PITTSBURGH — There was Chris Drury getting up off the deck to drop his gloves with Matt Cooke, who had been standing over him like Ali over Liston in Lewiston, Maine, and Michal Rozsival was right there to protect his captain the way Marian Gaborik should have been protected, but wasn’t last month in Philadelphia.
But this was a different night and this was a different Rangers team. This was a team that battled throughout, even and especially after Michael Del Zotto was lost to a nasty skate wound above the ribs just 2:29 into the match and Gaborik was forced out following the first period after trying to play three days after suffering a skate gash in the right thigh.
“I loved seeing what Dru did,” Henrik Lundqvist said the Blueshirts’ 3-2 overtime victory over the Penguins on Olli Jokinen’s right wing wrist shot at 1:02. “We need that energy and edge to our game so that if something happens we don’t take a step back.
“I think everybody took charge and really focused on what they had to do. We’re not like [the Penguins], with so much talent. We’re a different team. We have to accept that. It’s important that the leaders lead the way, but at the same time we need everybody focused and locked in on doing what they do best.”
The Rangers were strong on the puck and in their commitment to detail. They competed all over the rink. And for the most part they maintained their discipline, yielding only three power plays to a Penguins team that has feasted on the Blueshirts by piling up man advantages and power play goals.
“Even with a short bench, everybody paid the price,” said Jokinen, who used Kris Letang as a screen on the winner. “It was a good effort from every single guy, especially our defense.”
The defense was stout, especially throughout a stretch of 11:26 starting at the 10:35 mark of the second, during which Rozsival was in the box serving a third-man in misconduct for coming to Drury’s aid, thus reducing the Rangers’ blue line corps to four.
“Whatever happens, we can’t let it affect our play,” Lundqvist said. “If guys can’t play, other guys have to step up.”
Drury jumped up from the ice to fight Cooke following several challenges that came after a battle on the boards in which both players went down before the Pittsburgh winger (yes, the one who concussed Artem Anisimov with a blindside blow to the head here on Nov. 28) got up and stood over the captain.
“He kept saying it was a dirty play, and I was like, ‘What, I’m not allowed to hit you?’ ” said Drury, who earlier had set up Brandon Dubinsky for the Rangers’ first goal. “He asked me so many times to go, that I figured I might as well.
“The way we responded tells you about our preparation and focus. Considering who we were playing and who we didn’t have playing for us, it was probably our grittiest game of the season.”
The Rangers will no doubt be without both Del Zotto and Gaborik for tomorrow afternoon’s Garden match against the Lightning that marks the pre-Olympics finale. But their absences will not change the mandate.
“This game was great, but it’s over,” Lundqvist said. “The big thing for us is to do it again . . . and again . . . and again.”