The Rangers played with a strut and a physical presence absent for weeks in yesterday’s 7-0 Garden rout of the Flyers they dominated to such an extent in the NBC “Game of the Week,” it’s a wonder Comcast/Flyers chairman Ed Snider didn’t order the plug pulled on the national telecast.
It was a 60-minute reversal of fortunes on this day on which the clubs wore reverse jerseys, the Rangers in white and Philadelphia in orange following four straight defeats at home and four straight on the year to the Flyers. And it served as reaffirmation that if the seventh-place Rangers stick to the program, they won’t be an easy out the final five weeks down the playoff stretch.
“We talked about making sure to come out with some swagger and to play with a chip on our shoulder,” Ryan Callahan, the irrepressible leader of the band, said after his four-goal outburst keyed the landslide. “If we do that, the goals will come, but it’s extremely important for us to maintain that attitude and not lose it if we fall behind.”
Callahan, who had never before recorded a hat trick in 271 NHL games, saw to it his team barely had the chance to fall behind by converting Brandon Dubinsky’s wraparound setup at the crease 51 seconds into the match. Callahan, who added an assist, was relentless but no more so than linemates Dubinsky (0-1) and Artem Anisimov (1-1), who controlled play both below the hash marks and in open ice.
“That line was outstanding right from the start,” said Henrik Lundqvist, whose 24 saves in his league-leading ninth shutout included a brilliant left pad stretch on Claude Giroux late in the first to send his team into the intermission up 2-0. “And it’s so important for us to get the lead, not only because it gives us confidence, but because teams usually open up when they’re behind.
“We set the tone right from the start and never gave them the chance to get back into it.”
The Rangers, who are in Anaheim on Wednesday and San Jose on Saturday, chased Brian Boucher by scoring four times by 6:28 of the second, three by Callahan. They put on their hard hats in a show of Blue Grit commonplace through the All-Star break but since evident only intermittently.
For there was Brian Boyle dropping the gloves and coming to the aid of Matt Gilroy after No. 97 had been clobbered by Jody Shelley 5:39 into the first. Boyle was assessed an instigator by the laughably inept Stephen Walkom, who spent the afternoon auditioning with refereeing partner Francois St. Laurent for lead roles in the new NBC sitcom, “Clueless Refs.”
And there was Dubinsky dropping Mike Richards in a second period bout with his frequent sparring partner. There were the Rangers, finishing their checks, supporting the puck, going hard to the net and staying there to scoop up loose change on the afternoon that Marian Gaborik returned from a six-game absence due to concussion symptoms.
“We had the right kind of arrogance,” said Vinny Prospal, who centered Gaborik and Sean Avery. “This is a team that had their way with us all year long and knocked us out of the playoffs last year.
“We took it to them right from the first shift. That’s what we need to do over and over again.”