Oct. 1, 2000 (Pre-season) NYR 2 - Islanders 1 - HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) - Valeri Kamensky scored a power-play goal early in the third period, and the New York Rangers completed their exhibition season with a 2-1 victory Sunday over the New York Islanders. Power plays accounted for all the scoring. The Rangers took a 1-0 lead at 8:01 of the first period on a goal by Jan Hlavac. Kenny Jonsson tied the game for the Islanders at 9:31. Kamensky got the decisive goal with 16:35 remaining on assists from Kim Johnsson and Theo Fleury. Kirk McLean turned aside 39 of 40 shots by the Islanders. John Vanbiesbrouck had 24 saves for the Islanders.

Sep. 29, 2000 (Pre-season) Atlanta 4 - NYR 2 - NEW YORK (AP) - Yves Sarault scored his first goal of the preseason at 8:59 of the third period as the Atlanta Thrashers beat the New York Rangers 4-2 on Friday night. Thrashers goalie Damian Rhodes stopped Radek Dvorak on a penalty shot midway through the third period, and finished with 29 saves for his second exhibition victory. Brad Tapper added an empty-net goal with one second remaining, and Steve Guolla and Dan Snyder also scored for the Thrashers (2-4-0). Brett Clark had two assists. Pavel Brendl and Petr Nedved had power-play goals for the Rangers (2-4-2).

Sep. 28, 2000 (Pre-season) NYR 2 - New Jersey 2 - EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) - Peter Nedved and Valeri Kamensky scored in a 2:16 span in the third period to give the New York Rangers a 2-2 tie with the New Jersey Devils on Thursday night. Defenseman Colin White and Sascha Goc beat Rangers goalie Jason Labarbera with shots from the point to stake the Devils to a 2-0 lead entering the third period. However, the Rangers outshot the Devils 15-3 in the third period. Nedved got New York on the scoreboard at 8:58 with a power-play shot from the high slot. Kamensky backhanded the rebound of Michael York's shot past Martin Brodeur at 11:14. The tie came just three days after the Devils beat New York 8-2 at Madison Square Garden. The Rangers are 0-2-2 in their last four exhibition games. The Stanley Cup champion Devils will conclude their preseason Monday night against the New York Islanders and then open the regular season next Friday at home against Montreal. The Rangers open the season a week from Saturday in Atlanta.

Sep. 26, 2000 (Pre-season) NYR 4 - Columbus 4 - COLUMBUS, Ohio (Ticker) - Steve Maltais' power-play goal with 26 seconds remaining in the third period helped the expansion Columbus Blue Jackets to a 4-4 exhibition tie with the New York Rangers. With Columbus enjoying a 4-on-3 man advantage, rookie Serge Aubin fired a shot from the point and Steve Maltais tried to deflect the puck past goaltender Kirk McLean, who made the save but did not cover it. Maltais was able to slide the rebound past McLean to tie the game at 4-4. Neither team managed any shots in overtime as the teams both had 24 shots and combined for 23 power plays. Mark Messier had given the Rangers a one-goal lead less than four minutes before the tying tally. Adam Graves one-timed a shot from the right circle and goaltender Marc Denis got a piece of, but Messier stuffed the loose puck into an empty net. The Captain had a goal and an assist in the match. New York, which was defeated 8-2 by the New Jersey Devils one night earlier, matched its total from that game in the first period. Stephane Quintal and Petr Nedved each tallied with the man advantage late in the opening period to give the Rangers a 2-0 lead. Columbus matched it with a two-goal second period on a power-play goal from David Vyborny and Chris Nielsen's shorthanded tally. Geoff Sanderson scored with the man advantage early in the third, but Theoren Fleury countered wth his third exhibition goal midway through the period. Rangers prospect, Pavel Brendl, notched three assists in the tying effort against Columbus. New York is now 2-3-1 during pre-season. McLean and Denis finished with 20 saves each.

Sep. 25, 2000 (Pre-season) New Jersey 8 - NYR 2 - NEW YORK (AP) - Scott Gomez and Sergei Brylan each had two goals and two assists in the New Jersey Devils' 8-2 exhibition victory over the New York Rangers on Monday night. Bobby Holik, Randy McKay, Ken Sutton and Sergei Nemchinov also scored for defending Stanley Cup champion New Jersey (3-1-1). Michael York and Radek Dvorak scored for New York (2-2-0). Holik and Gomez scored 39 seconds apart, to spark a five-goal first period for the Devils. Holik knocked in a shot off the boards at 1:05 and Gomez followed with a rebound of a shot by Alexander Mogilny. McKay added another goal at 3:38 against starting goaltender Johan Holmqvist to make it 3-0.

Sep. 23, 2000 (Pre-season) Dallas 2 - NYR 1 OT - DALLAS (AP) - Ted Donato's goal with 1.8 seconds left in overtime lifted the Dallas Stars to a 2-1 victory over the New York Rangers on Saturday night. With the five-minute overtime about to expire, Donato took a pass from Joe Nieuwendyk and beat Rangers goalie Jean-Francois Labbe from 35 feet. Brett Hull's goal with 16:11 left in regulation on a one-timer from the slot had moved the Stars into a 1-1 tie. Theo Fleury notched his second goal of the exhibition season on a rebound to give the Rangers a 1-0 lead at 8:08 of the first period. Dallas is 3-1-1 in the preseason. The Rangers are 2-2-0. Rangers goaltenders Kirk McLean and Labbe stopped a total of 27 shots. Stars goalies Marty Turco and Mike Bales combined to make 20 saves.

Sep. 21, 2000 (Pre-season) NYR 5 - Atlanta 3 - ATLANTA (AP) - Mark Messier had two assists in his first game for New York since 1997 and Adam Graves scored three goals in the Rangers' 5-3 exhibition victory over Atlanta on Thursday night. Messier, the leader of New York's 1994 Stanley Cup team who returned to the Rangers in July, assisted on Graves' power-play goal in the first period, and Jan Hlavac's goal with 3:08 to play. With New York down 3-1, Graves scored his second goal with 14:01 remaining, and tied it 2:46 later on a power play. Radek Dvorak gave New York (2-1-0) the lead with 4:27 to go. Jarrod Skalde, Steve Staios and Andreas Karlsson scored for the Thrashers (0-2-0).

Sep. 19, 2000 (Pre-season) NYR 4 - Philadelphia 3 - NEW YORK (AP) - Mike York's shorthanded goal with 3:04 remaining gave the New York Rangers their first preseason victory, 4-3 over the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday night. York stole the puck from Mark Recchi at the right faceoff circle and beat a sprawling Maxime Ouellet for his second goal of the preseason. The Rangers' Radek Dvorak's goal at 2:04 of the third period tied the score at 3-3. Dvorak also assisted on linemate Petr Nedved's goal at 5:19 of the first period to give New York a 1-0 lead. Peter White tied it at 7:08, and after Theoren Fleury put the Rangers ahead 2-1 at 9:17, Eric Desjardins evened it up again at 10:54. Derek Plante put Philadelphia ahead 3-2 at 18:59 of the second period. The Flyers lost for the first time in four preseason games.

Sep. 16, 2000 (Pre-season) Philadelphia 5 - NYR 1 - PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Mark Recchi scored three goals as the Philadelphia Flyers spoiled the New York Rangers' exhibition opener 5-1 Saturday. Peter White and Keith Primeau also scored for the Flyers (3-0), while Michael York had the Rangers' only goal. Philadelphia goalie Brian Boucher made his first appearance of the pre-season and stopped all 14 shots he faced in two periods. Roman Cechmanek finished up and saved nine of 10 shots, including a penalty shot by Brad Smyth with 6:05 left in the game. Jean-Francois Labbe allowed two Philadelphia goals on 12 shots before being replaced by Johan Holmqvist with 6:18 left in the second period. Holmqvist stopped 14 of 17 shots.