Here are today’s news and links:

Rangers News:

• Highlights: PIT 5, NYR 2 (4:08 video via NHL.com)
• Game Recap: After racing to a two goal lead in the 1st period, the Rangers were unable to keep their momentum going for 60:00 and surrendered five unanswered goals (CBS)
• Larry Brooks worries that another year without playoff hockey on Broadway could become a trend if things don’t break right for the Rangers (NY Post)
• Brooks also heard that Jesper Fast is set to miss the rest of the season with a lower-body injury (NY Post)
• Rick Carpiniello $ee$ la$t night’$ conte$t a$ another example of the Blue$hirt$ going through the motion$ as they $kate out the $tring (The Athletic)
• Rob Luker argues that Brett Howden’s defensive play must improve before he can cement himself as a part of New York’s future (Blue Seat Blogs)
• Nicholas Zararis details why the decision to replace Alain Vigneault with David Quinn was the correct one (Blue Line Station)
• Zararis also demonstrates how positioning has helped Pavel Buchnevich improve his play as of late (Blue Line Station)
• Frank Curto relays bits from Jeff Gorton’s pre-game spot on MSG prior to his team’s Saturday night victory against Toronto (Elite Sports NY)
• Prospect Report: Tarmo Reunanen, Morgan Barron, and Nils Lundkvist have been named the organization’s three stars of the week among prospects (Official Team Site)
• Postgame Notes: With three of the team’s four alternate captains sitting, Brady Skjei and Kevin Shattenkirk joined Mika Zibanejad in skating around with an “A” stitched into their jersey (Official Team Site)
• Media Availability: David Quinn,(1:45) Alexandar Georgiev,(1:01) Vinni Lettieri (1:55) and Brady Skjei (1:22) (Official Team Site)/

Around the NHL:

• Elliotte Friedman authors another edition of 31 Thoughts (Sportsnet)
• TSN Insider Darren Dreger reports that although John Tavares’ decision to leave Long Island for the hockey mecca of Toronto seemed obvious, the Islanders’ former franchise pillar almost returned to the team that drafted and developed him prior to leaving (TSN)
• Helene Elliot notes that leaving Ilya Kovalchuk home as they head on a road trip through western Canada is just the latest bizarre move by the Los Angeles Kings (LA Times)
• Ryan Kennedy sees that although Patrick Kane’s numbers are Hart Trophy-caliber, his failure to qualify for the Stanley Cup playoffs could prevent him from taking home the hardware (The Hockey News)/