(EYES ON THE PRIZE:
Predators goalie Pekka Rinne (right) keeps his eyes on Ryan Callahan, as the Rangers forward tries to keep his eyes on the puck during the Rangers’ 2-1 shootout victory last night. Getty Images)
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Everything seemed to be working against the Rangers last night. They were playing their sixth game in six different cities in nine nights, and were missing their best offensive player, Marian Gaborik, who stayed at the team’s hotel because of the flu.
But despite falling behind 1-0 early, the Rangers stayed in the game thanks to a second straight strong showing from Henrik Lundqvist, and after a a Ryan Callahan goal with 13:04 remaining forced the game to a shootout, they escaped from Bridgestone Arena with a 2-1 victory over the Predators.
“Well, we knew we were gonna have to grind,” John Tortorella said. “We just tried to stay with it, tried not to open up. … After a pretty sluggish start, I thought we came on as the game went on.”
Erik Christensen deked Predators goalie Pekka Rinne on the opening attempt of the shootout, then Lundqvist did the rest, stoning Cal O’Reilly, Marcel Goc and Martin Erat to give the Rangers two points.
“I tried to be patient and it just worked out good today,” Lundqvist said of his shootout heroics. “They made a couple good moves, but as a goalie, you’re trying to be patient all the time and you have a lot better chance to win it.”
Without Gaborik and Derek Boogaard, who missed his second straight game with a shoulder injury, the Rangers found themselves down a forward, only adding to the wear and tear of their recent schedule, as well as playing 15 games so far in November.
The Rangers fell behind early when Lundqvist allowed his first goal since the second period of Wednesday’s game at Tampa Bay at the 5:10 mark of the first when Colin Wilson burst past Dan Girardi and fired a shot by the King. But Lundqvist, who was playing in his second straight game after making 40 saves in a 3-0 shutout win over the Panthers Friday night, stood tall from that point forward, making 29 saves to keep the Rangers in the game.
“The last two games, I felt like my timing was pretty good,” Lundqvist said. “A lot of it is being patient, being on my feet. … When you make the first move, a lot of times you end up in a tough position, especially on the second play. But if you can wait for the puck, from there it’s been feeling pretty good.”
And just when it looked like the Rangers had little chance of generating a goal, Callahan found himself with the puck in the slot, and his shot ricocheted off of Nashville’s J.P. Dumont with 6:56 remaining to give the Rangers a new lease on life.
“He’s just fearless,” Tortorella said. “And again, we don’t have to look too far to what we want as the definition of what we want our players to be. He’s right there in front of us.
“He’s what it’s about, as far as being a Ranger, and good for him to score a goal, because he does all the other things, and it’s good that he ended up chipping in there towards the end to tie this game.”