The Rangers couldn’t have gotten off to a much better start at the Garden last night, with Ryan Callahan scoring just 38 seconds into the game, and the team registering seven of the first eight shots. And after allowing the next two goals, they’d tie the score at two thanks to Sean Avery’s hard work behind the net. But last night we saw only flashes of the Rangers team that had won three straight close games.
They’d surrender the next three goals to fall behind 5-2, then mount a third-period comeback, with Todd White and Brian Boyle scoring and Matt Gilroy ringing a shot off the crossbar in an attempt to tie the game. But on a night in which they were outplayed for much of the game — and in the first home game started by someone other than Henrik Lundqvist in over a year — the Rangers and Martin Biron would lose 6-4.
They perhaps lost something more important, too: Artem Anisimov left the game after blocking a shot and injuring his right ankle in the second period. Anisimov thinks he’ll be okay, but Tortorella said that he’s not sure, adding that the center’s injury is more serious than the knee injury Michal Rozsival sustained during the game. (Tortorella said he thinks Rozsival will be okay.) Needless to say, with Marian Gaborik, Chris Drury, and Vinny Prospal already sidelined, this team can hardly afford to lose Anisimov, too, especially since his line had been so effective in the early going this season. He’ll have an MRI today.