Marian Gaborik Hit: How Will New York Rangers Respond?

A week ago from tomorrow (Friday, Oct. 15), the New York Rangers took on the Toronto Maple Leafs in their home opener.

The Rangers lost the game, 4-3 in overtime, but most importantly they lost a major part to their team.

Marian Gaborik was injured on a hit coming from Toronto's forward Colby Armstrong, landing him on the IR. Gaborik separated his shoulder on the hit and will remain out of the Rangers lineup for up to a month.

Also injured in the game was New York Rangers captain Chris Drury, taken out by his teammate Michael Rozsival, suffering another broken finger.

Tonight, the Rangers take on the Maple Leafs again, this time in Toronto and they must make a statement and respond to the hit that injured their star forward.

In no way am I talking about going after one of Toronto's top players and injuring them, though they will probably try anyway. They should instead go out there and throw some hard hits, send some people to ice and crash Toronto's net to show the Leafs that they are not a joke.

Not with the intent of injuring anyone, but they have to send a message to the Toronto Maple Leafs.

It's going to be a rough game for sure, and the Rangers must be ready. Sean Avery must keep his cool and cannot get into anything with Mike Komisarek (though he will anyway).

Players like Derek Boogaard and Brandon Prust must play a clean game and while fighting is acceptable, they cannot go after a Maple Leaf and crunch him from behind or lead him into a fight.

The Rangers have to play a disciplined game, meaning no suspensions afterword, but at the same time, they must send a message. They can hit hard, go after Armstrong all they want and they can get into as many fights as they want, but they must do it without injuring anybody on purpose or doing something that will get them suspended.

Expect a fun game tonight as the Rangers try to get back to their winning ways.

Thanks for the read. Feel free to comment below.

Note: I will not be live blogging tonight. I have a few things going on prior to the game, and I do not want to start a blog after the game has started. There is a possibility that I live blog again sometime over the weekend.