NHL

Sabres’ Miller saves the day on Gaborik shot

BUFFALO — The Rangers were down 3-2 coming up on the midway mark of the second, but the puck was on Marian Gaborik’s stick at the left porch with goaltender Ryan Miller pulled to the other side following a neat 3-on-1 feed from Brandon Dubinsky, which is to say that the tie was on The Great Gabby’s stick.

Except somehow it wasn’t.

Except somehow America’s goalie — Well, not New York City’s, but then New York City isn’t really part of America anyway, is it? — somehow came all the way across and got his blocker on Gaborik’s drive, redirecting it up into the protective netting and preserving the lead in what became a 5-2 Buffalo victory.

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“I thought I missed [the net]. I thought I missed, but then I looked at the replay and I couldn’t believe it,” said Gaborik, the 41-goal scorer. “I tried to get it off quick and got good wood on it, but I shot it too much to the middle. If I had gotten it more toward the left post . . .

“It was the turning point.”

It became a turning point when Toni Lydman took advantage of Gaborik and Erik Christensen getting trapped low to score the 4-2 goal just over four minutes later, at 13:22, though the way Buffalo attackers were turning Rangers’ defenders all night, it’s very tough to pin the loss on Gaborik’s failed opportunity.

“It was an important turning point when Gabby had the open net but didn’t score,” said head coach John Tortorella. “They scored on their chances, and we didn’t.”

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Beaten on three first shots, once up top short side, once five hole, and once far side between his torso and arm, Henrik Lundqvist was pulled at the 5:17 mark of the second after allowing three goals on 16 shots in his 14th straight start and 22nd in the last 23 games.

Alex Auld, getting his first action since relieving Lundqvist in New Jersey on March 10, allowed two goals on 14 shots. Lundqvist will get right back on the horse for his 70th start of the season tonight at the Garden against the Maple Leafs.

“There were a number of factors that I’m not going to dissect with [the press], but I felt hr needed to come out,” said Tortorella, who allowed that getting Lundqvist some rest before tonight’s match was a consideration.

“We didn’t play well enough to win. We need to be better [against Toronto] from the goaltender out.”

Lundqvist’s teammates seemed stunned to see The King pulled on the short end of a 3-2 score, though none would second-guess the decision that followed Jochen Hecht‘s right wing wrist shot that beat the goaltender to the far side.

“If anything, it was just to jump-start us,” said Chris Drury. “I think Torts was just looking to make a change that would jump-start us.”

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Ryan Callahan reported no ill effects after playing 12:54 in his return from the knee injury that had sidelined him the previous four games.

Callahan nailed Buffalo blue-chip defenseman Tyler Myers with a perfectly timed check at 12:56 of the first that brought an immediate response from three of the rookie’s teammates.

“When one of your top guys is hit like that, you have to respond,” said Callahan, who went off for roughing with Derek Roy. “I understand.”

Brandon Prust scored in the third straight game to give the Rangers an early 1-0 lead. P.A. Parenteau scored on the power play for the goal that tied it 2-2 at 18:18 of the first.

Tortorella has taken to consistently referring to “negativity” from the press that the Rangers have to shut out and surmount in their quest to qualify for the playoffs.

Yesterday morning, this is what the head coach said when asked about Michal Rozsival‘s revival as a top-four defenseman:

“I make no bones — I don’t think [Rozsival] played hard enough at certain times. And the thing that frustrates you as a coach [is] you can see that he can but just isn’t willing to do it consistently.

“I think he’s shown a much more willing, consistent attitude to play harder and that helps your game.”

Yep, it’s the negative press, all right.