Rangers Finding Themselves at Opportune Time

Henrik Lundqvist has regained his Vezina form, not a coincidence that the Rangers have done so as well. (Credits: Barton Silverman/The New York Times)

New York Rangers netminder Henrik Lundqvist might hold himself to a higher standard than anyone else in the NHL. When his game is on, as the saying goes, you could blindfold him, tie his hands behind his back, send him out there in a pair of slippers, and he’d still expect to stop the puck. This unyielding standard of perfection reveals itself when the rare puck slips by him: in an act of disgust, Lundqvist will slouch his shoulders, jerk his head forward and summon all the strength in the world to resist assaulting the crossbar with his stick. The more often he does this, the higher his confidence must be.

Twice in New York’s last two games – an 8-4 win over Buffalo on Friday followed by a 4-1 win over New Jersey on Sunday – we have seen this defiant posture from Lundqvist. At First Niagara Center on Friday, the Rangers were skating off the ice after the second period carrying a 7-3 lead into the locker room. Lundqvist, who had been beaten by a wicked top-shelf backhander late in the period, was still noticeably perturbed by allowing three goals in the final six minutes, and slammed his stick on the boards next to the bench before disappearing down the tunnel. Though a win for the Rangers was by now a foregone conclusion, their goalie expected better.

Then, at home against the Devils on Sunday – a team Lundqvist has owned since breaking into the League – the Rangers were ahead 4-0 late in the third and well on their way to another victory. With a little less than seven minutes remaining, forward Andrei Loktionov slipped a shot between Lundqvist’s legs to spoil his shutout bid. The King, as he is known in Manhattan, stared down at the spot on the ice where the puck had eluded him, briefly considered gouging a hole in it with the toe of his stick, before rising to his feet with the knowledge that two more points were all but secured.

Ultimately, that is all that matters to Lundqvist and to his team. But the fact that he desires something more than your average two points, something stainless and glistening, gives you an idea of how well this Rangers team is playing.

Since the turn of the month, the Battalion on Broadway is 8-2-1. They have won five of their last six, and are two wins away from clinching a playoff spot with three games remaining. By the preseason blueprint, of course, this was all supposed to salted away by early April, at which point the Rangers were to set their sights on the number one seed in the East while handing some starts over to Martin Biron. But things didn’t go as planned through the first two-and-a-half months of the season, as the team struggled to score goals and carve out an identity, the latter of which provided the foundation for last year’s success.

With the Rangers loitering somewhere between sixth and 10^th for most of the year, critics and fans – which in New York are one in the same – wondered where last year’s team had gone. Well, for one, Columbus. The Rangers gutted the meat of their roster to acquire Rick Nash in the offseason, sacrificing systemic role players Brandon Dubinsky and Artem Anisimov in a deal that left them a top-heavy bunch. But for the most part, their scoring core was returning, and any team with Rick Nash is usually better than any team without Rick Nash. This led to Stanley Cup prognostications, the likes of which hadn’t crowded New York City since 1994.

When the team got off to a slow start, the panic was accordingly heightened. Admittedly, after ten games and a 5-5 record, the 2013 version of the Rangers looked starkly different than the 2012 version, which was stouthearted and resolute. But in reality, this was quite similar to the 2012 version, after 10 games at least, as that team jogged out of the gate to an equally unimpressive 4-4-3 record. Though they ultimately finished atop the East, they didn’t assume that position until the last day in December, after 35 games. Over the next two months, the Rangers posted a 17-6-2 record, opening a nine-point lead in the East by March 1. It took them time to find their groove.

Entering April this season, the Rangers had played 34 games. During a regular season, that would bring them somewhere near the end of December. At 16-15-3, they had shown flashes of brilliance and endured spells of futility, stubbornly negating every winning streak with a subsequent losing streak. Just when they seemed to be finding their form, they would lose it, and just when they seemed to have lost it for good, they would find it again.

At the trade deadline, General Manager Glen Sather, who at 69 years old cares little for patience, decided he had afforded the current squad more than enough time. With optimism and pessimism weaving this way and that like a pair of well-timed wingers, Sather made a pair of moves to isolate pessimism for good. He brought in Ryan Clowe, a gritty forward with scoring touch, and the type of player that coach John Tortorella dreams of having as a son. Then he shipped out the struggling and meek Marian Gaborik for playmaking center Derick Brassard, pugnacious winger Derek Dorsett and swift defenseman John Moore. After staring distastefully at a plateful of caviar and cannoli for much of the season, straying the food across his dish in uncomplimentary piles, the demanding Tortorella looked down to find a bleeding steak, a long rack of ribs and some mysterious piece of meat that was probably still alive. He finally had his team. 

The first game with the new guys in tow saw the Rangers whip the Penguins 6-1, setting the precedent for the rest of April. The offense, which was dead last in goals per game entering the month, exploded, scoring six goals for the first time this season. They have since accomplished this feat twice more, and have scored far more goals in far less games this month than any month this year. Their previous high was 30 goals over 15 games in March, a mark they have trumped with 42 goals over 11 games in April, the most by any team so far. This offensive eruption has pushed the Rangers from 30^thin the League in goals per game to 17^th at 2.58/game, just a tad below last year’s rate of 2.71/game.   

Three of the team’s six goals that portentous night came on the power play. It was the first time they had scored three power play goals in a game all season. They moved the puck quickly and creatively, shaking out of the mechanical trance they had been stuck in for so long. Brassard and Clowe made an instant impact on the man advantage, each recording three power-play points in the game, and have continued to play major roles in this domain since. The power play, which entered the month second to last in the League with a 14% success rate, has succeeded at a 22% clip since. With this resurgence, the extra-man unit has climbed up to 21^st in the League at 16%, a tad above last year’s final mark of 15%.

Then there was Lundqvist, who with 26 saves on 27 shots seemed like his normal self. But even he had ratcheted up his game. Until April, Lundqvist had been great, but not Lundqvist-great. A thief of more wins in the past eight years than any one of his contemporaries, Lundqvist was a brilliant save or two short in many of his team’s losses this season. His post-goal posture often suggested vexation rather than anger, the message closer to Where is my game? than I want that one back. Even with stellar numbers entering April – 14 wins, 2.17 GAA, .922 SV% - the Rangers needed more out of their goalie and Lundqvist knew it. He has responded with the type of exceptional play that characterized his Vezina-worthy 2012 season, stealing two games outright and dabbling in thievery in at least two others. So far this month, he has eight wins, a 1.81 GAA and a .939 SV%. He has roared back into Vezina discussion, now ranking second in wins, and third in both GAA and SV%.       

His confidence is higher now than ever. He has found his game and is feeling like a man unbeatable. The Rangers have found their game too, taking nicely to an aggressive, grinding style. It’s April in New York, but by all accounts in The Garden, it’s sometime in late December, and the Rangers are just now hitting their stride.