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Swiss cheese: Rangers lose to Switzerland’s EV Zug 8-4 in final exhibition game

Switzerland Hockey New York Rangers Zug

Alessandro Chiesa, from Zug, left, and Brandon Prust, of New York Rangers, right, fight, during the friendly icehockey match between Switzerland’s National League A Team EV Zug and USA’s NHL team New York Rangers, at the Bossard Arena in Zug, Switzerland, Monday, Oct. 3. 2011. (AP Photo/KEYSTONE/Sigi Tischler) GERMANY AND AUSTRIA OUT

AP

It’s not exactly the way the Rangers were hoping to warm up for the regular season while in Europe. In Switzerland today, the Rangers fell to Swiss National League team EV Zug 8-4. Losing these sorts of games aren’t a big deal, obviously, but the Rangers never had a lead in the game at all and while they were able to come back from being down 3-1 in the first period to tie things up at 3-3 at the end of one, Zug had it all working for them.

About the one thing the Rangers had to be pleased with is that the Zug fans treated it like a clash of the super powers as some of them even booed the Rangers when they hit the ice. Clearly Switzerland is only neutral in matters of diplomacy because when it comes to hockey, they’re as helpful as Islanders fans are when it comes to the Rangers.

There’s not much you can take away from this game for New York as this was their final tune up for the regular season. The Rangers open up on Friday in Stockholm, Sweden against the Los Angeles Kings. While Marc Staal won’t be joining them abroad, the competition for the final starting forward spot is hanging in the balance between Sean Avery and Erik Christensen.

Avery was a healthy scratch in the last two exhibition games while coach John Tortorella got a better look at Christensen. While it’s possible that Avery could start the year in the AHL, it’s looking more likely that Christensen will be the guy finding his way into the press box or demoted.

Either way, we’ll have all the answers for the Rangers later this week. At the very least they won’t have to worry about any pesky Alpine teams the rest of the way. Perhaps they’ll be a bit more ready for the Kings and Ducks on this European swing.