New York Rangers President and General Manager Glen Sather announced today that center Chris Drury has been named the 25th Captain in team history.

"Chris Drury is a natural leader who possesses all of the qualities and characteristics we desire from our Captain," Sather said. "He has always been known as a clutch performer and a winner. Chris leads by example with his tireless work ethic on and off the ice, and is extremely deserving of this honor."

Drury, 32, is entering his 10th season in the NHL and second with the Rangers. He was originally selected by the Quebec Nordiques as their third round choice, 72nd overall, in the 1994 NHL Entry Draft. In 1998-99, he won the Calder Trophy as the league’s top rookie after finishing the season third among first-year players with 20 goals. He recorded a career-best 47 assists in 1999-00, and established career-highs with 37 goals and 69 points during the 2006-07 season. Drury tallied 11 goals during the 2001 playoffs, second-most in the league, to help the Colorado Avalanche capture the Stanley Cup Championship.

Prior to turning professional, Drury won the Hobey Baker Award as college hockey’s top player in 1998, and led Boston University (HE) to the 1995 NCAA Men’s Ice Hockey National Championship. A two-time Olympian (2002 and 2006), Drury was a member of the United States squad that won the Silver Medal at the 2002 Winter Olympics at Salt Lake City, Utah. In addition, the Trumbull, Connecticut native competed in the 1989 Little League World Series for his hometown and was the winning pitcher in the championship clinching game against Taiwan.

Sather also announced that Scott Gomez and Markus Naslund have been named Alternate Captains of the team.

It may not have been like the last two opening nights when the New York Rangers scored on their first shift but nevertheless, it's been a dandy first game for the Blueshirts through two periods.

They're outshooting the Lightning 30-11 and thanks to a goal near the end of the second period from Ranger newcomer Markus Naslund, they lead 1-0 heading into the final frame.

This team is going hard to the net, throwing pucks on the net whenever they get a chance to and playing a sound defensive game against an explosive Tampa Bay Lightning offense.

The line of Naslund, Scott Gomez and captain Chris Drury has been especially good as they have drawn a number of penalties, have taken a ton of shots and look comfortable with each other. Hopefully, this line can provide lots of offense throughout the whole season.

Nikolai Zherdev has also been solid as he has shown lots of speed, has blocked a few shots and has skated hard every shift, something he was not known for doing in Columbus.

However, this game could be a lot closer if it wasn't for Henrik Lundqvist's sharp play in the first period as he stopped the likes of Vincent Lecavalier, Vinny Prospal and Martin St. Louis.

It's time to drop the puck in the third period so I'll be back with more later!

It simply wouldn't be New York Rangers hockey if there wasn't a little bit of drama involved.

When Tampa Bay's Martin St. Louis scored to tie to the game early in the third period, Ranger fans were probably thinking "Here we go again. Another game that we dominate the shot clock but still lose by a goal." This would not be the case today as Brandon Dubinsky scored a power play goal with just over five minutes to go in the game to give his team a 2-1 victory.

The Rangers fired 41 shots on Tampa goaltender Mike Smith but Smith was brilliant, keeping his team in a game that for awhile, they had no right being in.

However, the Rangers' power play had to be considered a disappointment tonight. Yes, they managed to get one but the team had seven total power plays. It was an area that hurt the Blueshirts in many games last season and if the team can't cash in on its opportunities this season, it could be long year.

Let's look at the positives though. One, they weren't afraid to shoot the puck. The team fired on all cylinders and as a result, had an array of scoring opportunities. The Naslund-Gomez-Drury line had a ton of chances and Zherdev also looked good for his hockey club.

The team also played well defensively, limiting the Lightning to just 21 shots and allowing Lundqvist to see the puck. If they can do this all season, one would have to expect Lundqvist to have another fine year.

Speaking of Lundqvist, he also had a solid game in between the pipes for his team, stopping 20 shots and giving his team a chance to pick up two points.

It may only be one game but it's certainly a start the Rangers wanted.

NEW YORK RANGERS

Mike Pelino and Benoit Allaire worked with Patrick Rissmiller, Dan Fritsche, Fredrik Sjostrom, and Miika Wiikman during Sunday morning's game day skate. Lauri Korpikoski skated for the first fifteen minutes and then left.

As indicated in my piece from last night's game, Rissmiller's skating was less than par. Pelino decided that the three skaters would run skating drills for most of the morning.

Sjostrom had a very good practice today, but considering the morning was spent on basic drills to quicken their pace, it's very likely they will all be cut from tonight's roster.

Last night's stars of the game: 3 - Henrik Lundqvist (with 18 saves); 2 - Markus Naslund (with his first goal of the game, which also marked his first as a Blueshirt and the first goal of the season); 1 - Brandon Dubinsky (for his game winning goal).

Little Fact About the King

On March 18, 2008, in a game versus the Pittsburgh Penguins, Henrik Lundqvist recorded his 100th career win in 187 appearances, breaking the record originally held by Mike Richter (198 games) as the fastest goalie to reach that mark.

TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING

In last night's game, three players made their NHL debut: Steven Stamkos (C) logged 8:25 of ice time, had two shots, two hits and won three of six draws taken (Coach Barry Melrose commented last night that the reason for Stamkos' lack of time on the ice was a direct result of the amount of penalties they had to kill - 7 total); Janne Niskala (D) played 16:23 with a shot on goal and a blocked shot; Vladimir Mihalik (D) logged 11:54 of ice time with one shot on goal and was tied for the team lead with three hits.

Three players on the TBL are from the Czech Republic: Vaclav Prospal, Radim Vrbata and David Koci. David Koci was scratched from last night's game, which reporters and the broadcasters lamented his non-appearance as "being a shame." I saw Koci during Saturday morning's game day skate, but he appeared on the ice with only five minutes left in practice. He looked like he was running late.

Martin St. Louis' goal in the third period last night was his first ever in a season opening game.

Mike Smith made 39 saves on the Rangers 41 shots on goal last night.

Tampa Bay canceled their morning skate for Sunday.

Olaf Kolzig will be in goal tonight.

Game time is at 12 p.m. EST and will be airing on Versus.

It really is amazing how consistent the New York Rangers have been so far this season. They once again put close to 40 shots on a goal, created lots of scoring chances, were somewhat quiet on the power play, played sound defensively and still came away with a 2-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning.

The Rangers dominated the first period but, despite outshooting the Lightning 15-3, they were actually down 1-0 thanks to a goal by former Ranger Adam Hall. It was a goal that Henrik Lundqvist probably should have stopped as the puck managed to squeak through his legs.

However, the team was able to finally break through on Lightning netminder Olaf Kolzig when Markus Naslund fed a beautiful pass to Wade Redden who put one by Kolzig from the slot. Nine minutes later, Gomez was there to stuff a Redden rebound to give the team a 2-1 lead that they would not relinquish.

This was again a game that the Blueshirts should have put away before the third period as they were outshooting the Lightning 33-9; it's another great example of how the team is struggling to finish. The team got an excellent effort from their penalty killing unit again as they killed five Lightning power plays.

Speaking of the power play, the Rangers went 1-4 with the man advantage and looked great moving the puck around and putting bodies in front of the net. I'm confident that their power play will get it together this season and finish in the top ten in the league.

Despite not being tested all too much in this game, Lundqvist got the job done stopping 18 Lightning shots. Hopefully, it won't be a rude awakening next weekend when he gets to face the likes of Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews, Daniel Briere, and Mike Richards in their back-to-back games against the Chicago Blackhawks and Philadelphia Flyers.

It will be a nice flight back for the Rangers as they get set to open up Madison Square Garden on Friday night. I'm hoping that they show a little more finish and put more pucks in the net because they certainly have the tools to.

No matter, the Rangers come home from Europe with four points and will get ready for the grind that is the National Hockey League regular season.