OVIE TIME: Alex Ovechkin of the Caps beats Henrik Lundqvist in the shootout during the Rangers’ 3-2 loss, which still earned the Blueshirts a point. (
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It was like the gears turning in John Tortorella’s head were visible, his brain running a mile a minute in hopes of finding a way to get his team going, to get it to finally convert on some scoring chances.
But after his Rangers fought back from an early two-goal deficit last night to draw even with the Capitals and earn a point, it stayed a loser’s point as the Blueshirts fell 3-2 in a shootout last night at the Garden.
“I’m not even thinking about playoffs,” said Tortorella, whose 15-13-3 team leapfrogged the idle Hurricanes into the eighth and final postseason spot. “I’m not even thinking about [the] loss. I’m thinking about points. We got one. Would we have liked to have two? Yes, but we didn’t get it.”
The most glaring move Tortorella made in trying to get that much-needed second point was move rookie Chris Kreider up to the top line late in the second period. Skating with Brad Richards and Rick Nash, the line played well put couldn’t convert when they needed to.
It also meant that Marian Gaborik was demoted, not as humbling as his previous benchings, but skating alongside Brian Boyle and Taylor Pyatt is not a place of prestige for the team’s leading scorer from last season.
“I thought [Kreider] was skating well,” said Tortorella, who had originally started him with Boyle and Pyatt in his second game since being recalled. “I thought he was on the puck. I wanted to try and give Gabby another look with another line, [matched] against another defensive pair.
“Chris is doing all the things we’re asking him to do. Almost scores. That line, I think needs someone to chase down some pucks.”
Gaborik continued to keep up some offensive pressure, finishing with five shots, yet he has just two goals in his past 18 games. The Rangers’ anemic offense could use him to break out now more than ever.
“We played good enough to win,” said captain Ryan Callahan, who somehow had nine shots on goal without seeming to have many good scoring chances. “It’s just a matter of getting that next one.”
The Blueshirts’ trend of slow starts continued, as well, when Niklas Backstrom put in a power-play goal 7:54 in, followed less than two minutes later by a nice deflection from Alex Ovechkin, his 18th of the season, to give the Capitals (15-16-1) a 2-0 lead.
“I think we get paralyzed after the power-play goal,” Tortorella said. “Why, I don’t know. That’s what we were talking about on the bench. We have to move by it and just play.”
They eventually did, and the charge was led by the fourth line. Five minutes after Ovechkin’s goal, Arron Asham netted his second of the season in his return from a lower back injury that kept him out of the previous 15 games. Centered by Kris Newbury, called up Saturday, that group — with Darroll Powe on the other wing — settled the tide and were the impetus for the Rangers’ ability to salvage a point.
“It was very important for us,” Asham said about the goal. “It seemed to get the bench going and started to get the team rolling.”
Derek Stepan then managed to tie it 2-2 with a sharp-angle shot on a 5-on-3 advantage with just under two minutes remaining in the first — but that’s where the scoring would cease.
“I’m really disappointed,” said Henrik Lundqvist, who stopped two of four chances in the shootout, the winner coming from Backstrom in the fourth round. “We have to focus on each game like it’s a playoff game. We have no other way to do this now.”