Gaborik feeling good, looking good

SUNRISE, Fla. - Marian Gaborik, who has been hampered by nagging lower-body injuries since before the Olympics, was flying last night.

"I felt good, really good," said Gaborik, who fired a team-high eight shots at Panthers goalie Scott Clemmensen and scored his 41st goal of the season into an empty net with a minute to play in the Rangers' 4-1 victory.

"Gabby was a workhorse," Chris Drury said of the right wing, who played 23:12 and was awarded his 42nd assist on Drury's goal at 11:06 of the third that made it 3-1.

The two points tied Gaborik's career high for points in a season with four games to play; he was 42-41-83 with Minnesota in 2007-08.

Prust is flying, too

Brandon Prust, who banged in a rebound to give the Rangers a 2-1 lead in the third, also scored the opening goal in the 5-0 shutout of Tampa Bay. His response to whether he'd ever gotten two game-winners in a row: "No. It's been a while since I've gotten two in a season."

Prust, obtained from Calgary with Olli Jokinen Feb. 2, has four goals and 161 penalty minutes.

Two other Rangers known more for their bruising play added assists. "Jody [Shelley] threw the first one to the net [Prust's goal] and then A.V. [Aaron Voros],'' Drury said. Voros' rebound was shoveled in by Drury, who said: "We needed to get guys at the net; we talked about it all game."

Voros, who fought Nick Tarnasky 1:48 into the game, has a goal and two assists in the last three games. Shelley has three assists in the last six games.

Media help turnaround

After the Rangers lost to the Bruins, 2-1, on March 21, it appears as though John Tortorella circled the wagons and played the media card. "You get into a situation after the Boston game where it's all gloom and doom," he said. "Some of the stuff you guys write, we just try to block out all the negative stuff around us . . . We've got nothing else to lose here. I think our locker room loosened up.''

Parenteau rising

Opinions change, and Tortorella's assessment of P.A. Parenteau has shifted.

After Parenteau was called up from Hartford twice before mid-December, the coach said he was "worried about Parenteau's skating" on the NHL level. But Tortorella seems to be re-thinking his analysis after Parenteau, 27, had a goal and assist in the three games before last night.

"He's creative," the coach said. "I think the [AHL] coaches have done a great job. He's been given the minutes; he deserves the minutes. He's the type of player who slows the play down himself to allow things to open up for him. Here, we want him to play with tempo but we also don't want to take away that ability he has as far as keeping the puck. But we don't want him to lean on that all the time. He sees the ice well, he's very calm with the puck and he's added some offense."

Blue notes

Ryan Callahan missed his fourth consecutive game with a right knee injury. Brian Boyle missed his sixth consecutive game with a left ankle injury. Sean Avery sat for the third straight game with a right knee issue . . . Asked if he considered playing backup goaltender Alex Auld on Friday or yesterday in Florida, Tortorella said: "No. Why would I?"