SO MUCH FOR FRANCHISE-WIDE WINNING STREAKS 

     VERSUS    

NEW YORK RANGERS POST-GAME NOTES

December 5, 2011 (Game 24, Home Game 10)

Madison Square Garden – New York, New York

Team Notes:

–        The Rangers were defeated by the Toronto Maple Leafs, 4-2, tonight at Madison Square Garden to end their home winning streak at seven games, and their overall winning streak at five.  The Blueshirts are 12-3-0 in their last 15 games.

–        New York is now 15-6-3 (33 pts) on the season, including a 7-2-1 record at home.  Despite the loss, the Rangers still have the fewest regulation losses in the NHL.

–        The Blueshirts tallied one goal in five power play opportunities (7:41), and are now 6-24 (25.0%) with the man advantage in their last six games.  New York has also notched a power play goal in six straight home games (7-31, 22.6% over the span).

–        The Rangers out-hit the Maple Leafs, 41-27, and now rank third in the league with 646 hits on the season.

–        New York won 39-60 face-offs (57%) in the contest, and now ranks eighth in the NHL with a 51.6 faceoff winning percentage on the season.

Player Notes:

–        Artem Anisimov notched a goal and tied for the game-high with seven shots on goal to earn second star honors.  The seven shots on goal tied his career-high.  Anisimov extended his point streak to three games (two goals, two assists over the span), and has now tallied 12 points (three goals, nine assists) in the last 13 games.

–        Marian Gaborik tallied a power play goal and logged 23:19 of ice time in the contest.  He has registered five points (three goals, two assists) in the last four games, and is now four goals shy of 300 NHL career goals.

–        Michael Del Zotto recorded an assist, tied for the game-high with a season-high, seven hits, and was credited with three blocked shots in 25:03 of ice time.  He has now tallied four assists in the last five games.

–        Derek Stepan registered the primary assist on Gaborik’s power play goal, and was credited with four hits in a season-high, 21:26 of ice time.  Stepan now has an assist/point in each of the last three games (one goal, three assists over the span), and has tallied 15 points (five goals, 10 assists) in the last 16 contests.

–        Brad Richards tallied a power play assist to extend his point streak to six games (four goals, six assists over the span), and won a game-high, 18-29 face-offs (62%).  Richards’ six-game point streak is the longest by a Ranger so far this season.  He has recorded 18 points (nine goals, nine assists) in the last 16 games.

–        Brandon Prust recorded one assist and was credited with two hits in 9:18 of ice time.  Prust, who was assessed a fighting major at 2:05 of the first period, is now tied for second in the NHL with eight fighting majors on the season.

–        Henrik Lundqvist stopped 26 of 29 shots, and is now 11-5-3 overall with a 5-2-1 record at home.  The loss ended his personal four-game winning streak.

–        Ryan Callahan tied for the game-high with a season-high, seven hits, and led all forwards with a career-high, 25:08 of ice time.  Entering tonight’s contest, Callahan was tied for 13th in the NHL with 72 hits.

Post-Game Quotes:

      –        Henrik Lundqvist on tonight’s game…

“We didn’t get going until the second half. You could see after the (Rangers) first goal we gained some momentum. It just shows how a game can change from a shift or a goal. They looked like they had everything under control after the third one and we came back and had some big chances in the end, but it wasn’t our night tonight.”

–        Dan Girardi on making a comeback…

“That’s been a staple of our team this year – not giving up or giving in. We had a tough start there down three goals but we popped a couple quick there and had a chance to tie in the third period but just couldn’t get that last one and it was kind of tough.”

Team Schedule:

–        The Blueshirts have a scheduled off-day tomorrow, December 6.  The Rangers’ next practice is scheduled for Wednesday, December 7, at 11:00 a.m. at the MSG Training Center. (schedule subject to change)

The Rangers will return to action when they face-off against the

Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday, December 8, at Madison Square

Garden (7:00 p.m.), in the first of three games in four days.  The

game will be televised live on MSG Network and can be heard on

1050 ESPN Radio.