Avery And Gaborik Put Up 6 Points In 7-4 Win

#16 Sean Avery had a great night scoring his 3rd and 4th goals of the season helping the New York Rangers to a 7-4 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets.

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Sean has worked hard to regain his name in the league as a good player.

This is a player who is has almost every team in he National Hockey League gunning for him, and he still manages to produce with a target on his back.

#10 Marian Gaborik put up four points in the game as the two led New York combining for six points in the game.

Marian had 2 goals and 2 assist in the game giving him 32 points in 21 games with 18 goals.

M. Gaborik provides a lot of offense to New York as well as being a leader on the ice.

I said it before and I will say it again drop Chris Drury, and make this man the captain.



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Down 2-0 at one point Marian Gaborik took matters into his own hands leading the charge as the team put up 3 quick goals to end the first period.

I like Chris Drury I am just being realistic to in my view as of how this can be an elite team.

I am a fan first in the end trust me if C. Drury finds a way to go back to being a great player I will be happy to eat my words.

Defeneseman #4 Michael Del Zotto contributed with a goal of his own in the game showing excellent wrist shot past the net minder.

It is scary to me how good the 19 year old is because he showed flashes of the retired great member of the 1994 Stanley Cub Champion New York Rangers Brian Leetch.

M. Del Zotto took advantage of a bad line change from the Blue Jackets bull rushing the opposition with a quick shot to gain the lead.

Last night was a great night for Head Coach John Tortorella's Rangers as they got contributions from #18 Marc Staal who is improving everyday.

Marc is still a young player like I have written before once he fully develops physically you will see how good he really is.

Someone like #97 Matt Gilroy played an entire college Hockey career which is why he is at the top of his game.

M. Gilroy is a 25 year old rookie in the NHL, but has taken to his new role very easily showing some excellent moves with the puck.

Last night Matt put in the 7th goal and it was a beauty you have to check the highlights to see what I am saying.

This man has some hands and can make it happen in the offensive zone.

I still think he has to learn to pick up the opposing player in the slot in front of his own net better, but that will come with time.

Players in the NHL are quicker, stronger, and know how to crash the net so it is a tough transition, but manageable.

Back to Marc Staal he took a clean massive check into the boards from Columbus own Jared Boll, but still played a great all around game
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Although the hit on Marc Staal was clean #34 Arron Voros still sent a message to Jared Boll to expect a fist in the mouth anytime you line a player up for a hit.

This is something that needed to happen New York needed a player to step up and throw the fist.

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Henrik Lundqvist finally had a night off in a way allowing four goals, but had a lot of support from his team who scored 3 goals in over a minute during the 2nd period.

The blueshirts are in a tough division as they are in a 3 way tie for 3rd place with the Philadelphia Flyers, and the New York Islanders with 25 points in the Atlantic Conference.

The Rangers have played two games more than the Flyers, and one less than the Islanders it should be a tough competitive year of Hockey.

The Rangers are 23 games in, and have been unable to beat the top teams in the NHL.

They proved they can beat New Jersey, but they seem to never be able to beat the Pittsburgh Penguins or the Washington Capitals.

Those are teams you have to beat plain and simple you have the goalie to do it you just have to find a way to shut down the top players in the league.

When you play Washington it is tough because you have to deal with Alex Ovechkin who doesn't seem to know the meaning of pain.

The man dazzles his way through defenses around the league, and is not afraid to get physical on the ice.

I've seen Alex take some big time hits and still find a way to dominate the rest of the game.

The way to stop A. Ovechkin is to keep him out of the slot anytime he reaches your zone, keep the stick on him.

Alex is a lot like Ilya Kovalchuk if you get under their skin they will focus more on fighting than putting the puck in the net.

Now on to Pittsburgh Sidney Crosby voted the biggest whiner in the NHL by the players is still one of the most talented players to lace up a pair of skates.

The problem with Sidney is he cries anytime he has any kind of contact on him, and a star player has to know how to do the talking with his stick.

If you look at Evgeni Malkin the things he can do with the game on the line are electrifying players gun for him, but you never know it because you don't seem him complaining between every play.

The tough thing about the Penguins is you go into the game worrying about S. Crosby, but then you have E. Malkin who might possibly be better.

The one thing I noticed this season compared to past years is Sid the kid has been coming up with a lot of clutch goals for Pittsburgh this year as they stand at the top of the Atlantic Division with 32 points playing 24 games so far.

Just when you think your out of the water when those two are on the bench don't forget their goaltender Marc Andre Fleury who knows how to get it done in the playoffs.

The defending Stanley Cup Champion Pittsburgh Penguins are a team that has to beat if New York wants to be the team they have the potential to be.

The New York Rangers will go again on Wednesday night as they will travel to Florida to play the Panthers at 7:30 pm eastern time.

The Rangers lost in their last meeting with Florida 3-2 but were killed from terrible officiating which has been a common tale for the team one too many times.

A player to keep an eye on for the Rangers is Florida's #16 Nathan Horton, the 24 year old Canadian born superstar has 19 points in 22 games this year including 7 goals.

The defense will also have trouble with the speedy #9 Stephen Weiss, the 2001 1st round draft pick for the Florida Panthers has 239 career points, and is at the young age of 26.

This is a game that New York should win there was no reason to lose to them the last time they played them even with the one sided calls from the referees.

They are simply a better Hockey team than the Panthers, and need to show it.

The problem with this team is one night they play like champions and the next game they play like they have no heart beat.

They have to stick with what was working last night grab the open puck every time, and pounce on any opposing player in front of your net.

There were many positive notes to take into there next game from last night lets just hope they maintain their focus.