For one night Rangers fans could dream. If they could somehow sneak into the last playoff spot and maybe draw the Devils in the first round…. Lundqvist gets hot, Gaborik gets open…maybe, just maybe the Garden could rock again come springtime.
That’s the type of dreamy performance the duo of Lundqvist/Gaborik put on this past Saturday night in sparking a desperate Ranger team to a 3-1 win over the new look (Ilya Kovalchuk) New Jersey Devils.
The King had lost his last six starts in goal, including a messy-looking 6-5 heartbreaker to the Caps the game before, so the win Saturday might have meant more than usual to the emotional Lundqvist.
“It’s a relief,” he began after the win over Jersey. “I’ve been very frustrated lately, as the losing was weighing on me, so I needed this.” Then, the quote that gets Rangers fans drifting into la la land, “I love playing against these guys (the Devils). These are always great games and I seem to always play well.”
Well indeed, as the Devils poured it on in the third period with 20 shots, all but one of which “Hank” got a piece of equipment on.
The win put the Rangers within a whisker of the eight seed, two points behind the Flyers and even with the Bruins at 59 points.
While the solid effort against New Jersey took some of the sting out of a rough stretch that had seen the Rangers lose seven of eight, coach John Tortorella remains cautiously optimistic about his club… with a big nod toward his No. 1 netminder.
“It’s huge that he (Lundqvist) plays big for us,” Tortorella said after the win on Saturday. “We need Henrik to be Henrik for us to have a shot. That third period (against the Devils) he was great. It does seem we plug one hole and spring a leak in another lately but he was as solid as he can be (Saturday).”
Those leaks have been causing the Rangers to bail furiously the last few weeks and Lundqvist has not looked sharp in most of his recent starts. A bad goal surrendered in the final seconds of the second period against Washington set the tone for a bad third period last Thursday and just plain awful nights against Montreal (6-0 loss, Jan. 23) and Carolina (5-1 loss, Jan. 27) had Hank’s frustration level rising. Erasing those memories was top of mind for Lundqvist over the weekend.
Up front, with the acquisition of Olli Jokinen last Monday the Rangers appear to have added some desperately needed balance to their attack as the newly formed line of Jokinen, Ryan Callahan and Brandon Dubinsky had a spirited effort versus the Devils. Callahan in particular had a dominant game with a goal and an assist along with his usual consistent physical contributions. They’ll need a big last quarter from the feisty winger.
Whether Jokinen has a lasting impact remains to be seen but if he continues to click with Callahan and Dubinsky it will take some of the pressure off Gaborik, Erik Christensen and Vinny Prospal for the final 23 games. With Manhattan being Jokinen’s sixth stop in an 11-year career, the Finnish center is calling the rest of this season, “A huge opportunity for me.”
On defense, after that ragged effort against the Caps, several Rangers rebounded in the Devils’ game. Michael Del Zotto and Dan Girardi, who have both struggled of late, bounced back with strong efforts on Saturday keeping the newest Devil, Ilya Kovalchuk, in check all night.
Only time will tell whether the big effort Saturday was just a tease or the beginning of something big for the Rangers. As the Olympic break approaches Rangers fans will have plenty of time off to fine tune those dreams.
ICE CHIPS
Rangers have to be a tad concerned as several players that are key for them are headed to Vancouver for the Olympics to play for teams that are expected to play deep into the tournament. Ryan Callahan and Chris Drury for Team USA; Marion Gaborik for Team Slovakia; and Henrik Lundqvist for Team Sweden. Glen Sather will simply have to hold his breath, sit back and enjoy.
What’s the over/under on how many calls Sather has made trying to find someone, anyone who will take on at least part of Wade Redden’s contract in some kind of mercy deal for the struggling defenseman? We think it’s around 29.
With a trading freeze on during the Olympic break and only few days left to deal after it, this could be a big week on the trade front in New York and around the league. Recent names added to those already being tossed around include the Hawks’ Patrick Sharp and Cam Barker; the Ducks’ Scott Niedermayer, Teemu Selanne and Saku Koivu; The Stars’ Mike Ribeiro; the Canes’ Ray Whitney; the Oilers’ Steve Staios, Ethan Moreau and Fernando Pisani; the Leafs’ Alex Ponikarovsky and Lee Stempniak; and the Blues’ Paul Kariya. Stay tuned.
Three more before the Olympic break for the Rangers—Nashville at the Garden tomorrow night before a trip to Pittsburgh on Friday. Then it’s back home for Tampa Bay on the Sunday before the break.