Gaborik feels lucky; Rangers seek spark

GREENBURGH, N.Y. - Marian Gaborik will get on skates this morning for the first time since his right thigh was gashed in a freakish accident during practice Tuesday. His reactions in the morning practice in Pittsburgh will tell him if he can play for the Rangers Friday night. His reactions after it happened Tuesday keep telling him he is lucky.

"I went to the bench and saw gushing blood," he said Thursday in his first comments about the cut, which required 21 stitches. "So I went to the training room and the guys did a good job. When it happened, you're thinking hopefully that it doesn't turn out to be anything serious. It doesn't look like it."

He admitted to a jumble of thoughts and feelings, including the fact that he is so looking forward to playing for Slovakia in the Olympics next week. But after riding the exercise bike while the Rangers practiced Thursday, Gaborik said, "The club is the most important thing to me right now. To play in the Olympics is right around the corner, but hopefully I can jump into games before the Olympics."

The Rangers are desperate to have Gaborik (35 goals, 34 assists), their one bona fide scorer, back in the lineup. Without him, John Tortorella stressed a need to be more desperate. He boisterously scolded his players on the ice before practice. That was followed by a team meeting after practice. The theme for a team that is 10th in the Eastern Conference was motivation.

"Judging by some of the desperation on our team, or lack of [desperation], I wonder," Tortorella said. "So that's the responsibility of the coaching staff and the players, to get to another level, to get points here at a desperate time."

Gaborik said there was less pain and swelling Thursday than there had been Wednesday. He said he felt good after riding the bike. Still, he wore a huge ice pack under an Ace bandage and he did limp. "The most important thing is making sure it doesn't get infected," he said. "The good thing is I didn't cut any nerves or tendons."

He spoke of the breakaway drill at the end of Tuesday's practice, of coming in on Henrik Lundqvist, then colliding.

"You see so many things happen in a game. Freaky-looking accidents, more freaky [than this]," he said, adding that those episodes often don't result in gushing blood. "But this was just right above my shin pads and below my pants, right above my knee. Just a total accident. Goalie [skates] have those sharp toes, so he kind of kicked me and it kind of dug in."

He still hopes to play the full Olympic tournament but added, "I'm not thinking that much ahead."

Brashear waived? Donald Brashear, who was quoted in the Bergen Record saying he has asked for a trade, practiced even as TSN was reporting the Rangers had put him on waivers.