Sports

A NIGHT OF DOMINANCE AFTER DESERT DEBACLE

Rangers6Avalanche3 DENVER – It was more than New Year’s Eve here last night for the Rangers. On the final night of 1998, the Rangers were facing the Eve of Destruction.

Is that too dramatic a reading of the 35th game of the season? Probably not.

Not with the Rangers coming off their most disappointing effort of the year just 24 hours earlier, when they had barely competed against the depleted Coyotes in a 3-1 defeat that raised serious questions about the direction of the whole program. Not with the Rangers, losers of six of their previous eight, in jeopardy of sliding four games under .500 for the first time since Nov. 27. Not with the team in danger of losing contact with the eighth and final conference playoff spot.

But in this test, the final one of a 1998 that was just about 12 months too long for the organization, the Rangers responded. For the first time since their Dec. 7, 6-2 victory over the Maple Leafs that extended their win streak to five and boosted the them above .500 for the first time in 14 months, the Rangers played a complete, impressive hockey game.

They played with a passion that begat speed. They played with speed that begat a puck-control and forecheck game. They played with pride and they played with purpose.

Petr Nedved had a forceful night. Niklas Sundstrom continued his revival. Marc Savard played with bite. Wayne Gretzky had a hop and jump in his step. John MacLean came back from wherever he’d been. Brian Leetch dominated. Mike Richter maintained his level of excellence in nets. The power play percolated.

And in this final game of 1998, the Rangers’ tired legs all of sudden were fresh, and the final against the Avalanche was 6-3.

Destruction averted.

John Muckler conducted a series of meetings with his team at the rink yesterday morning. He met with the team as a whole. He met with individuals. According to one Ranger, the message was quite clear.

“He let us know, again, that he was dissatisfied with the effort,” said the player, who requested anonymity. “He let us know that he wasn’t going to accept it.

“He let us know that jobs were at stake.”

In addition to delivering his messages, Muckler made changes in his lineup. He flipped Savard’s and Gretzky’s wingers, so that 99 skated between Adam Graves and Todd Harvey while Savard skated with MacLean and Kevin Stevens. The changes helped all concerned.

Anticipating a physical game, he dressed Darren Langdon, scratching a healthy Esa Tikkanen for the first time this season. And Langdon then outpointed Colorado’s designated pugilist, the huge Jeff Parker, just 12 seconds into the match.

With the Rangers on the lookout for a physical, checking center to slot in behind Gretzky and Nedved, Savard played as if his future was at stake. Having mustered just eight points in the last 18 games while spending too much time on the glide, the youngster skated hard and got himself involved in traffic right from the get-go.

The score was 1-1 just over 5:30 into the first – Mike Knuble’s score at 3:26 having canceled Adam Deadmarsh’s game-opener at 1:23 – when Savard’s work drew a hooking penalty. When Mathieu Schneider blasted a right point shot over a screened Craig Billington at 6:27, the Rangers were on their way.

The Avalanche were without both Patrick Roy (groin) and Joe Sakic (shoulder), but after Wednesday’s fiasco in the Arizona desert, their absence hardly diminishes either the Ranger effort or victory.

The power play, which had gone 0-for-7 in the previous three games, was just getting started. At 16:55, on a five-on-three, Nedved one-timed a Gretzky feed for a 3-1 lead. It would click for another late in the second, when Graves got his 16th to establish a 6-2 cushion.