GLENDALE, Ariz. — Rangers forward Brad Richards has scored game-winners before, but never like the one he came up with last night.
With the final seconds ticking away, Richards took a pass from Ryan McDonagh and fired a blind backhander toward the net.
The puck deflected up off Phoenix defenseman Keith Yandle, went by goalie Mike Smith and snuck over the line with :00.1 left in regulation, giving the Rangers a 3-2 win in the desert.
“I wanted to throw it at the net somewhere,” Richards said after an official review reversed the original call, since the goal originally was waived off. “I had no idea that was going to happen.”
He wasn’t alone.
“I don’t think anyone expected it to go in,” said Marian Gaborik, who scored two goals last night, including a power-play goal in the first then his second at 1:09 in the third to erase a 2-1 deficit. Both were overshadowed by Richards’ late-game heroics.
“That’s why sometimes to just get the puck on the net is the way to go.”
The Rangers had entered last night’s game losers of two straight, in which they were consistently outplayed. And they were again last night at times, but Gaborik and Richards did enough for them to overcome the shortcomings.
After Gaborik gave the Blueshirts a 1-0 lead at 8:34 in the first, Phoenix scored two late-period goals, first in the opening period and again in the second.
Biron was relieved when the final call went the Rangers’ way.
“That’s about the weirdest ending I’ve ever seen in this league,” said Biron, who made 21 saves in place of Henrik Lundqvist and is now 6-1. “I was getting ready for overtime, but the clock showed different and that’s great for us.”
And it was much needed after the Rangers had been outscored 5-1 in their previous two games.
“We didn’t want to lose three in a row,” Brandon Dubinsky said. “That’s the point you get to and start getting worried. That’s why this was so big.”
Richards, who Tortorella sat for nearly half of the first period in Thursday’s loss in St. Louis because of poor play, still seemed surprised by the ending after the game.
“I haven’t had something like that, where it’s gone to the last millisecond,” Richards said. “We were desperate at that time and I was just trying to throw stuff in the area.”
Still, coach John Tortorella said there was more work to be done.
“It’s not like we were outstanding,” Tortorella said after his team fell into another lull in the second period in front of a tiny crowd at Jobing.com Arena. “We’re a little tired. We were a little bit slow.”
But they were just quick enough to sneak out a victory.
* Mike Rupp returned after missing 22 games with a knee injury and said he felt fine after the game. … Steve Eminger left the game with an injured right shoulder in the second didn’t return. Tortorella said the defenseman would be out and they will have to make a roster move before Tuesday’s game against the Devils in Newark. … Sean Avery was scratched again and Artem Anisimov (illness) was also scratched. … Gaborik now has 300 career goals.