Brad Richards stood in the locker room by his lonesome, fiddling with the tape on his three game sticks. Martin St. Louis gave short and focused answers.
Even the Rangers’ vanilla coach, Alain Vigneault, had a bit of animation in his voice.
The hours leading up to Wednesday night’s first-round Game 7 against the Flyers at the Garden were pregnant with anticipation.
“There’s no other feeling in your life that is going to duplicate what a day like this is, and what it means when you win, especially on home ice in a Game 7,” Richards said. “These opportunities only come around so often, and that’s what we mean by embracing it.
“There’s going to be some day when this whole team will be retired and sitting back and wishing we had another day like this, where you could get ready for a big game in front of a sold-out Madison Square Garden in a must-win game,” the alternate captain continued. “This is the greatest thing about what we do.”
The Blueshirts were coming off a disappointing performance in a 5-2 drubbing in Game 6 on Tuesday night in Philadelphia, a Wayne Simmonds hat trick accentuating the Rangers’ worst performance of this postseason, by far. Goalie Henrik Lundqvist was pulled to start the third period, his team already down 4-0, and the Rangers’ power play poured salt on the wound in going 0-for-5, now goalless in its past 20 attempts.
“You try to forget about games like last night,” St. Louis said, “and not nitpick it and just go right back at it.”
Vigneault would not disclose any lineup changes, nor discuss any strategic changes he might be thinking about. Up front, he has to choose between Jesper Fast, Dan Carcillo and J.T. Miller for one forward position, and there is a slim chance Raphael Diaz could be an option on defense in hopes of bolstering the beleaguered man-advantage.
Yet at this point, it seems strategy and lineup changes mean a lot less than the ideals of will and determination.
“Whatever has happened in the past is behind us,” Vigneault said. “It’s one game and it’s winner-take-all. It’s fair to say that whoever’s top players play the best is who is going to win this game. So, we’ve got some good players, this is a great opportunity. Game 7, it doesn’t get a lot better than this. We’re going to be ready.”
The fans at the Garden have not exactly been overwhelming in the three games, but two of those started at noon on Sundays, the first one being Easter. Having home-ice advantage is always thought to mean most when a series gets to this decisive game – just ask John Tortorella – and now the Rangers have it due to their second-place finish in the Metropolitan Division, two points ahead of the Flyers.
“It definitely helps,” Richards said. “We’d rather be home in Game 7, but it doesn’t mean you win.”
No, it doesn’t. The winner of the game will face the Penguins in the second round, starting in Pittsburgh, most likely on Friday night. The Flyers didn’t skate Wednesday morning, but there is little question they are just as eager as the Rangers.
“Really, you could have dropped the puck this morning at 9 [a.m.] and we would have been ready, and I’m sure they would’ve been,” Richards said. “It’s a fun day, so we just want to get going.”
Rangers fourth-line center Dominic Moore was announced as a finalist for the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy, given each year “to the player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey.”
Moore’s wife, Katie, died of a rare liver cancer in January 2013, and he didn’t play for all of last season’s lockout-shortened campaign before signing a one-year, $1 million deal with the Rangers this summer.
The other finalists are two former Rangers: Jaromir Jagr of the Devils and Manny Malhotra of the Hurricanes. The winner will be announced at the NHL Awards ceremony on June 24 in Las Vegas.