NEW YORK - Madison Square Garden officials bill the arena as the most famous sports venue in the world, a boast that probably isn't too far off the mark.

"It's a special place," said Swiss-born David Aebischer, who will tend goal there for the Colorado Avalanche tonight against the New York Rangers (6 MST, Fox Sports Net). "It's going to be fun to play there, for sure. It's a rink you hear about a lot, even over in Europe. Every great artist has been there and every great concert. Everything pretty big indoors has been there almost."

Aebischer is hopeful of leaving his mark as well in the Avalanche's final game before the four-day All-Star break.

Aebischer, who turns 25 next week, is looking forward to playing for the Western Conference on Saturday in the YoungStars Game at Sunrise, Fla., but he's obviously more concerned about putting the kibosh on the Rangers.

Aebischer knows the Avalanche needs to string together some victories to escape eighth place in the conference and compete for a more desirable playoff seed.

"We need solid goaltending to get up in the standings," said Aebischer, who hasn't played since Jan. 12, when he made 30 saves in a 3-2 overtime victory at Carolina. "I'm going to have to try and do as good a job as Patrick (Roy)."

Roy, who started 37 of the Avalanche's first 50 games, allowed a total of four goals in his past four outings. Roy registered two successive shutouts before he relinquished two goals in a 17-second span Tuesday in the Avalanche's 2-2 tie against Columbus.

Avalanche coach Tony Granato, who began his playing career with the Rangers, elected to use Aebischer tonight for a couple of reasons. Aebischer has played well, posting a 2.29 goals-against average and .911 saves percentage in 14 games, and he needs some work. The move also enables Roy, who will play the first period in the All-Star Game on Sunday, to get plenty of rest before the stretch drive. The Avalanche's next game is Tuesday at Boston.

"The way things are going with Patty, you want to play him as many games as you can," Granato said. "I think he's playing great and he's on top of his game, but you can't play him every night. David, whenever he's called upon, steps up and does a great job for us. (Resting Roy) went a little bit into our thinking, but we need to get Abby in there, too. He's been very solid for us, and we want to make sure we give him some games as well.

"Any time we ask him, no matter what the situation - whether we're a beat-up, tired squad at the end of back-to-back games - he always steps forward. You know what he's going to give you. He's a reliable guy to have. I think it's a luxury as an organization and as a coaching staff to have a guy that is considered a backup because he doesn't start all the time but who certainly gives you a starter's effort every single time he's out there."

Aebischer made his Garden debut Nov. 20 last season, but it was a mop-up job. Roy was pulled 8 minutes into the second period after allowing five Rangers goals on 18 shots. Aebischer stopped all 13 shots he faced in the 5-3 defeat.

Aebischer would prefer to play a lot; he averaged 23 appearances in his first two NHL seasons and isn't likely to play more than that this year. But he's willing to bide his time behind Roy, who has an option year remaining on his contract and hasn't revealed his future plans.

Roy's previous backup, Marc Denis, didn't get a chance to play regularly until he was traded to Columbus before the 2000 expansion draft.

"We're going to see what Patrick's going to do after the season," Aebischer said. "It's his decision, and I'll have to be patient. I'd rather play on a team like this, maybe wait one or two years longer than I would for another team."