DISTANT MEMORY: Marian Gaborik celebrates his Game 1 goal with Brad Richards and Marc Staal, but he’s been held scorless since. (Getty Images)
There will be no more time and no more space for Rangers forward Marian Gaborik in tonight’s Game 7 against Ottawa at Madison Square Garden than there have been in the first six games of this opening-round series, during which the Senators essentially have eliminated the world-class scorer as a factor.
And there will be no more time at all for Gaborik and the Rangers if they are unable to survive potential playoff elimination for the second time in four days.
No one need tell that to Gaborik, who has gone five straight without a goal since scoring in Game 1, just as no one need tell Gaborik what is expected of him tonight.
“I know there is pressure on me to score because I put it on myself every game, just the way I have since day one when I started in the league when I was 18,” Gaborik told The Post yesterday.
“It’s important for me to do the things that away from the puck that are necessary for me to be in position to score, but I am going into this game with the purpose of making a difference, and the best way for me to do that is to score.
“Maybe I’ve been squeezing my stick a little bit tight the last few games,” said the Great Gabby, whose 41 regular-season goals were third in the league behind Steven Stamkos and Evgeni Malkin. “But I feel good about myself going into this game.”
Carl Hagelin, Gaborik’s linemate, feels good about him, too.
“He’s a great player,” Hagelin said. “He’s going to get one [tonight].”
You never know who’s going to emerge as a Game 7 hero. Stephane Matteau? Come on. But the onus is on big players to rise to big moments and the fact is Gaborik was a very big player for the Rangers this year, transforming his game, competing in the battle zones, scoring when it mattered while playing in 82 games for the first time in his 11-year NHL career.
Of Gaborik’s 41 goals, 14 gave the Rangers the lead, five brought them into a tie and two brought the team within a goal. He scored three overtime winners, seven winners overall. He went 4-for-6 in the shootout, deciding one and keeping another alive for the Blueshirts to win when down to the final strike, after having entered the season 2-for-19 in the skills competition.
This wasn’t a season of hollow goals. Now there is only one goal. With the opposition trained on him, with the rink becoming shrink-wrapped, with more demanded of him, Gaborik must respond.
“It’s tight all over the rink, you don’t have the same opportunities to make plays as during the season,” Gaborik said. “But it’s up to me to find the way to fight through it and to use my instincts.
“There are no excuses.”
Gaborik has played in a pair of Game 7s, both in 2003 with the Wild, who took the first- and second-rounds against Colorado and Vancouver, respectively, after coming from 3-1 down in each series.
“It was a great experience,” said Gaborik, who scored on the power play at 16:57 of the third to send the Game 7 against the Avalanche into OT before Andrew Brunette won it in what was Patrick Roy’s final game. “You just learn that you have to find the way shift by shift.”
Gaborik recorded nine goals in 17 games that year for the Wild, who ultimately were beaten in the conference finals in five games by Anaheim. He has scored two goals in the 17 playoff games in which he has played since.
He’s been marked tightly and kept to the outside by the Senators, limited to just 11 shots while Brad Richards has unleashed 29, second in the playoffs to Ottawa’s Erik Karlsson’s 31.
“I have to get to the front of the net and be in the right place at the right time,” said No. 10. “This is so important for us. I’m going to do my best.
“I’m confident we can do it. I’m confident I can find the way. I have to.”
larry.brooks@nypost.com