The Rangers played their best game since the season opening win in Buffalo and blocked an incredible 30 shots tonight as Martin Biron backstopped them to a 2-1 victory over the Leafs at the Air Canada Centre. Without Marian Gaborik and Chris Drury, who were both injured the last time these two teams met, the Blueshirts used a total team effort and a flawless defensive game plan to neutralize the speedy Leafs and hand them their first regulation loss of the season.

The Rangers used a strong forecheck to set the pace early and jumped ahead when Ruslan Fedotenko scored his first goal as a Ranger, poking home a loose puck from behind Toronto net minder Jonas Gustavsson to give the Blueshirts a 1-0 lead. Artem Anisimov, who was the Rangers’ best skater tonight, deflected a perfect pass from Ryan Callahan past Gustavsson with under 3 minutes to go in the first period to stretch the lead to 2-0. Martin Biron took over from there. Biron, making his first regular season start as a Ranger, was solid if not spectacular for most of the evening, making 24 saves en route to his first win. Derek Stepan, Erik Christensen and Sean Avery also had strong performances and always seemed to be in on the action.

The biggest story of the night was the Rangers team defense. The Blueshirts, led by Dan Girardi, who has been the team’s best blueliner thus far,and Ryan Callahan were all over the defensive zone blocking 30 Leafs shots in a very impressive performance. The penalty kill which was also led by Girardi and Callahan shut out Toronto on 5 chances and Biron’s stop of Kris Versteeg late in the third period sealed the victory for the Rangers.

I don’t want to put all the blame on Steve Eminger but the defense looked much better tonight without him, as he was a healthy scratch for the first time this season. Matt Gilroy and Mike Sauer looked like a pretty good combination and hopefully the coaches gained some confidence in the young pair following tonight’s outing.

The Rangers will attempt to start a winning streak when they visit the Bruins in Beantown on Saturday afternoon. It wouldn’t be surprising if John Tortorella gives Biron another start after tonight’s win.

Martin Biron will make his New York Rangers debut tonight when the Blueshirts face the Maple Leafs in Toronto. He will be opposed in goal by Jonas Gustvasson (1-0-0 3.00 GAA). The Rangers will be hoping to avenge an overtime defeat at the hands of the Leafs last week during which they lost Marian Gaborik and Chris Drury to injuries.

The line combinations and pairings will be:

Brandon Dubinsky-Artem Anisimov-Ryan Callahan
Sean Avery-Derek Stepan-Ruslan Fedotenko
Alex Frolov-Erik Christensen-Brandon Prust
Derek Boogaard-Todd White-Brian Boyle

Marc Staal-Michal Roszival
Michael Del Zotto-Dan Girardi
Michael Sauer-Matt Gilroy

Steve Eminger will be a healthy scratch.

The line combinations and defensive pairings will be:

Marian Gaborik-Chris Drury-Alex Frolov
Brandon Dubinsky-Artem Anisimov-Ryan Callahan
Sean Avery-Derek Stepan-Ruslan Fedotenko
Derek Boogard-Brian Boyle-Brandon Prust

Marc Staal-Michal Rozsival
Michael Del Zotto-Dan Girardi
Matt Gilroy-Steve Eminger

Henrik Lundqvist (1-1-0 4.03 GAA) will be opposed by Toronto netminder J.S. Giguere (2-0-0 1.51 GAA).

Former Ranger Colton Orr will play tonight after suffering a head injury Wednesday night vs. Pittsburgh.

The Leafs (3-0-0) are experiencing their best start to a season since 1999-2000.

Repeat after me: The sky is NOT falling, the sky is NOT falling. It is way too early in the season to sound the alarms and begin worrying. This team is obviously better than last year’s squad. The power play looks good, the effort is there and the goals are coming in bunches but unfortunately, so are the mistakes.

In a game in which the Islanders were without two of their biggest offensive weapons and their top defenseman, The Rangers were unable to match the skating of the Isles and were burned by some undisciplined play in the third period, falling 6-4 at the Coliseum in the early afternoon contest. The offense showed up again as Brandon Dubinsky and Artem Anisimov had standout performances but the blue line (with the exception of Dan Girardi, who played second straight strong game) looked lost for most of the matchup. Steve Eminger was atrocious for the second straight game and Michael Del Zotto really struggled in his own end throughout. Henrik Lundqvist made some big saves early when the Isles were controlling the pace but wasn’t very sharp as the game went on and has now allowed 7 goals in 2 games.

The Rangers had problems all last year with undisciplined play and in the words of coach Tortorella “with being consistent, night in and night out” and today that inconsistency reared it’s ugly head again. In a game that the Rangers should have won, especially after fighting back and taking the lead midway through the third period, taking two bad penalties and allowing the hard working Isles to grab the momentum and the victory, is exactly the type of thing Blueshirt fans saw all last season and ultimately what would keep them from the postseason. The effort of this team can’t be questioned so far but the discipline and intelligence of this team is still something that needs to be improved upon even after another summer of “teaching” from the coaching staff.

I hate to jump on a guy after only two games but Steve Eminger is looking early on like this season’s Wade Redden, Tom Poti or Marek Malik. I don’t know what Tortorella was watching on Saturday to  say that Eminger “played well” and was “aggressive” and if Eminger is in the lineup instead of a deserving Matt Gilroy on Friday night at MSG, Tortorella should be forced to spend a weekend locked in a room with Larry Brooks.

The Rangers will look to put this disappointing loss behind them in front of what should be an electric crowd on Friday night at MSG and they might even welcome the return of their captain as Chris Drury will see a doctor tomorrow and may be cleared to return for the home opener.

Highlights of the Rangers 5-1 victory over the Leafs at MSG Wednesday night.

Torts talks to reporters following the dominant victory in Tampa.

Chris Drury celebrates his goal with :17 secs left to force OT.

In another must-win situation for the Blueshirts (let’s face it, every game is must-win from here on out), Henrik Lundqvist had one of his best performances of the season and “Captain Clutch” Chris Drury scored what might have been his biggest goal as a member of the Rangers, leading the team to a huge come from behind shootout victory over the Devils tonight in Newark. A botched line change by the Rangers late in the third period led to a turnover and a Jamie Langenbrunner tally that gave the Devils a 3-2 lead with under 8 minutes left in the contest but the Rangers never quit and Chris Drury beat Martin Brodeur with the equalizer off a brilliant feed from Erik Christensen with 0:17 on the clock to force OT. After an overtime period which saw both Brandon Dubinsky and Illya Kovalchuk have golden opportunities turned away on spectacular saves by both netminders, Erik Christensen once again came up huge and scored the only goal of the shootout, beating Brodeur with a nifty deke and shot off the post and in, giving the Rangers the victory and two huge points in the standings.

Thumbs Up- Dan Girardi, who has been a target of many fans this season, had one of his best games of the year and should quiet any of the critics who think the Rangers shouldn’t try to lock him up long term over the summer when he is an RFA. Marc Staal, like Girardi, was tremendous tonight and helped keep Zach Parise in check all game. Brandon Prust continues to impress and was all over the ice tonight. If Prust could find a way to finish, he could really do some damage considering the opportunities he has been able to create so far. Erik Christensen had another solid performance. I know he will never live up to the hype that was heaped upon him entering the league but this kid has shown tons of heart and while I don’t think he’ll ever be great, he is a very GOOD player and should be a priority for Glen Sather come season’s end. Who’s tougher than Ryan Callahan? Anybody?

Thumbs Down- Wade Redden was responsible for the first NJ goal when he missed the backcheck on Kovalchuk and once again was just plain tough to watch on the ice tonight. Olli Jokinen, who got less than ten minutes ice time, is in no uncertain terms, simply terrible, and looks like a shell of the player he once was. Did anybody notice Vinny Prospal tonight? Or Matt Gilroy…other than when he took that delay of game penalty?

Three Stars- 3- Artem Anisimov- I scratched my head earlier today when I heard that the kid admitted he was “more comfortable playing in the bottom six than the top six forwards” but I guess if being comfortable is gonna bring more performances like tonight than so be it. The fourth line centered by Anisimov, along with linemates Prust and Jody Shelley, was the Blueshirts best line tonight and were a huge component in the comeback win. Anisimov’s patience on his goal to make it 2-2 showed that the young man is not only gaining confidence in his offensive game but may be ready to start next season in a more important role (comfort not withstanding).
2- Chris Drury- The much maligned captain was once again a penalty killing standout and source of energy tonight for a team that truly needed to build off the momentum of last night’s shutout over the Islanders. Drury’s HUGE goal in the final seconds was possibly his finest moment on Broadway and could turn out to an all time highlight should the Rangers somehow slip into the playoffs.
1- Henrik Lundqvist- Let’s face it, The Rangers don’t win this game without Henrik standing on his head over and over again and turning back Illya Kovalchuk, from point blank range off a wicked carom off the end boards, in overtime. The “King” then stoned Parise, Patrik Elias and Travis Zajac in the shootout to secure the victory. On a night where Lundqvist had to be the best player on the ice for New York to escape with two points, he was just that.

The Rangers try to keep the playoff push alive when they travel to Toronto the face the Maple Leafs on Saturday.

John Tortorella talks to the media about the shutout.