Gabby+Henrik= Ranger Victory

November 1, 2009   ·   Derek Felix   ·   Jump to comments

Often when your team comes out on top, your best players must be exactly that. Indeed, that was the case on this NYC Marathon first day of November in which American Meb Keflezighi became the first man to win the marathon in 27 years.

As we stated earlier in our Super Sunday column, it’s a big day for NY sports. But while both football teams didn’t do their part with at least one deciding not to show, the Rangers did their part, earning a 1-0 victory over Boston, backed by their best players. Back after missing two games due to a knee injury, Marian Gaborik scored while looking awfully sharp for a guy who didn’t practice much. With The Big Ticket doing his part, teammate Henrik Lundqvist also did his, turning aside all 29 Bruin shots for his first shutout of the season. On a day in which the King won his 150th career game, he fittingly got his 21st career SHO 50 years to the day Jacques Plante wore the first ever goalie mask, following an Andy Bathgate shot that cut him.

With Bathgate at The Garden as were former Ranger goalies Gilles Villemure and Mike Richter on a day that forever changed the game of hockey, Lundqvist turned in a solid performance, besting his opposite No.30, Vezina winner Tim Thomas (22 saves). It couldn’t have come at a better time with the club struggling, ending a two-game losing streak while helping them post just their second win in the last seven (2-4-1).

Today, Lundqvist had help with his teammates deciding to play hard after taking the past two off. It was refreshing to see a commitment to work ethic. The Rangers got superb performances from Ryan Callahan, Brian Boyle, Wade Redden, Mike Del Zotto and Christopher Higgins, who returned following an undisclosed lower body injury that kept him out in St. Paul. Brandon Dubinsky and returning Sean Avery also played better. There weren’t many observers and that was certainly positive against a gritty B’s team still minus offensive leader Marc Savard and Milan Lucic.

Despite playing the day before blanking the Oilers, the Bruins came in and played a good road game. Though there wasn’t much scoring, both teams played an entertaining physical brand of hockey giving as good as they got. The two Original Sixes combined for 69 hits (Bos-41, NYR-28) and 28 blocked shots (14-14) while playing nearly flawless in the neutral zone. Something that had become an issue for the Blueshirts. Their work ethic was much better and that allowed them to come away with an important two points before they embark on a tough three-game Northwestern Canadian swing with stops in Vancouver, Edmonton and Calgary beginning Tuesday.

The Rangers came out strong testing Thomas early but neither they nor the Bruins could find the back of the net in a first that saw the home club hold an 11-8 shots edge. With Gaborik, Avery and Higgins back, John Tortorella sat out Donald Brashear and Aaron Voros. He again shuffled the deck with decent results as Dubinsky, Avery and Callahan saw many shifts together, doing some positive things. Chris Drury played mostly with Ales Kotalik and Higgins. Rookie Artem Anisimov eventually supplanted Enver Lisin on the top line, teaming with Gaborik and Vinny Prospal for the lone goal on the day.

With neither team budging, it finally came more than midway thru when Staal worked the puck to Prospal, who skated up the left side before dishing across for an open Gaborik, who ripped a one-timer past Thomas upstairs at 15:51. Also on the play was some excellent work by Anisimov, who drove to the net helping screen the goalie. That kind of small play often gets overlooked because he doesn’t get an assist. But he wound up a plus along with his linemates on what proved to be the winner.

It was Gabby’s team-leading 11th. In his first game back, he didn’t miss a beat registering three shots and two hits while logging 21:37, including some important PK minutes where his attention to detail led to a shorthanded bid by Dubinsky. Gaborik has already proven that he’s not a one trick pony as the man can play both ends. Some of his PK work was phenomenal with him skating and killing valuable time from a dreadful Boston PP unit that took the collar in five chances.

But the Bruins did get their chances with two straight man-advantages early in the third. After the Rangers easily killed the first, a Dubinsky slash that broke a Bruin stick put them in trouble. For virtually the entire two minutes, Boston kept the puck in but the Ranger PK four-some that included Higgins (3 blocked shots) did an outstanding job. However, they were unable to change which meant Lundqvist had to come up with a couple of big stops, including a Mark Recchi rebound that he gloved while Redden boxed out. They bent but never broke.

The power plays allowed the B’s to have an edge in the third where not surprisingly, they outshot the Rangers 14-6. But Lundqvist, who made a couple of tough stops on Chara blasts held down the forte. It’s true that the Rangers never backed off, continuing to forecheck, even getting one great shift from the fourth line of Boyle, Lisin and rookie Dane Byers. Still, they were unable to add to their slim one-goal lead which meant Henrik again had to be stellar.

And that he was as Thomas went to the bench for an extra attacker. There was Lundqvist again denying Recchi in front off a nifty Patrice Bergeron setup from behind the net with under a minute to go. He wouldn’t allow the Bruins to force overtime. Neither would his ‘mates who did a good job clearing the zone as the final seconds ticked off.

All in all, a good day for a team that needed it. Now comes a tall order this week. We’ll see if they’re up to the challenge.

Notes: Both Drury and Rozsival got nicked up in the second with the Ranger captain taking a shot off his left wrist and Rozsival banging hard into the boards, limping off. Callahan also took a hard Chara hit from behind cutting his nose. Somehow, it went unpenalized even though ref tandem Dan O’Rourke and Ian Walsh nabbed Avery for a questionable boarding when he and Cally doubleteamed a Bruin from the side. … B’s controlled faceoffs 25-21 (Bergeron 12-8) with Drury (8-3) bouncing back from a miserable game for the Blueshirts. … Key Stat: Takeaways/Giveaways Bos-3/1 NYR-7/0 (Lisin 2). … Rangers (9-5-1, 19 Pts) are in Vancity Tuesday at 10 ET. They visit Tom Renney Thursday and ex-Rangers Freddy Sjostom and Nigel Dawes next Saturday with the trio at least spread out. The club doesn’t return home until the following week versus Atlanta on 11/12.

BONY 3 Stars:

3rd Star-Christopher Higgins, (2 SOG, team best 3 blocked shots, 3:47 PK in 23 shifts-16:17)

2nd Star-Marian Gaborik, (GW goal at 15:51 2nd, club-leading 11th, 3 SOG, 2 hits, +1 in 21:37)

1st Star-Henrik Lundqvist, (29 saves incl.all 14 in 3rd for 1st SHO of season-21st career, 150th career victory)