The King Finds a Queen

Move over Hank, you have a new friend on Broadway.

Last night's 4-3 victory over the Washington Capitals was an encouraging display of role-reversal for Rangers fans. Usually Henrik Lundqvist bails out the Rangers.

Last night, it was the other way around.

The Rangers found themselves down 3-2 after two Nicklas Backstrom goals, the first of which was a dump-in from center ice that somehow went under Lundqvist's stick as he attempted to direct the puck into the corner.

The Rangers were able to overcome Lundqvist's rare lapse in focus via two quick Marian Gaborik tallies.

Gaborik proved his worth as a game-breaker last night. Despite an ineffective first two periods, he was able to elevate his game in the last session. The top players find ways to make a difference, even when they don't have their 'A' game - and "Gabby" did just that.

On his first goal he was able to convert a Vinny Prospal pass with a quick half-slapper that trickled through Jose Theodore's legs and into the back of the net.

The second came on the power-play. Gaborik was able to take an excellent break-out pass from Michael Del Zotto in stride, and then fire a quick snapper between Theodore's legs, once again, and into the back of the twine. The space the Caps' defenders gave the speedy Gaborik on the play showed just how scary Gaborik is for a defenseman when he is able bust through the neutral zone with speed.

But this game wasn't just about Gaborik - it was a quality team effort. Lundqvist rebounded well and made some key stops later in the third. Ryan Callahan, who was questionable for the game after sustaining a back injury in yesterday morning's practice, was his usual tenacious self, notching a key short-handed break-away goal. The third-line came through with an Ales Kotalik even-strength marker, which saw Artem Anisimov register his first NHL point. Matt Gilroy and Michael Del Zotto continue to be relevations on the back-line. And most importantly, the defense did a great job of keeping Alex Ovechkin in check - no small feat there.

But, it wasn't all sunshine and rainbows for the Rangers. Michal Rozsvial continues to be nothing short of horrendous, and was benched by John Tortorella for the final 60% of the game. The team took way too many penalties against a talented Capitals' power-play, including two offensive zone infractions from the Rangers' fourth line.

The bottom line is the Rangers have won three straight games in regulation, proving to the fans, and most importantly, to themselves, that they can be successful playing in John Tortorella's system.

That they had to overcome a rare blunder from their franchise player makes this win even sweeter.

Minnesota Goes Wild

Brett Farve had just led the Vikings over the arch-nemesis Packers on Monday Night Football, improving the Vikings record to 4-0. The Twins won a single-elimination playoff game over the Tigers, in walk-off fashion, to advance to the ALDS less than 24 hours later.

And just for good measure, the Wild overcame a 3-0 lead in the third period of their home opener to beat the Anaheim Ducks 4-3 in over-time.

Not a bad time to be a sports fan in the Twin Cities, huh?

Martin Havlat (3 assists) and Eric Belanger (goal, 2 assists) led the come-back brigade for the Wild, who were able to reel off three third period goals in a ten minute, 18 second stretch to bring the score back to even.

Andrew Brunette sealed the deal in the extra-session when he popped a rebound into the far upper corner of the twine from the side of the net.

From a Ducks' prespective - ouch. They seemed to rebound well from a pathetic outing on Saturday against the Sharks, only to throw it all away in the third.

One could argue that the turning point in the game came via a drop of the gloves, compliments of George Parros and John Scott. Scott absolutely tattooed Parros, knocking the Princeton alum to the ice and bringing the Wild faithful to their feet. Mikko Koivu scored less than four minutes later to begin the come-back.

I'm not going to pin the Ducks' loss wholly on Parros, which would be foolish. But, why he saw the need to drop the gloves while his team was up three goals on the road - on the other team's opening night, no less - is beyond me. He's a smarter vigilante than that - or atleast I thought he was.

Anybody who wants to argue that this fight had nothing to do with the Wild's comeback has either never played hockey or was not a very emotional player. A little thing like a timely fight, a big hit, or a prolific shot block can really motivate a team to raise the level of their game. It can also really get a crowd fired up, as well.

Props to the Wild and coach Todd Richards, who notched his first victory with Minnesota.

As for the Ducks - they need to get their act together. It's very early, but in the ultra-competitive Western Conference, you can't throw away what should be an easy two points like that, regardless if it's game two, or game eighty-two.

Sunday Round-Up

Some tid-bits from Saturday's games...

*Got to feel for Oilers fans - well, unless your a Flames fan. That Khabibulin turnover with 48.7 seconds left was a brutal ending to a well-played game.

*Matt Duchene has looked amazing in his first two NHL games. He's being utilized on the first power-play unit, on the penalty kill, and as the second line center. If you missed Coach's Corner last night, check out this montage of Duchene's first two games.

http://www.cbc.ca/video/#/Sports/CBC%27s_Hockey_Night_in_Canada/Coach%27s_Corner/ID=1284059955

This kid looks to be something special.

*Speaking of Duchene, watch out for Craig Anderson. He's been great in the Avs' first two games, leading them to a hot start out of the gate. It may seem to be a bit of a stretch if you haven't seen this guy play much, but when Anderson is on his game, he can be one of the best in the business. He went on a few hot streaks like this last year with Florida.

*Props to Michael Del Zotto for notching his first NHL goal. Not only was it his first goal, but it was a big one, too, giving the Rangers a two goal cushion heading into the third period. The Rangers looked great last night, led by the Prospal-Dubinsky-Gaborik line, and of course, "King Henrik."

*If you're looking for an under-the-radar enjoyable team to watch this season, check out the Dallas Stars. I caught the third period and over-time of their season opener with the Preds - enjoyable stuff.

*You have to be impressed with the Blues coming back from Sweden with two regulation wins over Detroit. I'm not ready to say they are going to overtake the Wings in the Central, but it's certainly possible. Their tenacity and attention to detail, aided by coach Andy Murray, is excellent.

*Dustin Byfuglien looks great on a line with Patrick Kane. It will be interesting to see if that sticks.

*This Ranger fan dreads the addition of Chris Pronger to the Flyers. Man, does he improve their team. The power-play, penalty kill, and even-strength play of the Flyers all improve ten-fold with this guy.

*The Ducks should be embarrassed with their play last night - thorough and complete domination by the Sharks.

*Watch out for the Islanders' power-play. Tavares, Okposo, and most importantly, Mark Streit, make the Isles deadly when they have the man-advantage.

Pens Oust Rangers, Emery Starts Strong

Some things to chew on from the Pens/Rangers contest last night:

Wade Redden and Michal Rozsival tallied zero minutes on the power-play. Redden had a quality game defensively (how sad is it now that as long as he's okay defensively Rangers fans don't get too upset - we don't even expect any offense from him anymore), but Rozsival was brutal.

Matt Gilroy had a very strong game. Michael Del Zotto seemed to have an early case of the jitters, but picked up his game a bit in the second.

Marc Staal played well, leading all Rangers in ice-time. However, I can't help but wonder if Torts is trying to get some offensive out of Staal that might not be there. Time will tell, I guess.

I liked the effort from the Rangers top two lines. Gaborik, Dubinsky, Prospal, Callahan, Drury, and Higgins all played hard.

Marian Gaborik is a beast. I'm really going to enjoy watching him play this year, health permitting, of course (knock on wood).

Why did Chris Drury play under two minutes on the power-play?

The Rangers third and fourth lines were pretty bad.

Marc-Andre Fleury and Henrik Lundqvist both played well. Fleury made two game-changing saves. The first save came when Fleury was just able to get enough pad on a Marian Gaborik break away bid. It's worth noting he was sprung by a great Del Zotto break out pass. The second save came off a Vinny Prospal shot on a two-on-one - pretty sick glove save. Both saves happened when the score was 1-1 in the second period.

Crosby had a very strong game - he doesn't seem to have any problems with the groin.

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Ray Emery started off his season in style, shutting out Cam Ward's Hurricanes.

People seem to forget he went to a Stanley Cup Final as a 24 year-old. The Flyers have a strong leadership group, so I don't expect any shenanigans from "Razor."

Also, kudos to James van Riemsdyk for notching his first NHL point. It's still kind of surreal that I played against this guy atleast two times a year until he went away to the National Development Program.

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The Red Wings/Blues game yesterday was very entertaining - should be another good one today.

Morning Skate

Some morning news and notes...

Before getting into the details of the Canadiens/Leafs contest last night, the most important news of last night - Andrei Markov is out for 3-4 months with a severed tendon in his leg. The Habs playoff chances just took an enormous hit.

Can they stay afloat with Markov out? That's 64 points gone - and there best defenseman by a mile. A defensive corps of Josh Gorges, Hal Gill, Paul Mara, Jaroslav Spacek, Ryan O'Byrne, and presumably Yannick Weber is...bad.

Don't forget, he's also arguably Russia's best defenseman. With the Russians thinking gold-medal, this injury could have a big affect on the Vancouver games, as well. He should be back in time for the Olympics, but you never know.

A big hit for the Habs and possibly the Russians.

.........

The Habs pulled out the win in Toronto last night in a game that's play wasn't very indicative of the score. Here's some things I took away from the game:

Ron Wilson wasn't kidding - Tomas Kaberle is a lot quicker. It was noticeable in the pre-season and especially last night. He's Toronto's best player - make no doubt about it.

Carey Price looked great. His movements were in control, and his rebound control, although still not perfect, looked much better.

Will "The Monster" be in between the pipes for Toronto in their next outing? Toskala had a very vanilla outing.

Viktor Stalberg looked just as good last night as he did in the pre-season. This guy's a player.

Mike Komisarek needs to tone it down. Toronto can't have him taking five penalties for a total of 15 minutes.

Why are Hal Gill and Paul Mara on the same defensive pairing?

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Alex Ovechkin - two goals, one assist last night. Backstrom three assists. Yikes!

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Hats off to the Avs for bringing home a victory on Joe Sakic's big night. Sakic was a class act and one of my all-time favorites.

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Ryan Callahan was named the lone alternate captain for the Rangers today. A good choice by "Torts" - nobody on the team lays it all out on the line every night like Callahan does.

In other Rangers' news, apparently Alexei Semenov's contract with the Rangers has been vetoed - by his wife, who wants him to play in Russia.