On a night of snap-crackling energy at the Garden opener, during which the Rangers flashed their speed and their skill, it was their mindset as articulated by the brilliant Henrik Lundqvist that was most encouraging.
“It was such a big game for us to respond after losing the opener in Pittsburgh,” The King said following the Blueshirts’ 5-2 triumph over the Senators. “I know it’s only the second game of the year, but it was huge for us not to start with two straight losses.
“The whole year it’s going to be important for us to respond after losses because two in a row can become three or four pretty easily. You want to stop it right away. You want to have that mentality.
“And of course doing this in the Garden opener made it even better.”
Lundqvist was spectacular in a second period, during which the Rangers were outshot 13-1 over the opening 8:22 after they had dominated a scoreless first period. The goaltender’s most notable saves came on a Milan Michalek breakaway at 0:15 and on Ryan Shannon in alone at the 8:00 mark.
“We need to work on some things, but you can tell we have more skill on this team than we did last year,” Lundqvist said. “We set the tempo.”
Once Lundqvist held them together, the Rangers took off, led by the Vinny Prospal-Brandon Dubinsky-Marian Gaborik unit that looks like it has been intact for two years, not two games. The line scored four of the club’s five goals, with Dubinsky getting two, including a late shorthanded empty-netter.
“I think Brandon wants to prove he’s worth what he did [regarding his holdout], and I don’t think that’s bad at all,” said head coach John Tortorella. “He has a different look about him.
“But he has to keep the right attitude and not have the wrong type of arrogance. He has the right type now. He’s played very well.”
Michael Del Zotto, the 19-year-old, scored the Rangers’ other goal on a 45-foot wrist shot at 19:09 of the second that gave his team a 3-1 lead. It was a milestone moment for the young man, whose parents and brother were in the house.
“I can’t even put it into words,” said Del Zotto, who took advantage of a Ryan Callahan screen to beat Pascal Leclaire up top. “I saw my mom was crying in the stands; she’s pretty emotional. It makes it that much sweeter knowing [my family] was here and they were proud of me.
“It’s a great feeling and it made it that much bigger, the fact that it was a big goal and we got the win.”
Del Zotto had a very difficult night otherwise, losing battles frequently and making poor decisions under pressure. The same can be said for 25-year-old rookie Matt Gilroy. Indeed, Tortorella cut down to four defensemen for most of the third period, with Del Zotto getting just 1:33 of ice and Gilroy, 3:09.
Despite peppering Leclaire, the Rangers went 0-for-5 in 9:36 of power play time and are now 0-for-9 in 17:36 with the extra man. Tortorella again went with Enver Lisin rather than Chris Drury on the second unit, the captain getting only six seconds.
There is work ahead for the Rangers and for Tortorella. But the work will come with the Blueshirts 1-1 rather than 0-2. As Lundqvist understands, that’s huge.