New Rangers veterans will have to step up during intense stretch

With last year's two top scorers, Marian Gaborik and Vinny Prospal, sidelined and captain Chris Drury on the shelf for six weeks, the Rangers are not only hoping that their core of youngsters can contribute, but that veterans signed before the season can temporarily fill the gaps.

The Rangers have the ninth-youngest team in the NHL, but veterans Alexander Frolov, Martin Biron, Todd White and Ruslan Fedotenko will be in prominent roles during a stretch of three games in four nights that begins Thursday in Toronto.

"It's always good to have goals and points, but it's most important to win games as a team right now," said Frolov, the former Los Angeles Kings left wing who has a goal and two assists during the Rangers' 1-2-1 start. "I'm going to try as hard as I can to produce some offense. We have enough guys who can score, but we also have to do the right thing defensively . . . There's still some things to work on."

Frolov, 30, did not have much of a chance to create any chemistry with Gaborik, who is out for up to a month with a separated left shoulder, and he likely will skate with center Artem Anisimov and perhaps Ryan Callahan against the Maple Leafs. Coach John Tortorella said the club will not reach out to Hartford for reinforcements and stick with the minimum 12 forwards.

Biron, the free-agent goaltender signed to a two-year deal in July, watched Henrik Lundqvist start the first four games but will debut in this stretch, Tortorella said. The Rangers face the Bruins on Saturday and the Devils on Sunday; Biron will likely play in Boston.

White, acquired from Atlanta in the trade for Donald Brashear and Patrick Rissmiller, played just 7:46 in his Rangers debut during Monday's 3-1 loss to the Avalanche. "I just tried to play well defensively," White said. "I had a few shifts at center and on the power play. It was good to get my feet wet."

Tortorella said White, who scored 73 points with the Thrashers in 2008-09 and won 53.8 percent of his faceoffs last season, will get "a shot at an offensive role. And we are definitely going to look at him as a faceoff guy in our end zone, trying to help us there."

Fedotenko, who played for Tortorella in Tampa and won a job in a tryout, may be reunited with Sean Avery and rookie center Derek Stepan, a trio who has had early success.