RANGERS ON DEMAND
Tortorella Post-Practice Remarks on Monday	Watch

BROADCAST NOTE: Tonight's game will air live on MSG.

• Game Notes

By Jim Cerny, newyorkrangers.com

After two days of intensive conditioning tests, the Rangers finally broke out the pucks and played some hockey on Monday, the third day of training camp at the MSG Training Center.

Tonight, they will play some more -- when they face the Boston Bruins in their preseason opener at Madison Square Garden

Long Island native Christopher Higgins, who was one of the Rangers' summer acquisitions, is expected to play in the preseason opener vs. Boston at MSG.

On Monday, All-Star winger Marian Gaborik, who signed with the Rangers as a free agent on July 1, was out on the ice with his teammates. After two days on the sidelines nursing a tender groin muscle, Gaborik participated in an afternoon practice, although he did not take part in either of two scrimmages.

“He started practicing, which is good news,” head coach John Tortorella said of Gaborik. “We feel he is going to be fine. We’re trying to do it the right way here.”

Gaborik, who underwent hip surgery last season while a member of the Minnesota Wild, stressed after practice that any soreness he feels is not in the hip area. He said that he tweaked his groin muscle while preparing for training camp last week.

Both coach and player are of like mind that this early in training camp it is better to err on the side of caution and hold Gaborik back a bit than let him risk causing further strain on the muscle.

As a result, Gaborik will not play in tonight’s game at MSG.

“We’re definitely going to get him in some exhibition games, it’s very important,” said Tortorella. “The regular season is the most important thing, but exhibition games, (they’re) important to get ready for the regular season. We feel he’s going to be fine, and he’ll play some exhibition games.”

Gaborik agreed with his coach that he should be able to take part in preseason action soon enough. However, he also stressed that it is very important for him to not rush his injury.

“The first couple of days there was some tough skating, so I didn’t want to overdo things,” Gaborik said. “I went out there (today) to do some skating and it felt pretty good.”

Four groups of Rangers players took part in a pair of scrimmages and four separate on-ice practices on Monday. Tortorella and his assistants Mike Sullivan, Jim Schoenfeld, and Benoit Allaire observed both scrimmages from a private perch looking down on the ice, along with Rangers President and General Manager Glen Sather, Special Assistant to the President Mark Messier, and Hockey and Business Operations executive Adam Graves, who has helped develop many of the current Rangers prospect.

Tortorella and his staff laced on the skates and took to the ice themselves to conduct their first practices of training camp following each scrimmage. The practices featured Tortorella’s signature up-tempo movement, plenty of direction from the head coach, and grueling conditioning drills at the conclusion of each session.

During the scrimmages, several younger players who are vying for spots on the opening night roster stood out with their play.

Matt Gilroy, the 25 year-old first-year defenseman who won the Hobey Baker Award at Boston University last season, impressed the staff with his willingness to lead the rush up ice and create offensive opportunities. Although he did not score, Gilroy did whistle a shot past goaltender Henrik Lundqvist and off of the crossbar in the morning scrimmage.

“He played well,” said Tortorella. “He did some things we want him to do. He was up the ice and creating offense. We’ll see as we go from scrimmage games to exhibition games and the grind here as the camp really gets going, we’ll see where he sits.”

Gilroy is in a spirited battle with no fewer than a half dozen defensemen, ranging from youthful former first round picks Bobby Sanguinetti and Michael Del Zotto to NHL veteran Alexei Semenov -- who is in camp on a tryout basis -- for two or three spots on the backline.

“I know people are watching every time, and there’s no hiding out there, for sure,” said Gilroy. “You can’t feel the pressure of that. You just have to go out and play.”

Like Gilroy, Del Zotto also was impressive during the morning scrimmage. Confidently joining the play, he was very involved in the offensive game -- just as Tortorella likes to see from his defensemen. The smooth-skating 19-year-old created opportunities for others, and also scored a goal of his own.

“I think that’s kind of the strength of my game,” Del Zotto said of his offensive play. “I have to worry about my defense first and take care of my own end, and my offensive game will take care of itself.”

Center Matt Maccarrone, who is on camp on a tryout basis after playing for Tulsa in the CHL last season, scored a pair of goals in the morning scrimmage.

The 6-foot-7-inch Maccarrone will be among the 20 players dressing for tonight’s pre-season opener at The Garden along with Gilroy, Del Zotto and veterans Chris Drury, Christopher Higgins, Ales Kotalik, and Steve Valiquette, among others.

After the Rangers host the Bruins on Tuesday night, they will skate in Newark against the New Jersey Devils on Wednesday evening.