Postgame: Gaborik Scores Twice, Rangers Earn Win Against Caps

Despite being guilty of taking nine penalties in the game, the Rangers showed character by continuously battling back to answer the Caps, and eventually take the lead late in the third thanks to Marian Gaborik. Many questions have been asked when talking about the Blueshirts penalty kill, and whether or not it will be able to live up to what last year's PK unit accomplished. Well, for now, those questions were certainly answered, as the boys from New York only allowed one goal in the nine times they took the ice against the league's deadliest powerplay.

In the first period, the lone goal went to forward Alex Semin, who buried a beautiful pass from Brian Pothier. That goal lasted until the end of the first period, giving Washington the lead going into the second period. The play originally started on a terrible turnover by Michal Rozsival in the neutral zone, and then the Caps worked the puck to the point, from where Pothier made the play.

In the second period, Ryan Callahan, who was questionable heading into this one, made a play along the boards to create a short-handed two on one chance, which was disrupted by the back-checking Caps defense. Callahan was clearly gassed, but that did not stop him from breaking up an Ovechkin pass, which he took all the way down ice to beat Theodore through the legs on the breakaway. Two minutes later, Artem Anisimov recorded his first NHL point, setting up Kotalik in the slot, who roofed a back-hander top shelf. This saw the Blueshirts with a 2-1 lead heading into the intermission.

Three minutes into the third, Niklas Backstrom lofted a puck at Lundqvist from the blueline, which Hank misplayed, and let in. Thankfully, Lundqvist shook it off rather quickly, and made some key saves. Backstrom scored again later on, finding the back of the net on the powerplay, giving the Caps a 3-2 lead. Shortly after, Marian Gaborik rushed into the slot, where he let a snap shot go and it seemed to just trickle over the goal line, once again, through the legs of Theodore. The Rangers were put on the powerplay towards the ladder half of the third, when Mike Del Zotto found a breaking Gaborik, who pulled back and released a lightning quick wrister pass Jose for his second tally of the period, which held out to be the winner.

Up to that point, Gaborik was very quiet, and not playing all that well, but those two explosive plays changed that, as well as won the game for the Rangers. Coach Tortorella even mentioned that Gabs was not noticeable until those goals, which implies that something may have been said in the locker room or on the bench. None the less, Gaborik now has four goals in four games played in a Ranger sweater.

Besides the ugly lofter that Lundqvist allowed, he played very well tonight, especially in the first period and on the penalty kill, where he kept the Rangers in the game. Henrik made 25 saves on 28 shots in the game, and has gotten off to a stellar start in the 2009-10 season.

Another player in which I thought displayed his best efforts of the season so far was Ryan Callahan. Before the contest, the Rangers called up Evgeny Grachev as insurance because Callahan was labeled to have an upper body injury. The minor setback did not keep the Rangers' Alternate Captain out of the lineup, and Cally was the best penalty killer besides Lundqvist, and was rewarded with a goal.

Chris Higgins had many opportunities tonight, but was unable to finish any of them. To be exact, the Long Island native had six shots, two of which were semi-breakaways. Give him credit for creating the chances, but at some point, one has to go in. Defensively, I like what I have seen from Higgins.

Speaking of defensive efforts, Vinny Prospal was spectacular away from the puck and in the defensive zone. I could think of at least four instances in which Prospal made a great back-checking play off the top of my head, and I am sure there were more that I am leaving out. One of those came towards the end, when Vinny made a crucial clear out of his own zone to eliminate the pushing Caps from tying the game. The key here is that Torts clearly knows what to expect from Prospal in the defensive end of things, therefore we saw Vinny on the ice in various situations.

Matt Gilroy was the top defensemen for the Rangers, as he constantly shut-down Alex Ovechkin, whose point scoring streak ended tonight. Gilroy showed no hesitation in stepping up on the "Great Eight" and it paid off, evidently frustrating Ovechkin, because he slammed his stick on the boards multiple times. OV had three points in each of the first three games of the season, but that ended tonight with the Blueshirts holding him scoreless.

I also felt that the third line, which was dormant in earlier games, played well tonight, and were actually noticeable. Kotalik registered his second goal of the season, this coming off of a great play by Enver Lisin and Artem Anisimov along the boards. We will see if this trio is altered once Avery returns to the lineup.

There is obviously still some work to be done with this team, but give them credit for coming out and staying with one of the top teams in the league. In my opnion, New York was the better team on even strength, made some bad turnovers, but I liked the forecheck and back-check overall.

The now 3-1 Rangers will play their second home game of 2009-10 on Sunday, when they will host Ryan Getzlaf and the Anaheim Ducks at MSG. It is probable that Sean Avery makes his season debut in that game, but again, the return date has been postponed several times, so do not count on it. That game is scheduled for a 5 pm puck drop.
(Image courtesy of AP Photo)