Marian Gaborik Leads The Rangers Past The Hurricanes
By Editorial Staff
Marian Gaborik scored his 30th goal of the season and added an assist in the New York Rangers 3-2 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes.
With the goal, Gaborik notched his seventh, 30-goal season in his career—his second in three seasons with the Blueshirts. Brandon Prust scored the eventual game-winner and Artem Anisimov tallied his fifth goal in 13 games.
New York won its third straight despite playing without captain Ryan Callahan, who missed the game because of a bruised right foot.
Martin Biron turned in an outstanding effort for his 11th win of the season, making 21 saves. Hart and Vezina Trophy candidate Henrik Lundqvist had the night off, and his backup turned in a game worthy of “The King.”
In defeating the Hurricanes, the Rangers notched their 20th win away from MSG and are the first team this season to win 20 games both on the road and at home.
The full post-game report after the jump.
POST-GAME NOTES:
- Tonight’s game was a crucial start for Martin Biron. He’s been ordinary his past two starts, and with the team playing 17 games in the next 30 days, they need Biron to sharp in order to not overwork Lundqvist. Biron was on his game tonight, including a sequence of saves before Anisimov’s goal that seemed to jump-start the team.
- Captain Ryan Callahan missed his first game of the season with his injury, and his teammates stepped up in his absence. Good sign to see teammates rally for their leader.
- Marian Gaborik was the best forward on the ice tonight for the Rangers. He had early scoring chances and continued making things happens throughout the game. His linemates Derek Stepan and Artem Anisimov also played exceptionally with their captain out.
- If the Rangers players don’t know by now that Torts doesn’t play favorites and will bench you for idiocy, then there’s no hope for you. Brandon Dubinsky had a huge gaffe towards the end of the first period, resulting in a dumb penalty, a power-play goal, and a deserving view from the bench the rest of the game. An already rough season for Dubinsky got worse after tonight.
- The tandem of Brian Boyle and Brandon Prust had one of their signature games reminiscent of last season. Not only playing solidly defensively, both players created offensive and showed some nice jump in their skating. More performances like this will be needed from both down the stretch.
- Carl Hagelin once again played a solid, all-around hockey game. In 18:29 of ice time, he had 4 SOG, 2 blocked shots, 1 hit, and a takeaway and had a couple scoring chances. He’s quickly becoming one of the more reliable players in all scenarios for Torts—those are the types of players he loves to have.
- Newcomer John Scott made his Rangers debut. That’s about the only thing he really did tonight.
- Off night for Dan Girardi tonight. Jeff Skinner beat him flat out with some nifty moves and had some other defensive miscues. He is human after all, but fatigue may be starting to set in.
- Since its a match up of the Staal brothers, it does need to be mentioned that “Brother Marc” had a very fine performance tonight, including breaking up an early scoring chance on Eric Staal. Gradually, Marc is regaining his top defensive pair form.
- Michael Del Zotto left the game with a hip injury. With the club already down Michael Sauer, they can ill-afford to lose another top-four defenseman.
BROADWAY HAT WINNER: Brian Boyle
Make sure to check out Cardiac Cane for their thoughts on tonight’s contest.