From the very opening shift in which club enforcer Colton Orr got some payback on Flyers’ tough guy Todd Fedoruk with a clean KO, the Rangers did what they had to tonight at an energized Garden- dominating the Flyers 5-0.

The big win lifted Tom Renney’s club to 83 points, putting a little distance between themselves and the three-headed monster (Toronto, Carolina and Montreal) which are all tied for eighth with 80. The Rangers also pulled within a point of sixth place Tampa Bay. The Lightning play host to the Devils tomorrow night in St. Petersburgh. Both the Rangers and Bolts have eight games remaining.

The last time the Rangers and Flyers met, Fedoruk ran roughshod on them with Orr out of the lineup. In Philly’s 5-3 win, Brendan Shanahan suffered a concussion after a scary collision with former Ranger Mike Knuble which kept the team’s leading goalscorer out 15 games. Ironically, Shanahan made his return in tonight’s rematch while Knuble, who recently returned from a broken orbital bone also skated for the Flyers. It was good to see both guys back.

The tone was set by Orr when he dropped’em with Fedoruk 21 seconds in, KO-ing the Flyer with a sharp right which connected. Afterwards, Fedoruk laid on his back flat on the ice out until he was taken out on a stretcher to St. Vincent’s Hospital for precautionary measures. The good news according to Rangers neurologist Claude Macaluso:
“Todd is doing fine. He is awake. He is having some problems with short-term memory, but other than that he is great. There are no neurological problems at all. We scanned him basically from the top of his head right down to the bottom of his neck. There are no fractures. (His) brain looks fine. He is going to be fine.”

Nobody ever wants to see a player get hurt like that. But Orr was justified for what Fedoruk did last time. Sometimes, this happens. It’s hockey.

When play was restored, Shanahan took his first shift to loud cheers and chants of “Shanny, Shanny, Shanny,” as fans paid tribute to the popular 38 year-old future Hall of Famer. Not long after, Petr Prucha got the scoring started with a nifty one-on-one move using a defenseman as a screen for his 19th at 3:40.

But after a strong start to the period, the Blueshirts struggled in the latter part giving up some good chances which could’ve tied the game if not for a sharp Henrik Lundqvist (7 first period saves). However, the Rangers regrouped to have a dominate second, getting two more.

Captain Jaromir Jagr got another fortunate bounce when his wrist shot deflected off Flyers defenseman Denis Gauthier and past Antero Niittymaki for a power play goal 1:26 into the stanza to make it 2-0. Briefly after Prucha had a second waived off due to video review for kicking it in, Sean Avery took a Thomas Pock drop pass and wristed one in for another PPG to put the Rangers up three.

In a dominant third in which they outshot the Flyers 9-2, the Rangers iced it when Jed Ortmeyer rebounded home a Matt Cullen wide shot for his second with 9:54 left. Only 2:28 later, the IRA Connection of Avery, Shanahan and rookie Ryan Callahan worked a perfect tic-tac-goal resulting in a tap-in for Avery’s second of the night and sixth as a Blueshirt.

All that was left was whether Lundqvist would notch his second shutout in three games. But the Ranger D and attention to detail wouldn’t allow the Flyers to even come close as King Henrik posted his fifth shutout of the season (eighth career). Lundqvist has allowed only one goal in the last three starts and it took a perfect play from the Pens’ tandem of Erik Christensen and Michel Ouellet to beat him the other night. Right now, the Swedish gold medallist is the hottest netminder in the league- helping the Rangers dramatically drop their goals against average. As a matter of fact, since January 13, no NHL team has a better GAA. With 17 more saves, Lundqvist reduced his GAA to 2.35 and increased his save percentage to .915.

Amazingly enough, he has almost played himself back into Vezina contention. In fact, if you want to talk about MVP’s, nobody has been more valuable than the Ranger goalie the past two months. He’s the reason his club is where it is. That said, there’s still some work to be done. The Rangers will now embark on a four-game road trip with stops at Boston, the Islanders, Canadiens and Flyers. If they continue to play the way they have by paying attention to detail and aggressively forechecking, things will workout nicely.

And if they get in, nobody should want any part of this team now. They’re coming together at the right time!

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