way of it, it's going to hurthim, No. 1. And No. 2, he's not afraid to use it. I think thedecisiveness up top there of the shooter is important to us."

Rangers captain Jaromir Jagr seemed to disagree about theimportance of shooting more.

"Everyone thinks, 'shoot the puck,' " Jagr said. "But when youlook at Pittsburgh, they don't shoot the puck. They make cross-icepasses and are passing all the time to make the four [penaltykillers] tired and then someone else is going to be open. It's notabout just shoot the puck on the net."

Still perfect

The Penguins, who swept Ottawa in the first round, are the onlyteam yet to lose a playoff game. The Rangers are hoping to breakthat streak tonight, though.

"They're a team that's got a lot of confidence right now andfeels that they can beat you in any number of ways," Renney said."So, our objective is to make sure that we give them something tothink about beyond [tonight's] game after a good win by us, anappropriate win that shows the type of battle that you've got tohave, the type of willingness to go to the tough areas, the type ofsecond and third effort you've got to have to be a winner."

Tom Gulitti

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