underenddear: art fine museum new york

Obviously, the Rangers aren't going to go 82-0-0 this season but a win over the Devils tonight would certainly bode well. Yes, it's early. But if the Rangers show they can manage the puck better and keep the Devils from capitalizing, it would be a nice jump forward in the progress they need to make.

One lineup change, based on the reports from this morning's optional skate. Dan Fritsche will make his Rangers' debut, playing left wing on the third line with rookie center Lauri Korpikoski and Ryan Callahan. Patrick Rissmiller, who made his Rangers debut in Saturday's 4-3 win at Philadelphia, could not skate this morning because of a sore right ankle. The other scratches tonight will be Petr Prucha and Nigel Dawes with Henrik Lundqvist back in nets after getting Saturday off.

Fritsche looked solid in training camp and seems to shoot well from the wing. In fact, I'm a little surprised he's the last player on the 23-man roster to get a chance to play. He had 10 goals and 12 assists in 69 games last season for the Columbus Blue Jackets and 29 goals and 34 assists over parts of four seasons with the team.

Beyond limiting turnovers and Fritsche's play, here are a couple of other things to watch for tonight:

- Penalties: The Rangers sure took some dumb ones against the Flyers. While the Devils are not the most offensively prolific team in the NHL, they will take advantage of mistakes. The Rangers need to do a better job of playing positional defense rather than being called for holding the stick (Brandon Dubinsky), slashing (Dmitri Kalinin) and hooking (Scott Gomez).

- Speaking of Kalinin, not to pick on the guy but he needs to be more aware, in general, in the defensive end. He's shown an ability to jump up into the play but he's not necessarily stout in the Rangers' end. At this rate, at some point, either Corey Potter or Brian Fahey may be pushing him for a spot in the starting six.

- Top-line production: Another one we've thrown out there before but Gomez needs to spend less time in the box and more time setting up Drury and Markus Naslund for shots. Naslund, in particular, has been quiet at even strength much of the past two games.

- Dominating the Devils: It happened last season, when the Rangers went 7-0-1 against their Atlantic Division rivals and eliminated them from the first round of the playoffs in five games. The Devils are an improved club, though, thanks to the re-acquisitions of Brian Rolston and Bobby Holik. Both are a huge benefit to the Devils' power play.