Red Wings Experience Different Rangers in the Garden

By: Joe Higgins

Henirk Lundqvist was outstanding Wednesday night, only letting in one goal while facing 36 shots from the Detroit Red Wings. Although the New York Rangers got out shot 36-26, the Rangers put up three goals, including another power play goal by Marian Gaborik, in the first period.

With only one minute into the game, Gaborik brought the puck up through the neutral zone and tried shaking the Red Wings short-handed group before he gave the puck up to Michal Rozsival at the blue line. Rozsival then gave the puck back to Gaborik at the top of the left circle where Marian ripped a wrist shot past Jimmy Howard.

Next up to score was Sean Avery. On the same line as Ruslan Fedotenko (on a try-out contract) and Derek Stepan, Avery received a pass from Stepan behind the net and tried to swiftly put it around the net at the goal line. Howard denied Avery’s try pushing the puck back to Stepan where he then dumped it off to Fedotenko whose shot got denied and rebounded right back to him. Ruslan dumped the puck back to Avery where he shot the puck right on the outside of the left circle and past the Red Wings net-minder.

As if two goals weren’t enough for the Rangers in the first, defensemen Mike Sauer put in a third goal with only a minute left in the period. Gaborik picked up another point by assisting on the goal as he gave Erik Christensen the puck in the slot. Christensen quickly got out to secure the puck but made a flashy backhand pass to Sauer as he stormed into the offensive zone to blast the puck past Howard for the third time in the first 20 minutes. 

In the second period it was the Red Wings turn to get on the board and it came from Brian Rafalski. On the power play, the Red Wings tried taking their time instead of trying as hard as possible to catch up to the Rangers. Todd Bertuzzi passed the puck to Rafalski in desperation of turning it over where he then passed it over to Brendan Smith at the top of the slot. With nothing to work with, Smith moved over to the left as Rafalski followed and received the pass from Smith. Although it look to be deflected Rafalski was credited with the goal as he ripped a shot from the blue line past Lundqvist.

The third period came along and just like the first it was all New York. Stepan got his turn at goal scoring this time scoring with Fedotenko again assisting along with Pavel Valenenko. Pavel took a shot from the blue line where it then deflected of off Fedotenko’s stick right to Stepan as he buried it past Howard early in the third.

Michael Del Zotto was the last to score for the Rangers with Alexander Frolov assisting him. Del Zotto gave Frolov the puck in the Rangers defensive zone and he proceeded to bring the puck up the left side bringing it into the offensive zone. While that was happening, Del Zotto went around the right side of the rink paralleling Frolov. Alexander then fed the puck to Del Zotto where he one timed the shot past Howard midway through the third.

With the need to make roster cuts and final the depth chart, the Rangers got some good looks out of some bubble players. Fedetenko put up two points last night showing that he could be a potential third or fourth line player and it might have been worth it for Derek Stepan to skip out his junior and senior year at the University of Wisconsin as he might be getting some NHL ice time with the Rangers in the regular season. It’s only a matter of days until all these cuts are made and the Rangers drop the puck for their first regular season matchup against the Sabres.