Rangers 5
Thrashers 1
When it was over, when the Rangers had sewn up the 5-1 victory over the Thrashers that earned the team a succession of standing ovations from a Garden crowd that’s fallen hard for its hard-hat team, the noise reached a crescendo when Henrik Lundqvist took his bows after being announced as the No. 1 star for the second straight game.
Fast becoming a Broadway folk hero, King Henrik of Sweden took an abbreviated victory lap around the ice while raising his stick and glove in a return salute to the fans who alternately chanted, “Henrik” and “Lundqvist” throughout the match in which the goaltender made several nifty stops among his 28 saves.
“I just wanted to show the same respect for the fans that they’ve showed for me,” said Lundqvist, who stopped 48 of the 50 shots he faced in consecutive victories over the Devils and Thrashers, and is more than a bit of a showman. “The fans chanted for me back home [in Sweden] the last couple of years, but this is New York.”
This is New York, where the fans have been starved for a team they could support without reservation and the players have been equally as starved for direction. This is New York, where the Rangers are just taking the first steps back toward viability.
“I can see that Tom [Renney] is doing a great job with the team,” said Atlanta’s Bobby Holik, who yearned for that type of leadership from the coaching staff his two unhappy seasons as a Ranger. “Tom is in charge. He is prepared, he works hard and he’s loyal.
“The way the team is playing is a reflection of him and his staff. I’m happy for him, I’m happy for the younger guys who are finally in an environment in which they can grow and succeed, and I’m happy for the fans that they’re getting the kind of team they deserve.”
While Lundqvist was the individual hero of last night’s victory, the Rangers collectively outworked and out-thought the Thrashers, who have now lost three straight by a combined 16-2 since Ilya Kovalchuk joined the team. The Blueshirts were quick on the puck, gaining and retaining possession for a huge majority of the first 40 minutes while building a 4-0 lead.
Martin Rucinsky, who seems revitalized during his third tour of Ranger duty, gave the Rangers a 1-0 lead at 10:32 of the first when his long one skipped off an enemy skate and past goaltender Adam Berkhoel, who was making his first NHL start.
But it was the goal that extended the lead to 2-0 at that was emblematic of the team’s effort, and emblematic of what this team seems to be about, coming as it did from Jed Ortmeyer crashing the net for a delayed-penalty rebound after he and Dominic Moore had won a battle for puck on the low left wing boards. The match became a blowout soon after.
Lundqvist, whose shutout was spoiled by Kovalchuk at 9:07 of the third. will be in nets again tomorrow while Kevin Weekes continues to rehab a sore groin. Renney last night emphasized three times that Weekes is and will be the No. 1. When he skates onto the ice, he’ll have the support of the fans.
“I watched a couple of games here a couple of years ago where the crowd was not cheering,” Lundqvist said. “It’s a good crowd, but it’s a tough crowd.
“I’m just happy they know who I am.”
He’s King Henrik of Sweden, that’s who he is.