So far, Brendan Shanahan’s season has been a microcosm of the Rangers’. Through five games, Shanahan has 32 shots on goal – including 13 against the defending Eastern Conference champion Senators on Saturday. Yet, he still finds himself with zero goals and his team tied for last place the Atlantic Division.
The 20-year veteran knows it’s still early, and he’s not letting the slow start get to him.
“There’s a difference between a sense of urgency and panicking,” Shanahan said yesterday. “This team is not panicking.”
As Shanahan was quick to point out, scoring slumps are standard procedure during a NHL season. What would be cause for concern is a lack of opportunities, which neither the Rangers nor Shanahan have faced.
“You go through spells like this all the time in the middle of the season,” Shanahan said, referring to the 60 minutes and 52 seconds of scoreless hockey the Rangers played before Jaromir Jagr slipped one passed Martin Gerber with 1:09 left in the third period on Saturday. “You just squeeze a little harder when it’s the first five games as opposed to games 35 through 40.”
Yesterday was the first of three practices before the Rangers play at Atlanta on Thursday, and coach Tom Renney again toyed with line combinations in hopes of finding some offensive chemistry. With Marcel Hossa only skating for a couple minutes (groin/hip flexor) and Brandon Dubinsky not skating at all (recovering from a Luke Richardson right hook that leveled him on Saturday), Renney experimented, to say the least.
Jason Strudwick was moved from defense to forward and paired with Scott Gomez and Jagr, while nine-year journeyman Dave Scatchard (hasn’t played yet this year) centered Shanahan and Martin Straka. That left Chris Drury to center the two young talented wingers – Ryan Callahan and Petr Prucha – leaving an unanswered question: Is there any difference between the first line and third line?
“I’m not sure if we have a real order, and I like that,” Renney said. “The big thing here is playing the game a certain way. If you have your head around that and you have the success, then the parts do become interchangeable.”
bcyrgalis@nypost.com