New York Rangers lose Drury, Gaborik and game in home opener

On Friday night the New York Rangers lost their game against the Toronto Maple Leafs, 4-3, in overtime in their 2010-2011 home opener at Madison Square Garden. But their greatest losses were injuries to their captain Chris Drury and top scorer Marian Gaborik in the second period. Drury, who was playing for the first time this season after breaking his finger in training camp, re-broke the same finger and will be out six weeks. Gaborik, who scored a team high 42 goals last season (more than double the next highest goal scorer), separated his shoulder and will miss two to four weeks.

If anything positive can be taken from the game it would be that the Rangers battled back from a 3-1 third period deficit to tie the game courtesy of two goals from an unlikely source, Brian Boyle, who scored only four goals all of last season. By forcing overtime, New York picked up a point (the equivalent of half a win) in the standings. Tonight they’ll return to Madison Square Garden to face the Colorado Avalanche.

Rangers captain Chris Drury is the last player introduced in a special ceremony to kick off the season:

A Rangers fan shows her support for rookie Derek Stepan, who on October 9th became the fourth player in league history to score a hat trick (3 goals) in his first NHL game:

Opening faceoff on the Rangers’ 85th anniversary logo. Chris Drury (center) and Marian Gaborik (top) left the game in the second period after sustaining injuries.

New York’s Derek Stepan:

Toronto’s Mikhail Grabovski collides with New York’s Ruslan Fedotenko:

New York’s Brandon Prust fights Toronto’s Mike Brown:

Prust battles for the puck:

The Rangers’ Derek Boogaard sends an opposing player into the boards and a linesman into the Rangers bench:

New York’s Marc Staal and Brian Boyle celebrate Boyle’s game-tying third period goal that forced overtime:

Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist: