MR. CLUTCH: Derek Stepan accepts congratulations from his teammates after scoring the game-clinching tally (inset) in the Rangers’ 2-1 shootout victory over the Coyotes last night at the Garden. (
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Ye of little faith.
Yes, that means you, Henrik Lundqvist.
“I was about to skate off,” The King admitted with a half-smile when questioned about his emotions when Marian Gaborik skated in on Phoenix netminder Mike Smith with the Rangers down to their final strike in last night’s shootout at the Garden. “I mean, the percentage of scoring when you have to, is not very big.”
Indeed, it might be no bigger than Gaborik’s career shootout mark of 10.5 percent (2-for-19) coming into the season. But this is a new year for The Great Gabby, 2-for-3 in 2011-12 after burying a third-round, five-hole shot against Smith that kept hope and the game alive for Derek Stepan to win with a sixth-inning wrist shot for the first shootout success of his career after going 0-for-5 a year ago as a rookie.
They won it after two more saves by the skeptical King. They won it despite Gaborik having been previously denied with the game on his stick by Smith’s spectacular, lunging stick save on a penalty shot with 1:50 to go in overtime, and they won it 2-1 over the Coyotes to extend their winning streak to five.
Make that their latest winning streak. For the Rangers, who sit atop the NHL at 27-9-4 and atop the Atlantic by six points over the Flyers 40 games into the season, have constructed winning streaks of seven, five, five again, and now five yet again, and all within their last 31 games.
“I don’t know if our mindset is created by the fact that we’ve won so many games, I think when we play within our team concept, it relaxes everybody,” Stepan said after the club won its 10th game in its last 11. “Coming into this game we wanted to change some things that maybe had crept into our game, certainly the [3-1] game in Pittsburgh on Friday, where we felt a little bit slow and didn’t have the puck nearly enough.
“I think we did correct some things, but we still have a lot to work on.”
The Brian Boyle-Carl Hagelin-Ruslan Fedotenko trio was the Rangers’ best and most forceful unit throughout regulation, on top of the puck, funneling traffic toward the net. Their work paid off when Fedotenko jumped on a loose puck in the high slot and beat Smith through a tangle of bodies for a 1-0 lead 2:27 into the third.
“It’s no secret that this has been a tough year for me offensively, but coming into the game I just wanted to let all that go from my mind and simplify things,” said Boyle, who is scoreless in his last 20, has one goal in the last 35 games and a total of two on the season. “That’s what our line did all night, going to the net, hunting down the puck, using our speed straight ahead.
“I was saying on the bench to Haggy during the overtime that it really had been a lot of fun.”
It seemed as if the Rangers were destined to win 1-0 until Radim Vrabata rifled a right circle wrist shot past Lundqvist at 11:37 of the third after the Rangers failed to clear the zone in a sequence that began at the other end with Mike Rupp’s brain-dead drop pass at the offensive line.
But the Rangers found the way, with Gaborik and Stepan both beating Smith with speed after Vrabata scored in the second round.
“We were talking after the second period that we know what to do in these types of games,” Lundqvist said. “When you win so many, that gives you confidence.”
Confidence. Sure, King. Tell that to Gaborik.