Drury hat trick helps Rangers end skid

November 7, 2008   ·   Derek Felix   ·   Jump to comments

They had been powerless for way too long frustrating fans in the process. That’s when Ranger captain Chris Drury came to the rescue reviving the struggling power play tallying twice along with one shorthanded for his first hat trick with the club in a 5-2 win over the Lightning on home ice Thursday night ending a two-game skid.

Drury’s second NHL career hat trick along with stellar goalkeeping from Henrik Lundqvist (36 saves) combined with some dirty work from grinder Aaron Voros left Mike Smith, Vincent Lecavalier and teammates frustrated despite coming with a much stronger effort than in Prague last month.

The Rangers came in looking to turn things around after two bad losses to Toronto and the Islanders in which their power play failed time and time again. Apparently, some new wrinkles were put in by team assistant Perry Pearn which paid dividends late in the first when Ryan Callahan took a Nikolai Zherdev pass whipping a one-timer past Smith at 16:09 putting the club in front.

The slow developing play was started by Tuesday’s culprit Michal Rozsival, who back in his end made a good read slipping the puck past an attacking Bolt allowing for a smooth transition with Zherdev eventually using his speed before threading the needle for Callahan’s fifth.

Unlike the two-game series overseas, the Rangers couldn’t limit Tampa’s highly skilled attack from generating chances. In particular, Lecavalier’s line flanked by mainstays Martin St. Louis and Vaclav Prospal buzzed all night long but were repeatedly thwarted by a steady Lundqvist, who did some of his best work this season including a highway glove robbery of a pointblank Lecavalier chance.

With the Lightning held scoreless through the first half due to Lundqvist, the Rangers’ second rated penalty killing unit went to work fishing out their first shorthanded goal thanks to a great individual effort from Drury. He forced a Tampa player into a turnover stripping the puck at the right blueline before moving in and deking Smith going to the forehand for his first of the night increasing the lead to 2-0 with 5:37 left.

The Lightning really began asserting themselves pressuring the Blueshirts everytime the Lecavalier line was out. Ironically, former Ranger defenseman Marek Malik would help get them on the board catching them in a change firing for Prospal, who in turn sprung St. Louis who beat Dan Girardi before going to the backhand for his third at 18:36.

It had been an inauspicious beginning for the Garden’s favorite booing target Malik who turned over the puck on his first shift allowing Fredrik Sjostrom to come in on a breakaway but miss wide. When he got the secondary helper, the boos were there but were quickly turned to cheers when the lanky defenseman was whistled for a tacky interference call late with eight seconds to go in the stanza.

That minor would result in Drury’s second on what looked like a cardinal copy of Callahan’s PPG. This time, it was Wade Redden working the puck out to an on-rushing Scott Gomez, who floated up right wing before flipping a backhand pass to Drury, who slammed it home restoring the two-goal lead only 35 seconds into the third.

But the much improved Lightning who entered having won three of four never went away continuing to attack forcing Lundqvist into difficult saves including a couple on Prospal in front who then complained to the ref and got Tampa a power play with Redden sent off for a dubious hook.

Just over a minute later, former Pen Ryan Malone took a Mark Recchi misdirected pass and wristed one upstairs for his third cutting it to 3-2  with 12:02 remaining. But when it seemed the Lightning had momentum, they lost it on the very next shift when Zherdev found an open Marc Staal for a one-time blast past Smith with Voros standing in front 29 ticks later. The latter would be a sign of things to come.

When Malik was forced into a holding call thanks to the skating of Nigel Dawes with 3:25 left, Mark Recchi got an additional minor for unsportsmanlike conduct handing the Rangers a full 5-on-3. Still unable to beat Smith through the vast majority, one player was able to get underneath the Tampa netminder’s skin forcing him into a rage when he slashed and high sticked Voros, who didn’t do anything in response and was never seen crossing the line on replays.

Instead, the unprovoked Smith had seen enough of big No.34 in front of the crease even going as far as to throw some punches getting an additional five for fighting totaling nine penalty minutes. Voros wound up with seven PIM for unsportsmanlike conduct and for sticking up for himself.

The bizarre sequence with 1:41 left also saw veteran Gary Roberts assessed an additional minor and misconduct penalty giving the Blueshirts another two-man advantage.

They took their time before Rozsival setup Dmitri Kalinin’s one-timer which was kicked out right to an open Drury, who deposited the loose change for the trick with 27.5 seconds remaining sending hats flying onto the ice.

A much happier conclusion than the other night.

Notes: Drury’s hat trick was the first recorded by a Ranger since Martin Straka turned the feat against the Flyers on Jan.4, 2007. … Zherdev and Rozsival each netted two assists. … There’s a five-way tie atop the club goalscoring lead with Callahan, Zherdev, Drury, Voros and Markus Naslund all having five. … While Lundqvist finished with 36 saves, Smith turned aside 30 of 35. Only two Rangers failed to register a shot with just Sjostrom and Petr Prucha unable to do so. … Special Teams: TB- 1-for-3, NYR- 3-for-8. … Voros and Malone got together for a lengthy scrap in the first exchanging with Malone getting slight edge. … In his return, Malik finished with an assist, two minor penalties and a plus-one in 16:33.

Blueshirts (11-4-1, 23 Pts) head to the nation’s cap to face rating Hart winner Alex Ovechkin, league leading finisher Alex Semin (10 goals) and the Capitals Saturday night.

THREE STARS

3rd Star-Martin St. Louis, TB (goal, assist, 5 SOG in 20:54)

2nd Star-Henrik Lundqvist, NYR (36 saves)

1st Star-Chris Drury, NYR (1st hat trick as Ranger, 2nd career, 3 SOG, plus-one in 20:37)