It was a small segment of what Henrik Lundqvist had to say after he led the Rangers to their fourth win in a row on Tuesday night, a 5-1 drubbing of the red-hot Avalanche at the Garden.
“What’s going to happen next week really doesn’t concern me right now,” said the starting goalie not just for the Rangers, but also for Team Sweden when the Olympic break begins after play on Saturday night. “All that matters is preparing for the next game. We have two more, and they’re very important.”
Two more for the Rangers before their two-week hiatus, starting Thursday night with a home match against the lowly Oilers, 29th overall in the league. It will be quite the contrast from the Avalanche, with all of their young talent and a streak of 13-3-1 coming into the Big Apple.
Even if Colorado was coming off a back-to-back, as well as its third game in four nights, while the Rangers had rested for the previous three days, there was no quarter given by the Blueshirts and their momentum since late December continued to build.
“The Rangers came out flying,” said Avalanche coach Patrick Roy, doing an outstanding job in his first year behind a NHL bench, but his days as a Hall of Fame goalie not blurring his vision of a good team when he sees it. “They played a really good game and they were sharp. They were the better team on the ice, without a doubt.”
On Dec. 20, after a disheartening 5-3 loss to the Islanders in the Garden, the Rangers were two games under .500 and surely looked like a squad with more questions than answers. Yet they beat the Wild two nights later, 4-1, and with that win started a run of 15-5-1, which has included a 8-3-1 record at home.
“Early on we were having struggles at home and that’s a big thing for us,” said captain Ryan Callahan, his contract and trade status standing pat for another day while his team cancelled Wednesday’s practice because of the weather. “Especially when you get deep into the season and, you know, eventually in the playoffs, it’s [important] how you play at home.”
The playoffs were hardly on the mind of the Rangers in December, when they were willing to take any type of traction to their season. Now that they have it, Callahan’s mentioning of the postseason doesn’t seem so far-fetched.
Following the Oilers game, the Rangers will head right to a plane headed for Pittsburgh, for a big-time showdown with the first-place Penguins on Friday night before the Olympics become first on everyone’s mind.
The match against the Penguins might have the feel of a playoff game, and the results of the next two games might resonate into the two-week hiatus. Yet when the Rangers come back, crunch time will be upon them.
“I’m expecting them to come back and be really excited about this final push and helping us,” coach Alain Vigneault said. “The guys that don’t play [in the Olympics] will get the rest they need for the final push.”