RALEIGH, N.C. — This revival in the Rangers identity has been a four-month piece of evidence proving that some things don’t come with time, that some things only can be changed by conscious, concrete decisions.
So here are your Broadway Blueshirts, a team with a revamped roster and a sharpened edge, a team no longer flailing about in the depths of indecisive play but asserting themselves upon their opponent, as they did with a 4-1 win over the horrid Hurricanes last night at PNC Arena.
And in the middle of it, with his hair uncharacteristically hanging in his face, the Broadway Hat sitting next to him in a similar, slumped posture, was the mainstay, the cornerstone, the be-all and end-all of the Rangers’ chances.
“I’m just so tired, and I don’t know what to say right now,” said Henrik Lundqvist, he who made a regulation-career-high 48 saves in his second game of a back-to-back. “I don’t even know what I’m saying.”
Give the man a break and let his coach pontificate instead.
“That’s the best I’ve seen him play since I’ve been here,” John Tortorella said, now 305 games into his tenure behind the Rangers’ bench. “He certainly finds a way to get us a win tonight.”
The two points that come with that win keep the Rangers (19-15-4) in seventh place in the conference, still with a game in hand over the Islanders and just two points behind the sixth-place Senators.
And the roll they’re on, having taken three points from a home-and-home with the first-place Penguins finishing on Friday, is due in large part to the new attitude in the room, the one that came with trade-deadline additions who livened the woe-ridden atmosphere and sparked the turnaround through tangible change rather than hope alone.
“This week, you just see some of the plays and some of the stuff we’re doing, you can tell that we’re seeing it a lot more,” said Brad Richards, continuing his climb up from the depths of competitive depression with another strong performance, assisting on Derek Stepan’s game-opening goal 2:00 into the second. “That’s arrogance, and confidence, and the courage to try stuff. When you have the right swagger, you’ll try that stuff.”
After a scoreless first when Lundqvist held strong while his team tried to find their legs, the second opened with Stepan’s goal, followed 31 seconds later by Ryan Callahan ushering one into an open net after Rick Nash stole it from bumbling goalie Dan Ellis in the corner.
“There was no panic after the first,” Richards said.
After Nash made it 3-0 on a power-play goal midway through the second, it went back to Lundqvist, who made three successive saves on Eric Staal, Joe Corvo and Zac Dalpe, the last one a scintillating show-stopper with his glove. It was Dalpe who finally would get one for the Hurricanes midway through the third — followed by Brian Boyle putting one into the empty net for the Rangers — but by that point, it was too much Lundqvist and too little time for the Hurricanes, now 1-10-1 in their past 12.
“It’s a different atmosphere in the room,” Lundqvist said, after composing himself and making note of the additions such as Ryane Clowe, Derick Brassard and John Moore. “Not only did we get some really skill players, but it changed the dynamic in the room. It’s just a lot better feeling in here.”