Great Gabby's first Ranger hat trick ends misery

For one night at least, the misery ended. The Rangers can thank the Great Gabby as he recorded his first hat trick as a Blueshirt, getting the first three in a stunning 3-1 win over the surprising Avs in Denver.

That they even won against a very good young club challenging for the Northwest while The Sutter Boys blow up Calgary to epic proportions (more on that later) is a revelation. Or perhaps the Earth wasn't rotating properly. Whatever the explanation, unlike the disgrace in The Desert sans the last ditch effort/classic tease, the Rangers actually showed and backed by some Gabby magic, got Chad Johnson his first NHL win. Kudos to Ocho Cinco on bouncing back after that three-goal first period barrage last night, finishing with 34 saves, including more than half the final stanza.

"It’s a boost of energy for this club and myself as well to finally get a win and feel good about ourselves,” the club's leading goals (33), assists (32) and points (65) leader said.

Before last night's third period, the Rangers hadn't scored on the road in over 202 minutes before Gaborik ended a five-game drought reaching 30 in his first season in the Big Apple. Sean Avery also tallied Saturday but their rally fell short with Ryan Callahan hitting a post while skating five-on-five minus Johnson thanks to Petr Prucha drawing his third penalty in a game that saw the Coyotes honor Teppo Numminen with a victory.

Maybe the rust finally came off because they were a different team 24 hours later, taking the middle game of a three-game trip. We'll give credit even if I didn't catch the whole thing due to fixing steak nachos. To my shock when I checked the score early on, they were leading for a change thanks to Marian Gaborik beating Craig Anderson with a wrist shot from the right circle, scoring for a second consecutive night. The first time he's connected in two straight since 12/21-23 in wins over Carolina and Florida. A welcome sight for our anemic offense. Avery and Artem Anisimov notched assists on the lone goal of the first.

During intermission, leading rookie scorer Matt Duchene chatted with John Giannone about how exciting Year One's been. Still can't believe he asked Duchene who his favorite player is. Everyone knows it's Joe Sakic, which must be a thrill getting to see his idol daily. This kid has all the tools. He just might be better than John Tavares. Nothing against JT91 who should be great but there's something about Duchene that we like. He's a little more polished. Granted. He has more to work with at the moment. Tracking both along with Victor Hedman should be fun for years.

Back to the game. As I was chowing down, there was Gaborik making a bee line for the net to slam home Vinny Prospal's perfect feed that caught Anderson leaning the other way for 2-0 at 4:57 into the second. Marc Staal- who was a beast logging over 27 minutes- added the first of two helpers, foreshadowing a lucky combo that went to work once more to salt it away in the third. Whatever the reason, the Avs just couldn't mount an attack getting outshot 12-5 in the second. Coming off two straight losses and an off day, they should've been the more rested club. However, rare attention to detail from the guys in red, white and blue was making Johnson's night easier than expected.

Not surprisingly, the hosts ramped it up in the third, firing 18 shots from all cylinders in an attempt to get back in. But Johnson held up while getting help from the Big Ticket, who put the cherry on top with his 10th career hat trick and first since that epic five-goal masterpiece versus our team on Dec.20, 2007. He got it in fine style. After Prospal served a bogus delay of game minor when he accidentally knocked over Johnson and lost control knocking the net off (seri---ously), the Ranger PK which did the job (6-for-6) led to No.33.With Prosp out of the box, Staal found him and then a quick seam pass sprung a flying Gaborik for a breakaway which he didn't miss, firing a low rocket by Anderson.

"You could tell right from the start that he had that jump, he had that swagger,” explained Ocho Cinco. “He was beating guys wide, having control of the puck. The other guys look up to a guy like him to lead the way and when he’s playing his best hockey, I think other guys pick it up and follow his lead.

“All it takes sometimes is one guy to kind of lead the team, pick’em up and put them on his shoulders, and Gabby was unbelivable tonight. He did that.”

His fourth in two games which also included a milestone back in the first, recording his 500th point gave the Rangers some breathing room. Good thing because Colorado came hard with almost nothing working, speaking to how good Johnson was. Eventually, they broke through when tough guy Cody McLeod, who earlier earned a decision over Aaron Voros, rebounded home a Kyle Quincey shot cutting it to 3-1 with 7:21 left. Rookie Justin Mercier added a secondary assist, registering his first NHL point. Of course on the play, Michal Rozsival stood around and let McLeod get position.

Even in a 3-1 win where Gabby records his first hat trick as a Ranger and Ocho Cinco wins his first game, you can always count on Woh-zy to give the other team life. At least the Avs didn't get any closer with another made up penalty this time on Paul Stastny for "tripping Rozsival" dashing any comeback hopes. For the Ranger fans who made their presence known even tossing a few hats on the ice for Gaborik's trick, they actually got to celebrate. I just don't see what there is to be happy about. Even if Ally Kota-leak could be bye bye with Higgs later today in an agreed to deal with the Flames for Olli Joke-inen and real enforcer Brandon Prust, it's not going to change much. 


On second thought, maybe they were thankful for what they witnessed.


Notes: Kotalik, who still must approve the trade due to a no-trade (only Savior) and per Post's Larry Brooks left the team probably to cry her eyes out- was scratched for the eighth game in nine. Other waste Donald Brashear was the other scratch for the seventh time in eight. ... By reaching 30 the other day in Phoenix, Gaborik's scored at least 30+ in six seasons. ... The Avalanche have dropped three in a row, getting outscored 7-3. Currently sixth in the West with 66 points, they trail Vancouver by four and are three up on seventh Nashville and four better than both Calgary and Detroit. ... Duchene was held without a point but still leads all rookies with 36 points (17-19-36). Three better than Tavares (17-16-33) with Philly's James Van Riemsdyk (12-19-31) and Buffalo's Tyler Myers (7-24-31) tied for third. 

... With seventh Florida posting a 2-0 shutout of the Islanders (5 straight losses), Rangers (25-24-7, 57 Pts) vault over idle Atlanta and Montreal back into eighth, a point up with Boston and Tampa two out while the Isles remain stuck on 54. John Tortorella's club concludes three in four on the road tomorrow night against Kings, who pulled a Canes on the Devils Sunday to win their sixth straight.

BONY 3 STARS:

3rd Star-Cody McLeod, Col (6th goal, 3 SOG, 2 hits, 5 PIM, +1 in 16 shifts-10:07)
2nd Star-Chad Johnson, NYR (34 saves incl.17/18 in 3rd for 1st career NHL victory)
1st Star-Marian Gaborik, NYR (1st Ranger hat trick-goals 31, 32, 33, 6 SOG, 3 hits, +3 in 21:06)

Singing The Blues

Where's B.B. King when you need him? Even the King of Blues would be appalled by what's happened to the Rangers' offense. So what if they finally scored a goal in a dismal 4-1 loss to the St. Louis Blues. It didn't matter much. Not when you hardly test their goalie. At one point, shots were 13-7 St. Louis with like seven minutes left in the second period. Somehow, our punchless club managed to be tied 1-1 after 40 minutes thanks to immortal Brian Boyle, who slipped a backhand past Chris Mason from Aaron Voros. That was the extent of our offense.

Just how unwatchable was this? The Blues led in SOG 15-12. Outside of Team USA wrecking ball David Backes absolutely destroying our team, there was little entertainment value. Unless you caught a rested Henrik Lundqvist during first intermission and the one and only John Davidson back with Sam Rosen during an emotional segment. It's always a joy to see JD, who admittedly is balder now with whiter hair but definitely has dropped a lot of weight and still has the passion for the sport. Something missing from our cigar smoking son of a gun that somehow continues to cash Jazzy Jim paychecks. At least I caught it because there was little else to keep from switching to awful playoff football and a much more entertaining Sabres/Islanders conclusion in the shootout which Rick DiPietro finally won in his Coliseum return. Ah. Emotion. There was plenty of it written all over his face, thanking just about everyone.

Who should the Rangers thank for another listless performance that made watching a chore? They're slowly killing their own fans. It's no wonder so many sold their tix to Devil fans at the game of the season. Well, it should've just been the final game. Period. That's the lone highlight. Mike Brodeur would disagree since he won a second consecutive start for the Sens in the Hockey Night In Canada match-up over the Habs. The same club our team returns home to play tomorrow. Scott Gomez and Paul Mara's MSG return. How thrilling. They'll probably have a lot more to smile about.

So, how much did I see? Enough to conclude we weren't winning. Even with two bit scrubs like Voros- in for Huggy Bear- and Boyle combining for the club's first goal in 172:00 wasn't enough to inspire most of their teammates. At least Enver Lisin dressed in place of Ally and played hard. Watch Tort healthy scratch him Sunday for some unknown reason. Speaking of the coach, when does he finally realize that Vinny Prospal isn't the same since returning. Why is he still on the top line? Marian Gaborik is being wasted. He must feel like he's in jail. Teams are keying on him, taking away time and space. He's been stuck on 28 goals for a while. Gabby's still trying as evidenced by three break-ins during this putrid stretch but even he's stopped finishing. It's now five games without a goal and only one point. The Big Ticket's scored just twice in eight games this month. Dating back further, it's two over the past 11. It's hard to get on Gaborik because minus him, this would be the worst team. Good job Slats!

Yes. Ocho Cinco got his second start and fared alright, finishing with 21 saves, giving them a chance. Ultimately, our soft as molasses team were overmatched by a much bigger, stronger opponent that pounded away putting the Blueshirts into submission. As Anthony might say in our section, 'how could this team be so soft?' They don't stand up for each other. The other night, the biggest cheapshot artist Jarkko Ruutu did whatever he wanted and nobody answered the bell. Humiliating.


Roman Polak (who???) scored the winner and had a primary helper on Alex Steen's insurance marker. Our great powerless play went 0-for-2 with no shots! Tort even pulled Ocho with over two minutes left using a timeout. As if that was going to save us. My favorite part was when Prosp had a two-on-one downlow and didn't shoot, instead passing for a covered Gabby. You're down two goals! Wow. Twenty-two lousy shots on Mason, who should've had a shutout. Give up a goal to Boyle and you should be sent to the dungeon.

Fittingly, Backes hit the empty to put them out of their misery. When even Joe Micheletti says something negative about the effort, you know it's bad. Dave Maloney sounded comatose. I also heard Pete Stemkowski trashed them on the radio. Think the old-timers are fed up with these cupcakes. They should be sponsored by Hostess.

Well, there's always tomorrow! Annie's warming up.

BONY 3 Stars:

3rd Star-Brian Boyle, NYR (goal-1st in 19 games, 5 hits, +1 in 10:51)
2nd Star-Roman Polak, Stl (GWG/assist, 2 blocked shots, +1 in 21:15)
1st Star-David Backes, Stl (ENG, 5 hits, 2 takeaways, 7-8 draws in 19:14)