The glass was half-full with thanks that Henrik Lundqvist took the full force of Sheldon Souray’s second-period blast from the top of the left circle on the left shoulder and not his left collarbone, and thus was merely sore — easy for anyone else to say — instead of suffering a fracture on the shot.
The glass however was half-empty with the zero the Rangers put on the scoreboard in last night’s 1-0 defeat to Dallas at the Garden in a game essentially devoid of emotion, artistry and entertainment value.
“There was not a whole hell of a lot of hate out there,” coach John Tortorella said after the match in which Trevor Daley broke through at 15:01 of the third to end the soporific scoreless deadlock in which neither team was able to generate a semblance of sustained pressure.
The Rangers were undone as much by their own inability to avoid unforced errors as they were by the Stars’ persistence in clogging the middle that accounted for little time and less space through the neutral zone. Unable to create a rush game, the Blueshirts had little more success on the forecheck, unable to generate an uptempo attack.
And when they were able to create a chance against an impressive 24-year-old rookie goaltender Richard Bachman, who has allowed one goal in 140 minutes in the last week over his first three NHL appearances this season, there were no second chances.
“We knew the way they play that it was going to be tight and we weren’t going to be able to pick our way through,” said Marian Gaborik, who had a defender in his logo all night. “The way it was developing, you could see it was going to be either/or, and we tried not to get frustrated, but we just couldn’t create a lot.”
When Souray, renowned for his heavy shot, drove a rising wrist shot at Lundqvist at 8:39 of the second, it was going to nail the goaltender either on the shoulder or the collarbone.
“I’m just glad it didn’t hit me in the head,” said The King, who went down and was attended to on the ice by medical trainer Jim Ramsay. “I knew it was going to be hard, and when it hit me I first thought it was my collarbone, but then after 20 or 30 seconds I could feel it was my shoulder.
“It’s sore now, and I know it’s going to be tight [today], but it won’t be that bad to keep me from playing [tomorrow in St. Louis.]
Just about every Ranger seemed a half-step or a half-thought behind. Thus, there was a succession of off-side infractions and icings. The power play, which had been 10-for-37 over the previous nine games, was stagnant and toothless, failing on four advantages.
Pucks were given away, including the one sent into the neutral zone by Jeff Woywitka that led to the rush that culminated in Daley’s winner off a nice zig-zag play, the most creative of the night by either side.
Lundqvist was not to blame for either the goal or the sleepy nature of the match. The Stars never pressed the issue. The Rangers couldn’t when they tried, though they had a tad more success in getting the puck in deep in the third.
“You could tell whoever blinked first [was going to be in trouble],” Tortorella said. “We blinked.”
The Rangers thus joined the announced crowd of 18,200 fans in the stands who were blinking all night just so they could keep their eyes open.