Trainor Communications has provided us with this sound from the game.

Henrik Lundqvist

Marian Gaborik

Ryan Callahan

Martin Brodeur

Ilya Kovalchuk

For more information contact Bob Trainor at trainorcomm@gmail.com.

Notes:

• New York has posted a record of 12-4-2 vs. New Jersey since the start of the 2007-08 season; goaltender Henrik Lundqvist improved to 17-6-5 in 28 career regular season appearances vs. New Jersey, including a record of 16-3-4 head-to-head vs. Martin Brodeur.
• The Rangers tallied one goal in three power play opportunities (4:36), and are now five-for-nine (55.6%) on the man advantage in the last two games.
• Henrik Lundqvist stopped 41 of 42 shots to improve to 23-21-6 on the season, including a 12-13-4 mark at MSG; he has now held opponents to two or fewer goals in 21 of his last 28 games dating back to a 2-1 win at Buffalo on Dec. 5, posting a 12-11-5 record, along with a 2.33 goals against average, a .921 save percentage and one shutout over the span; it was Lundqvist’s sixth 40-plus save performance of his career and second of the season, having registered a career-high 45 saves on Jan. 12 vs. New Jersey.
• Rangers Alternate Captain Ryan Callahan notched the game-winning goal and added a power play assist in 22:22 of icetime; he has recorded four points (two goals and two assists) in the last two games; Callahan also led all skaters with six hits, and registered a team-high five shots on net.
• Marian Gaborik opened the game’s scoring with a power play goal at 7:20 of the second period to extend his point streak to five games, registering eight points (six goals and two assists) over the span; he is currently tied for the NHL lead with 13 power play goals, which marks his single-season career-high.
• Rangers Captain Chris Drury tallied the Rangers’ third goal at 9:59 of the second, registered four hits and won a team-high 10 faceoffs in 16 attempts (63%); Drury is now two points shy of 600 career NHL points.
• Brandon Prust tallied his first point as a Ranger with an assist on Drury’s second period goal, and finished the contest with two fighting majors; he is currently tied for the NHL lead with 21 fighting majors on the season.
• Michael Del Zotto registered an assist on Gaborik’s power play goal, and has now recorded a power play assist in each of the last two games; he leads the team with 14 power play assists and ranks third with 17 power play points.
• Matt Gilroy recorded one assist in 14:00 of icetime, and now has two assists in the last two games; the Rangers have now posted a record of 6-3-1 when he registers a point.
• The Blueshirts’ next practice is scheduled for Monday, Feb. 8 (11:00 a.m.), at the MSG Training Center.
• The Rangers will conclude their three-game homestand on Wednesday, Feb. 10, vs. the Nashville Predators at Madison Square Garden (7:00 p.m.); the game will be televised live on MSG Network and can be heard on 1050 ESPN Radio.

POST-GAME QUOTES

John Tortorella on Henrik Lundqvist…

“He played very well.  He made some good saves early.  When they mounted on us in the third period, he made some great saves.  We need it, that is how you win.  We are not the only team, every team that wins gets goaltending.  Henrik is the backbone.  He played very well tonight.”

Henrik Lundqvist on beating New Jersey…

“It doesn’t matter who you play.  The top teams are not that much better than the teams that are in 10th place, they are just more consistent.  The game, itself, is not tougher.  They have been very consistent, that is why they are up there.  Don’t get me wrong, they are a very good team.  It is going to be just as tough to play a seventh place team.  It was a fun game, a lot of action.  We scored some huge goals in the second period.  It was a good game to get.”

Marian Gaborik on the upcoming Winter Olympics…

“Everybody is focused on the season here.  The Olympics hasn’t started yet.  When the day comes we will focus on that but the main focus is the season right now.”

Finally after a day of waiting, Olli Jokinen and Brandon Prust are Rangers, while the team bids goodbuy to Ales Kotalik and Christopher Higgins.

No matter how Jokinen meshes with Marian Gaborik, this is simply a good trade for the Rangers. They gave up nothing, while getting the cap flexibility for next season if their new No. 1 center leaves as a free agent.

These are the trades general manager Glen Sather needs to make. The Rangers can’t give up their young talent, as that’s the future of the organization, so he has to be nimble and use the bad fits in moves to make the team better.

In this trade, Sather just moved two very disappointing parts, including one that didn’t want to be in New York, and got himself a rental, which could make a huge impact this season. Coach John Tortorella knows Jokinen from his years in Tampa, as the new Ranger was the No. 1 option on the rival Florida Panthers. If anyone knows the enigmatic ex-Islander, it’s Torts. And if there’s a fit with Gaborik, the No. 1 line with Vinny Prospal on the wing, gives the Blueshirts a great scoring combination.

And if there isn’t a fit, then the No. 2 line may get a whole lot better, because there will be some secondary scoring going on, something that has been missing for most of the season.

Of course, this doesn’t mean the Rangers are a perfect team, far from it. It still needs to shed some really bad contracts in Wade Redden, Michal Rozsival and Donald Brashear, but it’s a start, and one that could be a sign of things to come.

Although this looks like a win-win, of course this could go south. No one thought getting Higgins and Kotalik were bad moves over the summer. In fact, this space lauded the arrival of the Smithtown, NY native, but it was not meant to be.

It’s not easy playing in your hometown, which is something Higgins learned very quickly in New York and Kotalik just never fit in with Tortorella, something not many can do. Yet, neither player were life long Rangers, just some spare parts in a greater scheme of things.

Yet, the young players are a different story. Sather must keep his young talent, since that’s the way the organization grows long term. Brandon Dubinsky still needs to grow and Ryan Callahan can improve as well. On the blue line, three young talents in Marc Staal, Michael Del Zotto, and Matt Gilroy are the future. Sure they make their mistakes, but their errors are far less glaring then Redden’s or Rozsival’s.

Maybe in the next month, Sather will be able to move another player or two. It will take a miracle to get rid of Redden’s bloated contract and Brashear appears to found his life in the Blue Seats with the addition of Prust, but sometimes things happen. Who would have thought Scoot Gomez would have been traded after last season or Jokinen and Prust come to New York for a couple of spare parts.

Things happen. And now the Rangers are better for it.

According to the NY Post, Kotalik is taking his time in deciding whether to accept the trade that will send the disgruntled winger along with Christopher Higgins to Calgary in exchange for Olli Jokinen and Brandon Prust.

In the meantime, Jokinen and Prust will dress tonight as the Flames will take on the Flyers, while Higgins will accompany the Blueshirts to Los Angeles. Kotalik, who was sent home yesterday, is in New York.

Since Kotalik is the centerpiece of the trade, if he does not accept the trade, the deal will fall apart and the Rangers will be left holding a player, who does not want to play for the team and is owed $6 million over the next two seasons.

But if something can be worked out, then the Blueshirts may have found a short term solution for Marian Gaborik’s pivot, as Jokinen will slot in there for the rest of the season. He is an unrestricted free agent this summer.

Reportedly, the Blueshirts will send disgruntled forward Ales Kotalik and disappointing left wing Christopher Higgins west for center Olli Jokinen and enforcer Brandon Prust. It’s a win-win for the Rangers, since they would free up salary on the cap while addressing two very pressing needs.

Yet, they are reportedly waiting for Kotalik’s approval, since he has a limited no-trade clause in his contract. One of those teams is the Flames.

If the details can be worked out, general manager Glen Sather would have found his No. 1 pivot to go with Marian Gaborik and a tough guy, a role both Donald Brashear and Aaron Voros failed at this season for different reasons. (Brashear doesn’t fight, while Voros doesn’t win his fights.)

In Jokinen, the Rangers get a 31 year-old veteran who has scored more than 30 goals four times in his career and current has 11 lights of the lamp with 24 assists. He will immediately become the No. 1 center on the team between Vinny Prospal and Marian Gaborik, forming a very good scoring combination.

Prust will become the Rangers fighter, a role they sorely missed this season after Colton Orr left as a free agent and his replacement Brashear turned out to be a bust.

In turn, the Sather will ship away Kotalik, who has been a healthy scratch for the past eight games and reportedly was looking to be traded. On the season, he has eight goals with 14 assists and an awful minus-18. The former Buffalo Sabre was supposed to the answer on the power play point when he signed a three-year, $9 million contract over the summer, but he couldn’t handle that role and his defense has been extremely suspect.

Also going to Calgary will be Higgins, who came to the Rangers in the Scott Gomez trade. A former 20 goal scorer, the Smithtown, NY native just couldn’t find the net this season and only has six goals with eight assists and a minus-9.

If this trade goes through the Rangers would assume Jokinen’s $5.25 million contract for the rest of the season, yet is an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season and Prust makes $500,000. Sather will free up Kotalik’s $3 million per for the next two seasons with this trade.

Higgins will be an unrestricted free agent after this season.

Nothing will be announced until later today at the earliest. In the meantime, Ranger fans can take solace in Gaborik’s natural hat trick in the team’s 3-1 win over the Avalanche.

“It wasn’t like I asked to go.  I loved my time here,” Gomez said, before the two goals apiece by Ryan Callahan and Brandon Dubinsky lifted the Rangers to a much-needed 6-2 victory at Madison Square Garden last night.

“Having some familiarity with Brian [Gionta, who played with Gomez in New Jersey] and myself [the last two seasons in New York] has made his transition a little easier,” added Paul Mara, the bearded defenseman who moved on to Montreal after New York did not tender a free agent contract.

“Scotty has an infectious personality that everyone around him can enjoy.”

Except the Garden fans, who booed Gomez whenever he touched the puck.  Apparently, they did not feel he was worthy of the $51.5 million, seven-year contract he signed on July 1, 2007.

Gomez, a playmaking center, had 58 points and a -2 rating in 77 games last season; it was his first negative campaign since 2001-02.  Just one day before his second anniversary with the Rangers, he was jettisoned to Montreal, largely for Christopher Higgins.  The money New York saved was ultimately used to sway free agent Marian Gaborik.

On this evening, Gomez and his mates, currently on the fringe of the Eastern Conference playoff race, encountered a Ranger squad that had tallied exactly one goal in its last three games.

Following consecutive shutout losses on Garden ice, New York dropped a 4-1 decision last night in St. Louis.  Its lone scoring play featured Brian Boyle’s fourth goal and Aaron Voros’ second assist, which spoke volumes about the lack of overall scoring.  That was all the Rangers had mustered over the last 172 minutes, of game time, or nearly three hours of real time since winning 3-1 in Boston on January 9.

Until tonight, when Callahan opened his career-best four-point game by tipping Marian Gaborik’s goalmouth pass behind Jaroslav Halak just 57 seconds into the second period.   By the end of the stanza, Dubinsky had added two goals, including the Rangers’ fifth shorthanded tally of the season.

Gomez, whose personal four-game point streak was snapped, admitted to not “keeping tabs” on the Rangers’ helter-skelter season, instead looking to focus on what is required for the Canadiens to finish among the top eight teams in the Eastern Conference.

“It just means every game is a playoff game. But, we’re just starting to get healthy, so we’ll take it from there.”

Coincidentally, there is exactly where his former team is also looking to finish.

[ John J. Buro is the author of “Open Court: A Year With the New York Knicks”, which is now available through www.opencourtbook.com. ]

And you know what eighth place means – playoffs.

“Yeah you win a few games during the week,” said Christopher Higgins, “and you move up three places in the standings.”

Even though the 2009 portion of the season, wasn’t up to Hoyle, John Tortorella’s team is, at least, treading water and if the Rangers can pull off more wins like tonight’s 3-2 comebacker against the Bruins, then maybe there will be a postseason in the picture in 2010.

The Rangers fought hard off the puck. They took the body to the board, and the goals they scored came from the sources the team hoped would become their secondary scorers after Marian Gaborik.

First, Ales Kotalik scored his first goal in almost two months when he rifled one in from the point on the power play at 9:58 of the first. And Erik Christensen was able to score his first at the Garden at 7:34 of the second when Michael Del Zotto was able to shoot one down the ice to Brandon Dubinsky, who hit Christensen to knock it past Tuukka Rask, who stopped 32 on the night.

“It was the first goal I ever scored in this building,” Christensen said. “It has been fun playing these last few games with [Brandon Dubinsky] and Gaborik. It’s a big boost to the confidence and we had a perfect breakout there.

“It was a perfect play by Dubi, because he brought the defense in. It was electrifying.”

What was even more electrifying was Higgins gamewinner. After the Rangers gave up the lead in less than a minute and a half late in the third on a shorthander by Matt Hunwick and an even strength tally from Blake Wheeler, the scoring-scarce Higgins was able to poke one past Rask for his first Garden goal since he opened MSG after the lockout as a member of the Canadiens back on October 6, 2005 in the Rangers 4-3 overtime loss to the Habs.

“Points have been difficult to come by for guys around here, including myself, so to be able to contribute feels good,” Higgins said. “It was my first goal here since my first game with the Canadiens, so it’s been a while.”

And it’s been some time since the Rangers looked this good. Henrik Lundqvist was his usual self stopping 26, although he probably would want the two that went in back. Yet, with his team scoring three, the netminder  felt good about his chances.

“When we score three goals, we are going to have a good chance, no question,” Lundqvist said. “We had some guys, who haven’t been scoring for awhile, step up scoring some big goals. That is huge, because Gabby can’t score them all. It’s a crucial tie right now. It’s a big month. It is important to get everyone going.”

R-A-N-G-E-R-S.

Thus, before the Winter Olympics interrupt yet another NHL regular season and separate any number of teammates for a solid two weeks, this logo remains the one constant for both the Slovakian forward and the Swedish goalie.

When Gaborik inked a five-year deal during the off-season, for a reported $37.5 million, New York appeared to have as much strength on its first line of offense as the last line of defense.  While skating for the Minnesota Wild in 2007, the 27 year-old forward blitzed the Rangers for a five-goal, six point game, en route to a career-high 42 goal, 83 point season.  Some observers may point to good karma, as the last blueshirt to amass as many goals or points was Jaromir Jagr, a fellow countryman,

Still, a more likely reason that Glen Sather, the team’s general manager since 2000, opened the vault was that, aside from Jagr, none of the players on his watch had scored 42 goals; in fact, Mark Messier, with 47 during the 1995-96 season, was the last Ranger to reach this plateau.

With 23 goals and 42 points, Gaborik is off to a splendid start on Broadway.  However, he is counted upon far too often, and one could only wonder where the Rangers would be without him.

Through 33 games, which have produced a 14-16-3 record, New York has tallied a mere 89 goals.  The quick math suggests that Gaborik has been involved in almost half of its scoring plays; the more frightening math is that the 6’1”, 199 wing has notched one goal for every 3.8 Ranger goals.  The disparity is so great that Tampa Bay’s Steven Stamkos [who has scored 18 of the Lightning’s 80 goals] is a distant second with a 1-in-4.44 ratio.

To further illustrate Gaborik’s importance, not even Wayne Gretzky’s 92-goal season in 1981-82 could compare.  The Edmonton Oilers, then coached by Sather, knocked in a whopping 417 goals, and Gretzky potted one goal for every 4.53 goals scored by his mates.

To think where New York -already in 11^th place to begin with [though just two points out of a playoff spot]- would be without Gaborik, a five-time 30-goal scorer, is unfathomable.

And, to think that Gaborik, who had hip surgery in January 2009, can never be injured again is equally insane.  Just 12 games into his Ranger career, Gaborik missed two games with a knee injury following a collision with the Coyotes’ Petr Prucha.

At the other end of the ice, there is Lundqvist, who was rewarded with a six-year, $41.25 million extension in February 2008.  Except that, unlike Gaborik, he doesn’t have the numbers to show for his efforts; Wednesday night’s 2-1 loss to the Islanders was his league-leading 13^th loss.  And, though Lundqvist finished the contest with a respectable .916 save percentage and 2.57 goals-against average, both of those numbers appear quite pedestrian when stacked against the league leaders.

Though he has yielded four goals or better on just five occasions, the opposition has had nine three-goal games against him.  The Rangers average fewer than three per game.

Losing with such frequency is new to the 27 year-old, who had amassed 142 victories over his first four seasons.  Along the way, he established a franchise record with 30 victories as a rookie in 2005-06, was nominated for the Vezina Trophy in his first three seasons, and remains the only goalie in NHL history to begin a career with four consecutive 30-win seasons.  Additionally, his stellar play in net during the 2006 Olympiad in Torino, Italy catapulted Sweden to just its second gold medal ever.

Now, all of those accolades are buried in a rollercoaster season.

“I want to make sure I do everything to help the team turn this around,” he replied after stopping 26 of 28 shots.  “As athletes, we play to win, and we are just not winning.”

Following an opening night loss to the defending champion Pittsburgh Penguins, Lundqvist reeled off a six-game winning streak.  Since that point, however, he has only won five of 20 games.

It was just never like this before.

From his NHL debut, on October 8, 2005, it was evident that Lundqvist was in this league to stay.  Less than a week into his rookie season, he won his first game.  Within two weeks, Lundqvist notched the first whitewash by a Ranger freshman since John Vanbiesbrouck more than two decades earlier.

His first 30-win season eclipsed the franchise’s previous rookie high of 29, shared by Jim Henry [1941-42] and Johnny Bower [1953-54]; along the way, Lundqvist was New York’s first rookie netminder to post 20 wins since Mike Richter in 1990-91.

“The King” was born, and Ranger fans had someone to believe in.

And on and on it went.

Until now.

More than ever, the Rangers rely on Lundqvist to have a fighting chance.  Steven Valiquette, the perennial back-up was demoted to Hartford, and Chad Johnson was recalled.  But, whether or not Lundqvist’s workload is affected remains to be seen.  The next NHL game Johnson plays will be his first.

And before you ask, Marian Gaborik only had two.

The Rangers finally broke out of the scoring drought with a 7-4 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets. Goal after goal, the team looked sharp, which is precisely the team needed.

“We had a good forecheck and we kept playing in their zone which was important,” said Gaborik, who also had two assists to go along with his two goals. “Our defensive side of the game was good. We’re talking about having the third guy coming back and being responsible defensively and I think we did that.  It has to carry over on the road. We haven’t had a long trip in a while so we have to build on this and just go from here.”

The welcomed relief came after a well timed time out called by coach John Tortorella. After the Blue Jackets went up 2-0 at 9:31 of the first period, the team got a break.

“It was good to have a break, that is for sure,” said goaltender Henrik Lundqvist. “I think the first goal was huge.  To get that in the first period and not go in here trailing 3-0.  We needed some positive energy and we got that from [Marian Gaborik].  After that, you could see how we got confidence.”

After No. 10 put the Rangers on the board, the secondary scoring happened. First Artim Anisimov scored followed by Michael Del Zotto to give the Rangers the lead in first 3-2.

Then in the second the goals kept coming. Sean Avery scored at 6:12 to chase Steve Mason, and his replacement Mathieu Garon came in with a tank of gas and a book of matches.

Less than a minute later, Avery scored again, followed by Gaborik after another 20 seconds, to make it 6-2.

“The biggest thing was coming back from a two goal deficit,” said Avery. “I think regardless of what the score was, coming back and winning a game after you’re losing 2-0 us big for a team that is struggling. I hope it puts everybody around here in a good mood.”

Matt Gilroy capped the Ranger scoring later that period with beautiful breakaway beating Garon.

Even with the seven goals, Columbus was able to make it close with a goal late in the second and one in the third.

“Do you think we were going to score seven goals tonight?” Tortorella said. “Who knows how this happens. When you go through some tough times, you need to stick with it. We got a bunch of breaks and their goaltending wasn’t that great. You can’t figure it.”

The Rangers now go on a three game road trip that includes both Florida destinations and Pittsburgh before coming home next day to Madison Square Garden.

Notes: After allowing the game’s first two goals, New York tallied seven straight from 11:29 of the first period to 12:47 of the second, marking the first time the Rangers tallied seven unanswered goals since a 7-0 victory against Boston on Mar. 7, 2009; the Blueshirts tallied three goals in a 71-second span in the second period…Marian Gaborik led all skaters with four points (two goals and two assists) to extend his point streak to seven games (seven goals and 13 points); he also tied for the game-high with a plus-three rating…Sean Avery notched two goals in 51 seconds, including one power play tally and the game-winning goal; it was his second multi-goal effort on the season and 10th of his career.

Don’t just take a the word of a humble reporter, listen to The King.

“This one hurts,” said “The King” Henrik Lundqvist. “The way we played in the third, we deserved at least a tie game, if not a win. I just couldn’t come up with a big save at the end. It’s a little frustrating. It’s just a tough one to lose.”

The team skated hard in this one but just couldn’t get the secondary scoring. Even with two goals from Marian Gaborik, the Rangers ended up on the losing end of a 4-2 stick to the Washington Capitals.

“I thought, for most of the game there, we played,” said coach John Tortorella.  “Obviously our biggest weakness is that we are not getting any secondary scoring.  We played in surges at times.  We held them to 11, 12 scoring chances.  We just aren’t creating enough with our secondary scoring.”

That’s the problem with the Rangers these days. Outside of Gaborik, there’s no other goals coming from the club and with a good team like Capitals, that’s just not enough. With two of Rangers top centers (Chris Drury and Brandon Dubinsky) on the shelf, others need to step up for the Rangers for them to be successful.

“I think a lot of things stem from getting the puck in their zone,” said defenseman Wade Redden, who was beaten on Washington’s winning goal by Matt Bradley. “It starts from our end, where we get good passes, chip it in and forecheck.  It is not just shots, it is creating momentum. I think we just have to rely on the simple little plays to create chances for ourselves.”

Fighting for pucks and driving to the net is one of the biggest sins for these Rangers. Outside of when No. 10 is on the ice, the team plays back and conservative, which is not good for successful hockey, especially when you are not playing a defensive system.

Yet on the bright side, there is Gaborik, who now has 15 goals on the season and is showing the Garden Faithful why he is the best goal scorer since Jaromir Jagr took the league by storm after the lockout.

“He gets the puck and makes things happen,” Redden said. “That’s a big part of our offense. Our power play has been clicking pretty good. He finds the spots on the ice and makes things happen. He is big for us.”

Garborik scored in the 1:16 into the game and then beat Semyon Varlamov 8:26 into the third on the power play to tie the match. Yet, the firepower of the Capitals behind Alex Ovechkin, proved too much.

“We’ve got to capitalize and try and score on those hardworking, grinding plays,” Gaborik said. “We just have to cut down on taking penalties and go from there. We didn’t generate a lot of shots, that was a problem there. We came back in the third, we had some good chances down low and we need to keep the puck down low more often.”

“You have to be positive and you have to think you’ll turn this around,” Lundqvist said. “We had a big win the other night and we just need to have a couple in a row and get going. Now we’re back to square one again. We have a couple of days off between games and we have to make sure we’re ready for the next one.”

He practiced and will be in goal tonight as the Rangers take on the Islanders at Nassau Coliseum.

“It was only me and I’m fine,” he said with a grin. “There are just a few scratches on the car. It could have been worse.”

Sure, but Lundqvist wasn’t taking any chances. Going to the Coliseum today, Lundqvist took car service.

***

Not as fortunate as Lundqvist, Marian Gaborik is out for tonight’s game with a lower leg injury. He will be replaced on the roster by P.A. Partenteau.

Yet, the rookie called up from Hartford won’t replace Gaborik’s top of the standings scoring. Coach John Tortorella expects the rest of the team to step up with players like Chris Higgins, Chris Drury and Ryan Callahan taking more minutes, and hopefully get out their scoring slumps.

“On the power play, we’re going to have to put someone in there,” Tortorella said. “Obviously we’re gonna miss him.”

There’s no word on when Gaborik will skate again or if he will play on Friday in Minnesota against his old team, the Wild.

***

With the World Series starting tonight, the Rangers chirped with some predictions. Obviously most of the team predicted the Yankees, especially Yankee fans Chris Drury and Matt Gilroy, both of whom said Yankees in six.

Other predictions Henrik Lundqvist, PA Parenteau, and Michael Del Zotto said Yankees in 6. Enver Lisin said the Yankees, although he also said he roots for the Dallas Cowboys.

Going against type, Aaron Voros went with the Jimmy Rollins prediction of Phillies in 5 and Red Sox fan Brian Boyle said Phillies in 6, because I can bring myself to pull for the Yankees.”