Brandon Dubinsky heard Flyers winger Jody Shelley call him a "weasel" on HBO's "24-7" preview, and on Monday, the weasel popped.



The Rangers' forward sounded off after practice in Greenburgh on the insult from his ex-teammate, calling Shelley "a terrible hockey player" and basically accusing him as being chicken, even though Dubinsky laid off the animal analogies.



"First of all, if I was him, I'd keep my mouth shut if I don't play, especially since I never see him on the ice," Dubinsky said of Shelley, who has played in only 10 of Philadelphia's 23 games this season. "He's usually just yapping from the bench, and I guess now he's yapping from behind the video camera. So that's about all I have to say."



That was not all Dubinsky had to say. "Jody Shelley - it won't be long before he's out of the league, because he's a terrible hockey player," he added.



Dubinsky said all of this calmly, despite his frustration over an early-season funk with one goal through 20 games. He knows he scored more goals in 77 games last season (24) than Shelley has in his 606-game career (18).



Shelley was a teammate of Dubinsky's two seasons ago, playing 21 games for the Rangers. The enforcer joined the Flyers last season and was suspended twice. Then this preseason he received a 10-game ban for a vicious boarding of Toronto Maple Leafs forward Darryl Boyce.



Friday night, when HBO aired its preview of the show that will lead up to the Jan. 2 Winter Classic, several Rangers and Flyers talked trash. But Shelley got personal, saying Dubinsky plays like a "weasel."

Perhaps the insult will provide motivation.



Over the Rangers' two-game roll, Dubinsky moved from left wing to center, leaving a line with Brad Richards and Ryan Callahan to lead a hard-nosed checking one with Sean Avery on the left and Brandon Prust on the right.



That group was in the middle of everything in Saturday's 2-0 home victory over the Flyers, in which Prust fought twice — once with Zac Rinaldo four seconds in, and again later with Avery's nemesis, Wayne Simmonds.



Rinaldo, who separated the shoulder of Rangers defenseman Michael Sauer with a boarding in the preseason, took a major run at Avery in the first period and whiffed. Dubinsky took exception on the ice, and at practice.



"I think he's an idiot," Dubinsky said of Rinaldo. "And I think that, I mean, he's not really a good hockey player. So if that's what he tries to do to get under our skin, I don't think it works very well. He's not very effective at it.

I think they should just keep putting him on the ice, because he's a liability against us."



CROSBY DOESN'T MISS A BEAT

Aside from Brandon Dubinsky adding a couple of juicy chapters to the Rangers-Flyers rivalry, the news on Monday was the imminent return to the Garden of Pittsburgh Penguins center Sidney Crosby, widely considered the best player in the NHL.



The 24-year-old was hit twice in early January, sustained a concussion and had sat out until Nov. 21 of this season.



He has nine points in four games since returning to the lineup, and Tuesday night will be playing his first game at the Garden in exactly one year for the first-place Penguins (14-6-4).



"He is an important guy to the game," said John Tortorella, whose Rangers (12-5-3) have won two straight. "He's a very good ambassador to the game. He's that good. But then it ends there. We're going to play him straight up."