BRIDGET WENTWORTH
© Star-Ledger, The (Newark, NJ)
December 21, 2000

RANGERS NOTEBOOK

Brad Brown piled up 34 penalty minutes last night in tussles with Reed Low and Tyson Nash, and it's the latter incident that might entail some discipline from the league.

Brown bloodied Low with two straight rights during their fight in the second period, and in the waning minutes of the third, Brown took a surprise punch to the head from Nash along the boards. Brown then followed Nash behind the Rangers' net and attacked him, first with a stick jab and then with a hard punch that dropped Nash to the ice. Brown, already with seven minutes on his record from the fight with Low, got seven more minutes plus a misconduct and a game misconduct.

"I got a bit upset when I got sucker-punched by Nash, when he punched me in the head and there was no call," Brown said. "I said some things to the ref, so that's probably (the game misconduct)."

It's possible the incident will be reviewed for both Nash's initial actions and for Brown's response. Rich Pilon took a hard hit from Dallas Drake along the endboards in the middle of the first period and sustained a concussion. He did not return to the game and will be re-evaluated today, although he was feeling much better after the game.

"I feel good, not great, but I don't feel bad," Pilon said. "I never saw the play, but the guys said he (Drake) went high on me."

Pilon, who thinks he'll be able to play on Saturday against Nashville, said he thought briefly about returning to the game but decided against it.

"What if you come back and you're not quite sharp and you get hit again and create more damage?" he said. "It could turn into something more serious." Defenseman Dale Purinton was placed on injured reserve, retroactive to last Friday, with a subluxed rib on the right side of his rib cage. Purinton initially suffered the injury in the 3-2 loss to San Jose last week, but aggravated it on a hit by Jim Cummins in the 6-4 loss to Anaheim on Friday night.

The injury restricts his breathing and his ability to withstand physical play, so if either Pilon or Brown are unable to play on Saturday, the Rangers might have to recall someone from Hartford or put Bert Robertsson into the lineup.

Adam Graves will host his third and final Toys for Tots drive tomorrow at Cronies Restaurant in Manhattan from 3-5 p.m. Cronies is located at 1695 2nd Ave. at 88th Street.

Graves, Brian Leetch, Mike Richter, Petr Nedved, and Jan Hlavac will be there, and will accept unwrapped toys from fans in exchange for an autographed item.