On a bit of a hectic night in Ranger-land, the Blueshirts, led by Marian Gaborik, found a way to snap a five-game losing skid and defeat the Colorado Avalanche by the score of 3-1. It seems as if Gaborik may have a partner in crime moving forward, though, as TSN’s Darren Dreger is reporting that GM Glen Sather has acquired Calgary forward Olli Jokinen in a deal that has sent Chris Higgins and Ales Kotalik to the Flames, however, it has not been totally confirmed just yet. Anyhow, onto the recap of the desperately needed win.
I am very happy I spent my time on an article earlier today detailing how critical it is that the Rangers start to score first in games and begin these tilts in a more dominating fashion, because that is what we saw here tonight in Denver. Marian Gaborik opened the scoring at 13:53 of the first period with his 31st goal of the season and his 5ooth National Hockey League point. The shot was nothing short of marvelous and he was not done there.
The Slovakian Star buried his second of the game in the second stanza when Vinny Prospal made a great feed to Gabs for the tap-in from behind the net. Then again in the third period, when Prospal hit Gaborik, this time right out of the penalty box, Marian registered the hat-trick goal (tenth of his career). I think it is an understatement to say Marian Gaborik has officially broken the slump, scoring four goals in the last two games. Also give credit to Vinny Prospal for two spectacular passes to set-up two of the three Gaborik goals.
Congratulation to rookie goaltender Chad Johnson for earning his first NHL win, and when I say earn, I mean earn. Johnson made 34 saves on 35 shots and some of them were highlight reel status. He was very impressive on this night, and did a great job of relieving Henrik Lundqvist, who was out with the stomach flu. The Rangers penalty-kill also gave Johnson a heap of help as well.
The Blueshirts actually established a forecheck in this game and I think that definitely helped the winning effort. The Avalanche did not register a shot on goal in the second period until the midway point, which goes to show that your best defense is your offense. That was the case for the Ranges in this game, which they dominated from the opening faceoff.
This is definitely a big win that the Rangers needed in the worst way. However, they now have to face a red hot club in the Los Angeles Kings on Tuesday night, but by the looks of it, will be doing so with two new teammates. If they can somehow find a way to play like this more often, there would be many more tallies in the win column for New York, but unfortunately, consistency has been a major problem with this team.
I will cut the postgame analysis off there, because obviously all of the commotion right now is about the trade that seems to be just about complete. TSN is reporting that the Rangers and Flames will announce a trade tonight that would send forwards Ales Kotalik and Chris Higgins to Calgary for veteran center Olli Jokinen and enforcer Brandon Prust. Jokinen is 31-years-old with a contract just over $5 million. He has eleven goals on the season.
Will have more details on the deal as they are released……
(Image courtesy of AP Photo)
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