OTTAWA — The Rangers team Mats Zuccarello joined for tonight’s match against the Senators is one that does not need the Norwegian winger to be a first-line powerhouse.
It’s a team that seems to have identified who its three best forwards are, put them on a line together and watched them explode Tuesday night in Philadelphia, a much-needed 5-2 win over the Flyers.
Centered by Derek Stepan, flanked by Rick Nash and Carl Hagelin, the line played the most minutes, racked up eight combined points and put it in stone where the real power lies up front — and began to formulize an idea of how to make a push out of the league’s scoring cellar.
“I consider that our top line,” coach John Tortorella said after the win, giving his team off yesterday as it traveled. “They’ve been our most consistent players this year.”
When general manager Glen Sather signed Zuccarello to a prorated $700,000 contract, officially consecrated on Monday, it was in hopes of adding some scoring punch. That hope still undoubtedly exists, especially for a power play that despite getting a goal on Tuesday is still ranked 24th in the league (15.2 percent).
But if the 5-foot-7 playmaker — whose diminutive size brought about some Hobbit jokes from goalie Henrik Lundqvist via Twitter yesterday — can immediately break into the lineup, it will not be near the top, where Stepan, Nash and Hagelin now reign supreme.
“I thought Step was brutal at the early part of this year,” Tortorella said about Stepan, who had a goal and three assists against the Flyers, and after tonight will wrap up the three-game road trip in Montreal against the Canadiens on Saturday. “I thought he really struggled, but he stayed with it, worked on his game, and just concentrates. He’s turned into one of our top players.
“It’s a great lesson for veteran guys, rookies, anybody — how he goes about his business. I don’t know if that’s his best game as a Ranger, because he’s played a lot of good ones for us. But he just quietly goes about his business and he’s turned into a pretty damn good pro.”
For Stepan, it’s his role as a facilitator where he feels most comfortable — and that’s a job simplified with a speedy puck-hound like Hagelin and a superlative talent like Nash.
“I think Carl’s speed alone really backs the ‘D’ off,” Stepan said. “And that gives time for a guy like Rick Nash to have a little space, and when he gets space, he’s a special player. It was pretty easy to see [Tuesday night].”
It’s also easy to see why with the April 3 trade deadline approaching, Sather has made Stepan one of his untouchables. So is Hagelin, both of whom will be restricted free agents at the end of the season.
Even if Tortorella is as a maniac line mixer as there’s ever been in the NHL, the introduction of Zuccarello into the lineup discussion will probably not make the coach change anything up top just yet.
“My job is pretty easy with those two guys,” Stepan said, “so I’m going to stick with that.”