Reality Check: Details Will Make or Break Rangers

Remember Brandon Dubinsky’s goal on Sunday night, as it might wind up being the biggest tally of the season for the Rangers. The young center’s desperate dive into the crease to swat in a rebound with 1:23 left in the third got the Rangers a point in their game against Buffalo. But more than that, it’s what the goal prevented that might help carry this team to the playoffs.

Sure, it was disappointing that they lost in OT (1-6 in overtime periods on season) Sunday night at the Garden, but had Duby not poked that loose puck past Ryan Miller, the Blueshirts would have been looking at back-to-back shutout losses, no goals in more than seven periods of play and zero momentum heading into the final 16 games. Bleak would have surely been the watch word on Broadway.

Heading into this final stretch the Rangers find themselves two points behind the eighth-place Bruins, who have two games in hand, and three back of what might be a far more shaky seventh-place Montreal team, on whom the Rangers hold a game in hand.

New York Rangers' Marc Staal (18) and Pittsburgh Penguins' Sidney Crosby (87) watch the puck fly past Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist (30), of Sweden, in overtime during an NHL hockey game Thursday, March 4, 2010, in New York. The Penguins defeated the Rangers 5-4. (AP Photo/Kathy Kmonicek)

While 10 of the final 16 are on the road, with the way the Rangers have struggled at home that might be looked at as an advantage.  Their 14-15-6 mark is the NHL’s fourth-worst home record and they appear much tighter offensively on Garden ice as well.

Coach John Tortorella has been preaching all year that the best way for this team to generate offense with their pop-gun attack is to do it through their defensive play and he certainly hasn’t deviated from that feeling for the final run.

“The way we are trying to approach it is to make sure we are doing the right thing away from the puck, so we can get the puck and have it more and try to generate more offense,”  Tortorella explained once again prior to the game against the Sabres.

One of the few forwards that seems to consistently understand that philosophy is Ryan Callahan, who appears to have lifted his game considerably since his Olympic experience.

“It starts in our own end,” Callahan added. “We have to get the puck out of our end and through the neutral zone in order to create offense and stay consistent in getting the puck deep.”

With Marion Gaborik clearly not at 100 percent, the goals are going to have to come somehow, as Tortorella also continued his incessant line shuffling over the weekend. The shifting of Olli Jokinen to the line with Sean Avery and Artem Anisimov seemed to spark the young Russian, as he had a spirited third period on Sunday. However, the lack of consistent line combinations also appears to be preventing anyone from getting a hot hand as line chemistry has been a difficult thing for any of the forwards to latch on to.

A minor controversy developed prior to the game on Sunday as Tortorella was apparently unhappy with Gaborik’s play the night before against the Caps. The coach was quoted as saying, “He can’t play the way he played (Saturday). If he is not in his mind able to get through this, he won’t play.”

Of course, Gabby did play, with 18:49 of ice time, and though held off the score sheet he appeared a bit closer to his sniper-like self. The coach deflected any suggestion of a problem between the two, saying, “Gabby and I have a great relationship and he understands what he means to this club. He knows he has to play better and fight through this.”

While he admits the leg isn’t fully healed, Gaborik keeps insisting, “It is getting better and better every game.” The fact the schedule offers a few days off till they head to Jersey to play the Devils on Wednesday might be the best prescription for both the Rangers and their Slovakian sniper.

Gaborik’s leg aside, at least one other forward will have to step it up and get hot down the stretch or the additional weight heaped on Gabby’s shoulders will become a much bigger problem than the gash on  his thigh.

ICE CHIPS:

OK, so about 200 or so Ranger fans gathered on Seventh Avenue across from the Garden prior to Sunday’s game for a “Fire Sather” rally organized by the forever-frustrated Rangers fans.

Among the many bones of contention cited at the rally was the 2003 NHL draft during which the Rangers chose Hugh Jessiman. Some of the players taken after Jessiman that year: Zach Parise; Ryan Getzlaf; Mike Richards; Ryan Kesler; and Corey Perry.

While that was clearly a blown pick, it strikes us as odd that Rangers fans would hang on to a draft from seven years ago as a rallying point to can the GM. While Sather has clearly worn out his welcome here in New York, Hugh Jessiman isn’t the reason he’ll eventually be ridden out of town. Hang the scouts that blew that one, but drafting hasn’t really been a big issue as since 2003 the Rangers have drafted pretty well in the first round (Marc Staal, 2005; Bobby Sanguinetti, 2006; Michael Del Zotto, 2008).

Some of Sather’s deals—now that’s worth rallying about.

The schedule this week includes the aforementioned trip to Newark on Wednesday for the Devils and a Friday night tilt in Atlanta before a return home to face the Flyers on Sunday for an afternoon match (3 p.m.).