Rangers Updates, Gary Bettman on Sean Avery

A few new notes this afternoon:

Michal Roszival skated hard today, but will not play tonight. He said the knee feels good, but not quite in "game shape. He hopes to be ready for Boston on Saturday.

Mara and Morris, Girardi and (gulp) Redden will be your PP pairings tonight. John Tortorella said he considered using a 4th forward, but not just yet.

The refs tonight at Don Koharski and Steve Kozari. Kozari was one of the refs who handed the Pens 9 PP's on Saturday, including the 5 minute major to Colton Orr.

Stan Fischler says the Rangers will make the playoffs, and here's why.

Gary Bettman was on WFAN this morning, and when asked by hosts Boomer Esiason and Chris Carlin if Sean Avery is a marked man, here is what he had to say:

"I don’t think he’s a marked man at all, he’s come back as smoothly as could have been the case under the circumstances," Bettman said. "He’s doing his thing. When you’re an agitator and you play aggressive  you probably find your self in more things than others. But I think based on what happened this season, his comeback couldn’t have been any smoother."

But Carlin wasn't done....

"I do want you to do me a favor though," Carton said. "I’d like you to check the tape of the Devils game. Avery gets thrown around like a rag doll and doesn’t hit or engage the other guy and somehow gets a two-minute penalty. That was wrong, you know it, we all know it, bad job."

Bettman had an answer for this too....

"On balance the Devils got the shorthanded situation and had to kill a penalty," Bettman said. "You gotta to look at the whole contest of what went on."

In a related story, Gary Bettman doesn't watch hockey.

Gary Bettman’s NHL Hour show today is at 4 p.m., on XM channel 204 and Sirius channel 208, or NHL.com. You can ask guest John Davidson questions by calling in at 1-877-645-6696 or by email at nhlhour@nhl.com.

That's all for now, if anything else comes up before gametime I will let you know. See you in the Open Game Thread!