Ryan Callahan’s voice is almost raspy and ragged by the time he sits down at his locker, his skates still on, his undershirt soaked through, and finally when he looks up on this Tuesday night, he is wearing a shallow smile, one that is complicated by a mix of joy and restraint.
The Rangers captain had just scored two goals and added an assist in a 5-1 route of the Avalanche, a game during which the Garden faithful chanted his name, hoping all along their collective voice might be able to force a contract to be signed so the next time they see Callahan, he won’t be in the road jersey of Buffalo or Los Angeles or some other far-off place.
The pending unrestricted free agent, the one being dangled around the league as trade bait as the Olympic break approaches this Friday, is asked about his numerous chances for a hat trick, and the man who is seemingly made of rapid-fire and good-natured clichés only can roll his eyes and let out the smallest of laughs.
“I had enough opportunities to get it,” he said, “but it was a good game, a good two points.”
It was a great shot for Callahan in his negotiations with general manager Glen Sather, as the two sides are at an impasse. The 28-year-old winger netted two goals in the opening 17:35, a first period when the Rangers outshot the young Avalanche, 20-4, and held a dominating 2-0 lead en route to their fourth win a row and seventh in their past nine.
When Callahan was asked if his performance was because he was able to block out the contract stalemate or because he used it as motivation, he let the smallest bit of truth shine through.
“Maybe little bit of both,” he said. “I try not to bring that business to the rink. I try to concentrate on the Rangers and what we’re doing here and trying to get two points. That’s my main focus.”
Well the two points seemed almost a given from the get-go, as the Rangers (31-23-3) jumped all over the Avalanche (36-15-5), who were finishing a stretch of three games in four nights, including a hard-fought 2-1 overtime win over the Devils in Newark on Monday. After trading goals 53 seconds apart in the second period to make it 3-1, all the wonderful young talent Colorado has had its chance to take back the momentum with 1:50 of 5-on-3 man-advantage.
That’s when Henrik Lundqvist shut the door, making a sequence of four stops on Nathan MacKinnon, Gabriel Landeskog and Matt Duchene, finishing them off for good.
“I think that’s what we’ve been doing the last month and a half — not looking too far ahead or looking at what’s going on in the standings,” said Lundqvist, who finished with 27 saves. “Teams are winning so we have to [win] if we want to stay in this race.”
The race has the Rangers in second place in the Metropolitan Division with just the lowly Oilers in town on Thursday preceding a jaunt to Pittsburgh on Friday to face the first-place Penguins before the two-week Olympic break begins.
That’s when Callahan will head off to Sochi, Russia, to represent the United States. When he returns, it’s back to real life, where it’s impossible to avoid the indelible link between the game and its business.
“That’s where I want to be, on the ice playing for the Rangers,” Callahan said. “It’s nights like this that I enjoy.”