Stepan gets chance to play on top line

DENVER - Maybe it's the shorter shifts, or his speed to burn, but if there's anyone who quickly adapts to the thin air here, it's Marian Gaborik.

"I don't know, I just like to play here," said Gaborik, who had 13 goals in 20 games and two of his 11 hat tricks - including one in the 3-1 win here last Jan. 31 - against the Avalanche before the Rangers visited Friday night.

"Short shifts are important in this rink," he said. "You want to keep the energy up. You don't want to get tired and get caught with them going the other way. You just want to try to stay fresh."

Gaborik, who has four goals in four games since returning from a separated left shoulder, started the game with Derek Stepan - not Erik Christensen - at center.

"Every time I've put him there, he's played really well, and that line has played really well," coach John Tortorella said. "It's not an indictment of Erik because I don't think he has played poorly, but the line has played better with Step there."

Christensen dropped to the fourth line, although he was expected to get some time on the power play and penalty kill. "He is by far our best passer," Tortorella said.

Stepan, a Hastings, Minn., native who was looking forward to having three busloads of family and friends attending the Rangers-Wild game Saturday in St. Paul, said he is increasingly comfortable with Gaborik and Alex Frolov, with whom he was paired in the latter halves of the Penguins and Bruins games.

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"Anyone I play with, I've been more comfortable as the season goes on," said Stepan, who set up Gaborik for a third-period goal against the Bruins and had three assists in the last three games. "Playing with them, it's a bigger responsibility, but also in the same sense, you can't relax . . . Offensively, they're going to create as much as they can."

Tortorella said he can live with Stepan's weakness in faceoffs. "He loves going on the forehand. And I know [Mark Messier] has really tried to work with him and get him understanding that he's got to be able to take some on his backhand. But I can't justify taking him away from him playing with those two guys just because he might struggle on a faceoff or two."

The Rangers also were counting on continued contributions from the Brandon Dubinsky-Artem Anisimov-Ryan Callahan line, which has played together since August. "That line we thought of prior to camp, and you never know what's going to happen," Tortorella said, "but that thing took off and has been pretty consistent." The three were leading the team in scoring: Dubinsky had 18 points, Callahan 17 and Anisimov 14.

Henrik Lundqvist was in goal for the Rangers, who were 6-2 on the road and had won two straight away from the Garden. Lundqvist did not play in the Jan. 31 visit here, as rookie Chad Johnson made 34 saves in the 3-1 win.

In a mild surprise, goaltender Craig Anderson started for the Avalanche for the first time after missing 10 games. He injured his knee in warm-ups in Vancouver on Oct. 26, and Peter Budaj was 6-3-1 in his absence.

Anderson, who was 3-4 with a 3.15 GAA, began skating on his own two weeks ago, then practiced a few times with the team.

"I have no issues. It felt good enough for me to be cleared to play," said Anderson, who made 32 saves when the Avalanche beat the Rangers, 3-1, at the Garden on Oct. 18.