The point isn’t quite that the Rangers were able to claim one in their 4-3 overtime loss last night to the Maple Leafs, the point is that the Blueshirts endured a near calamitous Garden opener to get it.
For by the time the second period was seven minutes old, the Rangers had lost both Marian Gaborik to a separated left shoulder on a crushing penalized hit into the wall by Colby Armstrong that will sideline the sniper for up to three weeks, and captain Chris Drury to a different break on the previously fractured left index finger that will sideline the captain for up to six weeks.
Honestly, there is just so much to process out of the 63:08 of wild hockey that ended with Phil Kessel’s left circle winner on Toronto’s seventh power play of the night, this one gained on a mindless interference penalty committed by Marc Staal.
“A lack of discipline really hurt us a couple of times after we crawled back into it,” said Rangers coach John Tortorella, whose team rallied from a 3-1 deficit after two on a pair of goals from Brian Boyle. “I’m a little frustrated with that last one — with that last penalty.”
The Rangers opened with strong forechecking but were unable to sustain the attack for the final half of the first and essentially all of the second period, failing to keep a third man high, failing to get to the puck on time.
As such, they were repeatedly caught chasing the speedy Maple Leafs around the defensive zone for shifts at a time, unable to contain, and able to avoid a blowout only because of Henrik Lundqvist’s brilliance in the face of chaos through the first two periods in which the Blueshirts were outshot 30-12.
“We want to be an attacking, pressure team, but if you play the right way we shouldn’t give up so many chances,” The King said after a 34-save performance that included a half-dozen spectacular stops. “We want to forecheck, but we have to be responsible with the third-man high.
“When we lose that, it’s trouble. The way you forecheck is the way you come back.”
Lundqvist, of course, was talking to coming back in the defensive zone. But once the short-handed Rangers re-established their forecheck in the third, they came back to tie on a pair of wrist shots by Boyle at 2:10 and 6:19, respectively.
“We had two of our guys go down, and one [Gaborik] on a play we are simply not going to stand for,” Boyle said of the hit laid on Gaborik at 2:33 of the second for which Armstrong was called for boarding. “It was a matter of pride for us. It was a mindset going into the third.”
The Rangers killed the first six Toronto power plays, including a 5-on-3 that lasted for 1:10 early in the third when Ruslan Fedotenko and Sean Avery drew coincidental minors while their team was a man up. Fedotenko got involved with Armstrong, and Avery unleashed a pair of two-handers across Mike Komisarek’s ankles.
While Tortorella was understandably miffed by Avery’s act, Boyle had no problem at all with his teammate’s aggressiveness.
“You know what? We killed it,” Boyle said. “We will stand up for each other, and then we will kill off those penalties when we get them.
“It’s not going to be like last year.”