Stepan became the fourth player in NHL history to score a hat trick in his debut, leading the Rangers to the win. He was the first rookie since Fabian Brunnstrom in 2008-09 and first Rangers' rookie since Jan Hlavac on Feb 11, 2000 against Boston to notch a hatter.

While Stepan was the one who notched the goals, a good portion of the credit has to go to Sean Avery and Ruslan Fedotenko, his linemates. Both Aves and Feds did a solid job of grinding in the offensive zone, helping to create chances, and the pas from Avery to Stepan for his third goal was a thing of beauty. That said, Stepan showed he has tremendous hands, which was the scouting report on him. Ron Duguay in Hockey Night Live said his hands reminded him of Bryan Trottier's. While I am not willing to go that far; it's clear that Stepan has the mark of a goal scorer.

Almost all four lines played well, though the top line did little compared to the second and third lines, partly to Stepan's brilliant effort. Brandon Dubinsky scored twice and Eric Christensen also showed good hands on a beautiful feed from Marian Gaborik for a goal. Anyone wonder if Christensen is looking over his shoulder yet? Anisimov had a solid game and did not look out of place skating on the second line. It should be very interesting to see what the Rangers due when Chris Drury returns to action, which may occur as early as this Friday.

Defensively, I am not sure if anyone had a great game, though I thought Staal and Girardi played well. Rosie was beaten several times and out of positions on others and Eminger showed me very little and could be replace by Gilroy, who was scratched Saturday. Hank was solid in net, covering up for several of the team's mistakes, but would probably like to have another chance to stop the shot by Jordan Leopold that went past him for the first Sabres' goal.

The Rangers return to action on Monday, October 11, when they travel to Long Island to face-off against the Islanders at Nassau Coliseum at 1:00 p.m. Heave-ho, two in a row and how does Stepan top this debut?

(Congratulations to my nephew Jonathan Schecter and his bride Malorie, who are getting married Sunday, so I will be out of the box most of tomorrow)

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