NY ARCHITECT: Rangers GM Glen Sather is confident the likes of Brad Richards and Ryan Callahan can knock off the Senators in the first round. (Neil Miller (inset); Getty Images)
Glen Sather slides into a seat at Madison Square Garden, the Rangers general manager’s face showing the early stages of a suntan.
“I was out gardening,” he says. “I’ve always enjoyed that.
“I landscaped my house in Banff myself.”
The team he has crafted slowly and now surely after a do-over or four was strong enough and good enough over 82 games to earn the top seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs. But the Rangers are now deadlocked after four games of the first round with the pesky Senators, who pose a serious threat to Sather’s 2012 garden of dreams.
“At this stage, it’s the team that wants it the most and works the hardest that will find the way to get it done,” the general manager tells The Post as he watches the Rangers skate in preparation for tonight’s Game 5 against the Senators.
“And I think we will. We have total commitment. Certainly where we are now is not for a lack of effort.”
The Rangers have taken the lead in the series twice and have held the lead in every game. But they have been unable to shake or impose their will on an Ottawa club playing without its concussed captain, Daniel Alfredsson, unable to beat Craig Anderson for more than two even-strength goals over the last three games, both of those off Brian Boyle’s stick.
Marian Gaborik scored in the opener but not since. Brad Richards scored in the opener but not since. Brandon Dubinsky, Artem Anisimov and Derek Stepan have not scored at all.
“We need our scorers to score,” Sather says without rancor. “But that’s the same problem for almost every team that’s not winning regularly in the playoffs.
“We’ve had great opportunities, but we haven’t put them in.”
The Rangers are taking rink-length rushes. Chris Kreider, a college junior two weeks ago and now a veteran of two NHL playoff games, speeds down the right side before firing a shot at Henrik Lundqvist.
“Look at that!” Sather exclaims before turning philosophical. “It’s a great story, but putting Chris in now, it’s hard on everybody with this kind of a pressure-packed situation.”
Regardless of his confidence or poise, it is impossible to imagine the weight of responsibility the 20-year-old Kreider is bearing since being thrust into the lineup in place of Carl Hagelin, knowing one mistake could undo everything his teammates have worked for since September.
“It’s a whole different mindset,” Sather says. “In Edmonton I brought Esa Tikkanen and Andy Moog in for the playoffs, but Tikk came from the top league in Finland [in 1985] and Moog was in the minors [in 1981].
“I can’t say enough about the way Chris is handling this. You can see how tight he is, but who wouldn’t be? It’s not for lack of effort.”
If defenseman Steve Eminger is ready after being sidelined since March 15 with an ankle injury, it would not be out of the question for coach John Tortorella to insert him on the blue line tonight and move Stu Bickel up to right wing while sitting Kreider, who played just 3:29 in Game 4.
“It’s completely up to Torts to play who he wants, when he wants, as much as he wants,” Sather says. “He has to put out the guys he trusts the most.
“This isn’t the time of year to have debates. It’s the time for me to be totally supportive. Everybody has to be supportive of each other.
“The crowd has to be supportive just like they have been,” Sather says. “The fans have been great, haven’t they?”
Practice is winding down. The Rangers are grinding in a neutral zone three-on-three game with the nets at either blue line.
“Look at those guys busting their butts,” Sather says with satisfaction. “Nobody can tell me they don’t want to win.”