Another year, another Cup for the Rangers.
This, of course, was the inaugural Victoria Cup and not the Stanley Cup that the Blueshirts captured last night in Bern – hey, beggars can’t be choosers – by rallying from 3-0 down late in the second period to defeat Magnitogorsk Metallurg 4-3 on Ryan Callahan’s breakaway goal with 20 seconds to play.
What does it mean with the regular-season opener set for Saturday night in Prague against the Lightning? It means, primarily, that the Rangers averted the taint of humiliation that would have accompanied defeat to a Russian squad featuring perhaps a handful of players who could play in the NHL.
It means that the Rangers can feel somewhat good about themselves going into the opening weekend after a disjointed and disappointing camp. It means that maybe they can fall back on this rally when needing positive reinforcement against adversity.
“I thought it did show some character,” Tom Renney said via a conference call following the match. “I’ve been through games [like this] before, when it’s Russia vs. Canada, for example, whether as a single game or in a tournament, and it’s invariably the biggest game on either team’s agenda. I thought we responded very well to the challenge.”
Some Rangers responded better than others. Chris Drury, likely to be named captain, not only scored the first goal and the tying goal, but also played as if he’d spent his entire career playing right wing with Scott Gomez, crashing the net and sniffing for loose change.
Callahan, who got the winner by sniffing a neutral zone cross-ice D-to-D feed, not only finished the scoring for the exhibition season, but also finished camp as the Rangers’ most consistent player.
Petr Prucha, busting his butt on the left side with Callahan and Laurie Korpikoski, made something happen on nearly every shift. Dan Fritsche, competing for a roster spot, rifled in a goal and played with abandon.
But then there was Nigel Dawes, invisible nearly all game, just as he’s been invisible nearly all of the pre-season. Simply stated, the sophomore winger did not earn a roster spot, but he’ll get one because the Rangers would otherwise surely lose him on waivers if they were to try to get him to the AHL Wolf Pack.