Gaborik Scores Five to Beat Rangers

Marian Gaborik scored five goals and added an assist as his team, the Minnesota Wild, beat the Rangers 6-3 last night at Madison Square Garden.

Gaborik scored one in the first period, two power-play goals in the second, and two more in the third to cap off an amazing night.

"One time I got five goals when I was playing back home for a pro club back there, but this is just totally different," Gaborik said in the NY Post. “You score five goals in the NHL it's just a totally different experience. To reach it here with these guys in front of our fans is just unbelievable."

The first five-goal game of Gaborik’s career was the first in the NHL since Sergei Federov in 1996. With the assist on Pierre-Marc Bouchard’s goal in the second Gaborik tied his career high with 6 points in a game. He last had six on October 26,2002 against the Phoenix Coyotes.

Henrik Lundqvist was the victim of five-goal outbreak and allowed all six goals on just 18 shots and got pulled midway in the third after Gaborik’s fifth and final goal. He has allowed four goals or more in four of his last six games.

"When you let in (that many) goals it's never fun, it's always tough," Lundqvist said. "You have to look at the goals, too. Is it me? Is it just a great performance by their guys? Then you just move on. Sometimes the key is not to think too much."

This upset comes right on the heels of what was a big 4-0 victory against the Pittsburgh Penguins Tuesday night. That night Jaromir Jagr skated with Martin Straka and Scott Gomez and the trio combined for three goals. Straka has been especially hot lately he has four goals and an assist over his past four games.

Rob Abruzzese's articles can also be read In The Dirt.

Healthy Rangers take on Islanders

The Rangers return to full health this Thursday night as they attempt to beat the Islanders for this first time in four attempts this season.

Last Friday night Martin Straka made his return to the ice after taking a slap shot to his wrist from Zdeno Chara over a month ago. Thursday Ryan Callahan should return to the lineup and Marek Malik will be eligible to play.

"It was a pretty hard practice today and I felt pretty good out there," Callahan told Newsday. "I think Thursday's pretty realistic."

If Callahan does return it appears he will skate with Petr Prucha and Chris Drury, but Malik’s return is not immediately certain. While he has recovered from bruised ribs and a bad back the Rangers defense has been playing so well lately there is no obvious choice of who to scratch.

"The way we're clicking right now, he might have to wait a game or two and see if anything evolves," Head Coach Tom Renney told Newsday.

When he does eventually get back into the lineup it is likely that Jason Strudwick will be the one to sit. Paul Mara is the other option, but Michal Rosival could get a few days off to rest his knee.

Since his return Straka has been skating on the top line with Jaromir Jagr and Brandon Dubinsky, however that line may get tinkered with. Jagr has only one point over his past six games and skated with Straka and Drury late in the game against the Dallas Stars Sunday night and may continue to do so in order to jump start his offense.

Part of the reason the Rangers have struggled against the Islanders this season is the anemic attempts by their power play. Against the Islanders they are a combined 1-for-14 with a man advantage, which is more disturbing considering all three games have been decided by one goal.

Lately the power play unit has been bad against everyone. Over the past eight games they are 3-for-39; meanwhile they have had the second most chances in the NHL with 122. This is something that Renney thinks is improving, “Believe it or not, it's better than it's been," he told the NY Daily News after the unit was shutout in six attempts Sunday night. "I thought we showed some good puck movement. I thought we had some chances."

Notice he didn’t say it’s been good he simply said better and it obviously can’t get worse after they failed to sustain any offensive zone presence even once in five chances last time the Rangers played the Islanders.

For the latest news and rumors for all NY sports teams go to Hot Stove New York.

Rangers Lose 1-0 in Shootout, Lose Straka

The New York Rangers squandered a Henrik Lundqvist regulation shutout Saturday afternoon when they lost 1-0 to the Boston Bruins during a shootout at the TD Banknorth Garden in Boston.

After the making a big splash during the off-season by signing Chris Drury and Scott Gomez the Rangers were not expected to have much trouble offensively. Despite the $15 million they are paying the two players this year, the Rangers’ offense is dead-last in the NHL in goals scored and are at the bottom of the league in many other offensive categories.

After the first five shooters were stopped during the shootout 20-year old speedster Phil Kessel beat Lundqvist glove side when he got a wrist shot just under the crossbar for the game winner. In just his second season in the NHL Kessel now has five game-winning goals during shootouts.

The Rangers suffered a setback in the first period when Martin Straka broke a finger on his right hand after blocking a shot by Zdeno Chara while killing a penalty. As soon as Straka was hit he grimaced in pain and started to take off his glove, but he kept it on once he realized the Bruins were still controlling the powerplay. Straka stayed on the ice to finish off the penalty kill and even successfully blocked another from Chara before getting off the ice and heading to the locker room.

Goaltending and defense came up big for both teams in this game. Lundqvist, who has started in every game for the Rangers this season, played 65 minutes of shutout hockey before allowing the goal to Kessel during the tiebreaker and stopped all 19 shots he faced.

Manny Fernandez, who has struggled since being acquired by the Bruins from the Minnesota Wild during the off-season, got the start over starter Tim Thomas. He saved all 26 shots he faced and then beat Brendan Shanahan, Drury, and Jaromir Jagr during the shootout.

Much of the game was played with a man advantage. The Rangers had six chances on the power play and failed to score every time, but made up for it by keeping the Bruins from scoring on their eight attempts.

Towards the end of the first period the Rangers faced their only serious situation when Jagr received a double minor high sticking penalty for clipping Glen Murray in the face, but they survived it thanks to a fantastic play by Lundqvist

The Rangers killed the first penalty and were working on the second when former Ranger Marc Savard found himself alone at the bottom of the right circle. He got off a shot which at first looked like a sure thing. It was at that moment that Lundqvist came sprawling across the crease to make a huge glove save and preserved the tie game. As Lundqvist made the save Savard fell to the ice in disbelief before getting to his feet and going over to congratulate Henrik on the save.

The Rangers’ biggest opportunity came early in the second period when Petr Prucha got the puck alone in front of the net. He was turned away by Fernandez who managed a nice kick save to stop the opportunity. The play was unique because it seemed like the only time during the game the six foot nine inch Chara was not in front of the net to clear any Rangers away.

The Rangers certainly need their power play units to get their act together. It could be that their lineup is too top heavy. Their first PP unit is Jagr-Gomez-Shanahan with Drury at the point, but their second man advantage unit consists of Brandon Dubinsky, Nigel Dawes, and Ryan Callahan upfront. While the first group has 1562 career goals combined the second group has just six. This may be allowing teams to stack up their best penalty killers against Jagr and company and take a break during the second half of man-down play.

You can also read Rangers news @ Hot Stove NY and Rangers Press.

Drury Leads Rangers

The New York Rangers beat the Florida Panthers 5-2 last night scoring four goals in the third period after getting off to a slow start.

Chris Drury scored the game winning goal and had two more assists as quickly begun earning his big $35 million contract.

The Rangers got their season off quickly when Michal Rosival scored a goal 37 seconds in, but then seemingly took the next two periods off.

"The first 10 minutes I thought we were OK, the second 10 minutes of the first period we were not very good, and in the second period, for me, there was only one team on the ice and it wasn't the New York Rangers," Tom Renney told the NY Post.

The Rangers left the ice after the second period and the fans let the team hear their disappointment with a chorus of boos.

It didn’t take long for the team to turn things around and after Petr Prucha tied it Drury did what he does best, scored a big goal. His first goal would eventually become the game winner and he would add a second assist on Martin Straka’s goal late in the game.

Dispite the slow start the first line played very strong. Between the three players on the top-line, Drury, Jaromir Jagr, and Straka, they scored a total of six points (2 goals 4 assists).

As the Rangers left the ice after the game ended fans at the Garden cheered, “"We want the Cup!"

Overall the game was a positive one. The team from Broadway played poorly through the first two periods, but had enough talent to put the Panthers away in the final frame. The weakest link on the team is going to be the defense and Marek Malik and Rosival were impressive. Marc Staal usually looked like a guy who had never played in the NHL before, but managed to make a few strong plays to show the promise scouts talk about.

As usual Henrik Lundqvist played a strong game. He only allowed two goals one of which only scored when rookie Brandon Dubinsky impeded his motion to stop a puck to his left. The King was impressive keeping the Rangers in the game until they got it together enough to score some goals.

Aside from Drury the most impressive part of last night’s victory was the contributions the team received from the third-line of Prucha, Ryan Callahan, and Dubinsky. Prucha tied the game and Callahan was impressive putting them ahead 4-2. If that line can continue to pitch in this team is going to be very strong throughout the season.

Read more Rangers articles @ The Hot Stove.

Center Stage on Broadway

Do you believe in magic? Well Rangers fans probably do after The Rangers somehow managed to fit the salaries of two of the biggest free-agents under cap-constraints.

After failing all spring to come to terms with Michael Nylander the Rangers started off the summer of free agency with a bang, a big bang. The blue-shirts went out and signed both Chris Drury and Scott Gomez to long-term deals Sunday doing what many in the sport thought was impossible.

With Drury and Gomez now on the team the Rangers will enjoy a core of players which should make them competitive immediately and for years to come. At least immediately the Rangers will boast an offense which also has Jaromir Jagr, Martin Straka, Brendan Shanahan, and Sean Avery which means scoring on the power-play should be the least of their concerns.

What will concern the Rangers the rest of the summer is going to be how they can fit the rest of the restricted free agents and Shanahan under the cap. The Rangers gave Chris Drury a five-year $35.25 million deal and Scott Gomez a seven-year $51.5 million deal. That puts them at a $38 million already spent on a payroll than cannot exceed $50.3 million. This leaves them with about $12 million to spend on Henrik Lundqvist, Shanahan, Petr Prucha, Sean Avery, and Marcel Hossa.

Next year the coach Tom Renney will likely send out a first line of Jagr-Gomez-Straka. Gomez would be paired with Jagr likely because of his ability to get the puck to the captain as opposed to Drury’s propensity to score goals, which would make him a good line-mate for Jagr on the power-play. That would leave Drury to be paired up with Shanahan and Avery, Prucha, or Hossa on a second line which certainly should be able to light-up the garden. Combine the offensive fire-power the Rangers now possess with Lundqvist and a blue-line crew who will add the OHL’s Most Outstanding Defenseman for the 06/07 season Marc Staal and you should get a team ready to go deep into the playoffs.

While it is hard to imagine them fitting all those players on the roster with such little cap-space left GM Glen Sather doesn’t think so. Slats said in the NY Daily News, “We think we can keep everybody we have right now.”

The Rangers did see some subtraction to their roster as the Nashville Predators signed forward Jed Ortmeyer to a two-year $1.5 million deal announced yesterday. This is of course in addition to the loose of Nylander who was determined to give free-agency a shot.

As always my work can be read at Hot Stove New York