The GAS Line burns Senators

Ever since John Tortorella moved Artem Anisimov up with Derek Stepan and Marian Gaborik, the cohesive trio have had something going. An unlikely combo due to three different styles has proven dangerous for opposing goalies. Last night in Kanata proved no different with the newly formed GAS Line burning the Senators for all three goals in the Rangers' fifth consecutive win- a 3-2 count avenging a bad home loss on Oct.29.

The new name which one Ranger tweep came up with looks like it'll stick for at least the time being. Gaborik (2-1-3), Stepan (1-2-3) and Anisimov (2 helpers) combined for eight points, including some magic on one of Gabby's goals where the emerging second-year former Badger made a perfect no-look feed for an easy tap-in. Of course, we're talking about Stepan, who is everything once thought.

"The way we are playing, doing the right things and staying with the details is the biggest thing. We've got to continue to play hard and use our legs to create things," Stepan told Blueshirts United after the three-point outing gave him seven points over the last three.

"First of all we had a good forecheck and kept our legs moving. Second of all, when we get the puck, guys are confident to make a play. We are winning the battles, getting in their first, and I think that's how we created our goals," Gaborik pointed out after notching his team-leading eighth and ninth markers along with an assist. Gaborik is tied with Claude Giroux, Joe Pavelski and James Neal for fifth in goals behind league leader Phil Kessel (11) with Thomas Vanek, Sens' goalscorer Milan Michalek and Steven Stamkos placing second with 10 each.

Considering that I missed the game due to work, it was nice to see our team respond to Michalek's 10th after he dusted Jeff Woywitka to open the scoring early in the second. Jason Spezza and Erik Karlsson drew assists. Less than a minute later, Stepan and Gaborik combined on the aforementioned nice set up with No.10 finishing it off. Not long after that, an aggressive forecheck from Anisimov behind the Sens' net allowed him to steal the puck, walk out in front and force a scrambling Craig Anderson to make a save. With the American vet out of position, Stepan snuck in and backhanded the rebound into an open side for his third.

Despite getting outshot 21-11 through two periods, the Blueshirts led by one entering the third. Back in net, Henrik Lundqvist was sharp finishing with 29 saves for his fifth win of the season. The King got more support when the GAS Line combined for Gaborik's second of the night thanks in large part to ultimate warrior Dan Girardi, who logged 28 big minutes. Enough can't be said about Danny G, who always seems to be in the right spot. If he's not blocking shots, he's making a smart defensive play like the one that turned into an odd-man rush with Anisimov skating it out before getting it to Stepan, who then headmanned Gaborik on a two-on-one. Gabby patiently waited, faked pass and then roofed one top shelf. The great play turned out to be the game-decider with Nick Foligno making it interesting late.

"I think we have high confidence right now, and we need to grow this confidence every game to play even better as a line," Anisimov explained after his pair of assists improved him to six points in three. The third-year Russian has emerged from a sluggish start to lead the Blueshirts with eight helpers. "We need to keep an eye on the back of each other. If someone makes a mistake let's come back and go hard for him."

BONY 3 Stars:

3rd Star: Artem Anisimov, NYR (2 assists, plus Broadway Hat)
2nd Star: Derek Stepan, NYR (goal-3rd, 2 helpers)
1st Star: Marian Gaborik, NYR (2 goals-8th/9th, assist)


Notes: There were two scraps with little used Sean Avery battling former Isle Zenon Konopka while Andre Deveaux took on Jared Cowen. We'll try to find video of each and get it up. ... Newest Ranger Anton Stralman skated with the team today at practice. Might he make his debut tomorrow? ... Brandon Dubinsky remains without a goal in the first 14. That along with the lack of finish from Brian Boyle and Brandon Prust remains the only drawback.

This Staal's Clean: The Rangers have won five straight improving to 8-3-3. They return to MSG tomorrow to battle Eric Staal's Hurricanes. Some have discussed it as a revenge game for the hit Eric laid on brother Marc Staal, who remains sidelined with PCS. However, it was clean and at the end of a period. Just from some of the quotes the elder Staal had about his brother the other day, it has really affected him. Though it's hard to explain his minus-16 rating these days. Our team needs to treat it like any other game. Carolina fell to the Devils the other night and aren't playing well. But they still boast hot shot super soph Jeff Skinner along with Staal, plus Cam Ward. At the end of the year, they'll probably be there. The Blueshirts can't take them lightly before traveling north of the border to Toronto for a Saturday Hockey Night In Canada showdown with the Leafs.

Karlsson sinks win streak

Henrik Lundqvist wanted the streak to reach six. Erik Karlsson had other ideas. The fellow Swede beat his countryman in the fifth round of the shootout, giving the Senators a 2-1 win at MSG last night. The loss also snapped a four-game home winning streak. The Rangers still gained a valuable point in the playoff race on the Canadiens, who got demolished in Boston 7-zip in their first meeting since Zdeno Chara ended Max Pacioretty's season. At 85 points with seven left, the Blueshirts find themselves only two behind Montreal for sixth. They're four ahead of eighth Buffalo who holds two games at hand with one getting made up tonight against Florida.

The brownie point puts some distance between the club and ninth Carolina, who trails by seven. With a 4-3 win yesterday, the Leafs stayed alive tying the Canes with 78 points but only have seven games left. Carolina has nine including a crucial home-and-home versus Tampa Bay tonight and tomorrow. The Thrashers also earned a 2-1 win over the Islanders with former Isle Rob Schremp getting a measure of revenge with the winner to give Atlanta 74. They and the Devils need a ton of help to have any shot. New Jersey visits Pittsburgh, who notched a shootout win over the Flyers to climb within four of the division lead. So, there's plenty to play for on both sides.

As for the Blueshirts, the effort simply wasn't good enough against a pesky Ottawa club that's taken well to playing spoiler. When you only have nine shots through the first half of a scoreless contest, you're not getting it done. Following an offensive explosion, it was the second straight lowscoring contest John Tortorella's club played against a non-contender. Perhaps that's why after Ryan Shannon's tally off a nice set up from Bobby Butler that broke the scoreless tie late in the second, Tortorella adjusted all his lines by switching each center with the same sets of wings. Brian Boyle played with Brandon Dubinsky and Ryan Callahan while Derek Stepan centered Vinny Prospal and Marian Gaborik. Artem Anisimov slided between Brandon Prust and Ruslan Fedotenko while Erik Christensen, Mats Zuccarello and Wojtek Wolski went long stretches without seeing the ice.

"We stole a point. We haven't played without energy many times this year. Tonight everybody did. Even in the shootout, we didn't look right. So we take the point, stuff it in our back pockets, and move by this," Tortorella accurately assessed.

It paid off when Prust notched his 12th off a Marc Staal feed. Taking a Fedotenko pass in his end, Staal skated through the neutral zone and was hooked by a falling Chris Phillips but still managed to get the puck to Prust, who went far side from the right circle to tie it at 2:45. The Rangers responded by swarming the Sens the rest of the way but couldn't find the next goal on Craig Anderson. The recently re-signed veteran matched Lundqvist save for save, denying our club of another point. Though the Blueshirts came close with Dubinsky set up but couldn't lift the puck.

The first half was about Lundqvist, who was outstanding in making several athletic stops that featured a reflex save with his left leg, keeping Ottawa at bay. It was one of those frustrating nights where his teammates couldn't score enough to get him the 'W.' Even a late power play that turned into a 4-on-3 in overtime produced zilch with the Sens' aggressiveness the story. There also was some edge with a few scrums as the game wound down in regulation. Perhaps Mike Sauer standing up for Zuccarello against tough customer Zach Smith explained why. There also was an instance where Callahan took two shots from behind with neither detected, which infuriated him. He was ready to go when Dubinsky and Smith got matching roughs along with Boyle and Jesse Winchester.

It may have lacked in the scoring department but the intensity was fun. Despite six shots in OT, the Rangers went to a shootout. Ironically, Tort's doghouse came out for the first three attempts and not surprisingly were cold. Anderson snuffed out Christensen, Zuccarello and Wolski with ease. But Spezza, Shannon and Marek Svatos couldn't beat Henrik, forcing sudden death. As fate had it, Callahan broke his stick in the fifth after Dubinsky missed high, setting the stage for Karlsson to outsmart Lundqvist. A nice deke and quick shot just underneath the glove made the Sens winners. That was enough for our goalie to do his patented temper tantrum as he skated off, slamming the stick against the glass in frustration. Every point counts. Even if they deserved none.


BONY 3 Stars:

3rd Star-Brandon Prust, NYR (12th goal of season tied game w/17:15 remaining)
2nd Star-Henrik Lundqvist, NYR (29 saves incl. 4/5 in shootout)
1st Star-Craig Anderson, Ott (29 saves incl. 5/5 in shootout)

Help Wanted: Hockey Team already in trouble

They've only played four games but already it's getting late early for a Broadway team that just won't hit back. It's bad enough that they now have a built in excuse with no Marian Gaborik. However, to come out so flat at home after having the weekend to prepare for a good Colorado team is quite disturbing. Has Halloween come a bit early for the Rangers or are they planning to morph into ghosts with a more promising year for Dolan's basketball club around the corner?

It was no great shock that they fell to the Avalanche by a count of 3-1. It was still depressing how they did it, allowing the more skilled Avs to score consecutive goals 26 seconds apart in the third- demoralizing an already dead crowd that were on hands and knees praying. Okay. That last part was excessive but you catch my drift. This was actually a winnable game thanks to a strong second which was at least encouraging following such a poor start that John Tortorella burned his timeout 14 minutes in following one of two Chris Stewart power play goals. Plus a just dreadful shift in which our guys may as well have seen dead people.

After Tort laid into his guys doing plenty of arm waving, they showed a pulse finally getting some rubber on Craig Anderson. At that point, shots were like 14-3 and the power play wasn't helping. They flat out sucked blowing half a dozen chances with too much overpassing, predictable shots which got blocked and a few giveaways for easy Colorado clears. Brutal and disgusting. When you're reduced to using Michal Rozsival on the top unit and Dan Girardi on the other, the hands are basically being thrown in the air to the immortal GM, 'Please help us.' Too bad there won't be any answer. Hockey sure is different here.

Well, there was a positive with Alex Frolov finally scoring his first as a Ranger when off a Derek Stepan feed, the enigmatic Russian snuck a wrister through Anderson which tied it with 1:51 remaining in the first. The goal was somewhat miraculous because it came during a four-on-four. Of course, it was dubious with Mike Del Zotto actually having the audacity to stand up for a fallen teammate after T.J. Galiardi was nabbed for boarding. God forbid in this pansy league if a player shows a little balls. Simply amazing. We usually can't score to save our life at four-on-four but Stepan and Frolov made it work when the rookie pivot started a two-on-one resulting in the former King's first. The shot must've just crossed the goal line because Marc Staal followed it up just in case.

Despite being outplayed most of the period and outshot 17-12, the Blueshirts were tied thanks to some splendid netminding from Henrik Lundqvist, who gave the best account of himself in his fourth straight start. After fighting the puck a little in the first, he got stronger en route to 31 saves, including a couple of point blank denials to the familiar "Hen---rik, Hen---rik" chants. He was also bowled over again by an attacking Av with not one Ranger defending his honor. It's so sad that our guys let this happen. And of course, Derek Boogaard (three shifts-2:04) barely played. What's the point of even dressing him if our coach refuses to use him? Besides that, it's high time the almighty King stood up for himself. I know it's not in his character due to his precious image but for the love of sanity, show a little fire. Go Marty and push back. He's the unquestioned leader on this team and must send a message that reads:

'Stay the **** out of my crease!'

Lundqvist's teammates played much better in front of him during the middle portion, outshooting Colorado 10-8 and outchancing them. There was Michal Rozsival springing Ryan Callahan for a clean break-in but he missed wide. If only he had hands. Then, Stepan had Frolov all set up in the slot but he somehow missed everything. There also was an actual Girardi one-timer that rang off the post. Even when Anderson mistakingly made a blind giveaway early in the third, he slid across to thwart the golden Ranger opportunity to steer ahead. If only our man-advantage didn't feel like even strength. The Avs were begging them to take the game but boy did they come up small. Nothing worked.

Predictably, a questionable Del Zotto trip led to the Avalanche winner. In the first, they capitalized on a Rozsival trip with nobody taking Stewart, who was allowed to stand in the blue paint. This time, he scored from 12 feet out when NHL reject Steve Eminger failed to take him. Making matters worse, the Rangers fell asleep on the next shift allowing the immortal Daniel Winnik to sneak behind everyone and bang one home off Frolov for the crusher 26 ticks later. Nice to know Fro's earning that paycheck. :P I wasn't even paying attention while discussing the ineptitude of our boys with a nice fan named Christina, who was about as enthusiastic as we were about our heroes. It was then that she remarked:

"The season's already over."

I wish I could say she was joking. But given how bad the Rangers have looked since their less than impressive season opening win against what's now a stumbling Sabre club, could Christina really be that far off? Our lines are a mess. Lundqvist's net may as well read, 'All opponents welcome.' It's just increasingly difficult to get excited right now. Where's the help? Wow. They played Boogaard all of three shifts with pricey vet Todd White getting nine (7:46) and Erik Christensen seeing a dozen (9:43).

To quote Anthony from our awesome Section 411, "When [Brandon] Prust's one of your best forwards, that's scary." Brian Boyle was the only one throwing his weight around. At least there was no need for Dancin' Larry to get out of his seat and make a fool of himself. In fact, the highlight of the night were the kids during second intermission competing in one-on-one shootout style at opposite ends. Yep. This was a real barn burner.

It's more discouraging when Tortorella clearly doesn't have faith in Matt Gilroy- only giving him 1:21 of PP time in 16 shifts (12:09). And coach's pet Eminger (15 shifts- 11:25) is a daily adventure. For as much ink as Staal gets, he's still getting less time than Rozsival, who's probably our best penalty killer. What exactly does that say?

Maybe Anthony's right. The coach might not survive the season. What good would it do?


BONY 3 Stars:

3rd Star-John-Michael Liles, Col (assist, 3 SOG, 3 blocked shots in 22 shifts-16:56)
2nd Star-Henrik Lundqvist, NYR (31 saves incl.16/17 in 1st)
1st Star-Chris Stewart, Col (2 PPG incl. GW w/12:40 left, 2 SOG in 22 shifts-15:40)

Shorthanded Rangers host Avs tonight

In a little bit, I'll be heading over to MSG along with Justin and Mike for the Rangers' second home game. They'll take on a talented Avs club that features super soph Matt Duchene, Paul Stastny, Chris Stewart, Milan Hejduk and John-Michael Liles. The goalie match-up should be good too with last year's surprise Craig Anderson opposing Henrik Lundqvist.

Obviously, it's the first game minus offensive leader Marian Gaborik with yet again no Chris Drury and Vinny Prospal, who had successful knee surgery and is expected out six to eight weeks. More encouraging at least than the rumored entire season over the weekend. Here's a chance for our young core featuring Marc Staal, Dan Girardi, Mike Del Zotto, Ryan Callahan, Brandon Dubinsky, Artem Anisimov and rookie Derek Stepan to step up. This is what Ranger fans have wanted to see. Well, here it is. Can Lundqvist steal a few games and when does Alex Frolov (2 A) finally score his first as a Blueshirt? They signed the ex-King to complement Gabby but now, he's the most proven scorer on our roster. Will he find chemistry with new linemates Stepan and Ruslan Fedotenko? He better.

John Tortorella wisely didn't change the cohesive Anisimov unit featuring Cally and Dubi. In many aspects, they've been our most effective on the cycle but must pay better attention to detail after having been on for a few goals against the first three contests. Leading assist man Sean Avery shifts to the third line with familiar linemates Brian Boyle and Brandon Prust, who worked well together late last year. Meanwhile, Erik Christensen returns and Todd White anchors the fourth line with The Boogey Man.

Tort keeps the same D pairs for tonight at least. So, that means another game of Steve Eminger and Matt Gilroy. Over the weekend, the vet coach went over defensive coverage which has been lacking. They've allowed 12 goals while scoring 13. Sure. Offensive is up but the defense has been scary. Is there a change in philosophy with The Big Ticket out? They can't afford to get into a run n' gun with the speedy Avs. They'll get burned. Discipline must also be better.

We'll see what our boys come up with in a few hours.