Things were better, that’s for sure.
But with the playoff picture still excluding the Rangers – and with a conference foe in front of them on the ice and in the standings – a three-point game was not what the Blueshirts were looking for.
That’s what they got at the Garden, when they beat the Hurricanes, 2-1, in a shootout. The game winner came from 20-year-old rookie J.T. Miller in the third round of the skills competition. Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist stopped the two attempts from the Hurricanes.
The Rangers came into the game riding a three-game losing streak, and had just finished a disheartening 1-3-0 road trip. They got their best game out of Marian Gaborik in weeks, as the winger found some chemistry with superstar linemates Brad Richards and Rick Nash. They also played a solid defensive game and got stupendous goaltending throughout from Lundqvist.
After a weak first period, the Rangers dominated most of the second and third periods. Defenseman Ryan McDonagh missed a wide-open net just 30 seconds into the overtime, firing a rolling puck high.
The Rangers had a golden opportunity to take the lead late in the third period when they got a power play from a Kevin Westgarth slashing penalty. Yet the ensuing man-advantage, now 0-for-7 in the past five games, failed to produce a single shot on net.
There was some pushback from the Rangers in the second period, when they began to hold onto the puck below the hashmarks – the holiest of holies in coach John Tortorella’s playbook – and generate offense. The equalizer came with 11:06 gone by, when captain Ryan Callahan took the puck hard to the net and was pushed into goalie Dan Ellis by defenseman Joni Pitkanen. With Ellis on the ground, Derek Stepan corralled the puck in front and netted a turnaround shot, his eighth goal of the season, tying it 1-1.
The Rangers did not return to home ice with any extra jump in their step as the first period was decidedly in favor of the Hurricanes, outshooting the Blueshirts 14-6. Though it remained scoreless until a minute was left, that’s when Carolina captain Eric Staal beat Ryan McDonagh in a one-on-one battle along the sideboards. He got the puck to the point, where Pitkanen sent it right back to him and Staal one-timed it home for a 1-0 lead.
bcyrgalis@nypost.com