Dubi Line Can Do in Garden Opener

by: Joe McDonald | Publisher and Editor-in-Chief | Saturday, October 11, 2008



NEW YORK – Although things down on Wall Street are very bearish this week, the Rangers on 33rd Street have a decidedly bullish tone.

After taking the two games in Prague last weekend, the Blueshirts opened up their North American schedule last night with a 4-2 over the Chicago Blackhawks to push their record to a league best 3-0. Of course, the Rangers have played more games than most of the league, but that hardly mattered to the ecstatic Garden crowd.

What’s important is that the Rangers are playing as a cohesive unit, especially after all the changes this past summer.

“We worked really hard,” said netminder Henrik Lundqvist, who owns a goals against average of 1.33 in the three games. “It feels good to get in here and get some confidence and get comfortable with new teammates.”

The newly constructed second line of Aaron Voros, Brandon Dubinsky and Nikolai Zherdev looked very at ease as they dominated the game with three of the four Ranger goals – one from each player - and four of the team’s six assists. Coach Tom Renney said he thought the combination might work out when he saw the three playing in training camp.

“We were paired a bit in pre-season,” said Voros, who came to the Rangers as a free-agent from Minnesota. “And the three of us hang out quite a bit off the ice and that makes for a pretty good chemistry because there are no egos.”

It worked as a nice blend for the three players as they took over the game in the second period. After Wade Redden and Patrick Kane traded goals in the first, Voros scored at 5:15 in the middle 20 to break the tie. First, Dubinsky stripped the puck from ‘Hawk’s center Dave Bolland and then zoomed into the zone with the rolling disk. The sophomore center fed Voros for the one timer, which beat Cristobal Huet to give the Blueshirts the lead for good.

And a little over 10 minutes later, Dubinsky scored his tally unassisted to make it 3-1 and the Rangers were cruising.

“You can see the sum of the parts,” Renney said. “I certainly liked it, as I imagine every Rangers fan did.”

What the 117th consecutive sellout crowd didn’t like was in the third when Chicago staged a comeback. Duncan Keith cut the lead to 3-2 to put the Rangers on edge 7:14 into the third and the team had 14 shots in that period, which was all Henrik Lundqvist could handle.

“We had about 30 shots and missed the net ten to a dozen times,” said Blackhawks coach Denis Savard. “We had good chances where we could have buried some of them.”

Ultimately, Lundqvist made 30 saves on the night and Zherdev gave him some breathing room when Voros was able to feed him with a little over 10 minutes left. It was Dubinsky’s third point of the game, which allowed Lundqvist to cruise.

“We have to be happy with [tonight] and take some of the good things we did and focus on some of the bad things,” Dubinsky said. “It’s a very special thing [to be a Ranger]. It’s exciting and I want to be that player fans like, because I am willing to put it on the line every night for my teammates.”

Notes: The Rangers will travel to Philadelphia tomorrow for the Flyers’ home opener. Republican Vice Presidential candidate and self-proclaimed “hockey mom” Sarah Palin will drop the first puck…Captain Chris Drury and Markus Naslund assisted on Redden’s goal in the first…Huet had 25 saves on the night…Soon to be number retirees Andy Bathgate, Harry Howell, and Adam Graves dropped the ceremonial first puck.