If this season has become as much a war of attrition for the Rangers as a competition against the rest of the NHL, well, the Blueshirts are winning there, as well.
No Brandon Dubinsky for a month (or more) with a stress fracture of the left fibula that became known yesterday. No Ruslan Fedotenko for up to a month with a sprained left shoulder he sustained on an open ice hit midway through last night’s game at the Garden.
And no despair or self pity from the Black-and-Blueshirts, who rode Marian Gaborik’s four-goal breakout to a 7-0 rout of the pathetic Maple Leafs in the first of five games in seven days remaining before the All-Star break that might prove an elixir for this battered club that has spent the season overcoming significant injuries.
“You hear about Dubi and then you find out that Feds is going to be out, and for a second you go, ‘Oh, man, those are important pieces,’ ” said Brandon Prust. “But you can’t let that last too long.
“We’ve never used injuries as an excuse all year and we’re not going to now. When guys have gone down, other guys have stepped up. That’s what we’ve been about.”
Ryan Callahan, out with a broken hand since Dec. 15, is shooting for a Feb. 1 return in the first game after the break. Erik Christensen, out with a knee since Dec. 29, could be back by the middle of February. So NHL reinforcements are on the way.
But just not now as the Rangers begin a trip to Carolina, Atlanta and Washington that commences tonight against the Hurricanes with Chad Kolarik and Brodie Dupont as the pieces summoned from the AHL.
“It’s important we don’t use these injuries as an excuse for not winning or getting points,” said Henrik Lundqvist, who recorded his seventh shutout in the laugher that was 4-0 after the first. “This leaves room for other guys to get more ice time and responsibility.
“We responded when we needed to, and now we need to keep going. This is a big week for us.”
It was a huge night for Gaborik, who had been benched during the second period of Sunday’s 3-2 loss to the Flyers, and came in having failed to score in eight straight and with just three goals in his last 19 and 11 overall.
“It’s been a battle lately in terms of getting goals,” said Gaborik, the first Ranger since Radek Dvorak on March 29, 2001 to score four in a game and the first since Mark Messier on March 22, 1992 to do it at the Garden. “I need to get going, get skating, get in on the forecheck and get my legs going.
“It’s always a big relief to get the first one and it took over from there.”
United with Artem Anisimov (four assists) and Sean Avery (three assists), Gaborik scored a neat one from in front on a move that flummoxed netminder Jonas Gustavsson at 10:55 of the first. The sniper, who also had an assist, scored three more by the end of the second for his third hat trick of the season and 13th of his career that includes a five-goal game against the Rangers in Minnesota on Dec. 20, 2007.
So now the Rangers hit the road, which will be sure to hit back. The Rangers vow to survive that punch, just like all the others they have taken so far.