Parting of the Rangers' "D"

The New York Rangers, who have started the season with a horrendous 3-6-6 record, might be starting to panic. The latest signs of a shakeup saw head coach Colin Campbell revamp his defense. Campbell switched up all of his pairings before a game last week against the Islanders, including the time-tested pair of Brian Leetch and Jeff Beukeboom.

"If it ain't broke, don't fix it," Campbell said. "But it's broken."

Leetch and Beukeboom haven't exactly lit the league on fire this season. At the time of their split, Leetch, who won the Norris Trophy last season, and Beukeboom were both -12. Leetch (3 G, 5 A) was paired with Alexander Karpovtsev while Beukeboom (0 G, 2 A) was introduced to Jeff Finley. The other pairing had Ulf Samuelsson and Bruce Driver together.

Since the switch, Leetch's plus/minus has gone up one to -11 while Beukeboom's has stayed the same.

No word yet on if Campbell will now try and split Alexei Kovalev in half and pair him up with a defensive-minded forward. Kovalev is a team-worst -15 in 15 games played.

Mr. Burns chooses Dafoe

It appears Byron Dafoe has become Pat Burns' main man in goal for the Boston Bruins. Burns has relegated Dafoe's competitor, Jim Carey, to the backup role . . . at least for now.

As you may recall, it was just a few years ago that Carey won the Vezina Trophy for the league's best goaltender. Oh how times have changed. In Washington, Carey went from a confident, cocky rookie goalie with a flashy glove hand to a shaken starter who was close to losing his starting job. Carey had hopes of turning his career around with the trade to Boston, but a mysterious virus severely limited his action during the preseason. Once he did get back into action, however, Carey turned it on and helped the Bruins during their incredible West Coast road trip.

But Dafoe's play has been just as good, making it difficult for Burns to choose between Lord Byron and the Net Detective. Dafoe seems to be the goalie of the moment. He has played in 10 games to Carey's six. Dafoe has a 6-3-1 record with a 2.42 GAA and a .915 save percentage. Carey is 3-2, but his numbers are actually better. He owns a 2.14 GAA and a .921 save percentage.

Them's Fightin' Words

"I don't know what the hell he is talking about. That team is a bunch of individuals. They don't play like a team. They were yelling at each other in the second period and that is not the sign of a team. If it wasn't for their goalie (Nikolai Khabibulin), we would have won the game. That's the same way for them every night.''

Theo Fleury, Calgary Flames
Reacting to what the Phoenix Coyotes' Keith Tkachuk said about Fleury's knee-on-knee hit against Mike Gartner and the Flames' "bull****" style of hockey

Notes an' `at

After faking out Flames' rookie goalie Tyler Moss on a penalty shot during a recent game, Colorado's Joe Sakic is three-for-three in his career. His other two penalty shots were scored on Ken Wregget in 1989 and Trevor Kidd in 1996... Out of every 1,000 species that have ever lived on Earth, only one is still alive...which might explain the lack of legitimate National Hockey League goal scorers this season...

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