The Rangers wrapped up their head-to-head games with Atlanta on Friday with an overall 1-1-2 record. Despite the Rangers troubles against the Thrashers, Vinny Prospal seems to thrive against them, no matter who he plays for.

According to Elias via a link on ESPN:

Vinny Prospal provided two goals and an assist in the Rangers’ 5-2 win over the Thrashers – no surprise to Atlanta fans. Prospal’s three-point night gives him 57 points in 52 career games vs. Atlanta (21 goals, 36 assists) and moves him into third place on the list of the all-time leading scorers against the Thrashers. Only Prospal’s former Tampa Bay teammates, Martin St. Louis (63) and Vincent Lecavalier (59), rank ahead of him.

…As I said last night, Prospal has been a great bargain for the Rangers and they are really going to have to consider re-signing him for next season with the way he has performed and especially the way he has meshed with Marian Gaborik. Hopefully he stays hot through this important stretch. Vinny has 0 points against the Flyers (but 8 shots on goal) this year and three against the Canadiens, whom the Rangers play on Tuesday.

One game after allowing five goals – seemingly all fluky ones – against the Devils on 17 shots, Henrik Lundqvist was back in net against the Thrashers. With the Rangers difficulties in getting the puck in the net, they will surely need to bank on the Swedish netminder’s best efforts from now on. Hank earned his 27th win last night and has a 2.48 GAA and a .919 SV%.

Speaking to Andrew Gross, John Tortorella expressed his confidence in Lundqvist to continue to be instrumental in the Rangers playoff push.

“He’s been fine, the other night there were a lot of deflections, a lot of weird goals,” coach John Tortorella said. “He’s going to have to be the best he can be right at this time. He’s going to have to be the backbone as he always is.”

…Henrik is now 5-2-2 in his last nine games and there will probably be only a few games from now until the end of the season that we will see Alex Auld  replace him in. The Rangers have no breathing room to let Hank rest, so he’ll need to be the workhorse we all know he’s become. It’s time for Lundqvist to steal some games and propel the Rangers into another playoff berth.

One of the major knocks against Coach John Tortorella, especially lately, is his constant shuffling of the lines. Yesterday, Torts made some personnel changes and replaced Sean Avery in the lineup with Enver Lisin.

Lisin had 7:38 of ice-time in 11 shifts, with one blocked shot and played on the fourth line.

Yesterday, in the NY Post, Marian Gaborik discussed Torts and his constant line juggling.

“I went through a lot of line changes in Minnesota, so I’m used to it,” Gaborik told The Post. “That’s the way the coach does it; that’s just the way it is.

“If you’re losing, there has to be some sort of a change, [whether] line changes or shortening the bench. That’s just the way [Tortorella] does it, but those are things that we can’t worry about.

“We just have to come ready to play.”

…There’s basically nothing Torts can do at this point besides switching up the lines and benching guys he feels aren’t performing at the level expected of them. I’m not a fan of what he’s been doing, but the players have to deal with it. I like the theoretical fact that nobody’s job is safe and that Tortorella wants to instill some sort of accountability in the team, but even though these guys are professionals, I don’t see how they can gel together on a line if it’s constantly changing minute-by-minute.

…Against the Flyers, you can pretty much bet that Sean Avery will be back in the lineup at Lisin’s expense. It couldn’t be a better game to get him rolling again.

Before the game, MSG showed the locker room with signs that read “STRUCTURE” as a way of preaching the concept John Tortorella was trying to get through to his players. No matter what the coaches attempted to get into the players’ minds, there’s really only one word that can describe the Rangers‘ efforts right now and that’s “desperation.”

Henrik Lundqvist described the feelings in the locker room to Steve Zipay of Newsday:

“It felt like do-or-die almost,” echoed Henrik Lundqvist, who made 29 saves in a 5-2 defeat of the Thrashers to rebound from being yanked after five goals against the Devils on Wednesday. “We had a really good feeling going in, I think everybody felt ‘It’s today or we might have to’…I don’t even want to think about it.”

Jody Shelley also caught up with A.J Perez of AOL FanHouse:

“We are at the nub,” Shelley said. “It’s exciting. This is why you play. We are one of those teams who don’t have the luxury of giving away games. We’ve done that enough. We’re desperate.”

…At this point in the season, three points out of the playoffs, with 14 games remaining, there really should only be one thing on the Rangers minds and that’s to find a way to earn a win. If the Rangers come out flat in any of the remaining games, then I’m going to seriously question their motivation. And we can’t really place the blame on Torts’ coaching, either. I’m not sure there’s much he can say at this point to get them fired up to play, as this is pretty much playoff hockey now. If you can’t get up for this, I’m not sure what gets you excited to play.

…Larry Brooks at the NY Post has more on the Rangers urgency from Lundqvist and Prospal

Before the game against the Thrashers the Rangers power-play ranked 27th out of 30 teams. If the Rangers want to make the playoffs, it will have to improve.  Against the Devils, there were times when the Rangers needed the power-play to aid the comeback efforts, but it ended up doing nothing.

Friday night, however, the Rangers went 2-for-6, with their third goal by Vinny Prospal coming  just after a  5-on-3 had expired.

Per Andrew Gross’ blog, Torts was happy about how the team performed with the advantage

“Our power play helped us,” Tortorella said of his 2 for 6 unit. “I don’t think five on five we were that great. For a number of minutes we simplified things. We just wanted to get under the hashmarks and hold on to things. We did it at times but we still need to continue to work on situational work.”

Prospal also reflected on the importance:

“The (power play) is such a big part of every team’s play. Even though it’s been off and on this year, every time our power play is clicking, it gives us that extra couple of goals that’s maybe the difference in hockey games. It was just a huge, huge start for us.”

…It’s such a key component to a successful offense that the Rangers need to find a way to make it click on a more consistent basis. Chris Drury, Prospal and Marian Gaborik led the way in ice-time, but I was surprised to see that Erik Christensen wasn’t on any power-play unit. The Rangers will need it to click on Sunday against the Flyers because that’s sure to be a game with a ton of penalty minutes, which hopefully the Rangers can be smart and take advantage of.

The Devils trade for Ilya Kovalchuk paid huge dividends last night, as the winger played a part every Devils goal, to lead New Jersey to a 3-1 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins. Kovalchuk (35, 35) scored and assisted twice in the contest, while Andy Greene (6, 24) recorded a goal and a helper, and Patrick Elias (12) scored. Sidney Crosby (45) was the only one to score on Martin Brodeur, who had 34 saves in the game for New Jersey. The game featured 73 penalty minutes: 42 for Pittsburgh and 31 for New Jersey. The Devils are two points behind the Penguins for the lead in the Atlantic Division, with two games in hand.

If the Rangers are going to make a playoff push, it starts with their best players playing at their highest levels.  Just as they have for most of the season season, Marian Gaborik with a goal and two assists and Vinny Prospal with two goals and an assist took it upon themselves to halt the four-game losing streak.

Tortorella spoke to Jim Cerny about the play of his top-liners:

“They made some big plays on the power play,” Tortorella said of his top guns. “Certainly, as we have talked about, we need them on the board, and they were on the board, and that was big for our win tonight.”

Prospal talked about the performance as a way of repaying the trust from Tortorella:

“We get the opportunity to get the ice-time, to be put out there in the crucial moments,” said Prospal. “It’s always great when you get that trust from your coach and then you give it back.”

…We’ve been waiting for it to come and after six games since the Olympic break, Gaborik has looked like his old self. He was a lot more engaged, utilized his speed more and attacked on offense. Against the Devils he was kind of “floating” around, but tonight it looked like Gaborik may be close to being fully healed. With 52 points this season for Prospal, he has truly been a steal for the Rangers this year.

…It also helps when guys like Gaborik and Prospal play “just” over 16 minutes, but the other guys have contributed enough where Gaborik and Prospal aren’t needed to carry the full load. The Rangers need some steady contributions from their top-lines the rest of the way.

UPDATE:10:33AM: Larry Brooks has more on Chelios

Last night, Chris Chelios played his second-straight game with the Atlanta Thrashers, The 48-year-old played 14:26 and recorded three hits.

Prior to the game, Chelios caught up with Steve Zipay and spoke of how during this past offseason he had contact with the Rangers about possibly filling a defensive vacancy. Talks didn’t progress because the Rangers informed Chelios that they were planning to use a spot for some younger players, Matt Gilroy and Michael Del Zotto.

“Yeah, I think in the 24 years I played I don’t think never lost a game there (at the Garden),” said Chelios, who was recalled before Thursday’s game against Columbus, was on ice for 13:14, and will play tonight. “I had a great feeling in that rink. I just thought it would be a good fit with their young defenseman. It just didn’t work out. They wanted to go with young guys and they have to get that experience and I understand that. It’s the same situation here, and if I can stick around long enough and help the team, great.”

He also spoke about the mentality he has playing at this stage of his career to Andrew Gross:

“I’ve just got to keep it simple until I get used to the pace,” Chelios said. “But there’s no time to learn. Every goal is so big, every game is so big. I’ve got to make the most of it right now and I know it…If I’m not sure, just back off and play it safe.”

…Playing a competitive sport – one that’s as physically demanding as hockey – at such a high level is commendable no matter what. But playing it when you’re almost 50 is pretty much unheard of. I hope I am in good enough shape to jog around the block when I’m that age, let alone play hockey. It’s amazing to see him playing with someone like Zach Bagosian who’s just 19-years-old and still do it at an adequate level.

…Read the posts from Zipay and Gross to see what Chelios had to say about Avery, whom he kids around about.

Scoring Summary

First Period

7:49: Vinny Prospal (16)  beats Johan Hedberg with a hard slapshot with an assist by Marian Gaborik (36).

8:30: On the power-play less than a minute later, Gaborik (36) finds some open space at the far post, as Chris Drury (13) sends a pass to the front of the net.

13:26: Again on the man-advantage, Rangers throw some bodies to the net and Prospal (17) converts for his second goal of the game, from a pass by Drury (14).

Second Period

2:33: With time diminishing on the Rangers penalty kill, Clarke MacArthur takes a pass from Rich Peverley and beats Henrik Lundqvist to his glove-hand side.

17:32: Michael Del Zotto scores his seventh goal of the season, via an assist from Gaborik (37) and some help from a deflection by Zach Bogosian.

Third Period

11:26: With the Thrashers sustaining more pressure, Ron Hainsey beats Lundqvist to cut the Rangers lead in half.

18:54: Ryan Callahan (18) scores the empty netter to seal the deal for the Rangers.

Statistics

Lundqvist stopped 29 of 31 shots in the victory

Hedberg set aside 30 of 34

Dan Girardi (23:31) and Marc Staal (22:47) led the Rangers in ice time

Vinny Prospal and Brandon Dubinsky each had four shots apiece, team highs for New York

Girardi also finished with a team high +2 plus/minus rating

He also led the Rangers with four hits, while Prospal had three

Chris Drury was 10 for 14 on faceoffs

The Rangers had 12 takeaways compared to nine for Atlanta

Special Teams

The Rangers were 2 for 6 on the powerplay

The Thrashers were 1 of 4 on their powerplay chances

Next Game

The Rangers next game is on Sunday afternoon in NEW YORK against the FLYERS

The Game:

The Rangers (29-29-9) visit the Southeast’s second-place Atlanta Thrashers (28-28-10).

For a preview, click here.

The Goalies:

Johan Hedberg (16-12-5) vs. Henrik Lundqvist (26-23-8)

Atlanta’s Key Players:

Nik Antropov (17,38) – Maxim Afinogenov (20,30) – Rich Peverley (19,29)

Notes:

Sean Avery is a healthy scratch for NY, along with Aaron Voros.

Enver Lisin enters the lineup.

Chris Chelios will be in the lineup for the second-straight game for the Thrashers.

All Time:

Overall: 17-12-1-9
At MSG: 7-7-1-5
At Atlanta: 10-5-0-4

2008-09 Schedule Against Atlanta

Nov. 12 Rangers 3, Thrashers 5 at MSG
Dec. 14 Rangers 2, Thrashers 3 (SO) at MSG
Jan. 7 Rangers 1, Thrashers 2 (SO) at Atlanta
March 12 Rangers vs. Thrashers at Atlanta

How To Catch It:

The game can be seen on MSG 2 starting at 7:30PM.