Just as Marian Gaborik steps back in to help shoulder the load up front, the Rangers will discover whether Steve Eminger is equipped to shoulder the load of a top-four defenseman’s minutes in the absence of an injured Michal Rozsival, who will be sidelined a few games.
“Only in game situations can you really feel how it is, but I can’t wait forever,” Gaborik said following practice yesterday.
That means that the club’s lone elite goal-scorer will return for tonight’s Garden match against the Sabres after being sidelined for 12 games with a separated left shoulder he sustained during the Oct. 15 home opener.
“It’s up to me how I feel, and I’m confident and comfortable enough to play,” Gaborik said. “It’s been a while since I’ve played. I’m very anxious to get back in there.”
The Rangers, who have lost two straight in regulation at home to fall to 2-5-1 at the Garden, and three of four (1-3) overall to slip to 7-7-1, are in desperate need of a talent who can score off the first shot from farther than five feet away and of a threat for defenders to honor.
That would be Gaborik, though it’s interesting that the Rangers have scored 2.73 goals per game without one from No. 10 after averaging 2.67 goals per game last year when the winger sniped 43 for nearly 20-percent of the club’s output.
“When you get a top player like Gabby back, it adds to your confidence, no question,” Henrik Lundqvist said. “It’s still going to take teamwork to win, but it’s not that we’re just getting one guy back, we’re getting one great guy back, and that can make the difference in the kinds of tight games we’ve been playing.”
While Gaborik, likely to play with original linemates Erik Christensen and Alex Frolov, is returning to up front, Rozsival will be sidelined with a right shoulder strain for “a week to 10 days,” according to coach John Tortorella.
“Rozy has been playing through a really bad shoulder for quite a while now. It’s gotten to the point where he can’t handle it, and he’s worried about hurting the club,” Tortorella said. “People moan about him not shooting the puck, [but] he’s had problems shooting the puck because of this shoulder and has stuck it out, but now it’s gotten so bad he needs to strengthen it.”
Despite his inability to shoot, Rozsival for some reason spent 2:37 on the power-play point on Tuesday against the Capitals and 3:52 on Sunday against the Blues.
Regardless, Rozsival’s absence means Eminger will move up from the third pair probably to join the struggling Michael Del Zotto, while Marc Staal and Dan Girardi remain together and Matt Gilroy moves into the lineup beside Michael Sauer after five straight games as a healthy scratch.
Eminger has steadied somewhat following a wildly erratic first couple of weeks, but his decision making on when to pinch and when to go for the hit remains problematic.
Rozsival is third on the team in ice time (23:10), trailing Girardi (24:32) and Staal (23:31). With Del Zotto at 22:58, the top two pairs have accounted for 80 percent of the defense’s minutes. Eminger is at 13:42, but has played minimally in third periods.
Now, Eminger will have to step up even as Gaborik is stepping back in.