Like old times, Rangers too dependent on star
Photo credit: Getty Images File | Marian Gaborik of the Rangers skates against the Capitals during their preseason game on September 24, 2009 at Madison Square Garden.
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Photos: Capitals 4, Rangers 2
The superstar matchup last night, Marian Gaborik vs. Alex Ovechkin, was a draw.
But the Capitals' no-names in a 4-2 victory got the better of the Rangers' supporting cast, who have lost the ability to score when No. 10 isn't on the ice.
This, of course, is not a new ailment for the Rangers, 4-8-1 since that hot 7-1-0 start. Jaromir Jagr's Rangers suffered from it, badly - the complete lack of scoring behind the star, the absence of offense when No. 68 wasn't wheeling and dealing.
"The other guys, like me, we have to take the load off his back offensively," Ales Kotalik said of Gaborik. "It can't be just him."
Can't be, but it is. Gaborik is a wonder, with two good hips and the sort of quick-release shot and nose for the net that recalls Jagr in his prime. When Gaborik is on the ice, everyone watches, waiting for what he'll do next.
It's exciting. But it isn't enough, not nearly. It wasn't enough to just have Jagr in that magical season of 2005-06, when the post-lockout rules opened up the game for him. He had 54 goals and 123 points for a team that's never had a scorer like that.
But what happened in his subsequent years, aside from Jagr losing a step to age, was that his teammates became too deferential. Too willing to let Jagr make the play that started things, or take the big shot.
Gaborik pounced on a pair of rebounds Tuesday night, so he didn't initiate everything, just finished, as he always seems to do.
That's 15 goals in his first 19 games as a Ranger - Jagr had 17 in his first 19 games in '05-06 - and Gaborik, with Vinny Prospal riding shotgun, is as advertised.
But the rest of the Rangers are the same as ever. Christopher Higgins, with two goals in 20 games, was a force. He hit, he forechecked hard, and he missed the net from the high slot in the third.
Ryan Callahan, with three goals in 21 games, flew everywhere, shook off a twisted ankle and played his guts out. He barely got a sniff of a good scoring chance.
Sean Avery got in faces, particularly Caps' big bruiser John Erskine's, and parked in front of the Caps net on Gaborik's second goal.
But Avery, with no goals in 14 games, got no closer to scoring one, either.
"Your second- and third-line guys, they're not going to make the pretty play," coach John Tortorella said. "We need some grind from some other people."
Ovechkin, who missed the previous six games because of an upper-body injury, rifled home a power-play slap shot and started the play on the Caps' second goal.
He and Gaborik canceled out each other, tied atop the NHL leaderboard with 15 goals apiece, two shining stars in the East.
But it was Matt Bradley that made the difference, scoring a breakaway goal with 4:51 left to untie it.
"That helps you out, getting a goal from a third- or fourth-line guy," Tortorella said. "We can't get one or two goals and expect to win many hockey games. We had the same problem last year when I came in here."
And the year before that, and before that, too. The coach is new, the star is new, even some of the pluggers are new.
Same old problem, though.
