The Rangers’ story, and they’re sticking to it, is that they could have, would have and maybe even should have won last night’s game against the Islanders if they had gotten a better bounce or two.
That was the company line pretty much from head coach John Tortorella through the ranks after the 3-2 overtime defeat at the Garden in a match the Blueshirts dominated in the third period — but the third period only — by rallying from two goals down.
Otherwise, the bigger and brawnier Islanders controlled the tempo and forced the Rangers into a close-quarters game throughout most of the opening 40 minutes. And when Kyle Okposo found good fortune when his 40-footer from the right wing skipped off Marc Staal and past Henrik Lundqvist at 4:13 of OT, the Blueshirts were reduced to getting the loser’s point.
Not a thing any of the Rangers said can change that, or the reality that the team simply lacks the size and strength to play 60 minutes of grinding hockey when necessary, as it was in this one where the Blueshirts could not get out into open ice and create with the skill forwards the head coach double-shifted throughout the third.
“I don’t think we deserved to lose,” said Brandon Dubinsky, who scored both Rangers goals, including the tying score on a deflection with 46.6 seconds remaining in regulation and Henrik Lundqvist pulled for the extra attacker — who happened to be No. 17 himself.
“We knew they were going to forecheck hard and force us to grind. Even though we came out a little slow in the first and hurt ourselves by taking a couple of penalties, the fact we fought hard to come back the way we did is something positive we can take out of this.
“We can play harder over the full game, that’s something we can improve on, but coming back the way we did should be good for our confidence.”
Trailing 2-0 after two (yielding a first-period goal to Frans Nielsen and a second period shorthanded goal to Blake Comeau), the Rangers unleashed 10 shots on Dwayne Roloson in the first 7:59 of the third, coming within one on Dubinsky’s rebound goal at 6:07. They finished with 15 shots in the third, 38 for the night.
“I thought we played well enough over the whole game to get the win,” said Lundqvist, who faced 22 shots. “I thought we were solid in our end the whole night.
“If we had tied it a little bit earlier I think we would have been able to use the momentum to win in regulation. Of course we wanted to keep the winning streak going, but I don’t think we have to be upset about getting one point out of this.”
The Rangers got the one point with Tortorella essentially stripping down to essentials in the third, rotating through centers Dubinsky (23:59 total) and Chris Drury, with extra doses of time to Marian Gaborik (24:31), Vinny Prospal and Ryan Callahan, with Sean Avery and Chris Higgins splitting time on the left flank. The other forwards were innocent bystanders.
“I thought we played really hard,” said Tortorella. “When you play them it’s not going to be a pretty game. You end up having to play that style, which isn’t easy.
“I thought we fought through it. We’ll take the point and try and find some good stuff out of it.”
That’s the message.