Rangers News: Gaborik out tonight

Stick salute to HeartOfARanger for breaking this on the site.

Like we all speculated Marian Gaborik will not play tonight against the New York Islanders. Andrew Gross reported the story on his blog "Rangers Rants," here are some highlights:

Marian Gaborik will miss tonight’s game against the Islanders with an injury that the Rangersare still not specifying other than to say it’s unrelated to Gaborik’s hip or groin. Since Gaborik also ruled out his torso and was seen shaking his right leg as he left the ice Monday against the Coyotes after colliding, we believe, with Petr Prucha, we have to believe it’s a right leg issue. Coach John Tortorella, asked if he was concerned, said he was not. But when he was asked for a timetable going forward with Gaborik in terms of skating/playing, said he had no idea.

"He won’t be playing tonight," Tortorella said. "And, again, I’m not going to get into explaining his injury but it is not anything from prior as everybody is always worried about and certainly we are are. But, no, I’m not concerned. We’ll keep him out tonight. I have no idea (when he’ll return).

Really no surprise here. My guess is that even if he was feeling very good the Rangers were going to sit him, no need to get him even more injured against the Islanders. Like Jim said before this game off will give him 3-4 days of full rest to recover. Obviously we will keep an eye on his injury until he gets back onto the ice but as of right now it's not a big deal.

Also it should be noted that John Tortorellas "I have no idea (when he'll return)" should not be taken to heart. Torts never does like to guess when players will be back, so that statement does not mean that Gaborik is more injured than we thought.

Remember, we will be at Croxley's in Farmingdale, NY tonight if you can make it, then Cafe 31 in the city tomorrow.

Rob will give you all the recap and be the moderator in the live thread so behave. Go Yankees!