NHL

Tough for Rangers to gain momentum off of terrible win

If there is momentum to be had — and momentum is much needed — the Rangers will look at the result from Tuesday night rather than how they arrived there.

With an 8-4 win over the Senators in Ottawa, the Blueshirts set a season-high for goals scored — and yet they did it in such a sloppy and disorganized way the resounding sentiment coming out of the locker room was one of acceptance rather than joy.

“Let’s just forget about this one,” coach Alain Vigneault said, “and move on.”

Has a coach ever wanted so badly to forget an eight-goal performance and a four-goal win? And even more pertinent: Has a team ever scored that much and still seemed like a deeply flawed unit, still seemed like a team that has plodded along for the whole of a season and struggled to find consistency?

The fact is when the Blueshirts roll into Columbus for Friday night’s matchup against the Blue Jackets, the stakes will be high.

With 12 games remaining, the Rangers will have to battle the Flyers, Blue Jackets and Capitals for the final two playoff spots in the Metropolitan Division below the first-place Penguins. Of the two on the outside of that picture, there is likely to only be the final wild-card spot still available — the seventh seed most likely going to the fourth-place team out of the Atlantic Division — and with that last seed comes the unwanted fate of the mighty Bruins waiting in the first round.

So, by the time the Rangers get to Ohio, following Wednesday’s rest and travel itinerary, the Blue Jackets will still be holding one game in hand, as they will be in Montreal to face the Canadiens on Thursday night. With a win, Columbus could retake that third-place spot in the division, leaving the Rangers looking again at the wild card — and again at the tenuous lead they have over the Capitals before they find themselves on the outside of the postseason picture looking in.

Which brings the focus back to the way the Rangers played on Tuesday, which set a poor precedent as the most meaningful hockey of the season sits directly in front of them.

“It was a bit of a sloppy game, that’s something we have to take a look at,” said defenseman Marc Staal, “especially against a team like Columbus that plays hard.”

Even Rick Nash, who finds the driest thing to say in the juiciest of situation, offered up an unprompted declaration of how the Rangers need to be better, following his own two-goal performance which broke a five-game scoreless streak.

“We got all the bounces [and] it was a good night,” Nash said. “But in saying that, we have to tighten up defensively, too. We gave them a bit too much.”

The Senators did have a lot of opportunities, even if they looked like a beaten and beleaguered squad for most of the evening.

“They did a good job of finding their guy in that slot area where we were supposed to have somebody — a lot of times two guys — there,” said Vigneault, whose team managed to get Henrik Lundqvist win No. 302, allowing him to pass Mike Richter for most in franchise history. “I thought [Lundqvist] would have preferred a better defensive game in front of him, but some nights are like this. We got the win and we move on to Columbus.”

Move on to Columbus, for now, where a better performance will surely be needed to gain a similar result.