By BRETT CYRGALIS
Man, where would the Rangers be without the Devils.
After tonight’s 3-2 win at the Garden, the Rangers are now 7-0-0 against the Devils this year. When all is said and done, those 14 points are going to be huge.
And finally – finally! – the powerplay showed up. It has been the missing piece for the Blueshirts for the last two months, and tonight they went out and scored twice.
It’s officially a full on rush for the top seeds of the conference, and if the Rangers can continue to play a complete game – like they’ve done against the Devils all year – then they’re as in the mix as anyone.
As Tom Renney has said all year, Brendan Shanahan’s presence on the powerplay is one of the main reasons he is here. He never went so far as to say that’s the only reason he’s here, but the powerplay is ideal for a 38-year-old who’s best surviving asset is his quick release.
Coincidently, Shanahan played great on the powerplay tonight – first by netting one in the first period, and second by skating hard behind the net to set up Christian Backman’s second-period goal.
On the first goal, Chris Drury worked his tail off and won a battle behind the net. He made an outstanding pass to Shanny in front, and Shanny finished ‘er off for his 650th career goal. He’s going to dunk that one every time.
On the second PP goal, Shanny got the puck to Scott Gomez (who happened to play outstanding, even with bruised ribs), and then moved quickly to the front of the net. Gomez then made a great pass across ice to Backman who redeemed himself for a terrible turnover in the second period (resulting in Zach Parise’s go-ahead goal) by tossing a wrister over Martin Brodeur’s right shoulder to tie the game.
This powerplay needs to play like this – scrappy, aggressive, not afraid to take shots with people in front – if the team wants to do well in the playoffs. I know, we’ve all said that a million times in this space, but to see the powerplay work is to see how far this team actually can go.
Have to love how Henrik Lundqvist is playing, as well. He made a couple great saves tonight, and is continuing to look like the Henrik of old. As much as the powerplay is important, Lundqvist’s importance is tenfold.
And Nigel Dawes just isn’t going to plateau, is he? I keep waiting for that game you don’t notice him, or that string of games where he goes pointless. Well, hasn’t happened. He plays every game with the reckless abandon that got him the game-winner tonight. He’s never going to take a shift off, or make a bad decision because he’s flustered. The kid is a gamer, and even if his size does make for some undesirable matchups, it shouldn’t be a question whether he’s an NHL player or not.
bcyrgalis@nypost.com